CRITICAL THINKING AND TEACHING STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE LITERARY TEXT

Abstract

The development of students’ critical thinking skills is a paramount issue of modern education globally. Notwithstanding there is no accord among the philosophers, psychologists and educators as to transferability and teachability of critical thinking skills. Our approach to this issue is twofold. In order to become independent thinkers, students should be equipped with critical thinking inventory as well as have advanced practical skills of its application. This article is an attempt to look at the problem of teaching the stylistic analysis of the literary text from the perspective of critical thinking. We discuss how by the critical reading of a literary work and applying a polycritical methodology to its analysis students enhance the high-order thinking skills – analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The present paper illustrates some before, during and after reading classroom strategies that can be utilized to encourage students to dig deeper and “read between the lines” in order to decode the message of the author, effectively interpret it and use it as a vantage point for constructing intermedial connections, self-reflection and interpretation of the real world. Progressive educators create the learning environment where freedom of thought and the dissent are equally accepted and fostered. The anchoring potential of critical thinking as a mediator between the fictional and real world and as a booster of the students’ abilities to evaluate, make an independent judgment and solve problems is viewed by us as a leverage on rote learning and copy-paste mentality as well as an instrument of establishing democratic values in education.