What It Takes to Communicate

Abstract

The multimodality of the online learning environment allows students’ participation in different modes, relying either on video, audio or text-based communication. The current study explores the level of students’ willingness to communicate in the three modes of interaction in synchronous online English language lessons and compares it with their willingness to communicate in a conventional face-to-face language classroom. To this end, we recruited for this research 281 university students who took a course in English as part of their study programs. Relying on a cross-sectional survey design, we analyzed the data on the response variables by means of descriptive statistical tests and factorial ANOVAs. The results reveal that the students’ willingness to communicate in synchronous online classes decreases whenever they are required to activate more modes of communication. They also show that the highest willingness to communicate is found in conventional, face-to-face classrooms. An implication of the research is that the mode of communication has the potential to encourage or discourage WTC in EFL among students. It is proposed that the factors of responsibility and face-saving affect the students’ participation in online classes, aligning with the idea that WTC is a dynamic, fluid variable which changes depending on the situational context.