Willingness to Communicate

Abstract

The act of communicating in a second language has become an important methodological consideration and educational objective in many classrooms around the world. To increase the likelihood that communication will take place, both inside and outside of the classroom, teachers are encouraged to promote students' propensity to engage in communication – known as their “willingness to communicate” (WTC). This entry explains the arguments for developing students' WTC, various factors that play a role in enhancing or restricting a learner's WTC, and practical suggestions that educators can incorporate into their curricula, lesson plans, and classroom management.

EFL learners’ grit, classroom enjoyment and their willingness to communicate: Iranian public school versus private English language institute learners

“…Since the 1980s, encouraging learners' participation through target language use has been a prominent part of second language acquisition (SLA) pedagogy and research. With the advent of communicative approaches to English language teaching, speaking to learn and learning to speak has gained increasing popularity among L2 scholars (Ducker, 2018). Yet, many researchers have confirmed that learners differ in their level of willingness to communicate in L2 (L2 WTC) (Khajavy et al, 2016).…”