The Effect of Iraqi EFL University Students’ Critical Thinking Abilities on Their Use of Language Learning Strategies

Abstract

The importance of critical thinking has formed a motivation for educators at different fields of education, such as EFL and ESL contexts. Similarly, the awareness of the importance of language learning strategies has been growing throughout the different stages of language learning history. The current study is planned to investigate the effect of EFL learners' critical thinking abilities on their use of the different language learning strategies. To this end, the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) were administered to 100 Iraqi EFL university students. A fifteen-week experiment was conducted in an attempt to improve the participants' critical thinking abilities. The findings reveal that there is a statistically significant relationship between the participants' use of the different language learning strategies and their critical thinking abilities. It is also found out that the effect of teaching critical thinking is most clear in the case of the use of memory strategies and less in the use of the affective strategies.