Shiva Safari - English Department, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Najafabad, Iran
Omid Tabatabaei - English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Najafabad, Iran

Abstract This study aimed at investigating the possible impact of gender and proficiency level on the relationship between autonomy and listening comprehension ability among Iranian low and high proficiency male and female EFL learners. One hundred six English learners, based on the results of Oxford Placement Test (OPT), version II, took part in this study. Both female and male learners with the age range of ۱۳ to ۲۹ from two girl language institutes in Khomeynishahr and one boy school in Shahrekord participated in the study. The instruments of the study consisted of an OPT, an autonomy questionnaire, and two listening comprehension tests. First of all, the participants were required to take the OPT and autonomy questionnaire and then in a different session they were asked to sit for the listening comprehension tests. The collected data were analyzed by means of SPSS and the results of statistical analysis indicated that (۱) gender could not modify the relationship, (۲) proficiency level, on the other hand, had a significant effect on the relationship between autonomy and listening comprehension ability and those with higher proficiency outperformed the lower proficiency learners. The findings of this study could have implications for learners, teachers, and material developers.

Autonomy, Listening Comprehension Ability, Gender, proficiency level, Iranian EFL learners