Autonomous and NonAutonomous EFL Learners’ Strategies and Practices

The present study aimed at discovering the practices and strategies autonomous EFL learners pursue in their endeavor to master English. It thus set out in the Iranian context, with 60 EFL learners, both autonomous and nonautonomous, as participants. The gathered data through a questionnaire and an interview were subjected to content and descriptive analysis. The results showed that both autonomous and nonautonomous learners preferred to apply receptive activities rather than productive ones. However, autonomous learners practiced more productive activities such as composing emails, writing articles, chatting with native speakers and their friends, as compared with nonautonomous learners. Regarding the use of strategies, autonomous learners used more metacognitive strategies, while non-autonomous learners preferred social strategies.