Building Dialogue Between Cultures: Expats’ Way of Coping in a Foreign Country and Their Willingness to Communicate in a Foreign Language

Author(s):  
Gertrud Tarp
2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110540
Author(s):  
Elvira Barrios ◽  
Irene Acosta-Manzano

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (27) ◽  
pp. 192
Author(s):  
Eliseo Fernández-Barrionuevo ◽  
Javier Villoria Prieto ◽  
Francisco Tomás González-Fernández ◽  
Antonio Baena-Extremera

2019 ◽  
pp. 136216881989082
Author(s):  
Ju Seong Lee ◽  
Kilryoung Lee ◽  
Jun Chen Hsieh

This study examined Korean ( n = 143) and Taiwanese ( n = 261) EFL students’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) in in-class, out-of-class, and digital settings. Follow-up interviews ( n = 20) were also conducted to identify factors that might have influenced their L2 WTC. Results showed that Korean and Taiwanese participants scored lowest on L2 WTC inside the classroom. The qualitative data suggest that L2 speaking anxiety might have equally influenced both groups’ L2 WTC. Additionally, while Korean students scored higher on L2 WTC outside the classroom than Taiwanese students, the Taiwanese scored higher on L2 WTC in digital settings than did the Koreans. The qualitative data revealed that these discrepancies might have been influenced by English environment and teaching practice. These findings suggest that East Asian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) can become more willing to communicate when sufficient opportunities for English use are provided through instructional and institutional support.


2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882097782
Author(s):  
Rintaro Sato

Willingness to communicate (WTC), which plays a crucial role in second or foreign language learning, has a dynamic and complex nature, fluctuating during communicative events. This study examines how the situational WTC of four Japanese speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL) emerges and fluctuates, focusing on the roles of language proficiency and affective and conditional factors. Low-intermediate and advanced speakers were engaged in an interactive, communicative activity with an interlocutor. All utterances were recorded, transcribed, and analysed and combined with the qualitative data from participants’ self-ratings and a stimulated recall interview after the activity to assess fluctuations in WTC. The findings indicate that levels of WTC are influenced differently between low-intermediate and advanced speakers. Although the WTC of all speakers was negatively affected when they sensed a lack of English proficiency, low-intermediate speakers were affected by interest in the topic, influence of interlocutors on sense of security, and self-confidence, while opportunity to talk about oneself and one’s opinions contributed to the WTC of advanced speakers. It is suggested that teaches of EFL should be considerate of these factors that can affect EFL learners’ WTC.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoko Yashima ◽  
Peter D. MacIntyre ◽  
Maiko Ikeda

Recently, situated willingness to communicate (WTC) has received increasing research attention in addition to traditional quantitative studies of trait-like WTC. This article is an addition to the former but unique in two ways. First, it investigates both trait and state WTC in a classroom context and explores ways to combine the two to reach a fuller understanding of why second language (L2) learners choose (or avoid) communication at given moments. Second, it investigates the communication behavior of individuals and of the group they constitute as nested systems, with the group as context for individual performance. An interventional study was conducted in a class for English as a foreign language (EFL) with 21 students in a Japanese university. During discussion sessions in English over a semester in which Initiation–Response–Feedback (IRF) patterns were avoided to encourage students to initiate communication, qualitative data based on observations, student self-reflections, and interviews and scale-based data on trait anxiety and WTC were collected. The analyses, which focused on three selected participants, revealed how differences in the frequency of self-initiated turns emerged through the interplay of enduring characteristics, including personality and proficiency, and contextual influences such as other students’ reactions and group-level talk–silence patterns.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 912-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Halupka-Rešetar ◽  
Ljiljana Knežević ◽  
Jagoda Topalov

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