Abstract

Accountability has been widely considered the leading cause of student achievement and received much attention in recent years. Unlike the researchers in America and European countries, few scholars have addressed learner accountability in Iran to evaluate its effect on different EFL contexts. This mixed-method research design study compared the level of learner accountability between public high school students and English language institute learners. Data were gained from 150 high school students and 150 English language institute learners through a researcher-made learner accountability questionnaire. Moreover, 15 high school students and 15 language institute English learners participated in the qualitative phase of the study to strengthen and expand the study’s conclusions. Both instruments were piloted and validated. Through exploratory factor analysis, seven underlying variables of learner accountability were confirmed. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was high and the reliability of the learner accountability questionnaire was .89. The results of the t-tests revealed a higher statistical level of learner accountability in the context of English language institutes. The findings of this research may contribute to motivating English learners to consider the significance of their roles in active and independent learning.

摘要

问责制已被广泛认为是学生成就的主要原因，并且近年来受到了很多关注。与美国和欧洲国家的研究人员不同，很少有学者针对伊朗的学习者问责制来评估其对不同EFL环境的影响。这项混合方法的研究设计研究比较了公立高中生和英语学院学习者之间的学习者问责水平。通过研究人员制定的学习者问责制问卷，从150名高中生和150名英语学院学习者中获得了数据。此外，有15名高中生和15名语言学院的英语学习者参加了研究的定性阶段，以加强和扩展研究的结论。两种工具都经过了试验和验证。通过探索性因素分析，确定了学习者问责制的七个基本变量。问卷的内部一致性很高，学习者问责问卷的信度为0.89。结果t检验表明，在英语语言学院的背景下，学习者责任感的统计水平更高。这项研究的结果可能有助于激励英语学习者考虑他们在主动和独立学习中的作用的重要性。