Theoretical Background For Successful Implementation Of Critical Thinking In Russian Education

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the notion of critical thinking which was borrowed from the world experience and accepted by Russian education system. As a result of new ambitious goals set in Russian education it has become necessary to use advanced foreign experience, in particular, the technology of critical thinking closely connected with reflection which finds its application in all stages of educational process including higher education. In order to create the preconditions in the science of our country for implementing the given concept, the literature on psychology and pedagogy was analyzed and the notions of thinking criticalness and mind criticalness were stated. In psychological and pedagogical research studies by Russian scientists a conceptual framework to implement new principles for fostering critical thinking was developed by the end of the XX century. The conducted analysis revealed that Russian education had all preconditions to enter a new stage of development which met the social demands of modern society in the context of globalization. The notion of criticalness transformed into the notion of critical thinking at the turn of the century. The article considers the stages of reflection and principles of fostering learners critical thinking during the educational process. The articles of foreign scholars which describe the given technology in application to education on the whole and foreign language teaching in particular were studied while doing research; the own research study of using the elements of critical thinking technology when preparing for State Final Examination on foreign languages was conducted.