Статья на тему: «Критическое мышление на уроках английского языка»

Коммунальное государственное учреждение «Средняя общеобразовательная школа­лицей № 7» Доклад на тему: «Критическое мышление на уроках английского языка» (“Critical Thinking at the Lessons of English”) Составитель: Островерхова Л.К. г. Семей 2014 Critical Thinking: How to Improve the Learning Process “Constructivist   views   of   teaching   require   a   pupil­centered   teacher   who arranges the classroom around tasks that bring pupils into contact with knowledge, ideas, and skills”. [1] It is more important what the learner does and how he/she processes information at the lesson than focusing on what the teacher does. “The outgrowth of the cognitive approach has been perceived in language teaching  together   with reflections  about  the  relationship between  thinking  and language. Teachers who  want  to promote thinking should try to observe how students produce knowledge rather than how they merely reproduce knowledge. Producing knowledge requires the use of a number of  thinking skills such as analytical, lateral, problem solving, critical, creative, and reflective thinking”. [2] Critical thinking teachers students to be independent in their judgments. This ability is very helpful for them not only at the lessons but also in real life which is becoming more and more complicated. How people process information and solve different problems is more important than the knowledge of specific facts. The process of thinking is so attractive for the students that they become actively involved in study at the lesson. While solving difficult tasks they come across with a lot of new words, grammar structures, new facts about the language and learn to speak, write, formulate interesting ideas. Of course, thinking skills can be learned by practicing. It all depends on the teacher how this practice will be organized in class.  “Critical thinking has been described as ‘thinking about thinking’. It involves reasoning   from   principles   and   reflecting   on   experience.   Critical   thinking   is   a leading   contemporary   pedagogical   concept   important   to   the   development   of teaching and learning in Kazakhstan.  Critical   thinking   is   a   disciplined   approach   to   conceptualizing,   evaluating, analyzing and synthesizing information from observation, experience, refection or reasoning. It can then become the basis for action.” [1] In class it is possible to start with simple tasks that develop students’ thinking skills. Some of them we can meet in our school textbooks: matching words with their   definitions,   matching   pictures   with   words,   phrases   or   sentences, categorization, creating clusters, posters … Later on a teacher can pass on to more complicated activities that develop students’ critical thinking. The following activies can be given as examples:   “Creation of a mind mirror by analyzing a story ( a poem, a biography) and identifying the following key elements that represent the speaker’s point of view: two quotes, two original statements, two images, two symbols. Students work in groups to create a poster that illustrates the key elements on an outline of the speaker’s head. Groups then present their posters to the class. This task will help students   to   climb   inside   the   mind   of   a   character   and   help   them   to   analyze personalities found in literary works”. [3] Critical thinking is often associated with a willingness to imagine or remain open   to   considering   alternative   perspectives,   to   integrate   new   or   revised perspectives into our ways of thinking and acting, and with a commitment to participatory democracy and to fostering criticality in others. At a basic level, the process of critical thinking involves: • gathering relevant information; • evaluating and questioning evidence; • drawing warranted conclusions and generalizations; • revising assumptions and hypotheses on the basis of wider experience. It   may  seem   that   critical  thinking  is   possible   to  use  only  when  teaching advanced students who are able to express their ideas in English spontaneously as it  “involves  recognizing unstated assumptions and values, recognizing problems and finding workable means for dealing with them, understanding the importance of prioritization and precedence in problem solving”. But simple tasks on critical thinking   can   be   used   in   working   with   children   that   have   elementary   or   pre­ intermediate level of English because it helps to develop not only their critical thinking skills but all language skills. As “critical thinking involves developing skills such as acquiring evidence through observation and listening, taking account of context, and applying relevant criteria for making judgments” it helps to make students more attentive and disciplined at the lesson. The critical thinking processes and skills that might be involved include: • Collecting and sorting evidence such as pictures and photos, and recording memories. • Evaluating these primary sources and posing relevant questions about them. •   Comparing   and   discussing   primary   sources,   making   inferences   and provisional generalizations. • Revising assumptions and hypotheses on the basis of wider experience At the later stage of reviewing their work, through further discussion with teachers, reviewing and revising their provisional conclusions, children can be helped to become more conscious of their own learning processes, including: • evaluation • explanation • meta­cognition The following are the steps that children can be guided through and the skills they will use inundertaking classroom activities: 1.  Process  the information derived from visual or from oral evidence. This could   equally   be   appliedto   information   derived   from   reading   primary   source documents, data gathered from a survey orquestionnaire, or information collected from several secondary sources, such as a selection oftextbooks, encyclopedias or websites. 2.  Understand   key  points,   assumptions   or   hypotheses   that   structure investigation of the evidence, or inlater activities, underlie the arguments. 3.  Analysehow   these   key   components,   and   the   visual   and   oral   evidence, together and relate to eachother. 4.  Compare  and explore the similarities and differences between individual images, or betweendifferent personal accounts and memories. 5. Synthesiseby bringing together different sources of information to construct an argument or set ofideas. Make connections between the different sources that shape and support your ideas. 6.  Evaluate  the  validity  and  reliability  of   evidence   in   relation   to   your investigation, and how theevidence supports or contradicts your assumptions and emerging ideas. 7. Apply the understanding gained by presenting an interpretation in response to the questions thatunderlay the investigation. 8.  Justify  ideas   and   interpretations   in   defending   arguments   about   the conclusions reached andimplications identified. Children learn more effectively, and   intellectual   achievements   are   higher,   when   they   are   actively   engaged   in pedagogic activity, through discussion, dialogue and argumentation. We need to consider   ways   of   reconciling   tensions   between   teaching  existing  bodies   of knowledgeand norms of thinking whilst recognizing the legitimacy of alternative perspectives and building on theexperiences of individuals. Possible   techniques   are   labeled   ‘exploratory   talk’   or   ‘argumentation’, ‘dialogic teaching’ and ‘scaffolding’. Alexander identified five categories of talk observed in use: • rote: the drilling of facts, ideas and routines through constant repetition; •  recitation:  the   accumulation   of   knowledge   and   understanding   through questions   designed   to   test   or   stimulate   recall   of   what   has   been   previously encountered, or to cue pupils to work out the answer from clues provided in the question; •  instruction/exposition:  telling   the   pupil   what   to   do,   and/or   imparting information and/or explaining facts, principles or procedures; •  discussion:  the exchange of ideas with a view to sharing information and solving problems;  • dialogue: achieving common understanding through structured, cumulative questioning and discussion which guide and prompt, reduce choices, minimize risk and error, and expedite ‘handover’ of concepts and principles. (Alexander 2001, 2008) Quality and content of talk are significant for children’s learning. Discussion  and  dialogue  are   singled   out   for   their   cognitive   potential.   In dialogic interactions, children are exposed to alternative perspectives and required to engage with another person’s point of view in ways that challenge and deepen their own conceptual understandings. It is the element of ‘dialectic’, understood as logical and rational argument, which distinguishes dialogue from mainstream oral or ‘interactive’ teaching as currently understood by many teachers. (Wolfe and Alexander 2008) Argumentation has been defined as putting forward and negotiating ideas and perspectives.  Students are able to examine  and reflect  critically on alternative positions through dialogic interactions with their peers or experts, internalizing the experience and leading to development of higher mental processes. Collaborative learning and problem­solving processes with a particular focus on understanding might enhance students’ abilities to argue effectively. When   questions   arise,   teachers   will   not   necessarily   be   the   source   of knowledge, but students and teachers can jointly consult the internet and teachers can help students think critically about ways of searching and about evaluating and selecting the information they find. Dialogic pedagogies mean that children and teachers establish a reciprocal relationship in discovery and learning. Mercer identified three forms of argument in classroom discussion as: •   Disputation   talk   when   students   are   competitive   and   unwilling   to   hear another person’s point of view; • Cumulative talk where students build constructively and uncritically on each others’ contributions; Exploratory   talk   proceeding   through   critical   reflection   and   reasoned argument, when proposals maybe challenged and counter­challenged. Some of the following skills are applied in a reflective teaching context: •   Recognizing   problems,   and   finding   workable   means   for   meeting   those problems; • Understanding the importance of prioritization and order of precedence in problem solving; • Gathering and sorting relevant information; • Describing accurately and clearly; • Recognizing unstated assumptions and values; • Interpreting data, to appraise evidence and make judgments; • Drawing justifiable conclusions and making generalizations; • Testing the conclusions and generalizations arrived at; • Reconstruct one’s patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience. Principal characteristics to be looked for in children’s critical thinking are: Rationality: Aiming to find the best explanation, asking questions rather than seeking definitiveanswers; requiring evidence, following where it leads, and not ignoring any evidence; relying on reasonrather than emotion (though emotion has a place, and may be accounted for under self­awareness, below). Open­mindedness:  Evaluating   all   reasonable   inferences;   considering   a variety   of   possible   viewpointsor   perspectives;   remaining   open   to   alternative interpretations. Judgment: Recognizing the extent and significance of evidence; recognizing the relevance or meritof alternative assumptions and perspectives. discipline:  attempting   to   be   precise,   comprehensive,   and   exhaustive (looking at all availableevidence and taking account of all viewpoints). Self­awareness: recognizing our own assumptions, prejudices, point of view and emotions. In   general,   critical   thinkers   are  active,   asking   questions   and   analyzing evidence, consciously applying strategies to identify meanings; critical thinkers are sceptical, approaching visual, oral and written evidence with scepticism; critical thinkers are open to new ideas and perspectives. Here is a structure, that can be adopted for reflecting critically on your own teaching and on children’slearning: 1. Process the evidence you have from observation of children’s learning.2. Understand the learning objectives that have structured their activities. 3. Analysethe relationship between the learning objectives, on the one hand, and the students’ ways of working and their achievements.