The Relationship among Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Self-Directed Learning, and Critical Thinking: A Case of Advanced EFL Learners

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to investigate the relationship among self-efficacy belief, self-directed learning, and critical thinking among advanced EFL Learners in a private language institute in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Sixty Iranian EFL students who were chosen based on their performance in a TOEFL PBT from among 80 EFL learners to shape the participants of the study. The participants received a validated copy of Honey s'(2004) critical thinking questionnaire, a standard copy of Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) developed by Guglielmino (1977), and The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), which has been validated by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995). The findings of the present study revealed that firstly, there was a significant relationship between self-directed learning and self-efficacy belief of Iranian EFL learners. Secondly, the results revealed that there was a significant relationship between critical thinking and self-efficacy belief of Iranian EFL learners, and thirdly, it was revealed that there was a significant relationship between critical thinking and self-directed learning of Iranian EFL learners. Findings of the present study could be used by material developers, English teachers, and EFL learners in the EFL and ESL context.