An investigation into the relationship between students' identity aspects and their English proficiency : a case study of Iraqi students

Abstract EN

The objective of the study is to explore the relationship between identity aspects and the proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL) among Iraqi EFL students.

To this end, 350 Iraqi EFL learners participated in the study who took the IELTS test (version 2015) and Cheek and Briggs’ (2013) Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AIQ-IV.

extracting the data and putting in SPSS 22, it is found that In fact, the study revealed a positive and significant relationship between different aspects of identity and different skills of language in general and the proficiency test itself in particular.

Accordingly, identity is found to be significant for language achievement.

Identity, in effect, foregrounds the social nature of language learning and due to this fact, the relation between the social identity and different language skills in general and the IELTS, in particular, is revealed to be the strongest one.

The study is concluded with some pedagogical implications.

Key words: identity construction, identity aspects, English achievement, personal identity, relational identity, social identity, collective identity.