EFL Learners’ Achievement Goals in Relation with their Metacognitive Listening Strategy Use

Abstract

The present study aimed at finding the relationship between the subscales of achievement goals and the frequency of metacognitive listening strategies (MLS) Iranian EFL learners use, and tried to explore any significant differences between males and females regarding achievement goals and metacognitive Listening strategy use. 104 senior and junior students majoring in English Literature and English Translation in Shahid Bahonar and Azad Universities of Kerman participated in this study. In order to obtain the required data, two questionnaires were administered: Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ) developed by Elliot and McGregor (2001) to measure the participants’ achievement goal orientations, and Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) developed by Vandergrift et al. (2006) to measure the participants’ frequency of metacognitive listening strategy use. Results demonstrated that concerning the relationship between achievement goals and the frequency of metacognitive listening strategies, a significant positive relationship was found. The findings of this study also discovered that regarding the performance-approach and MLS use, no significant relationship was found. Performance-avoidance had a significant negative relationship with MLS use, mastery-approach had a significant positive one, and mastery-avoidance had no significant relationship with MLS use. Additionally, gender did not have any effects on the learners’ MLS use.