1. Applied Linguistics (Language Teaching and Learning)
Jalil Yazdankhah; Bahram Behin; Mohammad Hossein Yousefi; Hassan Asadollahfam
Abstract
Adopting a qualitative design, the present study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ attitudes toward critical thinking as well as its role in language teaching. To meet these objectives, 36 EFL teachers were selected through purposeful sampling as the participants of the study. For the purpose ...
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Adopting a qualitative design, the present study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ attitudes toward critical thinking as well as its role in language teaching. To meet these objectives, 36 EFL teachers were selected through purposeful sampling as the participants of the study. For the purpose of the data collection, in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, and teachers’ narratives were utilized. To assure the trustworthiness of the data, several measures have been taken. The lead author conducted the in-depth as well as focus group interviews and elicited teachers’ narratives. The interviews were conducted in Persian language and the whole procedures were audiotaped. The data were transcribed verbatim and after member checking the data with the participants, they were translated into English. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). To assure inter coder reliability, coding the data was done by the second and third authors independently. The third and fourth authors were involved in finding the potential themes and sub-themes. Finally, five themes of efficiency, intelligence, change, success and initiation were generated as a result of the data analysis. The present study revealed that the participants emphasized some fundamental building blocks of critical thinking. The participant teachers also advocated critical thinking - focused programs in teacher education as well as its application in language teaching. The study has a number of implications for language pedagogy, teacher education and policy makers.
Fatemeh Esmaeili; Biook Behnam; Abolfazl Ramazani
Abstract
Emotional Intelligence (EI) theory has stirred up interest of researchers and policy makers. As opposed to mere reliance on Intelligent Quotient (IQ) as contributing to success in education, proponents of EI theory emphasize its fundamental role in different aspects of academic achievement. Therefore, ...
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Emotional Intelligence (EI) theory has stirred up interest of researchers and policy makers. As opposed to mere reliance on Intelligent Quotient (IQ) as contributing to success in education, proponents of EI theory emphasize its fundamental role in different aspects of academic achievement. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the relationship between EI and writing ability of Iranian EFL university students. To achieve this goal, a group of forty EFL students took part in this study. Twenty of the participants were female and twenty male, and their age range was 19-26. The participants were given Bar-On’s EQ questionnaire as well as a writing test. Bar-On’s questionnaire consisted of 90 items which were in Likert scale format and the writing test was given as the final exam of students’ Advanced Essay Writing course at the university. Students were asked to write about one of the 2 topics they were given and their writing was evaluated by two raters. Inter-rater reliability of 0.8 was achieved. The results indicated no significant relationship between female and male students’ EI and their writing score. Among sub-skills of EI, impulse control correlated negatively with males’ writing ability. Detailed findings and implications are also discussed.
