Language Willingness Research Articles

Perceptions of social interactions and second language willingness to communicate in different activities

This study examined whether students’ perceived social interactions within different learning activities predicted their willingness to communicate (WTC) in second language (L2) classrooms. The sample was 932 undergraduate students from 8 universities learning English as a foreign language. Data of student-perceived social interactions in classrooms including teacher-student relationships, peer relationships, cooperation and equity, and data of WTC including overall WTC, WTC in meaning-focused activities, and WTC in form-focused activities were collected through online questionnaires. Data analysis using Structural Equation Modelling showed that (1) teacher-student relationships, peer relationships and cooperation positively predicted overall WTC; (2) teacher-student relationships, peer relationships, cooperation and equity positively predicted WTC in meaning-focused activities; (3) cooperation positively but equity negatively predicted WTC in form-focused activities. The results suggested that students’ perceived social interactions had predictive effects on L2 WTC but such effects differed in line with learning activity types. Implications for enhancing WTC in L2 instruction were also discussed.

Facilitating Second Language Willingness to Communicate in English: A Systematic Review on Types of Classroom-based Instructional Practices and Their Effects

This study addresses the critical question of how classroom-based instructional practices impact second language willingness to communicate (L2 WTC) in English. Recognizing the central role of L2 WTC in fostering students’ active participation in English communication, this systematic review evaluates the scope, effects, and contextual factors of instructional practices designed to enhance L2 WTC. The primary aim is to synthesize existing research to identify effective strategies for fostering L2 WTC among English as a second/foreign language learners. Specifically, the review explores: (1) the types of instructional practices implemented in classroom-based settings to develop L2 WTC and their contexts; (2) the observed effects of these instructional practices on L2 WTC; and (3) other variables studied alongside L2 WTC and their effects. Empirical evidence from studies published between January 2018 and December 2023 was systematically reviewed using the PRISMA method. A total of 45 studies were selected from databases such as ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and SpringerLink. The findings reveal that instructional practices focusing on interactive approaches, collaborative tasks, and personalized feedback are most effective in enhancing L2 WTC. Furthermore, variables such as anxiety, motivation, and perceived competence were found to significantly influence L2 WTC. This study highlights critical gaps in the literature, including limited longitudinal research and insufficient exploration of diverse learner populations. It concludes with recommendations for refining instructional practices and guiding future research to further enhance L2 WTC.

"At school, I feel interrogated": Differences in willingness to communicate in Iranian schools and private English institutes

This qualitative study explored the underlying forces that shape Iranian EFL learners’ second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) in two distinct contexts of public schools and private English institutes. To this end, we collected several bodies of data from both contexts and analyzed them through a grounded theoretical approach. The three major themes that emerged from data analysis were learner, teacher, and context issues, each bearing different weights and manifesting distinctively in the two contexts. Our findings confirm that both interpersonal and intrapersonal variations in L2WTC are subject to inter-contextual variation, making the prediction of L2WTC a challenge for both teachers and researchers. The study concludes by discussing the insights that can be gained from our findings for better understanding the dynamic and context-sensitive nature of L2WTC.

The Best and the Worst: TEFL Experts’ Opinions of the Most and the Least Important Predictors of Situational Willingness to Communicate

The current study aimed to identify the most and the least important situational properties of second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) in an EFL context. After reviewing the related literature, 24 influencing factors were identified and then they were prioritized. 180 TEFL students participated in the study to answer the research questionnaire. A quantitative research approach applying paired comparison questionnaire was employed. Data analysis was done using Excel spreadsheet for sorting data and calculating the mean and WinQSB software for solving linear programming model. The results showed that, among the selected variables, “the size of the group,”“familiarity with topics under discussion,” and “interlocutors and familiarity with them” were determined to be the first most important situational variables which highly influence L2WTC. The findings also showed that “attitudes toward the learning situation,”“course evaluation criteria,” and “alignment with the classroom norms” were the least important factors influencing L2WTC. The significance of the study lies in its theoretical contributions and pedagogical implications it has for the field of second language teaching and learning.

Predictors of second language willingness to communicate among US undergraduate students: Classroom social climate, emotions, and language mindset

Teachers and scholars argue that willingness to communicate is crucial to language learning, but many language learners are reluctant to engage in such communication, in or out of class. In addition, much of the existing research on willingness to communicate is based on English language learners, but there are meaningful motivational and structural differences in English learning versus learning languages other than English. The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of classroom social climate, language mindset, and academic emotions (i.e. anxiety, boredom, enjoyment, and pride) on second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) in and out of class among 547 undergraduate students learning languages other than English in the United States. Analysis using structural equation modeling indicated that the emotions of anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment were associated with students’ L2WTC in class. In addition, although classroom social climate and language mindset did not have direct effects on L2WTC in class, both showed indirect effects on L2WTC in class through emotions, especially enjoyment. The findings also showed that students’ L2WTC inside the classroom relates to self-reported readiness to use the second language (L2) outside of class.

Hey Google!: Can IPA improve L2 Learners' Willingness to Communicate?

The willingness and determination to engage in communication can result in real communication actions, which, in turn, contribute to improved oral proficiency. As digital media and communication technologies continue to advance rapidly, EFL students are becoming more engaged in practising English through various digital platforms. Recent research has been conducted to examine the connection between second language willingness to communicate (L2 WTC) and these digital language learning experiences. The recent study aims to address the use of Google Assistant as an intelligent personal assistant in providing the learning and practice of speaking for EFL learners to speak English fluently. Specifically, the recent objective is to analyse the implementation of Google Assistant in enhancing their willingness to communicate in the target language.

Investigating the association of informal digital learning of English with EFL learners’ intercultural competence and willingness to communicate: a SEM study

Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE), such as watching online videos, playing games, or chatting with English speakers beyond the classroom, has received increasing attention over recent years as a potential source of intercultural competence (IC) and second language willingness to communicate (L2 WTC) development among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. However, little is known about how IDLE influences IC and L2 WTC among EFL learners, who face various challenges and opportunities in learning and using English in Iran. Thus, this research examined the relationship between IDLE and IC and L2 WTC in Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, the study was conducted with the participation of 325 EFL learners from a language institute in Arak City, Iran, who were selected using convenience sampling. The participants completed the Digital Informal Learning Scale, the Intercultural Competence Scale, and the Willingness to Communicate Questionnaire. The results of the structural equation modeling revealed that IDLE had a significant positive association with both IC and L2 WTC. Further, the results indicated that IDLE dimensions, such as cognitive, meta-cognitive, social, and motivational aspects were significantly related to IC and L2 WTC. The findings approve that promoting IDLE among Iranian EFL learners could enhance their intercultural awareness and communication skills.

A Sociocognitive Account of Willingness to Communicate from the Perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory

This study investigates the dynamic nature of second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) exploring the numerous factors that contribute to the construct. Drawing upon the sociocognitive perspective, we analyzed the environmental, individual, and linguistic factors that influence the development of L2WTC in an Iranian language learning context. Data were collected through interviews, stimulated-recall sessions, journal keeping, and observations from an intact class of five students. The environmental factors identified throughout the analysis stage were interlocutor familiarity, topic, teacher influence, task type, discussion dynamics, and family dynamics. The individual factors that were found to play a role in the development of L2WTC included anxiety, motivation, self-confidence, security, shyness, perfectionism, perceived need for the target language use, cultural identity, personality, interest in the topic, fear of failure, seeking validation, cultural adaptation, and emotional state. Finally, perceived and actual linguistic competence were among the linguistic factors that influenced L2WTC. Overall, the findings of this study confirmed that L2WTC is a multifaceted complex system that is constantly reacting to environmental changes.

Digital Storytelling: A Literacy-Building Tool to Promote Willingness to Communicate in a Second Language

Digital storytelling has made its way into second language classrooms due to its great potential in promoting linguistic and non-linguistic outcomes increasingly recognized by second language educators. However, the links between digital storytelling and second language learners’ willingness to communicate still remain largely unknown. The present thematic review first presents an introduction to digital storytelling and then elucidates its critical roles in promoting second language willingness to communicate traced to four aspects: creating ample opportunities to practice the second language, negotiating aspired identities, engaging learners with cultural and multimodal resources, and constructing communities of shared interests. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.

Investigating the dynamics of change in second language willingness to communicate

For years, researchers have viewed willingness to communicate (WTC) as a personality-based, trait-like tendency and employed quantitative measures, seemingly overlooking the WTC changes during communications. A new line of inquiry, however, has taken a dynamic approach to investigating the WTC changes and the factors triggering them during communications. The present mixed-methods study incorporated an idiodynamic method with 20 Farsi-speaking English as a Second Language participants who performed three-minute speaking tasks, rated their WTC changes, and attended stimulated recall interviews. A between-subjects repeated measures analysis of variance showed a statistically significant difference in the participants’ WTC from task to task. The WTC variation patterns were also clustered into seven categories that visualized the dynamics of WTC changes. In vivo coding of the stimulated recall interviews produced seven different categories of factors including possession of supporting ideas, individual, contextual, organizational, lexis-related, and grammar-related factors as well as the participants’ perceptions of their performance.

Age, Gender, and Anxiety as Antecedents of Willingness to Communicate: Turkish EFL Context

Individual differences in language learning have been under close scrutiny for several decades. However, there is still place to be filled in with new research to understand how and to what extent these differences relate to/effect language learning process. Both foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and second language willingness to communicate (L2 WTC) have been key individual differences research paradigm in educational psychology and applied linguistics. To this end, the current study aims to disclose secondary school EFL learners’ FLCA/ L2 WTC levels and their causal relations/predictions by comparing participants’ age and gender differences. The participants were 131 secondary school students. Statistical results pointed out moderate levels of FLCA and WTC. When age and gender difference were compared, it was observed that both of the variables made significant difference on FLCA and WTC with females surpassing males in the scores. Similarly, regression analysis indicated age and gender as the significant predictors of WTC. Study findings were discussed and implications were withdrawn from the study results.

Teacher communication and learner willingness to communicate in English as a foreign language: a structural equation modeling approach

PurposeThis study aims to propose and test a model that examines the potential connections between two teacher situational variables (teacher immediacy and credibility) and three learner affective factors (motivation, attitudes and communication confidence) and to examine how such associations predict learners’ L2WTC (Foreign/second language willingness to communicate) in a language class via a comprehensive communication model to structurally verify the theoretically based associations among these variables.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 214 females and 198 males took part in the study with age range between 19 and 38 years. Participants filled in a verified, translated Arabic version of the questionnaires using an online questionnaire. Data were gathered using questionnaires and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis and sequential mediation analysis using bootstrapping methods to identify and verify direct and indirect paths in the model.FindingsThe initial L2 communication structural model showed acceptable goodness of model fit. Teacher credibility and immediacy behaviors only indirectly predicted L2WTC through the mediation of affective variables. Motivation and communication confidence mediated the relationship between credibility and L2WTC, while the association between immediacy and L2WTC was mediated by communication confidence.Originality/valueThe findings of this study have important pedagogical implications globally for professions related to communication instruction, especially with regard to teacher credibility behaviors and particularly for practitioners and beneficiaries in EFL contexts where learners are widely acknowledged for their unwillingness to communicate in foreign language classes.

Willingness to Communicate: The Predictive Roles of the L2 Motivational Self-System and Self-Efficacy

<em>Research on communication emphasizes the psychological variables that play a great role in predicting a predisposition for engaging or avoiding communicative behavior. As a quantitative correlational study, this research was conducted with a convenient sample of 94 Iranian EFL learners to investigate to what degree the L2 motivational self-system and self-efficacy beliefs of language learners could predict second language willingness to communicate (WTC). A Likert scale highly reliable questionnaire containing 35 items was put to use to collect data on dimensions of the L2 motivational self-system, self-efficacy beliefs and L2 WTC. After the combined predictive ability of these variables, as a model, on WTC was measured, the study aimed at finding the unique contribution of each variable on WTC. Also, the researcher aimed at investigating whether gender would moderate each of the relationships between the explanatory variables and WTC. A set of multiple regression analyses indicated that the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, the L2 learning experience, and self-efficacy, as a whole model, was able to predict 41.6% of the variation in WTC. It was found that the ideal L2 self was the strongest predictor of WTC, followed by self-efficacy beliefs, which uniquely explained 38.7% and 16.8% of the variation in WTC scores, respectively. Additionally, it was observed that gender did not have the ability to statistically moderate any of the aforementioned relationships. The findings of this academic endeavor are discussed in relation to the potential theoretical and practical implications it has for the field of English language teaching.</em>

Willingness to Communicate and Motivation of English Language Learners

The concept of motivation and willingness to communicate is by many researchers considered to be essential in learning a foreign language. The purpose of the study was to investigate the concept of willingness to communicate and motivation of English language learners in the context of Slovak university students aged 18-22 learning English as a foreign language. The theoretical framework is based on the theories by Dörney [4], Gardner [1,5,6], McGroskey [7], Arnold [2], and Horwitz [18]. The manuscript is divided into two main parts, the theoretical and the empirical. The first part of the research study discusses the concepts of integrative motivation and foreign language willingness to communicate. The second presents the results of the research. The results indicated the degree of factor of foreign language and the factor of willingness to communicate (FL-WTC) of the respondents being moderately high, as the students achieved 67.57% on the scale of WTC-FL. The current research study aimed to clarify the interrelatedness of the selected affective factors and their correlation to foreign language willingness to communicate. The findings supported the motivational construct outlined in the Socio-educational model of second language acquisition of Gardner [1] suggesting that students’ motivation, namely desire, effort and attitude towards learning a language is supported by the two attitudinal components: integrativeness and attitude towards the learning situation. Although the strongest correlation occurred between the component of integrativeness and motivation the attitude towards the learning situation also significantly contributed to integrative motivation. Even though attention was paid to the importance of integrative motivation of English language learners, it also stands in a close relationship with the concept of foreign language WTC.

The relationship between learners’ academic goal motives and L2 (second language) Willingness to communicate in English language classes: A look at academic goal motives’ orientations

The current study examined the relationship between academic goal motives and learners’ second language willingness to communicate in an EFL (English as a foreign language) context. It also investi...

The relationships among self-reported and observed first language and second language willingness to communicate and academic achievement

ABSTRACT This longitudinal mixed methods study investigated the relationship between self-reported L1 and L2 willingness to communicate (WTC), observed (actual) L1 and L2 WTC behaviour, and academic achievement, as well as gender differences. Whereas early studies on WTC have focused on examining WTC as a trait, a few later studies have examined WTC as a state. However, none have included observations of actual WTC of the same participants in their L1 and L2 classrooms. This study collected data from self-reports, observations, and test scores and analysed them using descriptive statistics, Pearson and Spearman rank-order correlations, and t-tests and Mann–Whitney U tests. The results revealed no significant correlations between self-reported and observed L1 WTC or between self-reported and observed L2 WTC but revealed significant and positive correlations between observed L2 WTC and L2 test scores, between observed L1 and L2 WTC, and between L1 and L2 test scores. Although there were significant gender differences in L2 WTC, there were none in L1 WTC or in L1 test scores. Additionally, the observations showed that teacher-fronted activities dominated both L1 and L2 classrooms. The study shows the complexity of WTC and the usefulness of understanding WTC. Implications are also provided.

THE IMPACT OF GENDER AND SECOND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY ON WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN THE UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF GJILAN TOWNKOSOVO

Second language willingness to communicate (WTC) has lately become an important concept in second language learning and communication. Earlier research on willingness to communicate (WTC) has shown that there are a lot of factors that influence the willingness of the learners to communicate and among those factors there are mentioned also the factor of gender and the language proficiency. The objectives of the study were to identify the factors that influence willingness to communicate and to find out if the gender and language proficiency have any effect on willingness to communicate. In addition, by this study there is intended to provide information to teachers in order to help their students feel more confident in expressing themselves. This study included a questionnaire with upper-secondary school students. In order to measure students' willingness to communicate there was administered a modified version of the Likert-type questionnaire developed by MacIntyre et al. (2001). A total of 300 hundred upper-secondary schools students participated in the study. Results from the study do not show that the gender of the students plays a noteworthy role on their willingness to communicate respectively based on the results female students are just a little bit more willing to communicate compared to male students. On the other side the proficiency of the students has a notable effect on the willingness of the students to communicate respectively proficient students are much more willing to communicate than the non-proficient students. Keywords: Willingness to Communicate, Gender, Second Language Proficiency, Upper- Secondary School Students

Promoting international posture through history as content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in the Japanese context

This article uses the conceptual framework of second language willingness to communicate (L2 WTC), and in particular the contributory construct of international posture (IP; Yashima, 2002), to report on a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) course taught in the Japanese university context. The research follows up an exploratory, small-scale study with a focused qualitative investigation. Due to space restrictions the current paper reports only on the key qualitative findings and attempts to build a picture of how the theme of the course, Japanese international history, affected learners’ IP, a construct that has been shown to be key to Japanese learners of English’s L2 WTC (Yashima, 2002). It is shown that after completing the course, learners felt more connected to the wider world, and as a result IP developed in varied and meaningful ways, seemingly increasing L2 WTC and stimulating critical thinking facilities both within and without the classroom.

Willingness to Communicate in English: A Microsystem Model in the IranianEFLClassroom Context

This study examined willingness to communicate (WTC) in English among IranianEFLlearners in the classroom context. For this purpose, a second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) model based onWTCtheory (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998) and empirical studies was proposed and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). This model examined the interrelationships amongWTCin English, communication confidence, motivation, classroom environment, attitudes toward learning English, and English language achievement. A total of 243 English‐major university students in Iran completed a questionnaire. The proposedSEMmodel adequately fitted the data. Results of theSEMindicated that classroom environment was the strongest direct predictor of L2WTC; communication confidence directly affectedWTC; motivation indirectly affectedWTCthrough communication confidence; English language proficiency indirectly affectedWTCthrough communication confidence; and the classroom environment directly affected attitudes, motivation, and communication confidence.