The article presents the experience of the formation of critical thinking in the German language classes of the students of the center for secondary vocational education at Yelets Bunin State University. The authors consider a foreign language text as the most important source of information, which includes not only samples of super-phrasal units and grammatical structures, but also facts that require critical rethinking and analysis. The authors consider a foreign language text as a significant means of developing critical thinking of students. The article presents the technology of formation of critical thinking, used in foreign language classes in the framework of work with the text, which has three stages: challenge, comprehension, reflection. The authors describe the developed criteria for the formation of students`s critical thinking (flexibility or alternative, complexity, reflection), stages of experimental work, methods and techniques used in the process of formative experiment.

Keywords: critical thinking, foreign language text, criteria, indicators, experimental work, classes in German.