A Comparative Study of Iraqi Intermediate EFL Monolingual and Bilingual Learners' Autonomy, Motivation, and Willingness to Communicate (WTC): The Case of Baghdad and Erbil Universities

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to compare monolingual and bilingual Iraqi EFL learners’ autonomy, motivation, and willingness to Communicate. To conduct this study, 200 intermediate Iraqi male and female EFL students studying at Baghdad and Erbil universities were selected based on the convenient sampling method. One hundred monolinguals and one hundred bilinguals were selected after homogenizing the participants.  The data required for this study was collected during the fall semester of 2022 at two universities (Baghdad and Erbil) in Iraq. In order to be sure about the homogeneity of the groups, the Oxford Placement Test was applied and the higher and/or lower level participants were ignored. After that, the questionnaires of motivation, autonomy, and willingness to communicate were distributed.  In order to examine the role of studying milieu, the participants received the same instruction using the same teaching materials and teaching methods.  The results concerning the learners’ autonomy revealed that bilingual students' autonomy was higher.  The scores on the Academic Intrinsic Motivation Questionnaire (AIMQ), however, signified no statistically meaningful difference among the groups. It was also revealed that WTC is higher among bilingual students. In other words, bilingualism affects students' WTC and increases it.