Beliefs and autonomy: a case of Iranian students

Learning is a process which extends throughout a person's life; accordingly, people should strive to foster autonomy in order to make growing progress. Learner autonomy is one of the most vital concepts in education and it can accelerate great changes in the area of learning. This study investigated those learner beliefs which demonstrated students' predispositions towards autonomy. All Bachelor's degree and Master's degree students majoring in English Literature at Shiraz University were involved. On the whole, 168 students from different age groups, marital status and professional status participated in this study. Factor analysis of responses of students to research questionnaire, which gauged students' autonomy revealed the existence of five underlying factors for autonomy, revealed the existence of five underlying factors of learner independence, dependence on the teacher, learner confidence, attitudes towards language learning and self-assessment. Based on t-test for independent samples and Analysis of Variance it was shown that age did not have impacts on students' readiness for autonomy; however, marital status and professional status influenced participants' learner autonomy. It is hoped that this study would serve to encourage both learners to display increasing initiative and responsibility for their learning and teachers to help their students promote autonomy.