Keyword: «критическое мышление»

Socially oriented situations associated with disruptions in interaction systems, negative informational and psychological influence from individuals with destructive behavior often arise in the educational environment and can be characterized as stressful. These situations require teachers to mobilize all their efforts to adequately analyze the situation and competently manage their own behavior. This largely depends on the level of critical thinking, which should be developed in preservice teachers while they are still students. The goal of this study was to identify the influence of critical thinking on the choice of behavioral strategies by preservice teachers in stressful socially oriented situations. Based on the data obtained, we developed an additional educational program to enhance critical thinking development and substantiate the pedagogical conditions for its successful implementation. Sample: ordinary groups of Russian and Belarusian students from pedagogical universities (n = 320). Methodological approaches: systems-based and student-centered. Methods: Coping with stress questionnaire (COPE-30A) by C. Carver, M. Scheier, J. Weintraub, critical thinking test by L. Starkey. Results: It was found that critical thinking was better developed in Belarusian students. In the Russian sample, active coping strategies, planning and inhibition of coping predominate, while in the Belarusian sample, active coping, planning and positive reformulation predominate. Strong negative correlations in the Belarusian sample were found between the level of critical thinking and the strategies of «mental avoidance of the problem», «humor», and «behavioral avoidance of the problem». In the Russian sample, a negative correlation was recorded between the level of critical thinking and the use of active coping; positive correlations – with the strategies of «concentration on emotions» and «behavioral avoidance of the problem». The obtained empirical data were taken into account when designing a critical thinking development program. The theoretical significance lies in substantiating and identifying the developmental characteristics and relationships between critical thinking and behavioral strategies in stressful social situations among preservice teachers from Russia and Belarus. The practical significance lies in developing a program ready for implementation and describing the pedagogical conditions for its successful implementation.

The relevance of the study is determined by employers' demands for the quality of professional training of university graduates, which means having a set of specialized knowledge and skills, as well as personal and socio-psychological qualities. Foreign language education of students majoring in economics and management is aimed not only at developing professional foreign-language communicative skills but also at developing social skills, such as initiative, proactivity, flexibility, adaptability, creativity, entrepreneurship, responsibility and the other qualities required by the innovative economy. The aim of the study is to consider the pedagogical conditions for the development of cross-curricular competences of future economists by means of foreign language education at university. The study was based on the following methodological approaches: student-centered, subject-to-subject, and systemic activity-oriented approaches with the implementation of the principle of active learning of a foreign language, as well as the principles of problem-based and contextual learning of the studied language. Role playing games, mind mapping, project-based work, discussions, creative tasks, essays and reflective methods were used as the tools for developing the soft skills of the students majoring in the area of training 38.03.01 Economics (specialization «Finance, Credit and Accounting») and 38.03.02 Management (specialization «Financial Management») at the Institute of Economics and Law of Petrozavodsk State University within the framework of the Foreign Language discipline. The diagnosis was carried out through input, current and output control, expert assessment of the argumentation and content of the final group discussions, and self-reflection of students. The results of the study confirm the necessity of active practical learning of a foreign language that involves intensive thinking, communication, and collaboration to develop the social skills of preservice financial management professionals. The theoretical significance of the study lies in substantiating the need to develop cross-curricular competences of economics students through foreign language education at a university. The practical significance of the study lies in the development of a set of pedagogical conditions for the manifestation and development of critical thinking, emotional intelligence, verbal communication and interaction, creativity, flexibility, initiative and other soft skills of future economists in the process of learning a foreign language at a university.