Self-regulation and Locus of Control Predicting EFL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive quantitative research was to systematically investigate the association among EFL learners' Self-Regulation (SR), Locus of Control (LC), and their Willingness to Communicate (WTC). To fulfill this purpose, 222 male and female EFL learners, within the age range of 20 to 32 (Mage = 26) were selected based on the convenience sampling strategy. These participants were asked to fill in three questionnaires, namely the English versions of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991), the Internal Control Index (Duttweiler, 1984), and the WTC Scale (McCroskey, 1992). Since the assumptions of normality of distribution were partially violated, the research questions were answered using parametric and non-parametric tests. The obtained results led the researchers to conclude that significant and positive correlations exist between SR and WTC, SR and LC, and LC and WTC. Furthermore, considering WTC the predicted variable, a regression analysis revealed that LC is a better predictor of WTC than SR. The study finally presents a discussion on the results and provides some implications for those engaged in EFL learning and instruction.