Abstract
Promoting students’ critical thinking in Armenian universities is not an easy task and this can be explained historically. In the past it was not a usual practice for students to challenge the views of professors, lectures being usually taken without retorting or questioning. Though some radical changes have taken place in the Armenian educational system during the last two or three decades, the old tradition is still preserved in some national universities. The aim of the present paper is to show what strategies can be applied to promote university students’ critical thinking, particularly in theoretical classes. The strategies chosen for this purpose include: psychological preparation, stimulating interest, identifying the problem, suggesting related sources, evaluating the problem indirectly, solving the problem independently, making cross-linguistic references, mastering scientific language register. A survey was conducted to assess the level of the students’ critical thinking during Theoretical English Grammar Course. The results show that out of 34 students involved in the survey only 35 % could actually display critical thinking ability, the rest making tentative, probing steps only.
Highlights
In the recent decades there has been a change in the educational systems of many countries from a focus on providing knowledge to an emphasis on developing critical thinking skills
The notion of critical thinking Among the many definitions of the term ‘critical thinking’ suggested by different linguists we find it proper to accept the definition of this concept suggested by M
Strategies for promoting students’ critical thinking We have examined a number of researches on the use of strategies for promoting student critical thinking both at high school and university levels [10; 2; 11; 4; 12] and on the basis of this study we suggest our own list of strategies recommended specially for Armenian students
Summary
In the recent decades there has been a change in the educational systems of many countries from a focus on providing knowledge to an emphasis on developing critical thinking skills. It has been recognized that one of the basic aims of education, especially at the university level is to develop students’ ability to think independently, using judgment and reasoning in expressing their own opinions and views.
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