Exploring Iranian EFL Teachers’ Critical Thinking Dispositions and Their Relationships with Reflective Teaching: A Mixed-Methods Study

The aim of this mixed-methods study is twofold: Firstly, to explore how CTDs and their role in reflective teaching (RT) are addressed and perceived among EFL teachers, and secondly, to explore the relationships between EFL teachers’ CTDs and RT. To do so, ۳۰۳ Iranian EFL teachers, who have been teaching English language courses in the foreign language institutes context, participated in this study. The data collection instruments were two questionnaires, namely CT dispositions and RT questionnaires, and a semi-structured interview. Upon collecting the data, Pearson correlations and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS ۲۰ were used to analyze the quantitative data. Moreover, to analyze the qualitative data, the descriptive qualitative content analysis technique was used. The quantitative findings indicated that the largest statistically significant value, which identified the strength of the relationships between CTDs and RT, attributed to integrity, which is defined as behaving in accordance with their professed beliefs. This value showed that the integrity explains ۱۳ percent of the variance in RT scores based on Regression Weights for RT and CTDs. The second significant variable was perseverance which explained six percent of the variance in RT scores. Courage and humility (the quality of being open to one's limitations, receptive to new ideas, and willing to revise one's beliefs) variables also explain one percent of the variance in RT scores. Moreover, the qualitative results indicated the participants believed that CT dispositions played a significant role in Iranian EFL teachers’ RT practices.

کلیدواژه ها:

Critical Thinking Dispositions ، reflective teaching ، EFL Teacher ، Mixed-methods Approach