Impact of Conceptualization and Analysis Effectiveness Strategies on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners Across Gender: Elder and Paul’s Critical Thinking Model

The role of different critical thinking strategies in reading English texts has ignited remarkable research. In the very vein, the present mix-methods study aimed to explore the effects of analysis and conceptualization strategies of critical thinking proposed by Elder and Paul (2009), on the reading comprehension skills, and to probe the perception of Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners across gender. To this end, 60 male and female learners within the age range of 25 to 38 were selected from a total number of 120 learners via the Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE) test at the Pouyandegan institute of higher education in Chalous, Iran. Then, they were randomly assigned to two experimental groups for utilizing the conceptualization strategy, and two experimental groups for performing the analysis strategy. Next, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was administered as the pre-test before an eight-week instruction. After utilizing the treatments, the post-test was administered alongside a semi-structured interview for 12 selected learners. The obtained data were analyzed through one-way ANOVA and paired samples t-test. The results revealed that the treatments had significant effects on the improvement of reading comprehension. The qualitative results too revealed that the learners adopted positive views toward the critical thinking (CT) strategies instruction. However, gender did not play any significant role in using the CT strategies in reading comprehension. The implications of the study were discussed at the end of the paper.