Critical thinking skills, critical reading and foreign language reading anxiety in Iran context

Abstract

Critical thinking is crucial to the learning process, cognitive development, and effective information seeking. People can use critical thinking skills to understand, interpret, and assess what they hear or read in order to formulate appropriate reactions or responses. The present study intends to investigate the predictive power of critical thinking skills on critical reading and foreign language reading anxiety of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 177 intermediate adults male Iranian EFL learners from Khatam ol-Anbia university took part in the study by completing Michigan test of English language proficiency, the California critical thinking skills test, Critical reading scale and foreign language reading anxiety scale. Using KR-21 and Cronbach's Alpha, the reliability of questionnaires was re-estimated. Data were analyzed through multiple regression analyses. The results of multiple regression indicated there was a statistically significant predictive of critical thinking skills. Additionally, Results indicates that a negative relationship between critical thinking skills and foreign language reading anxiety exists as measured by FLRAS. The quantitative findings gathered through CTS and FLRA scales suggest that when there is an increase in CTS of the students, FLRA decreases and vice versa.