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The current empirical study aimed to identify those categories of reading strategies (cognitive, meta-cognitive, and compensation) that are mostly used by Iranian EFL learners, and investigate if there is any significant relationship between critical thinking ability and reading strategies used by these learners. It also pursued if there is any significant difference between critical thinking ability of male and female learners. Seventy five Iranian EFL senior students (35 males and 40 females) majoring in English Literature and EnglishTranslation at the University of Sistan and Baluchestan in Iran participated in this study. Based on the purposes of the study, two questionnaires were administered to the participants: a critical thinking questionnaire and a reading strategy questionnaire. Results of the study showed that the most frequently used reading strategy was meta-cognitive strategy. Statistical analyses revealed a low positive significant correlation between learners’ critical thinking ability and their overall use of reading strategies. The participants’ critical thinking ability also correlated positively with their use of each one of cognitive, meta-cognitive, and compensation strategies. An independent-samples t-test was employed to examine the difference between critical thinking ability of males and females and the result revealed a significant difference between male and female learners in their critical thinking; males’ critical thinking ability was higher than that of females.

Throughout the recent decades, within the realm of educational psychology, learners' thinking styles and metacognitive awareness as influential factors on learning and thinking have received considerable attention. The present study explored the relationship between thinking styles and metacognitive awareness of Iranian EFL university students majoring in English Literature, English Translation, and English Language Teaching. In addition, the study pursued whether thinking styles could act as the predictors of metacognition. Thinking Styles Inventory (TSI) and Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) were administered at 100 Iranian senior undergraduate EFL students at the University of Sistan and Baluchestan and Islamic Azad University of Zahedan. The reliability of TSI and MAI was confirmed, and the analysis of data through Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient indicated that functions and levels of thinking styles were positively correlated with metacognitive awareness. Moreover, significant positive correlations were found between hierarchical, anarchic, and external styles and metacognitive awareness. However, results manifested no significant relationship between monarchic, oligarchic, and conservative styles and metacognitive awareness. The analysis of data also showed positive and significant ISSN 1948-5425 2012 www.macrothink.org/ijl 722 relationship between the two scopes of thinking styles, namely internal and external, and knowledge of cognition as one of the components of metacognition, whereas merely external style was positively and significantly correlated with the other component of metacognition called regulation of cognition. Furthermore, regression analysis suggested that executive, hierarchical, and conservative styles could predict metacognition. International Journal of Linguistics

Teachers are one of the most influential elements for the success of any educational system. This study investigates the relationship between two key personality factors of teachers, namely self-efficacy and teaching styles in an Iranian EFL context. For this purpose, 102 EFL teachers were selected according to available sampling from different high schools in Mashhad and Zahedanlarge cities in the Northeast of Iran. The research data were collected through the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale and Teaching Styles Inventory. Analysis of the data revealed a significant relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and their teaching styles. Also, findings indicated a significant difference in teachers' self-efficacy with regard to their teaching styles. On the one hand, high self-efficacy was joined to some teaching styles (delegator and personal model) and on the other, low self-efficacy was connected with some other teaching styles (expert and formal authority). The results of the present study have implications for teacher education programs.

Abstract-Locus of control (LOC) refers to individuals' perceptions about the underlying main causes of events in their lives. Multiple intelligences (MI), as another psychological concept, deals with the various aspects of intelligence each individual may possess. This paper reports the results of a study designed to examine any relationship between LOC and MI on the one hand, and any possible relationship between each of these two constructs and reading proficiency, as a language component, on the other. To this end, 59 EFL students from University of Sistan & Baluchestan and Islamic Azad University of Zahedan answered a 28-item LOC questionnaire, a 90-item intelligence questionnaire, and a reading comprehension section of a TOFEL test. The results indicated no significant relationship between LOC and MI; however, a significant relationship was observed between MI and reading proficiency. Among the different domains of intelligence, the visual intelligence made the greatest contribution in predicting reading proficiency. The relationship between LOC and reading proficiency also was significant. In other words, a significant positive correlation was found between internal orientation and reading proficiency as well as visual intelligence and reading scores. It can be concluded that LOC and MI are significant variables regarding reading proficiency and should be highly considered while developing strategies for reading instruction Index Terms-locus of control, multiple intelligences, reading proficiency