Effects of affective variables and willingness to communicate on students’ English-speaking performance in Thailand

Budi Waluyo,Rahmah Bakoko

doi:10.24815/siele.v9i1.21090

Abstract

Recently, Willingness to Communicate (WTC) has been explored and proposed to be one of the key concepts for identifying when one decides to initiate communication in the target language. The attention, nonetheless, has been concentrated on how WTC interacts with other learners’ variables. This study, on the other hand, intends to offer empirical evidence on the direct roles of affective variables (self-confidence, anxiety, motivation, and grit) and WTC variables (WTC inside the classroom, WTC outside the classroom, and WTC in a digital setting) in Thai students’ English-speaking performance. The data were obtained from 35 undergraduate students (17.1% males; 82.9% females) using a survey questionnaire. Then, a speaking test was taken from an English Communication Skills course and was analysed using correlation and hierarchical regression. The results disclosed positive correlations among self-confidence, motivation, grit, WTC in a digital setting, WTC inside the classroom, WTC outside the classroom, and speaking performance, and negative correlations among self-confidence, anxiety, and grit. However, motivation was the only significant predictor of speaking performance. The findings offer some implications for English teachers in improving students’ English-speaking performance.

Highlights

Studies exploring factors influencing the degree of proficiency attained by individuals learning a foreign language have been conducted since the 1970s, the findings of which generally suggest two influential factors in L2 or foreign language learning: cognitive and affective variables
The present study examined the correlations and predictive roles of affective and Willingness to Communicate (WTC) variables on speaking performance
Motivation was the only significant predictor of speaking performance. These results sustain the findings from previous studies as discussed in the earlier section, yet it is important to mention that these results do not support the argument that affective and WTC variables can significantly predict students’ English-speaking performance

Summary

Introduction

Studies exploring factors influencing the degree of proficiency attained by individuals learning a foreign language have been conducted since the 1970s, the findings of which generally suggest two influential factors in L2 (second language) or foreign language learning: cognitive and affective variables. According to Schumann (1975), cognitive variables are commonly stable and operate independently and naturally, but affective variables are dynamic and can be influenced by the language learning environment or setting, which offers fruitful insights into the investigations of successful L2/foreign language acquisition. Regardless, it has been found that cognitive variables have as much influence on learning as do affective variables (Chastain, 1975). Given the relevance of the subjects, the investigation of the present study is centred on the roles of affective variables rather than cognitive ones

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Conclusion