EXPLORING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AUTONOMOGRAPHY AND WRITING COMPETENCE OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

Drawing from the literature on self-directed learning, autonomography targets learners' autonomous and self-regulatory actions in learning the writing skill. The present study was intended to examine the level of a group of Iranian EFL learners' self-directness in the act of writing and its association with their writing competence. The required data was collected via administering a language proficiency test and a self-directed writing self-rating scale; in addition, the average of the students' scores in advanced writing and essay writing courses was taken as an index of their writing competence. The results of statistical analyses indicated that among the eight categories of self-directed writing, Iranian EFL learners were more selfdirected in the acts of self-assessment and problem solving. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that there was a low relationship between autonomography and writing competence of the learners. Also, ANOVA results showed no significant differences in the extent of being self-directed among the learners of different language proficiency levels. However, it was found that more skilled student writers were more self-directed than their less competentcounterparts, which can account for their superiority in the writing process. Finally, it can be suggested that enhancing the learners' level of self-directness in writing can enable them to take initiative and responsibility for their own learning, select appropriate resources and strategies to improve their writing, properly evaluate their performance, and diagnose and resolve their problems in writing.

کلیدواژه ها:

autonomography ، self-directed learning ، writing competence