The relationship between EFL teachers’ professional identity and their critical thinking: A structural equation modeling approach

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between Iranian English foreign language teachers’ professional identity and their critical thinking. The participants comprised 259 EFL teachers teaching at different language institutes in several cities of Iran. Their selection was based on convenience sampling and the participation was entirely voluntary. In this study, two instruments were used: professional identity questionnaire and critical thinking scale. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling (SEM) were run to analyze the relationships among the components. The results revealed that all three sub-constructs of professional identity are predicted by critical thinking positively and significantly: Subject Matter Field, Didactical Field, and Pedagogical Field. Also, the results of Pearson correlation among components of professional identity and critical thinking indicated there is a high positive significant relationship between total professional identity and total critical thinking. Moreover, the highest correlation is seen between analysis and total professional identity, and the lowest correlation is seen between deductive reasoning and total professional identity. Finally, these findings were discussed with reference to the context of Iran.