scholarly journals IMPROVING THE APPROACH TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE UPDATED CONTENT OF EDUCATION

Author(s):  
Aiganym Galym ◽  
Valentina Maximova

This article is devoted to communicative activity of students, which is a necessary component in learning any foreign language. The authors reveal the importance of improving the approach to the implementation of tasks in the lessons with communicative orientation, as well as the use of modern approaches in foreign language teaching in accordance with the leading challenges and strategies of the updated content of education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The author analyzes modern methods and techniques aimed not only at improving the communicative skills of students, but also in parallel contributes to the development of critical thinking skills and the formation of functional literacy students.

Author(s):  
Svitlana I. Medynska ◽  

The article covers the issues related to the implementation of the competency approach in the training of future professionals in the hospitality industry, tourism and international business to make them fully equipped for professional activities by developing their critical thinking skills while forming the foreign language competency. Findings of the domestic and foreign research on the definition of critical thinking, determination of its role in professional activities, characteristics and main components show that it plays a crucial role in a wide range of domains, hence, has to be properly developed to enhance competitiveness of the graduates on the local and international labour markets. The role of a foreign language as a stimulating factor for the development of critical thinking skills is significant, and it is possible to make a conclusion that studying a foreign language is more beneficial in comparison with the mother tongue in these terms. Therefore, the goals of the curriculum should not be limited to but go beyond the linguistic factors for the development of critical thinking skills by analyzing reliable foreign sources of information and applying relevant teaching methods and techniques. There is a perfect match between particular critical thinking skills, teaching methods and techniques used in the foreign language classes and intended learning outcomes, which can be justified by the given examples of application of the specific critical thinking skills in educational and professional activities. These teaching methods and techniques include a wide range of activities, e. g. case studies, brainstorming sessions, discussion and debate, making individual and group presentations and projects, writing different types of essay and business correspondence, etc, which help not only develop students’ foreign language competency but improve their global skills like collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. All these activities, if managed properly and followed up by the appropriate feedback, can make a great contribution to enhancing internal drives of the students in regard to their self-actualization, which is crucial for development of critical thinking. Finally, a number of recommendations for the development of critical thinking skills while forming the foreign language competence for the effective training of experts in the hospitality industry, tourism and international business have been outlined. The main recommendations include active use of openended questions and limitation of the closed ones; regular brainstorming sessions; allocation of the sufficient amount of time for the activities involving critical thinking; motivating students to disagree, find counterarguments, reach a compromise and take unbiased decisions; and making critical thinking a part of the learning environment, not just an activity. Such an analysis of critical thinking and the peculiarities of its development might contribute to the more effective application of the teaching methods and techniques in the foreign language classes and boost both critical thinking skills and development of the foreign language competency.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01155
Author(s):  
Yuliya Savinova ◽  
Tatiana Akhmetzyanova ◽  
Svetlana Pozdnyakova ◽  
Ekaterina Dvorak ◽  
Zhanna Zarutskaya

The issues of the student engagement in science-related activities and the development of students’ language communicative competence are especially relevant in a technical university, where due to the prevailing of the Sciences, the professional communicative competence has become increasingly vital. The goal of this article is to examine how interdisciplinary scientific conferences for students held in foreign languages can foster the foreign language communicative competence of students. In the article, we present the definition and the three basic models of communicative competence. A method of pedagogical observation is used that represents comprehension and analysis of goal-oriented preparation of students for practical scientific conferences. We reveal the fact that interdisciplinary scientific conferences for students held in foreign languages allow educators to foster the foreign language communicative competence of students and deepen their knowledge in professional area, as well as to equip them with research skills since students’ participation in the conferences increases their attention and focus, motivates them to practice critical thinking skills of high level.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Bobkina ◽  
Svetlana Stefanova

Drawing on the numerous benefits of integrating literature in the EFL classroom, the present paper argues that the analysis of a fictional work in the process of foreign language acquisition offers a unique opportunity for students to explore, interpret, and understand the world around them. The paper presents strong evidence in favour of reader-centered critical reading as a means of encouraging observation and active evaluation not only of linguistic items, but also of a variety of meanings and viewpoints. The authors propose a model of teaching critical thinking skills focused on the reader’s response to a literary work. The practical application of the method, which adopts the critical literacy approach as a tool, is illustrated through a series of activities based on the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Dilek Cakici

The primary aim of current study was to investigate the possible relationship between Metacognitive Awareness (MA) and Critical Thinking Skills (CTS) in a foreign language learning context. In addition, this research aimed to probe the effect of gender and years of pre-service English language teachers on the relation between metacognitive awareness and critical thinking abilities. 218 pre-service EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers participated in the study. Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and Critical Thinking Questionnaire were employed to gather necessary data. Obtained results confirmed that there existed a highly significant positive correlation between MA and CTS. Besides, the results indicated that there was a strong relation between the years of pre-service EFL teachers and their MA and CTS. Seniors were found to be more metacognitively aware and critical thinkers than their counterparts. Conversely, it was revealed that there was no gender effect on both MA and CTS. Finally, certain suggestions were set for tertiary institutions to develop metacognition and critical thinking skills in foreign language classroom settings.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-89
Author(s):  
Kristina C. Marcellus

In this report, I outline and provide examples of an approach to using an international edition of an introductory sociology textbook to facilitate cross-cultural learning and critical thinking skills in an EFL (English as a foreign language) environment at a small engineering university in the United Arab Emirates.


2021 ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
Инна Вячеславовна Шукурова ◽  
Наталья Евгеньевна Чеснокова

Рассматривается вопрос развития критического мышления студентов средствами иностранного языка. Оценивается место и роль дисциплины «Иностранный язык» в развитии универсальных компетенций студентов и в их адаптации к современным требованиям, предъявляемым будущим специалистам. Представлены составляющие умения критического мышления, которые позволяют осмысливать полученную информацию, обобщать и отделять ее от второстепенных фактов, формулировать выводы, оценивать. Средством развития критического мышления студентов выбран учебный иноязычный текст, который рассматривается не только как источник информации, но и как средство активизации мыслительной деятельности. Отмечается недостаток методик, способствующих развитию критического мышления. Описывается возможность использования таксономии педагогических целей Б. Блума в работе с учебным текстом. Таксономия позволяет правильно ставить образовательные цели, формулировать мотивирующие задания и отслеживать прогресс в развитии умений. Приведен пример работы с учебным текстом по принципу таксономии, который дает возможность корректировать учебную деятельность студентов, направленную на развитие их критического мышления. The article considers the process of students’ critical thinking development through the English language resources. The authors highlight the importance of English in the developing of students’ universal competencies and their adaption to the current professional requirements. The article outlines the essential critical thinking skills that allow students to comprehend the received material, break down the material into its constituent parts, to distinguish relevant information from extraneous material, to synthesize, to infer and evaluate it. The educational foreign-language text is used as a means of students’ critical thinking development. The authors emphasize the text’s multifunction nature and its contribution into enhancement of students’ thinking activity. Despite the teachers’ keen interest in the process of critical thinking developing some authors prove the lack of methods and techniques promoting its growth. The article gives an overview of Bloom’s taxonomy and outlines its application in the educational process. The taxonomy is widely used to set educational objectives, to formulate motivating exercises and monitor headway in knowledge and skills developing. The study shows that not all textbooks and tasks are intended to enhance critical thinking skills. So, the authors analyzed their English textbook and changed their approach to work with the texts. The article describes the experience proving that new challenging tasks help students comprehend the received information, distinguish relevant facts, summarize and learn to evaluate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Fenglin Zhou ◽  
Yuewu Lin

Critical thinking is one of the core objectives of talent training in higher education. Meanwhile, the cultivation of critical thinking skills in foreign language teaching has become more and more urgent, and it has also been written into the national standards for the training of foreign language talents. A good critical thinking includes both a skill dimension (Critical Thinking Skills) and a disposition dimension (Critical Thinking Dispositions). Critical Thinking Skills include interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation and self-regulation. This study intends to explore the current situation of the critical thinking skills of undergraduates in foreign language majors (English and Japanese) in a Normal University, and then attempts to find out the similarities and differences in critical thinking skills between English majors and Japanese majors after years of study at college. The results show that a clear difference exists between English majors and Japanese majors in overall critical thinking skills. In particular, English majors are superior to Japanese majors. Another finding is that there are also differences between the two majors in the three core sub-skills of critical thinking skills, analysis, evaluation and inference.


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