Examining the Transferability of Westernised Language Learner Autonomy (WLLA) Models to Saudi Arabian Students of English as Foreign Language

Abstract

The autonomy of language learners is an important element in the successful acquisition of a second language, but model development in this area has primarily occurred in Western, thus individualistic and learner-centred, contexts. In Saudi Arabia, second language learning is typically teacher-centred and shaped by a collectivist culture. This study examined the structure and cross-cultural validity of a language learner autonomy model that originated in the West, using two independent samples of Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL): a confirmatory sample (N = 230) and an exploratory sample (N = 166). Confirmatory factor analysis of the main sample showed a mixed-model fit. Discriminant validity was assessed using both the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the heterotrait-monotrait ratio, which showed agreement. Linguistic Confidence and Social Comparison emerged as stable, distinct factors, whereas Information Literacy, Metacognition and Self-Reliance were strongly intercorrelated. Locus of Control demonstrated weak reliability and validity and was closely associated with Social Comparison. A four-factor solution emerged, in which Information Literacy, Metacognition and Self-Reliance were all loaded onto a single dominant factor, while Social Comparison and Linguistic Confidence remained distinct. This indicates that language learning autonomy should not be treated as a universal construct. Saudi EFL students appear to conceptualise autonomy as reactive, scaffolded and socially mediated, reflecting a context in which autonomous second language learning develops through structured instructional support.