On The Relationship between Learner Autonomy and Speaking Skill of Male and Female Junior High School Students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between learner autonomy and speaking skill of male and female junior high school students. To this end, for collecting data a questionnaire of learner autonomy and speaking test were used. So 60 grade 8 junior high school students (30 male and 30 female) from two schools was chosen randomly, after collecting data and analyzing them, results of the correlation procedure showed that there was a positive high relationship between learners autonomy and the speaking ability but the t-test indicated that there is no difference between male and female students regarding their learner autonomy and speaking skill. Regression analysis showed that, of the subscales of the speaking skill in the speaking scale, the pronunciation was a more predicator of learner autonomy of the participant. So more opportunities for development of learner autonomy should be offered to the junior high school students, so that they would get use of it and be more successful in their communication skills.

Keywords:

autonomy , learner autonomy , speaking skill