The Predictive Power of Critical Thinking and Autonomy on Listening Comprehension Ability: A Case of Iranian EFL learners

Many factors are claimed to have an effect on listening comprehension ability of EFL learners. Among these influential factors one can refer to autonomy and critical thinking. Accordingly, this study intended to scrutinize the difference in the predictive ability of autonomy and critical thinking on EFL learners’ listening comprehension ability. Moreover, the study was an attempt to investigate the interrelationship among Iranian EFL learners’ critical thinking, autonomy, and listening comprehension ability. The participants of the study were ۸۲ EFL learners from three different language institutes in Shiraz, Iran which were selected through a convenience sampling procedure. The present study used a quantitative design. To conduct the study, the participants were asked to answer three questionnaires: the critical thinking Questionnaire, language autonomy questionnaire, and listening comprehension test. All in all, the findings demonstrated that there was a positive significant relationship between EFL learners’ critical thinking and their autonomy. Furthermore, the results from Pearson product correlation coefficient revealed a positive correlation between EFL learners’ autonomy and listening comprehension ability. Finally, ANOVA analysis indicated that critical thinking was a better predictor of learners’ listening comprehension ability. Consequently, the findings can have several implications for EFL learners, teachers, and curriculum developers to take critical thinking and autonomy more into consideration to help learners improve their listening comprehension ability.