Willingness to communicate in english as a second language as a stable trait or context-influenced variable

Abstract

Whether Willingness to Communicate (WTC) is a permanent trait or is modified by situational context has previously been investigated in various studies (e.g. Cao & Philp, 2006; Kang, 2005; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011). However, most research into WTC has been quantitative or conducted in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or Study Abroad situation in countries such as Canada, Japan, Korea and China. This article reports on the qualitative component of an exploratory mixed methods study in a New Zealand (NZ) university with participants who are permanent migrants from Iran. These students completed a questionnaire and participated in further in-depth semi-structured interviews. The article provides an overview of previous research into WTC and motivation in Iran and NZ as the context for these three case studies. In this study, six factors, both trait and situational, were identified as having an effect on these students’ WTC in both countries: self-perceived competence; personality; anxiety; motivation and the importance of English; and the learning context. Finally, this article discusses the contribution of this study to the WTC field of research, identifying the implications of these results for teachers of English in the ESL (English as a Second Language or migrant) context and possible avenues for future research.

Investigating Tertiary Level EFL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate in English

“…In Bukhari and Cheng's study (2017), which was conducted in the ESL context, on the contrary, the learners' L2 WTC was revealed to be at a high level. This is perhaps because of the significant effect of L2 learning context on an individual's WTC as pointed out by Cameron (2013). It is noteworthy that the L2 WTC level of the EFL learners was found to be moderate in all studies (Bursalı & Öz, 2017;Çetinkaya, 2005;Öz, 2014Öz et al, 2015;Şener, 2014) carried out in the Turkish EFL context.…”

To talk or not to talk: A review of situational antecedents of willingness to communicate in the second language classroom

“…Fallah (2014), for example, found that teacher immediacy indirectly affected WTC through confidence and motivation. Students' WTC is also influenced by the teacher's teaching styles and classroom management (e.g., Cameron, 2013;Peng, 2012;Riasati, 2012;Zarrinabadi, 2014). For instance, Zarrinabadi (2014) suggested that students' willingness to participate in a communicative activity in class is influenced by their teacher's time given for task preparation, topic selection, and error correction.…”

‘In New Zealand I feel more confidence’: The role of context in the willingness to communicate (WTC) of migrant Iranian English language learners

“…Classroom discussions about previous language learning experiences, one-to-one interviews with the teacher, or focus groups established to discuss such topics could be beneficial. Although this study added a longitudinal dimension, combined with observations and teacher input, to a previous exploratory study (Cameron, 2013), the sample size was small and generalizability to other contexts is a problem. However, this is typical of qualitative case study research in this area (see Cao, 2013;Peng, 2011;Zhong, 2013).…”

“…The findings of a previous exploratory study (Cameron, 2013) into the WTC of Iranian participants from the same university suggested that this area of research was worthy of further in-depth investigation. Learning context was an important aspect of these participants' language learning experience, and as such led to their overall WTC (Cameron, 2013). Previous studies by Zhong (2013), Cao (2011), andPeng (2012) also support the important contribution of such contextual factors to learners' WTC.…”

“…The study was conducted over two semesters (one year) with four pre-university ESL (English as a Second Language) students who were interviewed by the researcher after completing a written questionnaire. Building on the results of a previous exploratory study (Cameron, 2013), an observation tool was used as well as the longitudinal dimension, in order to enhance the validity of the findings of this qualitative study. Before discussing these findings, the literature which forms the background to this study will be presented in the following section.…”