Methodological conditions for developing students’ critical thinking in English language classes

Abstract

The article examines the methodological conditions for developing students’ critical thinking in English language classes. Critical thinking is interpreted as a set of abilities to analyse information, distinguish evidence from assumptions, evaluate source credibility, compare opposing viewpoints, draw justified conclusions, and monitor one’s own reasoning process. The study argues that language objectives and thinking objectives should be integrated within a single lesson design. For this purpose, a methodological cycle is proposed that combines a problem question, claim–evidence analysis, academic debate, case tasks, intertextual comparison, and reflective writing. This cycle connects reading, writing, listening, and speaking with argumentation, evaluation, and decision-making processes. Assessment is recommended to address not only language accuracy, cohesion, and academic vocabulary, but also clarity of claims, relevance and sufficiency of evidence, consideration of counterarguments, and logical validity of conclusions. Such organization enables critical thinking to develop systematically through English language content and makes students’ reasoning processes visible, assessable, and transferable across learning contexts.