Willingness To Communicate In English Research Articles

Global perspective and willingness to communicate in the Saudi EFL context: A correlational study

This study examines the relationship between global perspective (GP) and willingness to communicate (WTC) among Saudi EFL learners, with a particular focus on the influence of gender. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was employed in this research. The study involved administering questionnaires to a sample of 150 undergraduates (96 males, 54 females) and conducting semi-structured interviews with 8 participants (4 males, 4 females) to gain deeper insights. The quantitative results revealed an insignificant difference between GP and WTC in English overall. However, a moderate positive correlation was found between WTC and specific GP domains (cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal). The qualitative interview analysis further highlighted that learners with a higher GP demonstrated greater WTC and were driven by factors such as intercultural awareness and openness to multiculturalism. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex interplay between GP and WTC in English, an area previously underexplored in the context of Saudi EFL learners. The results emphasize the nuanced role that GP plays in influencing learners' willingness to communicate. The findings suggest that educational strategies aimed at enhancing global perspectives among learners could foster a greater willingness to communicate in English. This highlights the importance of integrating elements of intercultural awareness and multicultural openness into EFL curricula to better support student engagement and communication.

Students’ Willingness to Communicate in English in EFL Digital Context:

This study investigates the impact of social media on students' Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in digital contexts in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). WTC is defined as an individual's readiness to communicate verbally or remain silent when given the freedom to choose. This research utilizes a Narrative Inquiry approach to explore the experiences of an Indonesian EFL learner at the University of Islam Malang. Data was collected through in-depth narrative interviews, focusing on the participant's use of social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Telegram for English communication. Findings reveal that digital interactions significantly enhance the participant's motivation, confidence, and language proficiency. Social media platforms facilitate real-time communication, expose learners to diverse linguistic contexts, and provide opportunities for immersive language practice. This study underscores the importance of integrating digital tools into traditional language education to support self-directed learning and improve students' WTC in English. These insights contribute to the growing research on Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) and its role in language acquisition and communication readiness.

Examining the roles of spiritual motivation, religiosity, and L2 WTC in English

Recognizing the importance of students’ attitudes in enhancing their educational achievements, this study aimed to examine the roles of spiritual motivation, religiosity, and L2 WTC (Willingness to Communicate) in students’ English language achievements. The study aimed to create a scale to assess students’ spiritual motivation. Additionally, it scrutinized the relationship between spiritual motivation, religiosity, and L2 WTC. The data was collected from 194 students (97 males; 97 females) coming from both social and non-social sciences who completed three questionnaires: spiritual motivation, religiosity, and L2 WTC scales. Descriptive and inferential statistics were obtained using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), and AMOS (Analysis of a Moment Structure). The analysis confirmed that both spiritual motivation and religiosity scales have reliable psychometric properties. SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) also revealed that spiritual motivation and religiosity are positively associated with L2 WTC. However, neither of the dependent variables emerged as predictors of English language acquisition. Notably, when mediated by spiritual motivation, SEM revealed that religiosity can predict L2 WTC. The study concludes with a discussion of the results and implications for research.

The Effect of Feedback Styles on Students’ Willingness to Communicate in English

This study looks at the effect of instructor directed feedback and peer directed feedback in a university-level English discussion class on students’ willingness to communicate in English. Willingness to communicate (WTC) in another language reflects the extent a person will readily use a second language in a variety of contexts and can be influenced by both individual character traits, the social situation, and perceptions of one’s own second language ability. Both instructor lead feedback and peer lead feedback can improve students’ WTC in a foreign language, and to determine which mode of feedback is best suited to this purpose, an experiment was conducted using groups of first-year English Discussion classes. During regular class periods, either instructor lead feedback sessions or peer lead feedback sessions were conducted across two distinct sets of classes. To evaluate the effectiveness of these feedback styles in improving students’ WTC in English, the results of WTC pre-test and post-test surveys were compared across both sets of classes. Results showed that there was no significant improvement in WTC for the group that received instructor lead feedback, while the improvement in WTC for the student lead feedback group was statistically significant. These results suggest that student directed feedback is superior with regards to increasing learners’ WTC in English.

Individual Factors Affecting Learner’s Willingness to Speak in EFL Classroom

This qualitative study aims at investigating what individual factors affecting learners Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in EFL classroom. Data were gernered using reflection which were distributed to 15 learners of the fifth semester at the English Education program in one of universities in Southeast Sulawesi. The researcher analyzed the learners’ reflection using thematic analysis (TA) through coding the data by underlining code and conceptual framework of WTC. The study result shows that several individual factors were identified as having an influence on learners’ willingness to speak, including perceived opportunity to communicate, emotions, interest, anxiety, feeling of insecurity, self-confidence, L2 proficiency and personalities. This study implies that these nine individual factors were found to be influential in effecting students’ WTC in English in this particular study, and the teachers need to pay more attention to these factors in providing instructions in EFL classroom.Keywords: English foreign language classroom; English foreign language learners; individual factors; willingness to communicate.

Influencing Factors of Students’ Willingness to Communicate in English in the EFL Classroom: A Systematic Review

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has been considered a research hotspot in second language acquisition and foreign language teaching. However, systematic analysis of factors influencing students’ WTC in English is scarce. This systematic review aims to explore and summarize existing research on factors influencing students’ English WTC published from 2013 to 2022. According to the selection criteria, a total of 25 relevant publications are included in the scope of analysis, which has been categorized into internal and external factors. Both of these factors influence students’ English WTC. The results showed that most of the studies were concentrated among Middle East participants and the quantitative approach was dominant in these studies. This review revealed that the factors have become more diversified, such as emotional intelligence, ethnic group affiliation, and digital game-based learning. The factors include not only internal and external factors, but there is also a growing trend examining the comprehensive factors including individual factors, affective factors, and learning environment that affect students’ WTC in English. Finally, this study may benefit English teachers, researchers, and educators who aspire to improve students’ English WTC by providing a detailed review of the factors influencing students’ English WTC. It concludes with recommendations for future research to study students’ WTC in English.

FL learners in late adulthood: A report of seniors’ willingness to communicate in English in the classroom context

The article aims to examine older learners’ points of view concerning their in-class will- ingness to communicate (WTC) in English and to identify their expectations regarding an English teacher. The instrument was a questionnaire that comprised – among others – of questions referring to variables that could exert an impact on third-agers’ WTC in English in class. The factors which were used as options in the closed and open-ended questions in the study had been identified by the third agers as the ones that positively or negatively shaped their in-class WTC in an earlier piece of qualitative research (Borkowska 2021a). The data analysis revealed that the informants (63 older participants) reported an eagerness to communicate in English, and they perceived speaking with the teacher as the most motivating type of interaction. The most crucial components of language instruction that boosted older adults’ WTC was gentle error correction, a friendly atmosphere, and teacher support that seemed to have a positive effect on their lower self-esteem. Similarly, an empathetic and patient instructor could be of great help in diminishing seniors’ self-depreciating views. In contrast, negative teacher attributes (e.g., anxiety, criticism) could lead to inhibiting the older participants’ WTC and active involvement during English classes.

EFL learners’ willingness to communicate in speaking activities in online and face-to-face English lessons in Turkish context

The purpose of this study is to explore the participants’ general willingness to communicate (WTC) levels in communicative pair or small group activities in English lessons which were taught via different mediums like face-to-face or online (during the COVID-19 pandemic). In order to address this aim, a quantitative research method was adopted in the study. A total of 88 students enrolled at the School of Foreign Languages of Izmir Institute of Technology participated in the study. The quantitative data were gathered from the participants through a questionnaire (WTC in English scale, by Peng & Woodrow, 2010). The results showed that all the participants had a moderate level of WTC in English. The study provides several recommendations for researchers, institutions and language teachers.

THE OCCURRENCES OF WTC AMONG MALAYSIAN PRE-UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN AN ESL ONLINE CLASSROOM

The English language is regarded as an important mode of communication in Malaysia, particularly in higher education institutions and the workplace. The perception that graduates lack English communication skills renders them unemployable upon graduation. Therefore, a great deal of effort has been expended to produce students who can communicate effectively in a variety of social and professional settings. The Ministry of Education has taken numerous steps to improve the English proficiency of students. This study examines pre-university students' willingness to communicate (WTC) in a digital setting at a local university. This study employed a qualitative methodology and included 12 classroom observations. The classroom observation data was subjected to an inter-rater reliability analysis, and the results revealed that the mood and role of the English Language Instructors (ELIs) significantly influenced the occurrences of WTC in English among pre-university students. The findings of this study are intended to provide stakeholders, curriculum developers, and ELIs with a better understanding of the teaching and learning factors that must be considered in order to ensure students' WTC in English.

Willingness to Communicate in English as a Second Language: A Research Protocol for Meta-Analysis

This study explores three independent variables affecting Willingness to Communicate (WTC). Specifically, the purpose is to examine the degree of relationship between familiarity, self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) and motivation as explanatory (independent variables) to WTC (dependent variable) using three identified studies on WTC in English among L2 speakers from Japan, Turkey and Pakistan – all non-English speaking countries. Given the various limitations and some inconsistencies presented herein, a combined analysis on effect size seems difficult to be realized. However, even with all the difficulties, correlational meta-analysis can still manage to depict a sizeable description of effect size when raw data of answered questionnaire responses on each variable is made available to determine coefficient correlation, thus, effect size. Next, the use of WTC Model consistent in all data extraction and analysis coupled with the relatively consistent mentioning of three identified variables indicate some strong sense of homogeneity. Therefore, this paper can answer the most general questions when full-scale meta-analysis will be conducted in the future: what is the degree of correlation of familiarity, SPCC and motivation to WTC as L2 language individuals? What has the highest degree of correlation among all variables to the level of WTC?

SITUATIONAL AND MOTIVATION FACTORS AFFECTING WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE AMONG ESL STUDENTS

Having a sense of willingness to communicate in the 2nd language (L2) is one of the important factors in improving L2 speaking skills. Willingness to Communicate (WTC) a model proposed by MacIntyre et. al (1998) is considered an indicator for successful English learning outcome. There are several factors that influences students’ WTC in English. Hence, the objective of this study is to look into the individual factors that influences pre-university students WTC in English in an ESL digital classroom setting. The result of the study was obtained through the use of qualitative method using a focused group interview of 25 voluntary pre-university students in a public university in Sabah, Malaysia. The data obtained revealed that individual factors which are self-confidence, language anxiety, motivation and grit play a role in influencing pre-university students’ WTC in English. This finding would be beneficial to language instructors as well as syllabus makers in providing and designing an English lesson that is geared to encouraging students to communicate in English.

Pakistani Teachers’ Views About Their Undergraduates’ Willingness to Communicate in English Inside the Classroom

The main goal of modern second language (L2) pedagogy is to engender effective communication among its learners. Willingness to Communicate (WTC) has emerged as the most vibrant topic in L2 pedagogy, especially in the last two decades. A plethora of research on students’ views about their WTC has been conducted in a variety of contexts. However, research on teachers’ views about their students’ WTC in English is still in its infancy. Thus, this study investigated ESL teachers’ views about their undergraduates’ WTC in English inside the classroom. The cluster sampling technique was used to collect data from 80 ESL teachers from eight universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The results revealed that the teachers viewed the undergraduates’ level of WTC as high in most classroom situations, such as during groups, during activities with the same and opposite gender, when given preparation time, seated in the middle of the class, and in front of the whole class. However, students showed a moderate level of WTC in situations such as sitting in front of the class and at the back of the class. A one-way ANOVA was performed to examine the differences between different classroom situations. The results showed significant differences in the teachers’ views about their students’ WTC in most classroom situations. Thus, the current study affirms that WTC is a dynamic variable that changes from situation to situation.

The Effects of Individual-Level and Group-Level Trust on Willingness to Communicate in the Group Language Learning

This study examined the effects of individual-level and group-level trust on willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language, targeting Japanese university students in a group-language (English) learning setting. Although the effects of group language learning on students’ learning attitudes and the effects of trust on WTC in a second language have been examined extensively, no study has examined group-level factors in a group-language learning setting. A questionnaire survey was conducted thrice per semester. Multilevel analysis found that individual-level trust in group members positively influenced individual-level WTC in English, and group-level trust in group members also positively influenced group-level WTC in English repeatedly through one semester. Moreover, the degree of group-level WTC in English changed after the mid-semester. This study contributes to the literature on group-language learning, and has implications for language education where educators must be mindful not only of each student’s characteristics but also of each group’s characteristics to enhance their performance.

Examining the Effect of Digital Storytelling on English Speaking Proficiency, Willingness to Communicate, and Group Cohesion

AbstractThis study focused on digital storytelling (DST) as a task in technology‐mediated task‐based language teaching and examined its effects on English speaking proficiency, willingness to communicate in English (WTCE), and group cohesion (GC). Two intact classes of Taiwanese EFL students, either as the DST group or as the comparison group, first responded to the WTCE scale, the GC scale, and a standardized English speaking test. Next, the DST group completed two DST tasks, each of which entailed locating information, generating the story script, obtaining visual and aural support, rehearsing and recording the oral reading, combining the visual and aural support with the audio recording to create the digital story, and playing the digital story and then telling the story again with the muted digital story in class. During the weeks when the DST group presented digital stories, the comparison group watched and discussed movies and composed a reflective report in English. Finally, both groups responded to the WTCE scale and GC scale again and took another set of the standardized English speaking test. Data analyses disclosed that DST tasks significantly increased English speaking proficiency and GC but affected WTCE in a positive yet nonsignificant manner.

Factors Affecting Senior High School Students' Willingness to Communicate in English in the EFL Classroom

This study aims at revealing factors affecting senior high school students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in English in the classroom. This study employed a descriptive research design, and was situated in an Indonesian state senior high school in Sumenep, Madura. The data were collected from 57 students by using an adapted questionnaire taken from Riasati & Rahimi (2018), and the result was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that the students’ WTC in English in class were affected by both individual and situational factors. The individual factors here include L2 self-confidence, L2 self-perceived communication competence, L2 anxiety, and fear of making mistakes. Meanwhile, the situational factors consist of task types, interlocutors’ effects, topics of discussion, and seating locations. Thus, it was suggested that the English teachers should not only encourage the students’ self-confidence in speaking English, or convince them that making mistakes is part of learning, but also should be careful in deciding the type of task given, topic to be discussed, and even the seating arrangements for their students, since all of these affect the students’ WTC in English in class.

Willingness to communicate in relation to language use among Pakistani undergraduates: A sociocultural perspective

This study aimed to investigate English as a second language (ESL) undergraduates’ sociocultural perspective of willingness to communicate (WTC) in English inside the classroom in relation to language use outside the classroom. The participants were 440 ESL undergraduates selected through the cluster sampling method from eight universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan. The data were collected through questionnaires on WTC in English inside the classroom and language use outside the classroom. The findings revealed that the participants’ level of WTC in English was high for most social interactions within the classroom, such as in groups, during activities, with the same gender, and when given preparation time in groups. The findings for language use showed that a mixture of languages, such as Pashto and Urdu, was predominantly used in the family, neighbourhood and friendship, religion, education, and transaction domains. In contrast, English was primarily used in the mass media and social media domains. Moreover, the findings revealed that WTC in English inside the classroom was positively correlated with social media, mass media, transaction and education domains but negatively correlated with the family domain.

Fluctuations in willingness to communicate of an EFL lecturer: An observation study in Indonesia

Despite the growing number of research on Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in English students, research of teachers’ WTC in English is still scarce. At the same time, the fluctuations of WTC in English in authentic classroom interactions are still under research. This study aims to observe the fluctuations in WTC of the English lecturer in the Indonesian context. The data were collected through video recordings during an online classroom learning session where participants were teaching their students. The data were then transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically by drawing from MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) Heuristic Model. From the results of the analysis, WTC fluctuations in English are divided into four factors: (1) modeling the use of English in the classroom, (2) the power of affirmation, (3) focusing on the message, and (4) showing language similarity. The implication of this study is also discussed. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.5983

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON STUDENTS’ WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN A DIGITAL CONTEXT (HEIs)

The outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic has brought a shift in the way the teaching and learning process has been conducted in the education field. Most of the lessons are conducted in a digital context for the safety of both teachers and students. Thus, this study aims to look into the impact of the pandemic on students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in English in a digital context in a local higher education institution (HEIs) in Sabah, Malaysia. A qualitative approach was employed in this study involving 25 pre-university students. The data was obtained from a focus group interview and was later transcribed and coded into dominant and sub-dominant themes. The findings revealed that the students unanimously agreed that having classes in a digital context does affect their WTC in English. It is hoped that these findings would give a better insight to English language instructors (ELIs) to plan a conducive learning environment that could facilitate students' WTC in a digital context.

Factors predicting classroom WTC in English and French as foreign languages among adult learners in Spain

This study aimed to identify associations and predictors of willingness to communicate (WTC) of adult foreign language (FL) learners and whether they are contingent upon the FL being learned. To this end, our research investigated learner variables associated with WTC in adult FL learners of English and of French in an under-researched field of WTC studies in Spain. More specifically, the following variables were studied: gender, age, level of multilingualism, perceived relative standing in the class, language proficiency, teacher’s use of the FL in class, out-of-class foreign language use (OCFLU) and the two emotions of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). Of the 9 independent variables examined, FLCA and language proficiency were found to be predictors of the WTC of both English and French language learners; additionally, enjoyment was found to be a predictor of WTC of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and OCFLU, of learners of French as a foreign language (FFL). Our findings indicate that the construct of WTC needs to be further studied as research may produce dissimilar results depending on the instructional setting, population and foreign language. Pedagogical implications for language teaching practices seeking to enhance adult FL learners’ WTC were also drawn from the study results.

Grit and foreign language anxiety as predictors of willingness to communicate in the context of foreign language learning: A structural equation modeling approach

Given its key role in enhancing learners’ communicative competence, willingness to communicate (WTC) has received much research attention in the field of second language (L2) teaching and learning. Numerous studies have explored the antecedents of WTC in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. As an attempt to shed more light on this line of research, this study was set to investigate the effects of grit and foreign language anxiety as predictors of L2 WTC among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, a number of 163 undergraduate English major students from several universities participated in this survey. The required data were collected by distributing valid and reliable instruments measuring the three target variables (i.e., WTC, grit, and anxiety). A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was utilized to test the hypothesized structural models for the relations between these variables. The SEM results indicated that grit accounted for 10.6 % of the variance and FL anxiety explained 20% of the variance in the participants’ L2 WTC. Furthermore, the unique impact of foreign language anxiety on WTC was greater than that of grit. The implications of these findings for language teaching and learning are discussed at the end of the paper.