This study examined willingness to communicate (WTC) in English among Iranian EFL learners in the classroom context. For this purpose, a second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) model based on WTC theory (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998) and empirical studies was proposed and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). This model examined the interrelationships among WTC in English, communication confidence, motivation, classroom environment, attitudes toward learning English, and English language achievement. A total of 243 English‐major university students in Iran completed a questionnaire. The proposed SEM model adequately fitted the data. Results of the SEM indicated that classroom environment was the strongest direct predictor of L2WTC; communication confidence directly affected WTC; motivation indirectly affected WTC through communication confidence; English language proficiency indirectly affected WTC through communication confidence; and the classroom environment directly affected attitudes, motivation, and communication confidence.
This paper examines Bulgarian and American young adults’ perceptions of prior experiences of intergenerational communication. Irrespective of culture, as age of target increased from young adult to middle-aged and elderly adult, so did attributions of benevolence, norms of politeness and deference, and communicative respect and avoidance; conversely, attributions of personal vitality and communication satisfaction decreased linearly. However, American youth reported more of a tendency to avoid, but expressed more respect when communicating with, older adults than their Bulgarian counterparts. In both settings, young adults’ avoidant communication with older people negatively, and the norm of politeness positively, predicted intergenerational communication satisfaction. In Bulgaria only, age stereotypes also predicted communication satisfaction whereas only in the USA was communicative respect a predictor.
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