According to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on «Measures for further enhancement of the System of teaching of foreign languages» the system of teaching the foreign languages has been changed. As it is said in the decree to highlight that a complex system for learning and teaching of foreign languages focused on upbringing of comprehensively developed, educated and intellectual young generation of people, and further integration of the republic with the global community has been established within the frames of the Law on Education and the National Programme for Personnel Training.
In view of entire enhancement of the system of teaching youths the foreign languages and training of specialists able to communicate in foreign languages fluently, by introducing progressive teaching methods using modern teaching and information-communication technologies thus enabling them to access the achievements of the world civilization and globally available information resources, ensuring international collaboration and communication. Our president established that 2013/2014 academic year: firstly, teaching of foreign languages, mostly English, gradually throughout the territory of the republic, would be started in the first grade of the primary school in the format of games and oral speech lessons, starting from the second form of the primary school — teaching alphabet, reading and grammar; secondly classes at higher educational institutions in major subjects of technical and international specialties shall be conducted in the foreign languages; thirdly, provision of students and teachers of the general secondary, senior secondary specialized vocational schools with textbooks and instructional materials for teaching foreign languages shall be accomplished on the free of charge basis using the current assets of the National target book fund at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan, however observing republishing terms established for textbooks and teaching materials.
Coming from this decree a new approach of teaching the foreign languages has been established in higher education in Uzbekistan. So, in the wake of discussions in higher education on the quality of teaching and learning, universities have recently began a new to clarify their purposes and strategies by which they achieve these. An important component of this has been to describe the disciplinary knowledge and skills, critical thinking skills, attributes and attitudes students are expected to acquire during their study, that’s why new approaches were needed to fulfill the task.
Firstly, communicative language teaching via interactive methods was found as one of the most effective approach as it helps to provide opportunities in the classroom for the students to engage in real-life communication in the foreign language. Moreover, learner –centered approach was found useful as students should work more independently for getting higher education and become autonomous learners because it prepares them for further employment situations. But they need some skills which should be taught while studying independently and becoming autonomous learner. In order to clarify all mentioned approaches above we should define these terms in methodology more deeply. According to the online dictionaries communicative language teaching (CLT) was defined as an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that notices interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language.CLT makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication. The teacher organizes a situation that learners are likely to encounter in real life. Unlike the audio-lingual method of language teaching, which depends on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will differ according to their reactions and responses. The tasks like real-life simulations become more effective rather then reading dialogues and repeating them. Students are motivated by their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about various life topics.
Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening more becoming active facilitators of their students' learning. The teacher sets up the exercise, but because the students' performance is the goal, the teacher must step back and observe, sometimes acting as referee or monitor. A classroom during a communicative activity is far from quiet, however. The students do most of the speaking, and frequently the scene of a classroom during a communicative exercise is active, with students leaving their seats to complete a task. Because of the increased responsibility to participate, students may find they gain confidence in using the target language in general. Students are more responsible managers of their own learning.
Being able to make informed choices and taking responsibility for one’s own learning activities are two facets of learning independently. Two other important elements, vital for the success of learning independently, are motivation and feeling confident enough to make decisions and complete them. Learners are required to assess the value of reflecting on your study and realizing whether it has been useful or whether they should try another method.
Learners’ perceptions of needs and making systematic decisions about effective learning styles are the incentives for autonomy in facilitating learners’ study in English. So, it is indeed necessary to provide various language strategies and skills in a positive and supportive learning environment. Thus knowledge about the target language background i. e. the level, weaknesses and the personal qualities of the learners is useful for the language tutors as they create opportunities to provide the skills needed for participating in academic, cultural and social contexts.
High productivity and quality of future specialist teaching depends on «happy choice of teaching technologies». If a teacher wants the choice of technologies to occur systematically, taking into consideration the logics of some particular disciplines, he «should have well developed system, model and reflexive levels of his/her own pedagogical activity. The outlet to the technological level of educational process confirms high level of methodological culture of teacher and his/her ability to adapt teaching technologies to some patricular terms».
The specific peculiarity of foreign language is students' negative and subjective attitude towards it, which was formed as to a very difficult discipline, which cannot be mastered through training in school and higher educational establishment. Though, the problem can be solved through everyday, systematic and motivated work. To Kobiatz'ka's mind «the purpose of foreign language learning should be concrete, perceptible, and necessary for student». Accordingly, when the organisation of disciplines teaching which have communicative value for students, is correct, foreign language can be mastered in the process of adequate pedagogical communication between teacher and student not worse than any other educational discipline. The goal of today’s education system is to educate highly intelligent as well as intellectually- minded specialists empowered by highly competitive knowledge and effective practical skills. In linguistic sense, students must acquire excellent communication skills in order to be able to integrate into the globalizing market with no or few language constrains. Basic notes on critical thinking in PMI method.Critical thinking is a large concept in different areas of human life: psychology, methodology, business and management, public relationships. Critical thinking development is a really sharp and up-to-date question for teachers because we deal with young generation representatives, students. It is really important to incorporate elements of critical thinking in ELT as in modern fast — developing world we have to change the mind and ways of thinking, we should teach our students to be called-for specialists and creative people.
The goal of our teaching is to develop individuals who value knowledge, learning and the creative process, who can and will think for themselves, recognize the limits of individual reflection and build upon mutual understandings of social situations.Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. It is based on universal intellectual values: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons,depth,breadth,andfairness.There are many techniques and methodologies as how one can stimulate creative and critical thinking and it should be mentioned that most techniques or methodologies facilitate the breaking down of a situation into specific parts and following a repeatable process. Five techniques you can use in the creative thinking process are: lateral thinking, metaphoric thinking, positive thinking, association triggering,capturingandinterpretingdreams.As a result, a well cultivated critical thinker has a wide range of positive characteristics. He raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely; gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards; thinks open-mindedly within alternativesystemsofthought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
References:
- Каримов И. А. Гармонично развитое поколение – основа прогресса Узбекистана. Ташкент: Узбекистан, 1996. – c. 156–168.
- Allwright D. Observation in the language classroom. − London: Longman, 1988. − p. 44–50.4.
- Atkinson D. 1997. A critical approach to critical thinking in TESOL. Quarterly. 31 (1):71–94.
- Bell E. A. 1991. Debate: a strstegy for teaching critical thinking. Nurse Educator.16 (2):6–7.
- Brown H. D. 2004. Some practical thoughts about student-sensitive critical pedagogy. The language teacher. 28(7):23–27.
