Roles of Learner Autonomy and Willingness to Communicate in Communication Strategy Use of EFL Learners

The present study aimed at investigating the possible relationships among learner autonomy (LA), willingness to communicate (WTC), and communication strategy (CS) use, and examining the predictive power of WTC and LA in accounting for CS use. To do so, 102 available Iranian EFL learners were recruited, and three questionnaires were employed to tap into their LA, WTC, and CS use. Conducting Pearson correlation revealed that there was a weak, positive, yet statistically significant relationship between LA and CS use, and there was a moderate, positive, and statistically significant relationship between WTC and CS use. In addition, multiple regression analysis was conducted several times (eight times to examine the roles of LA and WTC in the eight components of CSs, and once to examine their roles in the prediction of CSs as a whole composite construct). The results of data analysis revealed that WTC was found, by and large, to be a better predictor of CSs than LA. More specifically, WTC could significantly predict these components of CSs: fluency-oriented strategies, negotiation for meaning while speaking, accuracy-oriented strategies, message reduction and alteration strategies, nonverbal strategies while speaking, and message abandonment strategies. LA, on the other hand, was a significant predictor of the social affective strategies component of CSs. The results of this study demonstrated the impact of LA and WTC on CSs, and thus call for due attention to the LA and WTC in L2 learning contexts.