Effects of critical thinking on quality of studying foreign language for special purposes

This research considers the problem of Critical Thinking development as a condition for effective acquisition of Foreign Language for Special Purposes in university programs. In this paper we focus on our didactic experience in developing Critical Thinking competences of students-linguists during ESP course. We refer to new drafts of Russian Federal State Standards of Higher Education in Linguistics and Literary studies, in which Critical Thinking is defined as a universal competence. A hypothesis of our research is supported by several studies and experiments. During the first stage of the research, the authors identified the low dynamics of Critical Thinking development at College-Bachelor-Master levels and decided to organize didactic experiments to find an effective technology for Critical Thinking development. We developed and applied the adapted version of a technology based on Problem-Based Learning and Critical Thinking Development through Reading and Writing offered by D. Steele, K. Meredith, C. Temple and S. Walter. The adapted version of our technology follows the algorithmic processes of the original technology as evocation-realization-reflection. In the first experiment, while teaching Business English, authors focus on the deductive-basis approach when selecting teaching methods to develop Critical Thinking. In the second experiment, while teaching English for Computing, the authors take into account the major of future professional activity of their students when choosing activity to organize the course in Foreign Language for Special Purposes. The statistical data show that the level of Critical Thinking and ESP knowledge (in the field of computer technologies) in the experimental group of students is higher than in the control group. The results of our experiments have the explicit effects and potential of the adapted technology in developing Critical Thinking competences in ESP courses of university students.