Omid Mallahi
Abstract
The significance of positive psychology constructs in second language learning and teaching is currently being emphasized by many L2 scholars. Accordingly, the present study intended to investigate the relationship between a set of positive psychology variables (namely, critical thinking, academic resilience ...
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The significance of positive psychology constructs in second language learning and teaching is currently being emphasized by many L2 scholars. Accordingly, the present study intended to investigate the relationship between a set of positive psychology variables (namely, critical thinking, academic resilience and grit) and argumentative writing performance of 48 Iranian EFL learners. The necessary data were collected based on the students' responses to an argumentative essay writing prompt and the instruments measuring their status in critical thinking, academic resilience and grit. The coefficient of correlation indexes indicated rather low associations between argumentative writing performance and these constructs. Multiple regression pointed to the superiority of subscales targeting affective aspects and emotion regulation in accounting for the argumentative writing performance of the learners. Nevertheless, despite the superiority of high-skilled writers compared to moderately-skilled and less-skilled writers in critical thinking, academic resilience and grit, MANOVA results indicated no statistically significant differences among these groups of learners in these variables. Finally, it was concluded that since these positive psychology constructs are responsive and amenable to instruction, some appropriate pedagogical interventions, materials, and activities must be designed to improve the students' competence in these constructs which, in turn, can positively influence their performance on rather challenging academic tasks.
Mahzad Keyvanloo; Mohammad Reza Amirian; Marjan Vosoughi; reza Bagheri Nevisi
Abstract
The main purpose of the study was to explore the connection between teachers' critical thinking, autonomy, and their teaching experience among public and private English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. In addition, the differences between the two main contexts of English language learning (public ...
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The main purpose of the study was to explore the connection between teachers' critical thinking, autonomy, and their teaching experience among public and private English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. In addition, the differences between the two main contexts of English language learning (public and private contexts) were scrutinized vis a vis teachers' critical thinking and their autonomy. Two different groups of EFL private language institute teachers and EFL high school teachers were selected from two major cities in Khorasan Razavi, Iran. As the results of Path Analysis indicated, all subfactors of EFL teachers' critical thinking (analysis, evaluation, inference, inductive reasoning) except deductive reasoning were positive significant predictors of their autonomy. Additionally, the experience was a positive significant predictor of their autonomy. Furthermore, among five sub-factors of EFL teachers' critical thinking, four subfactors were predicted by experience including analysis, inference, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. However, the experience did not predict evaluation. Also, the results of the Pearson correlation indicated that critical thinking was positively associated with autonomy with a moderate connection, and positively and weakly with experience. Furthermore, the results of the t-test for independent samples indicated that there was a significant difference between the two different contexts in the level of autonomy with private EFL teachers being more autonomous than public EFL teachers. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference between the two types of context in critical thinking.
Parisa Arabloo; Fatemeh Hemmati; Afsar Rouhi; Farzaneh Khodabandeh
Abstract
The present study sought to explore whether the incorporation of the integration of technology and project-based learning into the mainstream English teaching classrooms contributes to the development of critical thinking and problem solving, as two skills essential for 21st century English learning. ...
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The present study sought to explore whether the incorporation of the integration of technology and project-based learning into the mainstream English teaching classrooms contributes to the development of critical thinking and problem solving, as two skills essential for 21st century English learning. To accomplish such an objective, 35 Iranian learners of English were assigned to an experimental and a control group in a quasi-experimental study. Along with benefiting from a multi-skill textbook-oriented language instruction, which was the conventional teaching method of the class, the participants in the experimental group dealt with a variety of small- and large-scale technology-aided projects. The control group’s participants, on the other hand, received a multi-skill textbook-oriented language instruction in the absence of any technology-aided projects. The comparative analysis of the control and experimental groups’ performance on the critical thinking and problem solving pre- and post-treatment measures revealed a significant impact for the study treatment in improving the participants’ critical thinking and problem solving in English learning classes.The findings of the current study may be beneficial to those interested in exploring the contribution of technology to the modern educational system. Material developers and syllabus designers could also use the results of the study to augment their instructional packages for technology-assisted project based English learning.
shabnam kurosh khanshan; davud kuhi
Volume 4, Issue 3 , August 2017, , Pages 33-47
Abstract
Teachers wish their learners not to take all provided information for granted; rather, they expect to enable their learners to develop higher order thinking skills and to be reflective. When applied to academic contexts, critical discourse analysis seems to play an undeniable role in the development ...
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Teachers wish their learners not to take all provided information for granted; rather, they expect to enable their learners to develop higher order thinking skills and to be reflective. When applied to academic contexts, critical discourse analysis seems to play an undeniable role in the development of reflective thoughts by students. The current study investigated the effect of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner’s critical thinking (CT) ability in economic translation texts classes. To this end, 60 undergraduate English translation students at the intermediate level of proficiency were selected and assigned into two groups of experimental and control. The experimental group received instruction in order to make critical analysis both on articles handed out by teacher as well as follow-up CDA based presentations. The control group learners, on the other hand, received neither instruction nor any practice with respect to critical discourse analysis of texts. The data obtained from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal were subject to independent samples t-test. The findings revealed that CDA had a positive and significant impact on EFL learners’ critical thinking ability with the ‘Interpretation’ and ‘Recognizing Unstated Assumption’ sub-tests of critical thinking being most influenced. The significance of this finding in light of critical discourse analysis and implications for educationalists are discussed in detail.
Abbas Ali Rezaee; Yoones Taase; Zahra Alishahi
Volume 3, Issue 4 , November 2016, , Pages 61-47
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the reflection of critical thinking in ESAP textbooks developed by SAMT in Iran. To this end, three textbooks including English for Students of Veterinary Medicine (Medical Sciences), English for Students of Psychology (Soft Sciences) and English for Students ...
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The main purpose of this study is to investigate the reflection of critical thinking in ESAP textbooks developed by SAMT in Iran. To this end, three textbooks including English for Students of Veterinary Medicine (Medical Sciences), English for Students of Psychology (Soft Sciences) and English for Students of Сivil Engineering (Hard Sciences) were analyzed based on Peterson’s model to identify the frequency of different types of critical reading questions. Moreover, 153 students of these majors filled out a critical thinking questionnaire. The results showed that approximately half of the exercises reflect general reading questions not critical reading questions in ESAP textbooks. The results of Chi-Square tests showed that while there is not any significant difference between the applications of critical reading questions in the ESAP textbooks, there is a significant difference between different types of critical reading questions in ESAP textbooks. In addition, the results of the one-way ANOVA showed that there is not any significant difference between critical thinking of students of the three majors.
Masoomeh Estaji; Shabnam Moradi Aghdam
Volume 3, Issue 2 , May 2016, , Pages 55-35
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of learning together model of cooperative learning on Iranian EFL learners’ and high and low achievers’ critical thinking ability. To this end, a total of 52 students out of a population of 60 English language learners from Simin Language ...
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The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of learning together model of cooperative learning on Iranian EFL learners’ and high and low achievers’ critical thinking ability. To this end, a total of 52 students out of a population of 60 English language learners from Simin Language School in Karaj were selected, through a Preliminary English Test (PET), and randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control. Prior to the treatment, a critical thinking questionnaire as a pretest was administered to the students of both groups. Then a 10- session treatment was conducted to the participants in the experimental group according to the dynamics of the learning together model of cooperative learning. Finally, a posttest of critical thinking questionnaire was provided to both groups. An independent samples t-test was run to compare the mean scores of both groups along with a two-way ANCOVA to investigate the effect of achievement level of the participants on the posttest of critical thinking. The obtained results revealed that the null hypotheses were all rejected, concluding that the learning together model of cooperative learning had a significant effect on the improvement of critical thinking skills of Iranian EFL learners. More significantly, there was a significant difference between the high and low achievers in the groups in terms of their critical thinking mean scores, meaning that in both the experimental and control group, the high proficiency achievers enjoyed higher critical thinking ability.
Ali Roohani
Volume 2, Issue 3 , August 2015, , Pages 65-39
Abstract
Reading comprehension and critical thinking are basic skills for second/foreign language learners that should be developed during higher education. A critical thinking-based instruction can engage the cognitive processes which may improve language learners’ reading comprehension and critical thinking. ...
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Reading comprehension and critical thinking are basic skills for second/foreign language learners that should be developed during higher education. A critical thinking-based instruction can engage the cognitive processes which may improve language learners’ reading comprehension and critical thinking. This study then seeks to compare the effectiveness of a critical thinking-based instruction with a traditional (noncritical thinking-based) one in improving Iranian L2 learners’ reading comprehension along with their critical thinking. To this end, 50 intermediate Iranian EFL learners majoring in English translation were selected (through accessibility sampling) and assigned to the experimental and control groups. TOEFL reading comprehension and Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal tests were employed to assess their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills using a pretest-posttest control group design. The results of t-tests and analysis of covariance revealed that the treatment in the experimental group (i.e., using questioning, discussion in groups, note-making, annotations, and reflective practice) had a positive and significant effect on increasing both reading comprehension and critical thinking of the EFL participants. Besides, the participants in the experimental (critical thinking-based) group outperformed those in the control (noncritical thinking-based) group in their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Findings have theoretical and pedagogical implications for L2 researchers and teachers about the reading construct and the way to teach it.
zahra faghiri; mehdi bazyar
Volume 2, Issue 2 , March 2015, , Pages 23-40
Abstract
In this study, the researcher attempted to investigate the effect of computer-mediated collaborative learning on Iranian advanced female English Learners' critical thinking and writing performance. In order to do this, initially 90 participants were chosen. To assure the homogeneity regarding language ...
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In this study, the researcher attempted to investigate the effect of computer-mediated collaborative learning on Iranian advanced female English Learners' critical thinking and writing performance. In order to do this, initially 90 participants were chosen. To assure the homogeneity regarding language proficiency, they participated in a TOEFL exam which was used to select 60 out of 90 students whose scores fell between +1 and -1 SD for this study. Participants were then randomly assigned to two 30-member control and experimental groups. In this study, Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal-Form A (Watson & Glaser, 1980) was used as a pretest to see to what extent the participants think critically. A writing test was also administered to assess the writing performance of the learners as writing pre-test. This writing was adapted from TOEFL Writing section and the results were scored by 3 raters. Then, two groups participated in ten sessions. The experimental group was provided with 15 laptops as well as with internet access so as to be able to extract the necessary information for completing their writing. Finally, the critical thinking questionnaire was administered again. Also, a post-test writing was administered to investigate the effect of treatment on the writing performance. The results of data analysis indicated that computer-mediated collaboration led to better writing performance of the learners. Computer-mediated collaboration also proved to have a statistically significant effect on critical thinking level of the participants.
