DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS' CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS WHILE WORKING WITH INFORMATION SOURCES

Introduction.In the information society, printed and electronic sources of information can satisfy the intellectual needs of teachers and students. Various types of information sources speed up the process of learning, enriching the content of studied subjects and scientific research. However, a global accessibility to information has also led to some negative consequences – the loss of the ability to analyze the information critically, which means – to be skeptical of what is heard or read, to argue one's own opinion, to work with some problem-solving strategies. Critical thinking is a feature of a highly intelligent person, a conscious citizen, an active member of the democratic society. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to justify the technologies and methods of developing critical thinking in the process of forming students' communicative competence during the Ukrainian language classes, and the ability to evaluate the content of different information sources critically. Methods. The author analyzes the scientific works on the research problem, the experience of other teachers and their own methods of developing students' critical thinking, using empirical methods, including the evaluation of the learning outcomes. Results. The main results of the development of students' critical thinking (while working with information sources in the Ukrainian language classes) are the optimization of the educational process; the increase of students' motivation in learning the language as the basic part of professional communication; the improvement of learning achievements and quality of learning process. Originality. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the theoretical grounding and practical implementation of critical thinking development methods in the Ukrainian language for Specific Purposes classes. Conclusion. The scientific research concerning the critical thinking technology is widely implemented in higher education in Ukraine. Prospects for further scientific research are to develop a scientifically grounded methodology for the development of students' critical thinking in the process of scientific research and during the manufacturing practice.