Fatemeh Ansari - Department of English and Litreature, University of Mazandaran, Iran
Fatemeh Khonamri - Department of English and Litreature, University of Mazandaran, Iran

Considering the widespread application of technology and the significance of English language to communicate in this modern world, raising learners autonomy seems critical. On the other hand language learning strategiesthat provide the tools to facilitate this regulation, i.e. autonomy and also language learning beliefs that lead allthe actions and thought are important. Considering the importance of these variables, the present studyinvestigated the difference between autonomous and less autonomous learners regarding the variables of language learning strategies and beliefs and also the relationship among these variables. To collect data, aquantitative method using the questionnaires of BALLI, SILL and a combined and piloted autonomyquestionnaire adopted from Chan, Spratt and Humphreys (2002) and Zhang and Li (2004) was used. The data were analyzed through multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) using Amos (version 20.0) . The findings revealed a significant difference between the autonomous and lessautonomous learners regarding the variables of language learning strategies. However such a difference was notobserved in language learning beliefs that can be related to the insufficient number of participants. In addition itwas also shown that language learning strategies were the mediators of the effects of language learning beliefs on autonomy since the fit indices of the conceptual model of the structural relationships among variables were satisfactory and also the standardized direct and indirect coefficients were significant (p=0.001<0.05).

learner autonomy, language learning strategies, language learning beliefs