Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World (Second Language Learning and Teaching) 3030652688, 9783030652685

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Second Language Learning and Teaching

Mariusz Kruk

Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World

Second Language Learning and Teaching Series Editor Mirosław Pawlak, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

The series brings together volumes dealing with different aspects of learning and teaching second and foreign languages. The titles included are both monographs and edited collections focusing on a variety of topics ranging from the processes underlying second language acquisition, through various aspects of language learning in instructed and non-instructed settings, to different facets of the teaching process, including syllabus choice, materials design, classroom practices and evaluation. The publications reflect state-of-the-art developments in those areas, they adopt a wide range of theoretical perspectives and follow diverse research paradigms. The intended audience are all those who are interested in naturalistic and classroom second language acquisition, including researchers, methodologists, curriculum and materials designers, teachers and undergraduate and graduate students undertaking empirical investigations of how second languages are learnt and taught.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10129

Mariusz Kruk

Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World

123

Mariusz Kruk University of Zielona Góra Zielona Góra, Poland

ISSN 2193-7648 ISSN 2193-7656 (electronic) Second Language Learning and Teaching ISBN 978-3-030-65268-5 ISBN 978-3-030-65269-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

To Foxter

Preface

Learning a foreign language is not an easy task, especially in countries in which opportunities to use the target language in communication are scarce and too frequently the only occasion for the development of language skills lies in the realm of the foreign language classroom. Fortunately for contemporary language learners, new technologies offer numerous possibilities for practicing the language they study and interacting with native and non-native speakers by means of a variety of resources which include, for instance, instant messengers, online services (G Suite), social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) or digital games (cf. Kruk & Peterson, 2020). Of paramount importance is also the fact that new technologies can be exploited in emergency situations such as the one regarding the outbreak of COVID-19 which may cause significant disruption to the provision of language education, training and mobility opportunities for language learners and teachers across the world. Particularly effective in such circumstances may be the use of virtual worlds which, unlike the “‘flat’ internet, be it . . . Skype or Facebook” (Sobkowiak, 2012, p. 39), provide their users with 3D representations of real-life objects or events and enable them to synchronously interact with other people through voice and/or text chat (Topol, 2013) in “a friendly, appealing, and contextually relevant space” (Wang, Song, Xia, & Yan, 2009, p. 2). Although the concepts of willingness to communicate (WTC), motivation and language anxiety as well as individual difference factors (e.g., age, sex, aptitude, learning strategies) rightfully occupy a significant place in SLA literature, the same cannot be said about the phenomenon of boredom. The situation looks similar in the area encompassing the implementation of new technologies in foreign language teaching and learning, where the bulk of research has been devoted to the investigations of WTC, motivation and language anxiety, whereas the study of boredom in digital settings, to the best knowledge of the present author, has only been conducted by himself in the Polish educational context. It needs to be noted at this juncture that empirical investigations into the changing nature of the phenomena in question and factors influencing them in both traditional (i.e., without recourse to computer technology) and digital settings are pretty extensive, with the important caveat that boredom is, again, found to be of less interest to researchers. In addition, vii

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few research projects have aimed at researching the relationships between the constructs of WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom in language learning. This being the case, the main theme of this book is to investigate the dynamic relationships between and/or among individual difference variables, that is, WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom in learning English as a foreign language in a virtual world Second Life in order to better comprehend their complex and changing nature, influences responsible for such variation and their role in the process of learning a foreign language in such virtual environments. The present book is composed of five chapters. Chapter 1, titled, The Constructs of Willingness to Communicate, Motivation, Language Anxiety and Boredom: Overview of Selected Issues, is divided into four sections. Section 1.2 focuses on the construct of WTC, and it discusses the origins, definitions, models and variables (i.e., self-perceived communicative competence, personality, age, sex, attitudes and learning environments) affecting the said concept. Section 1.3 deals with the construct of motivation and provides an overview of selected definitions, theoretical frameworks and concepts as well as their application in studies exploring language learners’ WTC. Section 1.4 concentrates on language anxiety and discusses various definitions of this negative emotion, its types, sources and their impact on learning a language. This section ends with a brief outline of main approaches to language anxiety. The last section (Sect. 1.5) zooms in on another negative emotion, that is, boredom. As was the case with the first three sections (i.e., Sects. 1.2–1.4), it discusses a variety of definitions of the said construct, its types and causes of boredom from the perspective of major models and theories of boredom. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the findings of empirical investigations into WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom with special emphasis laid on changes in the examined constructs and factors contributing to them, in both traditional and digital contexts, based on various theoretical perspectives, methods and research instruments employed (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, questionnaires, interviews, grids). This chapter is divided into four sections, each dedicated to a different phenomenon under investigation. Chapter 3, titled, Design of the Study, outlines the methodological underpinnings of the present research project whose aim was to investigate the dynamic relationships of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety, changes in the levels of the said constructs and factors responsible for them in the virtual world Second Life among six female Polish students majoring in English. The chapter starts with the presentation of the research questions and participants. This is followed by a short overview of virtual worlds, including Second Life, and language activities students can perform. Finally, the data gathering instruments and analytical procedures employed are discussed. Chapter 4 reports the findings of the research project, offers their interpretation and discusses the limitations of the study. The book closes with conclusions, pedagogical implications and directions for future research (Chap. 5). Zielona Góra, Poland

Mariusz Kruk

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Acknowledgements The author would like to express his deep gratitude to Prof. Mirosław Pawlak (Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland) and Prof. Joanna Zawodniak (University of Zielona Góra, Poland) whose insightful comments and suggestions have helped improve the quality of the final version of the present work.

Contents

1 The Constructs of Willingness to Communicate, Motivation, Language Anxiety and Boredom: Overview of Selected Issues 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Willingness to Communicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Origins and Definitions of WTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 WTC Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 Variables Influencing WTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Definitions of Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 Different Theoretical Frameworks and Concepts of Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 Motivation and WTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Language Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 Definitions of Language Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.2 Types of Language Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.3 Sources of Language Anxiety and Their Effects on Language Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.4 Major Approaches to Language Anxiety . . . . . . . . 1.5 Boredom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.1 Definitions of Boredom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.2 Different Faces of Boredom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.3 Causes of Boredom in View of Major Models and Theories of Boredom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Empirical Investigations into WTC, Motivation, Language Anxiety and Boredom in Traditional and Digital Contexts . 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Willingness to Communicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 WTC in Traditional Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2.2.2 WTC in Digital Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 Motivation in Traditional Contexts . . . . . . 2.3.2 Motivation in Digital Contexts . . . . . . . . . Language Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.1 Language Anxiety in Traditional Contexts . 2.4.2 Language Anxiety in Digital Contexts . . . . Boredom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.1 Boredom in Traditional Contexts . . . . . . . 2.5.2 Boredom in Digital Contexts . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Design of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Aims and Research Questions . . . 3.3 Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Learning Context . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Data Collection Instruments . . . . 3.5.1 Background Questionnaire 3.5.2 Learning Style Survey . . . 3.5.3 Session Log . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.4 Semi-structured Interview . 3.6 Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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4 Findings of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Wynona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Wynona’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL . . . 4.2.4 Wynona’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another . . . . . . . . . 4.3.3 Dakota’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL . . . . 4.3.4 Dakota’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL . 4.4 Latoya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Contents

4.4.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Latoya’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL . . . . 4.4.4 Latoya’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL . 4.5 Phillipa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another . . . . . . . . . 4.5.3 Phillipa’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL . . . 4.5.4 Phillipa’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another . . . . . . . . . 4.6.3 Montana’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL . . 4.6.4 Montana’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7 Betty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another . . . . . . . . . 4.7.3 Betty’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL . . . . . 4.7.4 Betty’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL . . 4.8 Discussion of the Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.1 RQ 1: How Do Levels of WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Change in the Course of a Single Session in SL? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.2 RQ 2: How Do Levels of WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Change from One Session in SL to Another? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.3 RQ 3: What Is the Relationship Between and/or Among WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety and Does that Relationship Change Over Time? . . . . . 4.8.4 RQ 4: What Influences Are Responsible for These Changes in the Participants’ WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5 Conclusions, Pedagogical Implications and Directions for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Appendix C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Chapter 1

The Constructs of Willingness to Communicate, Motivation, Language Anxiety and Boredom: Overview of Selected Issues

1.1 Introduction A number of variables have an influence on language learners’ success in the learning of a foreign/second language. Some variables, such as motivation, language anxiety or willingness to communicate (WTC), have been researched extensively in the field of second language acquisition, while others, such as boredom, still remain among “the most neglected, insufficiently understood and underexplored emotions” (Pawlak, Zawodniak, & Kruk, 2020c, p. vii) in applied linguistics. The present chapter aims to provide an overview of key issues related to the constructs of WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom. The chapter is divided into four sections. Section 1.2 is devoted to the construct of WTC and it starts with the presentation of the origins and definitions of WTC. This is followed by a discussion of WTC models and a host of variables impacting the construct in question, such as, selfperceived communicative competence, personality, age, sex, attitudes and learning environments. The next section (Sect. 1.3) is dedicated to the construct of motivation. It discusses various definitions, theoretical frameworks and concepts of the said phenomenon as well as their usage in research related to WTC. Section 1.4 focuses on language anxiety. As was the case with Sects. 1.2 and 1.3, it begins with a brief overview of definitions of language anxiety that are followed by a discussion of different types of the variable in question, its sources and effects on language learning. This section closes with an overview of major approaches to investigating language anxiety. Finally, Sect. 1.5 concerns the concept of boredom. First, various definitions of boredom are offered. Subsequently, types of boredom are presented, and, lastly, causes of boredom in view of major models and theories of boredom are discussed.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2_1

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1.2 Willingness to Communicate One of the most crucial aspects of successful foreign/second language learning is the use of the target language in communication. It should be noted, however, that learning to communicate is not an easy task in view of the fact that it may depend on a number of factors such as learning contexts, individual characteristics of students, their attitudes towards learning or motivation, to name but a few. Willingness to communicate (WTC) is an individual difference variable (Cao, 2011) which can be regarded as one of significant factors contributing to mastering the target language. At the start of this section origins and definitions of the construct in question will be offered. This will be followed by descriptions of WTC models, and in particular the pyramid model of WTC in the L2 communication context (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998). The section will close with an overview of selected empirical investigations aimed at the exploration of a number of variables (e.g., self-perceived communicative competence, personality, age, attitudes and learning environments) that shape language learners’ readiness to interact in the target language.

1.2.1 Origins and Definitions of WTC The construct of willingness to communicate originally dealt with factors that had a negative impact on L1 communication and thus can be traced back to communication studies. Initial research related to the concept in question focused on unwillingness to communicate (Burgoon, 1976), predispositions towards verbal behavior (Mortensen, Arntson, & Lustig, 1977) or shyness (McCroskey & Richmond, 1982). WTC was operationalized as a personality trait which was stable within an individual over time, across communication situations, contexts and types of recipients (McCroskey, 1992; McCroskey & Baer, 1985; McCroskey & Richmond, 1987, 1991). WTC was understood as the probability of instigating communication when offered an opportunity (McCroskey & Baer, 1985) or as a predisposition to initiate or evade communication with people when given a choice (McCroskey, 1992). Early research showed that extraversion, introversion, self-esteem, communication competence and communication apprehension influenced WTC in L1 (McCroskey & Richmond, 1987, 1991). For example, there was a connection between extraversion and a high level of individuals’ WTC and between introversion and a low level of an individual’s WTC or there was a correlation between communication apprehension and WTC (i.e., the lower level of communication apprehension led to higher WTC). In addition, researchers also uncovered the role of cultural diversity and individual disparity within culture-specific groups (e.g., McCroskey & Richmond, 1990, 1991). The construct of WTC also became the object of attention and interest to researchers working in the field of second and/or foreign language teaching and learning. It should be noted, however, that communication in a language different

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form an individual’s mother tongue does not necessarily have to involve a spectrum of factors underlying L1 WTC, since readiness to engage in communication in a second/foreign language is not “a simple manifestation of WTC in the L1” (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p. 546). It was found, for example, that the rate of communication in a second/foreign language was the result of motivation and WTC in the L2 as well as perceived competence and second/foreign language anxiety (MacIntyre & Charos, 1996). In a word, a whole array of individual and situational variables influence language learners’ tendencies to start/engage in communication in the L2 (MacIntyre et al., 1998). The construct in question was therefore conceptualized as the “readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p. 547). Finally, it is worth noting that in digital contexts, that is, the ones in which both oral (voice chat) and written (typing words) interactions in the target language can occur, the construct of WTC can be defined as an “individual’s intention to initiate or participate in communication in English, the target language at a particular moment and situation” (Reinders & Wattana, 2014, p. 105).

1.2.2 WTC Models In order to account for variables that might have an influence on language learners’ L2 WTC and the use of the target language, MacIntyre et al. (1998) created a heuristic model of WTC in the L2 communication context. The model consists of a pyramidshaped structure which consists of six layers. Amongst the variables encompassing the structure, some are deemed to yield situational influences on WTC, whereas others are considered to produce relatively enduring influences on the construct in question. While the former, that is, situational influences (e.g., desire to talk to a specific person and state communicative self-confidence) can be defined as more temporary and reliant on specific situations in which a learner functions at a particular time, the latter, that is, enduring influences (e.g., language learner personality, intergroup attitudes and interpersonal motivation) can be understood as long-term characteristics of a person or the environment that can probably refer to any situation. The top layers (i.e., the first three layers of the pyramid model) comprise communication behavior (Layer I), behavior intention (Layer II) and situated antecedents (Layer III). The bottom layers (i.e., the last three layers) include motivation propensities (Layer IV), affective-cognitive context (Layer V) and social and individual context (Layer VI). According to MacIntyre et al. (1998), the bottom layers are the basis of the pyramid on which the first three layers interact with each other and the last three layers influence L2 communication. The following paragraphs offer a more detailed description of the pyramid model. As for communication behavior (Layer I), it comprises the component L2 use, which can be perceived as “the result of a complex system of interrelated variables” (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p. 547). According to the researchers, this is related to actual language use which involves activities such as speaking up in the classroom, reading

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newspaper in L2, watching television in L2, or using an L2 at work. MacIntyre et al. argue that the aim of L2 education ought to be creating WTC in language learners. In addition, they claim that a program that does not deliver individuals who are willing to use the target language to communicate is a useless program. Layer II, that is, behavioral intention, involves the component willingness to communicate, defined by MacIntyre et al. (1998) as “a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (p. 547). The researchers elucidate this definition in the following way: they say that if teachers ask their students a question and then the learners raise their hands in order to answer it, the students indicate their WTC in the L2 even though this communicative behavior is not a verbal one. Consequently, WTC can be viewed as the language learners’ intention to communicate if they are presented with the opportunity to do so. In addition, the definition of L2 WTC does not see the construct as a permanent tendency, but it emphasizes its context-dependent nature. As regards Layer III (situated antecedents), it encompasses two components: desire to communicate with a specific person and state communicative self confidence. This is the outcome of a combination of interindividual and intergroup motivations, concerning motives related to both affiliation (integrativeness) and control (instrumentality). In addition, affiliation (i.e., belonging to a group) may constitute the most central drive for communicating in informal situations. The latter component includes two tendencies: perceived competence and lack of anxiety which are regarded as stable features. It should be noted, however, that MacIntyre et al. (1998) make a distinction between the trait-like self confidence and a temporary feeling of confidence. In addition, the state communicative self-confidence can be further split up into state anxiety and state perceived competence. The former relates to the experience of tension and apprehension which differs in intensity and changes over time. A growth in state anxiety diminishes self-confidence and, consequently, WTC. Anxiety may be raised due to a variety of factors (e.g., unpleasant experiences, intergroup tension, intensified fear of assimilation). As for the latter (i.e., state perceived competence), it indicates the perception of one’s capacity to communicate efficiently at a given moment. It is assumed to grow and decline in familiar and novel situations, respectively, and thus has a direct impact on WTC. Layer IV (motivational propensities) represents three factors: interpersonal motivation, intergroup motivation and L2 self -confidence. Interpersonal motivation concerns the issues of control or affiliation. Control activates communication behavior but seeks the reduction of the cognitive, affective and behavioral freedom of the interlocutors. This type of communication can be found in power relationships (e.g., between teachers and students). As for the second aspect of interpersonal motivation, that is, affiliation, it is stimulated by attractiveness, physical closeness and repeated contact with the interlocutor. MacIntyre et al. (1998) note, however, that some types of personality may display stronger affiliation propensities than others and conclude that “there are both situational factors and individual differences that contribute to interpersonal affiliation” (p. 550). When it comes to intergroup motivation, it results directly from membership of a particular group. As with interpersonal motivation, control and affiliation are the components of the intergroup motivation.

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While the former refers to contact which results in the maintenance of power created between groups, the latter ensues when the basis for contact is the desire to found or preserve rapport with a member of another group. At the level of L2 self-confidence, it constitutes the rapport between a speaker and the L2. Two components of L2 selfconfidence can be distinguished: self-evaluation of L2 skills and language anxiety. The former, cognitive in nature, relates to an individual’s assessment of his or her own mastery of the L2, and the latter, affective, concerns the discomfort an individual feels when using the target language. Self-evaluation and anxiety are highly linked and correlated in the L2 context (MacIntyre et al., 1998). Layer V (affective and cognitive context) includes variables that are slightly detached from both particular language learning and communication contexts. It should be noted, however, that the factors included in the layer in question represented variables that create the conditions for motivational tendencies by influencing a number of the previously discussed antecedents. These variables are individually specific, encompassing attitudes, motives and past experiences. The three variables in this layer comprise intergroup attitudes, social situation and communicative competence. Intergroup attitudes are related to integrativeness, fear of assimilation and motivation to learn the L2. Integrativeness is connected with L2 students’ desire to be in contact with L2 speakers; however, fear of assimilation or the feeling of losing one’s identification with the L1 community may predict less contact with the L2 community, which, in turn, may hinder communication in L2. In addition, motivation to learn the L2 may be determined by attitudes (positive or negative) toward the L2. As regards the second variable, that is, social situation, it is a complex category that denotes a social encounter in a particular setting. Factors that influence situational variation include the participants, the setting, the purpose, the topic and the channel of communication. It may be argued that these factors influence one’s degree of self-confidence and may cause different WTC levels. Finally, communicative competence is the result of five main competences, that is, linguistic, discourse, actional, sociocultural and strategic. It should also be noted that communicative competence is an individual’s level of proficiency in the target language which can significantly affect his or her degree of WTC. MacIntyre et al. (1998) note that WTC is “a function of how the individual perceives his or her competence rather than of its objective development” (p. 555). The factors included in the bottom layer (Layer VI—societal and individual context) represent the following two antecedents: intergroup climate and personality. The societal context can be manifested in the intergroup climate. This dimension embraces structural characteristics associated with the relationships between L1 community and L2 community as well as attitudes and values represented and followed by them. Structural characteristics of the group are comprehended through ethnolinguistic vitality and personal communication networks. A language with high ethnolinguistic vitality is more important and thus attractive to learners and used more in daily communication. The dimension of perceptual and affective correlates refers to the attitudes and values concerning the L2 community. In general, positive attitudes toward an ethnic group can bring about positive interactions with that group, while negative ones can lead to less positive interactions with that language group. Attitudes

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may also be facilitated by the degree of contacts between members of the groups. When it comes to personality, it envisages the way individuals react to other people. As demonstrated by MacIntyre and Charos (1996), the Big Five personality traits (Goldberg, 1992; McCrae & Costa, 1999), which comprise extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, agreeableness and openness to new experiences, may contribute to L2 motivation and L2 WTC or both. The pyramid model offers a comprehensive overview of the individual and contextual variables that might shape learners’ WTC by means of its multi-layered formation. The model in question has informed a number of research projects (e.g., Baker & MacIntyre, 2000; Burroughs, Marie, & McCroskey, 2003; Clément, Baker, & MacIntyre, 2003; Hashimoto, 2002; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996; Wen & Clément, 2003; Yashima, 2002; Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, & Shimizu, 2004) in a range of educational contexts. The studies have utilized both quantitative and qualitative measures or the combination of the two approaches. In general, such studies provided convincing evidence supporting the said model, mostly related to uncovering variables that impact WTC in L2 and showing the correlation of WTC with a number of variables. It should be noted, however, that besides the pyramid model presented by MacIntyre et al. (1998), other WTC models can be found in the literature offered, for example, by Khajavy, Ghonsooly, Hosseini Fatemi and Choi (2016) or Peng and Woodrow (2010). The model of L2WTC proposed by Khajavy et al. (2016), for instance, is based on the simultaneous effects of contextual, psychological and linguistic variables. This model is an addition to the L2WTC models formed by MacIntyre et al. (1998) and Peng and Woodrow (2010) in view of the fact that it comprises the contextual, psychological and linguistic variables in one model. Khajavy et al.’s model is different from MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) one since it comprises the classroom environment, that is, teachers, students and tasks. Here, the classroom environment and communication confidence are two immediate antecedents of L2WTC. The next level involves other variables: foreign language achievement and motivation. The two variables influence WTC in L2 indirectly through communication confidence. Finally, the bottom of the model in question includes attitudes, which are considered as a distal variable. According to Khajavy et al. (2016), attitudes affect L2WTC through their impact on motivation and communication confidence.

1.2.3 Variables Influencing WTC Numerous studies have devoted a great deal of attention to exploring variables included in the model offered by MacIntyre et al. (1998) as well as other variables impacting WTC in a variety of language learning contexts. This subsection provides an overview of selected studies which focused on such variables as selfperceived communicative competence, personality, age, sex, attitudes and learning environments, encompassing the digital ones.

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Self-perceived Communicative Competence

Self-perceived communicative competence has been found to be closely related to language learners’ WTC. McCroskey and Richmond (1990) consider self-perceived communicative competence as a vital predictor of communicative behavior in view of the fact that language learners’ decision on using the target language is not based on the objective evaluation of their target language level of proficiency but it is subject to their self-assessment. Perceived communicative competence is viewed to directly influence language learners’ levels of WTC (Baker & MacIntyre, 2000) and thus it is believed that students’ real competence may be less significant than their own opinions about it. This fact leads up to the conclusion that students who perceive themselves as capable of communicating are inclined to be more confident when using the target language during communication with other people and, as a consequence, they are more eager to begin communication in the target language (MacIntyre, 1994). This issue has been subject to a number of empirical investigations. For example, studies carried out by Yashima (2002), Peng (2007a) or Khajavy et al. (2016) revealed a relationship between self-perceived communicative competence and WTC and showed that positive perception of one’s L2 competence leads to increased willingness to communicate in the target language. This was also the case in the study conducted by Piechurska-Kuciel (2011a) who explored the connection between WTC inside and outside the classroom and perceived competence regarding foreign language skills in the environment of a Polish secondary school. The outcome of the study revealed that learners with higher self-perceived levels of the target language skills exhibited higher WTC when compared to students with lower selfperceived foreign language skills. In addition to this, the study demonstrated that higher self-assessment of speaking skills was a strong predictor of high WTC levels.

1.2.3.2

Personality

Some personality traits (e.g., extraversion, introversion, self-esteem and alienation) are regarded to have an impact (positive or negative) on an individual’s communicative behavior and the degree of WTC and have become subject to scientific inquiry since early studies devoted to WTC (e.g., Burgoon, 1976; McCroskey & Richmond, 1987). Among them, extraversion has been the trait of principal interest and the one most commonly investigated in the area of research devoted to WTC. This is because the trait in question is quite desirable in the context of communication in the target language (MacIntyre & Charos, 1996). An extraverted individual feels more willing to involve in interactions in the target language and he or she is more likely to take risks in using the language in order to progress. In addition, extraverted individuals are more talkative, sociable, energetic, assertive and optimistic when compared with introverted individuals.

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The link between WTC and personality has been investigated in a number of studies. For example, the study carried out by MacIntyre and Charos (1996) investigated the role of the global personality traits, or to be more precise, they used Goldberg’s (1992) terminology for the Big Five with dichotomies between extraversion vs. introversion, agreeableness vs. disagreeableness, conscientiousness vs. negligence, emotional stability vs. neuroticism and intellect vs. unsophisticated. Among other things, the obtained results demonstrated that extraverted learners were more positive about their communicative competence, which resulted in more frequent communication in the target language and individuals who were more pleasant and agreeable were likely to have more pleasant encounters with the target language speakers. In addition, the study revealed that the five traits in question contributed to motivation and/or WTC. Another study (Cetinkaya, 2005) also showed that extraverted individuals were inclined to be more optimistic in their assessment of communicative competence which, in turn, gave rise to higher WTC. Conversely, the study carried out by McCroskey (1991) showed that introverted language learners tended to less positively look upon their communicative competence and they were found to be less willing to interact in the target language. In yet another study, conducted by Ghonsooly, Khajavy, and Asadpour (2012), the personality trait of openness to experience was selected for investigation. The results of the study revealed that the said personality trait, which was supposed to interact with the study participants’ (i.e., 158 non-English major university Iranian students) communicative behavior, only had an indirect influence on WTC through attitudes towards international community. Nevertheless, the study demonstrated that a higher degree of openness to new challenges together with a positive attitude regarding the international community may bring about greater eagerness to participate in communication in the target language. It is also noteworthy that other personality traits, such as reticence, shyness, tolerance of ambiguity, or risk taking have been observed to have an influence on the differences in degrees of WTC. In a questionnaire study conducted by Chu (2008), the researcher investigated the correlations among shyness, language learning strategies, motivation, foreign language anxiety and WTC in a sample of 364 shy and non-shy EFL students at a private university in Taiwan. The results of the study uncovered negative correlations between shyness, language learning strategy use and the level of WTC and they showed that shy students used language learning strategies less frequently and were less eager to communicate in the target language than students who perceived themselves as non-shy. Finally, the study carried out by PiechurskaKuciel (2018), found the relationship between openness to experience and WTC in L2. The results of the study revealed that openness can be considered as a major predictor of WTC and they emphasized the mediating role of perceived communicative competence and language anxiety. Based on the study outcome, the researcher came to the conclusion that learners with high degrees of openness show stable inclinations to seek satisfaction through instigating verbal encounters in a foreign language.

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Age and Sex

Research has shown that age and sex are related to WTC and communication in the target language (Baker & MacIntyre, 2000; Donovan & MacIntyre, 2005; MacIntyre, Baker, Clément & Donovan, 2002; Peng 2007a). For example, Baker and MacIntyre (2000) examined the nonlinguistic outcomes of an immersion (71 students) versus a nonimmersion (124 students) program. All the participants’ L1 was English and their L2 was French. The results of the study uncovered differences between male and female immersion students. More specifically, both the female immersion and nonimmersion students displayed similar positive attitudes toward French, whereas the male nonimmersion learners demonstrated a somewhat less positive attitude. In addition, the researchers found a similar pattern in the participants’ reasons for studying the L2. To be more specific, the male nonimmersion students displayed the lowest mean in three out of the four orientations (i.e., job, travel and personal achievement) and the female immersion and nonimmersion students showed the lowest and the highest orientation toward meeting French speaking people, respectively. Moreover, the male immersion students exhibited the highest job-related orientation and the results of the female nonimmersion students turned out to be the highest in the case of travel, knowledge and personal-achievement orientations. Their 2002 crosssectional study (MacIntyre et al., 2002) was focused on L2 communication among 268 junior high school students in a French immersion program in Canada. The researchers aimed at investigating the effects of sex and age on variables underlying WTC, encompassing anxiety, perceived communicative competence, frequency of L2 communication, attitudes and motivation at different grade levels (i.e., 7, 8 and 9 grades). The results revealed that the participants’ WTC, perceived competence and frequency of communication in L2 grew from grade 7 to grade 8 and was sustained between grades 8 and 9, even though a decrease in the level of motivation between grades 7 and 8 and an unchanged level of anxiety across the grades were observed. In addition, it was found that young students who had less experience with L2 and exposure to it felt less competent and willing to communicate. The results of the study also uncovered differences between the two sexes. It was found that males were less willing to communicate than females. It should be noted, however, that males’ overall WTC and anxiety levels remained unchanged across the three grade levels and girls exhibited a rise in WTC and a fall in anxiety from grade 8 to grade 9. The researchers attributed these observed sex differences to two factors: (1) maturation and (2) the cumulative effects of differential treatment by teachers. As for the former, grade 9 females, unlike grade 9 males, passed the most anxiety-provoking phase of puberty and thus they experienced less anxiety and were more willing to communicate. When it comes to the latter, it was related to teachers’ tendency to favor female students in the language classroom. It should be noted, however, that due to nonsignificant differences in the frequency of communication between males and females reported in the study, MacIntyre et al. concluded that each sex communicated differently in diverse contexts: males were more inclined to involve in communication more willingly outside the classroom, while females favored communication in the classroom. Finally, Donovan and MacIntyre (2005) examined age and sex differences in WTC,

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communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence among students from junior high school, high school and university. The outcome of the study showed that junior high school females demonstrated a higher level of WTC than males and female students at the university level reported higher communication apprehension and lower self-perceived competence than their male counterparts. In addition, the multiple regression analyses revealed that among junior high school male students self-perceived competence appeared to predict WTC and both selfperceived competence and communication apprehension was shown to predict WTC among junior high school female students. As for the group of high school students, self-perceived competence predicted WTC for males and communication apprehension proved to predict WTC for females. As regards adult students of the two sexes, both self-perceived competence and communication apprehension were identified as significant predictors of readiness to speak. All of this shows that among male and female students the communication variables of self-perceived competence and communication apprehension emerged as the most consistent predictors of WTC across age groups.

1.2.3.4

Attitudes

Attitudinal constructs that are said to affect WTC in different foreign/second language learning contexts are related to attitudes toward international communities and language activities. Relations among L2 learning and L2 communication variables in the Japanese English as a foreign language context were investigated by Yashima (2002) by means of the WTC model and the socioeducational model as a framework. In the study international posture was defined as “an interest in foreign affairs, willingness to go overseas to study or work, readiness to interact with intercultural partners and … a nonethnocentric attitude toward different cultures” (2002, p. 57). The obtained results showed that the students with higher international posture seemed to be both more motivated to study English and more willing to communicate in the language in question as well as their higher WTC gave rise to more frequent communication in English. In the follow-up attempt to investigate the influence of attitudes on WTC among Japanese adolescent learners of English, Yashima et al. (2004) demonstrated that the students who showed a greater interest in international affairs, occupations and activities appeared to be more eager to communicate in the target language and more frequently entered L2 communication. In yet another study, de Saint Léger and Storch (2009) examined perceptions of speaking abilities, contributions to oral class activities (performed in small group discussions and with a whole class) and attitudes towards these activities as well as the impact of such perceptions and attitudes on the participants’ WTC. This longitudinal study employed self-assessment questionnaires which asked a group of 32 students of French as a foreign language to reflect on their learning environment and self-assess their speaking skills. The results showed that the participants differed in their attitudes to the speaking activities, levels of participation in speaking activities, assessment of their abilities to speak in the target language and a favored type of classroom

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arrangement. The researchers found that, overall, the students’ self-confidence and eagerness to utilize the target language in the classroom increased over time. By contrast, the respondents’ desire to interact with their peers in small groups varied and was influenced by affiliation motives [i.e., interest in establishing a relationship with the interlocutor (MacIntyre et al., 1998)]. de Saint Léger and Storch pointed out the need for taking such predilections into account with respect to the social setting in which learning the TL occurs.

1.2.3.5

Learning Environments

Language learning environments, such as traditional (i.e., language classrooms) or digital (e.g., virtual worlds and digital games), are also found to contribute to WTC. Whereas the former will be discussed in this subsection, the latter will be elaborated upon in more detail with a particular focus on the dynamics of WTC in Chap. 2. The literature shows that a host of variables can affect WTC in language classrooms. For example, Cao and Philp (2006) found that such variables as group size, familiarity with interlocutors, familiarity with topics under discussion, interlocutor involvement in the conversation, self-confidence, cultural background and medium of communication were perceived by the students participating in the study as influencing their WTC and classroom participation. Smaller groups (three or four interlocutors) were found as more suitable to communication in the TL as opposed to other modes (e.g., whole-class). What is more, interest in and knowledge about discussed issues were reported by the researchers as supporting the conversers’ WTC. Factors influencing WTC among four EFL university students in the foreign language classroom in China were also investigated by Peng (2012). The requisite data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, learning journals and classroom observations over several months and analyzed qualitatively. Peng utilized Bronfenbrenner’s (1993) nested ecosystems model as an analytical framework and detected four levels: (1) the microsystemic level which included six themes in three strands (i.e., learner beliefs and motivation; cognitive, linguistic and affective factors and classroom environment); (2) the mesosystemic level; (3) the exosystemic level and (4) the macrosystemic level. As for the first level, both similarities and differences in the subjects’ beliefs about the classroom were identified. For example, they thought that structural linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and writing knowledge) should be taught in class but they expressed different attitudes toward communicative activities (i.e., for high-WTC learners interactive activities were important for developing communicative competence but for low-WTC students they were of little use). The participants were also characterized by different motivation profiles which affected their WTC. As regards the next strand (i.e., the cognitive, linguistic and affective factors), it was connected with the classroom tasks. The results showed that low WTC was affected by difficulties in comprehension, the lack of vocabulary and topical knowledge or interest on the part of the students. In addition, anxiety or feeling nervous, experienced in whole-group discussions and concerns about others’ attitudes, impacted the subjects’ WTC. Finally, the classroom environment, operationalized by Peng as “the mood, emotions, or climate sensed and shared by the class group” (p. 208),

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had an influence on the learners’ WTC in class. A positive atmosphere boosted WTC together with teacher factors, such as teaching styles, methods and classroom procedures. The students appreciated teacher support, his or her explanations in their mother tongue, chatting with them during breaks and telling jokes. Moreover, the increase in WTC was observed when meaningful interaction was triggered despite the fact that the students were not unanimous in their opinions regarding the speaking tasks they liked. When it comes to the mesosystemic level or “the linkages between the classroom setting and other settings” (p. 209), the results demonstrated that the participants’ past learning histories and their involvement in extracurricular activities had a substantial effect on their WTC (e.g., one participant experienced nervousness when speaking up because he had frequently been laughed at for making mistakes at high school). As for the third level (i.e., the exosystemic level) related to “the linkages between the classroom setting and curriculum design and course evaluation criteria” (p. 209), Peng found, for example, that two subjects were sometimes less ready to communicate in the classroom due to being overwhelmed by work. Finally, the obtained results showed that the macrosystemic level comprising “overarching social, educational, and cultural factors that influence the microsystem” (p. 210) was connected with greater interaction in the classroom settings and exerted by the view of English as a global language, its knowledge (or good grades) and professional development. Moreover, the study revealed the influence of the cultural trait of other-directedness on the classroom communication behavior (e.g., one participant evaded communication for reasons concerning avoiding critical judgment). The results of this study provided empirical evidence to an ecological understanding of WTC among Chinese EFL students in the language classroom which was synergistically affected by a number of individual and environmental factors, with the caveat that the number of factors influencing WTC in EFL classroom may be extended and include such factors as family influence. Language tasks and activities as well as content and context have also been reported as affecting language learners’ WTC in the language classroom. Weaver (2007) sought to elucidate the degree to which WTC facilitated the interaction between language learners and tasks performed. The results of the study uncovered three groups of tasks: (1) tasks that require the largest amount of willingness from learners (i.e., tasks including speech acts such as advising, convincing, discussing and role-playing); (2) tasks that require medium amount of willingness (i.e., tasks including speech acts such as recommending, deciding, explaining and telling); and (3) tasks that do not require much willingness (i.e., tasks including speech acts such as describing, inviting, asking and saying). In addition, Weaver found that, overall, the participants preferred closed tasks to open ones. They also more willingly performed tasks in which they could transfer information to their conversers as opposed to tasks which required them to pass judgment or to influence or change their interlocutors’ opinion on a given subject. This is because the latter ones would involve more suitable linguistics means and strategies. It is also interesting to note that pre-task planning and access to written notes resulted in the participants’ increase in their readiness to perform different speaking tasks in the language classroom. As regards the impact of content and context on WTC in the language classroom environment,

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Compton (2007) used data from two classroom observations and semi-structured interviews held with four volunteer students and their teacher. The researcher found that the students were more willing to communicate in the TL when they had a sense of shared knowledge related to field-specific content and when they felt confident in their TL competence. In addition, Compton demonstrated that the participants’ desire to communicate in the target language was influenced by their international posture and cultural factors. The impact of teachers and collaborative learning was the purpose of studies conducted by Zhong (2013) and Zarrinabadi (2014). The former was carried out as a naturalistic inquiry into five Chinese immigrant learners’ WTC in both teacherled and collaborative learning situations in L2 classrooms. The analysis of the data collected by means of in-depth interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recall interviews and learning logs revealed that the students’ WTC was context-dependent and varied in different classroom situations. The learners were less eager to communicate in the teacher-led situations than in the collaborative context. The subjects’ reticence or unwillingness to participate in the former context was connected with a combination of linguistic, affective and socio-cultural factors, while the latter one was found to be only related to the behavioral beliefs held by the subjects, which resulted in different attitudes toward collaborative work. Zhong (2013), drawing on Ajzen’s (1991, 2002) theory of planned behavior, proposed a model whose aim was to capture factors affecting students’ oral communication in L2 settings. In this model, three beliefs (i.e., behavioral, normative and control/self-efficacy) mutually influence language learners’ WTC which, in turn, shapes their oral communication. Behavioral beliefs concern learners’ beliefs about the behavior in question (e.g., communicating in teacher-led tasks, groups or pairs) and normative beliefs refer to learners’ past experience, society and significant others. The last set of beliefs, that is, control/selfefficacy ones, deal with learners’ own confidence in their ability to perform an action (e.g., speaking in public, pairs or groups). As for the study conducted by Zarrinabadi (2014), the researcher uncovered teacher-related factors that affected language learners’ WTC in the classroom environment. The data were gathered through a focused essay technique which asked the participants to describe situations in which their language teachers influenced their readiness to talk in English. The analysis of 181 entries revealed that the students experienced higher WTC when they could select or negotiate topics, had enough time for consideration and reflection prior to answering questions as well as when the teacher paid attention to the manner he or she corrected errors in a supportive learning environment. Moreover, it was found that increased teachers’ wait time boosted students’ participation in communication, affected their tendency to communicate and gave them time to organize their speech and find appropriate grammar and/or vocabulary. The results also showed that when the discussion topic was selected on the ground of students’ opinions and interests, it led to increased WTC (cf. Cao & Philp, 2006; House, 2004; Kang, 2005; MacIntyre, Burns, & Jessome, 2011), “enhanced learners’ security and rendered more ideas for communication” (Zarrinabadi, 2014, p. 293). The opposite was detected when the topic was chosen by a teacher and the students were not familiar with it. The obtained results also showed that delayed teacher feedback had a facilitating

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effect on the participants’ WTC as opposed to on-the-spot error correction which had a diminished influence on the students’ readiness to speak in the classroom. Zarrinabadi suggested the use of delayed error correction in order to generate a less anxiety inducing milieu for language learners. This is because, teacher support was also identified as a significant factor contributing to increased willingness to participate in conversations in the TL in the classroom setting. According to Zarrinabadi, teachers should pay attention to the factors and the way they affect class discussions.

1.3 Motivation Motivation has been considered as an important element of foreign/second language learning and teaching. In fact, motivation has been seen as “the most frequently used catch-all term for explaining the success or failure of virtually any complex task” (Brown, 2007, p. 168). This point of view is completely understandable since without motivation success in learning a foreign/second language would be difficult to accomplish. It should be noted, however, that learning a foreign/second language is a long process and it entails hard work and commitment. This section will overview some definitions of motivation and will outline different theoretical frameworks and concepts of the construct in question as well as their employment in research on WTC.

1.3.1 Definitions of Motivation Motivation in language learning has been defined in a number of ways. For example, Gardner and MacIntyre (1993, p. 3) define motivation as the “desire to achieve a goal, effort extended in this direction, and satisfaction with the task,” Ellis (1997, p. 141) views motivation as “the effort learners put into learning an L2 as a result of their desire or need to learn it” and Ushioda (2008, p. 19) sees the construct in question as the manifestation of students’ disposition to “engage in action, and to persist in action.” For Dörnyei (1994), motivation is the difference between a sense of success and a sense of failure, since, according to the researcher, a successful action can be regarded as an impulse for further activity, which otherwise decreases or disappears. Of particular relevance to the present book is the conceptualization of motivation as a dynamic construct, which can be defined as “the dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritised, operationalised and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out” (Dörnyei & Ottó, 1998, p. 65) or as interest in and enthusiasm for the resources used in the classroom, perseverance in learning as well as levels of concentration and enjoyment (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991; Pawlak, 2012; Peacock, 1997).

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1.3.2 Different Theoretical Frameworks and Concepts of Motivation In general, in the field of motivation research various frameworks have been established. The earliest one, the socio-educational model (Gardner, 1985), explains how motivation, attitudes and some other individual variables influence second language acquisition. For Gardner, motivation to learn a language different from the learner’s mother tongue was “the extent to which an individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity” (Gardner, 1985, p. 10). The researcher measured motivation by students’ possession of the following three components constituting the framework: (1) students’ desire to learn the L2, (2) motivational intensity and (3) the attitudes towards the act of learning. For instance, the socio-educational model was employed in early research on L2 WTC by using its two important components in the pyramid model offered by MacIntyre et al. (1998). It should be noted, however, that the model in question suffers from some limitations, one of them being related to its pertinence to the foreign language environment (Dörnyei, 1990; Oxford & Shearin, 1994). This is because in such settings students learn the target language in the classroom context and they do not use it in order to communicate with the target language community. These learners might not form attitudes toward the target language community since they lack sufficient contacts with the community whose language they learn (Dörnyei, 1990). Another theoretical framework, that is, the self -determination theory was developed by Deci and Ryan (1985). The said model recognizes three psychological needs characteristic of people, that is, autonomy, competence and relatedness. Autonomy concerns the need to feel in control of one’s own behaviors and goals, competence refers to the need to gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills and relatedness is about the need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to significant others. The level of satisfaction of these needs brings about different kinds of motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Noels, Pelletier, Clément and Vallerand (2000) adapted the self-determination theory to L2 research in order to uncover the role of extrinsic and intrinsic motives. Extrinsic motivation is related to external factors. When learning is about receiving a reward or avoiding punishment, learners are extrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation manifests itself in external, introjected, identified and integrated regulation, each of which remains out of control of students (Noels et al., 2000). External regulation involves tasks that are external to students and thus it is regarded as the least self-determined form of motivation. Introjected regulation, which is more internal, concerns reasons language learners put on themselves (e.g., they do a task in order to avoid guilt). As for identified regulation, it is contingent on goals that individuals recognize as significant (i.e., they perform an action since they regard it as useful). Finally, the most autonomous form of extrinsic motivation, that is, integrated regulation represents full self-determination when the action becomes entirely included in an individual’s value system. As far as intrinsic motivation is concerned, it relates to the need to get something done as it is perceived as something

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exciting and attractive. This type of motivation relates to feelings of gratification and pleasure derived from various activities. Intrinsic motivation consists of knowledge (i.e., motivation to get new knowledge), accomplishment (i.e., motivation to achieve a goal) and stimulation (i.e., the feeling of positive sensations due to completion of an activity) (Noels et al., 2000). Conversely to the socio-educational model (Gardner, 1985), the self-determination theory can be relevant to the foreign/second language settings. This is because its theoretical principles link psychological needs with environmental factors, that is, the language classroom context (Peng & Woodrow, 2010). Yet another important theoretical framework that found its way into in the studies investigating different issues in language learning is the L2 motivational self -system (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009). The model derived from possible selves theory, self-discrepancy theory, the socio-educational theory and a number of other works (e.g., Dörnyei, 2005, 2009; Higgins, 1987; Markus & Nurius, 1986; Gardner, 1985). The L2 motivational self-system is based on the assumption that learners’ linguistic competence is developed by means of their own beliefs and views on the future they desire and goals they imagine. The main idea of the system is related to the fact that when language learners recognize a difference between their contemporary state and their future self-guide (i.e., ideal or ought), this difference may serve as a motivator to link the observed difference and attain the desired outcome (Al-Hoorie, 2018). The model in question consists of three components: (1) ideal L2 self , which signifies an image of an individual as a proficient language speaker (motivation to learn another language is the outcome of efforts to decrease the gap between an individual’s actual and ideal self); (2) ought-to self , which concerns the attributes that an individual believes ought to possess to meet expectations of significant others and to avoid possible adverse outcomes and (3) L2 learning experience, which is related to aspects concerning the immediate learning environment and experience (e.g., the influence of the teacher, curriculum, peer group, the experience of success/failure). It is also warranted to discuss the dynamic aspect of motivation, that is, one of the major developments in the study of second/foreign language learning (Ellis, 2008). The temporal aspect of the construct in question has also been acknowledged in many theoretical proposals focusing on the impact of this variable on the process of learning foreign/second languages. For example, Williams and Burden’s (1997) model of motivation is viewed as comprising three different stages, namely (1) the reason for which something is done, (2) making a decision to do something, and (3) persevering in doing something. In this model, the former two of its stages relate to undertaking the effort and its last stage concerns persisting in pursuing the set goals. In a somewhat similar vein, Dörnyei and Ottó (1998) consider motivation with reference to three discrete processes: (1) pre-actional stage, (2) actional stage and (3) post-actional stage. As for the first stage, it involves generating motivation in which choice motivation takes place and a decision to initiate an activity is made. When it comes to the second stage, it refers to “executive motivation” in which the generated motivation has to be sustained and protected. The final stage is called “motivational retrospection.” Here the whole process undergoes evaluation and inferences are made

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with probable implications for prospective motivation. The temporal nature of motivation is also discussed by Ushioda (1996). According to the researcher, motivation in institutionalized learning is subject to change rather than stability. This is because language learners’ goals develop over time, since they are affected by a host of positive and negative experiences in the language classroom, or as the researcher says: “the notion of a temporal frame of reference shaping motivational thinking integrates the phenomenon of evolution over time, which seems central to the learner’s experience of and thus conception of language learning motivation” (Ushioda, 1998, pp. 82–83). The presence of temporal variation of motivation can also be found in the sociocultural theory (Cole, John-Steiner, Scribner, & Souberman, 1978) and the dynamic systems theory (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008). As for the former, the theory helps us account for the fact that motivation may be socially constructed in the process of interacting with and being assisted by more knowledgeable others, that is, more proficient users of a language in view of the fact that such social participation may facilitate the development of culturally valued purposes and intentions. This, in turn, may result in greater effort to acquire a second/foreign language (Bronson, 2000; Rueda & Moll, 1994; Ushioda, 2008). When it comes to the latter (i.e., the dynamic systems theory), the temporal ups and downs in language learners’ motives, effort and engagement to learn a second/foreign language may be the result of the impact of a number of internal and external factors which are intertwined and interrelated and undergo changes themselves. This theory has been utilized as a reference point for investigating motivational dynamics in a number of studies (e.g., Dörnyei, MacIntyre, & Henry, 2015) and viewed an individual as “the entity of concern, and case studies become recognized as the appropriate level of granularity for understanding motivation trajectories in SLA” (Schumann, 2015, p. xvi). A recent addition to our understanding of motivation in language learning is related to the concept of a directed motivational current (DMC) (Dörnyei, Henry, & Muir, 2016). DMC is comprehended as “an intense motivational drive—or surge—which is capable of stimulating and supporting long-term behavior (such as the learning of the L2)” (Dörnyei et al., 2016, p. 3). It should be noted, however, that DMC is not parallel with high levels of student motivation but it refers to motivational phases which exceed a learner’s typical levels of motivation. DMC represents an important addition to the concept of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) by adopting a longer-term perspective on complete engagement in a given activity and acknowledging that the process of following an imagined and important goal may entail a sequence of pleasant (but sometimes also tedious) activities: “The tasks which make up a DMC pathway will inevitably consist of activities which both would and would not be perceived as enjoyable in their own right; however, regardless of their inherent ‘enjoyability’ in normal circumstances, all tasks along a DMC pathway are perceived as enjoyable because they transport an individual toward a highly valued end-goal” (Dörnyei et al., 2016, p. 6).

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1.3.3 Motivation and WTC Motivation has been examined for decades and it has been indicated as one of the best predictors of WTC. Thus, it seems justifiable to take a closer look at a few research projects which have attempted to investigate its relationship with the construct of WTC. In the field of motivation research the above-mentioned frameworks (i.e., the socio-educational model, the self-determination theory or the L2 motivational self-system) have been employed by researchers in the studies exploring language learners’ WTC and numerous ones showed that language learners who display higher degrees of motivation are more willing to participate in conversations in the target language than those who demonstrate lower levels of motivation. Early research on the relationship between motivation and WTC utilized the socio-educational model (Gardner, 1985). For example, in a study carried out by MacIntyre, Baker, Clément and Donovan (2003) integrative motivation was positively correlated with WTC in L2 in the group of immersion learners when compared to the group of non-immersion students. This was because the immersion learners, unlike their non-immersion counterparts, experienced more opportunities for interaction in the language with the members of the target language community. Peng (2007b) also inspected the relationship between integrative motivation and WTC among 174 college students attending an English language course in China. The researcher found that integrative motivation explained only a small proportion of variance in WTC. Moreover, motivation was the strongest predictor of WTC, although attitudes towards the learning situation were not found to predict WTC. The positive influence of motivation on the construct of WTC was also found in the study carried out by Hashimoto (2002) among 56 Japanese undergraduate and graduate students in a university in Honolulu. Hashimoto reported that students who displayed greater motivation to learn the target language showed more willingness to use it and they engaged in L2 communication more frequently in the classroom environment. Worth mentioning are also studies involving the construct of international posture created as an alternative to the Gardnerian concept of integrativeness. The outcomes of Yashima’s (2002) and Yashima et al.’s (2004) studies demonstrated the direct impact of the construct in question on WTC in L2 and motivation. The results of both of these studies revealed indirect but facilitated through communication influence of motivation on WTC. It should be noted, however, that some studies, for example, Kim (2004) and Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pietrzykowska (2011) brought conflicting results regarding the impact of international posture on WTC. The former study, involving 191 Korean university students, showed that the said construct was only indirectly related to participants’ WTC through motivation to learn and confidence to speak L2. As for the latter study, which was conducted in a Polish context among 111 English majors, correlations between features of international posture and WTC were weak and only one turned out to be statistically significant. The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motives (Noels, 2001; Noels et al., 2000) found in the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the impact of these two types of motivation on learners’ WTC was explored by some researchers in

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the field. For example, Peng and Woodrow (2010) carried out a large-scale quantitative study of WTC among Chinese EFL learners in the language classroom context. The results of the study showed that the participants’ WTC was predicted by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The former type was connected with the learners’ interest in and satisfaction gained from learning the target language and the latter was associated with exam grades and their feelings of obligation to use the language in class. Another study, undertaken by MacIntyre et al. (2011), looked into the ambivalence about communication in a L2 among 100 adolescent French immersion students in Canada. The outcome of the study demonstrated that WTC was mutually predicted by intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This is because the participants’ intrinsic motivation corresponded to feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction concerning the use of the target language inside the classroom and the students’ extrinsic motivation was related to their attempts to circumvent potential threats and anxiety caused by teachers. In some other studies language learners’ extrinsic motivation was found to be examination-driven (Peng, 2014) or it was related to meeting language teachers’ expectations and gaining the profits of learning the target language (Bernales, 2016). A lot of studies investigating the relationship between motivation and WTC have applied the L2 motivational self-system developed by Dörnyei (2005, 2009). According to Dörnyei (2005), WTC in L2 can be positively influenced by the ideal L2 self and linguistic self-confidence. For instance, Yashima (2009) uncovered the link between the ideal L2 self and international posture and observed that “since international posture theoretically and operationally captures both integrativeness and instrumentality, it is quite reasonable that it reflects self-determined types of extrinsic motivation more than genuinely intrinsic motivation … international posture reflects the possible selves of a future English-using participant in an international community” (Yashima, 2009, p. 157). The aim of another study (Munezane, 2013) was to explore the structural relationships among variables (e.g., motivation, international posture, ought-to L2 self, ideal L2 self, L2 linguistic self-confidence and the value of global English) responsible for WTC in Japanese EFL settings. The results of the study revealed that the ideal L2 self was a significant predictor of WTC. Yue (2014), in turn, carried out a case study of a Chinese student learning the English language at university and focused on the way the subject created her L2 self-concept and L2 possible selves and how these self-related variables behaved dynamically in complex manners leading to her WTC and communicative behavior in various L2 situations. The analysis of the data collected by means of a life story interview, classroom observation and stimulated recall interview sessions showed that when the subject had the opportunity to use the target language, her L2 self-concept and ought-to self intermingled dynamically with such factors as the teacher’s support, feedback from interlocutors, group cohesiveness and perceived language anxiety. In the words of Yue: “These variables are the indicators of the development of a particular L2 phenomenon, which provides possibilities for the learner to reduce the discrepancy between the current L2 self and the possible L2 selves, and have as an outcome the initiation of the learner’s WTC and related L2 communicative behavior” (Yue, 2014, p. 264). Yue concluded that language learners’ WTC may be instigated in communicative circumstances when they “can visualize specific L2 possible selves

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and realize that the discrepancy between the current self and future possible selves is possible to be reduced by following specific feasible L2 action plans” (Yue, 2014, p. 264).

1.4 Language Anxiety Learning a second/foreign language is an exceptionally complex process that somewhat unavoidably involves a variety of different affective states or emotions. One of them is anxiety which generally has a debilitative impact on language learners’ behavior and use of the target language inside and outside the language classroom. This negative emotion may make language learners unable to present their thoughts in the target language, pronounce words correctly during communication in the target language, generate grammatically correct output and understand others (i.e., their peers or teachers). Anxious students may suffer from low self-esteem, negative selfimage and negative self-assessment. In addition, such individuals may feel embarrassed in the language classroom and be negatively evaluated by others. This section will start with definitions and types of the construct of anxiety. This will be followed by a discussion of its sources and their effects on learning a foreign/second language as well as some major approaches to the said phenomenon.

1.4.1 Definitions of Language Anxiety From a broader, psychological point of view, the construct of anxiety is defined as “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” (Spielberger, 1983, p. 15). In the context of foreign language learning, anxiety is comprehended as a “distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986, p. 128) or as “the unique feelings of tension and apprehension experienced in the SLA process in the classroom context, arising from the necessity to learn and use an FL that has not been fully mastered” (PiechurskaKuciel, 2011b, p. 201). In this context anxiety is likewise viewed as “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning or using a second language” (MacIntyre, 1999, p. 27). It is also noteworthy that studies into complex, dynamic systems demonstrate that “anxiety is influenced by internal physiological processes, cognition and emotional states along with the demands of the situation and the presence of other people, among other things, considered over multiple timescales. Anxiety has both internal and social dimensions” (MacIntyre, 2017, pp. 27–28).

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1.4.2 Types of Language Anxiety In general, anxiety can be conceptualized in two ways, namely: state anxiety and trait anxiety. The former functions on a momentary basis as it is related to a specific situation and moment in time, and the latter is a characteristic of an individual’s personality or his or her tendency to experience anxiety (Ellis, 2008; MacIntyre, 1995a, 2017; Woodrow, 2006). When it comes to language learning, another type of anxiety can be distinguished, that is, situation-specific anxiety (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991). This type of anxiety is connected with appraising specific events as anxiety generating only when complemented by certain factors. This suggests that situationspecific anxiety “can play a significant causal role in creating individual differences in language learning” (Tallon, 2011, p. 75). In addition, the literature recognizes anxiety as either facilitating or debilitating (Alpert & Haber, 1960; Ellis, 2008; Scovel, 1978). According to Scovel (1991), facilitating anxiety “motivates the learner to ‘fight’ the new learning task; it gears the learner emotionally for approach behavior” whereas debilitating anxiety “motivates the learner to ‘flee’ the new learning task; it stimulates the individual emotionally to adopt avoidance behaviour” (Scovel, 1991, p. 22). It should be noted, however, that according to Horwitz (2017), a search for facilitating anxiety might be “a step backwards and even a dangerous trend” (p. 40) for language teachers who try to utilize it in their teaching practice, since, among other things, “language learning is inherently stressful to some people” (Horwitz, 2017, p. 40) and adding more anxiety should not be the case.

1.4.3 Sources of Language Anxiety and Their Effects on Language Learning The SLA literature distinguishes various sources of language anxiety. According to Young (1991), language anxiety arises from personal and interpersonal anxieties, learner beliefs about language learning, teacher beliefs about language teaching, teacher-learner interactions, classroom procedures and language testing. As for personal and interpersonal anxieties, they are caused by low self-esteem, competitiveness, communication apprehension, social anxiety and anxiety specific to language learning. As regards learner beliefs about language learning, they encompass, for example, the beliefs in the significance of pronunciation, vocabulary, trips to countries where target languages are spoken or the belief that some students are more suited to the study of a foreign language than other learners. Since some of the beliefs can be unrealistic for language learners, Young concluded that “when beliefs and reality clash, anxiety results” (Young, 1991, p. 428). The third set of sources of anxiety, that is, teacher beliefs about language teaching contributing to anxiety, comprises, for instance, teachers’ beliefs in constant correction of students’ errors, the inability to control their students when they work in pairs or the belief that teachers should be in the center and do most of talking and teaching. As regards

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the beliefs concerning teacher-learner interactions, they contain, for instance, a strict way of correcting errors made by language learners, when and/or how often errors are corrected, incorrect responses or students’ fears about how mistakes are perceived by teachers and peers. The sources of anxiety relating to classroom procedures are mainly related to speaking in the target language in front of the class but they also comprise oral quizzes and being called on to speak by the teacher. Last but not least, language testing is seen as a source of anxiety; however, different test formats may generate various levels of anxiety. In addition, students may experience anxiety in novel, ambiguous or highly evaluative situations. When discussing the causes of language anxiety and their effects on language learning, what deserves attention is the linguistic coding differences hypothesis (Ganschow et al., 1994; Sparks & Ganschow, 1991), according to which, anxiety comes from rather than causes poor achievement stemming from subtle learning deficits related to L1. It should be noted, however, that this view was firmly questioned in defense of a position that language anxiety can exist independently of language difficulties (Horwitz, 2000; MacIntyre, 1995a, b). The experience of anxiety in the language classroom has been found to have a negative effect on a number of aspects of language learning and production. This is because it affects cognitive processing at the level of receiving, processing and producing the language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994a; Onwuegbuzie, Bailey, & Daley, 2000), it impairs language reception and its interpretation (Horwitz et al., 1986). The experience of anxiety distorts language production as a result of reduced willingness to try out newly learned vocabulary or use more complex grammar, which subsequently influences the level of language achievement (Steinberg & Horwitz, 1986). What should also be emphasized at this juncture is that increased anxiety relates to poor language attainment (e.g., Dewaele, 2007; Horwitz et al., 1986; Woodrow, 2006), language courses dropout rates (Dewaele & Thirtle, 2009), procrastination, fear of negative evaluation and setting undue performance demands (Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002). Language learners who experience anxiety in the language classroom are not willing to contribute in class, they neglect their classroom duties and shy away from the possibility of using the target language (Horwitz et al., 1986; Piechurska-Kuciel, 2011a, 2014; Schlenker & Leary, 1982).

1.4.4 Major Approaches to Language Anxiety MacIntyre (2017) distinguishes three major approaches to language anxiety, namely: confounded, specialized and dynamic. These approaches reflect, on the one hand, historical trends, but, on the other hand, assumptions about the issue in question. The first approach is labeled the confounded approach “because the ideas about anxiety and their effect on language learning were adopted from a mixture of various sources without detailed consideration of the meaning of the anxiety concept for language learners” (MacIntyre, 2017, p. 11). According to MacIntyre (2017), during this phase the measures of anxiety were taken from psychology with the aim of

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using them in studies devoted to language but they were not adjusted to the field of language learning. In addition, the confounded approach suffered from a problem concerning the fact that not all defined and measurable types of anxiety (e.g., Alpert & Haber, 1960; Scovel, 1978) were related to language learning (MacIntyre, 2017). As regards the second approach, it concerns definitions, identification and studies related to anxiety experiences of learners explicitly associated with language. Thus, in this phase language anxiety was comprehended as a situation-specific anxiety. This conceptualization of the construct in question resulted in numerous studies and the development of measures that focused on anxiety-related experiences in language circumstances. Examples of such measures include Horwitz et al.’s (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, Gardner’s (1985) French Classroom Anxiety and French Use Anxiety and MacIntyre and Gardner’s (1994a) scales reflecting language anxiety at the input, processing and output stages. In addition, language anxiety was viewed at skill-based levels, such as writing anxiety (Cheng, Horwitz & Schallert, 1999) and reading anxiety (Saito, Horwitz & Garza, 1999). As noted by MacIntyre (2017), during the specialized phase, research projects were conducted to explore the relationship between language anxiety and other major learner factors, namely: learner personality (e.g., Dewaele, 2002), perceived competence (e.g., MacIntyre et al., 1997), and willingness to communicate (e.g., MacIntyre, Noels & Clément, 1997). Besides determining the correlates of the construct of language anxiety, qualitative (e.g., Bailey, 1983; Price, 1991) and experimental studies (e.g., Steinberg & Horwitz, 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994b) were also conducted (MacIntyre, 2017). Finally, the third approach (i.e., the dynamic approach), relates to research in which “anxiety is studied in connection with a complex web of language experiences” (MacIntyre, 2017, p. 11), or, more precisely: This new, emerging tradition emphasises situating anxiety among the multitude of interacting factors that affect language learning and development. Anxiety is continuously interacting with a number of other learner, situational and other factors including linguistic abilities, physiological reactions, self-related appraisals, pragmatics, interpersonal relationships, specific topics being discussed, type of setting in which people are interacting and so on. Anxiety is an emotion that fluctuates over time and that might be examined on a timescale of seconds and minutes, as in the rising and falling of anxiety during communication or a timescale of days, as in fluctuations during a week of classes or a timescale of months/years or as in the trajectory of anxiety across the years of a language programme. (MacIntyre, 2017, pp. 22–23)

It should be noted, however, that only a few research projects have set out to explore the dynamics of language anxiety and most of them were cross-sectional in design (e.g., Boudreau, MacIntyre, & Dewaele, 2018; Gregersen, MacIntyre, & Meza, 2014; Kruk, 2018) (see Sect. 2.4, Chap. 2, for a more detailed discussion of studies describing the dynamics of the construct in question).

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1.5 Boredom The theme of boredom is a frequent subject of attention in literature in general. Words or phrases such as acedia, tedium, repetition, monotony, ennui or “the heavy clouds of melancholy” used by philosophers, poets and writers often referred to boredom or described situations similar to boredom (Martin, Sadlo, & Stew, 2006). When it comes to education, including foreign/second language instruction, boredom is no exception, which is because during a typical lesson bored behavior can frequently be observed. Students, for example, play with their pens or smartphones, yawn, look at the clock and talk with their peers. They want to occupy themselves in order to pass the time away (Breidenstein, 2007) and they behave in such a way because they are bored. Unfortunately, teachers are frequently blamed for evoking this feeling in their students by conducting boring lessons. However, it is often not possible to foresee all potentially boring situations in order to prevent all learners from experiencing this negative emotion during classes. This, however, should not be surprising as boredom is perceived as a multifaceted condition composed of affective, cognitive, physiological, expressive and motivational factors (Nett, Goetz, & Daniels, 2010; Pekrun, 2006). This section will present relevant definitions of boredom found in the literature, a description of its types and causes in the light of major models and theories of the phenomenon in question.

1.5.1 Definitions of Boredom The phenomenon of boredom has become subject to regular scientific investigations for several decades and it has been defined in a number of ways. Gurycka (1977), for example, understands boredom as a sense of emptiness and a frame of mind accompanied by the lack of activity, the lack of actions towards experiencing and learning about the world. Mikulas and Vodanovich (1993) define boredom as an affective state encompassing absence of stimulation, unpleasant feelings and low physiological arousal. The construct of boredom can also be comprehended from the perspective of component theories of emotional experiences (Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981; Scherer, 2000) as a type of emotion encompassing five components: affective (i.e., unpleasant feelings), cognitive (i.e., alerted perception of time), motivational (i.e., a desire to change an activity), expressive (i.e., facial and bodily expressions showing a lack of excitement) and physiological (i.e., reduced arousal and overall tiredness). It should be noted, however, that boredom is not the opposite of interest or enjoyment since it is regarded as a distinctive emotional experience that comprises multiple components (Pekrun, Götz, Daniels, Stupnisky, & Perry, 2010). Although a link between the lack of interest and boredom can be perceived, it seems to be more of a cause-and-effect character, since the former may give rise to the latter (Goetz & Frenzel, 2006; Pekrun et al., 2010). It is also worth noting that disengagement is seen as an inherent component of boredom which can lead to lower performance

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and hamper the learning process (Fahlman, 2009; Pekrun et al., 2010). The multifacetedness of boredom is best viewed in the definition of the construct in question offered by Fahlman (2009) which includes the central issue of an individual’s desire for engagement in activity of proper quantity and quality, the dissatisfaction that this engagement is not occurring, the cognitive and emotional components and reduced vitality: Boredom is a psychological syndrome, or a collection of symptoms that must be present in a specified combination. Boredom primarily involves a desire to be engaged in interesting, meaningful, or otherwise satisfying activity, yet being disengaged from such an activity and dissatisfied that this disengagement is occurring. The disengagement can include a sense of there being nothing available to do (i.e., low stimulation), having to do something that one does not want to do (i.e., constraint), or not knowing what it is that one wants to do. Cognitively, the bored individual experiences a slow passage of time and an inability to focus his or her attention. Vitality is impaired during boredom, in that the bored individual oscillates between agitated, high energy and desperate attempts at finding satisfying activity, and lethargy, low energy and resignation. In addition, the experience of boredom always involves a combination of negative emotions, such as agitated affect (e.g., frustration, irritability, anger), or dysphoric affect (e.g., sadness, emptiness). (Fahlman, 2009, pp. 53–54)

Fahlman (2009) further states that while these core aspects of boredom are permanent, boredom can manifest itself along several dimensions. According to the researcher, boredom “can be experienced across varying durations of time (temporal dimension); it can be a ‘normal’ experience or take a more pathological form (pathology dimension); and it may or may not have a specific referent or focus (role of objects dimension)” (Fahlman, 2009, p. 54). It should also be noted, that, although the construct of boredom has been addressed in research in the area of psychology and educational psychology, it has remained largely a terra incognita in the field of L2 learning and teaching. Nevertheless, a definition of boredom in L2 learning and teaching has been offered by Zawodniak and Kruk (2018a) who describe it as a subjective state of not being interested in activities offered by the teacher which can be felt with varying degrees of intensity, depending on individual predispositions and preferences of the student as well as different situational factors.

1.5.2 Different Faces of Boredom Boredom has been classified into different types in order to better comprehend the way this construct functions and what influences it. Neu (1998) differentiates between endogenous (i.e., boredom comes from the inside of individuals) and reactive boredom (i.e., boredom is caused in response to what takes place in their environments). Acee et al. (2010) distinguish between task-focused quality (i.e., students have to do meaningless activities) and self -focused quality (i.e., finding oneself in frustrating situations). Boredom is also found to be chronic and existential; however, this distinction is mainly proposed by philosophers and psychoanalytic thinkers (Frankl, 1962; Maddi, 1970; O’Connor, 1967).

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The most traditional classification of boredom relates to trait boredom and state boredom. The former is identified as boredom proneness, that is, a permanent tendency to be bored and as such it describes individuals who are susceptible to this condition, while the latter refers to a temporary, context-dependent, short-term condition and is usually related to individuals’ perceptions of their immediate environment as unstimulating and/or impoverished (Barnett & Klitzing, 2006; Bench & Lench, 2013; Fahlman, 2009; Vogel-Walcutt, Fiorell, Carper, & Schatz, 2012). In addition, trait boredom can be further divided into external and internal boredom. While the former is linked with the perception of environment as uninteresting, the latter refers to an individual’s difficulty in generating involving things to do (Macklem, 2015). Individuals susceptible to boredom tend to exhibit anger in daily situations, they display higher levels of impulsivity, they often are extraverted but shy and it is easy to hurt them (Barnett & Klitzing, 2006; Dahlen, Martin, Ragan, & Kuhlman, 2004; Gordon, Wilkinson, McGown, & Jovanoska, 1997). Among other things, trait boredom has also been shown to be related to truancy, dropout, reduced motivation, unwillingness to speak, anxiety, lower school achievement or grades (Bearden, Spencer, & Moracco, 1989; Bridgeland, Bruce, & Hariharan, 2013; Daschmann, Goetz, & Stupnisky, 2011; Götz, Pekrun, Hall, & Haag, 2006; Kass, Wallace, & Vodanovich, 2003; LePera, 2011; McLeod & Vodanovich, 1991; Pekrun, 2006; Sommer, 1985; Tidwell, 1988; Toohey, 2011). As far as state boredom is concerned, it is the relationship of negative emotions and low arousal influenced by dissatisfaction, disinterest or disconnection. Although state boredom is a negative psychological condition, it may motivate individuals to seek new objectives or different solutions helpful in the introduction of change and as such this type of boredom may work to an individual’ advantage (Sharp, Hemmings, Kay, Murphy, & Elliott, 2017; Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). It should also be noted that state boredom can be experienced when, for example, teachers do not properly adjust their methods and/or techniques to their students’ competence and proficiency, they offer unchallenging and/or overchallenging and uninteresting activities or tasks that do not meet students’ expectations, students’ self-control is restricted and they encounter difficulties in achieving goals since they are not clear enough (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012; Weinerman & Kenner, 2016). An attempt was also made to classify boredom according to how bored individuals feel and how pleasant and/or unpleasant the experience of boredom can be. Researchers (Goetz & Frenzel, 2006; Goetz et al., 2014) propose to consider the construct in question as multiple boredoms which include five subtypes of this emotion, namely: indifferent boredom, calibrating boredom, searching boredom, reactant boredom and apathetic boredom. As for indifferent boredom, it refers to a state of relaxing withdrawal, cheerful fatigue and calmness. Calibrating boredom is experienced in a moderately unpleasant way and is connected with one’s need for change combined with uncertainty and accompanied by wandering and off-topic thoughts. The third subtype (i.e., searching boredom), is experienced by individuals in an unpleasant way. It is linked with attempts at getting rid of frustrating weariness and finding interesting things to do. When it comes to the fourth subtype, that is, reactant boredom, it is perceived in a particularly aversive way. Individuals

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who experience reactant boredom are eager to seek and point out different external factors responsible for being bored (e.g., teachers, topics, settings). Finally, apathetic boredom is experienced in an extremely unpleasant manner. It describes a state of helplessness and dissatisfaction stemming from equally low levels of both positive and negative emotions.

1.5.3 Causes of Boredom in View of Major Models and Theories of Boredom A number of models concerning boredom, such as the under-stimulation model, the forced-effort model and the dimensional model as well as theories of boredom, such as the control-value theory of achievement emotions, the attentional theory of boredom proneness, the emotion theory and the menton theory of boredom offer psychologically relevant explanations and reasons why students are unable to engage in activities perceived by others as interesting and thus they experience this negative emotion. When it comes to the models of boredom mentioned above, the under-stimulation model (Larson & Richards, 1991) highlights situations in which students’ work is reduced to practicing the material in an unchallenging, repetitive and predictable way. This leads students to the experience of boredom since they are not provided with new incentives that would make them seek, investigate and explore new ideas, facts and/or phenomena. As for the forced-effort model (Hill & Perkins, 1985), it describes boredom as the aftermath of being compelled to put a lot of cognitive effort into activities considered by learners either as monotonous or very complex. The model under discussion mainly concerns teacher-directed instruction in which teachers determine the way students work and thus students are in no position to control their own learning and take responsibility for it. Finally, the dimensional model (Pekrun et al., 2010), categorizes the construct in question as both an activating emotion and a deactivating emotion. More specifically, if a boring task lasts longer than expected, a learner may begin to seek ways to sustain his or her attention or overcome frustration, which may lead to the increase in arousal levels. As far as the theories of boredom are concerned, boredom in the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006; Tulis & Fulmer, 2013) is conceptualized in terms of valence (i.e., whether or not emotions are positive and pleasant) and activation (i.e., emotions are viewed as a driving or deactivating action and directing or preventing emotional withdrawal). This theory draws on individuals’ appraisals of control and value they ascribe to a specific task or topic. If learners perceive a particular activity as uninteresting and having no value and if they feel compelled to perform it irrespective of what they think of it, they will become indifferent to it. This may lead to avoidance, passivity, decrease in cognitive focus and ultimately boredom. Rather than focusing on a given task, learners will pay attention to something more attractive or engaging (e.g., talking to a peer, daydreaming) and thus, they

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will become distracted and may misbehave. The said theory posits that the experience of boredom may contribute to reduction of motivation and have a negative impact on achievement in view of the fact that students may be less attentive to the issue of collecting and processing new information. As regards the attentional theory of boredom proneness (Harris, 2000; LePera, 2011), this theory sees boredom as stemming from distractibility and attention deficit. In more specific terms, boredom may be experienced by students whose awareness of attention is low and who display poor attentional control and failure to engage. They may feel bored when a particular activity does not trigger sustained attention (Malkovsky, Merrifield, Goldberg, & Danckert, 2012). It should be noted, however, that individual students may vary in the ability to be focused on issues discussed and performed during lessons. According to Cheyne, Carriere and Smilek (2006), if students’ attention is low, they may start to see the performance of a particular activity as meaningless, become uninterested and overwhelmed by negative emotions. This shows that inattention can be regarded as one of the components of boredom (Fahlman, 2009) and its cause. Another theory of boredom, that is, the emotion theory (Eastwood, Cavaliere, Fahlman, & Eastwood, 2007; Eastwood, Frischen, Fenske, & Smilek, 2012), asserts that the experience of boredom is related to individuals’ problems with accessing and comprehending their own emotions, a phenomenon which has been labelled alexithymia. Language learners who do not understand the role of emotions in social situations are less eager to actively participate in the lessons they attend. Finally, it is worth mentioning yet another attempt to identify the reasons for boredom, namely, the menton theory of boredom (Davies & Fortney, 2012). This theory uses mentons (i.e., units of mental energy needed to perform a particular task) and indicates that boredom can be experienced when learners have an excess or shortage of mentons. This implies that students can be withdrawn, disengaged, distracted, or simply bored, when asked to perform both excessively challenging and insufficiently challenging language activities.

1.6 Conclusion The aim of this chapter has been to discuss major issues related to the constructs of WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom. The chapter has been divided into four sections, each devoted to a different construct. Section 1.2 focused on the concept of WTC and began with a brief discussion of its origins and definitions. This was followed by a presentation of models and a number of variables influencing language learners’ willingness to communicate in the target language (e.g., self-perceived communicative competence, personality, age, attitudes and learning environments). Section 1.3 concerned the construct of motivation, namely its definitions, theoretical frameworks and concepts as well as studies regarding WTC. Section 1.4 concentrated on language anxiety. It began with a short overview of different definitions of the said phenomenon, followed by a discussion of its types, sources and the ways this negative emotion affects language learners. The section closed with an overview of main approaches to language anxiety. The last section (Sect. 1.5) was dedicated to

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another negative emotion, namely the construct of boredom. As was the case with the first three sections, it started with a presentation of a few definitions of boredom. This was followed by a discussion of different types of the construct in question and its causes from the perspective of major models and theories of boredom. The next chapter in its entirety will be devoted to empirical investigations into WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom in traditional and digital contexts with particular emphasis on the changes in the examined phenomena.

Chapter 2

Empirical Investigations into WTC, Motivation, Language Anxiety and Boredom in Traditional and Digital Contexts

2.1 Introduction The “complexity turn” (Urry, 2005) in the field of SLA research has generated a number of studies exploring individual difference variables which have been perceived as dynamic, dependent on context and emergent. The present chapter offers an overview of empirical investigations into the phenomena of WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom with a particular focus on changes in their levels over longer and shorter periods of time as well as factors influencing such fluctuations. The discussion will begin with a description of studies related to the issue of willingness to communicate carried out in traditional (i.e., without resorting to computer technology) and digital settings. This will be followed by the outline of research projects concerning the other constructs in question, that is, motivation, language anxiety and boredom undertaken in both traditional and digital contexts. This overview will focus on studies that have attempted to approach the said constructs from different perspectives and such that employed a variety of research instruments (e.g., questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations, reflective journals and grids) in order to explore the constructs in the aforementioned contexts, find out factors influencing them and measure their dynamics.

2.2 Willingness to Communicate Recent studies on WTC have concentrated on situational and dynamic features of the construct in question. This involves a shift from quantitative research studies to qualitative and mixed-methods ones. The former are mainly conducted by means of such data collection tools as questionnaires, while the latter utilize, for example, self-reported scales and interviews. Moreover, quantitative studies comprise large samples, whereas mixed-methods research projects encompass small groups of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2_2

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language learners. The present section offers an overview of selected studies which have looked into dynamics of WTC in traditional and digital contexts.

2.2.1 WTC in Traditional Contexts The dynamic nature of WTC among four Korean male students, who were paired with native speakers of English, was examined by Kang (2005). A set of research instruments (i.e., videotaped conversations, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recalls) was employed by the researcher to identify three psychological variables crucial to initiating communication, namely: security, excitement and responsibility. The analysis of the data revealed that the subjects felt safe and excited to use the target language when they were familiar with the conversation theme and felt liable to discuss topics that they considered useful, introduced themselves and were more knowledgeable about. The results also showed that the three psychological factors were influenced by the familiarity with their interlocutors as well as the expression of interest and attention. Kang also found that the participants were more eager to talk in the target language as the discussion was in progress as well as in situations in which they were requested for more information and had to clarify issues. Another interesting observation was related to the fact that the participants experienced less willingness to talk in the target language when, for example, the number of interlocutors increased or they had problems with conveying and understanding a message. All of this allowed the researcher to formulate a definition of WTC in L2, according to which, L2 communication “can vary according to interlocutor(s), topic, and conversational context, among other potential situational variables” (p. 291). Thus, WTC was seen as a dynamic situational concept that can change on a moment-to-moment basis. The aim of another study carried out by Cao (2006) was to investigate factors contributing to changes in language learners’ situational WTC in oral communication activities in the language classroom in three interactional contexts, that is, whole class, small group and dyadic interaction. The results of the study demonstrated that the participants turned out to be quite unwilling to speak in the target language at the beginning of the course in whole class interactions and while working in pairs. Moreover, some individual learners showed high levels of WTC and some other students displayed variations in their levels of WTC in the three interactional contexts. Cao attributed the changes in the participants’ WTC to the following four factors: (1) the group members became more familiar with time, (2) they gained more language experience from one week to another, (3) task type and (4) task topic. In yet another study Cao (2011) analyzed the data collected through classroom observations, stimulated-recall interviews and reflective journals and uncovered an array of factors (e.g., environmental and linguistic) identified by the participants as affecting their WTC in the L2 classroom. The environmental category included aspects related to the direct classroom context (i.e., task type, topic, interlocutor, teacher and group size). Among other things, the students perceived tasks which comprised teamwork as facilitating the use of the target language, they were more

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willing to speak when they felt familiar with a topic and had more knowledge about it and they regarded teacher-fronted exercises as hampering their WTC. The students were not unanimous in their preferences related to modes of work since some of them preferred working in pairs or in small groups, while others opted for speaking in front of the whole class. As for the linguistic category, it encompassed actual and perceived levels of language advancement and the use of L1. For example, the participants were less eager to communicate when they lacked sufficient vocabulary or when their use of L1 (during a speaking task or between tasks) reduced the opportunities for the use of the target language. Factors affecting situational WTC in the second language classroom were the aim of yet another longitudinal study undertaken by Cao (2013). The data gathered by means of classroom observations, stimulated-recall interviews and reflective journals and their subsequent analysis allowed the researcher to show that the participants’ (twelve English as a second language learners) situational WTC in the classroom context was prone to variations and changed both during a single lesson and a task as well as over time. The detected fluctuations were dependent on the combined influences of contextual, individual and linguistic factors. Worth reporting here are also the results of a study designed by MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) who took a different approach to investigate changes in language learners’ WTC. The researchers used the idiodynamic method, that is, a procedure which makes it possible to measure changes in the levels of the construct in question on moment-by-moment basis during the performance of speaking tasks (e.g., discussions, ordering a meal, giving directions). The method consists of four parts: (1) a communication task during which students’ utterances are recorded for immediate playback, (2) the revision of the video recording by the participants who, with the help of special computer software, rate their moment-by-moment shifts in WTC; this results in producing a graph which shows fluctuations in their WTC, (3) the revision of the graph by the participants and discussion of factors attributable to ups and downs in their WTC, and (4) the transcription of the whole session. The analysis of the data demonstrated that the subjects’ WTC changed during various communication tasks and the fall in the students’ WTC was ascribed to their inability to find relevant target language words needed for a particular task. In addition, MacIntyre and Legatto saw WTC as a dynamic system (Larsen-Freeman, 2007; de Bot, Lowie, & Verspoor, 2007). The dynamic systems theory (DST) was adopted as a framework to investigate shifts in WTC in English among six Pakistani postgraduate students by Syed and Kuzborska (2019). The data gathered through classroom observations, learners’ diaries, stimulated recall interviews and biographic questionnaires revealed changes in the participants’ WTC on three timescales (i.e., during conversations, between classes and over time). As for the fluctuations within conversations and between class sessions, they were affected by state-like variables (e.g., interest, relevance of topics, types of tasks, interlocutors, motivation and anxiety) and a host of other variables (e.g., toothache, headache, feeling sleepy). When it comes to the changes over 14 lessons, they were influenced by enduring factors (e.g., personality and traitlevel motivation). In addition, introverted students exhibited dependency on their conversers to provide them with opportunities for use of the target language. In

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contrast, extraverted individuals proactively exploited opportunities to use the target language irrespective of discussed topics and their interlocutors’ behavior. Equally important are the research projects carried out in the Polish educational context. One such study (Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2015) aimed to examine changes in eight Polish students’ readiness to speak in the course of a speaking task performed in pairs, and to uncover factors accountable for such fluctuations. The analysis of the data gathered through self-ratings, questionnaires and interviews revealed that the subjects’ WTC levels underwent changes which were caused by a host of variables (e.g., the topic, planning time, freedom to express one’s ideas, the presence of the teacher, familiarity and involvement of the converser, the progress of conversation, the opportunity to express ideas, the mastery of adequate vocabulary). In another study, Pawlak, Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Bielak (2016) focused on factors that shaped WTC during conversation classes in four different groups of advanced learners of English. The analysis of the data obtained though self-ratings and immediate reports showed, among other things, that changes in the participants’ WTC were influenced by a constellation of contextual and individual factors. The students were more eager to use English when they had the chance to discuss topics related to their personal experiences with familiar interlocutors in small groups or pairs. This micro perspective was also employed in another study carried out by MystkowskaWiertelak and Pawlak (2017) who sought to explore changes in WTC levels on a minute-by-minute basis in the course of three conversation classes and uncover factors responsible for shaping the participants’ (48 Polish English majors) readiness to engage in interaction in English. The analysis of the data collected by means of self-ratings, questionnaires and lesson plans demonstrated that the participants’ willingness to interact in the English was susceptible to fluctuations and provided further evidence concerning their causes. The changes in the levels of WTC were influenced by, among other things, the topics, the stage of the lesson, the nature of activities, the mode of class organization, rapport with group members, proficiency of interlocutors, feedback, the passage of time, the participants’ disposition or mood. In yet another study, Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2016) sought to provide a more complete picture of language learners’ eagerness to communicate and factors influencing it. The study involved a group of 12 English majors and covered seven conversation classes conducted over a semester. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data gathered by means of self-assessment grids, interviews, a questionnaire and lesson plans showed that the intensity of communicative behavior was influenced by a number of factors, such as class-arrangement modes, topics, tasks, stage of the lesson or interlocutors. It should be noted, however, that the said factors did not have an equal role in each lesson and their impact was not even across the participants. In addition, Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2018) took a closer look at fluctuations in WTC levels reported by a single student selected from the group of twelve learners who participated in the study just described. The focus on one individual was motivated by the fact that the student outperformed all other students on various tests and was one of the most involved learners in conversation classes. The findings showed that the fluctuations in the student’s WTC were caused by contextual variables, the activities performed at the beginning of classes, the topics, the proficiency level of his

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interlocutor, the degree of his interlocutor’ engagement in conversations, the nature of tasks performed, the growing awareness of his linguistic development and his unique ways of dealing with learning situations.

2.2.2 WTC in Digital Contexts Digital environments (e.g., computer-mediated communication, digital games, virtual worlds) have also been found to have an impact on language learners’ WTC. For example, Freiermuth and Jarrell (2006) compared the experiences of 36 female Japanese university students communicating in English by means of online chat and in face-to-face settings. The analysis of the discourse produced by the learners and their questionnaire responses showed that a computer-mediated environment offered a more comfortable milieu which heightened the participants’ WTC in English. Freiermuth and Jarrell concluded that online chatting “reduces social constraints and reconfigures the ways students interact in the L2 … enhancing their willingness to communicate” (p. 207). The impact of the digital environment offered by Skype on Spanish learners’ WTC was explored by Yanguas and Flores (2014). Among other things, the results of the study demonstrated that the students who used Skype in order to perform a decision-making task initiated a greater number of speaking turns in comparison with the learners who carried out the same task in a traditional faceto-face environment. This outcome let the researchers to conclude that “Skype might be a valid instrument to foster communication in the classroom” (2014, p. 94). When it comes to a digital environment provided by computer games, Reinders and Wattana (2014) explored the impact of playing a game called “Ragnarok Online” on a group of language learners’ WTC. The participants were 30 Thai learners of English as a foreign language who were asked to complete quests which promoted collaboration and communication among the players as well as fill out a set of questionnaires before and after the six gaming sessions. The questionnaires were adopted from previous studies concerning the students’ WTC (MacIntyre, Baker, Clément, & Conrod, 2001), communication anxiety (Horwitz et al., 1986; McCroskey & Richmond, 1982) and perceived competence (Compton, 2004; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996). The results of the study revealed a significant improvement in the participants’ confidence, experience of anxiety, competence and willingness to communicate in English. Another study undertaken by Reinders and Wattana (2015) involved a smaller number of students (i.e., five subjects) derived from the participants of the study that has just been described. After each lesson, the researchers carried out semi-structured interviews with each individual in order to enrich descriptions of the effects of gameplay on their WTC in addition to the results from the questionnaires completed by the group of 30 Thai students (see Reinders & Wattana, 2014). Overall, the analysis of the collected data indicated that playing “Ragnarok Online” lowered the participants’ affective barriers to learning, encouraged risk-taking, gave the students “a sense of freedom” (p. 50) and increased their WTC in English.

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The link between affective variables and WTC in in-class, out-of-class and digital contexts was investigated by Lee and Lee (2019) and Lee and Hsieh (2019). The results of the former study involving 176 Korean EFL students revealed that demographic, affective variables (i.e., motivation, self-confidence, risk-taking, speaking anxiety and grit) and involvement in virtual intercultural activities played an important role in affecting the participants’ WTC in these three contexts. This is because the subjects who displayed higher levels of motivation and grit but a lower level of speaking anxiety had higher WTC inside the classroom. Higher WTC outside the classroom was typical of the learners who majored in English and reported higher levels of self-confidence and risk-taking. Finally, higher WTC in digital contexts was characteristic of younger learners who exhibited a higher level of self-confidence. As for the latter study (i.e., Lee & Hsieh, 2019), it encompassed 261 Taiwanese EFL undergraduate students. The results showed that (1) individuals with higher levels of grit and L2 confidence had higher WTC in all three communicative contexts and (2) the lack of language anxiety was a significant predictor of learners’ WTC in in-class and out-of-class contexts but not in the digital one. According to Lee and Hsieh, EFL students may be inclined to initiate communication in English in both digital and offline contexts if they remain persistent in learning and using the target language despite setbacks, and if they are confident about communicating in the language. As for the second finding, it was linked with the fact that contemporary language learners feel more comfortable with digital ways of communicating than with conventional offline methods. Based on the findings, the researchers suggested that digital settings offer social support and psychological benefits, which, in turn, contribute to creating a less anxiety-provoking environment for language learners. Worth noting is also the outcome of another study conducted by Lee (2019). The analysis of semi-structured interviews with 98 EFL Korean students demonstrated that the interviewees’ WTC was affected by such factors as Korea’s K-12 instruction (i.e., socio-political factor), familiarity with interlocutors and communities (i.e., contextual factor) and self-confidence and anxiety (i.e., individual variables). In addition, the said factors turned out to interact simultaneously during communication in the target language in the extramural digital environment encompassing, for example, playing games in English or watching English comics online (Lee & Drajati, 2019, p. 172). Of special interest to the present book is the impact of virtual worlds on language learners’ WTC. Such issue was investigated by Kruk (2016a) and Kartal and Balçikanli (2018). The aim of the former study (Kruk, 2016a) was to uncover factors influencing willingness to communicate in English in the virtual world Second Life (SL) among 12 third-year students of English philology. During the period of a winter semester the subjects were asked to use Second Life and practice English there in their own time. The analysis of the data gathered by means of session logs and semistructured interviews with six volunteers revealed a number of positive and negative factors influencing the students’ WTC in this virtual environment. More precisely, the positive factors involved virtual identity, identity protecting form of conversation, topics of conversations and opportunities for language practice. The negative factors encompassed problems with finding willing to talk SL users, slow response time and conversation termination, the quality of English produced by interlocutors

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and unpleasant experiences. As for the study carried out by Kartal and Balçikanli (2018), its results showed that Second Life had a positive effect on a group of Turkish EFL learners’ WTC who performed ten real-life activities when compared to their traditional counterparts. This is because the SL group regarded the said virtual world as natural to communication and as an environment in which they “could take more risks than in a classroom” (p. 19). Empirical investigations that looked into the changes in WTC levels in digital settings, or to be more precise in virtual worlds, and sought to pinpoint factors responsible for such fluctuations are few and far between. In fact only four studies, that is those conducted by Kruk (2015a, 2019a, 2019b) and Zawodniak and Kruk (2017), specifically explored the said issues. In one such study Kruk (2015a) investigated changes in the levels of WTC in a sample of 19 Polish EFL high school learners. The students were divided into two groups. One group (N = 9) participated in lessons in which they performed communication activities in the virtual world Active Worlds (AW). The other group (N = 10) did the communication activities in a traditional classroom context. In order to detect changes in the WTC levels the study employed a WTC grid and a WTC questionnaire (a modified version of the instrument developed by Reinders and Wattana, 2011) completed by the subjects during classes and at the end of them, respectively. The analysis of the data demonstrated that WTC was subject to variation during a single lesson and a sequence of lessons in both contexts; however, the fluctuations were more pronounced in the group that performed the activities in the traditional classroom environment. In addition, the students in the AW group showed an increase in WTC in successive lessons and they used English more willingly than their counterparts. When it comes to the study conducted by Zawodniak and Kruk (2017), it set out to investigate changes in the WTC levels and factors responsible for such fluctuations among a group of third-year Polish students of English philology (N = 10) in the virtual world Second Life. The subjects were asked to visit Second Life in their free time and communicate in English by means of text chat or voice for the period of one semester. The data were collected through a session questionnaire in which the participants were asked to self-rate their WTC five times during each session in SL and describe their activities performed there. The analysis uncovered four patterns related to the students’ WTC, namely: (1) a rising pattern, (2) a falling pattern, (3) a stable pattern and (4) a rise-fall pattern. The rising pattern was mainly influenced by interesting topics of conversations. The students who tended to display the falling pattern were frequently disappointed with their interlocutors’ unwillingness to have conversations in English and a clear discrepancy in the needs and expectations of both parties. As for the factors related to the stable WTC pattern, they concerned a stress-free atmosphere and an opportunity to improve language competences and above all contact with the same interlocutors. Finally, the rise-fall pattern was caused by small talk and the desire to use students’ interlocutors’ mother tongue. The third study carried out by Kruk (2019a) that aimed to investigate changes in the levels of WTC in a virtual world as well as factors accounting for such variations spanned the period of one semester and involved a single female student of English philology who participated in 19 sessions in SL. The analysis of data

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gathered by means of a set of research instruments (e.g., the Learning Style Survey (Cohen, Oxford, & Chi, 2002), a session log and a semi-structured interview) showed that the subject’s WTC underwent changes both during each session in SL and from one visit to the next. These ebbs and flows in WTC levels were affected by, for example, friendly and willing to talk SL users, interesting topics, the shielding effect of the student’s personal avatar, the subject’s confidence in using English, the lack of SL users willing to talk, the experience of boredom or group conversations. In addition, the student’s willingness to enter into communication with SL residents was attributed to the way she approached learning situations. Changes in the levels of WTC (and also motivation, language anxiety and boredom) and factors causing them were also examined in the fourth study (Kruk, 2019b). The obtained results showed that, similarly to the previous study, these fluctuations were affected by a host of positive and negative factors (e.g., interesting topics, the possibility of discussing common interests, comprehending the output produced by interlocutors, unpleasant SL users, monotony, unwilling to talk SL residents, previous negative experience).

2.3 Motivation Over decades studies on motivation in the field of SLA have embraced different theoretical frameworks and concepts to explore the construct of motivation in their unique ways. Such theoretical frameworks and concepts include, for example, the socio-educational model (Gardner, 1985), the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), the L2 motivational self-system (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009), the processoriented model (Dörnyei & Ottó, 1998), the directed motivational currents (Dörnyei et al., 2016) or the dynamic systems theory (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008) (for a discussion of these theoretical frameworks and concepts see Chap. 1, Sect. 1.3.2). Thus, the present section is devoted to an overview of a variety of research projects that have used different perspectives to investigate the phenomenon in question. As was the case in Sect. 2.2, studies that have attempted to provide insights into motivation, and in particular changes in its levels in traditional context will be presented first. This will be followed by a discussion of research projects which focused on motivation as well as research projects which aimed at exploring fluctuations in motivation in digital settings, including virtual worlds.

2.3.1 Motivation in Traditional Contexts One longitudinal study that concentrated on changes in motivation and attitude was conducted by Koizumi and Matsuo (1993). The study comprised 296 Japanese seventh-grade learners of English and lasted seven months. The results showed that the subjects’ interest, learning habits, perceived usefulness of the target language, familiarity with the target language users, the degree of parental encouragement and their attainment decreased from the beginning of the school year until the seventh

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month, after which time stabilization set in and the students started to be more realistic about their goals. In addition, the subjects with initial high ability in the target language demonstrated more positive attitudes and motivation with time and the female subjects scored higher than male individuals in most attitudinal and motivational variables but the former showed a lower expectancy of their own performance in setting their goals. Another longitudinal study (spanning the period of 16 months) was undertaken by Ushioda (2001). The researcher interviewed Irish adult learners of French and found that during the said period of time they modified their goals concerning the language they were learning and made these goals more compatible with their personal objectives. Gardner, Masgoret, Tennant and Mihic (2004), in turn, collected data during the period of one academic year in order to investigate the integrative motivation of Canadian university students in an intermediate-level French course. Gardner et al. reported a decrease in the level of motivation. Situationspecific motives, such as attitudes towards the learning situation, turned out to be more susceptible to changes than general ones (e.g., integrativeness). Yet another study whose aim was to investigate the changing character of motivation in a longer period of time, that is over ten months, was conducted by Kim (2009). The data were gathered by means of interviews carried out with four Korean adult English as a second language (ESL) students who spent ten months in Toronto to learn English. The study uncovered the changing nature of motivation and showed that there is a need to internalize and personalize external motives for learning a language since this makes it possible to transform language learners’ ought-to L2 self into their ideal L2 self along with integrating the initial motives to learn a language with specific learning goals and sense of participation. Kim’s study created a connection between the Vygotskian sociocultural theory (Cole et al., 1978) and Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) second language motivational self system. Hsieh (2009) also employed an interview as the main instrument of data gathering and explored the changes in L2 motivation over time and across contexts among two Taiwanese language learners before and after their one-year-long study abroad program in the U.S. The findings revealed that the subjects’ goals, attitudes toward the English-speaking community and their self concept were shaped and reshaped by a number of internal (e.g., unsatisfactory target language ability) and external (e.g., the feeling of failing a course) factors. In addition, Hsieh observed some modifications in the individuals’ ideal L2 self as a competent English user but they turned out to be short-lived. Changes in the choice and executive motivation of a group of 164 first-year university students over the period of one year were the theme of the study by Nitta and Asano (2010). The analysis of the data collected by means of questionnaires and teacher reflection revealed that the choice and executive motivation underwent modifications which were affected by social and interpersonal factors such as the teacher’s teaching style, intergroup relations and group cohesiveness. Worth mentioning are also more recent investigations by Piniel and Csizér (2015) and Kruk (2016b). The former study focused on changes in motivation (and also in anxiety and self-efficacy) in a 14-week writing course of a university academic writing seminar attended by 21 Hungarian students majoring in English. The researchers reported little fluctuation in the participants’ motivation whose ideal L2 self and motivated learning behavior had a more stable tendency in

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comparison to their ought-to self and learning experience. When it comes to the latter study (i.e., Kruk, 2016b), it investigated fluctuations in motivation over one semester (in a total of 121 lessons) in four intact groups of high school learners (N = 52). The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected through a set of instruments (e.g., motivational grids, observations and individual interviews) revealed changes in motivation within and between English lessons as well as periods of stability, which were preceded or followed by unexpected growths or falls in self-reported motivation. The motivational patterns were attributed to a host of interrelated factors, such as the lesson (e.g., topics and tasks), the language learners (e.g., their age, fatigue) and the school (e.g., the timetable). Attempts to investigate changes in motivation and identify factors responsible for them across different educational levels have also been undertaken by a number of researchers. For example, Tachibana, Matskukawa and Zhong (1996) investigated the changes in the motivation of Japanese (N = 359) and Chinese (N = 442) high school students and showed that in both cases there was a decline in the interest in learning the English language from junior to senior high school. Moreover, the researchers found that Japanese learners were less intrinsically and more extrinsically motivated in comparison with junior high school students. More successful Japanese learners were also more interested in the English language, the English culture and people. As for Chinese high school learners, their motivation did not differ considerably from their junior high school counterparts. In general, they were more pragmatically focused on the study of English and they believed they could be more successful in the future. Williams, Burden and Lanvers (2002) utilized questionnaires and interviews in order to investigate motivation in learning a foreign language among 228 students in Great Britain. The results demonstrated a decline in motivation from year 7 to year 9, a higher level of motivation among female learners and a higher level of motivation to study German than French. The analysis of the data gathered though interviews revealed that French was considered to be more feminine and male subjects tried to avoid more tedious activities. There are also studies that have mainly focused on changes in motivation and looked for factors responsible for them from a retrospective point of view in which participants are asked to look back on their first experiences related to learning a foreign language over a period extending, for example, from elementary school, high school, and up to the present time. In one such study, Shoaib and Dörnyei (2005) traced temporal progression of student motivation by conducting a set of interviews in which 25 subjects focused on the period of about twenty years. The researchers detected seven dimensions of motivational influences which affected the interviewees’ language learning process. They included: (1) the affective/integrative dimension, (2) the instrumental dimension, (3) the self-concept-related dimension, (4) the goal-oriented dimension, (5) the educational-context-related dimension, (6) the significant-other-related dimension and (7) the host-environment-related dimension. In addition, Shoaib and Dörnyei identified six temporal patterns of language learning motivation, namely: (1) maturation and a gradual increase in interest to learn a language, (2) stand-still periods, (3) a move into a new phase of life, (4) transformation of extrinsic goals and visions into intrinsic ones, (5) relationship with significant

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others and (6) the time spent in the target language speaking environment. Another attempt to explore motivational evolution from a retrospective perspective was undertaken by Kruk and Mahmoodzadeh (2018). The participants, 25 Polish third-year students majoring in English philology, were asked to complete a motivational questionnaire along with a follow-up electronic interview to report their L2 motivation in retrospect at each of their educational level (i.e., from elementary school to university), the way they thought of their English and the way they imagined themselves in the future. Introspective variation was found in the participants’ L2 motivation over their prolonged period of language education. The factors accounting for the motivational dynamics of language learning were grouped into five categories: (1) positive perceptions (i.e., positive feelings, perceived progress and the experience of something new), (2) extrinsic factors (i.e., grades, exams and future profession), (3) people (i.e., teachers, family and peers and English speaking people), (4) self factors (i.e., self-development and self-awareness) and (5) other factors (e.g., English lessons and competitiveness). The findings also indicated that the participants only occasionally made references to their future self-guides over their language education; however, their future self-guides were often subject to variation. In the most recent studies of this type, Papi and Hiver (2020) used a retrospective-longitudinal design and a process tracing in order to construct a developmental blueprint concerning the participants’ (i.e., six Iranian graduate students of English) motivation over years. The obtained results revealed that dynamic processes and adaptive or competitive interactions between system components (i.e., value, truth, and control) and environmental conditions (i.e., learning contexts) led to distinctive motivational trajectories that influenced the participants’ choices and experiences related to language learning. Language learners’ motivational retrospection, their reflections on and evaluation of their previous language learning was also explored by means of retrodictive qualitative modeling (RQM) (Dörnyei, 2014). RQM encompasses a three-step procedure: (1) identification of unique learner types in a given group by means of quantitative or qualitative procedures, (2) identification of particular individuals who can be regarded as prototypical and (3) identification of components of the motivational structure and developmental patterns accountable for its emergence. Although not without limitations concerning, among other things, the need to incorporate other data instruments besides interviews or difficulty in finding individuals matching the archetypes (Chan, Dörnyei, & Henry, 2015), a few studies, for example, conducted by Kikuchi (2017) or Pawlak and Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2018), successfully utilized this methodology to investigate the dynamic nature of motivation. Kikuchi (2017) traced the trajectories of language learners’ (20 Japanese university freshmen) dynamic systems over a ten-month period. The researcher identified five distinct learner types, each of which represented a different motivational pattern. In addition, the results revealed that each type of learner varied according to their motivators and demotivators in and outside of the language classroom. Pawlak and Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2018), in turn, examined the development of motivational processes over time (i.e., from kindergarten/elementary school to university) in the learning histories of two English majors (one female and one male). The results revealed changes in the participants’ L2 motivational systems concerning motives

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that guided them over time, levels of engagement, reflection on different aspects of the target language learning process and their ideal L2 selves. The detected variation was affected by both internal and external factors, such as the teacher, peers and parents, crucial moments (especially negative ones), the students’ personality types and their motivational retrospection. Of relevance to the present section are also research projects that looked into changes in the magnitude of language learners’ motivation in the course of a single language lesson or a series of such classes. Some insights into the issue in question come from the study carried out by Egbert (2003), who focused on the role of flow, that is, a state of complete involvement in something (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993) in a foreign/second language learning. Egbert distinguished four task conditions related to such a state, which encompassed: (1) the perceived balance between learner skills and task challenge, (2) the presence of opportunities for concentration and attention on task objectives, (3) the view of a given task as attractive and real and (4) a sense of control over the course of the execution of the task and the outcomes. The following two studies, by Pawlak (2012) and Pawlak, Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Bielak (2014), were conducted in the context of Polish high school. Both studies utilized similar data collection instruments (e.g., motivational grids and interviews) in which the participants were requested to selfrate their levels of interest in the lesson in real time every five minutes or answer questions seeking the causes of motivational ups and downs. The results demonstrated that intensity of motivation detected during single classes as well as from one lesson to another tended to evolve and it was found to be affected by such factors as lessons’ topics, types of language activities, the importance of the issues dealt with in lessons and their relevance to the final examinations, phases of a lesson or group dynamics. Yet another study, undertaken by Waninge, Dörnyei, and de Bot (2014), that concerned short-term motivational dynamics in the language classroom, spanned the period of two weeks and involved four Dutch secondary school learners. Waninge et al. employed classroom observations, questionnaires and the motometer (i.e., a tool that enabled the participants to indicate their level of motivation at time intervals of five minutes on a 0–100 scale). The findings demonstrated how the participants’ motivation during their German and Spanish lessons changed over time on individual levels but also revealed that it was alternated with stable phases. The researchers concluded that, overall, what they obtained from their “micro-inspection of classroom motivation is that of a mixture of dynamic stability, governed by attractor states, and individual variability, caused by a combination of multiple issues” (Waninge et al., 2014, p. 719). Worth reporting here is also the study by Kruk and Zawodniak (2019) who intended to examine the likelihood and dynamics of the reciprocal co-occurrence of a range of language activities, learning styles and changes in motivation. The participants, 18 English philology students, completed self-assessment grids in which they indicated the levels of their interest and engagement in each of the two English lessons. The obtained results uncovered patterns of motivational variability regarding their general learning preferences. Finally, quite interesting are also the results of the laboratory study carried out by MacIntyre and Serroul (2015) who tracked variations in approach and avoidance motivation among a group of Canadian learners of French during the performance

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of a communication task. The data obtained though idiodynamic software revealed that the subjects’ motivation fluctuated throughout the course of the task and was influenced by such factors as vocabulary retrieval, the way of selecting what/how to say words, perceived competence or anxiety.

2.3.2 Motivation in Digital Contexts The literature shows that the use of computer technology, including virtual worlds, has a positive impact on motivation in learning foreign/second languages (e.g., Dalgarno & Lee, 2010; Iqbal, Kankaanranta & Neittaanmäki, 2010; Jauregi, Canto, de Graaff, Koenraad, & Moonen, 2011; Jauregi, de Graaff, van den Bergh, & Kriz, 2012; Kartal & Balçıkanlı, 2019; Peterson, 2010; Wehner, Gump, & Downey, 2011). For example, Jauregi et al. (2012) demonstrated that the inclusion of interactions with speakers of the target language through synchronous video-web communication can have a beneficial impact on motivation, particularly with lower level language learners. The longitudinal study carried out by Peterson (2010) revealed that participation in interaction in the virtual world Second Life engendered high levels of motivation and interest among the majority of participants. Wehner et al. (2011), in turn, investigated the motivation of two groups of language learners: a group of undergraduate learners of the Spanish language who performed activities in Second Life and a control group that participated in traditional curriculum. The participants’ responses to an attitude/motivation test battery showed that the Second Life-based activities overall generated more positive feelings with regard to motivation than the activates utilized in the control group. An attempt to uncover the effects of using Second Life on motivation has also been undertaken by Kartal and Balçıkanlı (2019). A group of Turkish EFL student teachers (N = 30) were asked to perform ten real-life communication tasks (e.g., checking in at an airport, ordering a meal in a restaurant, talking about sports equipment or favorite movies). The findings demonstrated that the said virtual world “was useful in increasing motivation levels of the participants” (p. 102). In addition, Kartal and Balçıkanlı reported on a number of characteristics of Second Life that affected the subjects’ motivation. They included: realistic places, natural environment, excitement, anxiety-free environment and visual support. Although the use of virtual worlds has been found to have a beneficial impact on motivation in learning foreign/second languages as evidenced by the research projects discussed above, only a handful of studies sought to uncover the changing nature of this important affective variable in the environment in question. One such study, conducted by Kruk (2013), investigated motivational changes displayed by a group of 13 third-grade Polish EFL high school students participating in four lessons based on Internet resources and the browser-based virtual world called Yoowalk. Drawing on methodology used in research projects which explored fluctuations in motivation on a minute-by-minute basis (e.g., Pawlak, 2012; Pawlak et al., 2014), the researcher observed that the intensity of motivation evolved both during a single lesson and from one lesson to another. What is more, the fluctuations in the levels

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of motivation were less pronounced during the performance of online activities than the coursebook ones. According to Kruk, the detected fluctuations in the intensity of learners’ motivation “could be the direct outcome of the treatment and the tasks the subjects were requested to perform” (p. 177). Another study, (Kruk, 2015b), also investigated changes in the levels of motivation on a moment-to-moment basis. This time, however, it comprised two groups of third-grade Polish EFL high school students. Group 1 (N = 9) performed communication tasks in the virtual world Active Worlds and the members of group 2 (N = 10) carried out conversations in a regular classroom. The changes in the subjects’ motivation during the tasks were assessed on the basis motivational grids and evaluation sheets during and immediately after each of the three lessons. The findings revealed that, among other things, in contrast to the students in group 2, the levels of motivation reported by the students who used Active Worlds did not undergo many changes during sessions in the said virtual world, their motivation displayed a growing trend from one session to the next and they evaluated the lessons more positively. Of relevance to the present discussion are also more recent research projects undertaken by Kruk (2016c, 2019b). Both studies, among other individual difference variables, explored the changes in the levels of motivation and comprised Polish university students majoring in English enrolled in the second year of a three-year BA program. In addition, both studies utilized a similar data collection instrument, that is, a session log in which the subjects were requested to describe their visits to SL and self-rate their level of motivation at the start, middle and the end of each session on a 1–7 scale. The former study, which involved a group of 16 students, found that the overall level of motivation was high; however, it displayed a decreasing pattern. The high level of motivation was ascribed to the subjects’ interest in using SL as a medium of communication in the target language, the opportunity to select a conversation topic and the chance to set a goal of a visit. As for the factors responsible for the decrease in motivation, they were affected by the reluctance to join conversations by some SL residents, encountering aggressive/impolite users, problems with understanding the language produced by some SL residents and difficulties in being understood by them, sudden termination of conversations or technical issues. When it comes to the latter study (i.e., Kruk, 2019b), it involved two students, which allowed for a deeper inspection of the nature and intensity of motivation as well as the factors responsible for fluctuations in motivation during these two students’ visits to SL. The detected overall patterns of motivation varied between the subjects both within a visit and from one visit to the next. It should be noted, however, that in some of the sessions examined, the overall trend did not match all individual session patterns. The changes in the levels of motivation were similar to the ones concerning the ups and downs in motivation levels in the study discussed above (e.g., interesting topics and unpleasant SL users) but also uncovered a number of others, such as the participants’ attitudes towards SL or the mutual relationship of the investigated variables (e.g., willingness to communicate, motivation and boredom).

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2.4 Language Anxiety The aim of the present section is to provide an overview of empirical investigations which have explored language anxiety and its relationships with a variety of variables and, in particular, such that have sought to uncover changes in language anxiety and factors responsible for them. As was the case with WTC and motivation, first, research projects which concentrated on such issues in traditional settings will be outlined and then the discussion will be shifted to digital contexts.

2.4.1 Language Anxiety in Traditional Contexts Language anxiety has been the subject of attention of numerous research projects which, among other things, sought the link between language anxiety and language performance (e.g., MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991; Woodrow, 2006), language anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign/second language classroom (e.g., Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014), language anxiety and the development of foreign/second language speaking fluency (Gkonou, 2014), pronunciation anxiety and motivation (BaranŁucarz, 2017), anxiety and language skills and/or subsystems (e.g., Elkhafaifi, 2005; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994b), foreign language anxiety and learning strategies (Pawlak, 2011), language anxiety and difficulties in learning foreign/second languages or language anxiety and learning deficits (Sparks & Ganschow, 1991, 1993). In addition, researchers attempted to create effective and dependable measures of the issue in question (e.g., Aida, 1994; Horwitz et al., 1986; Jafarigohar, 2012; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994a; Serraj & Nordin, 2013). It is also worth pointing out that a set of empirical studies focused on seeking relationships between WTC, perceived communicative competence and anxiety (e.g., Clément et al., 2003; Compton, 2004; Hashimoto, 2002; MacIntyre, 1994; MacIntyre et al., 2003; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996; Peng & Woodrow, 2010; Yashima, 2002). The obtained results revealed that the amalgamation of a satisfactory amount of perceived communicative competence (or self-confidence) and a low degree of anxiety about communication in the target language was a strong predictor of WTC. Finally, several studies (e.g., Chu, 2008; MacIntyre, 1999; MacIntyre, Babin, & Clément, 1999; MacIntyre et al., 2002; McCroskey, 1991) demonstrated that high levels of the construct in question contribute to low levels of language learners’ desire to communicate in the target language or vice versa. Such findings may indicate, for example, that students are likely to withdraw from taking part in conversations in the target language and become unwilling to use the language if they experience high levels of anxiety. Despite the large number of studies concerning the construct of language anxiety, the literature shows that research projects that sought to investigate changes in anxiety levels and factors responsible for them in the longer and/or shorter term are still few and far between, particularly those related to the fluctuations in anxiety levels within a short period of time (e.g., during single lessons and from one lesson to

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another). When it comes to the first set of such studies, Campbell (1999) found considerable differences in anxiety related to the skill of reading between male and female students at a military language institute. The study showed that the number of anxious male students increased, whereas the number of anxious female learners decreased two weeks after the language course when compared to the anxiety level two weeks prior to the course. Piniel and Csizér (2015), in turn, investigated changes in writing anxiety (and also motivation and self-efficacy) throughout a university academic writing course taught to 21 Hungarian students majoring in English. The results uncovered that writing-related anxiety tended to show some fluctuations over the said period of time. Another study, carried out by Liu and Xiangming (2019), examined changes in language anxiety and their effects on a group of 324 firstyear postgraduate students’ performance in English over ten weeks. The quantitative analysis of the data gathered by means of a set of questionnaires revealed that at the end of the said period of time the subjects became much less anxious about speech communication in the target language and they were less concerned about their performance in English lessons; however, they turned out to be significantly more apprehensive about tests. In addition, both at the beginning and the end of the study, anxiety was significantly connected to the participants’ performance in speaking, listening, reading and writing tests; however, the students appeared to be less anxious toward the end. Worth reporting are also the results of studies which investigated changes in foreign language enjoyment and anxiety undertaken by Dewaele and Dewaele (2017) and Elahi Shirvan and Taherian (2018a). The former, pseudo-longitudinal study, compared changes in foreign language classroom enjoyment and anxiety among three groups of secondary school language learners (a total of 189) of different ages: 12–13, 14–15 and 16–18. The analysis of the data revealed little variation in classroom anxiety but a moderate rise over time in foreign language enjoyment. In addition, regression analyses demonstrated that anxiety and enjoyment were predicted by fewer learner-internal and teacher-centered variables at the beginning and the end of the subjects’ secondary education when compared to its middle stage. The researchers arrived at the conclusion that “the configuration of factors that underlie our participants’ classroom emotions evolve at different speeds over time” (Dewaele & Dewaele, 2017, p. 20). As regards the latter study (i.e., Elahi Shirvan & Taherian, 2018a), it involved 367 undergraduate students (aged 18–25) who attended a course of general English over one semester. The analysis of the data showed a decrease and an increase in the subjects’ level of foreign language enjoyment and anxiety during the said period of time, respectively, but the initial levels of both constructs could not predict their growth over time. In addition, the findings showed that the low and significant negative correlation between the two variables at the start of the semester turned out to be high during the period of time in question. The qualitative analysis of the data revealed, however, that the subjects simultaneously experienced moments of both low and high levels of the two variables. As stated above, few research projects looked into changes in anxiety in the short run (e.g., in a single lesson, a task or over time, in minutes or seconds). One such study, conducted by Gregersen et al. (2014), employed the idiodynamic method to examine changes in language anxiety and its causes in three high and three low

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anxiety language learners. The use of the idiodynamic method offered “the ability to track learners’ rapidly changing affect in context on a per-second basis and to have learners account for these fluctuations in stimulated recall interviews” (Gregersen et al., 2014, p. 576). The six individuals were chosen from a larger group of 18 adult volunteers according to the scores they had received on the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz et al., 1986). The participants were asked to wear heart monitors and they were video recorded while giving an oral presentation in Spanish during a lesson. After the presentations the subjects were shown their videotaped speeches on a computer screen and they were requested to self-rate the changes in their levels of foreign language anxiety by means of specialized software (MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011). The process yielded a bitmap graph and a spreadsheet that showed fluctuations in the subjects’ anxiety levels plotted against time. This was followed by an interview in which the participants were asked to explain their reactions. The researchers concluded that the use of the idiodynamic method gave them a window through which they could “observe the moment-bymoment changes in anxiety of high anxiety and low anxiety participants” (Gregersen et al., 2014, p. 585). Moreover, they were able to determine connections between perceived anxiety scores and variations in heart rate in real time, suggesting that the physiological responses somewhat triggered the anxious state. Another study which used the idiodynamic method to investigate the dynamics of foreign language anxiety (and also foreign language enjoyment) during speech production in French was conducted by Boudreau et al. (2018). The subjects (ten Canadian English-speaking students with French as an L2) were asked to take part in two types of communication tasks: a storytelling (a photograph description) and an oral interview (description, counting, giving directions and two discussions). During the tasks they were fitted with ECG electrodes and video recorded. After completion of the tasks half learners were asked to watch the videos and self-rate their levels of anxiety and the other half self-rated their levels of enjoyment. A graph was generated for each participant which was used in an interview during which each student described the ups and downs in the levels of the two investigated constructs. The analysis of the data revealed that both variables fluctuated, frequently independently of each other, during the tasks due to the learners’ interest/disinterest in the topic or some linguistic obstacles. A different attempt at investigating changes in foreign language anxiety levels and their causes was undertaken by Kruk (2018) who departed from a laboratory-style procedure and chose a classroom perspective on the issues in question. The study, longitudinal in nature, encompassed 121 naturally occurring English lessons and comprised 52 Polish EFL high school students (aged 17–19) divided into four groups. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected by means of a number of research instruments, for example, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986), a foreign language anxiety grid or individual interviews, provided evidence for the dynamicity of foreign language anxiety concerning both the long- and the short-term changes. As for the former, the highest anxiety levels were detected at the start and the end of the school semester, respectively. In addition, the findings showed some sequences of lessons characterized by relatively stable levels of anxiety. The said stable periods were often preceded or followed by a

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sudden increase or decrease in the experience of anxiety. As for the latter, overall, the highest level of anxiety was displayed by the participants in the initial minutes of lessons and it was the lowest at the end of them. The factors responsible for these fluctuations varied and they were, for instance, attributed to the lack of confidence, speaking in front of peers, being called to the board by the teacher, writing tests and grammar practice by means of traditional materials (e.g., coursebooks). Temporal variations of the in-class anxiety and the dynamic peer orientation of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) were the object of the research project carried out by Mahmoodzadeh (2015). The participants were 32 Iranian language learners and their two EFL teachers. The intensity and dynamics of the learners’ inclass anxiety were measured by means of a printed grid in which the students were asked to self-rate their anxiety on a scale of one (the lowest anxiety) to seven (the highest anxiety) at 15-min intervals. In addition, an attempt was made to measure the two teachers’ real-time awareness of the dynamics of their students’ in-class anxiety. Thus, the two teachers were also asked to indicate the perceived intensity of their students’ anxiety on the same grid at the same time intervals. The findings of this cross-sectional study revealed the dynamic peer-orientation of classroom anxiety and indicated that “the dynamic nature of FLCA is not only attributed to intra-individual variations but also to inter-individual variations” (Mahmoodzadeh, 2015, p. 4). In other words, the results showed that an increase in one learner’s anxiety could have a negative impact on other class members, whereas a decline in one student’s anxiety could positively affect other peers’ anxiety in the language classroom. The obtained results also revealed that the two teachers were quite cognizant of their students’ changing levels of anxiety. It is also worth pointing out that the adoption of ecological perspectives on language anxiety as well as the complex dynamic systems theory have demonstrated that the dynamics of the construct in question cannot be the sole outcome of such factors as language teachers or language learners (e.g., Elahi Shirvan, Karahan, Ahangar, & Taherian, 2016; Gkonou, 2017; Kasbi & Elahi Shirvan, 2017; Saghafi, Adel, & Zareian, 2017). Kasbi and Elahi Shirvan (2017), for instance, investigated four intermediate level female EFL learners’ speaking anxiety from an ecological perspective based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecosystem model and complex dynamic systems theory (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008). The findings showed that both internal and external factors affected changes in language anxiety experienced by the participants. More precisely, the changes were related to three factors: linguistic (the lack of grammar and/or vocabulary), cognitive (the lack of adequate knowledge concerning the topic of conversations) and affective (teachers’ or peers’ judgment, pressure, fear of negative evaluation and significant others). Finally, the researchers found out that a change in the subjects’ anxiety was also caused by negative past experiences.

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2.4.2 Language Anxiety in Digital Contexts Language anxiety is one of the most frequently studied affective variables not only in traditional settings but also in the area of digital contexts such as online courses and online communication. For example, Chuo (2007) investigated the effects of the WebQuest Writing Instruction program on a group of Taiwanese students’ writing performance, writing apprehension and perception of web-resource integrated language learning over a fourteen-week period. The participants were 54 second-year EFL college students divided into two groups. One group was taught by means of online resources and the other group received traditional face-to-face classroom instruction. The analysis of the data gathered through tests and questionnaires showed that, although both groups experienced significant reduction in writing apprehension with time, they did not differ significantly in reduced apprehension. Moreover, the experimental group improved their writing performance significantly more when compared with the students in the traditional group. Another study, conducted by Aydin (2011), investigated the relationships between Internet anxiety and certain variables (e.g., age, gender, grade, foreign language proficiency or types of high schools the participants graduated from) among 115 Turkish ELF learners who were asked to complete an Internet anxiety scale. The analysis of the data revealed that the Internet was not in itself a source of anxiety among the respondents but it was the situations in which they had to use the Internet that led to Internet anxiety. Furthermore, it was uncovered that gender, computer and Internet connection ownership, Internet instruction, familiarity with the Internet and information level significantly correlated with the level of Internet anxiety. Yet another study, carried out by Majid, Sharil, Luaran and Nadzri (2012), set out to uncover the online language learning anxiety and to identify the relationship between different domains (e.g., motivation, confidence, experience, cognitive ability and readiness) of online language learning anxiety among 57 adult language learners who attended an online language course. In general, Majid et al. found out that the participants were not anxious while studying the target language online; however, two domains from the inventory appeared to have an impact on the level of anxiety. The domains included the subjects’ cognitive ability to understand the processes involved in online language learning and the their readiness to attend such courses. According to Majid et al., the students “at times had difficulties understanding the process involved in online language learning and as they progressed, they became more confused … the learners were apprehensive in the online learning method, which could be contributed by the unfamiliarity of the learning context and this may become intimidating to the learners” (p. 191). In addition, the results showed a significant relationship between the participants’ readiness and confidence, experience and motivation as well as attributes and confidence. Majid et al. concluded that, among other things, language learners’ level of anxiety can be lowered if they are offered sufficient training and guidance, they can enjoy their online learning and they can feel comfortable with the facilities. The literature also shows that a decrease or increase in anxiety may be connected with different types of language activities and not affected by the use

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of computer technology as was the case with the learners of Spanish in a study conducted by Coryell and Clark (2009). Coryell and Clark found out that the focus on correctness and precision was the source of anxiety for the learners and was in contrast to their own desire to use the target language. When it comes to the studies which explored the impact of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on the experience of language anxiety, Roed (2003), for instance, investigated the behavior of first- and second-year students of Danish during a synchronous communication in a chat room. The researcher observed that this type of environment reduced the degree of language anxiety due to, among other things, no time pressure, no interruptions from other peers or teachers or no negative reactions (e.g., giggles). The researcher also noticed that a chat room gave the students a sense of anonymity which can be of particular advantage to shy and introverted language learners. An attempt to uncover the alleviating influence of CMC on anxiety levels was undertaken by Arnold (2007) in a longitudinal study involving 56 learners of German. The subjects were divided into six discussion groups: two experimental, in which the students used synchronous or asynchronous communication, and one control group, in which the learners carried out face-to-face conversations. The analysis of the pretest and posttest questionnaires did not however reveal any significant differences in the reduction of communication apprehension between the control and the experimental groups. In the Japanese context, Freiermuth and Jarrell (2006) compared the online chat with traditional, face-to-face, conversations. 36 female Japanese university students were divided in small groups and asked to solve communication tasks. The results demonstrated that online chatting reduced anxiety levels, improved output and increased learner control. Freiermuth and Jarrell observed that online chat “suspends” the social rules typical of face-to-face contexts, students’ target language incompetence can “fade from the users’ immediate focus” (p. 197), learners are not punished for their language errors and they do not have to cope with pronunciation problems. A beneficial impact of online chatting on language anxiety was also reported by Satar and Özdener (2008). The researchers investigated the use of two synchronous computer-mediated communication tools (i.e., text and voice chat) among EFL students divided into three groups (two experimental and one control). Over the period of one month the students in the experimental groups communicated by means of text and voice chat and solved eight tasks of the following types: information gap, problem solving, jig-saw and decision making. The analysis of the data collected by means of pre- and postanxiety questionnaires revealed a significant decrease in anxiety levels in the group that used text chat. The construct of anxiety has also been the object of inquiry of a number of research projects which have attempted to investigate this important variable in the realm of virtual worlds. This situation should perhaps not come as much of a surprise given the fact that these computer-generated environments are perceived as anxiety-free ones where language learners can be protected by their own personal avatars (Dickey, 2005; Melchor-Couto, 2018; Rosell-Aguilar, 2005). In what follows, examples of several research projects which reported a decrease in language anxiety in the virtual environments in question are discussed.

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Jauregi (2011), for example, attempted to find out an added value in integrating synchronous collaboration projects through video-communication or Second Life in language instruction. By comparing groups of students, an experimental Second Life and a video-web communication and a control group of students participating in regular language lessons, the researcher reported “significant differences for perceived competence in the target language, positive attitudes towards talking to native speakers, and decrease of speaking anxiety” (Jauregi, 2011, p. 77). Wehner et al. (2011) also observed a drop in anxiety level in a group of learners of Spanish (N = 21) who were asked to practice their Spanish skills in Second Life in three different interactions (i.e., the experience of speaking with native speakers; exploring historical Spanish locations and presentations about different subjects in Spanish). According to Wehner et al., the students who took part in SL sessions “reported having less anxiety in using Spanish and participating in the course than the students not using Second Life” (p. 285). Yet another study, undertaken by Balcikanli (2012), investigated the use of Second Life as a language learning environment between American college students learning Turkish as a foreign language in the USA and Turkish students learning English as a foreign language in Turkey. Balcikanli found that the use of the said virtual world not only contributed to authentic interactions but also offered a less threatening learning environment. Similarly to the study just mentioned, Grant, Huang, and Pasfield-Neofitou (2013) observed that the subjects who used an online multi-user 3D virtual world simulation found this virtual environment less stressful when it came to language use. Positive effects of SL were also reported by Kartal and Balçikanli (2018) who showed that the said virtual world made a group of 30 EFL students less apprehensive about communicating in English in comparison with 35 EFL learners who participated in traditional lessons. The researchers ascribed this beneficial effect on lower levels of communication anxiety to such factors as stress-free environment (i.e., the participants perceived SL as less anxiety-provoking in comparison with a physical classroom), no time-related issues (i.e., SL offered flexibility in time and place), no negative facial expressions (the participants felt more relaxed if they did not see other users’ facial expressions) and natural environment (i.e., the participants perceived SL as similar to real-life) in which the subjects carried out speaking tasks. On a less optimistic note, Güzel and Aydin (2019) did not find a significant correlation between speaking activities performed in SL and in traditional classroom environment by 44 advanced EFL Turkish students divided into experimental and control groups, respectively. The researchers claimed, however, that although the use of SL did not produce a considerable change in terms of anxiety levels, it turned out to be “a useful tool to establish sociability and risk-taking among language learners” (p. 138). It should be noted that few studies specifically aimed at the investigation and exploration of long- and/or short-term changes in language anxiety levels and factors responsible for them in online environments, and in particular computer-generated ones, such as virtual worlds. When it comes to online environments, Elahi Shirvan and Taherian (2018b) tried to uncover changes in anxiety among four students during a one-semester virtual language course via a complexity lens in terms of changeability, variability and context dependence (i.e., the core features of complex

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dynamic systems). In order to access the learners’ experience of anxiety and to record the ongoing processes of their activities in the virtual environment, the researchers analyzed data gathered by means of motometers (i.e., a sheet of paper with drawings of thermometer-shaped figures in which the students indicated their anxiety every ten minutes within an 80-min online session on a 0–100 scale) and writing journals. The researchers detected both variation in anxiety levels during the virtual course and stable patterns of overall anxiety. In addition, they showed the context of the virtual course could contribute to these changes in the subjects’ anxiety. Elahi Shirvan and Taherian concluded that the all-inclusive micro-map of students’ anxiety showed “the impact of a combination of dynamic stability and individual variability under the influence of individual learning context” (2018, p. 431). When it comes to virtual worlds, two experimental studies carried out by Kruk (2016d) and Melchor-Couto (2017) measured changes in anxiety levels and factors affecting them before and after completion of a set of language activities. As for the former, the study encompassed 27 Polish EFL high school students (aged 18–19) divided into two groups. The treatment group (N = 13) utilized a mixture of grammar and communication tasks performed online and in the realm of the virtual world Yoowalk during three 45-min lessons. In contrast, the students comprising the control group did a similar set of language tasks in the traditional classroom settings. The quantitative analysis of the data collected through the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) showed that the treatment group displayed lower levels of anxiety, in particular in the level of communication apprehension, after the intervention in comparison with the control group. The factors accounting for the decrease in anxiety levels among the members of the treatment group included freedom to choose and perform language tasks, independence from the teacher, anonymity offered by the shielding effect of their avatars and the observed increase in interest and engagement in language activities on the part of the treatment students. A decrease in the level of anxiety among students who used a virtual world was also reported in the latter study (Melchor-Couto, 2017) which comprised two groups of students of Spanish. The virtual world group (N = 7) performed four interaction tasks in Second Life, which exploited the social/communicative/cognitive and spatial/physical dimensions of this virtual world. The classroom group (N = 7) carried out similar oral interaction tasks in dyads during four traditional lessons. The analysis of the data gathered by means of a set of research instruments (e.g., the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) revealed that anxiety levels decreased with time in the virtual world group and were lower than those of the control group. In general, Melchor-Couto ascribed this decrease in anxiety levels to the subjects’ increased confidence during interactions in SL and the anonymity afforded by the online avatar-based nature of the interaction. Changes in language anxiety within and/or across sessions in the virtual world Second Life and factors that affected them were the focus of studies carried out by Kruk (2016c, 2019b, 2020a). As for the first study (i.e., Kruk, 2016c), it included 16 Polish female students majoring in English, enrolled in the second year of a threeyear BA program. The main research instrument used in the study was a session log completed by the participants before, during and after each visit to the said world.

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Since the participants were asked to visit SL in their own time, they were required to provide a session date, a topic and a purpose of their visit in the first part of the log. In the second part, while interacting with SL users, they were asked to self-rate their level of anxiety (as well as motivation and boredom) every few minutes on a scale of 1 (minimum) to 7 (maximum) in a specifically designed grid. Finally, after each visit the students were asked to describe their session in SL (e.g., they wrote about their conversations, reflected on the their learning, indicated their future activities there). The findings showed that, overall, the levels of language anxiety did not undergo much variation from the start to the end of the sessions and they were quite low. This rather stable and low level of the variable in question was attributed to the subjects’ perception of SL as a relaxing and comfortable environment to practice the target language. As regards the second study (Kruk, 2019b), it included only two students: a female and a male. Both learners were English majors in the second year of a BA program in an institution of higher education in Poland. The study employed a session log, which was similar in design to the tool used in the study just described (i.e., Kruk, 2016c). The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data showed that both learners, in general, displayed a rather low and falling pattern of language anxiety during their visits to SL and both of them reported variations in the levels of anxiety from one visit to the next. The factors responsible for the detected changes in the levels of anxiety were attributed to interesting topics, pleasant/unpleasant interlocutors, understanding the output produced by SL users, protecting effect of an avatar, unexpected behavior of some users, previous negative experience and messy group conversations. Finally, the study undertaken by Kruk (2020a) involved one female student of English philology who participated in 14 sessions in SL over the period of one semester. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected by means of a set of research instruments (i.e., a background questionnaire, the Learning Style Survey (LSS), Cohen et al., 2002, a session log and a semi-structured interview) indicated that the fluctuations in the levels of language anxiety (both during single sessions and from one visit to another) were influenced by a number of negative and positive factors. The former included, for instance, conversations with strangers, the lack of sufficient L2 competence or negative experience, and the latter comprised, for example, conversations with familiar and/or less proficient interlocutors, interesting topics or language progress.

2.5 Boredom Although research into boredom in language learning is still scarce, with the effect that the relevant studies are few and far between, particularly when it comes to changes (both long- and short term) in boredom levels, the aim of the present section is to provide an overview of these still few in number empirical investigations into boredom in traditional and digital settings. First, research projects which concentrated on the variable in question in traditional settings will be outlined. This will be

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followed by the discussion of studies which focused on the experience of boredom by language learners in digital venues, with special emphasis placed on variation in its levels and influences responsible for shaping them.

2.5.1 Boredom in Traditional Contexts Only a handful of studies have been devoted to the investigation of the phenomenon of boredom in the context of the foreign language classroom. These studies have mainly focused on the examination of the antecedents of this negative emotion, its causes, ways of manifesting and coping with it (e.g., Chapman, 2013; Dumanˇci´c, 2018; Kruk & Zawodniak, 2017, 2018; Pawlak, Kruk, Zawodniak, & Pasikowski, 2020b; Pawlak, Zawodniak, & Kruk, 2020d; Zawodniak, Kruk, & Chumas, 2017). Of particular relevance to the present discussion are however research projects embracing the issue of change in the level of intensity in the experience of this academic emotion. Such studies are discussed in more detail below. The aim of Kruk’s (2016e) study was to investigate changes in the levels of boredom experienced by two groups of second- and fourth-grade male students (N = 19 and N = 13, respectively) learning English at a high school and factors responsible for such changes. The study, being quantitative in nature, encompassed eight English lessons over the period of three weeks. Two sets of instruments were used to gather necessary data. The first set, administered prior to the study, included two scales: the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986) and the English Classroom Boredom Proneness Scale (ECBPS). The former contained 28 7-point Likert-scale items (1—strongly disagree, 7—strongly agree) and the latter, which was a modified version of BPS, included statements related to the experience of this negative emotion in the L2 classroom. As far as the second set of instruments is concerned, it comprised the English Classroom Boredom Grid (ECBG), the Overall Assessment Scale (OAC), observation, teacher notes and lesson plans. The aim of ECBG was to measure the levels of boredom indicated by the subjects four times during a lesson on a 7-point scale (1—minimum, 7—maximum). OAC, which was a modified version of the instrument used by Peacock (1997) and Pawlak (2012), was meant to provide an evaluation of each lesson. Thus, the participants were asked to assess each lesson with regard to seven items (e.g., interesting vs. boring, pleasant vs. unpleasant, monotonous vs. absorbing) scored on a 7-point scale (1— the most negative response, 7—the most positive response). These two instruments were completed by the participants during the eight lessons. Finally, observation and teacher notes were used to offer a description of the subjects’ behaviors during the lessons in question. Lesson plans offered descriptions of the lessons with regard to their stages and language activities performed by the students. The obtained results revealed that the experience of boredom during some of the lessons was in a state of flux, while in others in a state of relative stability. These changes in the levels of this emotion were ascribed to such factors as lessons’ topics, types of activities (e.g., grammar activities were in particular boredom-evoking), the experience of being

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over- or under-challenged, the subjects’ individual characteristics as well as their overall susceptibility to boredom in the language classroom. The study carried out by Zawodniak and Kruk (2018a) explored boredom from a retrospective point of view. It attempted to comparatively examine fluctuations in boredom levels over a period of three semesters among two second-year female and two second-year male university students of English while learning English and German (in the case of three students) and French (in the case of one student) as well as to indicate reasons for the experience of this negative emotion. The main datagathering instrument was a retrospective questionnaire which examined boredom from a long-term perspective (i.e., over a span of three semesters) and as such it consisted of two parts dedicated to the learning of the English language and German or French. The participants were asked to reflect on their experience of boredom in learning the said languages since the first semester at university and describe in what way and why they felt bored during each semester (i.e., first, second and third) with their three different points in time (i.e., beginning, middle and end). In doing so, they were requested to consider a few guiding questions (e.g., Who caused boredom?, What caused boredom?, In what situations did you experience most boredom?). Finally, the subjects were asked to self-rate the intensity of boredom with regard to the two languages in each semester on a scale ranging from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest). The analysis of the data obtained by means of the research instrument allowed generating some overall trends in the reported experience of boredom by the four participants; however, they failed to satisfactorily explain individual trajectories of the construct in question. This is because in the case of two students this negative emotion was the lowest at the beginning and highest at the end of each semester regardless of the language studied, but in the case of two other students it failed to reach such generalizations. It was also found that boredom was, in general, most and least intensely felt in German and French lessons, respectively. This low level of boredom reported by one of the participants in French classes was related to the fact that the teacher managed to sustain the subject’s attention by engaging the learner in the performance of attractive tasks and by offering help. In addition, the obtained results revealed four major sources of boredom, namely their teachers (e.g., his or her ability to engage students in lessons), the performance of monotonous activities (e.g., tasks unadjusted to their level of proficiency), negative perception of language classes and the subjects’ low evaluation of their language competence. Another retrospective study conducted by Zawodniak and Kruk (2019) compared the experience of boredom and the main contributors to this condition between two groups of third-year English (N = 25) and German (N = 19) students at university level. The data were gathered by means of a questionnaire intended to measure the experience of boredom in learning English and German in a long-term perspective, that is, from elementary school to university. The participants were asked to reflect on their experience of this emotion and its causes at each educational level (i.e., elementary school, junior high school, senior high school and university) of learning English and German, with a special regard to three points in time (i.e., the start, middle and end of each level). In addition, the participants were asked to provide answers to a set of questions related to situations in which they felt bored and indicate possible

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factors responsible for this feeling. Finally, the students were requested to indicate the level of boredom on a 7-point scale (ranging from 0 to 6). The results revealed some between-group and within-group differences in the intensity of boredom over time and with respect to particular points in time. For example, the English majors’ level of boredom was much higher at elementary school and lower at senior high school when compared with the German majors who found the learning of German less and more boring at the said two stages of their language education, respectively. When it comes to causes of boredom, the obtained results demonstrated that, overall, they were related to the teacher, lessons and language tasks. There were, however, some differences between the English majors and their German counterparts when it comes to these main boredom-evoking factors at different educational levels. For example, the former group of learners put the blame on the teacher for their experience of boredom at junior high school, whereas the latter group complaint about language activities they were asked to perform in German lessons at the said educational stage. Yet another study, undertaken by Pawlak, Kruk, and Zawodniak (2020a), was intended to examine the patterns of boredom experienced in one English class by two groups of English majors (i.e., six moderately bored students and five highly bored students) and to investigate whether those patterns were manifested in the individual students’ trajectories of boredom. Another aim of this study was to identify factors influencing those trajectories. The data were collected by the Boredom in Practical English Language Classes Questionnaire (BPELC) and an in-class boredom questionnaire. The latter instrument included a self-report boredom grid, an openended query and an evaluation of the class that was based on semantic differential scale. The analysis of the data demonstrated that general proneness to boredom in English classes was linked to the participants’ unique patterns of boredom. Moreover, it was found that the self-reported boredom levels fluctuated in both groups; however, the moderately bored students displayed a gradual increase in the experience of boredom and the highly bored individuals exhibited a steadily high level of this negative emotion throughout the class. The study also uncovered discrepancies between general patterns of boredom and individual trajectories. For instance, one of the highly bored students tended to display a far more diverse pattern of boredom than the rest of the members in this group, whereas one of the moderately bored subjects experienced more boredom during the class than was exhibited by the group’s general disposition to experience this negative emotion. As for the factors shaping individual trajectories of the construct in question, they included, for example, the learners’ self-awareness, their learning experiences or learning styles. Worth mentioning is also a mixed-methods project conducted by Pawlak, Zawodniak, & Kruk (2020c) that, in general, aimed at exploring changes in boredom levels experienced by two groups of English majors (23 students in total) during two integrated skills classes carried out in accordance with identical lesson plans as well as at uncovering possible influences responsible for the changes in boredom levels. The analysis of the data collected by means of a set of research instruments (e.g., in-class boredom questionnaire and semi-structured interviews) revealed that the intensity of boredom was generally moderate or low for both groups; however, there were visible between-group divergences in boredom levels that were higher in one of the

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groups. Such discrepancies were ascribed to a more definite influence of individual variation among the participants. The obtained results also revealed that both groups experienced more boredom in one of the two classes as a consequence of the content, organization and the way they were conducted. It is noteworthy that the subjects’ self-ratings for the entire class or for specific points on a time scale differed from within-individual and between-individual boredom patterns. Overall, the participants experienced more boredom due to a lack of novelty, reading activities, monotonous grammar exercises, initial stages of the classes or individual work. Pawlak et al. hypothesized that boredom could also be related to individual difference variables (e.g., motivation or willingness to communicate).

2.5.2 Boredom in Digital Contexts Up to now, no more than four research projects have been devoted to the exploration of the changes in boredom and factors causing them in digital contexts. Three of these studies, undertaken by Kruk (2016c, 2019b) and Zawodniak and Kruk (2018b), investigated boredom alongside other affective variables, namely willingness to communicate, motivation and language anxiety, and only one study, carried out by Kruk (2020b), was devoted to this negative emotion in its entirety. In the first of them, which was a longitudinal, mixed-methods study, Kruk (2016c) set out to examine both fluctuations in the levels of boredom (as well as motivation and language anxiety) and their major causes among 16 female English majors while visiting the virtual world Second Life in their free time. The main instrument intended for gathering requisite data comprised a three-part session log. The first part was expected to be completed by the participants at the start of each visit to Second Life. The students were asked to provide their name, session date, a topic and an aim or aims of a visit. As for the second part, it consisted of three grids related to boredom, motivation and language anxiety in which the students were requested to self-rate their levels of these three constructs at regular intervals of a few minutes on a 7-point scale (1—minimum, 7—maximum). This part of the tool was completed by the students during each visit to the virtual world in question. As far as the third part of the log is concerned, it was completed after each session and required the participants to describe what they were doing in Second Life in a particular visit. The obtained results revealed that, overall, the learners experienced less boredom at the start and in the middle of the visits, whereas they tended to be more bored at the end of the sessions. This higher level of boredom was, among other things, related to the unwillingness to engage in conversations in English demonstrated by some of the Second Life residents, problems with understanding the language produced by their interlocutors or difficulties in being understood by them. In order to take a closer look at the phenomenon under investigation, the second study carried out by Zawodniak and Kruk (2018b), focused on a sample of four individual students who participated in the research project just described (i.e., Kruk, 2016c). The analysis of the data obtained from the four individuals showed that all

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three variables (i.e., motivation, language anxiety and boredom) were in a state of flux and interacted with a number of internal and external factors. As far as boredom is concerned, it was found that the students reported changes in their experience of this negative emotion from one session in Second Life to another; however, the intensity and amplitude of this variable differed among the four individual learners. These ups and downs in the experience of boredom across the visits were attributed to a variety of issues which varied among individual participants. They encompassed the learners’ expectations, the lack of willingness to talk in English by Second Life users, the time of accessing this virtual world, places where nothing was happening, similar beginnings of conversations and the lack of skills related to certain activities typical of this world (e.g., searching for shops, shopping). In view of the fact that aggregated group (or even individual) data may often be insufficient to provide a detailed picture of the investigated phenomenon, the next two research projects conducted by Kruk (2019b, 2020b) focused on individual students’ experiences of boredom in the virtual world Second Life so as to shed more light on the issue in question. When it comes to the study carried out by Kruk (2019b), it involved two English majors (one female and one male). The study utilized a threepart session log whose design resembled the instrument already taken advantage of in two earlier research projects by Kruk (2016c) and Zawodniak and Kruk (2018b) in order to collect data pertaining to changes in the levels of willingness to communicate, motivation, boredom and language anxiety during the students’ visits to Second Life and probable contributors to their fluctuations as well as the relationships among these variables. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data demonstrated that the four constructs under investigation were subject to changes both during a single visit and from one visit to the next. In addition, it was found that all investigated variables varied depending on the participant. The study’s focus on individual students allowed deeper insights into the two learners’ individual session patterns, which, as it turned out, in some instances diverged from their overall trends. This finding indicated that averaged individual data may be not enough to uncover the within-individual variation. The obtained results also showed that the four constructs interacted dynamically and unpredictably; however, there were some trends connecting the two students’ trajectories at particular points (e.g., boredom and language anxiety or willingness to communicate and motivation). A number of factors contributing to the ups and downs in the levels of the constructs in question were singled out. The ones related to the experience of boredom mainly included such issues as monotony, problems with finding interlocutors willing to talk, unexpected behavior of some virtual users and group conversations. As far as the second study (i.e., Kruk, 2020b) is concerned, it was guided by two aims, namely: (1) to examine one English female’s changes in boredom levels during a single session to Second Life as well as from one visit to another and (2) to uncover possible causes of such variations. The data were collected via a background questionnaire, the Learning Style Survey (Cohen et al., 2002), a three-part session log and a semi-structured interview. The background questionnaire contained demographic information concerning the participant. The session log was a slightly modified version of a similar instrument used in previous studies (i.e., Kruk, 2016c, 2019b). As for the semi-structured interview, it was carried out with

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the student after the study and its open-ended format was believed to encourage the interviewee to inspect her own behaviors and emotions in a reflective and exploratory manner and provide additional information on the changing nature of boredom and its causes in this virtual environment. The findings revealed that that the subject’s experience of boredom underwent changes within most of the visits, although the magnitude of these changes differed and did not always resemble the overall trend. In addition, the construct in question was also prone to lesser of greater changes from one visit to the next. A variety of reasons for changes in boredom levels was singled out, such as the lack of users willing to engage in conversations in English, meeting “boring” and the same residents of this virtual world, encountering rude or aggressive users, monotony and/or the scarcity of conversation topics and visits which the student perceived as not advantageous for her language development. Although some of the findings were consistent with the results of previous research projects concerning boredom in language learning (e.g., Chapman, 2013; Kruk, 2016e) as well as other studies which focused on changes across varied timescales in other variables such as motivation (e.g., Kruk, 2016b; Pawlak, 2012; Waninge et al., 2014) or language anxiety (Kruk, 2018), the focus on just one subject enabled the researcher to shed some fresh light on the issue under investigation. For example, the analysis of the data obtained by means of the Learning Style Survey (Cohen et al., 2002) revealed that the student’s preferred learning styles (e.g., she came out to be an introverted, visual, concrete-sequential, or literal learner) was attributed to her experience of boredom in the said virtual environment.

2.6 Conclusion As has been shown in the present chapter, the issue of change in the nature of willingness to communicate, motivation, language anxiety and boredom has generated interesting results, both those related to the traditional context and those concerning the digital ones. Firstly, the findings of the studies overviewed in this chapter demonstrate that each of the constructs is susceptible to variation over time, that is, it can fluctuate both in a long-term (e.g., over a year) and in a short-term (e.g., during a single lesson). Secondly, changes in the variables in question were observed in students of different ages, sex and/or language proficiency, studying diverse languages and attending various types of institutions (e.g., high schools, universities). Thirdly, the variation in the levels of the investigated phenomena was detected by the use of a variety of methodologies and approaches, each of which employed an appropriate set of data collection instruments and ways of analyses (e.g., questionnaire, interviews, grids, qualitative and quantitative). Fourthly, the analyses of gathered data uncovered a host of factors, both positive and negative, responsible for such changes. Finally, and most importantly perhaps, the above discussion showed that the issue in question has been more thoroughly investigated in traditional than in digital contexts, which clearly shows the need for such undertakings in the latter environments. Thus, the following two chapters will be devoted to the research project whose main aim was to

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investigate the changing nature of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety experienced by six female students in the virtual world Second Life, factors responsible for changes in the levels of the constructs in question and their relationships as well as to present the discussion of the findings and limitations of the study.

Chapter 3

Design of the Study

3.1 Introduction The previous two chapters have provided a theoretical overview of some key issues related to the constructs of willingness to communicate, motivation, boredom and language anxiety as well as the findings of some empirical investigations into the constructs in question in both traditional and digital settings. By contrast, this chapter will discuss issues concerning the design and implementation of the research project dealing with the changes in the levels of willingness to communicate, motivation, boredom and language anxiety, their relationships and factors influencing them in the course of the participants’ visits to the virtual world Second Life. The chapter will commence with the presentation of the research questions and the participants of the research project. This will be followed by a description of virtual worlds and activities language learners can perform in such environments. The chapter will close with the presentation of the instruments of data collection as well as analytical procedures.

3.2 Aims and Research Questions The overall aim of the study was to explore the changing nature of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety experienced by individual language learners in the virtual world Second Life (SL), the main contributors to changes in the levels of the said constructs as well as their dynamic relationships. Crucially, the uniqueness of this study consists in investigating the issues itemized above among six female English majors who visited this virtual environment over a longer period of time (i.e., one semester) in informal settings and by means of a specific set of research instruments. More specifically, the study was guided by the following research questions:

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2_3

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1. How do levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety change in the course of a single session in SL? 2. How do levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety change from one session in SL to another? 3. What is the relationship between and/or among WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety and does that relationship change over time? 4. What influences are responsible for these changes in the participants’ WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety?

3.3 Participants The participants were six Polish university students, all of whom were females. All of them volunteered to take part in the study. It should be emphasized at this point that although the students’ responses were not anonymous, they were made sure that their identities would not be disclosed and pseudonyms would be used instead of their real names as well as the information would only be used for scientific purposes. The participants were majoring in English and were enrolled in Year 2 of a bachelor (BA) program. On average, they were 20.67 years of age (SD = 0.52) and, at the time the research was conducted, their mean experience in learning English as a foreign language amounted to 10.67 years (SD = 4.18). The students’ proficiency in English could be characterized as falling somewhere in between intermediate and upper-intermediate level or it oscillated between B1 and B2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. When asked about the use of English in their daily life (i.e., out of school contact with native or non-native English speakers), five out of six students claimed to have it. The same number of participants took part in computer-mediated communication (CMC) (i.e., communication through e-mails, instant messaging, blogging, Skype, online chatting, etc.) in English. They intentionally did it in order to improve their English (five responses) and/or used it for pleasure (two responses). When asked to self-evaluate their faceto-face communication skills (i.e., their abilities to share information in English with others and comprehend what others were saying in English), all of them ranked their skills in this respect at 3 on a scale from 2 (lowest) to 5 (highest), which is commonly used for assessment purposes in Polish institutions of higher education. As for their perception of their CMC communication skills (i.e., their abilities to share information in English with others and comprehend what others were saying in English through e-mails, instant messaging, blogging, Skype, online chatting, etc.), a skill which is of special pertinence to the focus of the present study, the subjects self-evaluated it at 3.33 (SD = 0.52) on the same scale, which indicates that they themselves are aware of the considerable room for improvement in this area. Four participants heard of the virtual world of Second Life but none of them ever visited it and used it for the purpose of learning a foreign language. As can be seen from the information just reported, the amount of individual variation among the students was not substantial. This may stem from the fact that all

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63

participants came from a largely homogeneous population (i.e., in terms of area, nature of education they received, the dominant type of the target language instruction). Nevertheless, it is warranted at this point to provide a detailed description of each learner, as this will be in accordance with the data presentation in Chapter Four and aid the interpretation of the data on changes in the level of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety as well as factors responsible for them. Accordingly, the details about each student are offered in Table 3.1. The participants had a unique way of coping with learning challenges, as identified by means of the Learning Style Survey (Cohen et al., 2002; see Sect. 3.5 for the description of this instrument). As demonstrated in Table 3.2, all participants appeared to be closure-oriented learners. Most of them turned out to be field-independent (4), reflective (4), visual (4), introverted (4), synthesizing (4), deductive (4) and random-intuitive (4) students. A dominant style could not be established for some of the learners in some categories as the subjects appeared to be equally visual/auditory (Phillipa), global/particular (Wynona and Betty), sharpener/leveler (Wynona and Dakota), deductive/inductive (Phillipa), fieldindependent/field-dependent (Dakota) and impulsive/reflective (Phillipa). The details about each student are offered in Table 3.2. As is typically the norm with regular BA programs in foreign language departments in Poland, including the BA one focusing on English, the subjects had the benefit of attending an intensive course in English, which included classes in receptive and productive skills as well as grammar and integrated skills, with the main emphasis put depending on the year of instruction. In addition, the students were also required to attend a number of content courses (e.g., courses in literature, history, culture, linguistics and language teaching methodology) and obtain credits in a number of electives (e.g., proseminars). Most of these were taught in English and offered additional opportunities for communication in the target language.

3.4 Learning Context During their visits to SL the participants were asked to use chat text or voice tools in order to interact in English with residents of the virtual world in question. In view of the fact that the learners were requested to perform no specific language tasks in SL, a description of virtual environments of which SL is a typical example seems to be needed. In what follows, a brief history of virtual worlds, selected definitions of these milieus, avatars and actions they can perform in these virtual spaces, their potential benefits for language learning and their possible drawbacks in this regard are offered. The first virtual worlds commenced in the 1970s and were associated with simulations or adventure games. Players interacted with their computers with the help of input devices such as a keyboard by simply typing various commands during a game. Such games were followed by MUDs (Multi-user domains) and MOOs (Multi-user domains object-oriented). MUDs and MOOs were also implemented by

Age

20

20

21

21

21

21

Student

Wynona

Dakota

Latoya

Phillipa

Montana

Betty

5

8

8

15

14

14

The length of English study

Senior high school

Junior high school

Junior high school

Preschool

Preschool

Elementary school

The beginning of English study

Table 3.1 Description of participants

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

The use English in daily life

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Taking part in CMC

Intentionally to improve English

Just for pleasure/intentionally to improve English

Intentionally to improve English

Intentionally to improve English

Intentionally to improve English

Just for pleasure

The use of CMC

3

3

3

3

3

3

Self-rating of face-to-face communication skills: from 2 (lowest) to 5 (highest)

4

3

3

3

4

3

Self-rating of CMC skills: from 2 (lowest) to 5 (highest)

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Ever heard of a virtual world (e.g., Second Life)

No

No

No

No

No

No

Ever visited a virtual world (e.g., Second Life)

No

No

No

No

No

No

Ever used a virtual world (e.g., Second Life) for learning English

64 3 Design of the Study

Impulsive

Field-dependent

Field-independent ✓

✓

Deductive

✓

✓ ✓

✓

✓

Leveler

Inductive

✓

✓

Sharpener

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Synthesizing

Analytic

✓

Particular

✓

✓

✓

Global

Open

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Montana

Closure-oriented

✓

✓

✓

✓

Phillipa

✓

✓

✓

✓

Latoya

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Dakota

Wynona

Participants

Concrete-sequential

Random-intuitive

Introverted

Extraverted

Tactile/kinesthetic

Auditory

Visual

Learning style

Table 3.2 Dominant learning styles

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Betty

(continued)

3.4 Learning Context 65

✓

Metaphoric ✓

✓

✓

Reflective

Literal

Dakota

Participants

Wynona

Learning style

Table 3.2 (continued)

✓

Latoya

✓

✓

Phillipa

✓

✓

Montana ✓

✓

Betty

66 3 Design of the Study

3.4 Learning Context

67

teachers into language classrooms in order to teach foreign languages and intercultural understanding (Shield, 2003). These text-based virtual environments quickly became obsolete and were replaced by more attractive and interactive virtual worlds, such as Active Worlds. Such virtual environments were populated by virtual residents (i.e., users) who had a chance to communicate with other users by means of text, interact with a variety of objects and create other objects within the world. It should be noted that virtual worlds such as Active Worlds were to some extent understood as “the extension of chat and MOO into a non-purely-text-based environment, but one with lifelike pictures, objects, the world and special characters (avatars), which are to be chosen to impersonate the user” (Krajka, 2007, p. 125). As far as Second Life is concerned, it represents one of the largest and most popular virtual worlds. The world in question was created by Linden Lab and launched in 2003. As can be seen, the notion of a virtual world is not new. Virtual worlds can be defined in a number of ways. For example, Schroeder (2008, p. 2) describes them as “persistent virtual environments in which people experience others as being there with them—and where they can interact with them” and Bell (2008, p. 2) defines a virtual world as “a synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars, facilitated by networked computers.” Vickers (2010, p. 75) understands virtual worlds as “immersive and social environments where learners can visit relevant locations online and meet with others for real-time (voice or text) conversations.” The researcher argues that “whereas the 2D web is rich in (text, audio, image and video-based) content, the 3D web adds a sense of location and realtime social interaction” (Vickers, 2010, p. 75). Yet other researchers define virtual worlds as “metaverses where avatars interact with one another and with software agents in a three dimensional space that exists as a metaphor for the real world” (Zheng & Newgarden, 2011, p. 31). In addition, virtual worlds are comprehended as computer media that allow many users to simultaneously access the same computer generated space as virtual placeholders called avatars (Kim, Lee, & Thomas, 2012, p. 3). These virtual environments “offer the possibility to recreate the real world as it is or to create completely new worlds, providing experiences that can help people in understanding concepts as well as learning to perform specific tasks, where the task can be repeated as often as required and in a safe environment” (Chittaro & Ranon, 2007, p. 3). To put it simply, a virtual world can be described as a 3D cyberspace, which enables its residents to meet and talk to other cyber-dwellers in an established online environment (Kruk, 2014). As mentioned above, in virtual worlds people exist by means of their avatars. Avatars can be defined as graphical, three-dimensional representations of real people (Topol, 2011) or they can be understood as users’ 3D graphic representations through which they interact with other people in virtual worlds (Wang et al., 2009). This all means that avatars are interactive and their interactions with other avatars are, in fact, interactions among real people hidden behind their personal avatars. In addition, avatars are social units and they are representative of different cultures and subcultures since virtual worlds are multinational and multicultural milieus (Topol, 2013).

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As can be seen from the ongoing discussion, in virtual worlds their residents exist with the help of their personal avatars in places similar to real-life locations (Gerhard, Moore, & Hobbs, 2004; Peterson, 2011) in which they can traverse virtual space (e.g., walk, run and fly) or they can move quickly to various locations within a simulation (i.e., teleport to different areas) and they can interact with virtual objects (Peterson, Wang, & Mirzaei, 2019). One of the most important features of virtual worlds is the possibility for their users to engage in communication with other users in real time through voice and/or text chat utilities (Akayo˘glu & Sefero˘glu, 2019; Peterson, 2005). In addition to this, avatars are designed in such a way that they can show in onscreen speech bubbles the output of their written conversations which may ease communication, they can manifest some emotional states (e.g., happiness and sadness) and they can use nonverbal communication cues (e.g., gestures) (Peterson et al., 2019). Similarly to other virtual worlds (e.g., Active Worlds), SL is designed as an open environment which offers its users simulations of virtual reality delivered in highquality 3D graphics and unrestricted behavior. This stands in contrast to other virtual environments (e.g., digital games), where actions users are able to perform are limited by the game’s programmer (Thorne, Black, & Sykes, 2009). Peterson et al. (2019) recognize a number of features of virtual worlds and their hypothesized advantages. The features include: (1) persistent theme-based virtual worlds that may be altered to incorporate new user-created virtual content, (2) real time communication tools (i.e., text and voice chat), (3) user access to customizable personal avatars and (4) online user communities. As for the first feature, Peterson et al.’s (2019) hypothesized benefits comprise themes that deliver a comprehensible framework for intentional interaction and implementation of task-based learning. When it comes to the second feature, it encompasses the following assumed advantages: (a) learner-centered real time interaction in the target language with varied groups of interlocutors gives exposure to rich language input, (b) synchronous communication enables the provision of feedback, production of modified output and the negotiation of meaning, (c) the presence of text and the availability of scrolling encourages noticing and the development of metalinguistic awareness, (d) involvement in collaborative dialogue allows peer learning, (e) occasions for cross-cultural learning, (f) the decrease of the affective filter due to anonymity and reduced social context cues and (g) the development of autonomy, motivation and risk taking. As regards the third feature (i.e., user access to customizable personal avatars), it may provide learners with the opportunities for increased immersion, telepresence, emotional investment and participation. Finally, the last feature (i.e., online user communities) offers access to communities of practice and aids language socialization. It should be noted, however, that despite these benefits, a number of drawbacks can also be found in the use of virtual worlds in language teaching and learning, They, among other things, include: (a) difficulties in using 3D interfaces and navigation, (b) the lack of experience with virtual worlds on the part of language teachers, (c) language learners’ dissatisfaction with limited realism of some virtual worlds, (d) griefing, that is, disruptive and nasty behavior of some residents of virtual worlds, (e) costs of equipment and (f) user-related and technical issues (e.g., designing a

3.4 Learning Context

69

virtual environment takes time and the lack of compatibility with mobile devices) (Chittaro & Ranon, 2007; Sarac, 2014; Sobkowiak, 2012). As mentioned in Sect. 3.3 and at the beginning of the present section, the participants of this research project had scarce opportunities to communicate in the English language on a daily basis and thus they were asked to use the virtual world SL to practice target language skills in their own time. Since the participants had never visited SL and they had never used it for the purpose of learning English before the study, they were provided with the necessary information about the world in question during an orientation session. The learners, among other things, were instructed how to create an account, select their personal avatars, choose locations, move around SL, interact with virtual objects, communicate with SL residents through text chat and voice or use gestures.

3.5 Data Collection Instruments The data collected in the course of the study were obtained by means of similar instruments as in the research projects carried out by Kruk (e.g., 2019b, 2020b) which included: a background questionnaire, the Learning Style Survey (Cohen et al., 2002), a session log and semi-structured interviews. In view of the fact that the students were asked to provide their real names when completing the instruments so that the various sources of data could be collated, they were assured that the information would only be utilized for research purposes and that their anonymity would be preserved. The research instruments, the procedures of data collection and analysis applied in each case are outlined in detail below.

3.5.1 Background Questionnaire The aim of the background questionnaire (see Appendix A) was to obtain general information regarding the participants. The instrument comprised questions which queried the subjects about their sex, age, the length of English instruction, their use of English in daily life, their utilization of CMC, their evaluation of face-to-face and CMC communication skills and their use of virtual worlds for learning English. The background questionnaire was filled out by the participants before the orientation session.

3.5.2 Learning Style Survey The Learning Style Survey (LSS) was developed by Cohen et al. (2002). LSS is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 11 dimensions: visual, auditory and

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tactile/kinesthetic; extraverted and introverted, random-intuitive and concretesequential, closure-oriented and open-oriented, global and particular, synthesizing and analytic, sharpener and leveler, deductive and inductive, field-independent and field-dependent, impulsive and reflective and metaphoric-literal. LSS includes 23 subscales (e.g., “How I use my physical senses,” “How I deal with ambiguity and deadlines,” How I further process information,” How I deal with language rules,” How I deal with response time”) and 110 items (e.g., “I prefer to learn with TV or video rather than other media,” “It is easy for me to approach strangers,” “I like to know how rules are applied and why,” “I like to focus on grammar rules,” “I ignore distinctions that would make what I say more accurate in the given context,” “I not only attend to grammar, but check for appropriate level of formality and politeness,” “I need to think things through before speaking or writing”). The rating scale ranges from 0 (‘never’) to 4 (‘always’). The instrument is used mainly for raising language learners’ awareness of their own learning style preferences. In addition, Cohen et al. (2002) give an explanation of all learning styles preferences for students but urge that the tool provides only a general description of them. When the number of scores is high in all parts (e.g., deductive-inductive), it may mean that an individual may like both going from the general to the specific and from the specific to the general. Moreover, Cohen et al. (2002) suggest that learning styles may vary over time. As was the case with the background questionnaire, LSS was completed by the students before the orientation session.

3.5.3 Session Log The session log (see Appendix B) consisted of three parts. Part one asked for the participant’s name, the date of a session and its overall aim. This part was filled out at the beginning of each visit to SL. Part two required the students to write in English a short description of each visit. The participants were asked to write about their desire to communicate in English with SL users, their motivation to do so, their experience of boredom and anxiety during each session. Part three included four grids in which the participants were requested to self-rate their level of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety three times (i.e., at the beginning, middle and the end of each visit) on a scale ranging from 1 (minimum) to 7 (maximum). The students were also asked to indicate the type of conversation they were involved in (i.e., text-based or voice-based) and the amount of time spent in the world in question during each visit. The second and third parts of the session log were completed by the subjects immediately after each session in SL. The session log was printed on a sheet of paper and all the instructions it contained were in English. It should also be noted that the session log was a slightly different version of similar instruments developed by the present author and used in empirical investigations of changes in willingness to communicate, boredom, motivation and language anxiety (Kruk, 2016c, 2019b, 2020a). In a sense, the third part of the session log is also reminiscent of the instrument created by Pawlak (2012) in order to investigate changes in

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71

motivational intensity or fluctuations in students’ readiness to speak in English (e.g., Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2014; Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2015; Pawlak et al., 2016).

3.5.4 Semi-structured Interview The type of semi-structured interview was chosen intentionally, since its open-ended format invites an interviewee “to elaborate on the issues raised in an exploratory manner” (Dörnyei, 2007, p. 136). The interview was conducted at the end of the study, that is, after the last session. The interview was held in the language classroom and was audio-recorded. During the interview several guided questions were utilized which were based on those used in other research projects whose aim was to examine changes in willingness to communicate in English, boredom and language anxiety in the context of SL (e.g., Kruk, 2019a, 2020a, 2020b). The questions were related to three broad areas: (1) overall WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety in English classes, (2) specific situations in SL in which the participants experienced WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety and (3) factors influencing the variables under investigation in SL (for details see Appendix C). The interview was carried out in Polish (the students’ mother tongue) by the present researcher who had been the participants’ teacher of English didactics. The interviews were conducted in Polish so that the interviewees could express their thoughts freely. Each individual interview lasted approximately 30 min.

3.6 Data Analysis The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The numerical data which originated from the background questionnaire and the third part of the session log (i.e., the WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety grids) were subjected to basic descriptive statistics which involved calculating the mean and standard deviation values for the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety as well as the total time spent in each session in SL by each participant. As far as the LSS is concerned, the points obtained from each part of the survey were totaled and the one on which the score was the highest was marked. This procedure was applied for each subject. Bearing in mind the research questions posed and the exploratory character of this study, the present researcher did not decide to employ inferential statistics for several reasons. First, the research project did not seek to determine any statistically significant differences in WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels among individual students. Second, the study did not look for statistically significant differences between the three points in time (i.e., beginning, middle and end) related to the learners’ levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety in each session in SL. Third, the study did not try to determine statistically significant

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differences between WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels from one session to another. This is because the present study comprised a small number of participants (i.e., six subjects), the activities the students performed in their visits to SL were not genuinely comparable (e.g., the participants decided on topics to be discussed in each visit and they chose the type of communication) and the students took part in different numbers of sessions which additionally varied in length. Instead, the main focus of this study was to explore variation in the students’ WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety within and across sessions in SL, the relationship between/among the four variables under investigation and their changing relationship over time as well as reasons for such changes. In other words, finding a statistically significant difference, for example, in the mean levels of boredom between two individuals or between different levels of language anxiety across sessions in the case of the same student would not have contributed greatly to the results of this study and the way the research questions could be addressed. As far as the qualitative analysis is concerned, it was performed with two sets of data. The first set involved the participants’ narratives (i.e., the second part of the session log) and the second one comprised the data from semi-structured interviews. The participants’ narratives were read iteratively in order to uncover issues informative of the research questions. In so doing, notes and annotations were used to document any immediate observations. As for the analysis of the individual interviews, it involved partial transcription of the important parts of the data (Dörnyei, 2007, p. 249) and the decision as to what to include and exclude was made by the present researcher. The analysis of the data began with reading the transcripts of the interviews in order to obtain a general sense of the data. Then, the researcher read and reread the transcripts again to identify extracts most closely connected with the research questions. Also in this case, notes and annotations were made to record any instantaneous observations.

3.7 Conclusion The aim of the present chapter was to provide a detailed description of the design of the research project and its participants together with the research instruments and the procedures of data analysis. Since the study took place over one semester and employed a small sample that comprised six learners, it could be argued that a larger sample may have supplied more data. However, it was the belief of the present researcher that studying and comparing individual students’ variations between and among the constructs of willingness to communicate, motivation, boredom and language anxiety as well as factors influencing them in the context of the virtual world Second Life could offer unique opportunities for better comprehension of trajectories related to the constructs in question and possible relationships than, for

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73

example, the use of average group data. This is because calculated averages tend to conceal individualistic behavior and, as a result, they do not offer an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of the variables under investigation. The following chapter will present the findings of the study.

Chapter 4

Findings of the Study

4.1 Introduction This chapter is dedicated to the presentation and discussion of the results of the empirical investigation undertaken for the purpose of the present book. It concentrates on the outcomes of the in-depth analysis of the patterns of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety, the relationships of these variables as well as the influences shaping them in the six participants’ visits to the virtual world Second Life. For the sake of clarity, the results for each participant will be presented separately. In each case, they will be offered in the following order: (1) variation in WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels during sessions, (2) variation in WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels from one session to another, (3) the participants’ immediate accounts of their visits to SL, and, finally, (4) the participants’ introspective account of their sessions in SL. This will be followed by the discussion of the findings in terms of the research questions posed for the present research project and some of the limitations of the study.

4.2 Wynona Wynona took part in 16 sessions in SL over a period of one semester and spent an estimated total of 2310 min there. The average session lasted 144.38 min (SD = 32.20). She communicated with other SL users by means of text.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2_4

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4 Findings of the Study

4.2.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits Wynona generally demonstrated a high but decreasing level of WTC from the start to the end of her sessions in SL (see Table 4.1 and Fig. 4.1). As can be seen in these two data sources, the difference in the means between the highest (beginning) and the lowest (end) level of WTC equaled one point. A closer investigation of Fig. 4.1, however, shows that this falling trend in WTC level was only characteristic of three visits (i.e., Visit 1, Visit 13 and Visit 16) and the most dominant visits concerned the ones in which no change was found but the level of WTC was very high (Visits 3, 5, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15 → the level of WTC between 6 and 7 points). During other sessions the student reported varied WTC levels of the following types: fall and no change (Visit 2 and Visit 6), no change and fall (Visit 4), rise and no change (Visit 7 and Visit 9) and rise and fall (Visit 8). Similarly to the general level of WTC reported by Wynona, the overall level of her motivation was the highest in the initial minutes and the lowest in the final ones, with the difference between these two time points being small and standing at 0.37 of a point. Also here this overall decreasing pattern in motivation level was only found in three sessions (Visit 4, Visit 6 and Visit 16) and in a larger number of them (i.e., Visits 1, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15) no change and very high levels (between 5 and 7 points) of self-reported motivation can be observed. Throughout other sessions the reported levels of Wynona’s motivation varied and were of the following types: fall and no change (Visit 13), no change and rise (Visit 3 and Visit 5), rise and no change (Visit 2, Visit 12 and Visit 14) and fall and rise (Visit 7) (see Table 4.1 and Fig. 4.1). When it comes to Wynona’s overall level of boredom, it was relatively low and stable (see Table 4.1 and Fig. 4.1). This stable pattern of boredom and its low level are also visible in the course of many single visits to SL (e.g., Visits 7, 10, 14); however, some fluctuations in the experience of this emotion can also be observed. For example, the most pronounced changes in the levels of boredom were detected in Visit 2 during which they showed a downward trend and higher than the average Table 4.1 The mean and standard deviation values for the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety (Wynona)

Beginning

Middle

End

Total

6.06 (1.12)

5.31 (1.89)

5.90 (1.00)

5.38 (1.71)

5.13 (2.47)

5.33 (1.70)

2.44 (2.03)

2.50 (2.45)

2.46 (1.71)

2.88 (1.89)

3.27 (1.57)

M (SD) WTC 6.31 (0.87) Motivation 5.50 (1.67) Boredom 2.44 (1.79)

Language anxiety 3.75 (1.11)

3.19 (1.47)

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

4.2 Wynona

77

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Start Middle End WTC

Start Middle End Motivation

Start Middle End Boredom

Start Middle End Language anxiety

Visit 1

Visit 2

Visit 3

Visit 4

Visit 5

Visit 6

Visit 7

Visit 8

Visit 9

Visit 10

Visit 11

Visit 12

Visit 13

Visit 14

Visit 15

Visit 16

Average

Fig. 4.1 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Wynona)

(up to 6 points) level of boredom as well as in Visits 4, 11, 13 and 16 in which the levels of the construct in question displayed an upward trend and higher than the average level (up to 7 points). As can be seen in Table 4.1 and Fig. 4.1, the general level of language anxiety was the highest at the start and the lowest at the end of the visits to SL. The difference in the mean between these two time points amounted to 0.87 of a point. This overall decreasing trend was not adhered to during three SL sessions (e.g., Visit 4, Visit 6 and Visit 16) where an upturned trend can be observed (i.e., Wynona felt the most anxious towards the end of these sessions). In addition, in Visit 9 the participant felt a bit more nervous in the middle of the said visit and in Visit 15 she did not report any feelings of anxiety at all.

4.2.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another As regards variation in the levels of WTC from one session in SL to the next, they were quite diverse. Wynona reported a steady growth in her desire to speak in English from Visit 1 to Visit 3, followed by some quite dramatic ups and downs until Visit 10. Then the learner reported the highest and stable WTC in Visits 10–12 and 14–15 (all seven points) after which an abrupt decrease in her desire to interact in English can be

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

78

4 Findings of the Study 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1

2

3

WTC

4

5

6

Motivation

7

8 9 Visits Boredom

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Language anxiety

Fig. 4.2 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Wynona)

observed (i.e., after Visit 12 and Visit 15) (see Fig. 4.2). It should also be noted that the differences in the means in the levels of Wynona’s willingness to communicate in the target language varied; for example, the difference in the mean between Visit 3 and Visit 4 equaled 0.67 of a point and in Visit 15 and Visit 16 it amounted to 2.67. As can be seen in Fig. 4.2, Wynona was highly motivated to use English to communicate with SL users in her first visit to SL. This was followed by a decrease-increase pattern (Visits 2–7), a small increase and a stable level of motivation from Visit 8 to Visit 10. In Visit 11, a fall in Wynona’s interest and engagement can be observed, followed by another increase-decrease-increase-increase pattern suddenly ending in an abrupt decrease. The progression of Wynona’s motivation is characteristic of some rather large differences in the mean values between some sessions in SL. For example, the difference in the mean values between Visits 6–7 amounted to three points, Visits 12–13 equaled five points and Visits 13–14 were tantamount to 5.34. The changes in the levels of boredom from one session in SL to another reported by Wynona were also quite diverse (see Fig. 4.2). They showed an increase-decrease pattern from Visit 1 to Visit 5, followed by two decreases and one increase (Visits 6– 8), and then another decrease (Visit 9 and Visit 10) in which she did not experience any feelings of boredom. This was followed by a sudden increase in boredom (Visit 11) and an equal drop in it (Visit 12), after which another dramatic rise and fall came (Visit 13 and Visit 14). Wynona’s two last sessions in SL are described by no boredom (Visit 15) and a sudden rise in it (Visit 16). As was the case with Wynona’s self-reported levels of motivation from one visit to another, some large differences in the means

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between sessions in SL can also be found here. For example, the difference in the means between Visits 3–4 amounted to 3.33, Visits 12–13 and 13–14 equaled 5.33 and Visits 15–16 were tantamount to 3.67. Finally, Wynona’s levels of language anxiety kept decreasing from Visit 1 to Visit 5. Then, in the next two visits she declared more and again less anxiety (Visits 6–7 and Visits 8–9). This was followed by a slight rise and a drop in language anxiety levels (Visit 10 and Visit 11), a dramatic increase (Visit 12), another increase (Visit 13), a sudden decrease (Visit 14), no self-reported language anxiety (Visit 15) and a final increase (Visit 16). Also here a few large differences in the mean values between sessions can be detected: Visits 4–5 (a difference of 2.34), Visits 11–12 (a difference of 3.66), Visits 13–14 (a difference of four points). To sum up, the changes in the levels of the four constructs can be roughly divided into three phases: (1) moderate changes (Visits 1–6), (2) small changes (Visits 7– 10) and (3) substantial changes (Visits 11–16). The largest differences between the lowest and the highest levels were detected in the case of motivation (a difference of 5.67) as well as boredom and language anxiety (both 5.33 points). Conversely, the difference between the lowest and the highest levels of WTC was not very large and equaled 2.67 points.

4.2.3 Wynona’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL The analysis of the data obtained by means of Wynona’s descriptions of her visits to SL revealed that the learner in initial minutes of her first session felt eager to talk with SL users. Despite being unsure about her “language skills,”1 she was interested to “see how it looks when you talk with someone who didn’t know your native language.” With time, however, Wynonna started to feel less willing to communicate due to “ambiguous situations.” She had problems with understanding her interlocutors (“they used slang”) and some of them “were very pushy.” During the second visit Wynona “felt good, everything was fine.” The learner was willing to speak in English because, as she wrote, “I understood more my interlocutors because I was checking everything which I didn’t understand … I used a table of abbreviations and for me it was very helpful.” In Visit 3 Wynona spoke with her new friend about their interests and countries. Her new friend also showed her new places in SL and “explained her “some things” she could do in this virtual world. Wynona “felt good” in this visit because she could comprehend the language produced by her interlocutor who also explained the words Wynona did not know “through other words.” The beginning of the next visit (i.e., Visit 4) saw Wynona’s desire to meet and talk with new people. Despite the student’s attempts to do so, SL users “didn’t want to meet” her, since, as Wynona wrote, they “didn’t respond to my questions or when I just said ‘hello’.” The student only managed to talk “very briefly” with “a few people.” She described her conversations as “very short and monotonous.” At the end of this visit the subject 1 All

the excerpts originated from the session log preserve original wording.

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lost her interest and felt disappointed because “people in Second Life ignored” her. In Visit 5 Wynona spoke with her friend in English and in Polish since, as it turned out, her interlocutor came from Poland. Wynona enjoyed her visit and said that “I like Second Life more and more.” In contrast to Visit 5, Wynona did not like Visit 6 and she wrote: “I didn’t meet nice people… they were rude and didn’t want to talk with me, because I am new in this world.” Wynona had “mixed feelings about this world” after Visit 6 because, as she explained, “one day people are very nice for you, they talk with you. You have great fun and you’re happy, but another day people are rude, they don’t want to talk with you, they ignore you.” Fortunately, the following visit (i.e., Visit 7) proved to be “ok” for the participant. She carried out “good” conversations with “willing to talk … about everything” SL residents. Wynona “wasn’t bored.” She felt very positive about the next five sessions in SL. Wynona met new, “nice” and “helpful” people and explored new places with them. The student felt “more and more confident” during conversations with her interlocutors. Nevertheless, Wynona found the world in question “a bit monotonous” in Visit 10 and she felt pretty anxious in the first half of Visit 12 when she encountered new SL users and started to talk with them. Wynona did not meet many people in Visit 13 and she managed to talk with only one person who only “spoke about the same things.” She perceived this visit as “very boring and not motivating.” The subsequent two visits (i.e., Visit 14 and Visit 15) were very pleasant to Wynona. The student met willing to talk SL residents, including her “friends in Second Life” and she felt “very confident” again. The conversations Wynona held with her SL interlocutors during the last visit to SL were “very monotonous,” even though her “interlocutors were very willing to communicate and speak.” This is because they talked about “the same things.” In addition, she mentioned some problems with her Internet connection during the said visit.

4.2.4 Wynona’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL The analysis of the interview data revealed that Wynona was motivated during written conversations with multiple SL users; however, she mostly preferred one-to-one chats for two reasons: (1) they gave her more time to think what to write and (2) they were carried out at a moderate pace. In addition, the participant preferred text-based to voice-based mode of communication in view of the fact that this type of interaction suited her the most and it was favored by the majority of SL users she interacted with. As mentioned above, apart from being motivated and thus willing to talk in English, Wynona in some of her sessions in SL was afraid of not being able to understand messages directed to her by her interlocutors and she feared expressing herself in a grammatically incorrect way. In addition, the obtained data revealed that she was afraid of making a fool of herself, especially during first exchanges with newly encountered avatars. It should be noted, however, that the opportunity of being “hidden” behind her avatar alleviated the experience of language anxiety and thus enhanced her willingness to use the target language in SL. For Wynona this was

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a unique form of protection from being evaluated by her interlocutors. Furthermore, talking with SL users under the umbrella of her personal avatar made the learner anonymous and a more confident language user. Such issues are evidenced by the following comments gleaned from the interview with Wynona:2 • I was the most motivated in a visit during which several SL users were chatting with me simultaneously. It was nice chatting with them. • I most often talked with a single person because it was also more comfortable for me. I could think about answers and the pace of conversations wasn’t too fast. This made my chats with other avatars nicer. • During my visits to Second Life I decided to have written conversations mainly because they were more comfortable for me and also they were preferred by the majority of users. • I felt the most anxiety when I started to talk with a Second Life user for the first time. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to understand everything and I would make a fool of myself. • I think that being “shielded” by my avatar influenced my willingness to communicate to a great extent because I knew I didn’t have to be afraid of making mistakes (for example grammatical ones). This is because nobody knew me there and didn’t know who I was and no one would assess me … I felt more confident and I wasn’t concerned about the mistakes I made.

4.3 Dakota Dakota participated in 16 sessions in SL over a period of one semester and spent approximately 1080 min in the world in question. The average session lasted 67.50 min (SD = 19.84). The student communicated with other SL users mostly by means of text.

4.3.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits Information about the average levels of Dakota’s WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety can be obtained from Table 4.2, which, apart from the mean, also presents the values of standard variation at different time points (i.e., the beginning, the middle and the end of visits), and Fig. 4.3, which depicts the changes in WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels for each single session. Even a cursory look at these two data sources shows that the student, in general, reported almost identical levels of her readiness to speak in English and motivation to do so; they were relatively high (i.e., they oscillated between 4.75 and 5.69 points) and 2 All

of the examples have been translated into English by the present author.

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Table 4.2 The mean and standard deviation values for the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety (Dakota)

Beginning

Middle

End

Total

5.63 (0.96)

5.69 (0.70)

5.40 (0.79)

5.44 (0.89)

5.63 (0.81)

5.27 (0.65)

2.94 (1.39)

2.75 (1.24)

2.94 (1.08)

2.31 (1.01)

2.56 (0.73)

M (SD) WTC 4.88 (1.15) Motivation 4.75 (1.00) Boredom 3.13 (1.15)

Language anxiety

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

2.81 (0.75)

2.56 (0.96)

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Start Middle End WTC

Start Middle End Motivation

Start Middle End Boredom

Start Middle End Language anxiety

Visit 1

Visit 2

Visit 3

Visit 4

Visit 5

Visit 6

Visit 7

Visit 8

Visit 9

Visit 10

Visit 11

Visit 12

Visit 13

Visit 14

Visit 15

Visit 16

Average

Fig. 4.3 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Dakota)

displayed the increasing pattern. A closer investigation of Fig. 4.3, however, reveals that in the case of WTC this increasing pattern can only be found in two sessions (i.e., Visit 4 and Visit 11) but the rest of her visits to SL showed the following trends: rise and no change (Visits 1, 2, 5 and 16), rise and fall (Visits 3, 6, 13 and 14), fall and rise (Visit 8 and Visit 12), no change and rise (Visit 7) and no change (Visit 9, Visit 10 and Visit 15). As regards motivation, its overall increasing pattern was not observed in any of her 16 visits. Most of her visits (i.e., 6 or 37.5%) were of rise and no change trend (i.e., Visits 2, 3, 5, 10, 13 and 15) and the rest showed the following patterns: no change and fall (Visit 4, Visit 9 and Visit 12), fall and rise (Visit 1 and

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83

Visit 6), no change (Visit 8 and Visit 15), rise and fall (Visit 4), no change and rise (Visit 7) and fall and no change (Visit 14). When it comes to boredom and language anxiety experienced by Dakota, they, in general, showed the decreasing pattern, and thus were in sharp contrast to WTC and motivation (see Table 4.2 and Fig. 4.3). It should also be noted that the overall level of boredom was higher (it oscillated between 3.13 and 2.75 points) than the one concerning language anxiety (it oscillated between 2.81 and 2.31 points). The decreasing trend in the intensity of boredom is representative of only one visit (i.e., Visit 6). In other sessions the following patterns were observed: fall and no change (Visits 2, 5 10, 11 and 14), no change and fall (Visit 3, Visit 4 and Visit 15), rise and no change (Visit 1 and Visit 16), no change (Visit 7 and Visit 9), fall and rise (Visit 8 and Visit 12) and no change and rise (Visit 13). As already mentioned, the aggregated decreasing experience of boredom reported by Dakota was accompanied by the diminishing feeling of language anxiety. It should be noted, however, that the general pattern of this emotion was only reflected in Visit 4. Other visits displayed the following trends: fall and no change (Visits 2, 7, 10, 12, 13 and 16), no change and fall (Visit 3 and Visit 5), rise and fall (Visit 9 and Visit 14), no change (Visit 1 and Visit 6), rise and no change (Visit 8 and Visit 15) and no change and rise (Visit 11).

4.3.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another Figure 4.4 shows the ups and downs in WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels as reported by Dakota from one session in SL to the next. As can be seen from this figure, the student’s readiness to use English in conversations with SL users was to a large extent in line with her interest and engagement in some sessions (e.g., Visits 1, 3, 4, 5) and in some others her WTC interwove with the self-reported motivation (e.g., Visits 5–6, 11–13). She was the most willing to communicate in Visit 2, Visit 3, Visit 7 and Visit 14 (all 6.33 points) and the least willing to use the target language in Visit 4 and Visit 11 (4 and 3.67 points, respectively). As for self-reported motivation, Dakota was the most motivated in Visits 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 13 (5.67 or 6.33 points) and the least interested in Visit 4 (3.33 points). When it comes the feelings of boredom reported by Dakota, the obtained results revealed that they were also subject to variation (see Fig. 4.4). These changes in the levels of the said construct can be divided in two parts: (1) Visits 2–9—a reversed reflection of the changes observed in the levels of WTC and (2) Visits 11–16—a very similar pattern of changes to those detected in the case of WTC. In addition, the student felt the most boredom in Visit 1 (5.33 points) and Visit 14 (4.22 points). Conversely, she was the least bored in Visit 2 (1.33 points), Visit 3 and Visit 13 (both 1.67 points).

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

84

4 Findings of the Study 7

6

5

4

3

2

1 1

2

3

WTC

4

5

6

Motivation

7

8 9 Visits Boredom

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Language anxiety

Fig. 4.4 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Dakota)

As regards Dakota’s experience of language anxiety, its level rose a bit from Visit 1 to Visit 2 and then it dropped in Visit 3 (by 1.66 points) only to rise again in Visit 4 and fall in Visit 5 (both by 1.33). These ups and downs in the levels of this emotion were followed by a steady growth in its intensity until Visit 8 (the difference between Visit 5 and Visit 8 equaled 2 points), a small decrease (by a minute 0.34 of a point), a major 2-point fall (Visit 10) and a 2-point rise (Visit 11). Then the participant reported less language anxiety in the two consecutive sessions (i.e., Visit 12 and Visit 13), an increase by 0.67 of a point in Visit 14 and a final decline in the last two visits. To summarize, the differences between the lowest and the highest levels were not very considerable and the largest amounted to four points (boredom) and three points (motivation). By comparison, the differences between the lowest and the highest levels of WTC and language anxiety equaled 2.66 and 2.34 points, respectively.

4.3.3 Dakota’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL Dakota perceived her first three visits to SL as nice and beneficial for her English development. She met “a lot of new people”3 who were willing to talk with her and she “got to know a lot of new English words and improved grammar.” The student 3 All

the excerpts originated from the session log preserve original wording.

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85

also felt “confident” during her “conversations in English with native speakers.” After Visit 3 she wrote: “I was more willing to speak behind my avatar because I was anonymous and confident because of this.” Nevertheless, Dakota occasionally reported feelings of boredom, especially in situations when she “had no one to speak with.” The feeling of boredom accompanied the subject also in her fourth visit to SL and it was evoked by the lack of SL residents willing to speak with her (“I feel a little bored when I had nobody to talk with.”). In Visit 5 Dakota “found someone from Ireland” and although she felt “very confident to speak behind” her avatar, she perceived this conversation as “a little boring” since, as she wrote, “the person with whom I spoke talked about boring things for me like cars and thriller movies.” In the following visit (i.e., Visit 6) the student was willing to “speak with people because of being anonymous” despite the fact that she, again, experienced some boredom in the initial minutes of the visit in question. Then, she became involved in talking to an encountered SL user and, although, her interlocutor “had some problems with English,” it was “easy” for Dakota to “understand him” and enjoy the chat. The participant was very positive about her seventh visit to SL. She wrote: “I didn’t feel bored because I had excellent people to speak with. I felt more willing to speak behind my avatar because I felt more confident because of it … I think that because of Second Life I improved my language skills.” Similarly to Visit 6, the participant experienced some boredom at the start of Visit 8, but then she began to chat with an encountered avatar. Dakota enjoyed this conversation since, as she said, “my interlocutor was very kind and nice and taught me a lot of new words.” The aim of the subsequent three visits (i.e., Visits 9–11) was “to polish off” English. Dakota chatted with “native speakers,” felt quite “relaxed” and “confident” yet again. It should be noted, however, that the subject was not pleased with her grammar and wrote: “Next time I would like to use grammar more correctly.” Dakota enjoyed her chat in Visit 12 in which she met “an interesting person from Wales” and learned some “slang words.” The student felt “relaxed” in Visit 13 and satisfied with her speaking skills: “I have satisfaction that I can speak so fluently with English speakers.” The remainder of Dakota’s sessions (i.e., Visits 14–16) and conversations carried out with SL residents could be generally described as stimulating and relaxing (discussions about culture and music with kind and interesting people) for the learner but occasionally flavored with feelings of boredom (e.g., discussion about politics).

4.3.4 Dakota’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL The analysis of Dakota’s responses to the questions included in the interview provided additional pieces of information about factors influencing her willingness to use English in communication in SL, motivation, boredom and language anxiety. The participant was less nervous and thus more willing to talk in English to SL users whose command of the English language was not very high. A positive impact on Dakota’s motivation had the number of SL residents who used English there and the fact that she could meet them thanks to knowing this language. In addition, meeting

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friendly and willing to talk inhabitants of the virtual world in question as well as the possibility of speaking behind her avatar contributed to her desire to use the target language. The analysis of the interview data revealed, however, that Dakota felt less motivated and more nervous, and thus not very willing to talk, when she spoke to people whose English proficiency was very weak and/or when she encountered native speakers. Her readiness to speak in English also suffered when the topic of a conversation was simply boring for her. The following comments gleaned from the interview illustrate some of these points:4 • I felt the most willing to communicate when I talked with persons for whom English wasn’t a native language. • I was the most motivated when I noticed that a lot of people there knew English and how many great people I was able to meet thanks to my knowledge of that language. • Second Life users were usually friendly and eager to talk in English. Only in one case my interlocutor cut off. • The communication by means of my avatar was a very good experience because I was more confident than in real life. • I was the least motivated in situations in which I chatted with a person whose English was poor. • I was the most nervous when I happened to have a conversation with a native speaker. I was afraid of making a mistake and be laughed at. • I felt bored during conversations about uninteresting topics for me (usually politics). Dakota was in favor of having one-to-one conversations due to the fact that they gave her more opportunities to practice English as well as to the fact that she could become more acquainted with her interlocutors. In addition, she usually decided to have conversations based on text because, in Dakota’s own words, “I was able to correct potential mistakes in my sentences and carefully think what to say.” Finally, the use of SL appeared to have a beneficial impact on her language development, because, as Dakota said: “I think thanks to conversations in Second Life I have made progress in English. During English classes I contribute to class discussions more often, I’m not afraid of making mistakes and I’m more confident.”

4.4 Latoya Latoya visited SL 14 times over a period of one semester and spent roughly 1285 min there. The average visit lasted 91.79 min (SD = 41.65). Latoya used text and voice utilities to communicate with SL residents.

4 All

of the examples have been translated into English by the present author.

4.4 Latoya

87

4.4.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits The results of the quantitative analysis included in Table 4.3 show that the overall levels of WTC, motivation and the experience of boredom from the start to the end of Latoya’s visits to SL were of decreasing pattern, with the exception of language anxiety which displayed a rise and fall trend. In addition, the overall levels of WTC and motivation were very high at the beginning, high in the middle and moderate at the end of the sessions (see Table 4.3). The difference in the means between the most extreme points in time (i.e., start → end) equaled 1.72 and 1.21 for WTC and motivation, respectively. A closer look at Fig. 4.5, however, shows that in the case of WTC this decreasing pattern can only be found in one visit (i.e., Visit 2). The majority of visits (i.e., 6 visits or 42.86%) showed no change in WTC levels (e.g., Visit 1, Visit 9 or Visit 11), in four visits (i.e., Visits 3, 4, 5 and 13) a no change and fall pattern can be observed and in another four visits (i.e., Visits 9, 7, 8 and 12) a fall and no change one. As far as the construct of motivation is concerned, its general decreasing pattern can only be found in two visits (i.e., Visit 2 and Visit 3). The largest number of sessions (i.e., 8 visits or 57.14%) showed no change in the levels of motivation (e.g., Visits 1, 9 or 11), in three visits (i.e., Visit 4, Visit 8 and Visit 12) a no change and fall pattern can be found and in Visit 13 a fall and rise one. When it comes to the overall level of boredom, this falling trend is displayed by four visits (i.e., Visits 1, 2, 3 and 13). During eight (57.14%) sessions to SL Latoya did not experience any feelings of boredom and in two visits (i.e., Visit 8 and Visit 12) a rise and no change pattern can be detected. As mentioned above, the general language anxiety level displayed the rise and fall pattern. As far as each single session is concerned, this trend was detected in only one visit (i.e., Visit 1). As was the case with motivation and boredom, the largest number of sessions (i.e., 8 visits or 57.14%) showed no change in the levels of the emotion in question (e.g., Visits 3, 9 or 11). The remainder of sessions demonstrated Table 4.3 The mean and standard deviation values for the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety (Latoya)

Beginning

Middle

End

Total

5.50 (2.24)

4.71 (2.52)

5.55 (1.71)

5.21 (2.52)

4.93 (2.67)

5.43 (2.04)

1.79 (1.63)

1.50 (1.61)

1.83 (1.29)

2.29 (2.20)

2.17 (1.62)

M (SD) WTC 6.43 (1.16) Motivation 6.14 (1.35) Boredom 2.21 (1.85)

Language anxiety 1.71 (0.99)

2.50 (2.24)

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

88

4 Findings of the Study 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Start Middle End WTC

Start Middle End Motivation

Start Middle End Boredom

Start Middle End Language anxiety

Visit 1

Visit 2

Visit 3

Visit 4

Visit 5

Visit 6

Visit 7

Visit 8

Visit 9

Visit 10

Visit 11

Visit 12

Visit 13

Visit 14

Average

Fig. 4.5 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Latoya)

the following patterns: rise and no change (Visit 8 and Visit 12), no change and fall (Visit 2 and Visit 13) and fall and no change (Visit 5) (see Fig. 4.5).

4.4.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another As can be seen from Fig. 4.6, the levels of WTC and motivation reported by Latoya were to a large extent similar and they were subject to comparable changes from one session to another. More specifically, they started to fall from Visit 1 to Visit 3, with the drop between these visits amounting to 2.33 for WTC and three points for motivation. This was followed by a sudden increase in the student’s desire to communicate and her motivation in this respect (Visit 4—a growth of 4 and 4.67 points, respectively) and then she remained highly motivated and willing to interact with SL residents for the subsequent three sessions (i.e., Visits 5–7). This, however, was followed by another abrupt fall in the participant’s willingness to talk in English and her motivation (Visit 8—a drop by 3.66 and 4.33 points, respectively) and a major increase of 4.33 for both the student’s desire to contribute to discussions in SL and her motivation (Visit 9). Latoya then continued to exhibit extreme motivation and willingness to interact in the target language until Visit 11, only to report an abrupt fall afterwards (a change of four points from Visit 11 to Visit 12 for both WTC

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

4.4 Latoya

89

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Visits WTC

Motivation

Boredom

Language anxiety

Fig. 4.6 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Latoya)

and motivation). Then the student’s WTC and her interest and engagement in using English in SL continued to rise and reached the highest values in both constructs in question in the last visit. As can be seen if Fig. 4.6, the levels of boredom and language anxiety reported by Latoya from one visit to the next were to a great extent comparable, which manifested itself in several ways, that is: (1) fluctuations (mostly of a decreasing tendency) in the course of initial sessions (i.e., Visits 1–4); (2) no changes in the levels of boredom (Visits 4–7) and a slight increase (by a 0.33 of a point) in the level of language anxiety in Visit 5; (3) a major increase of 4.33 (Visit 8) followed by a huge decrease of 4.33 (Visit 9); (4) no changes in the levels of the two emotions in question in Visits 9–11; (5) a major increase from Visit 11 to Visit 12 (from 1 to 5 in the case of boredom and from 1 to 3 in the case of language anxiety) followed by two decreases in the two final visits. On the whole, the behavior of the four constructs under investigation can be described as either dynamic or stable. The former can be found in Visits 1–3, Visit 8 and Visits 12–14 and the latter can be observed in Visits 4–7 and Visits 9–11 (see Fig. 4.6). In addition, such behavior resulted in quite considerable differences between the lowest and the highest levels of the variables in question which amounted to five points (motivation) and 4.33 points (WTC, boredom and language anxiety).

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4 Findings of the Study

4.4.3 Latoya’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL The analysis of the data collected by means of Latoya’s descriptions of her visits to SL showed that in the first visit the student enjoyed her conversation with a “nice”5 Spanish woman “at a similar age.” The chat about their “studies and the English language” did not evoke any feelings of boredom since, as Latoya wrote: “we were writing without any break.” Despite the participant’s eagerness to talk in English from the start of the second session, the learner could not find a willing to chat with her SL user for a long time. Near the end of the session in question, she finally encountered “a girl from western US” and chatted with her “in a very sophisticated way.” During the chat with the girl Latoya found out that “that old players do not want to have a conversation with new ones.” Latoya felt bored, not interested and willing to talk about “the weather” with “a man at age 35” in Visit 3. The participant also observed that her interlocutor seemed “to be bored” too. Latoya summarized her visit in the following way: “I did not enjoy Second Life this time.” In contrast to the first three sessions, the subsequent four visits to SL (i.e., Visits 4–7) tuned out to be interesting and entertaining for Latoya. In Visit 4 the student decided to take the initiative and started a conversation because, as she remarked, “nobody wrote to me first.” She waited a “couple of minutes for an answer” but eventually she began chatting with “a really nice person” who also “added” her “as a friend.” Latoya continued talking to her “newly met friend” in the subsequent two visits (i.e., Visit 5 and Visit 6). Latoya was “happy” that she could “talk in English with a person from the other country.” In Visit 7 the student “talked with an older lady about her life in London” who also “assessed” her English. The situation changed for the worse in Visit 8 in which Latoya “talked with a rude man” who “did not want to leave [her] alone.” The session lasted only about 30 min. She quickly lost her willingness and motivation to continue the chat, became full of reservations and felt bored. Regardless of the unpleasant experience of meeting “a rude man” in Latoya’s previous visit to SL, a few days later the student decided to enter SL again. This time the participant had “a really nice talk” with “a girl” who also shared “her Facebook account” with Latoya and they “became friends.” Latoya’s willingness and motivation to communicate in English was also extremely high in Visit 10 when she chatted with a SL user about “cosmetics.” The student wrote: “During this conversation I forgot that it is Second Life. I had an impression that I have been talking with a friend.” In Visit 11 Latoya decided to have a conversation by means of voice. Although the session in question was pretty short (i.e., it lasted approximately 40 min), the student described her conversation as “a real fun.” Needless to say, Latoya did not experience any feelings of boredom or anxiety from Visits 9 to visit 11. The same cannot be said about Visit 12 in which Latoya chatted with a SL user who “turned out to be a rude boy” at the end of the session. In her description of this visit Latoya wrote: “I do not like when people in Second Life are very self-confident because of the fact that they are in the Internet.” In Visit 13 Latoya made several unsuccessful attempts to communicate with SL residents by means of text or voice. She commented: “I wrote to almost 5 All

the excerpts originated from the session log preserve original wording.

4.4 Latoya

91

10 people but I did not receive any answer.” The last session (i.e., Visit 14) was perceived by the student as motivating and enjoyable. Latoya decided to enter SL and talk to someone “in the middle of the night” because she had “nothing to do.” She “spent a nice 1.5 h in SL.” The learner met Marie, thanks to whom she “got to know a few new phrases in English.”

4.4.4 Latoya’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL The analysis of Latoya’s responses to the interview questions offered more insights into the variables under investigation and factors influencing them. The student was motivated and eager to use English when she had the opportunity to participate in nice and interesting conversations, especially with SL users coming from Great Britain and the United States. A beneficial influence on the participant’s willingness to speak and her motivation was exerted by her curiosity about SL residents whom Latoya was about to meet in each session. The analysis of the obtained data also revealed that the learner’s willingness to speak and her motivation suffered in situations in which she had to wait for willing to chat SL users, met impolite SL inhabitants and when some of her interlocutors spoke poor English. Finally, Latoya claimed that, in general, she did not experience language anxiety due to being invisible to other users and not being exposed to judgements concerning her language mistakes; however, she occasionally felt insecure when thought about people “behind other avatars.” Illustrative in this regard are the following comments:6 • I felt the most ready to communicate when talking to girls who had similar interests. • Curiosity. This is because I didn’t know who I would meet. • Being there I did not feel any language anxiety. • The fact that no one can see me, no one knows me and no one assesses my English if I make a mistake. • I experienced the feeling of boredom several times. For example, I had to wait one hour and a half for someone to talk to. • SL users were not always friendly A lot of people did not want to talk to “a new user.” It was obvious that Second Life is a place for people who meet there and who know each other for some time and who keep in touch with each other. They did not look for new acquaintances. • I felt the least motivated and willing to speak in English with a Czech who hardly knew English. • I sometimes felt a bit insecure because I didn’t know how much I could say. I didn’t know who was behind the avatar I talked to. Latoya incited conversations with other SL users but she did not participate in group interactions. She tried to talk to every SL resident she encountered. The student 6 All

of the examples have been translated into English by the present author.

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opted for text-based conversations because her “microphone did not always work properly.” The participant found SL to have a beneficial impact on her English development, because, as she said: “I started to be more interested in colloquial English, in different abbreviations people use in their speech.”

4.5 Phillipa Phillipa took part in 12 sessions in SL over a period of one semester and spent an estimated total of 540 min in the said virtual world. The average session lasted 45 min (SD = 12.42). She communicated with other SL users by means of text (nine sessions) and voice (three sessions).

4.5.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits As shown in Table 4.4 and illustrated in Fig. 4.7, in general, Phillipa displayed decreasing patterns of her willingness to use English in communication with SL users and motivation to do so during her 12 visits to SL. In more specific terms, the student reported the highest level of WTC at the beginning (4.58 points) and the lowest at the end (1.92 points) of her visits to the said virtual world (the difference between these two points in time was quite large and equaled 2.66 points). While this overall WTC decreasing pattern can be observed in five of her individual visits (i.e., Visits 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12), the rest of her visits displayed the following trends: no change and fall (Visit 1, Visit 5 and Visit 7), fall and rise (Visit 2), fall and no change (Visit 3, Visit 9 and Visit 11). When it comes to motivation, its average level reported by the student was the highest in the initial minutes (3.75 points) and the lowest in the final (1.58 points) moments of her visits to SL, respectively (the difference between Table 4.4 The mean and standard deviation values for the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety (Phillipa)

Beginning

Middle

End

Total

3.08 (1.44)

1.92 (1.00)

3.19 (0.79)

2.17 (1.11)

1.58 (0.67)

2.50 (0.93)

4.58 (0.90)

5.08 (0.79)

4.47 (0.99)

2.00 (1.48)

2.50 (1.52)

M (SD) WTC 4.58 (0.67) Motivation 3.75 (1.42) Boredom 3.75 (1.60)

Language anxiety 3.00 (1.95)

2.50 (1.83)

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

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93

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Start Middle End WTC Visit 1

Start Middle End Motivation Visit 2

Start Middle End Boredom

Start Middle End Language anxiety

Visit 3

Visit 4

Visit 5

Visit 9

Visit 10

Visit 6

Visit 7

Visit 8

Visit 11

Visit 12

Average

Fig. 4.7 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Phillipa)

these two extreme points in time was also pretty large and equaled 2.17 points). This decreasing pattern of the self-reported motivation is also reflected in five different sessions (i.e., Visits 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7). Five other visits (i.e., Visits 3, 6, 8, 10 and 11) displayed the fall and no change trend, one visit (i.e., Visit 9) demonstrated the no change and fall pattern and in Visit 12 no change in the levels of self-reported motivation was detected. As far as the overall level of boredom reported by Phillipa is concerned, it showed a reverse pattern in relation to the general levels of WTC and motivation. More specifically, this overall pattern was the lowest at the beginning (it equaled 3.75 points) and the highest at the end of the visits (it amounted to 5.08 points) (a difference of 1.33 points). This overall increasing pattern was also visible in five visits (i.e., Visits 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10). Visits 3 and 5 displayed a rise and no change pattern, Visit 1—a no change and rise one, Visit 2—fall and no change and during Visits 6, 11 and 12 no change in the levels of boredom can be observed (see Table 4.4 and Fig. 4.7). As depicted in Fig. 4.7 and shown in Table 4.4, Phillipa’s average level of language anxiety was rather low and, similarly to the patterns of WTC and motivation, it was of the decreasing trend. It was the highest at the start of her visits to SL (three points) and the lowest at the end of them (two points). A closer look at Fig. 4.7 shows, however, that this average pattern for Phillipa’s 12 sessions in SL was not universal. This is because in only three of her visits (i.e., Visit 1, Visit 2 and Visit 5) exactly the same pattern can be found (i.e., the level of her language anxiety was the highest at the start and the lowest at the end of each of these sessions). In other visits to SL

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the levels of anxiety reported by Phillipa were of the following patterns: rise and no change (Visit 3), no change and fall (Visit 12) and fall and no change (Visits 4, 6,7 and 9). In Visits 8, 10 and 11 Phillipa did not experience any anxiety at all.

4.5.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

As can be seen in Fig. 4.8, the pattern of WTC exhibited by Phillipa resembles by and large the one detected for her motivation to use this virtual environment for communication in the target language. The main difference lies in the overall lower level of the latter construct, especially from the onset of Visit 5. In more specific terms, Phillipa was moderately willing to use the target language in SL in Visit 1 (4.33 points) and her WTC started to fall in the next two visits: Visit 2 (3.67 points) and Visit 3 (2.33 points). The participant’s desire to speak in English rose again in Visit 4 and then it reached the same level as at the start of her adventure in SL (i.e., Visit 5—4.33 points). This was followed by a 1.33 drop in her WTC level, a one point rise in Visit 7, a steady drop in Visits 8 and 9 (3 and 2.33 points, respectively), a slight increase in Visit 10 and a decrease in Visits 11 and 12 (both 2.33 points). As for Phillipa’s motivation, she was the most interested and engaged in Visit 1 (four points) and then her motivation began to fall in the next two visits (Visit 2—3.33 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Visits WTC

Motivation

Boredom

Language anxiety

Fig. 4.8 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Phillipa)

4.5 Phillipa

95

points, Visit 3—2.33 points). This was followed by a 1.34 increase (Visit 4), two steady decreases (Visits 5 and 6) and a slight increase of 0.34 from Visit 6 to Visit 7. With the onset of Visit 8, Phillipa’s motivation started to fall and reached the lowest level of all in her last session in SL (i.e., Visit 12—1 point). Moving on to the experience of boredom reported by Phillipa from one session in SL to another, its intensity kept changing from the very start of her adventure in this virtual environment, the only exception being two temporary periods of stability between Visit 7 and Visit 8 (both equaled 3.67 points) and between Visit 11 and Visit 12 (both 6 points). As far as the ups and downs in the experience of this negative emotion in most of the sessions are concerned, they were the most pronounced between first three visits and between Visits 5–7. This is evident in the fact that the difference between the lowest and the highest level of boredom amounted to 2 and 1.33 points (e.g., the difference between Visit 1 and Visit 2 and the difference between Visit 5 and Visit 6). It should also be noted that Phillipa reported quite high levels of the construct in question in Visit 2 (5.33 points), Visit 6 and Visit 9 (both 5 points) as well as in the last two sessions (Visit 11 and Visit 12, both 6 points). Conversely, she was the least bored in Visit 1 and Visit 3 (both 3.33 points). When it comes to the experience of language anxiety reported by Phillipa throughout the sessions, the student showed a pretty high but steady level of this emotion during her first three sessions in SL (each visit equaled 4.67 points). Then a sudden drop in the level of language anxiety can be observed in Visit 4 (2.33), followed by a one point increase (Visit 5), a very slight decrease of 0.33 of a point (Visit 6) and an abrupt fall by 1.67 points (Visit 7). This was followed by a relatively steady and very low period of self-reported anxiety (Visits 8–11) with a final slight increase in its experience (Visit 12) (see Fig. 4.8). Last of all, a comment on the differences between the lowest and the highest levels of the constructs under investigation is needed. The analysis of the obtained data revealed that these differences were not very substantial and the largest concerned the student’s feelings of language anxiety (3.67 points) and motivation (three points). As for the lowest ones, they pertained to the constructs of WTC (two points) and boredom (2.67 points).

4.5.3 Phillipa’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL Phillipa did not feel comfortable during her first two visits to SL for two reasons. Firstly, this was her “first time”7 she participated in “something like that” and, secondly, the student, in general, felt “nervous” when talking to strangers, particularly in situations when she was not able to “see him/her.” In Visit 1 Phillipa did not manage to meet many SL users and in Visit 2 she reported some technical problems with her Internet connection. The following session (i.e., Visit 3) was especially unpleasant for the participant in view of the fact that her interlocutor was “very rude” 7 All

the excerpts originated from the session log preserve original wording.

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4 Findings of the Study

and asked her about “inappropriate things.” Besides, she experienced some problems with her Internet connection again. As for Visit 4, Phillipa had to wait for a willing to talk to her SL user but eventually she managed to carry out “a nice conversation.” She “felt willing to speak English.” In the subsequent visit the student did not meet the interlocutor from the previous session but instead “a few people ready to talk” with her. Phillipa was quite ready to talk and she felt “comfortable” during the conversations carried out by means of voice. The conversation in Visit 6 was “nice but short.” The student tried to find another willing to talk SL user with her but quickly became discouraged and bored. She quit the world in question after 30 min. Phillipa was anxious during her seventh visit to SL but “not as much as at the first time.” She felt, however, “a little bit bored at the end of the conversation with a stranger” because they “didn’t have subjects to talk about.” In addition, the participant was quite happy with the use of English in the said session. She wrote: “I think that my English is not bad and my interlocutor was able to understand me.” In the rest of sessions (i.e., Visits 8–12) Phillipa had problems with meeting willing to talk with her SL residents. Even though she managed to have sporadic short chats and remained relaxed, her desire to use English in interactions and her interest in them were low. In addition, she started to experience more boredom from one session to another.

4.5.4 Phillipa’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL The analysis of the data collected by means of the interview with Phillipa showed that the use of SL somehow contributed to her willingness to communicate in English and made the student slightly more motivated to develop her language skills. The subject also claimed that she experienced more language anxiety at the beginning of her visits but she felt less anxious over time. Phillipa experienced boredom in situations when she could not find a person willing to talk to her. In addition, the participant commenced some of the conversations with SL residents and she preferred writing to using her voice. This is because the learner did not have suitable equipment and the use of written chat was more convenient for her. Finally, Phillipa generally decided on talking to one person at a time and when choosing a prospective interlocutor she did not take into consideration the way an avatar looked but his or her behavior. The following excerpts are illustrative of the points raised:8 • Yes, I think Second Life made me more willing to communicate in English. • The desire to communicate increased my motivation to develop my language skills. • I usually felt anxious about the use of English when I started chatting with somebody but with time I felt less of it. • I started to feel less anxiety after my first visit to Second Life and I started to feel more comfortable in next visits. 8 All

of the examples have been translated into English by the present author.

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97

• I was the most bored when there were no people to talk to and I was the least bored when I found a person willing to chat with me. • Based on text. The lack of equipment and it was more convenient for me. • These were mostly one-to-one chats because it’s better for me to talk to one person than a group of people. • What I think is proper behavior. If an avatar doesn’t break the rules, he or she is simply normal, friendly.

4.6 Montana Montana participated in 11 sessions in SL over a period of one semester and spent around 747 min in this virtual environment. The average session lasted 67.91 min (SD = 35.91). The subject used only text chat to interact in English with other SL users.

4.6.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits As shown in Table 4.5 and illustrated in Fig. 4.9, the average levels of WTC and motivation were relatively high (i.e., above 4.73 points but a bit higher for motivation) and of the decreasing pattern. In the former case the difference in the mean values between the highest (beginning) and the lowest (end) points in time amounted to 0.63 and in the latter, it equaled one point. A closer investigation of Fig. 4.9, however, shows that this decreasing WTC pattern can only be found in four visits (i.e., Visits 2, 6, 8 and 11) and the rest of the sessions were of the following trends: no change and rise (Visit 1 and Visit 9), no change (Visit 3, Visit 4 and Visit 10), rise (Visit 5) and rise and fall (Visit 7). As regards motivation, its overall decreasing pattern is Table 4.5 The mean and standard deviation values for the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety (Montana)

Beginning

Middle

End

Total

4.82 (1.08)

4.55 (2.02)

4.85 (1.00)

5.00 (1.48)

4.73 (2.33)

5.15 (1.33)

2.73 (1.62)

2.91 (2.07)

2.67 (1.56)

2.55 (1.04)

2.55 (0.87)

M (SD) WTC 5.18 (0.98) Motivation 5.73 (0.65) Boredom 2.36 (1.43)

Language anxiety 2.55 (1.04)

2.55 (0.93)

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

98

4 Findings of the Study 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Start Middle End WTC

Start Middle End Motivation

Start Middle End Boredom

Start Middle End Language anxiety

Visit 1

Visit 2

Visit 3

Visit 4

Visit 5

Visit 6

Visit 7

Visit 8

Visit 9

Visit 10

Visit 11

Average

Fig. 4.9 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Montana)

also not representative of all sessions. This is because Visit 5 is characteristic of an increasing pattern and Visit 3 and Visit 10 show no change in the intensity of the said variable. The remainder of the sessions displayed no change and rise (Visit 1, Visit 7 and Visit 9) and no change and fall patterns (Visit 4), respectively (see Fig. 4.9). The data included in Table 4.5 and the graphical illustration of the changes in the overall levels of Montana’s experiences of boredom and language anxiety during the sessions in SL show that they were rather low (they never reached three points) and stable. It should be noted, however, that only in the case of the former, the student gradually became more bored with time, although the difference between the two extreme points (i.e., the start and the end of the visits) was not large and tantamount to 0.55 of a point. It is also clear from the inspection of Fig. 4.9 that this slightly increasing pattern does not reflect boredom levels related to each single session in SL. More specifically, Montana experienced less boredom towards the end of Visits 1, 3, 5 and 7, she reported a steady level of boredom in Visit 8 and Visit 10 and no feelings of this emotion in Visit 9. As regards the participant’s overall experience of language anxiety, its level was rather low and unchanging, since it equaled 2.55 points (see Table 4.5 and Fig. 4.9). It is interesting to note, however, that in some individual visits Montana declared much lower or higher than average levels of language anxiety (e.g., in Visit 4—1 point, Visit 3—1.33 points, Visit 10—4 points, Visit 1—3 points). What is more, while in Visit 1 and Visit 3 a decreasing pattern of this emotion can be observed, Visit 8 demonstrated an increasing one.

4.6 Montana

99

4.6.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

As illustrated in Fig. 4.10, Montana’s desire to speak in English and her interest and engagement in communication with SL users were subject to similar changes. The student was moderately willing to speak during the first two sessions (Visit 1 → 4.33 and Visit 2 → 4 points), but then her WTC increased sharply in Visit 3, with a change of two points and remained at this high level until the next visit (i.e., Visit 4). As can be seen in Fig. 4.10, Montana’s willingness to interact in English started to gradually wane in the next two sessions (i.e., Visit 5 → 5 points and Visit 6 → 3.67 points) and then it kept altering almost to the end of her visits to SL. As already mentioned, the pattern of changes in the levels of the self-reported motivation for using SL in order to communicate in English with SL users was similar to the one related to WTC. It should be noted, however, that the variable in question is described by even more dramatic changes in the levels of its intensity (e.g., a difference of 3 points between Visit 1 and Visit 2; a difference of 2.67 between Visit 5 and Visit 6). Finally, one short, but quite stable, period in the self-reported levels of motivation can also be found (i.e., a difference of 0.33 of a point between Visit 3 and Visit 4 as well as between Visit 4 and Visit 5). As illustrated in Fig. 4.10, Montana’s variations in the levels of self-reported boredom from one visit to the next were quite diverse. They are characterized by the increase-decrease pattern from the first to almost the last visit in SL, with a final 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1

2

WTC

3

4

Motivation

5

6 Visits Boredom

7

8

9

10

11

Language anxiety

Fig. 4.10 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Montana)

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4 Findings of the Study

double increase from Visit 9 to Visit 11. A closer investigation of Fig. 4.10 also reveals that these changes in the levels of boredom reported by Montana from one session to another can be divided into two major phases: (1) changes of smaller amplitude (from Visit 1 to Visit 5) and (2) changes of larger amplitude (from Visit 5 to Visit 9). These two phases correspond to the levels of WTC and motivation. This is visible in the following: (1) the high levels of WTC and motivation are accompanied by low and less pronounced fluctuations in boredom in phase one and (2) in phase two the increase-decrease pattern of variation is both characteristic of WTC and motivation as well as boredom and they appear to be interwoven (i.e., a high level of WTC and motivation is accompanied by a low level of boredom and vice versa). When it comes to the changes in levels of language anxiety from one session in SL to the next, they were generally less dramatic and relatively low when compared to the ones concerning the variables of WTC, motivation and boredom. More specifically, the student’s experience of anxiety displays the pattern of decline-increase-decline; however, no abrupt changes can be observed since they occur gradually with time. For example, Montana felt less and less anxious from Visit 1 (3 points) to Visit 4 (1 point) and she became more and more nervous from Visit 8 (2.67) to Visit 10 (4 points) (see Fig. 4.10). The analysis of the data also showed that the decreasing experience of this emotion in the first four sessions corresponded to high levels of WTC and motivation as well as low levels of boredom. Moreover, the higher levels of language anxiety reported by Montana from Visit 6 matched the above-mentioned phase two, that is, the phase of large amplitude changes in the levels of WTC, motivation and boredom, a point that will be returned to later in this book. When it comes to the differences between the smallest and the largest levels of the participant’s WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety, they were, on the whole, quite similar. This is evident in the fact that they were the same in the case of WTC, motivation and language anxiety (they all equaled three points) but they were higher only in relation to the student’s experience of boredom (4.33 points).

4.6.3 Montana’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL Montana right from the beginning of her adventure with SL considered the opportunity of chatting in English as beneficial for the development of her English skills. She wrote: “I’m aware of the fact that it will help improve my English.”9 She was, however, “a little bit anxious about making mistakes so that the person on the other side” could not understand her. Being a shy person, or as she put it “because of shyness,” Montana was willing to speak English behind her avatar and “excited about meeting new people.” In fact, Montana met “a few nice people” with whom she talked about their “experience in Second Life and what one could do there” and she practiced “asking for information or advice (structures and vocabulary) as well as basic phrases used in introductions.” Montana’s first interlocutors were “very 9 All

the excerpts originated from the session log preserve original wording.

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101

engaged in conversations” and “helpful.” In visit 2 Montana aimed to “practice the present perfect tense” in view of the fact that she had “many problems with it.” The student enjoyed the beginning of her chat but later she became less willing and motivated to continue it and became bored. She explained: At first it was enjoyable. We talked about ourselves and our experiences. I was very willing and motivated to converse in English. But after some time we ran out of topics we could talk about and what is more, my interlocutor didn’t respond to all my questions and he was disappearing many times. I felt bored and decided to end the conversation.

Visit 3 saw Montana relaxed and very eager to converse in English. She did not experience any feelings of anxiety because her interlocutor’s command of English was “much worse” than hers and she even wanted to “learn English from” Montana. In the student’s own words: It was a very motivating experience. I enjoyed the conversation very much. My interlocutor thought at first that I’m an English native speaker because I was writing very correctly. It was very satisfying and encouraging. We talked about vacations, travel experiences, about places we had been to and what is worth seeing and visiting. I didn’t feel bored. We also talked about places in our countries worth visiting.

Similarly to Visit 3, Montana felt relaxed and willing to chat in the target language during her next two sessions (i.e., Visit 4 and Visit 5). In Visit 4 she encountered a SL user from Spain and they chatted in English about Polish and Spanish languages and culture. For Montana this conversation was motivating and absorbing as she was “fond of the Spanish language.” She did not experience any boredom for almost the entire chat but she became somewhat bored at the end of it since her interlocutor “delayed the course of the conversation and he suddenly disappeared.” As for Visit 5, Montana chatted with a “native British speaker” (a girl who was of about the same age as Montana). They both were very engaged in their conversation concerning their “families, school, everything” for about two hours. The chat, however, was interrupted on several occasions as Montana’s interlocutor kept disappearing due to “her poor wi-fi connection.” The conversation in Visit 6 was for Montana “unsatisfactory and dull.” Although the student’s motivation and desire to speak was quite high in the initial minutes of the chat, she started to experience more boredom. She described the conversation with her interlocutor as “an interview.” She wrote: “It was me who asked questions, my interlocutor answered them, but he didn’t ask me a single question … He was bored and he made me bored, too.” Nevertheless, Montana found a positive side of this talk since, as she put it, “I learned something about Sweden and its culture.” In Visit 7 Montana was “willing to converse in English” because she wanted to “practice phrasal verbs” for an upcoming test. The student “found somebody to talk to very fast” and they discussed “various subjects.” The chat was “smooth, without any problems” and Montana “tried to use as many [phrasal verbs] as possible and also learnt new ones from [her] interlocutor.” The participant preferred using English “behind [her] avatar” as she was “not very confident.” However, Montana did not like the fact that her interlocutor used “a lot of shortcuts” which she “had to look up in the Internet.” Besides, the chat was “great” and neither Montana nor her interlocutor

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were bored (“I wasn’t bored, nor was my interlocutor.”). The conversation in Visit 8 was exceptionally unpleasant for Montana. The student wrote: At first, the conversation was OK, but after a few minutes my interlocutor became extremely importunate. When I wanted to end the conversation, I got a proposition of having virtual sex with him. It was too much for me and I had to leave the virtual world after merely half an hour. It was the worst conversation I had ever had.

Despite the unpleasant experience Montana went through during her last session in SL, the learner aimed to “meet new people” in Visit 9. First she “came across an Australian” and was pleased to “practice [her] English with a native speaker.” Next they “joined a group chat and conversed with four different people.” They mostly chatted about themselves and their experiences in SL. For Montana the chat “was very interesting and absorbing,” her interlocutors were very engaged in the conversation and asked her a lot of questions. The conversation Montana held with her interlocutor in Visit 10 “didn’t stand out from the rest of the conversations.” The student felt “a bit anxious” about her “problems with tenses” and not being understood be her interlocutors. Montana also experienced some feelings of boredom since she was not “fully interested in the conversation” which occasionally lacked “topics to talk about.” Visit 11 saw Montana’s willingness to communicate in English only in initial minutes and the increase in the experience of boredom toward the end. She also felt “anxious about making mistakes” and because of being ignored by her interlocutor. Montana regarded the chat in this session as unsuccessful. She wrote: My conversation wasn’t successful. My interlocutor didn’t want to ask me anything. He asked me only three questions during the whole chat. He obviously didn’t try to keep the conversation going. To make matters worse, he joined a public chat and totally ignored my messages. I didn’t like it. I found this conversation unpleasant and unmotivating.

4.6.4 Montana’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL The analysis of the interview data revealed that Montana preferred a one-to-one format of conversations in view of the fact that she wanted to be certain that her interlocutor concentrates on a conversation with her and not on talking to other SL residents. The student was also the initiator of the majority of conversations in her 11 visits to SL but both she and her conversers usually tried to sustain them. Montana felt boredom in places in which she could not find anybody to have a chat with in English. The participant experienced feelings of nervousness when a user she had a conversation with suddenly disappeared (this meant the termination of a conversation) or when a converser was very pushy. Finally, Montana said that she felt confident in SL because nobody saw her real face and did not assess her language proficiency. The following excerpts exemplify some of these findings:10 • I almost always talked with just one person. Only sporadically (just once or twice) I talked with very small groups. I like talking with just one person because I know 10 All

of the examples have been translated into English by the present author.

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103

that my interlocutor concentrates on the conversation with me and not on other people. The conversation is then more efficient and smooth. • I usually started conversations but on several occasions some other users walked up to my avatar and started chatting with me. It was me and my interlocutors who were trying to keep conversations going. • It happened that I felt anxious during my conversations in Second Life. Sometimes when I was talking with someone, it happened that my interlocutor simply walked away and ended the conversation, or, conversely, he or she was very pushy. • I felt more confident because nobody saw my real face and nobody evaluated my English.

4.7 Betty Betty visited SL 10 times over a period of one semester and spent roughly 500 min there. The average visit lasted 50 min (SD = 26.17). Betty often communicated with other SL residents by both text and voice utilities.

4.7.1 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels During Visits The variation that took place during Betty’s sessions in SL can be discussed on the basis of Table 4.6, which shows the mean and standard deviation values for each of the 10 occasions on which WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels were measured, and Fig. 4.11, where the self-ratings of the student can be found. Even a cursory look at the two data sources shows that the overall levels of WTC and motivation were to a large extent similar, although they differed in their magnitude. More specifically, Betty reported a high and growing desire to Table 4.6 The mean and standard deviation values for the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety (Betty)

Beginning

Middle

End

Total

5.60 (1.43)

6.00 (1.89)

5.63 (1.47)

4.50 (1.65)

4.70 (1.64)

4.57 (1.40)

2.60 (2.01)

2.90 (2.28)

2.33 (1.38)

2.00 (1.70)

2.00 (1.16)

M (SD) WTC 5.30 (1.83) Motivation 4.50 (1.43) Boredom 1.50 (0.71)

Language anxiety 1.60 (1.58)

2.40 (1.43)

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

104

4 Findings of the Study 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Start Middle End WTC

Start Middle End Motivation

Start Middle End Boredom

Start Middle End Language anxiety

Visit 1

Visit 2

Visit 3

Visit 4

Visit 5

Visit 7

Visit 8

Visit 9

Visit 10

Average

Visit 6

Fig. 4.11 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Betty)

communicate in English with residents of SL. This is visible in the overall level of her WTC which oscillated between 5.30 (the beginning) and 6 points (the end) during her visits to this virtual world. Unexpectedly, this overall increasing trend of WTC can only be found in three (30%) of her visits to SL (i.e., Visit 1, Visit 3 and Visit 9). In half of her individual sessions (i.e., 5 of 50%) Betty displayed a steady pattern (Visits 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10). As regards two other visits, they were of falling and no change and rise patterns (Visit 6 and Visit 2, respectively). The high WTC levels are reflected in Betty’s general interest in using the target language in the world in question whose overall level remained stable at the start and in the middle of her sessions (both 4.50 points) with a small rise at the end of them (4.70 points). It should be noted, however, that most of her individual visits (i.e., 6 or 60%), that is, Visits 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 displayed a steady pattern of motivation (i.e., no change in the self-reported levels can be observed). In addition, Fig. 4.11 shows other motivational patterns for Visit 1 (rise), Visits 6 (fall and no change), Visit 10 (rise and no change) and Visit 7 (no change and rise). Also noteworthy are the fluctuations in the boredom and language anxiety selfratings reported by Betty. As regards the former, it exhibited a similar to WTC pattern, that is, an increasing one (see Fig. 4.11). The general level of boredom was relatively low and oscillated between 1.50 and 2.90 points. It is interesting to note that in four visits (i.e., Visits 5, 8, 9 and 10) the student reported no feelings of boredom and the remainder showed disparate patterns (e.g., Visits 1 and 4 → rise; Visit 7 → rise and fall; Visit 6 → rise and no change). As far as the overall level of language anxiety

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is concerned, the numerical data included in Table 4.6 show that it was the lowest at the beginning of the sessions (1.60 points) and the highest in the middle of them (2.40). Worth noting here is the fact that the overall anxiety level was not the highest at the end of the sessions, as was the case with Betty’s readiness to speak English in SL, her motivation to do so and the experience of boredom. The analysis of the data also revealed that the pattern of increase-decrease is not uniform and can only be found in two visits (i.e., Visit 2 and Visit 7). In addition, in four visits (i.e., Visits 4, 5, 8 and 10) the student did not experience any feelings of anxiety and in the rest of the sessions the following patterns can be observed: fall (Visit 1), rise and no change (Visit 3 and Visit 6) and rise (Visit 9).

4.7.2 Variation in WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Levels from One Visit to Another

Levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety

Figure 4.12 shows the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety reported by Betty over time, (i.e., from one session in SL to the next). As for the student’s desire to interact in English with SL users and her motivation, their levels are to some extent similar, but they also deviate from one another at certain points in time. As for the former, Betty’s readiness to speak grew from Visit 1 to Visit 2 by one point and then it dropped in Visit 3 by 0.34 of a point only to rise again by 1.67 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1

2

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5

6

7

8

9

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Visits WTC

Motivation

Boredom

Language anxiety

Fig. 4.12 Fluctuations in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to another (Betty)

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(Visit 4) reaching the highest level in Visit 4 and Visit 5 (both seven points). This was followed by a remarkable decrease (4 points, Visit 6) and a significant increase (by 4 points) in her eagerness to use English in Visit 7 which remained at its highest level until the next visit (i.e., Visit 8). During the last two sessions Betty’s willingness to communicate fell by 3.36 points in Visit 9 and then rose again by 2.33 points in the last session. As regards Betty’s motivation, it increased from Visit 1 to Visit 2 by one point and then it remained at the same level until Visit 4. This was followed by a sudden growth by two points in Visit 5 and a staggering four-point fall in Visit 6. This, however, was followed by a two-point increase in motivational intensity, which commenced in Visit 7 and continued until Visit 8. As can be seen in Fig. 4.12, the two last sessions saw a steep decline by 3 points (Visit 9) and a sudden final increase by 2.67 points (Visit 10). As mentioned above, the levels of boredom and language anxiety reported by Betty were to a large extend similar and they underwent comparable changes from one session to the next (see Fig. 4.12). They fell (by 2.33 for boredom and 2 points for anxiety) from Visit 1 to Visit 2 only to rise again in Visit 3 (by 1.33 for boredom and 1 point for anxiety). Then the level of boredom remained the same in Visit 4, followed by a two-point drop in Visit 5. As for the level of language anxiety, a 1.33-point fall and no change can be observed from Visit 3 to Visit 4 and from Visit 4 to Visit 5, respectively. This was followed by a sudden increase in the levels of both boredom and anxiety (3.67 and 3 points, respectively), two decreases (Visit 7 and Visit 8), no change in the level of boredom from Visit 8 until the end and a 2.33 rise and fall in the experience of language anxiety in the last two sessions (i.e., Visit 9 and Visit 10). It should also be noted that the level of boredom in most visits was higher than the one of language anxiety, with the exception of Visit 5, Visit 8 and Visit 10 when the participant reported no feelings of these two negative emotions. Finally, the levels of boredom and anxiety were in contrast to the levels of WTC and motivation, a point that will be discussed later in this book. With respect to the differences between the lowest and the highest levels of the four constructs under investigation, they were rather moderate. The largest ones concerned the phenomena of WTC and boredom (4 and 3.67 points, respectively), while the smallest involved motivation and language anxiety (both 3 points).

4.7.3 Betty’s Immediate Accounts of Her Visits to SL The analysis of Betty’s description of her initial session in SL revealed that the learner was overall rather positive about her first encounter with the said virtual world. She had “a lot of fun”11 and was willing to speak in English “behind” her avatar with SL users since, as she put it, “no one could laugh at me.” However, she experienced some boredom when one of her interlocutors did not reply to her questions as well as when other SL users “quickly gave up” their conversations. In the second visit 11 All

the excerpts originated from the session log preserve original wording.

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Betty “didn’t feel any boredom” when she talked with “her friends from university” about school stuff (“grades, homework, etc.”). The student did not feel tense during the chat because, as she wrote, “we all made mistakes.” In the following visit (i.e., Visit 3) the participant “felt quite good” and she had an impression that “some of the people in this world really wanted to get to know” her. They talked about their studies, travels and interests. Although it was not difficult for Betty to communicate in English, she experienced periods of boredom “because of someone’s unwillingness to communicate” and her interlocutors’ poor speaking skills. Betty wrote: “Some of them talked about the past events in a present tense. Not funny.” It should be noted, however, that the learner was willing to speak English “behind [her] avatar,” since, as she explained, “they don’t know me at all.” When it comes to Visit 4, Betty was very willing to interact in English with SL users. She wrote: “It’s nice that other players are there to join you and you are not forced to talk. As for me, Second Life is truly a masterpiece because it’s easy to start a conversation behind the avatar.” Nonetheless, the participant complained about the “lack of everyday living” since she would like to do “something more instead of walking and talking” there. Betty also said that she felt “bored” and “annoyed” when some SL residents did not want to talk with her and demonstrated this “in a clear way.” In Visit 5 Betty “really wanted to talk” and she “felt relaxed during the conversation.” She wrote: I had a lot of fun. I was talking with my interlocutor while my friend was talking with another interlocutor, sitting next to me. It was very successful. We were talking for 2 h, sharing our opinions about today’s world, politicians, and so on.

The situation changed in Visit 6. Betty described the conversation she held in this session as “annoying.” This is because her interlocutor’s “willingness to talk was low” and “he used only one grammar structure and tense—PRESENT.” For Betty it was “hard to understand what he was talking about.” The participant felt anxious and “really bored.” The subsequent visit (i.e., Visit 7) brought about a change in Betty’s evaluation of the said session. She “really enjoyed spending time in Second Life” while talking with a person from Germany about “islamists in his country, etc.” In this visit Betty felt free to “express” herself, or as she said: “In Second Life I can express myself without any boundaries.” The participant continued to enjoy interacting in English in the next visit (i.e., Visit 8). Betty was neither bored nor anxious, as the conversation was “absorbing,” she learned some “new words” and “wasn’t afraid to make mistakes.” As for Visit 9, the participant’s willingness to speak English was on the increase, despite the fact that the chat “was unpleasant” for her (“I talked with a man who was trying to upset me.”). However, Betty’s level of motivation and anxiety suffered because of this and started to fall and rise, respectively. Surprisingly, the subject did not experience any boredom but “anger.” Finally, the last session in SL turned out to be an interesting one for Betty. She was relaxed and eager to chat with the SL residents she met.

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4.7.4 Betty’s Introspective Account of Her Sessions in SL The analysis of Betty’s answers to the questions posed in the interview yielded a wealth of information about the four variables under investigation (i.e., WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety). When asked about to mention one situation in which her WTC level was the highest and reasons impacting her desire to interact in the target language in the virtual world in question, Betty pointed to a chat with a girl she met in SL and their arranged meeting. The participant’s motivation was high when she met friendly and willing to participate in conversations SL users as well as in situations in which she had the chance to learn something from her conversers. In response to the question about the feelings that accompanied her during conversations, the student said that she did not feel nervous but safe in view of the fact that she was anonymous there. The participant also expressed the opinion that her readiness to use English in conversations in the course of her sessions in SL was enhanced thanks to the shielding effect of her avatar. In fact, Betty said that she was the first who started talking to someone because she “didn’t want to wait for somebody else to start chatting”12 and she conducted most of her conversations in a one-to-one format. The following are relevant excerpts from the interview: • I was the most willing to talk when I and the girl I met decided to meet again and chat. • It depended on other chatters. If they were friendly and willing to take part in conversations, I was also motivated. • I was motivated during talks with people from whom I, in turn, could learn something and talk about interesting topics. • I didn’t feel anxious because I was anonymous there. So nobody was able to offend me or laugh at me in the face. • I have become more open and more ready to talk to people I don’t know anything about. In response to the question about situations that had a detrimental effect on her readiness to use English, Betty referred to one conversation in which she was subject to unpleasant jokes and exposed to unkind remarks from its very beginning. Betty also experienced feelings of boredom, especially with respect to situations in which she approached people whose English language proficiency was very low as well as at the end of longer conversations (i.e., the ones lasting over an hour). Illustrative in this regard are the following comments: • I was the least willing to communicate when from the start of a conversation I read silly jokes about me despite the fact that my interlocutor knew only one thing—the fact that I was a girl from Poland. • I was the least motivated when I met with back talks.

12 All

of the examples have been translated into English by the present author.

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• I was the most bored with talking to some people. Simply I wasn’t able to chat with them. They almost didn’t know English and they made lots of mistakes. It was difficult to have a sensible conversation with them. • Sometimes the game was boring, especially after using it for over an hour. Topics were running out and I didn’t know what to do with my avatar. Finally, it should also be noted that Betty considered the use of SL to have a positive impact on her readiness to communicate in English with strangers; however, the use of it did not improve her English grammar nor did it increase the number of the target language vocabulary. She said: “I made progress in willingness to talk to strangers in English but it didn’t improve my grammar and the number of English words I know. A lot of people there spoke English poorly.”

4.8 Discussion of the Findings While Chap. 3 and Sects. 4.2–4.7 of the present chapter dealt with the description of the methodology of the present research project and the presentation of its findings, respectively, this section is mainly focused on a discussion of the findings. For the sake of clarity, the discussion will follow the order in which the research questions are enumerated in Chap. 3, Sect. 3.2 and the last part of this section will be devoted to some weaknesses of this study.

4.8.1 RQ 1: How Do Levels of WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Change in the Course of a Single Session in SL? The analysis of the data gathered by means of the session log, particularly with respect to the students’ self-ratings indicated on the WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety grids, demonstrate that the participants’ eagerness to use English in their visits to SL, their motivation, the experience of boredom and language anxiety during those sessions were subject to some variation. More specifically, the obtained results revealed that, in general, the levels of WTC and motivation showed a decreasing pattern in the case of four students (i.e., Wynona, Latoya, Phillipa and Montana) and an increasing one in the case of two learners (i.e., Dakota and Betty). As for the levels of boredom, four individuals (i.e., Betty, Montana, Phillipa and Wynona) displayed an increasing trend; however, in the case of Wynona this average increasing trend was barely visible and only marked in the end. Latoya and Dakota demonstrated a decreasing pattern in this negative emotion. Finally, three students (i.e., Wynona, Phillipa and Dakota) displayed, on average, a decreasing pattern in the experience of language anxiety, two learners (i.e., Latoya and Betty) a rise and fall one and one participant (i.e., Montana) did not show any change from the beginning until the end

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of her visits to SL. Such findings are to a large extent in line with the results of other studies related to the constructs under investigation and carried out in traditional and/or digital settings as well as under experimental circumstances (e.g., Boudreau et al., 2018; Kruk, 2016c, 2019b; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011; Melchor-Couto, 2017; Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2017; Pawlak et al., 2020c). It should be noted, however, that in a lot of individual sessions major divergences from these overall trends concerning the constructs in question were observed. It was revealed, for example, that in the case of Latoya the overall decreasing patterns in her WTC and motivation levels were only found in one and two out of 14 sessions, respectively, in the case of Phillipa the general rising pattern of boredom was typical of five out of 12 visits and in the case of Betty the overall pattern of increase-decrease in her anxiety levels was also not uniform and could only be found in two out of ten sessions. The findings of this study show that aggregated data tend to flatten individualistic behavior and may be insufficient to uncover variation within a single participant (cf. Boudreau et al., 2018; Kruk, 2019b; Larsen-Freeman, 2016). Thus, a more closer look at data associated with an individual subject’s levels of the constructs under investigation offers unique opportunities to detect ebbs and flows of the phenomena in question as well as factors responsible for these irregularities. This issue, however, is a subject of another research question and will thus be elaborated upon later in this section.

4.8.2 RQ 2: How Do Levels of WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety Change from One Session in SL to Another? The results of the study offered in relevant subsections of Sects. 4.2–4.7 demonstrated that the participants’ willingness to speak in English in SL, their intensity of motivation, their experience of boredom and language anxiety were subject to changes from one session to another. The obtained data revealed that while some of these variations were quite substantial, such as those displayed by Wynona, other fluctuations in the examined constructs were of lower degree, such as the ones reported by Phillipa. However, a closer look at the differences between the lowest and the highest levels of the four constructs allowed to shed additional light on the magnitude of variations in individual students’ WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety from one visit to the next. Thus, it was uncovered that the largest differences in this regard were detected among the following learners: Latoya (WTC and motivation), Wynona (motivation, boredom and language anxiety) and Betty (WTC). By contrast, the smallest differences between the lowest and the highest levels of the constructs in question were displayed by Phillipa (WTC, motivation and boredom), Dakota (WTC, motivation and language anxiety), Montana (motivation and language anxiety), Wynona (WTC) and Betty (motivation and language

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anxiety). These discrepancies may be explained by unique characteristics of individual students and/or constellations of factors which were found to be responsible for such changes (as will be elucidated in some detail when addressing Research Question 4). These findings also seem to indicate the importance of contribution of individual learner differences and the need of exploring such learner differences in the field of second/foreign language research (Butler, 2019; Pawlak, 2017, 2020; Ryan, 2020). In addition, the findings of the study showed that the behavior of the constructs under study could be described as dynamic and unpredictable most of the time. It must be noted, however, that more steady and/or less volatile behaviors of these phenomena were also observed from one session to the next, with the caveat that they were of limited occurrence and duration. Nonetheless, such periods of relatively stable behaviors of the said constructs were visible, for example, in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety reported by Latoya (Visits 4–7 and Visits 9–11), in the levels of motivation reported by Dakota (Visits 10–12) and Wynona (Visits 7–10), in the levels of language anxiety reported by Phillipa (Visits 7–11) and Montana (Visits 6–9) or in the levels of boredom reported by Betty (Visits 8–10). Such dynamic and/or stable behaviors of the variables in question are in line with the claims of dynamic systems theories (Larsen-Freeman, 2015; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008) and have been reported in earlier research projects, also those carried out in virtual worlds (e.g., Kruk, 2015a, b, 2016c, d; Melchor-Couto, 2017). It should be noted, however, that some of those studies were cross-sectional in design, they comprised a larger number of participants and compared groups of learners rather than individual students (e.g., Kruk, 2015a; Melchor-Couto, 2017). Depending on their objectives, some of these research projects (e.g., Kruk, 2015b, 2016c) did not focus on trajectories of a given phenomenon in connection with individual learners, which could have strayed from the behavior of a whole group and, as a result, much richer and much more detailed data could have been overlooked.

4.8.3 RQ 3: What Is the Relationship Between and/or Among WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety and Does that Relationship Change Over Time? In order to answer the third research question regarding the relationship between and/or among the four constructs, that is, WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety and whether that relationship varies over time, the discussion of the results will be divided into two parts: (1) the relationship between and/or among the constructs in question within individual sessions (i.e., from the start to the end of them) and (2) the relationships of the constructs under study from one visit to SL to another. When it comes to the changes within single sessions, the obtained results revealed that in most cases (i.e., Wynona, Latoya, Montana and Phillipa) the overall levels of

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WTC and motivation established a similar relationship, that is, their levels were the highest at the start of the sessions and the lowest at the end of them. The two variables also showed a considerable rapport throughout the sessions in Dakota’s and Betty’s cases, albeit they were of the reverse trend, that is, their levels were the lowest at the beginning and the highest at the end of the visits. As for the levels of boredom and the relationship of the said construct with other variables under investigation, they were, at least in the case of three students (i.e., Wynona, Phillipa and Dakota), as one could perhaps suspect, of the reverse trend to the ones concerning WTC and motivation. This is because the overall experience of boredom either increased as the levels of WTC and motivation decreased (Montana and Phillipa) or it decreased as the levels of WTC and motivation increased (Dakota). Therefore somewhat surprising perhaps is the relationship between general levels of boredom, WTC and motivation as reported by Wynona, Latoya and Betty. Although the said phenomena did not undergo many changes throughout Wynona’s 16 visits to SL, Latoya’s and Betty’s general feelings of boredom related to all their sessions in SL were in line with the levels of WTC and motivation. More specifically, Latoya’s overall experience of boredom, motivation and willingness to interact in English with SL users started to fall from the initial minutes of the sessions and they continued to do so until the end of them, but, in contrast to Latoya, Betty’s overall feelings of boredom, motivation and eagerness to use the target language in SL displayed the opposite trend, that is, they were the lowest in the initial moments of the sessions and the highest in the final ones. Although these findings mirror to some extent those obtained in earlier studies (e.g., Kruk, 2016c, 2019b), in which the levels of WTC, motivation and boredom followed the rather expectable relationship, that is, the one in which increasing/decreasing levels of WTC and motivation induces decreasing/increasing levels of boredom, the present results demonstrate that the constructs under study can interact and change in unpredictable ways, which is in accordance with the tenets of dynamic systems theories (LarsenFreeman, 2016; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008). As regards language anxiety, the obtained results showed that the overall levels of this construct reported by the participants throughout their visits to SL formed a variety of relationships with other constructs (i.e., WTC, motivation and boredom) among different subjects. It was found, for example, that while the levels of language anxiety and boredom decreased, the levels of WTC and motivation increased (Dakota), or that while the levels of WTC, motivation and boredom increased, the levels of language anxiety decreased (Betty) or that while the levels of WTC and motivation decreased and the levels of boredom increased, the levels of language anxiety remained the same (Montana). It must be noted, however, that in almost all cases the general levels of language anxiety tended to be lower in the final minutes of the sessions in the virtual world in question. This echoes the findings obtained in prior studies (e.g., Kruk, 2016c; Melchor-Couto, 2017; Wehner et al., 2011) which reported low and decreasing levels of language anxiety during interactions in virtual worlds. Finally, the results of the study showed that five participants (Montana, Wynona, Dakota, Latoya and Betty), on the whole, reported higher levels of WTC and motivation as compared to the levels of their feelings of boredom and language anxiety, and in the case of one student (Phillipa) the general level of boredom reported by this learner was higher than the levels of

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some other variables at different time points. Although such relationships between and/or among the four constructs under study can be, to a greater or lesser extent, interpreted as implying that higher/lower levels of WTC and motivation translate into lower/higher levels of boredom and language anxiety, the relationships among individual trajectories of the four variables reported by all participants in relation to particular sessions every so often deviated from the general norm (as discussed in some detail when addressing Research Question 1). This finding, once again, demonstrates the complex and unpredictable nature of the four constructs under investigation. The obtained results also revealed some unique relationships between and/or among the four constructs under investigation over a longer period of time, that is, from one session in SL to another. It was uncovered that the overall levels of WTC and motivation went hand in hand in the majority of sessions in all six cases. The same, albeit in a reversed way, was observed in the case of general levels of the participants’ experience of boredom in their visits to this virtual world. These co-occurrences are best exemplified in Latoya’s case where a regular interaction between and/or among the three phenomena can be observed, that is, higher/lower levels of WTC/motivation were accompanied by lower/higher levels of boredom (see Sect. 4.4.2 and Fig. 4.6). It must be noted, however, that even in Latoya’s case certain deviations from the said relationships occurred in some initial and final sessions of her adventure with SL when the three variables happened to interact on very similar levels (Visit 3 and Visit 12). Some other divergences from the prevalent interactions between and/or among the three constructs were also uncovered and formed, among others, the following relationships: (a) a very high level of WTC plus a lower level of motivation and a higher level of boredom (Wynona → Visit 11), (b) moderate levels of WTC and boredom plus a low level of motivation (Phillipa → Visit 7), (c) a very high level of WTC plus moderate levels of motivation and boredom (Betty → Visit 7). It is also interesting to note that while, on the one hand, WTC, motivation and boredom formed a variety of configurations over a span of several sessions, throughout some other sessions, on the other hand, the relationships between the said variables remained unchanged. Since it would be neither possible nor warranted to discuss all the interactions in detail, it makes sense to focus on the most distinctive and perhaps surprising ones. For example, such relationships among the three constructs in question can be observed in Wynona’s, Montana’s and Betty’s cases. As to the first of these, the highest levels of the participant’s motivation were accompanied with the lowest levels of her feelings of boredom and decreasing/increasing eagerness to interact with SL residents (Visits 7–10). As for Montana, the learner’s high and constant motivation level detected from Visit 3 to Visit 5 was in contrast to the decreasing level of WTC and rising/falling levels of boredom. As regards Betty, the student did not report any feelings of boredom in her last three sessions in SL but her levels of WTC and motivation developed a mutual relationship and kept altering from visit to visit. Last but not least, a comment is needed on the relationships between and/or among language anxiety and other constructs under investigation. The obtained results showed that these can be described in two general ways. The first one resembled the relationship formed between and/or among boredom, WTC

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and motivation, that is, the feelings of anxiety corresponded to the ones related to boredom and they mirrored the behaviors of WTC and motivation. Thus, it was detected that lower/higher levels of language anxiety/boredom were complemented by higher/lower levels of WTC/motivation. The manner in which these variables interacted with one another is characteristic of two participants, that is, Latoya and Betty. As regards the second general way of the relationships between and/or among language anxiety and the other three constructs, it was pretty chaotic and unpredictable. This is because higher/lower levels of language anxiety either matched those related to WTC/motivation/boredom or, to a greater or lesser extent, strayed from the behaviors of the said phenomena. This way of interaction of language anxiety with the other variables is typical of the four remaining students: Wynona, Dakota, Phillipa and Montana. All of this demonstrates that the relationships between and/or among the variables under investigation may influence each other in a wide array of unexpected and unpredictable ways as indicated by some of the latest theoretical viewpoints on second language acquisition connected with dynamic systems theories (de Bot, Lowie, Thorne, & Verspoor, 2013; Larsen-Freeman, 2015; LarsenFreeman & Cameron, 2008). In addition, as shown in the SLA literature (e.g., Brown, 2000; Ehrman & Oxford, 1995; MacIntyre et al., 1998), these findings seem to imply that the discussed interactions and a variety configurations formed by the constructs in question may have positive influences on learning a foreign/second language in virtual worlds (e.g., high levels of WTC and motivation vs. low levels of boredom and language anxiety).

4.8.4 RQ 4: What Influences Are Responsible for These Changes in the Participants’ WTC, Motivation, Boredom and Language Anxiety? Factors responsible for changes in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety reported by the participants during their visits to SL will first be discussed separately for individual students. This will be followed by a discussion of the influences responsible for these changes shared by all or single constructs as well as common for some or individual learners. An attempt will also be made to discuss some of these findings in relation to the ways the participants coped with learning situations based on the results of the Learning Style Survey (Cohen et al., 2002). A positive impact on Wynona’s desire to use English in SL had SL users who were willing to talk to her “about everything” (e.g., Visit 7). She was able to meet such ready to converse with her people while visiting new places and exploring the world in question. The obtained data revealed that Wynona repeatedly pointed to growing confidence in using the target language during her interactions with avatars (e.g., Visits 8, 10, 12) and understanding the output produced by her interlocutors (e.g., Visits 2 and 7). The participant’s motivation was boosted by her interest, enjoyment and curiosity about SL and its residents. In contrast, several factors had a negative

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impact on Wynona’s willingness to use English in the said world and her motivation. These factors included: initial problems with understanding the language (Visit 1), meeting unwilling to talk in English SL users (e.g., Visits 4, 6 and 13) and encountering rude and impolite inhabitants of this virtual world (e.g., Visits 1 and 6). The participant also experienced boredom and language anxiety during some of the sessions in SL. The former was mostly related to SL users’ reluctance to converse with her, short and/or monotonous chats and the absence of SL users in some of the places she visited (e.g., Visits 4, 15 and 16). When it comes to the latter, Wynona experienced some anxiety usually during the initial minutes of her conversations with newly met people (e.g., Visit 12). In addition, Wynona’s higher levels of language anxiety were caused by insolent behavior of some SL residents (e.g., Visit 6) and the self-perceived incompetence of her language skills (e.g., Visit 1). When it comes to Dakota’s readiness to speak in English in SL, her motivation to use this language and her experience of boredom in the virtual world in question were positively influenced by the opportunity to meet a lot of new and friendly SL users, learn about the target language culture and the feeling of enjoyment (e.g., Visits 2, 7, 8 and 16). The analysis of the data showed that the student found some topics discussed during her interactions with residents of SL to be interesting and motivating as well as enhancing her English language skills (e.g., Visits 2 and 13). In addition, a beneficial impact on the student’s readiness to speak in English and her experience of anxiety had the shielding effect of her personal avatar, thanks to which she felt more confident and became anonymous to her interlocutors (e.g., Visits 3, 6, 7 and 14). The analysis of the participant’s descriptions of all sessions in SL also uncovered some detrimental influences on Dakota’s readiness to use English, motivation, boredom and language anxiety. These were mainly related to SL users and concerned issues such as discussing topics she was not interested in at all, speaking to people whose command of the English language was very poor and/or meeting native speakers and having to wait or look for someone willing to have a conversation with her (e.g., Visits 4, 5 and 16). Moving on to the next participant, that is, Latoya, the analysis of the descriptions of her visits to SL showed that the subject’s motivation and desire to communicate in English was positively influenced by SL users willing to have a conversation with her, and in particular native speakers (e.g., Visit 6 and Visit 9), topics of conversations (e.g., Visit 1 and Visit 10), curiosity about SL residents as well as the fact that she could practice the target language and learn from her interlocutors (Visit 14). Latoya’s motivation and willingness to communicate was also positively influenced by the fact that she enjoyed the opportunity to practice the target language by means of text and voice (e.g., Visit 5 and Visit 11). Finally, being hidden behind her personal avatar made the participant less anxious since she became virtually invisible to other SL residents and less vulnerable to judgements about the mistakes she made. The obtained data also uncovered a number of factors that had a negative influence on Latoya’s motivation and readiness to speak. These factors involved difficulty in finding interlocutors who would be willing to chat, encountering impolite and poorly speaking SL users and conversational topics (e.g., Visit 3 and Visit 8). It was also revealed that the participant experienced feelings of boredom and anxiety when she

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had to talk about uninteresting topics with interlocutors whom she perceived as bored as well (Visit 3) and while chatting with rude SL residents (e.g., Visit 12), respectively. Finally, Latoya felt uncertain about people she conversed with because she could not see their faces. As regards Phillipa, the obtained results showed that, overall, the learner was only occasionally interested and willing to communicate in English with SL users during her sessions in SL. The advantageous influence on the student’s higher levels of WTC and motivation had conversations conducted by means of voice and when she noticed that her English was good enough for people to understand her, respectively (Visit 5 and Visit 7). Phillipa’s initial WTC and interest in talking in English to inhabitants of the virtual world in question was often diminished by a host of negative influences such as the lack of common interests and topics to discuss (e.g., Visit 7), limited number of avatar-people willing to talk to her (e.g. Visit 6 and Visit 8) and some technical issues (e.g., Visit 3). The experience of boredom had also a bearing on Phillipa’s willingness to interact in English. As shown in Sect. 4.5, the student experienced more boredom over time in a number of sessions (e.g., Visits 7, 8 and 10) due to lack of topics to discuss and/or people to have a conversation with. The obtained results also revealed that Phillipa felt very anxious in her first visits to SL for the reason that this virtual environment was simply new to her. The student’s anxiety was influenced by meeting impolite interlocutors or talking to strangers whom she could not see. It should also be noted that the analysis of the numerical data demonstrated that Phillipa felt more comfortable in SL with time; however, no concrete instances connected with the student’s experience of language anxiety were found in the majority of the descriptions of her sessions in SL. The analysis of the data collected by means of Montana’s descriptions of her sessions in SL showed that SL users who were involved in conversations with her and whose command of the English language was worse than hers (e.g., Visit 3) as well as topics related to culture (e.g., Visit 4) had a beneficial impact on the student’s motivation and readiness to interact in the target language. Moreover, the participant’s motivation was higher when she spoke with native speakers she could learn from (e.g., Visit 5), practiced language points (e.g., Visit 7) and participated in a group chat (e.g., Visit 9). The beneficial impact on Montana’s experience of language anxiety had the shielding effect of her personal avatar because it guaranteed her anonymity and made her less vulnerable to negative evaluation of her language skills by her interlocutors. It should be noted, however, that Montana felt less motivated and ready to speak in English when faced with interlocutors who were unwilling to contribute to conversations (e.g., Visit 6) and who were importunate or rude (Visit 8). The learner experienced some boredom when her interlocutors made long pauses, kept disappearing and appearing during conversations, were not engaged in talking, ran out of discussion topics and when she could not find avatars willing to converse with her (e.g., Visits 2, 4, 10 and 11). In some of her sessions Montana was also concerned about the fact that her interlocutors might not have understood her because of her problems with English tenses (e.g., Visit 10). The participant felt a bit anxious when she was ignored by her interlocutors (e.g., Visit 11) and when she conversed with “pushy” SL users.

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Last but not least, the analysis of Betty’s descriptions of her visits to the virtual world in question disclosed a number of factors which influenced the participant’s willingness to interact in English, motivation, the experience of boredom and language anxiety in both positive and negative ways. As for the former, the subject’s motivation and/or readiness to speak increased when she met friendly SL users who were willing to talk with her (e.g., Visits 2, 3 and 8). The themes of conversations during which Betty was able to share her own ideas and talk about her personal experiences were also uncovered as having a beneficial impact on her interest and eagerness to engage in the conducted conversations (e.g., Visits 2, 3, 5 and 8). An indication of the participant’s low language anxiety and heightened willingness to speak in the target language with SL residents also concerned the shielding effect of her personal avatar (e.g., Visits 1, 3 and 4). In addition, Betty’s motivation was influenced by the feeling of enjoyment (e.g., Visits 1, 5, 8 and 9), the possibility of gaining new knowledge during chats with her interlocutors (e.g., Visit 8) and the freedom of expression (Visit 7). When it comes to the negative influences, the student’s WTC was low due to artificiality of the world in question and when she was subject to unkind remarks and jokes. The obtained results also demonstrated that the learner felt bored in situations when she tried to communicate with SL users but they did not answer her questions, were unwilling to talk or whose command of the English language was very poor (e.g., Visits, 1 and 3). Finally, Betty experienced language anxiety when her interlocutors’ desire to interact with her was low and when they demonstrated very low proficiency in English (Visit 6). Figure 4.13 encapsulates all the identified influences responsible for the fluctuations in the participants’ readiness to communicate in English in SL, motivation, experience of boredom and language anxiety. As can be seen from this figure, all investigated constructs were impacted by a host of positive (+) and negative (–) factors. Figure 4.13 also shows that some factors were common for all or more than one construct in question as well as that they were found to be distinctively responsible for changes in distinct constructs. More specifically, the factor that was shared by all variables under investigation included SL users, with the caveat that it had both a beneficial and detrimental influence on the subjects’ WTC, motivation and boredom but a negative one on their experience of language anxiety. A factor that was common to three variables, that is WTC, motivation and boredom, was related to conversational topics and it affected the said phenomena in both positive and negative ways. Other factors that were shared by two constructs and had an advantageous influence on them included confidence (WTC and language anxiety), types of conversation (WTC and motivation) and avatar/anonymity (WTC and language anxiety). As for factors that were identified as common to more than one variable and had a negative impact on them, they encompassed technical problems (WTC and motivation) and language comprehension (WTC and language anxiety). It should also be noted that the comprehension of output produced by the participants’ interlocutors had both a positive and negative impact on their WTC levels. As can be seen in Fig. 4.13, all investigated constructs were also influenced by a number of unique (positive and/or negative) factors, that is, factors characteristic of only one construct. For example, artificiality and ambiguous situations were only found to have a detrimental influence

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(–) SL users (W D L P M B) (–) topics (D L M) (–) language comprehension (W) (–) technical problems (W P) (–) artificiality (B) (–) ambiguous situations (W)

(+) SL users (D) (+) topics (M)

WTC

Motivation

Boredom

Language anxiety

(–) SL users (W L P M D) (–) topics (L M) (–) technical problems (P)

(+) confidence (W D) (+) avatar/anonymity (W D M B L) (+) no assessment (L M)

(–) SL users (W M D P B L) (–) topics (D L P M) (–) conversations (W)

Fig. 4.13 Positive (+) and negative (−) influences responsible for the changes in the participants’ WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety Note W = Wynona, D = Dakota, L = Latoya, M = Montana, P = Phillipa, B = Betty

on WTC, whereas the factors concerning interest, enjoyment and curiosity as well as language development were uniquely related to motivation. A closer look at Fig. 4.13 also reveals that the increases and decreases in the participants’ WTC, motivation, the feelings of boredom and the experience of language anxiety, reported in Sects. 4.2–4.7, were triggered by a number of factors, some of which were shared by several students (e.g., SL users and topics) and some that were characteristic only of individual subjects (e.g., freedom of expression, artificiality and uncertainty). One of the factors that was identified as common to more than one participant and, at the same time, as having a positive and/or negative influence on their WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety was related to SL users. In addition to this, the said factor was not reported as beneficial to Phillipa’s WTC and Wynona’s and Phillipa’s motivation but it had both a positive and negative influence on Dakota’s experience of boredom as well as no positive effect on any of the subjects’ language anxiety. Another factor that was shared by several students and had a beneficial and/or detrimental impact on their WTC, motivation and boredom concerned conversational topics (see Fig. 4.13). It should be noted, however, that the obtained results revealed no influence of the said factor on three students’ eagerness to interact in English (Wynona, Phillipa and Betty), two learners’ motivation (Wynona and Phillipa) and two subjects’ experience of boredom (Wynona

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and Betty). Other factors that were shared by at least two participants involved confidence, avatar/anonymity and types of conversation. As far as the factors regarding confidence and avatar/anonymity are concerned, they had an advantageous influence on Wynona’s and Dakota’s WTC and language anxiety levels as well as Betty’s WTC and Montana’s, Betty’s and Latoya’s feelings of language anxiety. The factor related to types of conversation was found to have a positive impact on Wynona’s and Phillipa’s readiness to speak in English in SL and Montana’s motivation. It should also be noted that the factor concerning technical problems affected Wynona’s and Phillipa’s willingness to speak in English in the virtual world in question and Phillipa’s motivation to do so in a negative way. As can be seen in Fig. 4.13, three factors, that is, enjoyment, curiosity and language development, boosted interest and engagement in this virtual environment among several students (i.e., Wynona, Dakota, Latoya and Betty → enjoyment; Latoya and Wynona → curiosity; Dakota, Phillipa, Montana, Betty and Latoya → language development). Finally, the factors involving the lack of assessment and the fear of making mistakes lowered the levels of language anxiety during conversations in the target language carried by Latoya and Montana but increased the experience of this negative emotion in the case of Latoya and Phillipa. As can be seen from the foregoing discussion, a host of factors had a negative and/or positive influence on the changes in the levels of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety reported by the participants. On the whole, those factors reflect some uncovered in earlier empirical investigations into WTC (e.g., Lee, 2019; Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2017; Zawodniak & Kruk, 2017) and motivation (e.g., Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2018; Kartal & Balçıkanlı, 2019; Kruk, 2016b) as well as those influencing the experience of boredom (e.g., Pawlak et al., 2020c, Kruk, 2020b) and language anxiety (e.g., Boudreau et al., 2018; Roed, 2003; Kruk, 2019b; Melchor-Couto, 2017). However, it should be emphasized that, in general, some of the influences found in the present study were responsible for changes in more than one construct or they were uniquely accountable for variation in separate phenomena under investigation. In addition, it was revealed that while a particular array of factors affected changes in a given construct, only some of such factors turned out to be responsible for fluctuations in such a construct in the case of an individual student. For example, Dakota’s increase in WTC levels were influenced by factors concerning SL users, confidence and avatar/anonymity but Montana’s growth in her eagerness to communicate in English was affected by only two factors, namely, SL users and topics. This finding, once again, shows the importance of zooming in on individual students rather than a group of learners and examining factors affecting their changes in the constructs under investigation. This is because general results may not take into account distinct characteristics of an individual student which make him or her behave differently in various leaning situations as well as make him or her susceptible to various stimuli such as the ones found in virtual worlds. It is perhaps warranted at this juncture to say a few words on the lack of the construct of boredom in the models of WTC discussed in Chap. 1. As has been shown in this volume, boredom has not been ‘the favorite child’ of SLA research,

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whereas this negative emotion has been subject to numerous studies in the field of psychology and educational psychology. In addition, the overview of the said construct offered in Chap. 1 (Sect. 1.5) and the analysis of the data gathered for the purpose of the present study clearly show that boredom is an integral part of human behavior, it is distinguished by varying degrees of intensity and it can interact with other individual difference variables. As a result, this negative emotion shapes language learners’ behavior and their language performance in unexpected ways. Thus, it seems reasonable to suggest that the phenomenon of boredom form an integral part of a WTC model. It is also worth noting that a specific constellation of factors accountable for fluctuations in the variables in question observed among different individual learners might be the outcome of the ways these students dealt with learning situations as found in the results of the Learning Style Survey (LSS) (Cohen et al., 2002). More specifically, two participants, that is, Dakota and Latoya appeared to be extraverted learners and seemed to benefit from a range of social opportunities to interact in English offered by SL. Some other students, that is, Wynona and Montana as well as Phillipa and Montana turned out to be concrete-sequential and analytic learners, respectively. For example, Montana knew that learning English by means of SL could be useful for her and she liked to focus on specific language elements (e.g., grammar and vocabulary) during her conversations with SL users. The analysis of the data collected by means of LSS also revealed that four students (i.e., Wynona, Dakota, Latoya and Montana) represented a visual learning type, Betty turned out to be an auditory learner and Phillipa showed preference in both visual and auditory dimensions. This finding could perhaps explain the participants’ inclination toward the use of text chat rather than voice chat capabilities offered by SL in their visits to the said virtual world and the occasional usage of voice chat by Betty and Phillipa. As for Latoya, the student’s application of both text and voice utilities in her conversations with SL users might be connected with her extraverted psychological type as found in LSS. Finally, it should also be remarked that all participants represented closureoriented learning style, which, according to Cohen and Weaver (2006), is typical of learners who concentrate carefully on most or all learning tasks, try hard to meet deadlines, plan in advance for assignments and desire explicit directions. It must be noted, however, that although the participants visited SL with the purpose of performing tasks they had planned (e.g., communicate in English with encountered SL residents), they frequently had to wait for SL residents willing to interact with them or deal with impolite or disturbing SL users. Such situations could have had a bearing on the participants’ experience of boredom and language anxiety as well as on their motivation and desire to communicate in English in-world.

4.9 Limitations While the findings of the study shed valuable light on the comprehension of how the intensity of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety change in visits

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121

to the virtual world Second Life with respect to six English majors as well as the relationships among and/or between the variables in question and the factors that cause such changes, the research project, like any other, is not free from limitations. First, it included only six advanced Polish learners of English, all of whom were female students. Second, although different research projects (e.g., MystkowskaWiertelak & Pawlak, 2017; Pawlak et al., 2020a; Waninge et al., 2014) successfully utilized the type of methodology applied to the present study, the reliance on the participants’ descriptions of their sessions and, in particular, their self-ratings, might have been inexact and/or subject to bias (MacIntyre et al., 1997; Trofimovich, Isaacs, Kennedy, Saito, & Crowther, 2016). Third, more data collection tools (e.g., learner diaries, interviews with the participants after each session) could have been utilized in order to generate a more complete picture of the investigated phenomena. However, the lack of such additional research instruments can be explained by the desire not to overload the participants with extra duties during the study, since all the students had to attend other classes and prepare for them. Fourth, no information was gathered concerning the participants’ general levels of their WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety before the research project. Such data could have shed invaluable light on the intensity of the investigated phenomena and they could have offered more additional information on individual characteristics of the students. These considerations should undoubtedly be remedied in future research projects focusing on the phenomena in question, an issue that will be expounded upon in the following chapter.

4.10 Conclusion This chapter has concentrated on reporting the findings of the study carried out among six Polish university students which sought to explore changes in WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety, the relationships of the constructs in question as well as the factors influencing them in the six participants’ sessions in SL. The results of the study showed that the investigated phenomena were subject to considerable fluctuations during a single visit to SL as well as over time, that is, from one session to the next, with the caveat that the degree of these variations varied depending on the subject. In addition, the obtained results revealed that all the constructs interacted dynamically and unpredictably. Finally, a host of positive and negative factors causing fluctuations of the investigated variables was detected, such as SL users, topics, types of conversation, language comprehension or confidence in using English. Although the study is not immune from weaknesses, it is possible to offer a handful of tentative implications on how virtual worlds such as SL can be used by language learners in their out-of-school learning as well as directions for future research. These issues, however, will be highlighted in the concluding part of the present volume.

Chapter 5

Conclusions, Pedagogical Implications and Directions for Future Research

This book has been devoted to individual difference variables of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety experienced by the participants of the present study in one of the largest and well-known virtual worlds Second Life. Although the investigated constructs, and in particular WTC, motivation and language anxiety have been the subject of a number of research projects over the years, including those undertaken in virtual worlds, the construct of boredom only recently has become the focus of empirical investigations in contexts related to the learning and teaching of a foreign language. It should also be noted that the construct of boredom has been neglected by SLA and CALL researchers and research projects devoted to the said phenomenon in these areas are still few and far between. In addition, the results of the study reported in this volume constitute one of a few attempts to investigate the relationships between and/or among the individual difference variables in question as well as a palette of factors influencing them. The present monograph was divided into five chapters. The first chapter focused on issues concerning the constructs of WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom. It provided an overview of definitions, models, theoretical frameworks, concepts and approaches as well as types and sources of the investigated phenomena. The second chapter dealt with empirical investigations into the constructs of WTC, motivation, language anxiety and boredom conducted in traditional (e.g., language classrooms) and digital (e.g., online environments) settings. The studies were discussed in connection with the changing nature of the said constructs (i.e., changes they underwent over time, both longer and shorter) and factors instigating them as well as methods and research instruments used to study those issues. Chapter Three, in turn, was devoted to the discussion of the methodology of the research project that was conducted among six Polish university female students majoring in English who visited the virtual world Second Life in their own time over one semester. The aims of the study were to explore changes in the levels of willingness to communicate, motivation, boredom and language anxiety, the contributors to such fluctuations and the relationships of the investigated constructs. The fourth chapter reported the results of the study. While © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2_5

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the findings were consistent with the outcomes of previous studies (e.g., the identification of some factors responsible for changes in the levels of the constructs), they also revealed, among other things, the unique and dynamic relationships between and/or among the individual difference variables in question. An inescapable question that comes up at this point is related to the way in which the findings of this study reported in the empirical chapter of this volume can be treated as a foundation for pedagogical implications. This, however, is not an easy question to answer in view of the fact that a language learner’s WTC, motivation, boredom and/or language anxiety is the result of a unique constellation of factors which may not necessarily influence other individuals’ WTC, motivation, boredom and/or language anxiety. This said, it is only possible to highlight some actions that language teachers may consider in order to increase language learners’ WTC and motivation to communicate in the target language by means of virtual worlds, while at the same time decrease the experience of boredom and language anxiety in such virtual environments. For the sake of clarity, these suggestions are grouped into four sets: (1) first steps in a virtual world, (2) language tasks, (3) talks and feedback sessions, and (4) feeling comfortable. When it comes to the tips included in the first set, that is, first steps in a virtual world, a number of orientation sessions for language learners not familiar with virtual worlds should be organized by teachers during which their students could undergo an intensive training on how to use a particular virtual world (e.g., Second Life). Students could, for example, learn how to choose and create a personal avatar, move around a virtual world, perform different actions (e.g., walk, run, jump) or communicate with other users by means of a text chat or voice utilities. Since virtual worlds can be used to practice communication skills, it is of paramount importance to provide students with a number of regions inhabited by competent users who would be eager to communicate in the target language or to teach language learners how to find “virtual islands” populated by virtual dwellers who can interact in the language they study. Yet another piece of advice may concern sessions planned in advance by language teachers in a virtual world in which students could meet other students, for example, their peers in order to perform a previously set task. Last but not least, students have to be informed on how to use a virtual world in a safe way. As for the second set of tips, that is, language tasks, teachers could utilize an array of language tasks existing in the literature that could be appropriate for the use in virtual worlds (e.g., Deutschmann & Panichi, 2013; Jauregi et al., 2011; Kartal & Balçıkanlı, 2019). In addition, language teachers could prepare conversation starters and/or conversation maintainers. The former could be dedicated to shy or introverted learners in order to enter conversations with avatar-users more easily and the latter could be exercised by students eager to meet and communicate with strangers (i.e., people just encountered) and keep their interlocutors interested in interacting with them. Another suggestion is related to a set of speaking tasks language learners could choose from and conduct their conversation with virtual residents. This is because the possibility of deciding on a conversational topic may create and sustain curiosity along with a positive disposition towards conducted tasks. In view of the

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fact that students may encounter problems with finding avatars willing to communicate with them, teachers may encourage their students to interact with virtual agents and objects or suggest different tasks involving, for example, exploration of a virtual world, search for specific places, objects or information in the target language. Such tasks may also be particularly suitable for inexperienced or beginner students. Yet another solution concerns establishing virtual class encounters. Teachers could arrange virtual sessions for students from different schools or even countries in which they could meet at particular times to perform various language tasks. This would also introduce a change in their ordinary school life, boost their motivation and create additional opportunities to communicate with new peers. Finally, visits to virtual worlds could be linked with homework assignments. Students could be asked to perform a language task in a virtual world and then write a report on it or discuss it with their teacher and classmates in the language classroom. The fourth set of suggestions involves talks and feedback sessions. As for the former, they could be dedicated to the use of virtual worlds for the purpose of learning a foreign language and the discussion of their advantages and disadvantages in this respect. This would be of particular importance for language learners not familiar with such virtual environments in view of the fact that they could gain more insights into the ways related to the target language practice and they could learn how to deal with potential problems successfully or how to avoid them. In addition, students could be presented with language samples typical of virtual worlds and taught the meanings of utterances frequently produced by inhabitants of virtual worlds. When it comes to the feedback sessions, they could be focused on solving current problems, offering advice, sharing personal experiences and expressing opinions on the use of virtual worlds. A final set of suggestions for language teachers, that is, feeling comfortable, concerns issues related to dealing with impolite and rude users as well as aggressive or spiteful behavior, that is, grieving. As suggested by Sobkowiak (2012), these may be overcome by, for example, persuading a griever to behave sensibly or ignoring him or her completely. Another way of preventing students from such negative experiences may concern the creation of a virtual world for a particular group of language learners or the use of regions within a virtual world with access granted to registered users only (Kozlova & Priven, 2015; Mowbray, 2013). Although the present study offers valuable insights into the changing nature of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety as well as the relationships of the constructs in question and factors influencing them in the context of the virtual world Second Life, thus expanding the current empirical evidence in this regard, it is not immune from some weaknesses and limitations. Therefore, further empirical inquiries could involve individual language learners with diverse WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety levels and utilize other more exhaustive pieces of information related to participants, for example, their personality, their past language learning experiences or their use of language learning strategies. This is because, such comprehensive knowledge about participants would, with no doubt, provide better comprehension of the phenomena under investigation in virtual settings. In addition, it would also be insightful to target individual students representing various levels of

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foreign language proficiency and students studying diverse foreign languages. What is more, research could encompass participants of different age and sex. Equally importantly, future inquires could take into consideration the impact of a number of language tasks on the desire to speak in the target language, motivation or the feelings of boredom and language anxiety in virtual worlds. They could also attempt to explore changes and relationships that might occur between other constructs (e.g., curiosity, enjoyment) and uncover their sources. Future research projects could also investigate such constructs from different theoretical perspectives, for example, dynamic systems theory (e.g., de Bot, 2008; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008). Finally, and most importantly perhaps, future studies should draw on enhanced data collection instruments and/or their combination as well as the manner in which they are utilized.

Appendix A

Background questionnaire 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Name ........................................................................................................................... Age: I am ............................................................................ years old. Sex: Female □ Male □ How long have you studied English? ............................. years. In addition to your practical English classes, do you use English in your daily life (i.e., out-of-school contacts with native or non-native English speakers)? Yes □ No □ 6. Do you take part in computer-mediated communication (CMC) (i.e., communication through e-mails, instant messaging, blogging, Skype, online chatting, etc.) in English? Yes □ No □ 7. If you take part in CMC, do you do it just for pleasure □ or social reasons □, or do you intentionally plan to improve your English □ through CMC? 8. How would you rate your face-to-face communication skills (i.e., your abilities to share information in English with others and comprehend what others are saying in English)? Excellent □ Very Good □ Good □ Fair □ Poor □ 9. How would you rate your CMC communication skills (i.e., your abilities to share information in English with others and comprehend what others are saying in English through e-mails, instant messaging, blogging, Skype, online chatting, etc.)? Excellent □ Very Good □ Good □ Fair □ Poor □ 10. Have you ever heard of a virtual world (e.g., Second Life)? Yes □ No □

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2

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Appendix A

11. Have you ever visited a virtual world (e.g., Second Life)? Yes □ No □ 12. Have you ever used a virtual world (e.g., Second Life) for learning/practicing English? Yes □ No □ If yes, how long have you been using it? ............................................................................

Appendix B

Session log Part I (before) Name ........................................................................................................................................... Date ............................................................................................................................................. Aim of the visit ............................................................................................................................ Part II (during) Briefly describe your visit. Please write about a desire to communicate in English with SL users, your motivation to do so, your experience of boredom and anxiety during this session. ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2

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Appendix B Part III (after)

Rate your willingness to communicate in English at the beginning of your visit, in the middle and at the end of it on a scale of 1 (not willing to communicate at all) – 7 (very willing to communicate). Beginning

Middle

End

Comments: .................................................................................................................................. Rate your motivation at the beginning of your visit, in the middle and at the end of it on a scale of 1 (not motivated at all) – 7 (very motivated). Beginning

Middle

End

Comments: .................................................................................................................................. Rate your experience of boredom at the beginning of your visit, in the middle and at the end of it on a scale of 1 (not bored at all) – 7 (very bored). Beginning

Middle

End

Comments: .................................................................................................................................. Rate your experience of language anxiety at the beginning of your visit, in the middle and at the end of it on a scale of 1 (not anxious at all) – 7 (very anxious). Beginning

Middle

End

Comments: .................................................................................................................................. Time spent in the virtual world: ........................................... (minutes / hours - approximately) Type of conversation (tick the appropriate box) text-based □ voice-based □ both □

Appendix C

Semi-structured interview 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

In what situations do you feel the most willing/unwilling to speak in English classes? In which situations did you feel the most willing to communicate in SL? What factors impacted your willingness to interact in English in SL? In what situations do you feel the most/least motivated in English classes? In which situations during your visits to SL did you feel the most/least motivated? In your opinion, what factors had an impact on your motivation during your activities in SL? Are there any situations in which you experience language anxiety during English classes? In which situations in SL did you feel most/least anxious? What factors impacted your language anxiety in SL? Are there any situations in which you feel bored during English classes? In which situations in your visits to SL did you experience the most/least boredom? In your opinion, what factors had an impact on your feelings of boredom during your activities in SL? Did your visits to SL have a beneficial impact on your English?

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Kruk, Investigating Dynamic Relationships Among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65269-2

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