The Relationship Between Senior Learners’ In-Class Willingness to Communicate in English, Intrinsic Motivation, Foreign Language Enjoyment, Classroom Environment, and Teacher Immediacy

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to explore age-advanced learners’ in-class willingness to communicate (WTC) in English, as well as to determine the relationship between WTC, intrinsic motivation (IM), foreign language enjoyment (FLE), classroom environment (CE), and teacher immediacy (TI). The instrument used was a questionnaire comprising biodata items and five adapted scales. The statistical analysis revealed that the third age students’ WTC was higher in meaning-focused tasks than in form-focused, which indicates that the older adults paid due attention to dyadic activities based on authentic communication. The strongest and most positive correlation was found between CE and TI, suggesting that the teacher played a crucial role in creating a supportive classroom environment. Moreover, the data showed a moderate correlation between WTC and FLE, WTC and CE, as well as WTC and TI. This basically means that, in order to boost the older learners’ WTC, a language instructor ought to provide room for establishing bonds between their students, which, in turn, may produce positive emotions that encourage learners to engage in active classroom interactions.