Investigating Iranian EFL Teachers’ Attitudes toward Critical Thinking Principles across Gender and Teaching Experience

Teachers are world makers. They can alter the mindset, attitudes, and lives of their students.Thus, it is essential to study the factors that foster teachers’ competency. Critical thinking (CT) isamong the factors influencing the effectiveness of teachers. In line with this argument, thepresent study delved into Iranian novice and experienced EFL teachers’ perceptions of the realapplication of CT in instructional curricula across gender. To do so, this study employed asurvey-based design. First, in order to ensure that the instruments and procedures were reliable,the researchers conducted a pilot test. During the main study, a total of ۱۰۰ EFL female and maleinstructors from English language private institutes participated in this study whose teachingexperiences ranged from ۱ to ۲۸ years. Data collection tools encompassed a researcher-designedCT questionnaire consisting of ۲۰ items. The result of an independent-samples t-testdemonstrated that no difference was observed between experienced EFL instructors’ viewsconcerning CT and those of less experienced ones. Moreover, the outcomes revealed that nodifference was observed between male and female EFL instructors’ views concerning CT. All theparticipants believed that CT principles are sometimes applied in the syllabi and curricula. Theimplications for curriculum design are presented.