Abstract
The thrust of the present study was to systematically investigate the relationship between EFL learners' Self-Efficacy (SE), Critical Thinking (CT), and their Autonomy (AU). To this end, 196 male and female EFL learners, within the age range of 20 to 30 (Mage= 25) were selected based on convenience sampling strategy. They were asked to fill in three questionnaires, namely Sherer, Maddux, Mercadante, Prentice-Dunn, Jacobs, and Rogers' SE Scale (1982), Honey's CT questionnaire (2000), and Zhang and Li's Learner AU questionnaire (2004). Since the assumptions of normality of distribution were violated for the scores of AU and SE, in order to find out the relationships among the variables, the non-parametric Spearman Rank Order Coefficient of Correlation was conducted. The results revealed that there was a significant and positive correlation between AU and CT, AU and SE, and CT and SE. Furthermore, a regression analysis revealed that SE has the largest β coefficient (β = 0.519, t = 7.65, p = 0.0005). This is to say that SE makes the strongest statistically significant unique contribution to explaining AU. CT turned out to be the second significant predictor of AU scores (β = 0.186, t = 2.75, p = 0.007). The study concludes with a discussion on the obtained results followed by presenting some implications for EFL teachers, learners, and syllabus designers.
Highlights
The driving force behind conducting this study was making a systematic attempt in order to inspect the way autonomy, critical thinking, and self-effica y, as major factors in learning, interact with one another
Language learning is occurring in more different circumstances and for a broader variety of objectives than ever before (Benson & Voller, 1997), and EFL learners are expected to be responsible for their own learning (Kumaravadivelu, 2001)
The role of learners’ internal factors in mastering language skills is no longer unknown to language educators and EFL practitioners (Mitchell & Myles, 2004; Richards & Rodgers, 2001; Zaker, 2016). This awareness has been contemporaneous with a shift towards highlighting the role of autonomy in ELT pedagogy (Nosratinia & Zaker, 2014, 2017)
Summary
The driving force behind conducting this study was making a systematic attempt in order to inspect the way autonomy, critical thinking, and self-effica y, as major factors in learning, interact with one another. A great share of ELT studies in recent years has been dedicated to inspecting the interaction of learners’ autonomy and other pedagogical and internal factors (Aliweh, 2011; Lightbown & Spada, 2013), functioning as the driving force of the present study. Needless to say, this inspection would enhance ELT practitioners’ pedagogical knowledge in addition to providing them with more options and tools for amplifying and encouraging autonomy among EFL learners
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