Abstract:

Critical thinking is one of the transversal skills that shape students' metacognitive capabilities. It is part of the reformed school curricula across advanced education systems, including Slovakia. It holds a significant place in the current curricular reform of the Slovak education system (since 2022). It is essential for students, starting at the primary school age through to university education level, to learn how to think critically, including reading texts with critically comprehension.

Unlike typical Western educational models, post-communist East Euroepan educational models focus on the information contained within texts and less frequently on its critical processing. In Slovak pedagogical research there has long been a lack of connection between the content of textbooks and the development of critical thinking although several recent studies highlight the necessity of linking using textbooks with critical thinking skills. Also the new university accreditation system in Slovakia requires the activation of students through the development of critical thinking, which aims to enhance the quality of higher education in the country. Modern society needs individuals who are not passive consumers of texts, whether at the primary or university level, but who are critical and effective readers.

In the past two decades, studies have increasingly highlighted the dramatic changes in the educational process due to globalization, the boom of the internet and social media, and especially the educational opportunities provided by A.I. The tempting availability of online resources often has the negative consequence of uncritical 'reading of everything' (including low-quality, unverified and irrelevant sources). In educational practice, this leads to learner fatigue, paradoxically resulting in a resistance to using any books and an inclination to 'read nothing'.

There are many ways to develop critical thinking. In our paper, we will focus on fostering critical thinking in primary school students and their future teachers at the university level. This will be achieved through the analysis and comparison of textbooks from various countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Finland, Germany) aimed at teaching foreign or second languages. The textbooks for young learners will be analyzed by university students studying to become teachers, with the main criterion for their analysis being the presence of problem-solving and cognitive-constructivist assignments and texts that cultivate critical thinking.

Through this analysis, they will determine to what extent the textbooks contain texts and assignments that develop readers' critical thinking skills. By conducting this analysis, the university students will enhance their own critical thinking and become able to create tasks for working with their future pupils’ textbooks in a way that further develops their critical thinking.

Keywords:

Critical thinking, textbooks, language learners.