Improving Iranian EFL Learners’ Autonomy Through Dialogic Tasks: Investigating Gender and Levels of Proficiency as Mediating Factors

This study investigated the effects of dialogic tasks on Iranian English as Foreign Language learners' autonomy considering the mediating effects of the learners’ gender and levels of proficiency as well. A total number of 213 male and female Iranian EFL learners within the age range of 15-26 were selected through convenience sampling from three language schools in Fars, Iran. The Oxford Quick Placement Test was run to ensure homogeneity, and choose learners at two levels of proficiency (upper vs. lower intermediate), later assigned to experimental and control groups. Then, a translated version of learner autonomy questionnaire was run as the pretest and posttest. The treatment was dialogic tasks operationalized through storytelling and picture description tasks. Three-way ANCOVA was conducted to compare the autonomy posttest scores of the male and female learners in the two experimental and control groups at the two proficiency levels of lower- and upper-intermediate. The results of data analysis showed that dialogic tasks had a significant effect on increasing the autonomy among EFL learners. Nonetheless, levels of proficiency and gender did not have any significant mediating effects on the autonomy of the learners under investigation. The study will provide robust implications for language teachers and learners.