Factors Affecting EFL Students’ Willingness to Communicate in Speaking Classes at the Vietnamese Tertiary Level

Abstract

Researchers have identified that "willingness to communicate" (WTC) construct plays an important role in second and foreign language (L2) teaching and learning. Although many studies on WTC have been conducted worldwide, it seems to be a nascent term in the Vietnamese context. The present study was conducted at a private university in Ho Chi Minh City-Vietnam (henceforth called PU). The study aims to investigate the students' WTC in EFL speaking classes; explore factors that influence their WTC; and propose strategies to motivate them to communicate in speaking classes. 195 first-year English-majored students and 5 native English speaking teachers (NESTs) were invited to participate in this study. Data was gathered through the employment of three instruments including questionnaire surveys, semistructured interviews, and class observations. The findings of the study revealed that a large number of PU students had a low level of WTC in English. Moreover, it was disclosed that students' WTC was affected by both individual as well as situational factors. Lastly, several vital strategies were put forward to help enhance the students' WTC. Based on the findings of this study, some pedagogical implications for stakeholders were provided.

Analysis of Demotivating Factors Affecting Students’ Willingness to Speak English

“…Perceived Communication Competence: Related to perceived communication competence, Macintyre et al (1998 in Tuyen and Loan, 2019) affirmed that the perceived communicative competence of the students is measured as the acumen regarding the capability to communicate using L2 with others. L2 learners who consider themselves as poor communicators tend to have less willingness to communicate or vice versa.…”

“…L2 Learning Anxiety: Related to learning anxiety of L2. Some factors are considered, mentioned as character anxiety, juncture anxiety, and situation particular anxiety (Macintyre & Gardner, 1991in Tuyen & Loan, 2019. Anxiety encountered by learners in L2 classes occurs because of speaking activities.…”

“…Those four elements support someone's WTC. WTC is the behavior of someone to communicate actively in certain conditions and apply a variety of topics, tasks, and interlocutors (Kang in Tuyen & Loan, 2019]. Willingness to communicate is related to factors had by learners themselves and the place where they interact (Tuyen and Loan, 2019).…”

“…WTC is the behavior of someone to communicate actively in certain conditions and apply a variety of topics, tasks, and interlocutors (Kang in Tuyen & Loan, 2019]. Willingness to communicate is related to factors had by learners themselves and the place where they interact (Tuyen and Loan, 2019). Mcintyre (1998, in Lauherta, 2014 considers the willingness to communicate in a second language is much harder than in a first language since communicative competence is obvious in L2 in a greater range.…”

“…Two types of variables have been identified by researchers to affect the willingness of students to communicate. Those factors are mental variables mentioned as self-confidence of the second language learners, recognized conversational proficiency, learning nervousness of second language learners, motivation of learning, and psyche; and circumstantial variables mentioned as roles or attitudes of teachers, kinds of task, materials, the atmosphere of the classroom, and speakers (Tuyen and Loan, 2019). Those factors are believed to have influenced the students' desire to communicate.…”