An Investigation into the Critical Attitudes of Iranian EFL Students toward English Language Learning in Iran: An Introspective Longitudinal Study

Abstract

In the mid-twentieth century, critical pedagogy was at the forefront of educational theorists’ focus, and curriculum designers sought to combine critical pedagogy practices with university curricula. Therefore, by using quantitative method through a survey and an introspective longitudinal study, the present research was conducted to investigate the critical attitude of undergraduate (BA) and postgraduate (MA) students. Accordingly, a Critical Pedagogy Attitude Questionnaire, developed by Pishvaei and Kasaian (2013), was distributed among 164 male and female students (in the first and last semester of study). The participants were majoring in English translation and Applied Linguistics courses at four universities in Markazi province. The reliability of this questionnaire through Cronbach’s alpha was .93. Then, statistical tests such as the Mann-Whitney test and one-way ANOVA indicated that the students’ critical pedagogy attitudes did not significantly grow in the process of education from the first to the last semester. The results of this study are useful for students, professors, and curriculum designers. They also provide critical insight for EFL students.