Abstract
This preliminary study attempts to examine the potential factors that enable EFL learners working in an English-only self-access learning center (SALC) to overcome their fear of making mistakes when they communicate in English with their peers. Through the interviews with those student workers called “SALCers,” it was revealed that the degree of their Willingness to Communicate (WTC) (McCroskey & Baer, 1985) was quite high when they interact with other SALCers in the SALC. On the other hand, their WTC is low when they are instructed to communicate in English in their English classrooms. The findings seem to indicate that some of the distinctive characteristics of the SALC work environment free the learners from the fear of making mistakes in English. Moreover, an analysis of interviews conducted with the SALC student staff indicated they had strong identities as SALCers and a shared sense of community, which also seemed to enhance their WTC. In this paper, the prominent characteristics of both the SALC and the SALCers themselves which seem to enhance their willingness to communicate by reducing the anxiety of making mistakes will be delineated with examples.
Highlights
This preliminary study attempts to examine the potential factors that enable EFL learners working in an English-only self-access learning center (SALC) to overcome their fear of making mistakes when they communicate in English with their peers
Working at the center as a learning advisor, I believe that everyone who works in the SALC shares the same sense of mission to create an optimal English learning space for students at the university
The interviews were formal “semi-structured interviews” (Hatch, 2002) with some guiding questions prepared in advance in order to gather information on how the participants view the SALC and the SALCers, and how they perceive the differences between their attitudes toward speaking English in a classroom setting and those in the SALC
Summary
This preliminary study attempts to examine the potential factors that enable EFL learners working in an English-only self-access learning center (SALC) to overcome their fear of making mistakes when they communicate in English with their peers. An analysis of interviews conducted with the SALC student staff indicated they had strong identities as SALCers and a shared sense of community, which seemed to enhance their WTC. This research project took place at a language-focused university in a selfaccess English learning space called the SALC (Self-Access Learning Center). Working at the center as a learning advisor, I believe that everyone who works in the SALC shares the same sense of mission to create an optimal English learning space for students at the university. Since the research was undertaken based on the assumptions of a constructivist paradigm
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