The Exploration of the Associations between Locus of Control &

The purpose of the study is to determine the relationships between locus of control (LOC) orientation and high school students ’ language achievement. The popular categorization of internals and externals was taken into account. The participants of this study were 121 high school students in the second, third and pre-university grades in two public high schools of Isfahan, Iran. One of the instruments used in the study was an adopted version of Julian Rotters ’ locus of control (1966) which identified internal and external orientations. The participants ’ English scores were regarded as the measure of their achievement. Besides, a questionnaire consisting of 29 items was administered to all 121 students. Responses were put into one way and two-way ANOVA, the regression analysis, the independent t-test, chi-square and linear regression analysis to compare the means of two sets of scores. The findings of this study show a significant relationship between locus control and achievement of high school students. The findings can be used by EFL teachers and syllabus designers. Key words: locus of control; high school students; language achievement; internals; externals 1