Perceived Language Proficiency and Autonomous Motivation as Predictors to Perceived Communicative Competence in English

Introduction: The current study, following a sequential mixed-methods design, mainly aimed at investigating the possible predictors of perceived communicative competence (PCC) in English in perceived language proficiency (PLP) and autonomous motivation to learn English. Methodology: In doing so, 204 homogeneous university English-major students participated in this study based on convenience sampling, and a pool of six students joined the interview sessions based on purposive sampling. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and the multiple regression were conducted to analyze the data. Results: The results obtained from the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient confirmed that there was a medium, positive correlation between PLP and PCC in English, and also between autonomous motivation to learn English and PCC in English. Moreover, it was found that PLP was the best predictor of PCC in English. Following inter-coder reliability, the commonalities emerged from the students’ responses to the interviews yielded seven common themes, entailing good sense, desire to learn, participation, engagement, disengagement, teacher support, and ability to communicate fluently. Conclusion: The study yielded deeper insight into the effective role of factors, such as good sense, desire to learn, participation, and engagement in enriching their PLP and PCC. At the end, some practical implications are suggested for EFL learner and teachers.