Iranian High School EFL Teachers' Perception and Frequency of Use of Critical Thinking Based Teaching Strategies and their inter-relationship

This study intended to elaborate on critical thinking based teaching strategies high school EFL teachers in Iran integrate into their teaching process. An edited version of an email-based questionnaire by Barnhill (۲۰۱۰) has been put into use to distribute the teaching strategies survey in four different provinces (Yazd, Lorestan, Fars and Kordestan). One hundred and twenty teachers answered it completely showing ۷۵.۹۴ percent of response rate .Not an empirical layout was utilized to investigate the most effective and frequently used strategies and the relations between the two variables of frequency of use and perception of effectiveness. Means, frequencies, standard deviations, percentages, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), correlation coefficient, and five-point Likert scale were utilized for the purpose of the data analysis. The items rank-ordering pointed out that among the ۵۰ items "questioning and challenging students to consider all views" was rated as the most frequently used and "creative projects in-class involving various materials" was distinguished as the most effective. From ۵۰ strategies, EFA determined four factors reducing the ۵۰ critical thinking based teaching strategies. The findings showed a positive and direct relation between perception of effectiveness and frequency of use for every one of the four variables.

Keywords:

Critical thinking (CT) , Critical thinking based teaching strategies , EFL teachers of Iranian high schools , Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL)