A bidirectional comparison of English and Japanese learners' willingness to communicate in their foreign language

Abstract

This bidirectional study investigates the willingness to communicate (WTC) by first language (L1) Japanese learners of English as the foreign language (EFL) (n = 27) and L1 English learners of Japanese as the foreign language (JFL) learners (n = 12). Previous studies [e.g., 8, 25] have found that Japanese university students still struggled to improve their willingness to speak English, despite several years of oral communication classes. The goal of this study is to identify what makes Japanese EFL learners less willing to speak English, by comparing them with English JFL learners. This study examines 1) which factor affects the two learner groups' WTC in their foreign language more, actual or self-perceived linguistic competence; 2) whether speaking an L1 or L2 affects the WTC and self-perceived competence. A total of five linguistic tasks were administered to the two groups (age range 18–22) to measure their actual linguistic competence. An online questionnaire explored the group differences in WTC and self-perceived linguistic competence in L1 and L2 speaking contexts. Only the Japanese EFL group showed that self-perceived linguistic competence could have more impact on L2 WTC than actual linguistic competence. Both EFL and JFL groups showed higher WTC with individual and situational factors and self-perceived linguistic competence in the L1 speaking context than the L2 speaking context.