چكيده
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of teaching concept mapping in reading on EFL learners' self-efficacy, critical thinking, and autonomy. To reach the aim of the study, initially 90 EFL learners out of the population of 250 learners, were selected randomly to answer the Nelson Proficiency Test, using convenience sampling. After administering the proficiency test, 60 pre-intermediate level learners were finally selected, then participants were divided into experimental and control groups. Each group included 30 learners. Before the commencement of the treatment, the researcher gave three questionnaires to experimental and control groups as pre-test, including reading self-efficacy, critical thinking, and reading autonomy. Then, the selected learners in the experimental group had treatment and experienced a new type of teaching based on concept mapping strategy. However, the control group only followed the traditional instruction without any change in the process of teaching. Also both groups were taught by the same teacher. The process of teaching in both experimental and control groups continued in 8 sessions. At the end of the instruction, the questionnaires were administered again to both experimental and control groups as post-test. Afterwards, the collected data were analyzed using the appropriate statistical analyses, including independent-samples t-test and the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results of descriptive statistics indicated that using concept mapping strategy in reading had a significant effect on EFL learners' reading self-efficacy, critical thinking, and reading autonomy. The findings of the study could be helpful for EFL teachers, learners, curriculum developers, and text book writers
