EFL Undergraduate Students' Critical Thinking Ability and Reading Comprehension Performance

Abstract

The current study examined the relationship between critical thinking ability and EFL university students’ reading comprehension at a university site in Iran. The purpose of the study was twofold: (i) to understand if there is any statistically significant correlation between critical thinking skills and reading comprehension performance of Iranian EFL students at the university level, and (ii) to understand whether there is any statistically significant correlation between the two groups (males vs. females) regarding their reading comprehension and critical thinking test scores. To this end, 143 EFL juniors [male (n=24) and female (n=119)] majoring in English language teaching were selected. The participants were five intact groups from the University of Mazandaran, Iran. This study examined this relationship with the help of the subjects’ scores gained from (i) the translated version of Cornell Critical Thinking Test-Level Z, and (ii) their reading comprehension scores obtained from their reading course. A correlational analysis was carried out running Pearson’s Product Moment Coefficient (Pearson r) and Partial Correlation. The results showed that a positive relationship existed between students' critical thinking ability and their EFL reading comprehension. Additionally, this study found no statistically significant difference in the correlations between critical thinking and reading comprehension for males and females in the particular context. This study has some implications for EFL learners as well as curriculum developers and EFL instructors to apply critical thinking skills in the class to help make EFL reading more effective and purposeful.