Motivation, Identified Regulation, and Willingness to Communicate: A study of Afghan EFL Learners’ Academic Achievement in Iran

Research on speaking in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) indicates that many learner factors influence success in oral communication. Willingness to communicate (WTC) with acquaintances, friends, and strangers, learners’ intrinsic motivation and identified regulation are three crucial elements that can strongly relate to success in EFL oral communication. To provide empirical data on Afghan EFL learners’ speaking achievement, the present study was designed to explore how WTC, self-regulation, and situational motivation can predict their EFL speaking achievement in university. (Even though Afghans nowadays constitutes a noticeable portion of the student population at some Iranian universities because of post-war international student admission policies, their WTC has not been adequately investigated in spite of the fact that as a marginalized sub-set of the student group, their status calls for research attention. For many members of this group, after security and protection, education is an important migrating issue and the learning of English comes usually on the top of the list). Answers were sought to two questions: A) Does Afghan EFL learners’ motivation and regulation relate to their willingness to communicate with acquaintances, friends, and strangers B) Does WTC with these groups in turn relate to their level of achievement in EFL speaking To explore the research questions, a quantitative research design was employed. The statistical relationship between these variables was also checked using stepwise regression analysis and a correlation matrix. The study was conducted at the University of Kashan, where the Afghans population exceeds 500 learners aged 20-28. 101 Afghan learners selected through availability sampling provided the data collected through questionnaires and institutional records. The results of regression analysis revealed that different types of situated WTC, regulation and motivation predicted 85 percent of the variation in their speaking success. Interesting pairs of correlations were also found between the crucial learner factors examined in the study. Implication for both the selection and instruction of Afghan learners are discussed, many of which may have implications for other international EFL learners in Iran as well.

Keywords:

Willingness to communicate , Speaking achievement , Motivation , Identified regulation , EFL speaking