The Relationship between Iraqi EFL University Students’ Attention Control Strategies and Performance in Productive Skills

Abstract

        This study aimed at finding out the relationship between Iraqi EFL university students’ productive skills and the attention control strategies of focusing and shifting obstruction. The problem of this study can be expressed in this question: Is there a correlational relationship between Iraqi EFL university students’ attention control strategies and performance in productive skills? The research random sample consisted of (360) university students at English Departments in three Iraqi universities. A modified version of Derryberry and Reed’s Attention Control Scale (2004) was adapted to measure the subjects’ attention control strategies. Second language productive skills were measured by a constructed oral test (interview) for speaking, and a (250) word-essay task for writing. Statistical data analysis was carried out by using (SPSS). Results revealed a positive correlation coefficient between the subjects’ second language productive skills and both of the strategy of attention focus (at 0.589, with a computed t-value of 13.089) and the strategy of attention shifting obstruction (at 0.446, with a computed t-value of 9.911) at a significance rate of (0.05). Thus, this study concluded that attention control is a crucial factor in foreign language learning process since it helps students be more active in learning and developing language skills.