Introduction. The article justifies the topicality of adapting a foreign language course for students of non-linguistic specialties to the tasks of developing critical thinking skills of a university graduate within the conditions of the professional and market environment  digitalization; provides an overview of the main research results of assessing the possibilities and limitations of existing approaches to the development and implementation of language courses at the university in the context of the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard for Higher Education of a New Generation (Letter of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia dated 02.05.2023 No. MN-5/169012 “On the development of the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education of a new generation”). The purpose of the article is to assess the possibilities and limitations of the process of developing critical thinking skills among students of non-linguistic specialties in the conditions of a foreign language course digitalization, in particular, work with digital texts.

Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study was: digital taxonomy (A. Churches), the model of the seven propensities to critical thinking (P. Facione), as well as the results of M.Y. Lebedeva digital texts features study. A test to assess the development level of critical thinking by W. Glazer on the platform “HRLider” (URL: https://employer.hrlider.ru/) was used in the field studies.

Results. The authors come to the conclusion that the digital format of the “Foreign Language” course opens up additional opportunities in a positive change of non-linguistic university students’ critical thinking level. The use of digital texts in the process of language training has a positive effect on the level of students’ critical thinking development. The effectiveness of such influence is directly dependent on the phenomenological characteristics of the digital text and the subjective characteristics of students.

Discussion. It is emphasized the fact that the assessment of changes scale in the level of critical thinking in the process of language training using digital texts requires additional research, namely: the phenomenological limitations of digital texts, the study of the correlation between the effectiveness of the critical thinking skills usage and the level of their formation, as well as the contribution coefficient of language training in the context of the entire vocational training program impact.

Conclusion. The authors come to the conclusion that the digitalization of the educational environment not only opens up new opportunities for the “Foreign Language” course to form modern competencies of a university graduate, but also forms a number of issues that can cause a decrease in the effectiveness of the language training process influence on the development of students’ critical thinking skills.

It is determined that the process of language training influence on the students’ critical thinking level depends on the digitalization level of the “Foreign language” course;

The limitations that reduce the effectiveness of language training using digital technologies are revealed;

The research directions, that will allow managing the effectiveness of the developing critical thinking process within the framework of language training of a non-linguistic university students, are described.

1. Utyaganova D.M. & Abramov E.G. (2021), Kakie kachestva neobxodimy studentam dlya uspeshnogo trudoustrojstva: pozitsiya rabotodatelej v 2021 g. [Utyaganova D.M., Abramov E.G. What qualities do students need for successful employment: the position of employers in 2021], Ekonomika truda, 8, (12), 1485–1500. DOI 10.18334/et.8.12.114133. (In Russian).

2. Marunevich O.V. & Malishevskaya N.A. (2021), Osobennosti integratsii inoyazychnoj kommunikativnoj professionalnoj kompetentsii na zanyatiyakh po inostrannomu yazyku v transportnom vuze [Features of the integration of foreign language communicative professional competence in foreign language classes at a transport university], Sovremennoe pedagogicheskoe obrazovanie, 5, 133–137. (In Russian).

3. Ostrovskij A.V. & Kudina M.V. (2020), Novaya paradigma obrazovaniya v epokhu tsifrovoj transformatsii gosudarstva [A new paradigm of education in the era of digital transformation of the state], Gosudarstvennoe upravlenie. Elektronnyj vestnik, 78, 229–244. DOI 10.24411/2070-1381-2020-10041. (In Russian).

4. Karimova M.T. & Rizoeva P.S. (2022), Razvitie kriticheskogo myshleniya v protsesse prepodavaniya anglijskogo yazyka [Development of critical thinking in the process of teaching English], Tendentsii razvitiya nauki i obrazovaniya, 86 (6), 55–59. DOI 10.18411/trnio-06-2022-p6. (In Russian).

5. Lukyanova M.I., Gmyzina G.N., Starostina N.N. (2019), Razvitie kriticheskogo myshleniya studentov v protsesse izucheniya inostrannogo yazyka [Development of critical thinking of students in the process of learning a foreign language], Izvestiya Saratovskogo universitetata, “Seriya. Akmeologiya obrazovaniya. Psixologiya razvitiya”, 2 (30), 104–112. DOI 10.18500/2304-9790-2019-8-2-104-112. (In Russian).

6. Glavan A.A. & Gramma D.V. (2019), Razvitie kriticheskogo myshleniya v protsesse obucheniya inostrannomu yazyku studentov neyazykovykh napravlenij [Development of critical thinking in the process of teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic areas], Pedagogika i prosveshhenie, 2, 24–31. DOI 10.7256/2454-0676.2019.2.29671. (In Russian).

7. Evstigneeva I.A. & Poroshin V.V. (2021), Razvitie kriticheskogo myshleniya studentov yazykovogo vuza v processe obucheniya audirovaniyu na anglijskom yazyke [Development of critical thinking of students of a language university in the process of teaching English listening comprehension], Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta, “Seriya. Gumanitarnye nauki”, 26 (191), 24–31. DOI 10.20310/1810-0201-2021-26-191-24-31. (In Russian)

8. Pyanova M.V. (2018), K voprosu o razvitii kriticheskogo myshleniya pri izuchenii inostrannogo yazyka u studentov neyazykovykh vuzov [To the question of the development of critical thinking in the study of a foreign language among students of non-linguistic universities], Vestnik nauki i obrazovaniya, 1 (41), 98–102. DOI 10.20861/2312-8089-2018-41-006. (In Russian).

9. Shukurova I. V. & Chesnokova N. E. (2021), Nauchno-pedagogicheskoe obozrenie. Razvitie kriticheskogo myshleniya studentov neyazykovykh napravlenij podgotovki na osnove uchebnykh inoyazychnykh tekstov [Scientific and pedagogical review. Development of critical thinking of students of non-linguistic areas of training on the basis of educational texts in foreign languages], Pedagogical Review, 2 (36), 124–134. DOI 10.23951/2307-6127-2021-2-124-134. (In Russian).

10. Gergera S.G. & Tesmand A.G. (2023), “Higher-order Thinking Skills in Teaching Reading Skills at Ethiopian Higher Education: A Qualitative Study on Classroom Practice, and Teachers’ Knowledge and Beliefs”, Psychological-Educational Studies, no. 15 (1), pp. 98–112. DOI 10.17759/psyedu.2023150107.

11. Lebedeva M.Yu., Veselovskaya T.S. & Kupreshhenko O.F. (2020), Osobennosti vospriyatiya i ponimaniya cifrovykh tekstov: mezhdisciplinarnyj vzglyad [Features of perception and understanding of digital texts: an interdisciplinary view], Perspektivy nauki i obrazovaniya, 4 (46), 74–98. DOI 10.32744/pse.2020.4.5. (In Russian).

12. Kononenko A.P. & Nedoseka L.A. (2021), Prepodavanie inostrannykh yazykov v vuzax s ispolzovaniem onlajnplatform [Teaching foreign languages in universities using online platforms], Sovremennoe pedagogicheskoe obrazovanie, 9, 19–21. (In Russian).

13. Borisenko N. A., Mironova K. V., Shishkova S. V. & Granik G.G. (2020), Osobennosti tsifrovogo chteniya sovremennykh podrostkov: rezultaty teoretiko-empiricheskogo issledovaniya [Features of digital reading of modern teenagers: results of theoretical and empirical research], Science for Education Today, 10 (5), 28-49. DOI 10.15293/2658-6762.2005.02. (In Russian).

14. Bessarabova O.N. (2021), Osobennosti obucheniya inostrannomu yazyku s primeneniem informatsionno-kommunikatsionnykh texnologij [Features of teaching a foreign language using information and communication technologies], Trudy Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii “Prepodavatel' vysshey shkoly v XXI veke”, 04–05 iyunya 2021 goda [Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Teacher of higher education in the XXI century”], Rostov-na-Donu, June 04–05, 2021, 18, 225–230. (In Russian).

15. Shefieva E.Sh. (2019), Osobennosti ispolzovaniya informats ionnykh texnologij obucheniya dlya provedeniya predmetnoj olimpiady po anglijskomu yazyku v vuze [Features of the use of information technologies in teaching for conducting a subject Olympiad in English at a university], Izvestiya Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 2 (135), 75–79. (In Russian).