J Psycholinguist Res DOI 10.1007/s10936-015-9371-5

Examination of the Relationship Between Autonomy and English Achievement as Mediated by Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Farhad Ghorbandordinejad1 · Roghayyeh Moradian Ahmadabad2

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Abstract This study investigated the relationship between autonomy and English language achievement among third-grade high school students as mediated by foreign language classroom anxiety in a city in the north-west of Iran. A sample of 400 students (187 males, and 213 females) was assessed for their levels of autonomy and foreign language anxiety using the Autonomy Questionnaire and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), respectively. Participants’ scores on their final English exam were also used as the measurement of their English achievement. The results of Pearson correlation revealed a strong correlation between learners’ autonomy and their English achievement (r = .406, n = 400, p < .01). Also, foreign language classroom anxiety was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with English achievement (r = −.472, n = 400, p < .01). Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the ability of autonomy to predict language learning achievement, after controlling for the influence of anxiety. In sum, the results of hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that foreign language classroom anxiety significantly mediates the relationship between autonomy and English language achievement. Implications for both teachers and learners, and suggestions for further research are provided. Keywords Autonomy · Foreign language classroom anxiety · English achievement · Iranian high school students

Introduction Several studies (e.g., Rothstein et al. 1994; Brown 2007) have investigated the effects of personality traits as individual differences on academic achievement. In the field of language

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Farhad Ghorbandordinejad [email protected] Roghayyeh Moradian Ahmadabad [email protected]

1

Applied Linguistic in TEFL Department, Faculty of Humanities, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

2

TEFL Department, Faculty of Humanities, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

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learning and teaching, many language and non-language factors have recently been examined to explain the role of individual differences in foreign language learning (e.g., Long 1991; Brown 2007). Gardner and MacIntyre (1993) grouped individual differences into three clusters such as cognitive, affective and miscellaneous variables. Among them, affective factors including motivation, anxiety in addition to personality style have been deemed as the most likely (Oxford 1990; Horwitz and Young 1991). Nevertheless, it appears that other factors have been ignored, among which are individual differences like autonomy. Helping language students to become more autonomous has become one of the most noteworthy topics of the century (Benson 2001). The notion of learner autonomy indicates that learners are responsible for their own learning. Some researchers found a close relationship between autonomy and efficient learning (e.g., Little 1991; Dafei 2007). Holec (1981) defines autonomy as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (p. 3). Research in the field of learners’ affective factors has emphasized that language anxiety has a major effect on the students’ performance (e.g., Scovel 1978; Horwitz 1990; Zahrakar 2008). However, its actual quality is usually noticeable due to inconsistent conclusions. The difficulties in its definition, measurement, and the intervention of other variables in the research situation are among these findings (Laine 1987). Iranian educational setting does not support the language teachers in their attempts towards training autonomous and stress-free language learners. Hence, it is necessary to follow the investigation on the value of these factors in Iran’s EFL context to shed some lights on its effectiveness in teaching and learning process to enable practicing teachers to improve their students’ English language proficiency. Although most research in this regard has explored the role of autonomy and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) in the EFL context, there seems to be little research in which mediating role of FLCA in the relationship between autonomy and English learning achievement has been addressed. This study aims mainly at examining the relationship between autonomy and English learning achievement and determining the mediating role of FLCA in association with these two variables. For the purpose of this study, the following research questions were posed: 1. Is there any relationship between third-grade high school students’ autonomy and their English achievement? 2. Is there any relationship between third-grade high school students’ foreign language classroom anxiety and their English achievement? 3. Does foreign language classroom anxiety mediate the relationship between autonomy and their English achievement among third-grade high school students?

Autonomy The idea of learner autonomy was initially developed by Holec (1981). He defined it as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning”, noting that this ability “ is not innate but must be acquired either by natural means or by formal learning in a systematic way” (Holec 1981, p. 3). Autonomy conveys a meaning of independence and it is the ability to charge one’s affairs as faced with a state of dependence in which one is exposed to other’s decisions (Popescu and Cohen-Vida 2014). Some authors, such as Littlewood (1996), have differentiated between two types of autonomy-proactive and reactive. Students can have proactive autonomy when they have an ability to control and assess their own learning, decide their own aims, and select methods. They set a personal agenda for their learning (Little 1991, p. 431). Littlewood (1999)

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describes reactive autonomy as the type of autonomy which allows learners to set their resources to acquire their own goals. Autonomous learners can recognize, apply learning methods and reflect their own learning process to employ their skills inside and outside the classroom. The development of autonomy in language learning is directed by (a) learner involvement: engaging learners to share responsibility for the learning process; (b) learner reflection: helping learners to think critically when they plan, monitor and evaluate their learning; and (c) appropriate target language use: using the target language as the principal medium of language learning (Little 1991, p. 25).

Autonomy and English Achievement Many advocates of autonomy are concerned primarily with the ability to learn efficiently in terms of personal goals (e.g., Dafei 2007; Jing 2007). It is believed that the last educational goal of language teachers is to help learners become autonomous. In language education, the idea of learner-centered practice and autonomy has been combined into communicative language teaching (Benson 2001). In recent years, the correlation between autonomy and language achievement has become an important issue for two reasons, as researchers found out there is a close relationship between autonomy and efficient learning and the teacher should state the fitness of their procedures in terms of getting proficiency (Dafei 2007). The autonomous learners show some ability to guide the process of their own learning to be able to make decisions regarding course management, organization and content. Autonomous learners are those who search for the situations to learn outside the classroom and make their own instructional settings free from the teacher (Ganji Khoosf and Khosravani 2014). Many researchers considered learner autonomy as an important factor in effective language learning (e.g., Holmberg 1995; Peters 1998; Kearsley 2000). Spratt et al. (2002) aimed to examine the connection between learner autonomy, motivation and language achievement. 508 students from 9 different parent departments participated in this study. It was found that “motivation is a key factor that influences the extent to which learners are ready to learn autonomously and teachers might endeavor to ensure motivation before they train students to become autonomous and there is a significant relationship between them and language achievement” (p. 245). Jing (2007) examined the connection between learner autonomy and Chinese student’s English achievement. He used multiple regression and correlation to calculate the degree of the relationship between the four factors of learner autonomy and English achievement of the students. The findings showed that originality and gender accounted for 12.5 % of the variability in the proficiency score. Then, a semi structured phone interview measured the degree of the relationship between them. The results established the role of originality, persistence and initiative on English language achievement. Sahragard et al. (2011) investigated the relationships between learners’ autonomy, motivation and GPA. They used the Autonomy Questionnaire of Kashefian (2002) to measure the students’ degree of autonomy and the Motivation Questionnaire developed by Laine (1987) to measure the students’ degree of motivation. 60 college students majoring in English Translation at Shiraz Payamenoor University participated in this study through convenient sampling. Analysis of the data showed a significant positive relationship between motivation and GPA, as well as autonomy and GPA. In addition, according to the regression analysis, autonomy scores are better predictors of GPA than motivation. In a recent study, Ahmadi and Mahdavi (2013) investigate the views of Iranian university students concerning responsibility and decision making capacity connected to autonomous language learning. The study also investigated

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whether or not male and female students differed in responsibility and ability views. A questionnaire by Chan et al. (2002) was used and distributed among 133 students in the University of Guilan. They found that students believed the responsibility of managing and planning some aspects of their learning should be left to their teachers. The results also showed that gender did not play any position in students’ views concerning their responsibility and ability.

Anxiety Researchers have been in search of answers to find the difficulties faced by a number of students when learning a foreign/second language. Students who have problem are often defined as having language learning incapacities (Hu 2003). Other affective variables as attitude, motivation and anxiety about language learning have been considered as factors that might impact foreign language learning. Second language education has extended quickly during the last few decades in Iran and Iranian EFL students have difficulty in comprehending English language skills (Rezaei and Jafari 2014). Anxiety, as a main source of difficulty, has been given much attention as a problem in second language learning by teachers and students. Second language anxiety is defined as a state of uneasiness, tension and fear, happening from a real or perceived threat. This kind of anxiety discussed here is foreign language anxiety. Foreign language anxiety is not a psychological feature that can manifest itself in any learning process, but is only related to the specific course of L2 learning. Many experiences have supported that learners become anxious while learning an L2, because they feel helpless when depressed of the relaxation given by their first language to accept communication tasks (Jebali 2014). For Horwitz et al. (1986) foreign language anxiety is “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process”. They claimed that one-third of students who learn a foreign language experience some sort of anxiety. There are threepart model of language anxiety that related with the area of performance anxiety which are supposed to “provide useful conceptual building blocks for a description of foreign language anxiety”: (1) Communication apprehension: as a “type of shyness characterized by fear or anxiety about real communication with other people”, student experiences anxiety due to fear of losing oneself in the target culture; (2) Test anxiety: as a “type of performance anxiety, stemming from a fear of failure in an academic evaluation setting” students has test anxiety when they have weak performance in the former tests; and (3) Fear of negative evaluation: as an “apprehension about other’s evaluation, avoidance of evaluation situation”. It may happen in any social assessment as interviewing for job or speaking in a foreign language classroom (Horwitz et al. 1986, pp. 127–128). Anxiety has been regarded to be a negative emotional state and both negative and positive feelings involving anxiety can be facilitative and debilitative to an individual’s performance regarding to cognitive evaluation (Alpert and Haber 1960). Facilitative anxiety improves learning and performance, whereas debilitative anxiety is concerned with weak learning. Anxiety also involves three other elements: (a) State Anxiety is a social kind of anxiety that happens when the students perceive the situation as being frightening. It is “a transitory state that varies in intensity and fluctuates over time” (Spielberger 1966, p. 12); (b) Trait Anxiety is a continuing trend to be anxious. It is “a constant condition without time limitation” (Levitt 1980, p. 11). For measuring state and trait anxiety, the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory is developed by Speilberger (1983); and (c) Situation- specific anxiety: This type of anxiety is prompted by specific set of conditions, for example, public speaking or participating in class (Ellis 2008).

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Anxiety and English Achievement Challenged with reliability of anxiety, Horwitz et al. (1986) identified anxiety specific to foreign language learning from general anxiety and produced the foreign language classroom anxiety scale (FLCAS) which is a new era for the study of foreign language anxiety. It evaluates anxiety levels that showed negative performance chance. The correlation between anxiety and foreign language learning has provided unclear results because it relates to the general task of language learning. In the first study using FLCAS (Horwitz 1986), there was a negative relationship between anxiety and the achievement of students who were learning Spanish or French (r = −.49, p = .003, n = 85). It showed students with higher level of anxiety got lower scores than their less anxious classmates. Gardner et al. (1997) examined the relationship between foreign language anxiety between different affective variables and achievement in French. They found that there was a negative relationship in language anxiety and two measures of achievement as objective measures (r = −.66, p = .001, n = 102) and French grades (r = −.33, p = .01, n = 102). In the Turkish setting, Butumlu and Erden (2007) evaluated the first and second midterm exams of 150 university students. They found a negative correlation between anxiety and language achievement (r = −.45, p = .01, n = 150). Atasheneh and Izadi (2012) investigated the relationship between anxiety and listening comprehension of 60 intermediate Persian students. They found negative relationship between these variables by using correlation analysis (r = −.469, p = .000, n = 60). In addition, Khodadady and Khajavy (2013) examined the relationship among language anxiety, motivation and foreign language achievement by structural equation modeling. They used two questionnaires of FLCAS and LLOS (Language Learning Orientation Scale) for 264 students. The outcomes indicated that motivation and external motivation were positively related to language anxiety, but intrinsic motivation was negatively related. The use of structural equation modeling indicated that both anxiety and motivation significantly signify the English achievement of language learners in Iranian context. In a recent study, Javanbakht and Hadian (2014) investigated the relationship between Test Anxiety and Reading Test Performance of 34 intermediate male learners at Iran Language Institute (ILI) of Urmia. They used two questionnaires of Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) and Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS),they found that Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient at the intermediate level of proficiency showed the learners did not feel anxious during reading test performance and there is no correlation between test anxiety and performance on reading comprehension tests. Rezaei and Jafari (2014) examined the levels, types, and causes of writing anxiety among 120 Iranian EFL Students in two institutes of higher education in Shiraz by using the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) (Cheng 2004), and Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI), developed by the authors based on classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The findings of this mixed method design study showed a high level of writing anxiety, with cognitive anxiety as its main type and fear of teacher’s negative reaction, little self-confidence and poor linguistic information as its main bases.

Method The research was a correlation design utilizing survey methodology. Considering that the main purpose of this study was to find the autonomy and foreign language anxiety level

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among Iranian learners of English and the correlation between these constructs and English achievement. The participants of the present study were all third-graders (N = 400) studying at 13 high schools in Takab, located in South of Urmia, including 187 males and 213 females. These students had studied English for at least 5 years as a required course in school with about 2 h per week in elementary school and 3–4 h a week in secondary school. Two questionnaires were administered to participants as the major sources of data, including the Autonomy Questionnaire of Kashefian (2002) and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) of Horwitz et al. (1986). The Autonomy Questionnaire consisted of 40 items with five subscales as Learner Independence (12 items), Dependence on the teacher (9 items), Learner Confidence (8 items), Attitudes toward Language Learning (6 items), and Self-Assessment (5 items). The theoretical range of this scale was from 40 to 200. Participants with higher scores indicated higher levels of autonomy. Coefficient alphas for these subscales were reported as .84, .26, .56, .21, and .19, respectively. The reliability of the complete Autonomy scale was estimated as .80. The other instrument, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS; Horwitz et al. 1986) containing 33 items, each of which was answered on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree) was utilized to measure the students’ levels of foreign language anxiety. The theoretical range of this scale is from 33 to 165. Questions were intended to study three sections: communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Coefficient alpha for the three subscales of FLCAS, i.e. Communication apprehension (11 items), Test anxiety (15 items), and Fear of negative evaluation (7 items) were reported as .79, .84, and .62, respectively. In addition, the reliability of the total scale was computed as .89. Finally, the third-grade English language final exam, organized by Iran Ministry of Education held throughout the country in the academic year of 2013–2014, was used as the measure of language achievement. The test was developed on the basis of materials being taught through the third year of high school and contained subtests of spelling, vocabulary, structure, reading comprehension, pronunciation and some others related to the materials surrounded in the course of third year of high school to assess students’ overall achievement in English and could be considered as a general achievement test (Farhady et al. 2006). The final English grade was selected as a global measure of language proficiency by several researchers (e.g. Chastain 1975; Chen 2007). At last, the participants were requested to answer the questionnaires by selecting a choice, which best fitted their characteristics in their view, during their regular class time. It took about 40 min to be completed and the participants were confirmed that their responses to the questionnaire would not affect their grades. All students agreed willingly to complete the questionnaires.

Results Relationship Between Autonomy and English Achievement To answer the research questions, the data were collected and analyzed quantitatively using SPSS. In order to explore the relationship between autonomy and English achievement, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to determine if there are any statistically significant differences between them.

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Furthermore, preliminary analyses were performed to ensure no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity and homoscedasticity. Table 1 shows a significant positive relationship between total learner autonomy scores and English scores (r = .406, n = 400, p < .01). It indicates that the learners who demonstrate more autonomy may be more efficient in getting desired achievements in language learning. In addition, a positive relationship was found among the total English score and the fivesubscale autonomy scores. Among them, the correlation coefficients of the English score had much higher correlations with the subscales of learner confidence (r = .421, p < .01) and learner independence (r = .301, p < .01) than with the subscale of self-assessment (r = .56, p < .01). It suggested that students with higher English scores tended to have higher learner confidence and learner independence than self-assessment. As expected, the autonomy subscale scores had much higher correlation with the autonomy total scores. Rather, the five autonomy subscales had high correlations (.870, .477, .814, .432, .364, respectively, p < .01) with the autonomy scores. Namely, the quantitative data indicated that all the autonomy subscales were significantly correlated with English achievement. The results may be explained by the fact that, autonomy, as a part of individual differences, leads to better academic achievement in most areas of foreign language learning.

Relationship Between FLCA and English Achievement Going along with research question 2, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to explore the relationship between foreign language classroom anxiety and English learning achievement. The results from Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients between FLCAS scores and English scores are exemplified in Table 2.There was a significant negative relationship between total FLCA scores and English scores (r = −.472, n = 400, p < .01), which indicates the more anxious the students, the lower they achieve during an academic term. In addition, significantly negative relationship was found among the total English score and the three-subscale FLCAS scores. Among them, the correlation coefficients of the English score had much higher correlation with the subscales of test anxiety (r = −.515, p < .01) and communication apprehension (r = −.387, p < .01) than with the subscale of fear of negative evaluation (r = −.294, p < .01). It was expected that students with lower English scores tended to have higher test anxiety and communication apprehension than fear of being negatively assessed by the teacher and other students and peers. As expected, the FLCAS subscale scores had much higher correlations with the total FLCAS scores. Rather, the three FLCAS subscales had high correlation (.908, .943, .810, respectively, p < .01) with the FLCAS scores.

The Mediation Effect of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety The third research question aimed at investigating the mediation effect of foreign language classroom anxiety on the relationship between autonomy and English achievement. A variable operates as a mediator if it can show the relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable (Baron and Kenny 1986). Somewhat, a mediator can help explain how or why a relationship between two variables occurs. The most common method for testing mediation effects in research is based on a hierarchical multiple regression procedure that establishes a mediation relationship between a predictor variable as autonomy, and an outcome variable as English achievement score. Preliminary analyses were used to ensure no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity, multicolllinearity and homoscedasticity.

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123 .181∗∗

.814∗∗

.432∗∗

.364∗∗

.421∗∗

.235∗∗

∗∗ Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed)

Self-assessment

Attitudes toward language learning

Learner confidence

.56

.189∗∗

.477∗∗

.212∗∗

Dependence on teacher .611∗∗

.220∗∗

.870∗∗ 1

1

.301∗∗

Learner independence

.406∗∗

Autonomy

Learner independence

1

Autonomy

English Score

English Score

.61

.165∗∗

.277∗∗

1

Dependence on teacher

Table 1 Correlations between autonomy scores and its factors and English scores (N = 400)

.213∗∗

.314∗∗

1

Learner confidence

−.022

1

Attitudes toward language learning

1

Selfassessment

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J Psycholinguist Res Table 2 Correlations between FLCAS scores and English scores (N = 400) English score

FLCAS

Communication apprehension

Test anxiety

English score

1

FLCAS

−.472∗∗

1

Communication Apprehension

−.387∗∗

.908∗∗

1

Test anxiety

−.515∗∗

.943∗∗

.769∗∗

1

Fear of negative evaluation

−.294∗∗

.810∗∗

.662∗∗

.659∗∗

Fear of negative evaluation

1

∗∗ Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed)

Table 3 Model summary and coefficient Predictor variables

Model summary B

t

Coefficients Sig

B

t

Sig

Constant

3.328

2.68

p < .01

.398

2.68

.000

Autonomy

3.50

8.63

.000

.190

3.574

.000

−.362

−6.799

.000

Foreign language classroom anxiety R

.09

.158

Adjusted R2

.156

.247

F change

46.23

64.63

Sig

p > .05

p < .01

a. Predictors: (Constant), total autonomy b. Predictors: (Constant), total autonomy, total anxiety c. Dependent Variable: score

As it is illustrated in Table 3, hierarchal multiple regression was used to assess the relationship between autonomy and English achievement as mediated by foreign language classroom anxiety. This was done by the ability of learner autonomy to predict language learning achievement, after controlling the influence of foreign language anxiety. Autonomy was entered at step 1, explaining 16 % of the variance in achievement. After entry of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety scale at step 2 the total variance explained by the model as a whole was 24.7 %, F(2,395) = 64.63, p < .01 (Table 3). The foreign language classroom anxiety scale explained an additional 9 % of the variance in achievement, R2 change = 9, F change (1, 395) = 46.23, p < .01. In the final scale, both FLCA and autonomy measures were statistically significant, with the former Scale recording a lower beta value (β = −.36, p < .01) than the autonomy Scale (β =.40, p < .01). The obtained results suggest that FLCA significantly mediates the relationship between autonomy and English learning achievement. In other words, FLCA appeared to play a determinant role in the predictive power of autonomy in terms of English achievement.

Discussion This study was intended to investigate the mediating role that FLCA may play in the relationship of autonomy and English achievement. Findings indicate significant positive correlation

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between total autonomy and its subscales with English achievement. The findings seems to be consistent with the results of many other studies in which a vital role has been attributed to autonomy in the foreign language learning (e.g. Long 1991; Jing 2007; Dafei 2007; Sahragard et al. 2011; Shangarffam and Ghazi Saeedi 2013). Most of these studies are intended to attach notably high significance to autonomy construct in terms of language achievement. Based on these studies, it can be inferred that the important advantage of autonomy is that it encourages active learning by making students responsible for their own learning. For example, the findings in this section seem to be consistent with that of Sahragard et al. (2011) study in which they reported a positive correlation between learners’ autonomy and their English achievement. These findings are also in agreement with Shangarffam and Ghazi Saeedi (2013) investigation which revealed a positive and significant relationship among EFL learners’ autonomy, first language essay writing and second language essay writing in Task/Content Based Instruction and autonomy was a better predictor of English essay writing as contrasted to Persian essay writing. Furthermore, the results are consistent with those of Ahmadi and Mahdavi (2013) who found a strong relationship between learners’ autonomy and efficient foreign language learning. By the same token, the reported findings seem to accord theoretically with this widespread belief that more autonomy positively influences efficient learning through which facilitates achievement of higher levels of language proficiency. With respect to the relationship between FLCA and English learning achievement, findings indicate significant negative correlation between total FLCA and its subscales with English achievement. It means that the learners who indicate higher anxiety may be less efficient in getting the desired achievement in language learning. The results may be explained by the fact that FLCA leads to lower academic achievement. These findings support many other studies which have found a negative relationship between FLCA and English achievement (e.g. Butumlu and Erden 2007; Atasheneh and Izadi 2012). Class unity is a major factor in decreasing class anxiety for any of students. Self-talk is very considerable; students were talking themselves through their anxiety by improving strategies, giving themselves recommendation, using them through language learning process. These factors could be used to decrease anxiety (Chastain 1998). For instance, the findings in this section seem to be consistent with that of Yao and Jingna (2011) study which showed a negative correlation between foreign language anxiety level and reading comprehension proficiency by 92 Chinese students. These findings are also in agreement with Atasheneh and Izadi (2012) study which reported a negative correlation between anxiety and listening comprehension of 60 intermediate Persian students. Additionally, in accordance with acquired results in this research, Zhang (2013) indicated that significant negative relationship among foreign language listening anxiety and English listening performance of 300 students. Moreover, higher anxiety negatively influences learning skills which decreases language proficiency. On the question of the mediating role of FLCA in the relationship between autonomy and English achievement, an investigation established mediation effect which leads to the conclusion that FLCA may play a basis role in the predictive power of learner autonomy in terms of English achievement. For this reason, it can show a significant relationship between the predictor variable and the outcome variable, how the mediator is related to the outcome variable and at last the strength of the relationship between the predictor variable and the outcome variable is significantly weakened or strengthen by the presence of the mediator in this study. The findings related to the first question showed a significant relationship between the predictor variable (i.e. Autonomy) and the outcome variable (i.e. English Achievement) by Pearson correlational analysis, as shown in Table 2. In addition, the results regarding the second question revealed significantly negative correlation between FLCA and English

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achievement as shown in Table 3.The findings of this research proved that the effects of some variables would be doubled when a third variable is intervened. The relationship between independent and dependent variables is apparent but the role of the mediation as strengthening or weakening has been taken into consideration. A variable is said to function as a mediator if it can account for the relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable (Baron and Kenny 1986). The need for performing the mediational analyses can be revealed by examining the correlational results to determine if they would yield a significant result. This study revealed that FLCA as a mediator strengthened the relationship between autonomy and English achievement. The lack of direct evidence and studies in the literature in this regard, made it difficult to interpret the results of the present study. Although, it can be hypothesized that the results of studies examined the relationship between autonomy and English achievement in EFL and other contexts (Holec 1981; Dafei 2007; Shangarffam and Ghazi Saeedi 2013; Ahmadi and Mahdavi 2013) in one hand and studies that examine the role of FLCA in English achievement (Horwitz 2001; Atasheneh and Izadi 2012) on the other hand, may be regarded as the contributing and facilitating factors for interpretation of obtained results in this section. In short, the well-documented relationship between autonomy and FLCA with English achievement can be regarded as a plausible theoretical framework for mediating the role that FLCA may play. In addition, current theoretical viewpoint also may make effective influence in explaining this mediation effect. It is recently recognized that efficient learning comes from mutual interaction between cognitive and affective dimensions of learners (Moon 2008). The findings can be explained through the fact that, integrating autonomy in language learning programs needs a friendly, supportive and non-threatening classroom atmosphere and attention of the teachers to make students responsible for their own learning. One of the necessities for establishing such an efficient learning environment is resorting to learners’ affective factors like foreign language anxiety. In other words, anxious students through creating an active, flexible, relaxed and supportive classroom atmosphere can concrete the way to increased motivation and need to occupy in higher level of cognitive abilities. This case leads to decrease anxiety in learning a foreign language. However, further research on such relationships is strongly recommended. Since foreign language anxiety is proved to be significantly related to both autonomy and English achievement by itself.

Conclusion This study investigated the relationship between learner autonomy and language learning achievement with consideration of the mediating role that FLCA may play in this regard. The findings of the present study suggested that both learner autonomy and FLCA are significantly related to English achievement and FLCA as a determinant factor that mediates the predictive role of learner autonomy in terms of English achievement. In general, therefore, it seems that in the process of second or foreign language learning, learner’s individual differences i.e., affective and cognitive factors should be respected and gain considerable attention to get desired outcomes in this domain. Taking together these results revealed that all language learners must be adequately disposed and willing to engage in autonomous learning that in turn lead to achieving higher level of language proficiency. Moreover, FLCA as an affective factor should be given high significance in EFL Context. Eventually, due to the well-established role of psychological factors in learning process, moving the debates for-

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ward in this regard appears to be highly recommended. Further research is needed to explore possible links between these variables. EFL learning is a very sophisticated process and a number of variables, including personal variables, affect this process. English is a foreign language in Iran and it is not used as the primary medium of communication, so providing opportunities such as autonomous activities and a shift in learner’s responsibility and learner-centered procedure would simplify the development of autonomy in foreign language learning contexts. The obtained results of this study can help foreign language researchers and practitioners to better understand the reasons due to which different individuals are different in their level of anxiety and autonomy. Such a better understanding will also help language teachers to modify their classroom management strategies in line with student’s autonomy and anxiety level. Teachers should keep in mind that anxiety is responsible for the students’ habitual behaviors in class and also an important factor in their achievement in English tests and their performance in English classroom. It should be noted that anxiety is not an internal and private phenomenon produced by students, it is affected by external variables such as teaching/testing practices, peer interaction, using the target language in the classroom and learning situation. Foreign language teachers have an important role in reducing classroom tension and in creating a friendly, supportive atmosphere for learning. To maximize student’s learning, teachers should build a stress-free environment in the classroom, help students see that making errors is usual in language learning, and giving promises that they will receive any aid they may need. Regarding the other factor which is of high importance in this study, teachers should pay more attention to learners’ autonomy. Teachers will make students more responsible for their own learning and students would be filled with more motivation for learning. Above all, it is important for students to remember the value of controlling their emotional state and feeling calm when they are in an English language classroom. The participants of this study agree that one effective thing students can do to decrease anxiety in the classroom is to be well prepared for the class activities, be present in all class sessions and have an active role and be involved in what is going on the classroom. It is hoped that the findings of this study can make stakeholders in the education sector aware of the existence of anxiety in learner that leads to failure in achievement and autonomy in them that leads to success in achievement. Then, they should take steps to identify the sources of anxiety that can be done through creating a stress-free and friendly environment to learn effectively. This study focuses on autonomy and anxiety and should be replicated with different populations and larger samples to verify the results in different settings. Besides, a replication of the study with students at more advanced levels might produce more significant results. Due to the importance of individual differences in language learning, it is hoped that this quite new line of research finds its way into the literature of language teaching. The future is thus open to a large number of studies in this regard. The participants in this study were limited to a sample of 400 high school third- graders. Therefore, a replication of this study with a larger sample of students in Iran would provide further support for the generalizability of the findings. The data were collected only by questionnaires. Another line of research can be conducted by collecting data through various instruments: Interview, learner diaries, portfolios and classroom observations that can provide further layers of analysis and obtain a more comprehensive picture of such complex matters as autonomy and anxiety. Qualitative studies might also provide more detailed insight as researchers seek to explain how learners’ autonomy and their levels of foreign language anxiety would relate to their language achievement.

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Examination of the Relationship Between Autonomy and English Achievement as Mediated by Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety.

This study investigated the relationship between autonomy and English language achievement among third-grade high school students as mediated by forei...
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