Examining Student-Generated Vocabulary Testing Factors Influencing Autonomy among Iranian EFL Learners

The paper investigated the most and the least factors of student-generated vocabulary testing that can influence EFL learners’ autonomy. This study applies mixed-method research. For the qualitative phase, the researcher used ۳۰ purposive participants and had a semi-structured interview to find the factors and make a questionnaire. The researcher used MAXQDA to analyze the data. Then the researcher prepared a questionnaire and distributed it among ۲۲۵ convinced participants, making it reliable and valid. The reliability of this questionnaire was ۰.۹۲. For the quantitative phase, the researcher used ۳۲۰ EFL learners who participated. The study instrument was a research-made questionnaire about the factors of student-generated vocabulary testing that can influence EFL learners’ autonomy consisting of two sections. The mean values of the four variables obtained from the participants’ viewpoints reveal which factors of the student-generated vocabulary testing have the most and least effect on autonomy among Iranian EFL learners. After analyzing the questionnaire, the researcher used ۳۰ participants (۱۳ males, ۱۷ females) by random sampling for the qualitative phase to ask them about their point of view of SGVT and its effect on their autonomy. For analyzing the data, the researcher again used MAXQDA. The results of this study show that the most influential factor was ‘Personal characteristics. ‘Teachers’ role’ was determined to be the second significant factor. ‘Positive points of student-generated testing were in the third place, and the least effective one was ‘Negative points of student-generated testing.

Keywords:

Autonomy , learner autonomy , Student-generated testing , Testing