The Relationship between Language Learning Anxiety, Motivation, Autonomy and Language Proficiency of Iranian High School Students

Abstract

As few studies have investigated the influence of anxiety, motivation, and autonomy on
class proficiency or language success, the present study aimed at finding the relationship of each
of these factors with language achievement of the students. To this purpose, 207 students were
invited from Golestan high school in Ramian, in the north of Iran. Their age ranged from 18 to
22 years. In one session they filled out the anxiety questionnaire, in the next session they
completed the motivation questionnaire, and in the third session they answered the item in the
autonomy questionnaire. At the end of the term the participants’ final scores were recorded. As
to the final scores and test performance, there was a positive relationship between anxiety and
test performance, no relationship between motivation and test performance, and also no
relationship between autonomy and test performance. Both high-stakeholders and lowstakeholder
may benefit from the findings of this study.