exploring the predicting roles of iranian efl learners’ learning autonomy and motivation for reading comprehension success

The study is a detailed analysis of iranian efl learners’ language learning autonomy, motivation, and reading achievement. the significant predicting roles of motivation and autonomy for reading comprehension were distinctly explored through multiple regression analyses. in addition, all the items of the scales were distinctly examined. some 103 randomly selected efl learners participated, who completed the autonomy and motivation scales, accompanied by a reading comprehension test, successively in one session. a correlational design was utilized to explore the interplay among the learners’ autonomy, motivation, and reading achievement as well as to seek the significant predicting roles of motivation and autonomy for reading achievement. pearson correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationship between each pair of variables. in addition, multiple regression analyses were used to explore the correlation coefficients among the variables and to check the predicting values of the independent variables of the participants’ motivation and autonomy for reading comprehension, as the dependent variable .the results showed significant relationship between autonomy and reading achievement as well as motivation and reading achievement. moreover, a significant relationship was found between motivation and autonomy, rarely investigated by other researchers. although both autonomy and motivation significantly predicted reading success, autonomy acted as a more significant predictor, something of sheer novelty. the findings have some novel implications for language teachers to focus on linguistic and psychological elements simultaneously to develop effective methodologies, inevitably leading to the learners’ considerable success.