The Study of the Correlation between EFL University Students’ L2WTC in English Class and Achievement Attribution

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the status quo of Chinese English-as-foreign-language (EFL) university students’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2WTC), i.e., in English, in class, and how these students with different levels of L2WTC differ in their achievement attributions. With a mixed-method approach, the study reveals that Chinese EFL university students exhibit a moderate level of L2WTC in English class, with girls demonstrating higher levels of L2WTC compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, the greatest statistically significant differences are observed in three achievement attributions—namely effort, strategy, and teacher’s instruction—between students with high-level and low-level L2WTC. Notably, the achievement attribution of effort is proved to be positively related to L2WTC with the highest coefficient, while a negative path exists between the achievement attribution of language gift and L2WTC. Drawing from the findings, the pedagogical implication concerning reattribution training is provided.