A Pilot Study of Critical Thinking Disposition and Self-Efficacy with English Majors in China

Abstract

This pilot survey study is intended to investigate tertiary learners’ critical thinking disposition and self-efficacy as well as the relationship between these two variables. Participants were 135 English majors from non-key universities in Shanxi, China. Two 6-point Likert scales were chosen as measures: one is the Self-efficacy Inventory particularly designed to measure tertiary students’ general self-efficacy; the other is the Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory which focuses on four aspects of intellectualness, emotionality, rationality and morality. Findings indicate that students exhibited medium self-efficacy and low critical thinking disposition, with a significant difference between each pair of the four aspects. It was strikingly noticeable that students of lower English proficiency demonstrated higher level of both critical thinking disposition and self-efficacy than peers. Self-efficacy and critical thinking were found positively correlated at significant level. There was clear indication that emotionality served as the strongest predictors of self-efficacy while morality demonstrated least predictive power.