Investigating the impact of EFL learners' autonomy on their academic writing performance

Abstract

The relationship between autonomy and language development are very important in the result. However, very few studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between autonomy and academic writing. The aim of the present study is to evaluate students witting and examine the relationship between academic writing and autonomy. We adopted a descriptive design with both quantitative and qualitative approach (mixed method) to obtain the necessary and relevant data and to answer the research questions. We have chosen an academic writing test and in-depth interviews as tools to collect research data. Our study is conducted in Algeria specifically Bejaia University in the department of English. Our population consists of 266 EFL third year students. However, the researcher has chosen a sample of 20 students. The results reveal that most of EFL learners of the department of English at Bejaia University have a very weak level in academic writing. In addition to this, it was found that very few students were completely autonomous in practicing academic writing. Moreover, students’ lack of autonomy has influenced negatively their performance in academic essay writing. As a conclusion, it is suggested that new academic writing curriculum should be designed in order to take into consideration the development of students’ autonomy in writing in general and academic writing in a particular.