The Relationship between EFL Teachers’ Critical Thinking Skills and Vocabulary Learning Strategy Instruction across Gender

Mehrak Rahimi

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.3n.1p.107

Abstract

The purpose of this study was investigating the relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ critical thinking skills and teaching vocabulary-learning strategies to their students. Additionally, it explored the difference of the strength of correlation between critical thinking skills and vocabulary learning strategy instruction across gender. California Critical Thinking Test- form B and Yu-Ling’s inventory of teaching vocabulary-learning strategies were administered to 90 Iranian EFL teachers. The results showed that strategy instruction significantly and inversely correlated with analysis (r=-.27), inference (r=-.22), and inductive reasoning (r=-.3) skills, while the correlation was not significant considering evaluation (r=-.11) and deductive reasoning (r=-.089) skills. Moreover, the difference between correlation of vocabulary learning strategy instruction and inference skill was statistically significant when male and female participants were compared (Z obs =2.24).

Highlights

The way we think affects all aspects of our private and social life and education is not an exception
The participants of this study were 90 Iranian EFL teachers who worked in high schools of Tehran in academic year 2012-2013
The findings suggest that teaching vocabulary learning strategies has a negative and significant relationship with analysis, inference, and inductive reasoning skills

Summary

Introduction

The way we think affects all aspects of our private and social life and education is not an exception. Human beings think differently and teachers who have key roles in education do so. Proper attention has been given to the ways teachers think (Calderhead, 1987) and teaching is more characterized as a thinking activity (Richards & Farell, 2005). Critical thinking includes special skills to identify a problem, analyze it, and make inferences to solve it. It requires judging the validity and reliability of assumptions and sources of data, making decisions based on specific reasoning criteria, and applying inductive and deductive logic (Pithers & Soden, 2000; Diestler, 2001)

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion