A Survey on the Relationship between Willingness to Communicate and Learner Autonomy of Turkish EFL Students


Eyerci A.

4th International Conference on Language, Education, and Culture 2021 , İstanbul, Türkiye, 21 - 23 Mayıs 2021, ss.15

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.15
  • Atatürk Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study was designed with an aim to investigate the relationship between willingness to communicate (WTC) and learner autonomy (LA) in EFL settings at a Turkish university context. The primary purpose of the study was to reveal the possible statistically significant relationship between L2 WTC and learner autonomy of EFL learners in the classroom setting. The study was based on a mixed-methods research design. 211 students majoring at the Department of English Language and Literature of a state university in Turkey participated in the study. The instruments which were used to collect data were a willingness to communicate scale, a learner autonomy scale, and classroom observation. The results revealed  that there was a moderate but significant relationship between EFL learners’ WTC and LA. The autonomy levels of the EFL learners had a predictive role in their L2 WTC. The difference between the self-reported L2 WTC and the behavioural L2 WTC of the Turkish EFL students was higher when the autonomy level of the students was lower. Based on the results, implications for enhancing L2 WTC of EFL learners are discussed.