Author/s:
Katirayifar, Amir Akram*
Sobhe Sadegh Institute of Higher Education, Isfahan, Iran (amir.katirayifar@gmail.com)
Rezvani, Ehsan
Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Iran (rezvani_ehsan_1982@yahoo.com)
Abstract:
The present study aimed at investigating the effect of Iranian EFL learners’ locus of control (external vs. internal) on their test anxiety and test scores. To this end, 130 freshman students of English translation from Sobhe Sadegh Institute of Higher Education were selected. Three samples of TOFEL reading comprehension texts, selected randomly from TOEFL iBT, were run to homogenize participants in terms of their English reading comprehension proficiency. Then the selected participants (those in intermediate level who are 100 in number) were provided with Trice Academic Locus of Control Scale (1985) for determining their internal or external orientation of locus of control. Also, Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS) (Cassady & Jonson, 2002) was administered for measuring their level of text anxiety. In the last phase of data collection, three other samples of TOEFL reading comprehension texts were run for collecting the participants test scores. This test was considered as their final achievement test in order to be a real test. The results revealed that external locus of control could negatively influence participants’ test anxiety and test scores. On the other hand, the participants with internal orientation of locus of control outperformed the participants with external orientation of locus of control.
Keywords: locus of control; internal locus of control; external locus of control; test anxiety
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2016.1666
*Corresponding Author