The Relationship of Individual Differences in Persian Learners as Second Language in Different Levels: Willingness to Communicate, Social Intelligence, and Motivation

The research aims to enhance our perceptions of the relationship among factors related to individual differences in language learning, particularly Willingness to communicate, social intelligence, and motivation. Gender and language knowledge level were also investigated. In order to answer to three questions and to investigate the research hypotheses, 168 adult Persian language learners in different language levels from various universities (79 females and 89 men) completed the 44-item questionnaire. Findings show that the relationship among these three variables is completely meaningful. There is no significant relationship just between WTC and learning experience in girls. The relationship between WTC and other variables- ought-to L2 self, learning experience, total motivation, and social intelligence- in boys is stronger than girls, and the relationship between social intelligence and motivation in girls is stronger than boys. Data analysis based on language levels show that in beginning level the relationship between WTC and learning experience, ought-to L2 self, and total, motivation and the relationship between social intelligence and motivation is stronger than other levels. In intermediate level, as WTC increases, ought- to L2 self will decrease significantly. The relationship between WTC and social intelligence in intermediate level is more than other levels.