lecturer: N. Karapetyan

Student: A. Ivanyan

More than 2500 years ago notablephilosopher Socrates first namedthe term critical thinking. Heestablished the importance ofseeking evidence, closelyexamining reasoning andassumptions, analyzing basicconcepts, and tracing outimplications not only of what issaid but of what is done as well.His method of questioning is nowknown as "Socratic Questioning"and is the best known criticalthinking teaching strategy.

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearlyand rationally. It includes the ability to engagein reflective and independent thinking.

1. Rationality

2. Self-awareness

3. Honesty

4.Open-mindedness

5. Discipline

6. Judgment

The actual teaching of criticalthinking is a function of manysituation-specific factors: teacherstyle, teacher interest, teacherknowledge and understanding,class size, cultural andcommunity backgrounds andexpectations, studentexpectations and backgrounds,colleagues’ expectations, recentlocal events, the amount of timeavailable to teachers after theyhave done all the other thingsthey have to do, and teachergrasp of critical thinking, toname some major factors.

Critical thinking is a higher-levelcognitive skill which lecturerslook for in a university student.When you are completing yourassignments (essay, reports,presentations, exams), you haveto give evidence of criticalthinking. Go beyond simpledescription and make sureyou evaluate by weighing upthe pros and cons, the strengthsand weaknesses of anyargument. Critical thinkingprovides you with an approachto information that can be veryvaluable and very muchexpected of a university

graduate.

In a traditional English reading class,students are mainly trained to improvetheir language skills- first to enlargevocabularies and then to improvereading comprehension ability. They areexpected to obtain information orknowledge from the text and accept theideas or viewpoints presented in thetextbook. Most of the reading articlesare literature works, humorous storiesand scientific articles, but very fewargumentary articles with strict logic.The reading exercises are oftenmultiple- choice questions to teststudents‟ comprehension. Thetraditional lecturing and classroomactivities are not very helpful infostering students‟ critical thinking. Soa new way to teach English readingfocusing on developing students‟critical thinking should be proposed.

Critical thinking enables students to:

think about and evaluate their own thinking andbehavior on issues related to health education,physical education, and home economics

make reasonable and defensible decisions aboutissues related to individual and community well-being

challenge and take action (individually andcollectively) to address social, cultural, economic,and political inequalities

understand the role and significance of themovement culture and its influence on our dailylives and the lives of people in our community