An Exploration into the Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Autonomy and Their Reading Comprehension

Key words: learner autonomy, reading comprehension ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship among EFL learners’ autonomy and their reading comprehension. To fulfill this objective, 130 sophomore and junior students majoring in English Translation who had passed at least 45 credits at two Iranian universities were asked to take part in a piloted PET reading comprehension test and a questionnaire on learner autonomy (Spratt, Humphreys, & Chan, 2002). After discarding incomplete answer sheets, 106 acceptable cases (82 female and 24 male) were used in statistical analysis. Regarding the correlation analysis of data, a statistically significant relationship was not found between autonomy and reading comprehension. This outcome was analytically interpreted with respect to the perception that, although autonomy may ultimately lead to greater proficiency of EFL language learners (Benson ,2001; Corno & Mandinach ,1983; Dafei ,2007; Zhang & Li ,2004), when the relationship is considered between autonomy and reading comprehension in particular, a significant correlation is not established. Based on the findings of this study, pedagogical implications were presented for EFL teachers and syllabus designers