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Ismailova S.T. ©
English teacher Ferghana branch of the Tashkent Medical Academy CRITICAL THINKING SKILL IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Summary
This article deals with the problem of development of critical thinking of students in the study of a foreign language. As a result of the analysis are some methods of improving critical thinking, which effects to development of the increase foreign language.
Keywords: critical thinking, activities, cognitive skill, idea, teaching techniques, creative way.
In compliance with modern researches, the primary difference between a bored class and an absorbed class lies in how creative the teaching techniques are. It is critically important to keep the teaching material interesting, actual and to make it applicable for practical use. There is no doubt that in order to truly learn the materials (as opposed to merely memorizing them), students must be involved in interesting, interactive, applicable and creative activities. "Creativity can be defined as production of an idea or product that is innovativeand meaningful. Creativity is about ways we can reach beyond ourselves in our conventional lives,realities, and consciousness, to access deeper ways ofknowing, and even profound spiritual realizations. There is a vital role for creativity studies in making the most of our self-awareness, and furthering our human possibility. A lot of scholars state that creativity, creative exercises and various tasks at foreign language university classes are worth doing according to the following reasons. Creative tasks:
1. Give a real content, purpose, outcome or even a product (e.g. drawing and explanation,
etc.)
2. Help students to practice language;
3. Provoke students to think creatively;
4. Help students practice diverse communication strategies (miming, pauses, paraphrasing,
etc.);
5. Help students master creative way to expression;
6. Help to improve self-esteem as students can look at their own solutions to problems and their own products and see what they are able to achieve;
7. In the language classroom can lead to genuine communication and co-operation. Students use the language to do the creative task, so they use it as a tool, in its original function. This prepares them for using the foreign language outside the classroom;
8. Enrich classroom work, and they make it more varied and more enjoyable by tapping into individual talents, ideas and thoughts- both the students' and the teachers'
9. Help to introduce creativity in real life. It is a part of our survival strategies and it is a force behind personal growth and the development of culture and society.
"We understand thought (thinking) as the ideal component of the realactivity of social people transforming activity of social people transforming both external nature and themselves by their labour".
The amount of information available today is through the modern technology. This information explosion is likely to continue in the future. Students need a guide to choose the information they really use and not just passively accept it. Critical thinking is essential for effective functioning in the modern world.
Students need to develop and effectively apply critical thinking skills to their academic studies, to the complex problems that they face, and to the critical choices they will be forced to make as a result of the information explosion and other rapid technological changes.
© Ismailova S.T., 2016 r.
Thinking combines the related structures and processes of perception, memory, forming ideas, language and use of symbols-the basic cognitive skill which underlie the ability to reason, to learn and to solve problems.
Although there are different definitions of the terms thinking and critical thinking, each model describes similar elements of either thinking or critical thinking or creative or both.
"Thought and thinking are mental forms and processes, respectively ("thought" is both). Thinking allows beings to model the world and to deal with it according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires".
Students can be taught strategies for thinking skills that allow them to process information more effectively and efficiently. They can also learn to demonstrate habits of mind or thinking behaviors in their daily activities.
Throughout the years, many critical thinking skills models and programs have been generated from educators, seeking to describe the essential elements of thinking and to develop a systemic approach to teaching thinking skills as part of the school or university curricula.
The need to teach thinking skills is not to recent one. In every course, and as well as in the course of English Foreign Language (EFL), students should be taught to think logically, analyze and compare, question to master English as an university subject.
This means hard work for the teachers. It's much easier to teach students to memorize vocabulary and grammar and then assess them with multiple -choice tests. In a course that emphasizes thinking, objectives must include application and analysis, divergent thinking, and opportunities to organize ideas and support value judgments.
Facilities and university's programs strive for graduate individuals to be experienced and adept at critical thinking.
English teaching may use effective technologies in forming and developing critical thinking as well as professional and language competences. There is evidence to suggest that "Brain-gum"-type activities are a useful foundation for the development of thinking skills. Such activities can be used with the first year students. From the early years of teaching English for students, teachers can do much to encourage students to engage in a variety of talk-based activities that will help to develop their thinking skills.
As students become increasingly confident about expressing their opinion, teachers can do much to foster the development of thinking skills by the imaginative use of questioning techniques in the classroom.
Edward Bono's "Thinking hat" is a simple but useful approach that can be used in the classroom to ensure that issues are addressedfrom a variety of perspectives.
Although philosophy has been traditionally regarded more suitable as an activity for older students. They have demonstrated that, with the right stimulus, they have capable of posing philosophical questions and addressing a range of abstract issues.
Teaching English is challenging as well as exciting. All universities pay a lot of attention to improving the knowledge of English. Any EFL teachers face the tough problem of teaching the language in a creative and innovative method. Though many students are able to understand the language, most of the students face the problem of communicating their ideas effectively. Creativity at lessons helps to solve this problem as it teaches them speak and learn new words, grammar constructions, be responsible for their decisions, provokes positive attitude to language learning, and demonstrates abilities to practice communication. For example, students should be taught new vocabulary. If you just ask them to read newspapers, magazines, Internet articles, books daily or learn a list of new words, few will respond to the suggestion positively. But if you use creativity methods for learning new words at lessons, the attitude and result will be quite different.
Broadly speaking, creativity at lessons helps to introduce new ideas, aim at a purpose and requires its achievements, helps students to show their individuality and has a value. On the whole, we need to give the activity a purpose where language is used as a tool. To put it another way, we should organize the learning process in a way that gives time, space and freedom to students so that they can use their originality and imagination. This means that the creative tasks are open to many
answers, solutions and products. Using these tasks a teacher should act like a facilitator or a helper and not like a judge ready to give his strict opinion. Evaluating students' activity a teaching shouldn't pay all his attention to language use, but take into account the final product.
In conclusion, we can say that if we want to run a creative activity in the classroom and develop creative thinking skills, we need to keep in mind four essential features of creativity; imagination, purpose, originality and value. Activities help to realize all features in the educational process effectively.
Literature
1. Susan F. Lafferty Overview of education in creativity and problem -solving in four year colleges and universities. Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 2004, 43 p.
2. Ilyenkov/Introduction to dialectical Logic/
3. Diane F. Halpern Claremont McKenna College, Jonathan Wai Vanderbilt University/ The world of Competive Scrabble: Novice and Expert Differences in Visuospatial and Verbal Abilities/ Jornal of Experimental Psychology; applied 2007, Vol. 13, No. 2,79-94/
4. URL: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking
