摘要：The multi-layered reality of EFL classes is of great significance in its impact upon the learners’ emotions and attitudes. In this study, it is suggested that teachers by taking a humanistic approach, along with making use of the unique features of their classes, could affect the learners’ thought patterns and cause attitude and behavior change. In particular, the teacher is believed to possess the power to have an impact upon the learners’ attributional complexity or the way they interpret the causes of others’ social behaviors. Attributional complexity, a term coined by Fletcher (1986), is “a psychological construct that describes the degree to which an individual is interested in understanding the causes of others’ behavior” (as cited in Fast, Reimer & Funder, 2008, p. 209). The current study aimed at unfolding the effect of attending foreign language learning classes on the Iranian female EFL learners’ attributional complexity. To this end, 33 Iranian female EFL learners (beginners), and 33 Iranian female non-EFL learners completed Attributional Complexity Scale before and after the EFL courses. The results of the t-tests showed that attributional complexity of the EFL learners did not change significantly after the time interval. The obtained results were believed to be due to the EFL learners’ relative lack of a required level of language proficiency in their first course of English, which enables them to involve in social interactions and benefit the language classes in a way that their thought patterns are affected. In addition, the period of language courses were believed to be too short for this change in EFL learners. Furthermore, it is believed that there is a great need to train teachers and try to actualize the potentialities of EFL classes, due to the endowments of the language teachers and the nature of their classes.
关键词：attribution; attributional complexity; EFL learners; EFL classes’ potentialities; unique features of EFL classes
