Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Willingness to Communicate (WTC) is a key concept to account for first and second language communication. This study examined the actual conditions of WTC fluctuation in the real communication scenes with Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). A questionnaire survey and four EFL speaking tasks were conducted with six Japanese college students. Their speech scenes were video-recorded and were transcribed for analysis of the performance as well as for reference data for reflective semi-structured interviews which were conducted in Japanese with each participant after the tasks to consider the causes of his or her WTC fluctuation. The results revealed that the participants’ performance and their WTC influence each other interactively, causing WTC fluctuation. As learner variables directly influencing it, anxiety, impatience, and lack of confidence in using English were identified. The participants’ speech performance turned out to be in correlation with their WTC, which was closely related with the use of gestures and communication strategies as well. Learners’ recognition of task difficulty was found to be another significant predictor of their WTC, with vocabulary and grammatical knowledge being the most problematic issue. Their self-evaluation also played an important role in their WTC fluctuation, while task familiarity and communication experiences also played a part in it through actual language use. Pedagogical implications abstracted from the research results are discussed for their practical application in EFL classrooms.
Author: Ai Shimoyama
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2262194808