Fluctuations in Learners’ Willingness to Communicate during Communicative Task Performance: Conditions and Tendencies

Abstract

<jats:p>A person’s willingness to communicate (WTC), believed to stem from a combination of proximal and distal variables comprising psychological, linguistic, educational and communicative dimensions of language, appears to be a significant predictor of success in language learning. The ability to communicate is both a means and end of language education, since, on the one hand, being able to express the intended meanings in the target language is generally perceived as the main purpose of any language course and, on the other, linguistic development proceeds in the course of language use. However, MacIntyre (2007, p. 564) observes that some learners, despite extensive study, may never become successful L2 speakers. The inability or unwillingness to sustain contacts with more competent language users may influence the way learners are evaluated in various social contexts. Establishing social networks as a result of frequent communication with target language users is believed to foster linguistic development. WTC, initially considered a stable personality trait and then a result of context-dependent influences, has recently been viewed as a dynamic phenomenon changing its intensity within one communicative event (MacIntyre and Legatto, 2011; MacIntyre et al., 2011). The study whose results are reported here attempts to tap into factors that shape one’s willingness to speak during a communicative task. The measures employed to collect the data – selfratings and surveys – allow looking at the issue from a number of perspectives.</jats:p>

Dynamics of classroom WTC: Results of a semester study

“…As can be seen in the analysis of the self-ratings marked on the WTC grids, the students' readiness to speak during all the 7 classes reported here exhibited a considerable degree of fluctuation. WTC ups and downs were reported not only in the course of single lessons but also during specific tasks and activities, as was also established in the course of previous studies into classroom WTC (e.g., Cao & Philips, 2006;Cao, 2011Cao, , 2013Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2014;Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2015;Pawlak, Mystkowska-Wiertelak, & Bielak, 2016). The magnitude of these fluctuations differed between single lessons but also between individual students, and even if these differences were not conspicuous, as evident in the low values of standard deviation, the impact of individual characteristics cannot be excluded; however, it needs to be noted here that discussing WTC fluctuations of individual students was not the focus of the present study.…”

“…In MacIntyre and Legatto's (2011) study, which is not classroom-but laboratory-based, readiness to speak faltered due to anxiety and insufficient vocabulary resources. Similarly, Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pawlak (2014) and Pawlak and Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2015) also report on shifts in WTC intensity, using a different data collection method, which required the respondents to indicate the level of readiness to engage in individual tasks performed in the course of a naturally occurring class they regularly attended. WTC was recorded in response to a beep heard at equal intervals of time (5 min.…”

“…MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011;MacIntyre, Burns, & Jessome, 2011;Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2014). The changes in the intensity of L2 learners' readiness to engage in communication in the classroom context have been investigated in a number of studies attempting also to establish factors capable of stimulating or hindering WTC (e.g., Cao & Philip, 2006;Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2015;Peng, 2014).…”

“…This shift of focus to the contextual nature of WTC resulted in a whole host of studies aimed at disclosing situated, personal, and context-related variables shaping L2 WTC in the classroom setting (cf. Cao, 2011Cao, , 2013Cao & Philip, 2006;Kang, 2005;Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2014;Weaver, 2007). The recognition of the role of context in the emergence of WTC has highlighted the dynamic character of the construct capable of fluctuating in different time scales, within a single class or a single task.…”

Changes in foreign language anxiety: A classroom perspective

“…Finally, it should be noted that studies investigating the concept of willingness to communicate (WTC) in foreign/ second language learning, also, although indirectly, demonstrate changes in language anxiety (e.g., MacIntyre & Legatto, 2010;Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2014;Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2015). This is because research findings suggest that anxiety can, to some extent, impinge on students' WTC in a foreign/second language (cf.…”