Apart from L2 motivation, self-regulation is also progressively considered as a key variable in L2 learning in many foreign language learning contexts as classroom-centered instructive language teaching might not be able to supply sufficient input for students. Therefore, taking responsibility and regulating the learning processes and positive motivational dispositions are required for successful achievement. This paper first describes English majors’ self-regulatory control strategy use by creating students’ profiles regarding these variables. Then it explores the relationship of control strategy use, motivational dispositions, and anxiety/self-efficacy beliefs in a context where academic writing is being taught. To attain these goals, a standardized paper and pencil questionnaire was designed to gather data on students’ control strategies and their dispositions toward L2 motivation as well as their writing anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs. The sample consisted of 222 first-year English majors at a large Hungarian university located in Budapest. Based on descriptive, correlational, and cluster analytical procedures, the chief outcomes point out that despite the fact that English majors are motivated to increase their skills in professional writing, only a third of them seem to possess the skill and willingness to control their writing processes despite the fact that self-regulatory strategy use is linked to an enhanced level of motivation and self-efficacy and to a diminished level of writing anxiety.