چکیده:
Critical thinking is considered important in the field of education due to its possible effects on language learning. Therefore, the reasons behind the success and failure of language learners have provoked researchers to examine different aspects of the language learning process. Moreover, improving learners’ critical thinking ability in the course of learning will enable students to rely on their own decisions and thoughts regarding the strategies and techniques that they would want to employ in learning the language. This paper reports the findings from a mixed-method study of 75 postgraduate students’ critical thinking ability and vocabulary learning strategy use, as well as comparing the critical thinking score of proficient and less proficient students. Data were collected using Schmitt’s vocabulary learning strategies question-naire, California critical thinking skills test and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed a statisti-cally significant relationship between learners’ critical thinking ability and vocabulary learning strategies.
خلاصه ماشینی:
This paper reports the findings from a mixed-method study of 75 postgraduate students’ critical thinking ability and vocabulary learning strategy use, as well as comparing the critical thinking score of proficient and less proficient students.
Keywords: Critical thinking ability, EFL learners, Postgraduate students, Vocabulary learning strategies INTRODUCTION Learning a second or foreign language requires the use of the four language skills for an effective communication (Karami & Barekat, 2012).
However, learners’ choices of language learning strategies might be affected by a number of factors such as motiva- tion, gender, age, learning style and critical think- ing (Nikoopour, Amini Farsani, & Nasiri, 2011).
As stated by Mahyuddin, Pihie, Elias, and Konting (2004) a learner who is capable of think- ing critically and creatively in a language class, is more successful in achieving the goals of the curriculum, making use of these thinking skills for a lifelong learning.
According to previous studies, Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning strategy use is sig- nificantly correlated with their vocabulary knowledge (Rastegar Haghighi Shirazi & Yamini, 2011) language proficiency (Abadi & Baradaran, 2013; Jafari & Ajideh, 2012; Karami & Barekat, 2012) and reading comprehension (Kafipour & Hosseini Naveh, 2011) but not with their listening comprehension (Khoshsaligheh, 2009).
This, however, improves learners’ independence in dealing with the language, which is in line with the findings of previous studies (Amirian & As Table 5 reveals, proficient learners used vocabulary learning strategies more frequently pendent learning.