РОЗВИТОК НАВИЧОК КРИТИЧНОГО МИСЛЕННЯ УЧНІВ ЗЗСО НА УРОКАХ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ

The article is devoted to the problem of using technology for the development of students’ critical thinking skills at English lessons. Critical thinking is considered as a student’s ability to reason consistently, substantiate, and establish regular connections between objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, based on the non-contradiction of thinking, on the integrity of the image and the accuracy of the verbal expression of thought at English language classes. The authors of the article listed the signs of critical thinking skills (independence, information, social aspect, asking questions and clarifying problems that need to be solved, striving for convincing arguments), and also described the skills and abilities that a student needs for the development of critical thinking skills, in particular, the following: flexibility, willingness to plan, perseverance, willingness to correct mistakes, awareness, search for compromise solutions. The article characterizes the technology of development of critical thinking skills and describes in detail the stages of its implementation at English lessons. The following aspects are highlighted: goal setting, individualization of the educational trajectory and “fixation” of emerging considerations, familiarization and analysis of researched information in English, axiological activities (self-evaluation, mutual evaluation, discussion group), making a final verdict about the analyzed object or phenomenon. The authors developed a didactic cycle of the technology for the development of students’ critical thinking skills at English lessons, which involves three stages: challenge, comprehension, and reflection; gave examples of methods, techniques and tasks that can be used at each of the selected stages; outlined the requirements for the tasks: the problem in the task that causes intellectual difficulty, does not have one standard solution and requires analysis and synthesis; compliance of the conditions of the task with the set goals; accounting for the didactic principle of strength and accessibility; reliance of the student on the experience; activation of all students’ thinking strategies; student’s acceptance of his position as the subject of educational activity; availability of preliminary training, selection of materials; presence of the result of problematic activity; student’s reflection after solving a problematic task.