Factors Affecting Nursing College Students' Willingness to Communicate in EFL Classrooms

Abstract

Enhancing students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in classrooms is considered one of the ultimate goals of teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL). WTC in a foreign language is defined as a learner's readiness to engage in communication with a certain person or people at a specified time utilizing an L2. It has been established in modern language pedagogy that creating a learning condition for promoting students’ interaction in the classroom is beneficial for the learning process. However, the success in creating such learning conditions is highly dependent on the willingness of students to speak the target language. This study explores the factors that affecting EFL students’ WTC in English classrooms at the College of Nursing. The participants of the study were second-year students at the College of Nursing/Ninevah University. A mixed-method approach was employed as a research strategy. A developed foreign language WTC (FLWTC) questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Validity and internal consistency reliability of the FLWTC questionnaire were ensured. The findings of the study revealed that there are several factors affecting nursing college students’ WTC in English inside the classroom. These factors are located under three main categories, namely psychological, linguistic and contextual. In light of the findings obtained, the study ended up with several recommendations and pedagogical implications.