The Relationship between Locus of Control and Speaking Accuracy among Iranian EFL Learners

This study aimed to investigate the role of Locus of Control on accuracy of oral production of Iranian EFL learners. Participants of this study were 38 (18 males and 20 females) EFL learners from Ayandish English Language Institute in Behbahan. They were selected from a total of 60 (27 males and 33 females) students of three intact classes after taking the Nelson English Language Test as an English language proficiency test. Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale was used to measure learners’ internal-external orientation. The mean score given by three raters in two types of oral tasks (by calculation of the number of errors per t-unit) was considered as each student’s score in accuracy of speaking. The results with the coefficient of 0.984 showed a significant relationship between participants’ locus of control and their speaking accuracy. Moreover, accuracy of speaking was significantly different between students with external and internal locus of control The indices of accuracy of externals were higher than the same of internals, which means that externals outperformed internals. The results of the study can be useful for EFL and ESL learners and teachers and also for syllabus designers and policy makers as long as individual differences are concerned.