This article investigates results and antecedents of willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language (L2) through 2 separate investigations conducted with Japanese adolescent learners of English. In the first investigation, involving 160 students, a model was We would like to thank Peter MacIntyre for letting us use the communication-related scales that he adapted from McCroskey and Richmond (1991) to refer to second language as well as for his valuable suggestions, and Linda Viswat for her valuable comments. We would also like to express our gratitude to anonymous reviewers for their very helpful suggestions on an earlier version of this article. created based on the hypothesis that WTC results in more frequent communication in the L2 and that the attitudinal construct international posture leads to WTC and communication behavior. This model was tested with structural equation modeling and was found to fit the data well. The second investigation with 60 students who participated in a study-abroad program in the United States confirmed the results of the first. Finally, frequency of communication was shown to correlate with satisfaction in interpersonal relationships during the sojourn.A goal of second language (L2) and foreign language (FL) learning is to facilitate better communication and understanding between individuals who come from different cultural backgrounds and speak different languages. MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, and Noels (1998) emphasized communicative goals using the conceptual model of willingness to communicate (WTC), in which L2 proficiency is not regarded as the goal of learning an L2 per se but is seen as a means to achieve interpersonal/intercultural goals. Both state and trait variables, including self-confidence, intergroup motivation, intergroup attitudes, and personality, were shown to affect one's WTC in the L2 in a given situation.

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