Many factors may be involved in determining why some students are more and some are less proficient in language. This study tried to explore the factors affecting Iranian EFL learners’ proficiency. 221 students at second, third and fourth year of university, including 50 male and 171 female were selected randomly to participate in the study. A researcher-made questionnaire and a proficiency test comprised the data collection instruments. The researchers were able to identify three factors affecting language proficiency. They were classified as social factors, cultural factors and linguistic factors, Then a model was developed to represent the relationship among these factors and language proficiency. In line with Bourdieu’s (1986), the results of data analysis indicated that social factors are among the most dominant factors affecting the learners’ language proficincy. پرونده مقاله

Many factors may be involved in determining why some students are more and some are less proficient in language. This study tried to address the above issue by proposing a model encompassing 3 factors. For this purpose, a qualitative phase was run which aimed at exploring the sub-factors and factor(s) which are most influential in developing language proficiency. A semi-structured interview was run as the data collection instrument. The data obtained through transcribed interviews with 32 students studying English‎ were analyzed through a grounded theory approach. Three categories of social, cultural and linguistic factors were devised, based on the literature and the qualitative results, which were believed to be effective in language proficiency. Using SEM procedures, the researcher was then able to develop a model. After analyzing the data, the obtained results seemed to be in line with Bourdieu’s (1986) idea that social factors are considered as the most dominant factors. پرونده مقاله