The role of ideal L2 self in predicting L2 willingness to communicate inside and outside the classroom

Abstract

This study reports on findings of an investigation into the relationship between ideal L2 self as a motivational variable and willingness to communicate in English (L2 WTC) in and outside the classroom. Participants were a total of 90 university students majoring in English as a foreign language (ELF) at a foundation university in Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected using the Ideal L2 Self measure and the Willingness to Communicate questionnaire. Findings showed that 28% of the participants had high L2 WTC outside the classroom whereas 24% had high L2 WTC inside the classroom. The findings also indicated that there was a significant link between the ideal L2 self and L2 WTC both inside and outside the classroom and that the ideal L2 accounted for 13% of the variance in total L2 WTC scores. Based on the findings obtained, the study concludes by outlining pedagogical implications and recommendations in relation to instructional practices in L2 classrooms.

Analyzing the Correlation Between Ideal L2 Self and Willingness to Communicate in L2 among EFL Learners

“…The findings pointed out the learning experience, ought-to L2 self, and international posture could predict the ideal L2 self. In contrast to the recent studies in EFL contexts (Bursalı & Öz, 2017;Munezane, 2013;Sak, 2020), Peng's study did not reveal a meaningful relationship between the two constructs. At this point, an early study in the Turkish EFL context conducted by Bursalı and Öz (2017) also aimed to examine the correlation between them and indicated a significant relationship between the two variables.…”

“…Overall, it could be concluded that the relationship between ideal L2 self levels and L2 WTC has drawn attention by a few studies in the last years (Bursalı & Öz, 2017;Munezane, 2013;Peng, 2014;Sak, 2020). Although they were conducted in different contexts with various groups of participants, some findings were found to be in harmony with each other.…”

“…After the introduction of L2MSS, many research has been conducted on the components of this framework to understand their relationships with other components such as motivation levels, attitudes, L2 anxiety (Peng, 2014), L2 WTC (Bursalı & Öz, 2017;Öz & Bursalı, 2018;Sak, 2020), experience abroad, English self-efficacy, and proficiency (Cho, 2020). However, most of the research focused on the relationship of these three components with the motivation levels of learners, on the one hand, some research has shown that high levels of motivation are more associated with the component "L2 learning experience" compared to the other components in L2MSS (Csizér & Kormos, 2009;Papi, 2010).…”

“…After this descriptive analysis process, the levels of WTC and ideal L2 self of the participants were labeled as high, moderate and low with respect to the standard deviation value and the mean scores. One standard deviation below and above the mean scores was accordingly labeled as low and high scores, and the scores between these two values were considered as moderate levels (Sak, 2020). Besides, after the absence of outliers and normality were assured, Pearson correlation analysis was employed to understand the probable correlations between ideal L2 self and L2 WTC levels inside and outside the classroom.…”

“…Among these three components, the current research has focused on "ideal L2 self" as a motivational variable in order to understand whether the visions of EFL learners are correlated with their willingness to use the target language not only in EFL classrooms but also outside the classrooms, which can be defined as learners' desire to join in conversations on their own will, with the aim of examining how effective the ideal L2 self of learners is to encourage them to perform in the target language and to understand whether it can function as a predictor of WTC. With respect to the previous studies' findings on the correlation of motivation and ideal L2 self, the latter can lead EFL learners to set some goals for their language skills for the future and can encourage them to perform in the target language more to reach these goals and master the language, so it can be put forward that the ideal L2 self is likely to arise EFL students'WTC levels in L2 (Sak, 2020). In other words, although oral production in a foreign language can provoke anxiety, the current research hypothesizes that the ideal L2 self can perform as a trigger to start conversations in the target language for EFL students with the purpose of achieving their visions for their future L2 skills.…”