Abstract-Among the many learner variables that may influence language learning, autonomy is a very unique one because it involves learners being responsible for their own learning. In the current study, autonomy is operationally defined as a construct comprising three components: sense of responsibility, engagement in learning activities, and perceived ability. This study aimed to provide insights into the construct and gain a further understanding of its relationship with motivation among students learning English as a foreign language. The sample included university freshmen who were non-English majors and were taking required English classes at the time of the study. The results suggested that participants possessed a satisfactory level of autonomy when asked about their perceptions of responsibility, whereas they tended to possess an unsatisfactory level of autonomy regarding engagement in learning activities inside or outside the classroom. In addition, the results indicated that students of all three proficiency levels tended to perceive their ability as being mediocre. Significant differences in all three aspects of learner autonomy were observed for participants with different motivation levels. Furthermore, the findings establish that motivation and autonomy had a high level of positive correlation. Engagement frequency of learning activities had the strongest association with motivation, followed by perceived ability and responsibility. Finally, the results revealed that motivation effectively contributed to predicting autonomy, accounting for a relatively high amount (50%) of variance in the dependent variable.

This study aimed to investigate EFL learner language anxiety and learning motivation of high school students. Subjects included 155 students from the same private senior high school in central Taiwan, 60 in academic track and 95 in vocational track. The majority of the participants started taking English lessons either before entering elementary school or during the first two years in elementary school. Statistical methods were conducted to investigate 1) whether learner motivation and language anxiety significantly vary between academic-and vocation-track high school students, 2) whether both academic-and vocational-track high school students feel an above-average level of language anxiety, and 3) whether there is a significant relationship between language anxiety and motivation among the EFL high school students. The findings of the study revealed that first, both groups of students felt moderate levels of language anxiety; there were no significant differences in anxiety level between the two groups of students. Second, students in the academic-track were also found to have higher extrinsic motivation and overall learning motivation than their vocational-track counterparts. Furthermore, a significant negative relationship was identified between the two important affective variables, motivation and anxiety. Important pedagogical implications for English teachers were discussed in the study.

This study intends to provide a wider range of insights into the strategy use by EFL learners with different levels of language anxiety and self-rated competence. The participants included university freshmen sampled from different English proficiency levels. The findings revealed that the most frequently used strategy category among low-anxiety students was metacognitive. Similarly, metacognitive strategies, followed by cognitive and compensation strategies, were used most frequently by students with the highest level of self-rated proficiency. Social strategies were the least used, regardless of anxiety or self-rated proficiency level. Language anxiety seems to have a greater influence on the strategy use frequency rather than on strategy choice. The results demonstrated significant effects of language anxiety and perceived competence on learning strategy use. In addition, self-perceived competence was shown to have a stronger link to strategy use than the learner's actual language proficiency. Among anxiety and perceived and actual competence, perceived competence was identified to be the best predictor of strategy use. Nonetheless, the effect of anxiety on language learning cannot be ignored as it was found to have a similar level of association with strategy use as actual proficiency did, although its effect was significantly negative.

This study aims to explore the association between the field of study, gender, language proficiency, and the use of learning strategies in an EFL educational setting. It further intends to gain more insight into the link between learner autonomy and strategy use. The sample included university freshmen who were ability-grouped into three different levels for English classes. The findings indicated that the effects of major, gender, and proficiency on overall strategy use were all significant. As strategy use had a moderate level of association with both listening and reading proficiencies, it was found to have a high level of correlation with learner autonomy. The strategies identified to have the strongest correlations with autonomy in language learning were those in the cognitive and metacognitive categories. Among the subcomponents of learner autonomy, strategy use had the highest correlation with learner degree of involvement in learning activities. Results of the study further established that EFL student use of learning strategies can serve as a good predictor of learner autonomy.