Willingness to Communicate in Instructed Second Language Acquisition: Combining a Macro- and Micro-Perspective 9781783097173

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Willingness to Communicate in Instructed Second Language Acquisition

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Series Editors: Professor David Singleton, University of Pannonia, Hungary and Fellow Emeritus, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and Dr Simone E. Pfenninger, University of Salzburg, Austria This series brings together titles dealing with a variety of aspects of language acquisition and processing in situations where a language or languages other than the native language is involved. Second language is thus interpreted in its broadest possible sense. The volumes included in the series all offer in their different ways, on the one hand, exposition and discussion of empirical findings and, on the other, some degree of theoretical reflection. In this latter connection, no particular theoretical stance is privileged in the series; nor is any relevant perspective – sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic, etc. – deemed out of place. The intended readership of the series includes final-year undergraduates working on second language acquisition projects, postgraduate students involved in second language acquisition research, and researchers, teachers and policy-makers in general whose interests include a second language acquisition component. Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: 110

Willingness to Communicate in Instructed Second Language Acquisition Combining a Macro- and Micro-Perspective

Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Mirosław Pawlak

MULTILINGUAL MATTERS Bristol • Blue Ridge Summit

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Names: Mystkowska-Wiertelak, Anna, author. | Pawlak, Mirosław, author. Title: Willingness to Communicate in Instructed Second Language Acquisition: Combining a Macro- and Micro-Perspective/Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Mirosław Pawlak. Description: Bristol: Multilingual Matters, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016043808| ISBN 9781783097166 (hbk: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781783097173 (Pdf) | ISBN 9781783097180 (Epub) | ISBN 9781783097197 (Kindle) Subjects: LCSH: Language and languages–Study and teaching. | Communicative competence–Study and teaching. | Intercultural communication–Study and teaching. | Second language acquisition. | Language and culture. Classification: LCC P53.255 .W46 2017 | DDC 418.0071--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043808 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN-13: 978-1-78309-716-6 (hbk) Multilingual Matters UK: St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK. USA: NBN, Blue Ridge Summit, PA. Website: www.multilingual-matters.com Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com Copyright © 2017 Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Mirosław Pawlak. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned. Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services Limited. Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd. Printed and bound in the US by Edwards Brothers Malloy, Inc.

Contents

Introduction

ix

Part 1: Overview of Theoretical, Methodological and Empirical Issues

1

1

WTC: Definitions and Evolution of the Concept Exploration of L1 WTC The Study of L2 WTC The heuristic model A cultural perspective on L2 WTC Conclusion

3 3 5 6 9 10

2

Methodology of Empirical Investigations into L2 WTC Quantitative Research of L2 WTC Early research into WTC Situational and Dynamic WTC: A Shift from Quantitative to Mixed-Methods Research Conclusion

11 11 12 21 34

Empirical Investigations of L2 WTC Antecedents Self-Perceived Communicative Competence and Anxiety WTC and Motivation Age and Gender Personality Contextual Factors Influencing L2 WTC Conclusion

36 37 41 50 52 54 71

3

v

vi

Contents

Part 2: Exploring WTC in a Foreign Language Context: A Macro-Perspective 4

The Rationale for and Design of the Study The Rationale for Applying a Macro-Perspective in the Study of WTC Aims and Research Questions Participants Data Collection and Analysis The development of the original tool The study proper Conclusion

73 75 75 78 78 80 80 85 87

5

Findings of the Study The First Stage of the Study: A Six-Factor Model The Second Stage of the Study: An Eight-Factor Model The Role of Specific Factors in Shaping WTC Conclusion

88 88 92 96 102

6

Discussion of the Findings What Are the Components and Correlates of WTC in a Second Language in the Case of English Majors in Polish Institutions of Higher Education? What Are the Relationships Between these Components and Correlates of WTC? What is the Role of the Identified Factors as well as Specific Variables they Comprise in the Identified Structure of WTC? Weaknesses of the Study Conclusion

104

Part 3: Investigating WTC in the Course of Speaking Classes: A Micro-Perspective 7

The Rationale for and Design of the Study The Rationale for Adopting a Micro Perspective in the Study of WTC Aims and Research Questions Participants Description of the Speaking Classes Investigated

104 107

110 112 114 117 119 119 123 124 126

Contents

Data Collection WTC grid Questionnaire Lesson plans Data Analysis Conclusion 8

9

vii

129 129 131 131 132 133

Findings of the Study Variation in WTC Levels Across Groups Group 1: Variation in WTC Levels and Factors Responsible For It Variation over time, within the whole group Variation over time, within individuals Factors impacting WTC in the eyes of the students Group 2: Variation in WTC Levels and Factors Responsible For It Variation over time, within the whole group Variation over time, within individuals Factors impacting WTC in the eyes of the students Group 3: Variation in WTC Levels and Factors Responsible For It Variation over time, within the whole group Variation over time, within individuals Factors impacting WTC in the eyes of the students Conclusion

135 135

Discussion of the Findings Research Question 1: To What Extent is the Participants’ WTC Subject to Change in the Course of the Naturally Occurring Speaking Classes Investigated for the Purpose of this Study? Research Question 2: Are There any Typical Patterns in Fluctuations of the Students’ WTC during the Speaking Classes under Investigation, Both with Respect to Factors Identified in the Previous Research?

169

138 138 141 143 146 146 150 153 156 156 161 164 168

169

170

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Contents

Research Question 3: Which Contextual and Individual Factors Lead to an Increase and Decrease in WTC in the Course of the Speaking Classes under Study? Research Question 4: What is the Extent of Individual Variation During the Speaking Classes and What Factors Can Account for its Occurrence? Research Question 5: Are There Differences with Respect to the Above Between the Three Speaking Classes Chosen for Investigation in this Study? Limitations Conclusion

172

181

182 183 185

Conclusions, Implications and Directions for Future Research

187

Appendix 1

192

Appendix 2

197

Appendix 3

201

Appendix 4

204

Appendix 5

208

Appendix 6

211

Appendix 7

213

References

216

Author Index

228

Subject Index

230

Note: The research project reported in this book was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, in the years 2016-2019. Project no. 2015/17/B/HS2/01704

Introduction

The ability to communicate the intended meaning clearly and fluently in a second or foreign language (L2 or FL, respectively)1 has become a skill that is highly valued by a growing number of societies facing the challenges of the globalised world. It seems that today the language whose command is held in particular esteem is English as it has assumed the status of a lingua franca of our times (e.g. Widdowson, 1997). The importance attributed to second language communicative abilities by individuals and educational systems has brought to the fore those pedagogical approaches and techniques that promote and enhance learners’ communicative proficiency. Hence, special demands have been placed on language teachers whose expertise is nowadays largely evaluated on the basis of their ability to engage students in tasks and activities that necessitate spontaneous production of the target language (TL), expression of opinions and ideas, as well as authentic meaning and message conveyance. Moreover, in communicative language classes, learners’ success may rely on their eagerness to participate in L2 communication. In order to accommodate such expectations, educational authorities in many countries, such as China and Japan (cf. Munezane, 2013; Peng, 2014), have developed special schemes or strategic plans whose aim is to improve learners’ communicative skills to meet the societal demands resulting from globalisation. The weight given to fostering communication in the language classroom has inspired a number of empirical investigations aimed at the exploration of factors that either lead to or hinder language learners’ readiness to initiate or contribute to communication, both within the confines of the language classroom as well as outside. Learning to communicate in an additional language poses a serious challenge, the outcomes of which depend both on the context in which the process takes place and the individual characteristics of the learner. Unlike first language (L1) acquisition, which, with very few exceptions, proceeds successfully for all interacting within a social group, mastering an FL to the degree enabling unproblematic communication is relatively rare, despite various demands and social pressure. The concept that has recently come into focus (e.g. Cao, 2011; MacIntyre & Blackie, 2012;

ix

x

Introduction

MacIntyre & Doucette, 2010; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011; MacIntyre et al., 2011; Munezane, 2013, among others) and which appears to be a powerful predictor of success (cf. Yashima, 2002) is willingness to communicate (WTC), which can be defined as ‘the probability of initiating communication, given choice and opportunity’ (MacIntyre, 2007: 567). Learners characterised by a high level of WTC are likely to search for opportunities for TL use, which leads to a higher frequency of communication and consequently may contribute to improvement in their communicative abilities. Most importantly, it needs to be recognised that frequent communication with TL users, be they native speakers or other advanced learners, might help establish social networks which benefit linguistic development. Given all the benefits that engaging in spontaneous communication may yield, it may seem surprising that not all learners are equally willing to make contributions to interaction in the classroom or outside. MacIntyre (2007: 564), for example, observes that some learners, despite studying a particular language for a long time, may not become L2 speakers. Much in the same vein, Gregersen and MacIntyre (2014: 211) bring up a paradox, not infrequently witnessed by language teachers, when a student with a permanent disposition towards talking in his or her L1 remains silent when opportunities for L2 communication arise, or when a student whose expertise is manifested by test results or attempted efforts at communication out of class chooses not to contribute to classroom discussions, apparently driven by some transient, context-specific influences which might be both anxiety-related and culture-specific. In many contexts, L2 learners may find it difficult to accept the challenge of having to communicate using the language over which they have not gained sufficient control, for fear that this might result in losing face and self-esteem (MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011). Yashima (2012: 119) points out that ‘(…) learners constantly have their personality and ability judged based on their performance in a language that is not yet well-developed’. What needs to be recognised is the fact that an inability or unwillingness to sustain contact with more competent speakers, thanks to which language acquisition could proceed, diminishes language learners’ chances of success. Worth noting is the way that cultural differences impinge on learners’ readiness to engage in communication. In collective societies in Asia (cf. Peng, 2014), learners may be reluctant to interact and communicate due to such factors as respect for the teacher, emphasis on learning through memorisation, other-directed self and face concern. By concerns, in the Western world, being unwilling to communicate may adversely affect the way in which a person is evaluated by others, especially at school or at work (MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011). While comparing the Polish context to those mentioned before, it seems evident that each socio-ethnic environment possesses specific features that uniquely define the roles of learners and instructors as well as their expectations and behaviours, thus

Introduction

xi

impacting the nature of WTC in and out of class. Hence, an investigation aimed at coming to grips with the specificity of a given setting appears well-justified and worthwhile, as a more thorough understanding of the motives behind learners’ readiness to engage in communication or reluctance to interact may contribute to developing classroom conditions conducive to communication and aid learners in language development. In addition, manipulating situational variables in such a way that they are more conducive to enhancing learners’ L2 WTC appears to constitute an appealing perspective for teachers and learners as well (cf. Kang, 2005; MacInytre et al., 1998; Peng, 2007a, 2014). However, given the impact of the cultural issues mentioned above, it needs to be noted that instructional recommendations may differ importantly for every setting in which the investigation takes place. Convincing arguments in favour of exploring WTC can also be derived from a number of theoretical positions that envisage interaction as an important mechanism facilitating the acquisition of an additional language. On the other hand, investigating L2 learners’ WTC might supply information enabling a more thorough understanding of the processes underlying second language acquisition (SLA). The most prominent positions, both psycholinguistic and sociocultural in nature, that stress the importance of interaction in gaining linguistic competence, such as the modified version of the Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1985, 1996), the Output Hypothesis (Swain, 2000), Skill-Learning Theory (DeKeyser, 2007) and Sociocultural Theory (Lantolf, 2006), provide a rationale for the enquiry into factors that inhibit or promote interaction. For example, the Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1985, 1996) is predicated on the premise that SLA is facilitated when problematic issues that arise in communication are negotiated with more proficient language users. On the one hand, this enhances comprehension of available input by increasing segmentation and salience, and, on the other, is the source of negative evidence through the provision of corrective feedback and supplies learners with opportunities to modify their output. All of this points to the importance of using such communicative tasks in classroom settings that can set in motion negotiated interaction of this kind. Similar claims are made by the Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985, 1998, 2000), which seeks sources of language proficiency in TL production, and in particular in pushed output, such that is accurate, appropriate, coherent and precise, because it allows learners to move from semantic processing to syntactic processing, also enabling them to self-correct in response to the feedback they receive. Collaborative dialogue (Swain, 2000), instructional dialogue (Donato, 2000) or scaffolding provide learners with a support structure within which their knowledge of the TL is built dialogically, in the course of a process that would not be possible without learners’ willingness to participate in interaction. Scaffolding, in line with the provisions of

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Introduction

Sociocultural Theory (Lantolf, 2006), serves as a means of bridging the gap between the current level of activity and a more advanced potential level in the zone of proximal development which, in the words of its proponent (Vygotsky, 1978: 86) can be defined as ‘the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem-solving and level of potential development as determined by the adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers’. According to Vygotsky (1978), the acquisition of language should not be viewed as a result of interaction but a phenomenon which happens in its course. No matter which perspective is adopted, there seems to be a direct link between the decision to engage in interaction and the rate of SLA. Frequency of communication, in turn, as confirmed by Clément et al. (2003), MacIntyre and Charos (1996) and Yashima et al. (2004), among others, is affected by a learner ’s WTC. In the words of Yashima (2012): Communication is an inherently social process. It takes at least two people to communicate. This somewhat contradicts the notion of WTC as an individual tendency (…) WTC can only be enhanced and developed through social processes and communicating with others. It takes two to tango. Yet each person needs to be willing to dance. WTC may be created in collaborative work, yet how much an individual is willing to participate crucially affects the outcome. (Yashima, 2012: 132–133) Yet another consideration that makes exploring L2 WTC particularly appealing is the fact that, as observed by MacIntyre et al. (2011), this concept integrates psychological, linguistic, educational and communicative dimensions of language that for a long time were investigated in isolation. The intricate interplay of individual differences (ID), evolving contextual factors, as well as motivational and social antecedents that are responsible for attempting or avoiding communication poses a tempting challenge for researchers willing to gain deeper insights into the mechanisms underpinning SLA. The bulk of the research into WTC has taken the form of large-scale questionnaire studies seeking in the main to determine the antecedents of learners’ readiness to engage in communication. Valuable as such research undoubtedly is, it is the present authors’ conviction that a macro perspective of this kind needs to be coupled with a more focused lens, or a micro perspective. This involves looking at single classes, sequences of such classes or individual tasks, and tracing changes in WTC levels on a moment-by-moment basis because this can significantly broaden our understanding of the interdependencies among the variables influencing learners’ eagerness to contribute to ongoing interaction and, as a result, impact the process of acquisition. A phenomenon as complex as L2 WTC, entailing an interplay of numerous psychological, linguistic, educational

Introduction

xiii

and communicative variables, undeniably necessitates the application of a multifaceted analysis that could bring us closer to offering in-depth explanations of the mechanisms underlying WTC in specific contexts, thereby providing a basis for recommendations for classroom practice that would translate into learners’ success. The decision to study L2 WTC both from a macro and a micro perspective has also originated from the realisation that the nature of the relationships among variables involved in language acquisition may vary considerably, depending on, among other things, the time factor. Many early studies of L2 WTC involved performing statistical analyses of the cause-and-effect relationship between a learner ’s WTC and individual variables involved in language learning (e.g. MacIntyre & Charos, 1996; MacIntyre & Clément, 1996; MacIntyre et al., 1998), while those conducted more recently (e.g. Kang, 2005; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011; Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2015; Pawlak et al., 2016; Peng, 2007a, 2012) have adopted a more situated approach, examining the impact of the immediate context and/or momentby-moment fluctuations of WTC during task performance. There have also been attempts to reconcile the quantitative and qualitative paradigms, as in the research project by Peng (2014), who chose the ecological perspective to investigate classroom WTC, but also explored the concept in a wider questionnaire-based study, or Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pawlak (2014), who complemented the investigation of WTC during communicative tasks with the results obtained in a survey incorporating various scales measuring WTC in different contexts. The rationale for extending the methodological apparatus applied in WTC studies by a moment-by-moment measure can also be found in the writing of MacIntyre (2007: 567), who pinpoints the role of ‘a clear temporal focus on a specific moment’ that should be taken into account while investigating the concept. In the discussion of language learners’ WTC as a volitional process, he evokes the powerful metaphor of crossing the Rubicon, earlier employed by Dörnyei (2005), to denote the moment when learners reach the point at which the decision to take action should emerge. A learner ’s ambivalence about his or her resolution to act or give up appears to result from a power play involving motivation, pushing him or her towards action, and anxiety that, if overwhelming, leads to avoidance. The decision to enter into communication appears central to success in language learning. The study of WTC involves a joint investigation of social processes at an individual and group level, the learning context as well as interpersonal communicative processes. If learners are to become willing to communicate, or, in other words, make the decision, their perceived self-confidence needs to remain at a comfortably high level, and be accompanied by motivational processes and communication competences. A similar effect to that of time on the understanding of the interplay among variables that SLA explores can be attributed to the level of

xiv

Introduction

abstraction at which the concepts under investigation have been defined. Thus, as observed by MacIntyre (2007: 565), for example, inconsistencies reported in many studies of language anxiety can be accounted for by the fact that this key variable has been correlated with language attainment but measured with instruments tapping into one of the levels of conceptualisation: trait, situation specific or state anxiety, which, although all being facets of the same phenomenon, might have a different effect on language acquisition. While trait anxiety is an enduring characteristic shaping behaviour over time and does not correlate consistently with measures of L2 attainment (see MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989, 1994), situation-specific measures of language anxiety tend to show a negative correlation with various measures of attainment (see Aida, 1994; Frantzen & Magnan, 2005; Gregersen, 2003; Horwitz, 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; Onwuegbuzie et al., 2000; Vogley, 1998). MacIntyre (2007: 565) points out that the influence of anxiety on language learning evolves and should be considered as fluctuating on a moment-by-moment basis; thus, if anxiety is treated as a personality trait, its transient variation during a particular task will be lost. Much in the same vein, it may be inferred that the interplay between the factors underlying a decision to contribute to interaction will be dependent on the way that WTC is conceptualised, more specifically, whether it is viewed as a general characteristic or a transient feature shaped by the circumstances. Arguments for the need to apply a more situated perspective to the study of ID, one of which is WTC, can also be found in Ushioda (2009, 2011), who warns against treating language learners as ‘abstract bundles of variables’ (Ushioda, 2011: 12), which depersonalises them, and, instead of offering a comprehensive view of the concepts or processes involved, renders generalisations that might often miss a significant human dimension. She claims that, paradoxically, the data collection techniques and statistical procedures used in research on ID lead to making inferences on the normal distribution of certain features in a particular group, concentrating on what people have in common, instead of what makes them unique. Since many studies on motivation have been conducted within a psychometric approach, they have led to the development of abstract models of mental processes, common behaviours and learning outcomes. Motivation, an ID variable that has been shown to significantly affect the rate and ultimate level of language attainment, has been subject to numerous largely quantitative analyses whose results, instead of illuminating the ways in which individuals differ, provide information on features shared by particular groups of learners (Ushioda, 2011: 12). As a consequence, it could be expected that adopting such a perspective in the study of L2 WTC could provide an opportunity to grasp the interplay of individual and contextrelated variables, the benefits of which are difficult to overestimate, given the significance of the concept to success in language learning and the fact

Introduction

xv

that, presumably, it can be modified by the classroom practices offered by the teacher. The person-in-context relational view that Ushioda (2009, 2011) advocates focuses on the agency of an individual learner, thereby recognising this person’s thinking, feelings, personality, social and cultural background, goals, ambitions, motivations and beliefs. Moreover, worth noting is the fact that such a perspective needs to recognise dynamic reciprocal coaction between a learner, a ‘self-reflective agent’ and the constantly transforming panorama of social relations, accomplishments, experiences and contexts. Ushioda (2009: 217) stresses the need to explore a ‘person-in-context’ rather than investigate the impact of context, treated as an independent variable, on a learner’s motivation and agency because it allows revealing intricate ways in which the context and a learner interact. While Ushioda’s relational view has revolved in the main around the issues of motivation and agency, understandably the same lens could be applied to the study of a vast array of IDs, including WTC. This said, though, it should be noted that in all cases where considerable individual variation accounts for the processes, mechanisms and outcomes of language acquisition, complex dynamic system theories (DST) (cf. De Bot et al., 2013; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008) could also be applied with a view to capturing the intricate and dynamic interplay of the factors involved as well as their mutual interconnectedness. Language perceived as an adaptive system has the capacity to transform in reaction to the changes that affect a specific context, and yet the context might be impacted by each of its subcomponents, including language. Thus, it seems justifiable to address a learner’s individual realm together with all its complexities and idiosyncrasies to gain a better understanding of the processes behind success or failure in language learning. As traditional research is only capable of ‘provid[ing] a freeze frame/snapshot perspective’ (Shumann, 2015: xv), DST offers a whole host of options: it allows seizing the complexity of SLA, taking into account internal and external variables affecting the learner’s behaviour where the context is treated as part of the system; by focusing on the individual, it increases the ecological validity of research. It also necessitates the application of mixed methodology, thus reconciling qualitative and quantitative paradigms, and it stresses the importance of change and development and not the final product of acquisition (Dörnyei et al., 2015b: 3–4). Dynamic systems, according to Larsen-Freeman (2015) and Larsen-Freeman and Cameron (2008), are characterised by change, and even if periods of relative stability are reached, they are transient as systems constantly evolve over a trajectory towards another region of state space. They can be viewed as emergent since they unfold into novel patterns that originate thanks to the self-organising interaction of system components. All the factors that make up a system are interconnected and cannot be captured one by one but only in relation to all the other factors. Moreover, dynamic systems are sensitive to initial conditions but are also

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characterised by non-linearity, which precludes predicting the direction of change; they occasionally reach a critical stage at which a subtle stimulus (a threshold effect) results in an abrupt, massive change whose outcomes are unpredictable and unstable. As long as they remain open, they undergo transformation without foresight concerning the end point. The feedback they receive affects them either by reinforcing (preferred states) or hindering (repeller states) the change, so they can be said to be adapting to the needs of the environment. What is more, the context cannot be perceived as the background for the evolution of the system: it is a component of the system itself, thus the researcher investigating the system is its constituent part. Although there has been much research on L2 WTC, it has primarily focused on identifying the antecedents of L2 WTC in large-scale studies, most of which have been conducted in either bi-ethnic communities or among collective cultures in Asia or targeted populations whose language proficiency has not been very high. Much less research has attempted to identify the factors impinging on WTC levels in the course of regularly scheduled, naturally occurring classes (e.g. an English lesson as part of a daily elementary school schedule or a conversation class taught to English majors) in FL contexts (where learner groups are largely monolingual and the students have recourse to their L1 and out-of-school access to the TL is still limited), such as the one in Poland and other countries of Central Europe, or has attempted to capture the dynamic nature of L2 WTC in the course of single classes or sequences of such classes. What is needed then is an investigation into the antecedents of WTC in an FL context, which naturally calls for the development of new research tools that would be tailored to this setting, as well as research focusing on real-class situations and changes in the levels of situational WTC in this context. This book aims to fill the existing gap by offering a comprehensive account of the influences on L2 WTC in the Polish educational context, which constitutes a typical example of an FL context as it exists in Central European countries. More specifically, it seeks to do so in the case of teaching an FL to rather advanced learners, English majors enrolled in bachelor (BA) and masters (MA) programmes, offered by departments of foreign languages. On the one hand, it adopts a macro perspective on WTC, which entails an attempt to identify variables that are related to WTC, taking into account the specificity of the Polish educational setting. On the other, it embraces a micro perspective on WTC as well, striving to pinpoint the influences on WTC levels in the course of regularly scheduled, naturally occurring classes, both those related to individual and contextual factors, as well as to capture its dynamic nature during such classes. The theoretical part of the book provides a thorough overview of previous research focusing on L2 WTC, the methodological issues pertinent to the study of L2 WTC, as well as a discussion of the variables

Introduction

xvii

leading to communicative behaviour in and out of class identified in previous studies. The empirical part reports the process of designing and validating a new data collection tool used to tap into learners’ of English WTC, followed by an attempt to identify the factors underlying English majors’ readiness to speak as well as an analysis of data collected from 614 participants, an approach which represents a macro perspective on WTC. Subsequently, the authors will present and discuss the findings of a smaller-scale research project investigating fluctuations in WTC in the course of three regularly scheduled conversation classes taught to English majors, which represents a micro perspective on the study of this attribute. It is believed that applying a macro perspective, with responses collected from a substantial number of participants, as well as a micro perspective, specifically situated in a classroom setting, will enable gaining deeper insight into the interplay of a variety of influences on WTC. The main value of the empirical investigation lies in the fact that it contributes to a greater understanding of the nature of students’ readiness to speak in a typical FL context in Central Europe, of which Poland is a prime example, a setting in which little research on WTC has been conducted so far, as well as the fact that it provides tools for further investigation of this attribute in this particular setting. Apart from this, the study makes an important contribution to the existing body of research on factors impinging upon WTC, both at the macro and micro level, with the effect that it is easier to formulate implications for FL instruction, both at the level of policy and what transpires in the classroom. The present volume consists of three main parts, each of which has been further divided into chapters. Part 1, titled Overview of Theoretical, Methodological and Empirical Issues, focuses on the origins and evolution of the concept of WTC, discusses the methodological choices that can be made when investigating this construct and provides an overview of the findings of the studies exploring WTC, both large-scale ones, based on the administration of questionnaires to large populations, and those tapping factors impacting WTC in specific contexts. Part 2, Exploring WTC in a Foreign Language Context: A Macro-Perspective, reports on the process of the development of a questionnaire exploring the antecedents of WTC in the Polish educational context, explores the factors underpinning this attribute and offers insights into the contribution of such factors to L2 WTC among a large population of participants, English majors in different institutions of higher education in Poland. Finally, Part 3, Investigating WTC in the Course of Speaking Classes: A Micro-Perspective, focuses on the findings of a study which sought to explore changes in WTC levels in the course of three conversation classes taught as part of a BA programme in English, as well as investigating the factors responsible for shaping students’ readiness to engage in communication in this context. The book closes with a conclusion that brings together the insights gleaned through

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Introduction

the application of the macro and micro perspective on the study of WTC, points to directions for future research and offers a handful of proposals for classroom practice.

Note (1)

The terms foreign and additional language are used interchangeably in this book, unless explicitly indicated otherwise.

Part 1: Overview of Theoretical, Methodological and Empirical Issues

The first part of the present volume is intended to serve as a backdrop for the research project, introducing the concept of language learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and concentrating on a number of issues whose discussion seems indispensable before the empirical investigations undertaken by the present authors are discussed. In Chapter 1, emphasis is placed on the origins and evolution of the concept of WTC, which necessitates a discussion of the theoretical considerations and early research findings that provided an impetus for present-day studies of different aspects of the construct. Chapter 2 focuses on methodological issues involved in the study of WTC, with a clear distinction being made between large-scale, questionnaire-based research projects involving sizable groups of participants as well as the application of complex statistical procedures, representing the macro perspective, and smaller-scale empirical investigations, inspecting the interplay of numerous factors in specific, well-defined contexts, epitomising the micro perspective. Finally, in Chapter 3 an attempt is made to synthetise research findings emanating from studies falling within the scope of both of these perspectives, with a particular focus on various antecedents of WTC that have been identified and examined by researchers.

1

1 WTC: Definitions and Evolution of the Concept

Although investigations into second language (L2) willingness to communicate (WTC) span a relatively short period of time, what is striking, even if one takes only a cursory look at the available studies, is the steady evolution of the way this immediate antecedent of communicative behaviour has been understood and the wealth of methodological approaches that have been employed in its investigation. Before taking a closer look at the meanings behind the concept of L2 WTC, a reference to its origin seems necessary Therefore, the present chapter opens with an account of the investigations into WTC in the first language (L1) and the research that led to the origination of the breakthrough heuristic model that, in turn, has given a impetus to numerous studies exploring its validity and the effect of other factors and conditions hypothesised to have an impact on how willing learners of a language might be to initiate and sustain communication. Moreover, the present chapter tackles the issue of cultural differences and the way they shape learners’ readiness to engage in communication.

Exploration of L1 WTC Research into the concept of WTC originated within the field of communication studies and initially focused on the factors that hindered communication. The precursors to the study of WTC were Burgoon (1976), who investigated unwillingness to communicate; Mortensen et al. (1977), who explored predispositions towards verbal behaviour; and Leary (1983) and McCroskey and Richmond (1982), who studied the role of shyness. The early studies of WTC concerned communication in the mother tongue and rested on the operationalisation of the concept as a personality trait (McCroskey & Baer, 1985; McCroskey & Richmond, 1987, 1991). According to McCroskey (1992: 117), WTC was perceived as a predisposition to initiate or avoid communication with others when given a choice and was perceived as a stable individual characteristic that persisted along contexts and situations. McCroskey and Richmond (1991) claimed that verbal communication was a volitional act dependent on cognitive processing which, in turn, was controlled by one’s personality. As McCroskey and

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Richmond (1991: 21) pointed out, ‘[t]he personality of the individual may be the determining factor in the manner in which that choice is made and what that choice will be’. Although they admitted that a speaker’s readiness to communicate might depend on their mood or time of day, they strongly emphasised that one’s WTC is ‘a regular tendency across situations’ (McCroskey & Richmond, 1991: 22). Following the operationalisation of WTC as a personality-based, cognitively mediated variable, McCroskey and Richmond (1987, 1991) made an attempt to identify the factors responsible for the variation in the degree of one’s readiness to communicate. The antecedents they hypothesised to underlie L1 WTC included introversion, self-esteem, communication competence, communication apprehension and cultural diversity. They posited that there was a relationship between introversion and a low level of one’s WTC and proved that extraversion highly correlated with increased WTC levels. As for self-esteem, correlation coefficients turned out to be low, which provided a basis for the assumption that this affective variable possibly impacts WTC only as a function of the relationship between selfesteem and anxiety about communication. McCroskey and Richmond (1991: 27) acknowledged that little empirical evidence was available to prove a relationship between WTC and communication skills. What captured their attention to a larger extent was the relationship between a person’s readiness to speak and his or her self-perceived communicative competence (CC). Yet another aspect that the researchers considered was the interdependence between WTC and communication apprehension, which turned out to be straightforward and predictable: the higher its level, the lower the speaker’s eagerness to engage in interaction. The researchers also observed that, although communication as such is a universal phenomenon, there exist certain norms and required skills in this respect that appear culture specific, not to mention individual variation within each culture group. Cultural divergence seems to have a considerable impact on a speaker’s WTC; moreover, as McCroskey and Richmond (1991) observed, the interplay of WTC antecedents in different cultural settings might proceed along different paths. In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers were primarily interested in comparisons of L1 WTC across nationalities, and thus surveys were carried out, for instance, among Puerto Rican (McCroskey et al., 1985), Australian, Micronesian, Swedish and American (McCroskey & Richmond, 1990) as well as Finnish students (Sallinen-Kuparinen et al., 1991). The results of such empirical investigations confirmed the existence of significant differences between countries and cultures. A new era in research on WTC was ushered in by a breakthrough study by MacIntyre (1994), who performed path analysis of the antecedents identified by Burgoon (1976), that is anomie, alienation, self-esteem, introversion and communication anxiety. They complemented this array of factors determining readiness to engage in communication with a sixth one,

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proposed by McCroskey (1992), namely perceived competence. MacIntyre’s (1994) model demonstrated that communication apprehension and perceived competence most directly affect WTC since changes impacting any of these two variables would be visible in the level of a person’s L1 WTC. Communication apprehension feeds on a number of factors, such as novelty, level of formality, subordinate status and the degree of attention from others (McCroskey, 1997). Burroughs et al. (2003: 231) define it as ‘an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons’. The other direct determinant of WTC, perceived CC, is the extent to which a speaker perceives himself or herself as a competent communicator (Burroughs et al., 2003). Its crucial role can be seen in situations when seemingly competent speakers choose to abandon communication while those whose CC is apparently unsatisfactory display a high level of WTC. Growing anxiety is reflected in the negative appraisal of one’s competence, which leads to a decrease in WTC. Anomie, self-esteem and introversion influenced WTC only indirectly through the first two variables, whereas no connection between alienation and WTC was found. MacIntyre’s (1994) seminal study marked the onset of empirical investigations exploring directional and casual relationships among WTC antecedents, an agenda that was to shape the research in this field for the years to come.

The Study of L2 WTC Not long after the onset of research into L1 WTC, researchers’ attention was directed towards foreign and second language learners’ WTC, which expanded the spectrum of enquiry into the investigation of communication behaviour. This is because the command of the means of communication in the case of a learner of an additional language significantly differs from that of a native speaker and the interplay of antecedents can take diverse routes, different from those responsible for L1 readiness to engage in communication. As pointed out by MacIntyre et al. (1998: 546), L2 WTC cannot be understood as ‘a simple manifestation of WTC in the L1’. The investigation of factors underlying L2 WTC started with the study by MacIntyre and Charos (1996) who, using a combination of MacIntyre’s (1994) model and Gardner’s (1985) socio-educational model of language learning, formulated a hybrid model of L2 WTC, and identified statistically significant relationships between perceived competence, anxiety and the opportunity for contact with target language (TL) speakers and L2 WTC. With the use of path analysis, the researchers confirmed their hypothesis that L2 WTC and L2 motivation impact the frequency of communication in an L2, and that L2 anxiety and perceived competence directly affect L2 WTC. It became evident that apart from anxiety and perceived competence, a whole array of other linguistic, social, cognitive and emotional variables

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contributes to mediating L2 WTC. The following subsections focus on the outcomes of these early studies, both with respect to the nature of WTC and its cultural dimension.

The heuristic model Interest in L2 communication resulted in a shift in the conceptualisation of WTC. No longer was it viewed as a stable, trait-like concept, but, rather, as a consequence of the coaction of competence, situational factors and intergroup tendencies. It needs to be noted at this juncture that the investigation of L1 WTC did take into account its state-like character. For example, MacIntyre et al. (1999) performed a study in which trait WTC was related to volunteering to take part in an experiment and state WTC was related to initiating a demanding communicative task. Soon, it became evident that, in order to understand the processes leading to L2 communication, numerous enduring and situational variables need to be taken into account and their impact has to be examined. Early studies of L2 WTC involved conducting statistical analyses of the cause and effect relationship between a language learner’s tendency to engage in communication and numerous individual variables believed to play a part in language learning (e.g. MacIntyre & Charos, 1996; MacIntyre & Clément, 1996). The outcome of the research into L2 WTC antecedents was a pyramid model of WTC proposed by MacIntyre et al. (1998), which captured the trait or state controversy, intergroup communication processes as well as time-related issues. In the words of MacIntyre (2007: 567), the model comprises ‘constructs commonly employed in the L2 literature according to proximal—distal continuum that captures the dimensions of time and specificity, with a distinct intergroup flavour’. The pyramid includes a batch of linguistic, communicative and social psychological variables (MacIntyre et al., 1998: 547–556), which, arranged as bricks in layers, build up to the pyramid’s pinnacle, or actual language use (Layer I) involving activities such as ‘speaking up in class, reading L2 newspapers, watching L2 television, or utilizing a L2 on the job’ (MacIntyre et al., 1998: 547). Layer II, Behavioural Intention, consists of only one component, L2 WTC, which, within the model, has been defined as ‘readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2’ (MacIntyre et al., 1998: 547), a characterisation that stresses the context-dependent nature of the construct rather than perceiving it as a permanent tendency. Whether actual language use takes place or not, WTC denotes a strong intention to communicate, as is the case with students whose raised hands indicate that they are ready and willing to answer the teacher’s question. Layer III (Situated Antecedents) represents the most immediate determinants of WTC, that is desire to communicate with a specific person

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and state communicative self-confidence. The former relates to the affiliation which we feel with respect to people whom we consider similar, familiar or attractive, as well as to the control motives that correspond to our wish to affect the behaviour of other people. The starting point for the consideration of the latter was general self-confidence (Clément, 1986), since little was known about L2 self-confidence at the time the pyramid model was created. This was hypothesised to represent two tendencies: perceived confidence and lack of anxiety, and was viewed as a stable characteristic. However, MacIntyre et al. (1998) differentiated between trait-like self-confidence and a temporary feeling of confidence dependent on the parameters of a specific situation. The subcomponents of this state communicative selfconfidence are state anxiety and state perceived competence. The tension and apprehension related to the first of them fluctuate because of a number of variables including, among others, intergroup tension, prior experience or fear of assimilation. Growing state anxiety affects self-confidence and, in effect, a person’s WTC. The other subcomponent, state perceived competence, denotes a speaker’s perception of his or her capacity to enter into communication at a given moment. It is hypothesised to increase in familiar contexts and decrease in novel situations, with an immediate effect on WTC. The bottom three layers of the pyramid reflect distal, more enduring influences on L2 communication. Layer IV (Motivational Propensities) involves three factors, which are interpersonal motivation, intergroup motivation and L2 self-confidence. The first of these results from the social roles a speaker plays within a group and, yet again, is related to the issues of control and affiliation. The purpose of communication is often the control of others’ behaviour and is connected with power relationships, as is the case in a conversation between a teacher and a student, where the former is trying to change the latter’s behaviour by, for example, requesting an expansion of a one-word utterance when providing corrective feedback. The role someone plays in society will shape his or her interaction patterns and should be seen as a stable characteristic. Affiliation, the second aspect of interpersonal motivation, builds upon one’s willingness to bond with another person. On the one hand, it is situation dependent, and, on the other, it corresponds to a person’s individual profile. At the level of intergroup motivation, both control and affiliation issues come into play, with the former being related to power relationships between groups and the latter to Gardner’s (1985) concept of integrativeness. This construct is an integral part of his socio-educational model in which a desire to affiliate with TL speakers is a powerful predictor of learning and communicative behaviour. In contrast with the state-dependent conceptualisation of self-confidence contained in Layer III, L2 self-confidence included here accommodates an individual’s conviction of his or her capacity to communicate expertly using the TL. It stems from the appraisal of one’s own mastery of the L2

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system and lack of anxiety or discomfort while communicating with other L2 users. The factors included in Layer V (Affective-Cognitive Context) represent variables that, although slightly more detached from a particular context, set the scene for motivational propensities by shaping many of the antecedents discussed above. All of them are pertinent to the individual makeup of a learner, including attitudes and prior experiences. The three factors that are relevant at this level include intergroup attitudes, social situation and communicative competence. Intergroup attitudes concern integrativeness, fear of assimilation and motivation to learn the L2. While integrativeness brings learners closer to the TL community, fear of assimilation, or the threat that learning the language poses to their identity, may hamper L2 communication. It is the interplay of these two counteracting tendencies that impacts on learning behaviour. Social situation denotes interaction in a particular setting and can be defined by taking into account such parameters as the participants, the setting, the purpose, the topic and the channel of communication. CC stands for proficiency in the TL and, as it has preoccupied researchers for a long time, its existence is acknowledged in the multiple models of the construct (cf. Bachman, 1990; Canale, 1983; Canale & Swain, 1980). In MacIntyre et al. (1998), the researchers adopted the operationalisation embraced by Celce-Murcia et al. (1995), according to which CC comprises five competencies: linguistic, discourse, actional, sociocultural and strategic competence. Worth noting here is the fact that, as the authors of the pyramid model observe, WTC will result from CC as judged by the speaker, not as measured objectively. The bottom layer (Layer VI, Social and Individual Context) makes a reference to two antecedents: intergroup climate and personality, both of which learners have little control over as they represent innate qualities and enduring intergroup tendencies. Social dimensions become evident in the intergroup climate that comprises structural characteristics concerning the vitality relationships between L1 and L2 communities as well as the values and attitudes that these groups represent and adhere to. The language spoken by a group whose ethnolinguistic vitality is higher will most likely be used more frequently, attract greater numbers of learners and enjoy a higher status (MacIntyre et al., 1998: 555). Negative attitudes, prejudices and discrimination unavoidably affect motivation and WTC in a negative manner. By the same token, authoritarian and ethnocentric attitudes preclude or hinder communication with individuals or groups that are considered inferior. As regards the impact of personality, the five basic personality traits, identified by Goldberg (1992), which are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to new experiences, are likely to affect L2 motivation and willingness to communicate, as has been shown by MacIntyre and Charos (1996).

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Capturing both trait-like and situation-based characteristics, the pyramid model has informed numerous L2 WTC studies that have either attempted its validation or sought to identify other variables that might shape one’s readiness to initiate speech. Importantly, it has put a premium on communication as a means of reaching the desired level of proficiency. In the words of Yashima (2012: 122), ‘The model emphasizes the communicative goal of L2 learning/teaching, in which L2 proficiency is not regarded as the goal of learning an L2 per se but it is seen as a means to achieve interpersonal/intercultural goals’. What needs to be noted at this juncture is that the pyramid model is deeply rooted in the realities of the L2 context, recognising the impact of intergroup influences. This is evident in the fact that intergroup motivation, attitudes and climate constitute three separate bricks at three different layers of the pyramid. Therefore, as observed by Peng (2014: 15), the model does not sufficiently recognise the influence of intra-ethnic relationships on the attitudes and motivation of L2 learners. It transpires that in English as foreign language (EFL) contexts, these intergroup dependencies may not play such a profound role since, given scant opportunities for contact with native speakers, feelings of fear of assimilation or integrativeness may not account in the same way for one’s willingness to speak. Moreover, Peng (2007b, 2014) draws attention to the significance of cultural norms in shaping the communication behaviour of various ethnic groups. If, as shown by McCroskey and Richmond (1987, 1991), the impact of cultural differences can be detected in L1 WTC, it definitely needs to be taken into account while considering the processes responsible for L2 communication.

A cultural perspective on L2 WTC The recognition of the cultural perspective on the conceptualisation of L2 WTC in the Chinese context led Wen and Clément (2003) to revisit MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) model and supplement it at the level of Layer II and III with variables moderating the relationship between the desire to communicate and Chinese learners’ of English WTC in the classroom. These include societal context variables, comprising group cohesiveness and teacher support, motivational orientations, including affiliation and task orientation, personality factors, in particular risk-taking and tolerance for ambiguity and, finally, affective perceptions, comprising inhibited monitor and positive expectation of evaluation (Wen & Clément, 2003: 25). The researchers observe that the desire to communicate does not immediately implicate willingness to communicate since such a desire implies a preference or choice, while WTC denotes readiness to take action. The modification was meant to give justice to the situational constraints resulting from the character of learning within the Confucian tradition. Wen and Clément

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(2003) contend that Chinese students’ unwillingness to enter into communication in public is not so much related to language-dependent issues as to other-directed self and submissive ways of learning, as well as the corollary of these – a special status enjoyed by the teacher. Otherdirectedness encapsulates such aspects as face protection and the insider effect. In the language classroom, which undoubtedly is ‘an inherently face-threatening environment’ (Dörnyei, 2007a: 723), Chinese learners are excessively sensitive to their teachers’ and peers’ appraisal and this inevitably constrains interaction. The insider effect is pertinent to the feeling of belonging to a group and responsibility for other members of that group, be it family, class or nation. The submissive way of learning (Wen & Clément, 2003: 19) precludes authentic, unrestrained, spontaneous exchange of ideas and at the same time stresses the importance of memorisation, repetition and imitation. In other words, in the hierarchical educational system in China, the teacher is a figure of authority supposed to be a controller and source of knowledge. MacIntyre (2007: 572) acknowledges the existence of ‘culturally conditioned restraining forces on communication’, which can affect intercultural communication as well as impinge on L2 learners’ behaviour inside and outside the classroom in monolingual settings. The impact of such issues will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 3.

Conclusion The enquiry into the processes underlying communicative behaviour with a premium placed on interlocutors’ willingness to contribute to interaction has captivated the attention of researchers for a period spanning a couple of decades now and has resulted in a conspicuous bulk of literature. Theoretical underpinnings that have stemmed from extensive empirical investigations have contributed to the growth of SLA as a field and, especially, to our understanding of what drives and inhibits communication in the language that learners are trying to master. Substantial as the achievements in this respect are, there is growing evidence that the appeal of the area does not seem to have waned, as attested by a steadily accumulating body of research into L2 WTC conducted in various contexts. The heuristic model (MacIntyre et al., 1998) discussed above has inspired numerous researchers to either verify its premises or complement it with other variables that they hypothesise might play a role in initiating communication. Moreover, as shown above, an important line of enquiry has originated with the realisation of the extent to which culture-related issues impinge on the learner’s behaviour in and outside the classroom. An account of the most influential studies devoted to tapping into WTC antecedents will be presented in Chapter 3 following a discussion of the methodological solutions pertinent to the study of the concept.

2 Methodology of Empirical Investigations into L2 WTC

The present chapter is devoted to an overview of a considerable number of studies, with a particular emphasis being laid on their design and the research methods employed to obtain insights into the intricate relationships between the psychological and context-related variables shaping language learners’ willingness to contribute (WTC) in naturalistic and classroom conditions. Given the wealth of research conducted in diverse settings, careful consideration has been given to the choice of studies outlined below. As a consequence, empirical investigations embodying both quantitative and qualitative paradigms as well as such employing mixed-methods approaches will be taken into account. As will become evident, the methodological choices have undergone considerable transformation over the decades of research into WTC, with the quantitative stance, involving hundreds of participants, carefully validated data collection instruments and complex statistical analyses, gradually being supplemented with a qualitative perspective, which entails smaller numbers of participants, thus being more situated, context dependent and personal. More and more common in recent years are studies that also combine the two paradigms with a view to furthering our understanding of the factors shaping learners’ readiness to initiate communication in different situations.

Quantitative Research of L2 WTC Deeply rooted in the methodology of research conducted within the framework of personality psychology, early studies of WTC employed self-report instruments in which readiness to speak was measured across distinct communication contexts and different types of receivers. The scales, originally developed with a view to tapping into first language (L1) WTC (McCroskey & Baer, 1985), were adapted to the study of second language (L2) WTC, among which the one created by McCroskey (1992) turned out to be the most frequently used. This probability– estimate scale consists of 20 items, 12 of which constitute the actual tool, measuring the amount of time, from 0% (never) to 100% (always), in which an individual feels willing to initiate communication. Apart from

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the overall score, it provides subscores, depending on the type of receiver: strangers, acquaintances and friends, and the type of context: public, meetings, small groups or pairs. The scale does not attempt to measure the feelings underlying communication, such as introversion, alienation, apprehension and so forth, but it is intended to tap directly into the speaker’s predisposition towards undertaking or avoiding communication behaviour, which is based on the assumption that respondents must be aware of their orientations towards communication (McCroskey, 1992: 17). The validation procedure undertaken in McCroskey and Richmond’s (1992) study showed that the internal consistency reliability estimate for the whole scale, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha, amounted to 0.92, whereas, because of a smaller number of items, the subscale scores ranged from 0.60 to 0.83 for the role of context and from 0.70 to 0.91 for the receiver. High correlations reported by McCroskey (1992) between the instrument and other self-report scales, such as Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (McCroskey 1982) and Verbal Activity Scale (McCroskey, 1977), on the one hand, testify to its high construct validity and, on the other, demonstrate that the construct measured by the WTC scale is distinct from communication apprehension and actual communicative behaviour. The predictive validity of the instrument has been addressed by Chan and McCroskey (1987) and Zakahi and McCroskey (1989). It turned out that, although the experimental situation differed from those referred to in the scale, in both of the studies, the scores were able to predict agreement to take part in the interview, actual participation as well as resistance to participation.

Early research into WTC In a number of studies conducted in the bilingual setting of Canada, the scale devised by McCroskey (1992) was shown to exhibit high reliability (e.g. MacIntyre et al., 2002, 2003; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996). Nevertheless, some degree of dissatisfaction with the way in which individual contexts of interaction are operationalised in the scale started to emerge as a consequence of the realisation that foreign and second language learning contexts differ in many important ways (cf. Peng, 2013, 2014). While McCroskey and Baer’s (1985) L1 WTC scale may well tap into the influences in an L2 setting, some of the items that it includes, such as ‘Using English to talk to a stranger standing in line’ (Item 12) in the context where an encounter with a proficient target language (TL) user is highly unlikely, appear to be incongruent with learners’ experience and thus inadequate for capturing the mechanisms behind approaching and avoiding communication. Much in the same vein, concerns related to the capacity of the scale to reflect the reality of the language classroom have been raised as it seems to be grounded in everyday communication

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in a naturalistic setting. In the study conducted by Asker (1998: 164) among learners of English in Hong Kong, for example, the students felt confused about the ways in which the statements used in the scale were formulated and asked whether they should ‘imagine’ their behaviour in situations they normally do not experience. In effect, other tools for investigating WTC were developed and later modified, and other analytical procedures started to be applied, with some of the landmark studies briefly discussed below.

MacIntyre and Charos (1996) An influential study that has inspired numerous replications and shaped the way that language learners’ WTC has been investigated for many years to come was conducted by MacIntyre and Charos (1996). Their main objective was to examine the relationships between and within Gardner’s (1985) socio-educational model and MacIntyre’s (1994) L2 WTC model, which entailed investigating a host of affective variables and their role in contributing to success in L2 learning. With this in mind, they performed path analysis, looking for significant links between these variables, their impact on L2 communication as well as the role of global personality traits. Data collection involved the use of self-report instruments that can be divided into the following scales: (1) measures of language learning affect containing subscales tapping into integrativeness (α=0.86), motivation (α=0.65), attitudes towards the learning situation (α=0.89) and language anxiety (α=0.48); (2) measures of communication-related variables including subscales measuring perceived competence (α=0.98), frequency of communication in French (α=0.97) and willingness to communicate in French (α=0.97); (3) a personality measure with items aimed at eliciting information on participants’ extroversion (α=0.85), agreeableness (α=0.63), conscientiousness (α=0.74), emotional stability (α=0.56) and intellect (α=0.77); (4) a measure of social contexts (α=0.60) that was specifically designed for the purpose of the study and was intended to gauge the degree to which the participants get into contact with French at home or at work. Significant paths towards L2 communication frequency were found from WTC, language learning motivation, perceived L2 communicative confidence as well as the opportunity for contact with L2 users. Global personality traits and affective variables proved to impact the frequency of L2 communication only indirectly by establishing a psychological climate that was conducive to interaction using the L2.

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Hashimoto (2002) The design by MacIntyre and Charos (1996) was partially replicated by Hashimoto (2002) among Japanese learners of English with a view to examining the relationships among L2 learning and communication variables, using the socio-educational model as an underlying framework. More specifically, the researcher attempted to tap into the relationship between the learners’ frequency of communication in the classroom and a number of factors including WTC, motivation, perceived competence and communication apprehension. In addition, the study aimed to explore the influence of communication apprehension on perceived competence, and to examine the link between WTC and motivation. Hashimoto (2002) adapted 20 items from MacIntyre and Charos’ (1996) study. The scale intended to measure language learning affect was the attitude/motivation index, a Guilford version of Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (see Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993),1 which consisted of five subscales tapping into the following variables: integrativeness, attitudes towards learning situation and language anxiety. The communication-related variables included WTC, perceived competence, frequency of communication and communication anxiety in English. Descriptive statistics revealed that means and standard deviations for each of the variables and Cronbach’s alpha estimates attested to the high reliability of the instrument in the Japanese context. Correlations were calculated and the coefficients turned out to be significant, the only exception being the relationship between WTC and anxiety. Principal components analysis was employed to establish the instrument’s validity and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised model, which resulted in a modification of MacIntyre and Charos’s (1996) operationalisation of L2 communication by identifying a significant path leading from perceived competence towards motivation.

Yashima (2002) The data collection tool used by MacIntyre and Charos (1996) was also employed by Yashima (2002) in the Japanese educational setting. Although the points of reference were Gardner’s (1985) socio-educational model and MacIntyre’s WTC model, given the scarcity of contact with native speakers in the context under scrutiny, the researcher opted to exclude the measure of frequency of communication from her investigation. As a result, data were collected concerning L2 proficiency, attitudes towards the international community, confidence in L2 communication and motivation as WTC determinants.

MacIntyre, Baker, Clément and Conrod (2001a) MacIntyre et al. (2001a) attempted to explore in- and out-of-class L2 WTC in the immersion context considering, apart from speaking, other language

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skills. The study concerned both productive and receptive skills, as the authors wished to gain a better understanding of the relationship between specific skills and WTC, since ‘[e]ven receptive language use implies a commitment by an individual to authentic language use and might foster a willingness to communicate’ (MacIntyre et al., 2001a: 375). The tool that the researchers applied consisted of four subscales tapping into the following constructs: WTC in the classroom, WTC outside the classroom, orientation for language learning and social support. The first scale, which included 27 items, aimed to measure learners’ willingness to participate in specific classroom tasks. While the original scale developed by McCroskey and Richmond (1987) involved indicating the percentage of time (from 0 never to 100 always) that respondents would be willing to communicate in particular situations (see Chapter 1), in this case the original marking scheme was changed to a five-point Likert scale from almost never willing to almost always willing, on which the respondents indicated their skill-specific WTC. Cronbach’s alpha values for the four skills were as follows: speaking α=0.81, listening α=0.83, reading α=0.83 and writing α=0.88. Another questionnaire, consisting of 27 items and accompanied by the same assessment scale, was used to determine respondents’ willingness to engage in various communicative situations that necessitated the use of the L2 outside the classroom, with the items also being indicative of the four skill areas. Reliability estimates in this case were the following: speaking α=0.89, listening α=0.90, reading α=0.93 and writing α=0.96. In order to examine orientations for language learning, the researchers adapted a scale from Clément and Kruidenier (1985) which required indicating on a scale from 1 strongly agree to 6 strongly disagree the degree to which particular reasons for learning French applied to the participants. The survey brought together four orientations: travel (α=0.71), knowledge (α=0.70), friendship (α=0.81), job related (α=0.73) and school achievement (α=0.66). Finally, social support was investigated using Ajzen’s (1988) method for testing subjective norms, which involved giving a yes or no answer to questions concerning the person or persons who provided respondents with support for their language learning.

Weaver (2005, 2007) Weaver (2005, 2007) observed that the investigations of L2 WTC, based on McCroskey and Richmond’s (1987) L1 WTC scale, are limited to a set of contexts and receivers, which to a large extent link the results to the conceptualisation of WTC as a stable, personality-related variable, thereby failing to divulge more subtle situational factors shaping learners’ readiness to speak in an L2. For this reason, Weaver’s (2005: 397) investigation of L2 WTC attempted to embrace two important aspects, the first being extending the scope of interest from oral activities to writing, and the second exploring how items reflecting in-class activities or tasks determine learners’ WTC. He employed the Rasch Model to examine the

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psychometric properties of the 34-item instrument he developed to tap into Japanese learners’ willingness to speak and write in the classroom. A four-point scale, ranging from 1 definitely not willing to 4 definitely willing, was used with items that represented typical speaking and writing tasks, and situations that this specific group of learners was likely to engage in in a formal context. The statistical model applied by Weaver confirmed the usefulness of the scale.

Peng (2007) In her study conducted in 2007, Peng used 27 items from MacIntyre et al.’s (2001b) WTC scale to measure Chinese learners’ of English WTC inside the classroom. However, some items were subject to modifications to make them reflect the tasks and activities familiar to the participants. The WTC in English inside the classroom scale, with a reliability estimate of α=0.92, required the students to mark on a five-point scale the frequency with which they would choose to speak the TL in each of the situations in the classroom. In another of her studies, Peng (2013: 282) expressed a concern over the tool devised by Weaver (2005, 2007) related to the lack of a clear reference to the type of receiver, as the word ‘someone’ used in the scale might denote the teacher or another student as well. This must have had a considerable bearing on the results, since, as has been proved, for example, by Cao (2011) or MacIntyre et al. (2011), the nature of the relationship between the speaker and the interlocutor(s) affects an individual’s readiness to contribute to interaction.

Peng and Woodrow (2010) Peng and Woodrow (2010), in turn, chose 10 items from the original Weaver’s (2005) scale for their study of Chinese learners’ of English classroom WTC and adapted them to better suit their context, with the six-point scale rendering a reliability estimate of α=0.88. Peng (2014: 20) rightly observes that three different constructs: L2 WTC, communication anxiety and perceived competence are often measured using the same scale items adapted from McCroskey and Baer’s (1985) tool which was intended to gauge L1 speakers’ WTC across contexts with different interlocutors. She makes the point that applying items with identical content may, on the one hand, simplify comparisons, but, on the other, considerably confuse respondents. Moreover, as the researcher cautions, items applicable to L1 use may not sufficiently reflect the subtleties of conditions which are in place in the language classroom.

Ryan (2009) Operating in a Japanese educational setting, Ryan (2009) set out to partially replicate studies on motivation performed in Hungary (Csizér & Dörnyei, 2005; Dörnyei & Clément, 2001; Dörnyei & Csizér, 2002; Dörnyei

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et al., 2006), using 100 six-point items which focused on 18 motivational and affective variables, one of which was WTC. The scale specifically tapping into the participants’ willingness to engage in communication consisted of eight items referring to situations both inside and outside the classroom, and was adapted from McCroskey’s (1992) original measure. Obviously, it was carefully tailored to the characteristics of the Japanese educational system at the secondary and tertiary level. Yashima (2009) employed the same scale in a study undertaken to investigate the relationship between L2 WTC and international posture.

Peng (2013) Peng (2013) also chose to apply Ryan’s (2009) instrument in the research she conducted in a Chinese educational setting. The tool relied upon a six-point rating scheme and was validated using confirmatory factor analysis, based on the results of exploratory factor analysis carried out in a pilot study. In the most recent of her studies, Peng (2014) adapted Weaver ’s (2005) scale measuring in-class WTC with a view to examining, among other things, learners’ readiness to engage in communication in meaning-focused and form-focused activities. The changes that the items included in the original scale underwent mainly pertained to indications of the receiver type, as, for the sake of clarity, the new scale left no doubt as to who the interlocutor was, abandoning the ambiguous ‘someone’ and pointing directly at either the teacher or peer(s). Cronbach’s alpha measures for WTC in meaning-focused and form-focused activities scales were 0.82 and 0.89, respectively.

Ghonsooly, Khajavy and Asadpour (2012) In the study undertaken by Ghonsooly et al. (2012), 12 items from McCroskey (1992) were employed to determine the percentage of time non-English majors in Iran would spend interacting with strangers, acquaintances or friends in public, at meetings, in groups or dyads. The researchers proposed a communication model that was tested by means of structural equation modelling. The procedure showed that in the Iranian context, L2 self-confidence and attitudes towards the international community were two predictors of L2 WTC.

MacIntyre and Doucette (2010) In the study by MacIntyre and Doucette (2010), the conceptual framework used to explore language learners’ WTC was expanded with the adoption of Kuhl’s (1994a, 1994b) theory of action control (ACT), according to which readiness to engage in communication in the TL emerges from three basic factors, that is, preoccupation, volatility and hesitation. The theory posits that having a well-defined goal does not guarantee performing the action pertinent to the completion of that goal. People tend to situate

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themselves on a continuum between two extremes: action and a state orientation. While the former refers to a situation in which a suitably high level of motivation spurs on fulfilment of one’s goals, the latter entails the inability to initiate or persist in performing the task, mainly attributable to the fear of failure or hesitation in action initiation. The battery of tests that MacIntyre and Doucette (2010) employed included scales, apart from those related to action control (Kuhl, 1994a), tapping into communication measures, such as perceived communication competence, anxiety, trait WTC, in- and out-of-class WTC, as well as perceived competence inside and outside the classroom. Path analysis confirmed the researchers’ assumption that low levels of WTC both in an instructional setting and outside are related to the functioning of the action control mechanism. The examination of the correlation coefficients between action control and communication variables showed that WTC and perceived L2 competence were related consistently to both hesitation and volatility, and that anxiety positively correlated with hesitation. In the course of path analysis, it was established that hesitation was an antecedent of language anxiety and predicted lower L2 perceived competence.

MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) The scope of the study conducted by MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) went beyond measuring respondents’ trait-level WTC as its focus was on the development of the idiodynamic method that allows investigations of WTC variation over a period of time on a moment-by-moment basis in the performance of specific tasks. The quantitative paradigm was still represented by the use of two 20-item scales, originally employed by MacIntyre et al. (2003), which required the respondents to indicate their usual willingness to use the TL and their mother tongue. Since the study is representative of a more situated approach to the study of WTC, its design will be discussed in more detail in the following section.

Denies, Yashima and Janssen (2015) The study by Denies et al. (2015), drawing on both MacIntyre and Charos (1996) and Yashima (2002), investigates WTC and its antecedents using structural equation modelling, but, unlike many other attempts at determining the factors leading towards learners’ readiness to display communicative behaviour, it looks at WTC among learners of French, not English. Moreover, contrary to many WTC studies, the data were collected among a large representative sample, not a convenience one. The investigation involved a cohort of 1000 learners of French in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, whose in-class WTC was compared to their out of the classroom WTC and considered in relation to their proficiency level, as established in the course of standardised listening comprehension

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tests. The questionnaire that respondents filled in contained items that were translated to Dutch and were intended to measure their French WTC and other related concepts derived from standardised tests well known from the literature. Out-of-class WTC was measured by means of McCroskey’s (1992) scale, whereas the participants’ motivation, attitudes towards the learning situation and integrativeness were tapped into with the help of Gardner’s Attitude Motivation Test Battery (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993). In order to establish the level of self-perceived competence, the students were required to assess their listening competence using a five-point scale, ranging from very bad to very good. The results suggest that out-ofclass WTC can be predicted on the basis of classroom WTC. Moreover, in naturalistic contexts integrativeness plays a less profound role if coupled with an increase in anxiety.

Gallagher and Robins (2015) Another promising line of inquiry, closely related to the framework employed in the study reported above, has been pursued by Gallagher and Robins (2015) who applied network statistical models to the study of WTC. The researchers claim that their research constitutes the first known attempt at applying a network statistical approach in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). As noted by Mercer (2015: 73), ‘one suggestion of how to make any complex dynamic system more amenable for research is to conceptualize it as a network’, mainly because social network analysis offers methodological solutions that enable researchers to detect relationships between various factors, or nodes, in the system. The application of the Core Discussion Network Name Generator to a cohort of 43 students coming from four different continents and enrolled in an English for academic purposes course at a university in Britain resulted in generating lists of people with whom individual students interact. This enabled defining intracultural core discussion ties for interlocutors coming from the same cultural background and cross-cultural ties for students recruiting from different ethnic groups. Data related to the participants’ WTC were collected by means of the original scale devised by McCroskey (1992), which required indicating the time they would choose to communicate in English in different situations involving small and large groups, one-to-one communication or public speaking. The Exponential Random Graph Model, a statistical model used to estimate the strength and direction of relational tendencies in a group of people, was used with a view to establishing intra- and cross-cultural ties. The model that emerged in the course of the analysis demonstrates the existence of various network tendencies on the social and cultural plane within this particular learning context. The researchers looked at the types of connections or ties between group members and tried to establish the impact of the social structure

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of the group on its members’ willingness to use the L2 in whole-class presentations or tasks performed in small groups or pairs.

Khajavy, Ghonsooly, Fatemi and Choi (2016) A more recent attempt at identifying WTC antecedents that mirrors the procedures and analyses representing MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) model has been undertaken by Khajavy et al. (2016) among 243 Iranian Englishmajor university students. The instruments used included six main scales measuring WTC in English, perceived communicative competence, communication anxiety, autonomous motivation to learn English, classroom environment and attitudes towards learning English. English language achievement was operationalised in the form of the average of the final grades that the respondents received in the speaking, writing and reading courses over the first semester. The first of the scales, adapted from Peng and Woodrow (2010), provided an insight into the extent to which the participants were willing to communicate during meaning-focused (Cronbach’s α=0.73) and form-focused (Cronbach’s α=0.89) classroom activities. Peng and Woodrow’s (2010) scale items were also used to establish the percentage of time that the students perceived themselves as competent while communicating in the classroom (Cronbach’s α=0.91), as well as to assess the classroom environment with respect to teacher support (α=0.79), student cohesiveness (α=0.81) and task orientation (α=0.80). Horwitz’s (1986) scale was the departure point for the measure of anxiety experienced in various communication situations taking place in the classroom (Cronbach’s α=0.84). The conceptualisation of, as the authors label it, ‘autonomous motivation to learn English’ p. 164, emerged from the application of Noels et al.’s (2000) items that tap into both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This was followed by the application of the Relative Autonomy Index (Ryan & Connel, 1989), thanks to which a weight was assigned to each motivational subscale. The weighted scores were added with a view to demonstrating the levels of self-determined motivation with the caveat that the higher the index, the greater the degree of such motivation. The internal consistency reliability of the subscale amounted to α=0.83. The participants’ attitudes towards the learning situation were measured with a scale adapted from Ryan (2009) (α=0.84). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were applied to establish predictors of L2 WTC within the emergent model, the most significant of which turned out to be the classroom environment. The methodological choices made by the authors of the studies discussed above involve the application of statistical procedures, in most of the cases, to large samples of respondents disclosing information about their thoughts, beliefs or behaviours with the help of self-report tools. Much of the researchers’ interest focused on the validity and reliability of the scales they devised as well as the relationship between the variables that these

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tools were supposed to measure. The results that these analyses rendered have mostly portrayed WTC as a trait-like feature or a relatively stable context-related variable. Detailed as the data collection instruments used in these studies might be, they fail to capture the more subtle influences that the interplay of antecedents exerts on building someone’s willingness to interact. The need for more penetrating measures has resulted in the development of new data gathering procedures and the application of a mixed-methods approach to the study of language learners’ WTC, whose discussion will be the focus of the following section.

Situational and Dynamic WTC: A Shift from Quantitative to Mixed-Methods Research As mentioned above, in recent years many researchers have recognised the need to address the situational and dynamic aspects of WTC. This has been accompanied by more and more frequent reliance on a mixed-methods approach (cf. Cao & Philip, 2006; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011) which has enabled researchers to look into both stable behavioural tendencies and dynamic changes brought about by contextual variables. As reported above, dissatisfaction with scales measuring mainly trait-level WTC has been voiced on a number of occasions (cf. Weaver, 2005), contributing to the expansion of the instrumentation through the use of qualitative tools including observations, immediate and stimulated recall, among others, thanks to which a more fine-grained lens could be applied to both individual and contextual influences on learners’ readiness to speak. Such methodological developments are illustrated in the studies outlined in Table 2.1. Table 2.1 Summary of the main context-related influences on changes in WTC levels Study

Variables affecting WTC levels (often in interaction)

Fishbein and Ajzen (1975, 1980) MacIntyre et al. (1997) Baker and MacIntyre (2000) McIntyre et al. (2001) Clément et al. (2003) Kang (2005)

Context Learning context Learning context

Cao (2006) Cao and Philip (2006)

Peng (2007a)

Frequency of communication, quality of contact Security, excitement, responsibility mediated by interlocutor, topic, context Topic, task type Group size, familiarity with interlocutors, their participation, knowledge of the topic, self-confidence and cultural background Integrativeness, attitudes towards the learning situation and motivation (Continued)

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Table 2.1 (Continued) Study

Variables affecting WTC levels (often in interaction)

Peng (2007b) Weaver (2007) De Saint Léger and Storch (2009)

Motivation, context Task type Students’ perceptions of their speaking skills, contributions they made to in-class oral activities, attitudes towards these activities Volatility and hesitation which is positively correlated to anxiety Self-confidence, personality, emotion, perceived opportunity to communicate, topic, task, interlocutor, teacher, group size, linguistic factors Topic, task type Context Linguistic factors (lexis), context, proficiency Context, topic Task, experience, confidence Individual characteristics, classroom environmental conditions and linguistic factors Cultural and contextual communication confidence, motivation, learner beliefs, classroom context; aspects of perceived communication confidence: topical knowledge, topical familiarity, critical thinking ability Task type, face concerns Teacher, topic Participation format (monologue vs. dialogue), fatigue Communication strategy training

MacIntyre and Doucette (2010) Cao (2011)

Cao (2012) MacIntyre et al. (2011) MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) MacIntyre et al. (2011) Cao (2013) Cao (2014) Peng (2014)

Zhong (2014) Zarrinabadi (2014) Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pawlak (2014) Mesgarshahr and Abdollahzadeh (2014) Yue (2014) Munezane (2015)

Parents’ expectations, classroom context Training in the form of visualising and goal setting Pawlak and Mystkowska-Wiertelak Presence or absence of teacher, degree of (2015) familiarity with interlocutor, having ideas to share Gallagher and Robins (2015) Intra-group relationships Bernales (2016) Goals, motivation, classroom norms and teacher expectations Pawlak et al. (2016) Task type, participation format, topic, interlocutor Peng et al. (2016) Multimodal classroom affordances

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Kang (2005) In one of the first studies of this kind, Kang (2005) attempted to find out what situational variables affect L2 WTC in a communication situation and how they construct situational WTC. Moreover, her objective was to look into the changes that L2 WTC underwent in the course of communication. The participants were four Korean students enrolled in a conversation partner programme with native speakers of English at an American university. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews enquiring, apart from demographic information, about their experiences in learning and using English, perceptions concerning interaction with native and non-native speakers of the language as well as factors influencing their WTC. The conversations in which the participants engaged over the period of eight weeks were observed and videotaped. The recordings were later used to prompt stimulated recall, in the course of which the participants were encouraged to stop the video at times when their communication or WTC were affected and comment on the ways in which the parameters of the situation impinged on their behaviour and feelings, with these sessions being recorded, transcribed and analysed as well. The conclusion reached by Kang was that the decision to initiate or enter into communication resulted from an interplay of three psychological variables: security, excitement and responsibility.

Kang (2014) With a view to investigating the effect of study abroad experiences on Korean English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ WTC, speaking skills and participation in interaction, Kang (2014) carried out a mixed approach study in which data were gathered by means of a background questionnaire, the WTC scale adapted from Peng and Woodrow (2010), speaking proficiency interviews, classroom observations and postobservation interviews. A complex research design involved applying the different research instruments before and after eight weeks spent in the TL country. The results showed that a relatively short period spent abroad significantly improved the learners’ WTC, speaking abilities and participation in classroom interaction.

Cao and Philip (2006) Cao and Philip (2006) examined correlations between trait WTC and the actual WTC behaviour in three interactional situations: pair work, group work and whole class. The data were contributed by eight students from various ethnic backgrounds who attended an English course in New Zealand for a period of one month. Apart from having the participants fill out a WTC questionnaire, the study consisted of classroom observations, audio recordings of group and pair work and an interview with each of

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the participants. The respondents’ WTC at the state level was established on the basis of observations of their behaviour in the classroom using an observation scheme that comprised the following categories: volunteer an answer, give an answer to the teacher’s question, ask the teacher a question, try out a difficult form in the TL, guess the meaning of an unknown word, present own opinions in class, volunteer to participate in class activities. The list of categories was arrived at on the basis of previous descriptions of highly motivated learners or learners with high WTC, and a piloting procedure, which revealed the need for additional alterations that were deemed necessary to account for the distinction between interaction with and without the teacher’s presence in pair and group work. Structured interviews served as a means of eliciting learners’ perceptions of the factors contributing to their WTC. During the first phase, questions related to WTC antecedents, such as motivation, anxiety levels and perceived competence, were asked. The second phase was intended to elicit introspective comments with reference to excerpts of the recorded material. At this stage, the participants were encouraged to talk about the feelings evoked by the task performance in groups and pairs. In the final stage, interviews were conducted including questions that addressed issues that emerged in the behaviour of individual students. Along the lines of the criticisms levelled at the applicability of generic trait measurement scales to the analysis of WTC in an instructional setting, Cao and Philip (2006) pointed to the discrepancy between self-reported WTC and readiness to initiate communication in the classroom. Because of the fact that the scale they employed was generic and not intended to measure the construct in actual instructional settings, five items adapted from WTC behavioural intentions listed in the classroom observation scheme were added. These referred to actions typically performed in class in three interactional modes: whole class, pair work and group work. The internal consistency reliability of the tool was more than satisfactory, as indicated by the value of Cronbach’s alpha amounting to 0.917. Despite the fact that the additional items specifically concerned classroom interaction, the results showed no clear correlations between learners’ self-reported WTC and their performance. The researchers, acknowledging the unique character of instructed language acquisition where risk-taking is inherently involved, pointed to the need to develop a scale that would be capable of capturing WTC in that context.

Cao (2011) In a more recent study, Cao (2011) adopted a multiple case study approach in the investigation of situational WTC. The procedure mirrored that of the study discussed above, with each of the participants being audiorecorded in the course of classroom observations. This was followed by stimulated recall sessions during which the respondents were encouraged

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to comment on the factors impacting on their WTC. The only diversion from the research designed previously were weekly reflective journals in which the students recorded information concerning their WTC in and out of the classroom. As before, Cao (2011) operationalised WTC in terms of the behaviours observed during a lesson, not as an intention to speak but as instances of voluntary communication. In order to register such communication attempts, a classroom observation scheme was employed containing the previously reported seven categories (Cao & Philip, 2006). The procedure involved calculating turns separately for a teacher-fronted activity, group and pair work, with tokens of WTC behaviour then being tabulated as a ratio of time for each learner. Following the analysis of the data, a conclusion was reached that situational L2 WTC develops from an interplay of individual variables, including self-confidence, personality, emotion and perceived opportunity to communicate; and environmental factors, comprising topic, task, interlocutor, teacher and group size, as well as linguistic factors. The same influences turned out to be accountable for variation in situational WTC in the longitudinal case study conducted by Cao (2013). Using the same instrumentation, the researcher attempted to investigate WTC fluctuations over a period of five months. As the results suggest, WTC fluctuates both in the short and the long run, in a lesson or a single task, which can be explained in terms of growing experience and confidence. Cao (2011, 2013) recognises the benefits of applying a mixedmethods approach to the study of an issue as complex as WTC, making the point that triangulation involving self-reports on factors influencing WTC, classroom observations and microanalysis of learners behaviour in the classroom allowed for this dynamic phenomenon to be explored from multiple perspectives.

De Saint Léger and Storch (2009) Another study within the mixed-methods paradigm was conducted by De Saint Léger and Storch (2009), who set out to investigate the way in which L2 learners’ WTC was influenced by their perceptions of their speaking skills, the contributions they made to oral activities in the classroom and their attitudes towards these activities. Among the data collection tools employed in the study, it was self-assessment questionnaires that provided the most insightful information. The participants were encouraged to fill them in three times during the semester with a view not only to tapping into their WTC but also to increasing their reflectivity and autonomy. The main objective was fostering reflection on oral contributions in class, diagnosing weaknesses and strengths with respect to speaking and, consequently, identifying areas that could be improved. In the questionnaire composed of multiple-choice items, self-rating scales, with responses ranging from 1 (the lowest) to 10 (the highest), as well as open-ended questions were used to assess the students’ participation

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in classroom activities and their oral proficiency. On each occasion, the focus of the questionnaire was slightly different. Surveys administered at Time One zoomed in on aspects of oral communications that the students excelled at or found hard to manage, the interaction mode that posed the greatest challenge and the extent of their involvement in interaction. Those administered at Time Two concerned one particular type of task: a debate. On the third occasion that the questionnaire was administered, apart from items used at Time One, the students were confronted with questions meant to elicit comments on their progress over the period of the semester in which the study took place. Having completed the questionnaire for the first time, the students were given collective feedback on one of the groups’ answers where the dominant trends were shown by means of percentages and frequencies. Moreover, some answers describing personal goals and actions were presented with an eye to triggering reflection on the choice of goals and strategies. On the second and third occasions, the participants received feedback individually. The data gathering tools also comprised a subject evaluation questionnaire, the teacher’s assessment referring to in-class participation in the final week and semi-structured focus-group interviews. The questions focused on the usefulness of selfassessment as well as a number of recurrent issues emerging from the questionnaires. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on the data. The former entailed the comparison of items referring to fluency, pronunciation, turn-taking and vocabulary on the second and third occasion, with the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test being used to determine statistical significance. Qualitative analysis was applied to the responses to the open-ended items in the questionnaires and interviews conducted in focus groups. Recurrent themes were rendered as categories if at least two participants made a reference to the same issue. Such analyses enabled the researchers to contend that the perceptions that students hold with reference to the speaking activities and themselves as language learners shape their WTC.

Bernales (2016) A mixed methods design was also adapted in the study by Bernales (2016) who launched an investigation in a classroom setting with a view to exploring the L2 use and participation of learners of German as a foreign language at an American university. More specifically, the researcher attempted to identify the link between students’ planned and actual participation, both self-reported, in specific class activities and over the semester, as well as examine the rationale for their decisions to participate or not. The data gathered by means of a survey administered on four different occasions during the semester were complemented with information accrued in the course of stimulated recall sessions with four participants focusing on explanations for speaking or reticence at

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specific moments during classes. In order to measure planned and actual speaking behaviour, the students were requested to indicate in percentages the time that they intended to speak English as well as German, since the use of the students’ L1 was not precluded, during the next portion of the class and then indicate again the percentage of time that they actually used both languages during that period. The data were divided into the following categories: thoughts related to class that were planned to be articulated, thoughts related to class that were actually articulated, thoughts that students planned to articulate in the L2 and thoughts that students reported to have actually articulated in the L2. The survey reports provided by the students were compared to video recordings and field notes made by the researcher present at the lessons. Apart from students’ opinions about learning German, participation and language use, the interviews also tapped into the thought processes concerning the decision of how and whether to speak. For this reason, the interviewees were shown clips of the recorded material and were encouraged to explain the circumstances prior to vocalising their thoughts during the lesson. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to determine the percentages of thoughts planned to be articulated and thoughts actually articulated. A Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks was computed to determine the differences in the distribution of percentages for each variable across classes, a Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test was applied to establish the significance of the differences between the thoughts related to class and the thoughts intended to be articulated in German and, finally, the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was calculated to indicate the relationship between the predicted and selfreported percentages for the two groups of variables. In order to augment the quantitative analysis with explanations for the accrued data, the interviews were analysed qualitatively according to the explanatory design, with a follow-up explanations model being chosen (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Bernales succeeded in establishing a link between predicted and reported communicative behaviour and found that this relationship evolved in the course of the semester in response to learners’ goals, their motivation, classroom norms and teacher expectations.

MacIntyre, Burns and Jessome (2011) A focused essay technique employed by MacIntyre et al. (2011) rendered data demonstrating that a great degree of ambivalence was experienced by teenage immersion learners while interacting with others. The initial questionnaire that the learners were asked to fill out enquired about their linguistic background and frequency of communication in the TL. Additionally, their learning orientations were established on the basis of an adapted version of Clément and Kruidenier’s (1985) orientation index. However, the bulk of the information came from the journals kept by the

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participants over a period of six months. The focused essay technique required reporting situations in which the learners felt most willing and most unwilling to communicate using the TL, as well as providing information on interlocutors and the setting.

MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) New possibilities for investigations of WTC emerged with the development of the idiodynamic method (MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011), a novel procedure for measuring moment-by-moment fluctuations or ‘rapid changes’ in learners’ WTC in the course of task performance. The idiodynamic method owes its name to Rosenzweig’s (1986) work on personality where the term refers to dynamic changes in an individual in the course of an event. However, as MacIntyre and Legatto (2011: 150) acknowledge, the main inspiration came from Allport (1937), who used the term idiographic to denote a structural approach to traits in which the analysis concerns an individual during an event and concentrates on the qualities that make him or her unique. This stands in contrast to a nomothetic approach, which consists of identifying the features that people have in common to a varying degree (MacIntyre, 2012: 362). The method allows describing changes in a speaker’s WTC over a brief period of time, counted in minutes or seconds, thus providing insights into the degree of changes or the amount of speaking time depending on the task type. In addition, it offers an opportunity to record variation over time and tap into the feelings or motives behind WTC ups and downs. The tasks required the respondents to (1) describe what they were wearing, (2) discuss the education system of their home province, (3) discuss the role of parliament in the Canadian system of government, (4) order a meal in a restaurant, (5) describe their hobbies, (6) describe a picture, (7) count up to 100 in 10s and (8) give directions to a shopping mall. The procedure is composed of four stages. First, students take part in a communication task that is recorded, and immediately afterwards, while watching the recorded material, they complete a moment-by-moment rating of their WTC using software specially developed for this purpose. The rating involves clicking a computer mouse to indicate an increase or decrease in the WTC level visible in one window of the screen from –5 to +5 while watching the videotaped material in the other. In order to necessitate active reaction, the software moves the rating one step towards zero every second if the participant does not indicate any response. The output yielded is a bitmap graph showing WTC fluctuations and a spreadsheet with WTC levels plotted against time. Immediately afterwards, in the third stage, the participant, assisted by a researcher, receives a printed version of the graph and, while watching the video for the second time, is encouraged to comment on each noticeable variation in WTC. The recording is stopped to allow time for reflection and discussion, which is again videotaped and

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transcribed. In the last stage, the video is watched by the researchers and a report on the participant’s affective reactions is generated. As no objective coding scheme is used, the appraisal of the respondent’s emotional state is more of an impression, based on intuition rather than an objective measure. Nevertheless, a researcher – as an involved interlocutor – should be considered a valuable and reliable source of information in this respect (Maxwell, 2005). As MacIntyre and Legatto (2011: 164) argue, the main advantage of the idiodynamic method lies in its capacity to report the dynamics of WTC, as opposed to nomothetic approaches that cannot capture minute-by-minute shifts or ups and downs. The method allows the collection of a considerable amount of data in the brief time span when the tasks are performed, which testifies to its remarkable usefulness. The data show consistent tendencies dependent on task type as well as individual participants performing these tasks. Moreover, the procedure enabled tapping into the reasons behind the decreases in WTC which were mainly attributed to difficulty in finding suitable vocabulary and anxiety. It should also be noted that the involvement of the researchers rendered data on issues that evaded individual respondents’ introspection and could thus not have been captured by the self-ratings.

Yue (2014) The conceptualisation of L2 WTC as a complex dynamic system is embraced in the study by Yue (2014), who looked into the connection between WTC, context-related variables and the different facets of self-concept. Her case study involved a Chinese student majoring in microbiology with 20 years of experience in learning English. The data collecting procedure took 14 weeks and involved performing a life story interview, classroom observations and stimulated recall interviews. The first of the data collection procedures was conducted at the beginning of the course to establish the participant’s sense of self-concept along with an account of her learning experience. In the course of classroom observations, not only were detailed field notes covering the classroom context with tasks and interactions made but also recordings of the student’s interaction with her teacher and peers. The stimulated recall interviews that took place after each lesson supplied information on the perceptions and evaluations that the student held in relation to her communication behaviour. The data were examined for information pertinent to the student’s WTC, self-concepts and future self-guides. The researcher adopted a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006), performing data analysis without imposing any theoretical framework or applying preconceived categories so that a broader picture of the variables under investigation could emerge. The analysis showed that selfconcept, due to its complexity, dynamically influenced the learner’s WTC in different communicative situations. Although her general ought-to

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self was largely related to her parents’ expectations, in the classroom the facet that profoundly impinged on her readiness to participate in communicative activities was the need to satisfy her teacher’s anticipations as well as concerns related to the standard of her performance in the L2 and examination orientation. Having explored the learner’s WTC and self-concept on numerous planes, the researcher arrived at the conclusion that L2 WTC manifests properties of complex dynamic systems where co-dependent interacting variables constantly evolve.

Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pawlak (2014) Another attempt at disclosing the reasons for WTC fluctuation is represented by the study carried out by the present authors (MystkowskaWiertelak & Pawlak, 2014) who departed from a laboratory-style procedure, choosing a classroom-based design in which advanced learners of English were engaged in the performance of communicative tasks typical of their instructional context. More specifically, the participants were engaged in the production of a monologue and a dialogue, two types of activities that their teachers would use most frequently in speaking classes and that would be used during a high-stakes end-of-the-year oral exam. The study intended to establish typical patterns in WTC fluctuations as manifested in the course of the two tasks as well as to tap into the relationship between the level of the students’ WTC, as reported while performing the tasks, and various individual characteristics, including frequency of L2 use in the classroom, perceived competence, communication anxiety, WTC in English, classroom WTC and classroom anxiety, measured by means of a questionnaire. In the first stage of the experiment, the students, randomly assigned to pairs, were asked to perform a monologue and a dialogue, each within the span of five minutes. In each pair, they took turns talking and controlling the time of the interlocutor’s presentation. During both tasks, the students were instructed to mark their WTC on a scale of –10, which indicated extreme reluctance to speak, to +10, which indicated extreme eagerness to interact. The self-ratings were made at regular time intervals (30 seconds) in response to a pre-recorded beep. Interesting differences between the participants’ WTC while performing the two tasks and their tendencies within each task type were observed. The self-ratings were analysed quantitatively and a paired samples t-test was computed to compare the results for the two tasks. The second stage involved filling in a battery of questionnaires, which included items from the following issues: WTC in English, Perceived Competence in English and Frequency of Communication in English, based on the survey applied by MacIntyre and Charos (1996), Classroom WTC, which was adapted from MacIntyre et al. (2001a), Communication Anxiety in English in the form presented by Yashima (2002) and, finally, a widely used tool, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety

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Scale (FLCAS), designed by Horwitz et al. (1986). Once the data collected by means of these instruments were analysed, Pearson product-moment correlations were computed between the self-ratings for the monologue and the dialogue, and the constructs were measured in the ways described above.

Pawlak and Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2015) A similar design was applied by Pawlak and Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2015) in the study aimed to explore the dynamic character of advanced learners’ of English willingness to contribute to a communicative task. As was the case in the study reported above, the researchers searched for typical patterns in the fluctuations of interlocutors’ WTC as well as the factors causing an increase or decrease in the WTC level. Four pairs of English majors who volunteered to take part in the study were asked to perform an impromptu conversation on a topic that was assumed unlikely to pose a conceptual or linguistic challenge. A list of questions referring to upbringing was presented to the participants with a view to initiating a discussion, which was accompanied by some hints or clues concerning the issues that could be tackled within the time limit of 10 minutes. While talking, the participants were asked to indicate the level of their WTC on a specifically designed grid. This happened every 30 seconds in response to a computer-generated beep and involved marking the extent of the willingness and unwillingness to talk from –10 (extreme unwillingness) to +10 (extreme willingness). The dialogues were audio-recorded and the recordings were used in the interviews conducted immediately after the task, during which each of the participants listened to the recorded dialogue and, looking at the grid, commented on the shifts in WTC at points indicated by the researcher. These sessions were also recorded, transcribed and analysed with a view to establishing uniform trends and tendencies. Qualitative analysis consisted of identifying and labelling the recurring themes in the data. The students’ self-ratings were also analysed quantitatively by calculating the means for each student in each pair as well as exploring the fluctuations for each pair at 30-second intervals. The final stage of the experiment required the students to fill in an original questionnaire aimed at gathering information on the possible causes of WTC alterations throughout the activity. These included items related to the topic, the partner’s contribution, agreeing or disagreeing with the partner, difficulty in understanding the partner’s argument, the presence or absence of the teacher, as well as the open-ended category of ‘other’, with the students being encouraged to indicate as many as they wished. The participants who at any time reported being unwilling to contribute to the discussions were asked to indicate the reason for this by either providing their own justification or choosing from among the following: not knowing suitable words, having lost interest in the

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discussion or the partner making it difficult to contribute. The survey also contained items concerning the level of task difficulty and the effect of hypothetical changes in partner and topic. The data were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis, the former consisting of tabulating the numbers of specific choices, and the latter of identifying repeated themes in the responses to open-ended questions.

Pawlak, Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Bielak (2016) The study by Pawlak et al. (2016), which in fact provided a point of reference for the research reported in Part 3 of the present volume, resembles the design of the project reported above, especially with respect to the self-report tool. In order to achieve high ecological validity, the procedure was employed in the course of a naturally occurring speaking class taught to English majors enrolled in a three-year bachelors (BA) programme. This time, the intervals at which the respondents were supposed to indicate their level of WTC amounted to 5 minutes and the whole procedure spanned a total of 65 minutes. Apart from the selfratings of students’ WTC, the data included detailed lesson plans and responses to post hoc questionnaires in order to establish the factors responsible for an increase or decrease in the degree of WTC that the respondents experienced during this class (see Chapter 7 in Part 3 for a detailed description of these procedures). The authors were interested to see the extent of the changes in the learners’ WTC in the course of a single speaking class as well as attempting to detect typical patterns in WTC fluctuations, taking as a point of reference the variables described in the literature and other factors relevant to classroom interaction, including those related to the teacher, students, instructional activities or group dynamics, etc. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that the extent to which WTC fluctuated depended on a host of contextual and individual factors. Most importantly, it was found that WTC increased when students were given the opportunity to communicate with familiar receivers in small groups or pairs on topics related to personal experiences.

Peng (2014) A mixed-methods approach was chosen by Peng (2014), who, apart from a questionnaire (see above), performed a multiple case study among students at one of the leading universities in China. The study involved four participants who repeatedly took part in semi-structured interviews and kept learning journals. The researcher also conducted nonparticipant classroom observations using an observation scheme in which she recorded instances of volunteering answers to the teacher ’s questions or taking part in a role play, non-public response, response in chorus, initiating questions directed at other students and the teacher, answering

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questions asked by other students, initiating informal conversation with the teacher and responding to the teacher informally. The second part of the observation scheme concerned being nominated to speak, nonverbal actions such as note taking, raising hands, laughing or smiling, looking away or down upon questions asked by the teacher and also reactions to classmates’ performance, involving hand raising, laughter, silence, nominated speaking up or chorus responses. Peng (2014: 96) herself acknowledges that ‘WTC is a covert state and difficult to observe’, and, because of this, her classroom observations can only be treated as supplementary in the process of gaining insight into the operation of the actual communication context rather than a tool for measuring students’ WTC. The four participants were also encouraged to make entries in learning journals immediately after the class. The students were guided by seven questions eliciting opinions, feelings and perceptions concerning the topics and tasks they were engaged in, the classroom atmosphere, the time they felt most and least willing to contribute, and a scale from 0 to 100 was used to indicate the general level of their WTC during one particular class. The results allowed Peng to supplement her ‘big picture’, the large-scale quantitative study with a ‘small picture’, a more situated approach within an ecological perspective, where cultural and contextual issues were recognised and explored.

Peng, Zhang and Chen (2016) A novel and promising line of enquiry has been proposed by Peng et al. (2016), who, acknowledging the role of the teacher in affecting learners’ WTC, explore the impact of pedagogic discourse, encompassing not only verbal but also non-verbal semiotic resources that are used for meaning making in the classroom. Peng et al. (2016) accentuate the multimodal and multisemiotic nature of classroom interaction, which comprises, apart from language as the most obvious one, such resources as gesture, image, video and audio materials. Consequently, as the authors argue, classroom WTC might result from the meaning students derive from the multimodal pedagogic discourse that they cogenerate in educational settings. Apart from the self-reported data that most of the WTC explorations have relied on, little attention has been paid to the impact of multimodal resources appearing in the classroom, first and foremost, because of their transient and unobtrusive character and hence students’ inability to register or report them. A systemic functional multimodal analysis approach (O’Halloran, 2011) was applied with the purpose of investigating WTC fluctuations in the course of two lesson scenarios. The primary aim of the study was to investigate the mediation of multimodal affordances and, since eliciting students’ preferences in this respect was rendered unsatisfactory in a piloting procedure, the researchers resolved that, first, WTC would be measured in various classroom scenarios, next,

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the lowest and highest WTC scenarios would be identified, and then the similarities and differences in multimodal resources would be analysed. The procedure consisted of videotaping three classes at different points in a semester with one camera capturing the teacher and the other the students. The two videos were synchronised so that focal students could report their classroom WTC in stimulated recall. The analysis of the recorded material allowed the identification of eight key incidents or phases in the lessons which were later presented to four students who rated their corresponding WTC on a scale from 0% to 100%. The students’ WTC scores were averaged, which enabled pinpointing two scenarios with the highest and lowest WTC levels. The two clips were transcribed, annotated and analysed with the help of the multimodal analysis video software to explore the experiential, interpersonal and textual meanings in the teacher ’s gestures. The analysis also concerned the discourse semantic features of the two scenarios taking into account the teacher ’s language, gesture and gaze.

Conclusion As presented in the foregoing discussion of the methodological choices available to researchers in different socio-educational contexts, which involved qualitative and quantitative and/or mixed-methods approaches, the study of L2 WTC has attracted interest within diverse theoretical and research traditions. Commenting on the growth of research in L2 WTC, Yashima (2012: 130–131) emphasises the multitude of perspectives applied in the study of the construct. She also suggests some directions for further research. First, she recognises the wealth of options offered by adopting a complex dynamic systems framework as a point of departure, thanks to which the evolving character of the phenomenon can be investigated on a minute-by-minute basis, as shown not only by the application of the idiodynamic method but also by the studies tapping into the fluctuations in WTC levels in real time, in the course of naturally occurring classes. Full appreciation of the intricate interplay among all the variables involved in the process of getting ready to speak is clearly only possible if a microanalysis is applied. In fact, a whole host of questions have not been answered so far, such as WTC fluctuations caused by the number of receivers or changes in their behaviour. Yashima (2012) also recognises the need to examine the impact of power relationships on WTC within the sociocultural tradition and, last but not least, calls for research into the effectiveness of educational practices in increasing learners’ WTC. All things considered, however, it seems warranted to say at this junction that the benefits that the micro perspective offers need not overshadow the insight generated through the application of the macro perspective. The two approaches

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are complementary and, when used jointly, provide a wide range of data and open up opportunities for comparisons and analyses which enable the creation of a multidimensional picture of the phenomenon under investigation. This might help disentangle the mystery behind the reticence often observed in the language classroom even among otherwise successful, sometimes quite advanced, L2 learners.

Note (1)

The ‘Guilford’ style version of Attitude/Motivation Test Battery is a short version of the instrument (mini-AMTB), using a single-item indicator to measure each variable (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993).

3 Empirical Investigations of L2 WTC Antecedents

Research into language learners’ willingness to use the target language (TL) has demonstrated micro–macro dependencies since willingness to communicate (WTC) stems from a dynamic interaction of internal states and external circumstances that either encourage or hinder it. The psychological urge to communicate rises or falls in response to various proximal and distal individual and context-related influences. Conceptualisations of second language (L2) WTC have evolved from viewing it as a stable trait-like feature to regarding it as an outcome of the interaction between an individual and environment. Seminal as the establishment of the heuristic model (MacIntyre et al., 1998) undoubtedly was, it inspired attempts to investigate the extent to which selected individual and contextual factors impinge on a learner’s WTC. Numerous studies have aimed at verification of the assumptions of the proposed model and exploring the role of factors that it failed to give justice to. The present chapter offers an overview of the most prominent studies tackling the issue of communication readiness which have looked into WTC antecedents in different learning contexts, ranging from laboratory-based environments to naturalistic settings. Out of the many influences shaping learners’ WTC, the following factors have drawn most attention: anxiety and self-perceived communicative competence (e.g. Hashimoto, 2002; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996); anxiety and self-perceived communicative competence, treated as a single construct (Clément et al., 2003); selfperceived communication confidence, defined as a combination of L2 perceived communicative competence and lack of L2 communication anxiety (Yashima, 2002; Yashima et al., 2004); intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (e.g. Hashimoto, 2002; Peng, 2014); ideal L2 self and self-related concepts (e.g. Munezane, 2013; Ryan, 2009; Yashima, 2009); learner beliefs (e.g. Fushino, 2010; MacIntyre et al., 2001a; Peng, 2007), attitudes (Baker & MacIntyre, 2000; MacIntyre et al., 2002; MacIntyre et al., 2003), age and gender (Donovan & MacIntyre, 2005); as well as international posture (Yashima 2002, 2009). It is these factors that provide a framework for the overview undertaken in the present chapter.

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Self-Perceived Communicative Competence and Anxiety From among the individual difference (ID) variables identified in the study of L2 learners’ WTC, self-confidence has been shown to be its most immediate antecedent, whether conceptualised as a single construct (Hashimoto, 2002; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996), a combination of anxiety and self-perceived communicative competence (Clément et al., 2003), or as an amalgam of L2 perceived communicative competence and lack of L2 communication anxiety (Yashima, 2002; Yashima et al., 2004), with the last of these being part of Clément’s (1980, 1986) social context model. This construct, as understood by Clément (1980) and Clément and Kruidenier (1985), carries particular weight in learning another language with the recognition that ethnolinguistic vitality and frequency of contact constitute crucial conditions for confidence growth in an L2. Self-perceived communication confidence can be viewed as an important predictor of communicative behaviour, mainly because learners’ decision to speak is based on their own evaluation of their L2 proficiency level, rather than its objective measure (McCroskey & Richmond, 1990). Yashima (2002) has shown that in the Japanese context self-perceived communication confidence is the most immediate antecedent of L2 WTC, while in the study by Peng and Woodrow (2010) in the Chinese setting the variable whose role in promoting WTC was considered was communication confidence. The available empirical evidence invariably shows that students who have a high opinion about their communication competence and, at the same time, feel less anxious about using the TL have a tendency to engage in communication more willingly. Foreign language anxiety, the other subcomponent of L2 selfconfidence, whose debilitating effect may impede language learning and use, has been best defined by Horwitz et al. (1986: 128) as ‘[a] distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process’. Language learning experiences which repeatedly evoke negative affective responses may become deeply ingrained in the mind of a learner and evolve into a special situation-specific anxiety type that is linked to the context of the language classroom (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991a: 297). An otherwise confident and talkative person may shy away from interaction in the language classroom, experiencing a high level of tension, negative thoughts and fear-related emotions. Language learning anxiety affects a learner ’s performance on the physical, affective, cognitive and social plane (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014: 6–8). In an interlocked cycle, thoughts of failure and physical symptoms, including increased heartbeat, tension and trembling (Horwitz et al., 1986), feed

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into each other and may overwhelm an anxious student (cf. MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012), which will undoubtedly affect his or her readiness to interact with others. Anxiety interferes with cognitive processing at the input, processing and output stages (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; Onwuegbuzie et al., 2000). Not only does it distort the reception and interpretation of language (cf. Horwitz et al., 1986) but also of particular relevance to the present discussion, it may impair its production due to a diminished readiness to take the risk related to the choice of lexis and complex grammatical structures, which, in turn, translates into levels of linguistic attainment (Steinberg & Horwitz, 1986). Research on language anxiety invariably proves the existence of a relationship between higher levels of language anxiety and lower levels of language achievement (Dewaele, 2007; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993; Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c; Woodrow, 2006). Consequently, more anxious students tend to get lower course grades and/or are likely to drop out of their language courses (Dewaele and Thirtle, 2009). Negative feelings, ranging from insecurity about their performance, through fear of not being able to interpret somebody else’s message, to fear of being laughed at (Horwitz et al., 1986) afflict anxious learners, who thus tend to procrastinate, set excessive performance standards and agonise about negative evaluation (Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002). Needless to say, all of this may adversely affect their attitudes and willingness to continue language study. Anxiety that affects L2 learners’ physical, emotional and cognitive condition finds its manifestation in the ways that they interact with other language users. In particular, anxiety-ridden students might deliberately decrease their opportunities for language use. For example, they may choose to speak sparingly, interact with fewer speakers or use non-verbal cues to sustain communication instead of engaging in actual language production (Schlenker & Leary, 1982). Moreover, as shown by Horwitz et al. (1986), such learners remain inactive in class, avoid participation and are likely to neglect their responsibilities related to class activities. In order to avoid terminological confusion, it needs to be explained at this juncture that in L2 WTC literature three different terms have been used to denote anxiety arousal, which are communication apprehension (e.g. MacIntyre et al., 2003), which Horwitz et al. (1986) viewed as a component of language anxiety; language anxiety (Clément et al., 2003; MacIntyre et al., 2002); and communication anxiety (cf. Baker & MacIntyre, 2000; Cetinkaya, 2005; Hashimoto, 2002; Kim, 2004; Yashima, 2002). Moreover, as mentioned above, researchers such as MacIntyre et al. (2002, 2003) or MacIntyre and Charos (1996) regard language anxiety and perceived competence as separate entities, while others view them as constituents of self-confidence (Clément et al., 2003; Yashima, 2002; Yashima et al., 2004). In their seminal study, MacIntyre and Charos (1996) investigated

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the relationship between affective variables, including language anxiety, and communication-related factors, such as WTC, frequency of communication and perceived competence, as well as personality and context-related features. The results supported an earlier claim advanced by MacIntyre and Gardner (1989, 1991a) that language anxiety is not a manifestation of a general disposition, but rather, it develops as a reaction to the social and communicative demands of interaction in the TL. Moreover, the researchers managed to demonstrate that communicating in an L2 depends on the willingness to engage in communication, the level of motivation, opportunities for L2 use and perceived competence. Importantly, language anxiety, intellect and the social context all affected the perception of L2 competence (MacIntyre & Charos, 1996: 20). Hashimoto (2002) partially replicated MacIntyre and Charos’ (1996) study using structural equation modelling to test the provisions of the socio-educational model and the willingness to communicate model in the Japanese context. The examination of the underlying variables showed that a person’s WTC largely depends on his or her L2 anxiety and perceived competence. More specifically, it was found that L2 anxiety had a strong and direct negative influence on perceived competence, as earlier hypothesised by MacIntyre (1994) and empirically proved by MacIntyre and Charos (1996). Hashimoto (2002: 57) concluded that by reducing language anxiety and boosting students’ perceived competence, teachers may increase learners’ WTC and, as a result, enhance frequency of communication. Numerous other studies have looked into the impact of anxiety on L2 WTC and detected a strong correlation between the constructs in question (MacIntyre et al., 2002; Piechurska-Kuciel, 2011; Yashima, 2002). Liu and Jackson (2008), in turn, explored the extent of Chinese learners’ unwillingness to communicate and the degree of anxiety that they experienced in a classroom setting. Three dimensions of the students’ anxiety were considered, that is, fear of negative evaluation, communication apprehension and test anxiety, with the findings demonstrating that each of them was significantly positively correlated with unwillingness to communicate. Moreover, it was found that unwillingness to communicate and language anxiety were correlated with the participants’ self-perceived proficiency in English and access to English inside and outside the classroom. Regression analyses indicated that foreign language anxiety was a powerful predictor of the participants’ WTC. Interestingly, the impact of the two related variables, perceived competence and anxiety, on L2 WTC turned out to be ambiguous or subject to change as a function of the type of experience that the learners had (MacIntyre et al., 2002). This observation was based on the outcomes of comparisons made between students taking part in immersion and non-immersion programmes. Baker and MacIntyre (2000), who attempted

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to compare the non-linguistic outcomes detectable in the behaviour of students taking part in the two types of programme, reported that, on the whole, immersion students’ WTC was higher than that of nonimmersion ones, their anxiety level was lower and they evaluated their competence higher, but, what is even more noteworthy, communication anxiety correlated most strongly with their WTC. In the case of nonimmersion students, it was perceived competence that manifested the highest correlation with their WTC. This finding was corroborated in the study undertaken by MacIntyre et al. (2003), who showed that perceived competence was a more powerful predictor of WTC among non-immersion students, while for those who took part in immersion programmes communication anxiety turned out to better predict WTC. In a number of studies conducted in diverse contexts, self-confidence was consistently reported as a variable directly affecting WTC. In Canada, Clément et al. (2003), who looked at the tendencies pertinent to the L2 use characteristic of the minority, francophone, and majority, anglophone, groups, revealed that the path from L2 confidence to L2 WTC was significant, though a smaller path coefficient was reported for the minority group. Using structural equation modelling, Yashima (2002) established a direct effect of confidence on Japanese learners’ willingness to use English. The same statistical procedure which yielded similar outcomes was employed in the studies conducted by Cetinkaya (2005) in Turkey and Kim (2004) in Korea. This was also the case in the study undertaken by Ghonsooly (2012), who found a significant positive path from L2 confidence to WTC in the Iranian context. The relationship between WTC in the classroom and outside and perceived competence concerning particular language skills was the object of investigation in the study by PiechurskaKuciel (2011), conducted among secondary school students in an English as a foreign language (EFL) environment. The results confirmed that students with high levels of self-perceived skills are also high in WTC and obviously, a superior self-evaluation of one’s speaking skills turned out to be the best indication of higher WTC. Most of the studies reported thus far have viewed language anxiety as a construct uniformly affecting the learner’s behaviour. A different perspective has been adopted by Baran-Łucarz (2014) who singled out one facet of anxiety, pronunciation anxiety (PA), and explored its relationship with WTC. PA, in the words of Baran-Łucarz (2014: 445), is ‘pronunciation self-perception, fear of negative evaluation, and beliefs concerning the pronunciation of the target language’. The results of correlational analyses revealed that students displaying a higher level of anxiety about their pronunciation were less eager to take part in communicative activities performed in class. The tendency was most evident in interaction in pair or group work with familiar interlocutors but did not manifest itself to such a degree in interaction with strangers.

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Generally speaking, the relationship between in-class WTC and learners’ PA was significantly related to group size and task type. Students who were low in PA were found to be more willing to participate in classroom tasks than their more anxious peers. As the sample could be divided into three groups according to their proficiency level, the analysis also concerned the link between their PA and WTC, depending on the level of linguistic competence. The relationship proved significant in each case and was the strongest among students at the intermediate level. Although the results of all these studies have undeniably extended our understanding of the link between WTC and the closely related constructs of self-perceived communicative competence and anxiety, it seems obvious that the picture is far from being complete and many more empirical investigations are needed to disclose the mechanisms encouraging or hindering L2 use. Assisting learners in overcoming their fears and inhibitions will not be possible without conducting experimental procedures testing the effectiveness of strategies and tactics that they could apply with a view to relieving negative emotions and increasing the frequency of TL use. Much more research is also needed concerning the role of the teacher in promoting a positive self-image among learners so that training programmes can be created that equip prospective teachers with germane knowledge and a repertoire of tools they could apply in the classroom.

WTC and Motivation Unlike acquiring one’s first language (L1), success in learning an additional language largely depends on the learner’s motivation. As aptly stated by Ushioda (2013: 1), ‘being motivated (or not) can make all the difference to how willingly and successfully people learn other languages’. A large body of literature on the motivation to learn another language has been prompted by the need to establish exploratory models of motivation whose validity could be investigated in various learning contexts. These diverse models as well as the individual motives that they identified were later employed in the study of WTC with a view to identifying the facet of motivation that best explains communicative behaviour. Initially, the study of L2 motivation, pioneered by Gardner and Lambert (1959), revolved around issues related to reconciling the diverse communities of biethnic Canada, drawing attention to two underlying motives directing learners’ effort towards language-related goals: integrative and instrumental, the former being the urge to interact or integrate with the TL community and the latter reflecting the pragmatic gains the knowledge of the language might bring. The socio-educational model that Gardner (1985, 2001) is credited with seeks to explain how motivation, attitudes and other individual variables impinge on language achievement. Gardner

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(1985: 10) understood motivation to learn another language as ‘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’. His motivational framework consists of three components: motivational intensity, a desire to learn the language and an attitude towards the act of learning that language, with an important caveat that a motivated learner should possess all three. Notably, not without its consequences for the study of WTC, Dörnyei (2005) observed that motivation itself should be regarded as a dynamic process with a temporal dimension that undergoes continuous fluctuations when it is looked at in relation to individuals in unique contexts. He called for the adoption of a processoriented approach to capture the changes in motivational intensity on a daily basis. Another motivation framework that found its way into the study of WTC is self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2002), which distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic motives. Intrinsic motivation, which is associated with feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction that a given activity evokes, comprises three aspects: knowledge, accomplishment and stimulation, which correspond to motivation to gain new knowledge, achieve a goal and experience the positive sensations inspired by performing a given task (Noels et al., 2000: 61). By contrast, extrinsic motivation refers to external, introjected, identified and integrated regulation, all of which remain out of the learner’s control. External regulation concerns tasks that are regulated by external reasons, introjected regulation refers to reasons an individual imposes on himself or herself, identified regulation depends on the goals that one perceives as important and, finally, integrated regulation reflects the highest degree of self-determination when the activity becomes fully incorporated into one’s value system. The study agenda within this line of inquiry, developed by, among others, Noels (2001a, 2001b), Noels et al. (1999, 2001) and Noels et al. (2000), comprised attempts to relate the intrinsic and extrinsic motives identified by motivational psychologists to orientations that evolved in L2 research and to test the extent to which language learners’ self-determination can be impacted by the classroom context (Dörnyei, 2005: 77). The results served as a basis for the development of a construct proposed by Noels (2003) that is composed of three interrelated components: (1) intrinsic reasons for language learning, involving pleasure and satisfaction-related aspects like fun or challenge; (2) extrinsic reasons encompassing external and internalised pressures; and (3) integrative reasons that correspond to the learner’s desire to establish contact with TL users or integrate with the ethnic group they represent. The third theoretical framework reflected in the works exploring the nature of WTC is a model developed by Dörnyei (2005, 2009), known as the L2 motivational self system. This perspective derives from motivational psychology (Higgins, 1987; Markus & Nurius, 1986), L2 motivation

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research (e.g. Noels, 2003, Ushioda, 2001) and Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) own explorations. The system accounts for the extended effort aimed at developing one’s linguistic competence in terms of personal convictions and beliefs referring to the desired future and envisaged aims. The intended integration does not concern assimilation but rather attempts at bridging the gap between one’s actual self and the desired, ideal one that represents the fluency and easiness with which communication in the TL can be performed. The three components of the model involve: (1) ideal L2 self, which represents the desired image of the self as a proficient language user; (2) ought to self, which stands for the qualities learners believe they ought to possess in order to satisfy the expectations of significant others, which, in turn, might prevent adverse consequences and, (3) L2 learning experience, which embraces aspects pertinent to the learning context, including the teacher, peer group, curriculum as well as experiences of success or failure. Early studies of L2 WTC including the research leading to the formulation of the heuristic model (MacIntyre et al., 1989) operationalised motivation in line with the assumptions of the socio-educational model (MacIntyre & Charos, 1996; MacIntyre et al. 2002, 2003). Within the pyramid model, motivation was only indirectly linked to WTC and mediated by its situated antecedents, since, for example, the facilitative power of motivation might be overridden by a drop in the level of selfconfidence, triggered by a sudden surge of anxiety. This assumption was later corroborated by the results of a number of studies employing structural equation modelling, which sought to establish the directionality of the relationship between WTC, motivation and other variables. An indirect link between WTC and motivation, as mediated by communication confidence, was established by Cetinkaya (2005), Ghonsooly et al. (2012), Kim (2004) and Yashima (2002). Various types of statistical procedures have been applied to explore the relationship between motivation and L2 learners’ communicative behaviour. MacIntyre and Charos (1996), for example, hypothesised the existence of a path from WTC to motivation but the statistical analyses they performed did not support the assumption. Hashimoto (2002), who partially replicated their study using structural equation modelling, managed to identify a significant path from L2 WTC to motivation. Numerous correlational studies have shown a significant relationship between motivation and L2 WTC. For instance, Baker and MacIntyre (2000) looked into the instructional gains of immersion and non-immersion students and explored their attitudes towards learning, learning orientations, communication anxiety, perceived communicative competence, WTC and self-reported frequency of communication. The attitude/motivation index, a Guilford version of Gardner’s Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery (see Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993), that was

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employed in the study, provided information about the participants’ attitudes towards French-speaking Canadians, their interest in foreign languages and their integrative orientation. MacIntyre et al (2001b) inspected the relationship between the in- and out-of-class WTC of L2 immersion learners of French and five orientations for studying which included educational, professional, travel, social and personal background, finding strong correlations in all of these cases. Positive correlations were also revealed in the study undertaken by MacIntyre et al. (2002), where learners with positive attitudes and motivation proved to be more willing to interact, engaged in TL communication more often and experienced lower communication apprehension. In the study by MacIntyre et al. (2003), conducted again among immersion and non-immersion learners, integrative motivation turned out to be significantly positively correlated with L2 WTC among the former group that had more opportunities for contact with the TL community. The tendency did not manifest itself among non-immersion students, because their experience of language learning differed considerably, as evidenced by the lack of association between WTC and aspects of integrative motivation. The study was partially replicated by Peng (2007a), who explored the relationship between L2 WTC and integrative motivation in the Chinese educational context. She found the existence of significant positive correlations between WTC and the three subcomponents of integrative motivation: integrativeness, attitudes towards the learning situation and motivation. Regression analysis showed that motivation was the strongest predictor of L2 WTC but the integrative motive accounted for only a small proportion of the variance in L2 WTC. A vital modification of Gardner’s (1985) integrative motive has been proposed by Yashima (2002), who attempted to account for the unique characteristics of the Japanese educational setting in her study of WTC. Integrativeness, the cornerstone of the Gardnerian view of motivation, underpinned by the desire to learn the TL in order to interact with members of the community, proved to better explain learners’ extended effort in L2 learning contexts. In foreign language learning contexts, however, where opportunities for contact with TL users are scarce, instrumental motivation turned out to be an equally or even more important factor leading to increased levels of proficiency (Clément et al., 1994; Dörnyei, 1990). Dörnyei (1990: 49) observed that a positive attitude towards the speakers of the language that one is trying to master is unlikely to account for differences in language attainment in foreign language learning settings where language instruction is part of a school curriculum and does not entail actual contact with native speakers. In a similar vein, Clément and Krudenier (1985) recognised the need to redefine integrativeness so that the concept reflects the character of the context in which it is investigated. In foreign language learning settings, the target of identification appears

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to be difficult to define, especially given the fact that English has become a lingua franca with more non-native than native users. Therefore, the reference group for integration or assimilation would be an immensely diverse community of proficient speakers of English, coming from a multitude of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The relevance of integrativeness has also been questioned in a number of other studies (e.g. Dörnyei et al., 2006; Irie, 2003; Lamb, 2004; Ushioda, 2006; Yashima, 2000) and a search for a more subtle predictor of extended effort got under way. For example, Noels et al. (2000) identified four orientations capable of sustaining motivation: travel, friendship, knowledge and instrumental orientation. Yashima (2000), in turn, explored the impact of instrumental and integrative orientations on learning outcomes. She found a correlation between the two constructs and proposed a factor she called intercultural friendship orientation that extended the target of contact to other groups and communities, not just native speakers. Path analysis showed that the intercultural friendship orientation, coupled with instrumental orientation, significantly predicted motivational intensity to learn English. Yashima et al. (2004) established that Japanese learners were mostly motivated by two objectives: academic achievement, demonstrated in test results ensuring admission to prestigious universities, and a desire to become part of an imagined international community. This line of inquiry resulted in the operationalisation of a detected favourable predisposition towards other cultures in the form of international posture (IP) (Yashima, 2002; Yashima et al., 2004). The construct involved both integrative and instrumental aspects of motivation which comprised intergroup approach tendency, interest in international vocation and activities, interest in foreign affairs, intergroup approach or avoidance tendency and ‘having things to communicate to the world’ (Yashima, 2009). The results of studies conducted by Yashima (2002) and Yashima et al. (2004) revealed that IP directly affected L2 WTC and motivation, whereas the impact of motivation on WTC was indirect and mediated through communication confidence. Similar results were obtained in replications of Yashima’s design by Cetinkaya (2005) among Turkish students and Ghoonsooly et al. (2012) in the Iranian context. The findings of both of these studies indicated that L2 self-confidence and attitudes toward the international community were two predictors of L2 WTC. A set of inferiority values, attitudes and beliefs of Korean learners, operationalised by Edwards (2011) as an intercultural complex, which could be interpreted as low IP, proved to have a detrimental effect on the students’ L2 WTC. Both Edwards (2011) and Yashima (2009) observed that international travel and personal bonds increased L2 WTC. In a correlational study, Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pietrzykowska (2011) looked into the relationship between WTC and IP in the specific

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context of English majors enrolled in a teacher training programme in Poland. The results did not comply with the outcomes of Yashima’s (2002, 2009) and Yashima et al.’s (2004) studies since correlations between WTC and different aspects of IP were weak and only one of them proved statistically significant. Such results, in the opinion of the researchers, do not preclude the possibility that the two variables were to some extent related to each other; however, they cautioned that more attention should be paid to the ways in which the items included in the scales are formulated so that they reflect the characteristics of a particular cultural and educational context. Moreover, they made the point that the passage of time will inadvertently impinge on the components of a learning situation, which necessitates adapting data collection tools in such a way that they account for the changing environment. For example, the rapid growth of communication technology provides learners with ample opportunities for engaging in various forms of synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication by means of e-learning platforms, internet fora, chats, internet communicators and so on, none of which was referred to in the instrument used in the study. Similar criticisms were levelled at formulations included in the scale used to measure the respondents’ readiness to engage in communication. In fact, some participants expressed an opinion that many of the situations described in the instrument adapted for the purposes of the study were highly unlikely to take place in a context where English is taught and learnt as a foreign language. In the Japanese context, Lockley (2013) set out to determine the extent to which content and language integrated learning (CLIL) lessons revolving around the theme of Japanese international history could override what Edwards (2011) referred to as an intercultural complex or boost students’ IP, as conceptualised by Yashima (2002, 2009). Lockley’s aim was to establish the influence of the intercultural complex on students’ L2 WTC. The results indicated that learning about the influence of the Japanese culture on the international community reduced feelings of self-perceived inferiority and increased learners’ pride in their cultural heritage, thus enhancing their IP and leading to greater readiness to engage in contacts involving the use of the L2. The importance of perceived ethnolinguistic vitality, which determines both the quality and availability of L2 contact, in influencing learners’ willingness to use the language that they are learning, was, among other WTC antecedents, the focus of enquiry in the study by Clément et al. (2003). The comparison concerned francophone students learning English and anglophones learning French. The analysis showed that the impact of ethnicity on L2 WTC and other variables was significant. More specifically, francophones reported greater willingness to use English as well as higher frequency and quality of contact with the TL, a higher level of L2 confidence,

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identity, norms and more instances of communication than native speakers of English learning French. It seems that the group whose ethnolinguistic vitality is low has more opportunities for better quality contact with the language of the group characterised by high vitality, which affects all factors leading to L2 use. Another influential model of motivation that has been employed in the study of L2 learners’ WTC is self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) with the crucial distinction it makes between intrinsic and extrinsic motives (Noels, 2001; Noels et al., 2000). Justifying the choice of this framework as a basis for their enquiry of L2 WTC, Peng and Woodrow (2010) and Peng (2014: 23) emphasised its consistency with the ecological perspective that they adopted in their attempt to capture the subtleties of the intricate relationship of variables in the context of a collectivist culture in the realm of a foreign language classroom. Moreover, the researchers believed that a model distinguishing between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is better suited to investigating a monolingual and monocultural setting than the socio-educational model which assumes interaction with TL speakers. In her macro perspective study, Peng (2014) estimated a three-factor model for motivation: (1) external regulation, referring to practical reasons for learning; (2) identified regulation, which concerned the degree to which learners find learning personally relevant; and (3) intrinsic motivation, denoting the feeling of enjoyment or satisfaction as reasons for learning English. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that, as was the case with the studies applying the socio-educational framework, motivation only indirectly impinged on WTC through its direct effect on communication confidence. For Peng (2014: 83), the indirect relationship between L2 WTC and motivation can be interpreted as implying that students motivated to learn English may not be willing to communicate in this language. This is because, in the context under investigation, learners mainly strive to satisfy their pragmatic aims, such as passing examinations or getting good grades, which, depending on the requirements of the educational system, may not be related to a large extent to the actual ability to engage in communication. The importance of self-concept in building L2 language learners’ commitment to the process of developing their linguistic competence has been widely recognised (e.g. Dörnyei, 2005; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009; Mercer, 2011). As Pajares and Schunk (2005: 111) observed, ‘both selfefficacy and self-concept are powerful motivation constructs that predict academic achievement at varying levels and differing domains’. The relationship between the L2 self-concept and WTC has been explored in numerous studies which have contributed to a better understanding of the interplay between the beliefs or perceptions that individuals hold about themselves and the communicative behaviour that they engage in

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inside and outside the classroom. Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) L2 motivational self system, whose tripartite composition acknowledges the role of imagination (ideal L2 self), perceptions concerning duties and obligations (ought-to self) and the impact of the learning environment (L2 learning experience), has been commonly applied in the study of the relationship between motivation and L2 WTC. Dörnyei (2005) hypothesised that L2 WTC can be predicted on the basis of the importance of the ideal L2 self together with linguistic self-confidence, an assumption that has since been corroborated in a number of studies. Yashima et al. (2004), for example, used structural equation modelling to establish a direct path from IP to WTC and from IP to frequency of communication. She found that openness and an interest in international issues resulted in an increase in willingness to interact with others, thus making learners with high WTC use the language more frequently. In further analyses of the variables pertinent to communicative behaviour, Yashima (2009) reported the existence of a relationship between IP and the ideal L2 self. Yashima (2009: 157) concluded that, given the fact that IP involves both integrative and instrumental motives, it is capable of capturing the selfdetermined facets of extrinsic motivation, as it ‘reflects the possible selves of a future English-using participant in an international community’. Another attempt to test Dörnyei’s (2005) assumption that the ideal L2 self and linguistic self-confidence positively impact learners’ WTC has been undertaken by Munezane (2013) who sought to establish the structural relationships between a host of variables hypothesised to be responsible for Japanese learners’ WTC, including anxiety, motivation, integrativeness, IP, ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, linguistic self-confidence and attitudes towards English as a global language. The ideal L2 self was reported as the second most significant predictor of WTC almost equalling the strength of linguistic self-confidence, which, according to Munezane (2013: 193), suggests that learners who envisage themselves as proficient users of the TL in the future are more willing to communicate using this language. In other words, a prominent future vision held by learners translates into increased willingness to interact with others, thus connecting classroom practices to their future. Following the ecological tradition, Yue (2014) conducted a case study to investigate the way that L2 learners generate self-concepts germane to the learning process; in particular, he was interested in the link between learners’ facets of L2 self, the sociocultural context and WTC. The adopted methodology enabled Yue to create a broad account of an individual learner’s perceptions of the L2 self related to his or her unique background and learning experience. The picture of L2 WTC that surfaced from the empirical evidence demonstrated features pertinent to complex dynamic systems (Cameron & Larsen-Freeman, 2007; LarsenFreeman & Cameron, 2008), as it was found that the learner’s readiness

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to speak was generated and evolved in unpredictable ways in response to an interplay of interdependent components. In situations necessitating L2 use, the learner’s L2 self-concept and ought-to self appeared to interact with context- and state-dependent variables, such as group cohesiveness, teacher support, feedback and anxiety. Yue (2014: 264) claims that these factors indicate the occurrence of L2 phenomena which enable the learner to bridge the gap between the present L2 self and possible L2 selves, which in turn produce L2 WTC that leads to communicative behaviour. The researcher also contends that L2 WTC can be increased if a learner is given a chance to realise the existence of the gap between the current and future self, and that this gap can be eliminated if certain specific steps are taken. A theory of motivation that has had a relatively limited appeal for researchers exploring language learners’ WTC but whose potential in elucidating motivation to learn a foreign language was emphasised by Dörnyei (2005) is action control theory (ACT) (Kuhl, 1994a), which describes the process of initiating action and accounts for individual variation in action tendencies. Some specialists (e.g. Clément et al., 2003; MacIntyre, 2007; MacIntyre & Doucette, 2010) believe that ACT would illuminate the rationale behind some learners’ reluctance to speak in class or interact with proficient TL users outside of it. With the intention to explore avoiding L2 communication, MacIntyre and Doucette (2010) applied Kuhl’s (1994b) Action Control Scale, made up of three subscales tapping into hesitation, preoccupation and volatility. The communication measures that the researchers employed included perceived communication competence, anxiety, trait-like WTC and WTC inside and outside the classroom. All three measures of WTC correlated significantly with each other and positive correlations were found between all three and perceived competence, whereas the correlation between WTC and anxiety proved to be negative. Path analysis revealed that out-of-class WTC is best predicted by in-class WTC, which shows that willingness to take part in classroom tasks and discussions is a predictor of the use of the TL outside the instructional setting. A negative path between volatility and in-class WTC was found, which, according to the researchers, indicates that people who tend to experience volatility to avoid speaking during classes are less willing to participate. Another study incorporating the tenets of ACT, much more complex in its design, was undertaken by MacIntyre and Blackie (2012), who set out to test the ability of the three models of motivation to predict the non-linguistic outcomes of language learning. Apart from being grounded in ACT, the analysis drew upon Pintrich’s (1990) expectancy– value model and Gardner’s (1985, 2001) socio-educational model. In line with the results of the study discussed above, the analysis showed that ACT variables impinge on the non-linguistic outcomes of the learning

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process. Moreover, significant correlations were found between all the motivational measures; however, the links between WTC and volatility, test anxiety and attitudes towards French Canadians were not significant. Multiple regression analysis revealed that task value and hesitation both significantly predicted WTC. Hesitation was found to significantly impact on WTC but also perceived communication competence and language anxiety. In the analysis of the applicability of ACT to predicting the non-linguistic outcomes of language learning, much heed was taken of the detrimental role of hesitation which concerns learners’ inability to transform a decision to act (communicate) into actual action (communication). A hesitant student typically needs more time to get ready to perform the action, which might provoke a reaction on the part of an interlocutor that might instill hesitant behaviours. Teachers frequently interpret such phenomena as manifestations of insufficient knowledge or unwillingness to communicate. Extra wait-time afforded to such students could help them overcome this unfavourable strategy and improve their WTC in the classroom. Evaluating the available empirical evidence concerning the link between motivation and willingness to engage in interaction, it should be stressed that huge advances have been made in this area over the last few years, both with respect to the scope of enquiry and the research methodology used. The relationship between motivation and WTC seems intricate and multifaceted as the concept of readiness to speak lies at the confluence of motivation and communicative competence research (cf. Dörnyei, 2003). There is some merit to the claim that the study of L2 WTC is actually the study of a learner’s motivation itself. For example, Dörnyei and Skehan (2003) perceive WTC research as an extension of motivation research, whereas MacIntyre et al. (2001a: 462) point out that L2 WTC is one of the variables that ‘approach the topic of motivation from different directions’. WTC, which has been incorporated into a number of studies tackling the issue of the motivational bases for language learners’ communicative behaviour, has proved to be a significant predictor variable, capable of explaining a considerable proportion of the variance in the ways that learners choose to interact using the TL (Dörnyei, 2002; Dörnyei & Kormos, 2000).

Age and Gender The effect of age and gender on L2 WTC, among other variables playing a role in L2 communication, was explored in studies undertaken by Baker and MacIntyre (2000) and MacIntyre et al. (2002). The first of these involved the investigation of the role of gender and type of programme (immersion or traditional) in communication. The results suggested that the impact of perceived competence and anxiety on learners’ WTC might

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change in the course of time as students gain more experience in learning and have more opportunities for TL use. As far as communication variables are concerned, interestingly, among immersion students, WTC in French significantly correlated with anxiety in French, frequency of communication in French and WTC in English, while perceived competence in French did not correlate with WTC in that language. The analysis of the data collected among non-immersion students yielded significant correlations between WTC in French, perceived competence in French and WTC in English. Baker and MacIntyre (2000) investigated the effect of gender and programme on the four orientations for language learning that they identified: job, travel, meeting francophones and personal knowledge/achievement. They established a significant main effect for programme and gender, moderated by a significant gender-byprogramme interaction. Male and female immersion as well as female nonimmersion students showed similar positive attitudes towards learning French in contrast to non-immersion male students who indicated a less favourable attitude. As for the reasons for learning French, the nonimmersion male group exhibited the lowest mean for three of the four orientations, the exception being the orientation towards meeting Frenchspeaking people, which was lowest among the non-immersion female group. The results of the male immersion students for job orientation turned out to be the highest, whereas the female group enrolled in the same programme showed a preference for travel, knowledge and personal achievement orientations. The results of the second study (MacIntyre et al., 2002) demonstrated that the impact of gender and age on WTC differed depending on the grade that the students attended. The researchers reported an increase in the level of WTC from Grades 7 to 8, which was later carried over to Grades 8 and 9. Younger learners with less experience and exposure felt less competent and thus less willing to communicate. It was also found that the difference between the levels of L1 and L2 WTC decreased along the years of instruction. The observed surge of L2 WTC and its subsequent retention suggest that gains made at lower stages of instruction can be successfully maintained in the course of study. The researchers attributed the fact that the level of WTC remained stable between Grades 8 and 9 to the growth in anxiety that was detected among the participants. Moreover, it was established that girls were more willing to communicate than boys; however, interestingly, boys’ WTC and anxiety remained stable throughout the course of instruction, while girls displayed an increase in WTC and a drop in anxiety from Grade 8 to Grade 9. The researchers explain this tendency in terms of the different maturational patterns among boys and girls, because, at this stage, girls, unlike boys, are past the puberty phase and thus may be less anxious and more willing to communicate. Differential treatment by teachers

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was also identified as a possible cause of gender differences as teachers tend to favour girls in language classrooms. However, as no significant differences in the frequency of communication between the genders were found, the researchers concluded that, as earlier established by Baker and MacIntyre (2000), the members of each gender communicate differently in different settings: girls prefer in-class communication, while boys tend to engage in communication more willingly outside the classroom. Another attempt at looking into age and gender differences was undertaken by Donovan and MacIntyre (2005) in a cross-sectional study involving three distinct contexts: junior high, high school and university students. A tendency observed in the study mentioned above that junior high school girls display a greater degree of WTC than boys was also reported here; nevertheless, this regularity did not persist among older students, neither in senior high school nor university. The results of multiple regression analyses showed that the relationship between WTC and its antecedents may vary depending on age and gender. More specifically, in the case of junior high school female students, both self-perceived competence and communication apprehension proved to predict WTC, whereas in the case of male students, only the latter was identified as an influence on WTC. In the second age group, selfperceived competence was shown to predict WTC among males, and communication apprehension significantly predicted readiness to speak among females. Among the adult participants, both variables, that is selfperceived communicative competence and communication apprehension, appeared to predict WTC. Despite the fact that women’s WTC decreased with time, when compared to that of men’s, the results did not sanction the claim that females evade communication. However, what needs to be noted is that the growing communication apprehension and lower selfperceived competence detected among female university students might eventually lead to gender differences in WTC to the effect of women being less eager to interact.

Personality Worth recalling at this junction is the fact that in the early stages of WTC research, the construct was perceived as a stable feature functioning as a personality trait, retaining its qualities over time and across situations, and subject to the impact of other personality traits including introversion, self-esteem, anomie and alienation (cf. Burgoon, 1976; McCroskey & Richmond, 1987). In the period prior to the formulation of the pyramid model (MacIntyre et al., 1998), MacIntyre (1994) looked into the interaction of the personality-based variables underlying communicative behaviour and, with the use of causal modelling, established that WTC stems from a combination of communication apprehension and perceived

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competence, which in turn grow out of a combination of introversion and self-esteem. In the heuristic model of L2 WTC, MacIntyre et al. (1998) placed personality at the very bottom of the pyramid as the basic, most distal antecedent of WTC, apart from intergroup climate. Thus, the effect of personality on WTC is mediated through other more proximal variables. The researchers assumed that certain personality traits predispose individuals to establish amicable relations with members of other communities, while others may significantly hinder such contact. For example, an authoritarian person is likely to show aggression towards people that he or she considers inferior or different while an ethnocentric person is unlikely to initiate contacts with members of communities that he or she finds inferior in comparison to his or her own. MacIntyre and Charos (1996) investigated the relationship between personality, language learning and WTC. More specifically, they looked into the role of the global personality traits that they integrated into the model of language acquisition. The researchers accommodated Goldberg’s (1992) terminology for the Big Five, with dichotomies between introversion and extraversion, agreeableness and disagreeableness, conscientiousness and negligence, emotional stability and neuroticism and intellect, and lack of sophistication. The last of the factors has also been labelled culture or openness to experience and is related to tolerance and readiness to embrace new ideas and trends. The initial assumption of the researchers that personality traits operate indirectly, mediated by attitudes, motivation, language anxiety and perceived competence (Goldberg, 1992) was corroborated by the findings. Path analysis revealed the existence of a significant path from intellect to perceived competence as learners who felt more sophisticated or open to experience, perceived themselves as more competent in the TL. Extraversion negatively affected language anxiety, and thus the same effect was seen indirectly in relation to WTC. The existence of a significant path from extraversion and the lack of one from emotional stability support earlier claims made by MacIntyre and Gardner (1989, 1991a) that trait anxiety and language anxiety represent two different tendencies, the former constituting a general disposition, and the latter being reflective of the social and communicative requirements of a particular communicative event. Another significant path was detected between agreeableness and WTC, testifying to pleasant and agreeable persons’ greater openness and readiness to engage in contacts with the TL community. In the study, all the five examined traits contributed to developing motivation or WTC, or underlay both of the constructs. Another important insight into the character of the relationship between the learner’s personality profile and TL interaction comes from MacIntyre et al. (1998), who provide two viable explanations for the indirect role of personality in shaping L2 communicative behaviour.

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First, they point to the fact that the interim variables included in their model show a great degree of flexibility in and of themselves; secondly, they make the important point that the expression of individual features depends on the attitudes and behavioural patterns characteristic of a particular group, being indicative of a broader social climate. As MacIntyre et al. (1998: 558) comment, ‘[t]he disposition to react positively or negatively to foreign people, in combination with the formation of positive or negative attitudes, in a context with or without intergroup conflict, is suggested to underpin the social distance or harmony between groups’. The connection between personality and WTC has also been investigated in different ethnolinguistic contexts. In Canada, MacIntyre et al. (1999) examined the relationship between WTC and extraversion and emotional stability using the structural equation model. The researchers demonstrated that the impact of these two personality traits on WTC is mediated through self-esteem, communication apprehension and perceived competence. In a more recent study conducted in Turkey, Cetinkaya (2005) found that the extraversion towards which the participants manifested the greatest tendency is indirectly and significantly related to their WTC through their linguistic self-confidence. Extroverted students, who estimate their communicative competence highly, turned out to be more willing to interact using the TL. In the Iranian context, Ghonsooly (2012) chose to include only openness to experience, from among Goldberg’s (1992) Big Five, in his model of WTC. The results revealed that this personality trait hypothesised to impinge on Iranian students’ communicative behaviour only indirectly influences WTC through attitudes towards the international community. It turned out that a higher level of openness to novel challenges, coupled with a positive attitude towards the international community, results in a greater readiness to engage in communication in the TL.

Contextual Factors Influencing L2 WTC As elucidated in Chapter 1, WTC was originally perceived as a traitlike tendency, relatively permanent over time, across situations and receivers, as if immune to shifts in the conditions that any interaction is bound to involve. This position was challenged by MacIntyre et al. (1998), who emphasised that L2 communication implicates a spectrum of variation in competence and intergroup relations which will potentially override the impact of individual tendencies. In their 2001 study, MacIntyre et al. (2001a) explored the impact of the skills required for communication, which are speaking, reading, writing or comprehension, as well as instructional and non-instructional contexts on learners’ WTC. Support for the identification of the conditions differentially influencing

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WTC in the two contexts comes from the work of Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) and Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) and their assumption concerning the impact of normative and social factors on behavioural intentions, to which L2 WTC undoubtedly belongs. MacIntyre et al.’s (2001a) study involved the investigation of WTC antecedents in the specific context of learners of French in an essentially anglophone community, where factors such as social support for language learning or opportunities for TL use must play a critical role in promoting L2 WTC. In this case, the participants reported that they received the highest level of support from their parents and teachers. Lower support was indicated as coming from the learners’ peers, best friends, other friends and a favourite sibling. The results suggest that the respondents were more willing to speak and write in the classroom than outside. The difference concerning reading and listening in the two contexts was conspicuous, a tendency that was accounted for by the fact that classroom conditions confine the audience to people familiar to the students and decrease the scope of tasks to a limited number of familiar classroom procedures and practices. The support provided by the respondents’ best friends did not affect classroom WTC significantly, but its effect on out-of-class communication was significant. The participants who felt that they were supported by their friends exhibited higher out-of-class WTC. The results revealed that perceived sibling support leads to a significantly higher WTC both inside and outside the classroom, with the caveat that WTC inside the classroom in all four skills was higher. Naturally, engaging in activities that involve the use of the TL outside of school is definitely more complicated without the support of one’s friends. In another study, MacIntyre et al. (1997a) investigated situations that produced the highest and lowest WTC among a similar group of respondents. The TL was used most willingly outside the classroom to talk to relatives or friends as a secret code, or to annoy listeners who could not speak the language. The lowest level of WTC was reported for communication involving error correction or formal evaluation. The impact of the learning context on WTC was also supported by the outcomes of the study conducted by Baker and MacIntyre (2000) among immersion and non-immersion learners of French. Clément et al. (2003) established that the frequency of communication and the quality of contact with the TL are likely to influence learners’ L2 WTC through L2 confidence. The social and contextual variables affecting L2 WTC mentioned above have all been investigated quantitatively in larger- or smaller-scale questionnaire studies, which, as observed by Kang (2005: 280), ‘is not insightful enough to explore situational characteristics of WTC in an actual situation’. Thus, the researcher investigated the interaction of four Korean students at an American university with English native speakers

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as interlocutors. In this longitudinal study, Kang, on the one hand, tried to determine which situational variables affect WTC and, on the other hand, attempted to capture the dynamic character of WTC in the course of communication. It was found that situational WTC emerged in the presence of excitement, responsibility and security. The impact of each of these three psychological conditions turned out to be mediated by situational variables including interlocutor, topic and the context of the conversation. Therefore, learners’ security increased with the growing degree of familiarity among interlocutors but decreased if the number of interlocutors in a particular conversation session increased. This feeling of security, in turn, appeared to be dependent on the support offered by the tutor, verbal and non-verbal encouragement; interest and a favourable disposition added up to positive feelings, while boredom or discontent evident in the behaviour of the teacher affected this feeling in a negative manner. Moreover, an increase in the feeling of insecurity and reluctance to speak appeared to depend on the perceived competence of other nonnative interlocutors: more proficient learners stirred up negative feelings, which must have decreased the participants’ WTC. A familiar topic, related to background knowledge or experience made learners feel more secure. As for the impact of the context of the conversation, insecurity was most acute at the onset of the interaction but it tended to wane as the conversation unfolded. A surge in insecurity was also reported following difficulties in conveying or getting the message across. The second of the three psychological WTC antecedents, excitement, defined by Kang (2005: 284) as ‘a feeling of elation about the act of talking’, could be inspired by an interesting topic, with the caveat that the students’ interest in this topic hinged on their knowledge and previous experience with talking about it, with recurrent topics tending to lose appeal. Excitement could also be evoked by other participants, especially if interaction with them was considered a good opportunity for linguistic development or if their appearance was perceived as attractive. Moreover, Kang observed that the level of excitement depends on the interlocutor’s interest in what the speaker is trying to say; for example, asking for additional information may make a speaker more excited. Responsibility, understood as ‘a feeling of obligation or duty to deliver and understand a message, or to make it clear’ (Kang, 2005: 285), is yet another antecedent of situational WTC. Personal, interpersonal and intergroup motives add up to the feeling of pressure which might, out of fear of losing face, be detrimental to the level of WTC. Useful and important topics invoke responsibility to know and discuss them, as was the case with controversial and sensitive issues. If a topic is introduced, responsibility to fully explain it arises. Students who perceived themselves as more knowledgeable about a topic felt responsible to talk about it. Another tendency was observed in relation to interlocutors: the smaller

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the number of people taking part in the interaction, the stronger the feeling of responsibility to contribute to the discussion. As was the case with excitement, interlocutors’ interest and attention increased speakers’ responsibility to take part in the conversation. A rise in the level of responsibility was declared in situations when the speaker was asked to clarify a misunderstanding. Kang (2005: 287) insists that the psychological antecedents of WTC, that is security, excitement and responsibility, are co-constructed and result from an interplay of all situational variables, and, as such, cannot be predicted if only one of them is taken into account. Understandably, each of these antecedents affects the emergence of WTC in a unique way; nevertheless, situational WTC seems to be a derivative of the interaction among them. Thus, the model put forward by Kang implies that each of the three situational WTC antecedents is shaped by dynamic shifts in the intensity and scope of the influences exerted by situational variables including topic, interlocutors, and conversational context. As noted by Kang (2005: 289), ‘as the situation variables can vary over the course of communication, the resulting situational WTC can fluctuate over time, even in a conversation session with the same interlocutor(s)’. The list of variables contributing to the emergence of WTC across classroom interactional contexts (whole class, groups and dyads) was extended by Cao and Philip (2006). The data obtained from the use of self-report tools suggested that an increase or decrease in WTC could be brought about by group size, self-confidence, familiarity with interlocutors and interlocutor participation, among the most dominant ones, as well as the degree of topic preparation, different cultural backgrounds and the medium of communication, among those of lesser importance. Smaller groups were reported as more conducive to interaction, with the ideal size being three or four participants. By contrast, in whole-class arrangements, low self-confidence dissuaded learners from contributing to discussion much more than in the other arrangement modes. The degree of familiarity among the interlocutors appeared to have a bearing on one’s willingness to speak, with talking to one’s best friend constituting the most favourable condition. Moreover, the ongoing interest and engagement on the part of the interlocutor seemed to support the speaker’s WTC. In another study, Cao (2006) observed temporal fluctuations in situational WTC for a period of one month in the same instructional contexts as in the study mentioned above. In general, the participants appeared to be more reluctant to speak at the onset of the course, especially in whole-class and dyadic arrangements. The researcher saw the reasons for an increase in WTC in the growing level of familiarity among interlocutors and the experience accumulated in the course of study. Fluctuations observed in group work over the consecutive weeks (a drop in Week 2 as compared to Weeks 1 and 3) were attributed to the topic and type of task

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which the participants did not find engaging. Individual students’ WTC levels were characterised by a considerable degree of variation. While some of them consistently displayed high WTC in all contexts, others exhibited conspicuous fluctuations across all or some of them. Within the scope of the task-based framework, Weaver (2007) attempted to tap into the relationship between WTC and the task performed. With this in mind, he confronted 290 Japanese learners of English with 12 different speaking tasks and explored their willingness to perform them. The results suggested that, taking into account the amount of WTC required, the tasks could be divided into three groups: (1) tasks with the largest amount of WTC, which involved advising, convincing, discussing and role-playing; (2) tasks with WTC estimates oscillating around the mean value included recommending, deciding, explaining and telling; and (3) those that demanded the smallest extent of WTC, which entailed describing, inviting, asking and saying. Pretask planning and access to written notes in most of the cases helped to increase the participants’ WTC. It appeared, however, that the type of speech act that the task involved was invariably the strongest predictor of learners’ WTC. Generally, the participants expressed a preference for closed tasks (i.e. those with a predetermined set of solutions) which allowed greater control over the content and turn-taking as opposed to open tasks. Moreover, they more willingly performed tasks that required the transfer of information without passing any judgment or the necessity of changing the interlocutor’s point of view, as these call for the application of not only appropriate linguistic means but also different strategies that take into account the interlocutors, their cultural context and the context of interaction. Weaver’s (2007) empirical investigation also focused on the time effect on students’ WTC. The researcher found that the duration of language study affected students’ willingness to participate in different oral tasks, with prolonged periods of study generating higher WTC. The comparison of pre- and post-instructional WTC levels showed a considerable gain on course completion, which gave rise to the assumption that task-related WTC increases if students are actually provided with practice opportunities and offered proper feedback. Students’ perceptions concerning their speaking abilities and behaviour during speaking classes and the impact of these on L2 WTC were also investigated by de Saint Léger and Storch (2009). In their longitudinal study, the researchers asked students to fill out selfassessment questionnaires to determine how their perceptions evolved in the course of the semester. The respondents varied in their assessment of their speaking abilities, levels of participation, attitudes to activities and a preferred type of classroom arrangement. All of these factors either increased or reduced learners’ WTC in an intricate way with mixed

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opinions detected in the gathered data, which testifies to the need for considering such preferences in relation to the social setting in which they are grounded. Zarrinabadi (2014) took a special interest in the role of the teacher in sustaining and promoting learners’ WTC in-and out-of-class situations in a study that employed a focused essay technique to elicit the requisite data on situations orchestrated by the teacher that were the most and least likely to provoke learners’ WTC. On the whole, the results indicated that learners experienced higher WTC levels in situations in which they are given time to reflect and access their linguistic resources, where they can choose or negotiate topics for discussion, where they are surrounded by a supportive learning environment and where careful attention is paid to the way corrective feedback is provided. Extended wait-time turned out to be pertinent not only to the learners’ WTC but also the frequency of communication and the quality of speaking as it promoted reflection and allowed students to find the most suitable words or grammatical forms and prepare for speech production (see the study by MacIntyre and Blackie [2012] discussed above). Zarrinabadi (2014: 292) confirmed earlier claims that the topic that the students are asked to discuss has a profound effect on their willingness to engage in oral activities (e.g. Cao & Philip, 2006; Kang, 2005; MacIntyre et al., 2011), showing that being familiar with the topic positively affected learners’ linguistic self-confidence, thus increasing their WTC. Moreover, it was found that the possession of content knowledge related to the topic enhanced the feeling of security which resulted in more arguments and ideas to share, a finding reminiscent of this reported by Kang (2005). A similar effect was attributed to the opportunity on the part of the students to choose the topics to be discussed in class since it made them more engaged and interested, as well as less anxious about not having things to say. The results also suggested that error correction happening immediately after the error was committed led to a decrease in learners’ WTC, mainly because it triggers anxiety and compromises the feeling of security. Delayed error correction was found to have the opposite effect, since it did not interrupt the flow of speech and allowed students to deliver the message as intended. As for the support offered by the teacher, elsewhere identified as the key stimulus for classroom WTC (cf. Wen & Clément, 2003), it was also singled out as an important factor affecting the magnitude of willingness to take part in class discussions. All of this shows that much caution should be exercised about the way corrective feedback is provided, as well as the manner in which verbal and non-verbal communication strategies are employed in the classroom. A caring, attentive teacher, readily responding to the student’s output, even in a brief manner, was found to increase WTC, as opposed to one who was difficult to please and seemed to be uninterested in what the student was saying.

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A broad line of inquiry has been pursued by Peng (2007a, 2007b, 2011, 2014) whose investigations of Chinese learners’ of English willingness to take part in oral activities and communication in the TL outside the classroom embraced a multitude of factors typically considered in the studies reported in the literature but considerably expanded them through a thorough analysis of the cultural dimension of a collective society based on Confucian values. In order to account for the specificity of the Chinese setting, Wen and Clément (2003) revisited MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) model by reconsidering the link between the desire to communicate and WTC. While the former denotes ‘a deliberate choice of preference’, the latter embodies one’s readiness to take action (Wen & Clément, 2003: 25). The researchers argued that the desire to communicate is insufficient to take action, since such a decision is mediated by personality factors, affective perceptions, societal context and motivational orientation. Peng (2007a, 2007b, 2014) attempted to explore the contextual factors shaping Chinese learners’ WTC in the English language classroom. Inspired by the work of Wen and Clément (2003), who posited that cultural values determine one’s perceptions and ways of learning, Peng (2007b) identified eight L2 WTC antecedents affected by Chinese cultural norms, that is communicative competence, language anxiety, risk-taking, learners’ beliefs, classroom climate, group cohesiveness, teacher support and classroom organisation. Importantly, for our understanding of the culturally nested WTC antecedents, Peng (2014: 29–31) enumerates qualities that characterise ideologies and behavioural norms in the Chinese educational context and make it distinct from the classroom in the West, where most of the studies on WTC have been conducted. First, she points to the high esteem in which the teacher is held as a figure of special authority and expertise, whose judgments and knowledge should not be doubted or contested, as the case might be when questions are asked. Secondly, memorisation, imitation and repetition are the most favoured learning strategies and even in foreign language classes there appears to be little space for interaction aimed at developing learners’ communicative competence. Another aspect that makes the classroom in China unique is ‘other-directed self-construal’ (Peng, 2014: 30) which assumes that an individual self is incomplete as such and should be considered in relation to others. Thus, the most preferred stance is that of solidarity with others in a similar position, modesty and social belongingness, all resulting in submissive, passive and obedient behaviour in class that precludes showing one’s knowledge and skills so as not to embarrass or distress the others. Naturally, keeping a low profile like that discourages active participation and skill practice. What undermines classroom communicative behaviour even further is Chinese people’s concern for face-saving. The expectation of negative evaluation and attitudes in reaction to learners’ mistakes necessitates the

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application of face-saving procedures, such as silence or communication reduction, which impedes their wish to participate in activities involving TL production. Nevertheless, Peng (2014) cautions against succumbing to cultural stereotypes and observes that, since culture is a dynamic phenomenon, prone to change brought about by culture contact and transformed conditions, a closer look at the components of a lesson context and their interplay should be taken before any conclusions are reached. With this view in mind, Peng (2012, 2014) carried out a study among four university students attending medical English classes. The application of multiple data collection tools generated an impressive amount of data which were analysed qualitatively with a view to identifying the individual and contextual factors underlying L2 WTC in the classroom. In her analysis of the results, the researcher applied Bronfenbrenner’s (1993) nested ecosystem model distinguishing between different systemic levels. The first, microsystemic level comprised six themes found to affect classroom WTC that can be divided into three main strands: beliefs and motivation; cognitive, linguistic and affective factors; and, finally, classroom environment. The participants turned out to differ in their perceptions of appropriate classroom procedures, the required kind and scope of knowledge, as well as the preferred model of participation. Students with low WTC opted for activities aimed at developing structural linguistic knowledge and opposed interactive communicative tasks, obviously trying to avoid face-threatening situations. They also believed that teachers should not be asked questions as that might embarrass them or cause discontent for other students. They directed all their efforts towards passing final exams, having little expectations concerning their communicative abilities which would be invaluable in out-of-class situations The participants with higher levels of WTC declared their interest in language learning and displayed a more favourable attitude towards interaction in the classroom since they were convinced that it contributed to the development of communicative competence, which they envisaged as an important learning goal, apart from passing exams. The second strand of themes underlying classroom WTC concerned cognitive, linguistic and affective factors which turned out to be more directly related to the tasks performed in the classroom. Cognitive factors are associated with the students’ background or topical knowledge and reasoning skills. A high level of WTC was guaranteed by an interest in the discussed area and a suitable amount of information to be shared with others. In addition, the ability to think critically aided argument formulation in disputes and discussions, thereby greatly boosting WTC. Linguistic deficiencies concerning comprehension or vocabulary were reported to hinder the desire to speak or prompted L1 use. Among

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affective variables, anxiety was mentioned as the main restraining force, especially in the whole-class arrangement mode, where the fear of negative reactions suppressed the need to share ideas and opinions. The students’ affect was also manifested in the feeling of obligation to speak or the importance they attributed to this activity. A student characterised by high WTC reported that she felt obliged to start a discussion in an otherwise silent classroom. Another student declared a surge in his WTC when vital arguments came to his mind. A contextual factor that Peng considered was classroom environment, operationalised as the atmosphere or mood, teacher-related factors and learning tasks. Naturally, a positive mood contributed to a rise in WTC, as did support provided by a favourably disposed teacher. Although tasks that could be labelled as the most conducive to speaking were not unanimously indicated, it appeared that a rise in students’ WTC could be associated with activities based on meaningful interaction. The functioning of all the individual and contextual variables and their influence on the shifts in the participants’ WTC were best observed when they were considered jointly, not in isolation, which disclosed their intricate relationships, as when, for example, strong motivation could be superseded by lack of topical knowledge, which, in turn, led to a rise in anxiety. At the mesosystemic level, which concerns the linkages between the various settings that a person is part of, the relationship between classroom behaviour, past learning histories and extracurricular activities was established. For example, a failure in an oral task experienced at an early stage of learning shaped the attitudes of learners with low WTC towards communicative approaches. By contrast, learners who manifested high WTC reported frequent participation in communicative tasks during extracurricular activities. The exosystemic level that takes into account the interaction between the system under investigation and an external one, on whose functioning the participant has no or little influence, comprised in this study the link between the classroom and curriculum design and the evaluation criteria. While a densely packed weekly plan turned out to have a detrimental effect on students’ WTC, the evaluation scheme that valued communicative behaviour had an encouraging effect, provided that students were cognitively and affectively ready to perform. Finally, at the macrosystemic level, which comprised in this case social, educational and cultural factors that impinge on the microsystem, the perception of English as a global language was found to increase the participants’ WTC, as did the conviction that a knowledge of the TL or at least good grades obtained during examinations might contribute to the desired trajectory of professional development. The impact of other-directedness, a distinct characteristic of the Chinese culture, was manifested in evading communication for reasons related to avoiding critical judgment or the need to conform.

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The picture that emerges from the analysis of the results of Peng’s (2014) study is that of a synergistic interplay among individual and contextual variables that contribute to classroom WTC. Most interestingly, the researcher suggests that the scope of WTC antecedents could be extended. First, this is because perceived competence is a joint result of the operation of both cognitive and linguistic factors, since self-perception of confidence is likely to take place only when a student has ideas and the linguistic means to express them. Second, Peng (2012, 2014: 201–211) draws attention to the way that the affective factors she identified interact with those pointed out in previous studies, that is anxiety (Cao, 2011; Yashima, 2002), obligation to communicate (Kang, 2005) and concerns for the impressiveness of output (de Saint Léger & Storch, 2009). The results confirm the profound role of different aspects of the classroom setting in the ups and downs in WTC levels. The conclusions that Peng arrived at with reference to the impact of cultural norms on the students’ behaviour differ to some extent from those reached in earlier studies (cf. Wen & Clément, 2003). Although students, driven by the need to conform to underlying cultural norms, generally remained reticent in silent classrooms and more willingly contributed to discussions among communicatively oriented peers, their resistance to speaking activities also appeared to be related to the perceived linguistic gain that a task could generate. Thus, favourable attitudes towards communicative teaching practices could be developed if students were shown what kind of linguistic gain might accrue from participating in them. Given the paucity of studies performed in the actual classroom context (de Saint Léger & Storch, 2009; MacIntyre & Doucette, 2010), Cao (2011) attempted to explore both the situated and dynamic character of L2 WTC in the L2 classroom. The multitude of factors perceived by learners as contributing to the increase in their WTC were divided into three categories: environmental, individual and linguistic. The first group comprised aspects of the immediate classroom context, such as topic, task type, interlocutor and teacher, as well as interactional patterns in the classroom. Sufficient background knowledge and familiarity with the register aided students’ WTC; similarly, tasks involving teamwork were perceived as promoting L2 use, as compared to teacher-fronted activities which had a detrimental effect. An interlocutor coming from a different cultural background and representing a higher level of proficiency was seen as a welcome conversation partner, a potential source of linguistic input and interesting content. The teacher’s teaching style, attitude and engagement, when he or she acted in the capacity of a conversation partner, were likely to boost or diminish learners’ readiness to engage in speaking tasks. Preferences concerning student groupings turned out to be diverse, with some participants opting for smaller groups or pairs, and others feeling more comfortable when addressing the entire class. On the

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whole, however, the class arrangement in general was seen as breeding anxiety, mostly because of fear of negative evaluation. Its demotivating effect also hinged upon diluted responsibility as some students assumed that others would answer questions posed by the teacher. The most preferred instructional pattern was group work rather than pair work, in accordance with the belief that more members could generate more ideas, a better atmosphere could be created and possible conflicts could be settled easily. The second group of factors responsible for changes in learners’ WTC represented the individual dimension, falling into the realm of personal characteristics, and included the perceived opportunity to communicate, personality, self-confidence and emotion. An increase in WTC was reported when the students interpreted a situation as an opportunity for language use. Some students felt responsible (cf. Cao & Philip, 2006) for presenting opinions in moments when others would not speak. Many complained that their WTC was on the wane when they were confronted with domineering and over-talkative interlocutors. When it comes to the impact of personality reported in Cao’s (2011) study and identified in previous research (cf. Wen & Clément, 2003), certain characteristics proved to be more conducive to TL communication than others. More specifically, students who were extroverted, impulsive, sociable and flexible were generally more eager to speak. State self-confidence turned out to be dependent on the level of familiarity among speaking partners. It was also found that both positive and negative emotions could be generated in the language classroom to the detriment or advantage of WTC. These included anxiety, boredom, frustration, embarrassment and anger, at the negative extreme, and enjoyment and satisfaction, at the other end of the spectrum. In this case, anxiety was reported to be triggered by peer pressure or the teacher’s presence in group activities. The linguistic dimension identified by Cao (2011) referred to the actual and perceived level of proficiency as well as reliance on the participants’ L1. Problems experienced while listening or reading made students less willing to speak, and eventually bored. A similar effect was brought about by insufficient lexical resources. Cao (2011: 474), commenting on the use of the L1, which she registered during tasks and between, pointed out that, on the whole, it diminishes the opportunities for L2 use. She also observes that the three dimensions are interconnected and their specific coordination increases or reduces L2 WTC at a particular time of the lesson. As Cao (2011: 477) writes, ‘(…) learners’ high or low WTC can be attributed to the interaction of factors working either in concert or working in different directions. The factors involved are not equal in their strength of influence on WTC, that is, their influence is differently weighted on different occasions. Some factors might override others at particular times’. In a replication of Cao and Philip’s (2006), Cao (2013) looked again

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at the factors contributing to situational WTC in the course of regularly scheduled English classes. The longitudinal design allowed insights into WTC fluctuations which could be ascribed to coupled influences of contextual, personal and linguistic factors. The gathered data revealed that WTC oscillates in the short term, during one lesson or one task, or in the long run, over the period of one semester. In a longitudinal study spanning a period of 18 weeks, Zhong (2013) made an attempt to trace learners’ WTC in different classroom situations and identify the factors that impinge upon its levels. The comparison made in the study concerned teacher-led and collaborative activities, with the participants showing a preference for the latter. The students’ reluctance to take part in activities supervised by the teacher was found to be associated with their concerns with accuracy, self-efficacy, fear of losing face and reluctance to show off in front of others. Zhong (2013) suggests that students whose beliefs concerning the nature of language and language learning revolve around issues related to mastering the formal properties of the TL are more reticent in class, setting high standards for their output. In contrast, more frequent speakers were found to place a premium on meaning conveyance and fluency. They also believed that active participation in communicative activities helped them develop their linguistic abilities. Another factor that was found to shape learners’ WTC in teacher-fronted activities was self-efficacy, understood as one’s own evaluation of the ability to perform a behaviour or task. Students who were unwilling to interact believed that their skills were not developed enough to take part in classroom interaction, a sentiment which was magnified by insufficient linguistic resources and an inability to cope with the processing demands imposed by communicative tasks. They needed more time to deal with the challenge of searching for TL vocabulary or conveying L1 messages in the TL. As was the case in the study performed by de Saint Léger and Storch (2009), unwilling communicators declared that they thought they could not participate, which might have been caused by the fact that more proficient learners were quicker to express the meanings that they intended to share. Another interesting observation referred to ‘face’ concerns that apparently discouraged students characterised by low WTC from speaking as this allowed them to avoid the risk of negative evaluation. In fact, some of the students manifested a low level of WTC despite being undoubtedly proficient and self-efficacious, which can be attributed to the wish to eschew ‘showing off’, dominating class discussions, thus embarrassing less proficient students, behaviour that is typical of other-directed communities. Collaborative tasks uniformly generated more WTC than those led by the teacher, which necessitated a change in the researcher’s initial division into low- and high-WTC students. The group of eager communicators increased and consisted of learners with a positive evaluation of the productivity

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of pair and group work as it enabled ‘sharing with other persons through collaboration, joint scaffolding, and co-construction’ (Zhong, 2013: 747). Students whose WTC remained at a low level in collaborative tasks expressed concerns regarding inexpert error correction and uneven turn-taking, both of which were likely to take place without teacher intervention. The picture of WTC that emerges from this investigation is that the construct largely depends on the context and situation. Different influences appear to shape WTC in teacher-led and collaborative tasks. While in the former, readiness to speak stems from a blend of linguistic, affective and sociocultural variables, in the latter, it can be attributed to the behavioural beliefs that impact attitudes towards collaboration with others in a classroom setting. The impact of group composition and the types of relations between interlocutors on willingness to use the TL were also the object of inquiry in the study undertaken by Gallagher and Robins (2015) who pioneered the use of network statistical models in the study of WTC (see Chapter 2 for a description of the methodology used in this study). They established that the functioning of a group and its structure are mainly dependent on intracultural ties, out of which cross-cultural ties are built through triadic closure, meaning that students share their cross-cultural ties with other students from the same ethnic community. It was concluded that crosscultural interaction emerges out of the interaction of network members of mixed ethnic backgrounds. The researchers concluded that crossing cultural boundaries is more likely in small groups where the speakers feel secure and, in case of communication breakdowns, can rely on support from members of their own ethnic community. They view L2 WTC as ‘socially distributed’ (Gallagher & Robins, 2015: 25) and dependent on the situational tendencies demonstrated by speakers in different contexts. L2 WTC in whole-class discussions and presentations was higher among students who were more popular among their ethnocultural community. To the researchers’ surprise, students manifesting low WTC nominated, or liked, students exhibiting high WTC, which may be attributed to the fact that they respect people who perform in public. A reciprocal tendency was observed among WTC-high students, who nominated learners low in WTC, because they did not have to compete with them. The status or popularity of learners willing to take part in group or pair work was relatively low, as compared to high-WTC speakers. They had more ties with other speakers displaying similar characteristics, which tesitifies to the existence of ‘alternative social settings’ in which L2 use is supported by other group or pair members. The results indicate that situational L2 WTC is co-constructed among interlocutors and it does not disappear once the conversation is over, but rather persists in the form of personal relationships and norms of behaviour pertinent to L2 use. In order to gain a better understanding of the dynamic character of WTC, MacIntyre et al. (2011) used a focused essay technique in order to

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gain insight into the personal, social and situational experiences that were the most and least conducive to WTC. The initial intention to juxtapose situations driving WTC versus those inhibiting it was abandoned early on as the researchers realised that the same situation could increase WTC and reduce it. In some situations, students could be both willing and unwilling to communicate and this state of ambivalence could be linked to both psychological and contextual variables. This observation led to the conclusion that L2 WTC should not be perceived solely as an ID variable and an outcome of the learning process, but as ‘a socially constructed, dialogic process’ (MacIntyre et al., 2011: 93), as suggested by the finding that the verbal and non-verbal reactions of interlocutors turned out to significantly impinge on the learners’ decisions to use the TL. The data gathered in this study enabled the identification of a host of situations pertinent to TL language use related to communication at school with teachers and peers, as well as out of school, involving contacts with strangers, family and friends or the use of the media. Analysing journal entries, the researchers found evidence for a substantial presence of conflicts on the personal and social planes that L2 communication entails. Learners reported their willingness to communicate with their teachers, as long as they were not overtly critical or did not overwhelm them with correction. Communication with schoolmates was considered to be enjoyable especially in ‘secret clubs’ but not in events with a bigger audience, which gave rise to comparisons or competition. Using the TL with family members was generally reported as an enjoyable experience; however, in certain contexts, for example, when learners were asked to translate or perform in front of others, unwillingness to speak appeared to set in. The reported use of the media was more frequent among learners whose level of comprehension enabled them to appreciate the story. It also turned out that small differences in the communication context significantly impact the affective climate, leading to abrupt shifts from being willing to unwilling to communicate within the same situation. The researchers emphasised the need to complement the ID approach with a dynamic dialogical approach that would capture moment-to-moment changes in WTC levels and help identify the reasons behind these changes. An attempt to achieve this goal has been made by MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) with the use of the idiodynamic method. As elucidated in detail in Chapter 2, the method entails indicating the level of one’s WTC using specially designed software that allows responding to the recorded version of an interaction that is played on the screen. Having marked the changes of WTC, the respondent is given a chance to comment on them and provide justifications. The technique enabled the researchers to register the considerable changes that the speakers’ WTC underwent over the relatively brief time span that the tasks lasted. A joint score, such as those rendered

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in most of the previous studies, would not have been able to reflect the dynamism of the change. WTC ebbs and flows were attributed by the respondents to the ease or difficulty in finding suitable lexical resources; however, the research assistants who were present at the procedure, emphasised the role of affect that might have evaded the attention of the learners themselves. The impact of anxiety on WTC ratings turned out to be complex, showing that it can fluctuate without causing a change in WTC. MacIntyre and Legatto’s (2011: 165) argument that WTC should be seen as a complex dynamic system hinges on the observation that it shares the four main properties of such systems. First, it changes over time and follows a trajectory from one state space to another. Next, WTC antecedents are interconnected, as evidenced, for example, by the connection between learners’ affect and cognition. WTC is self-organising and the factors involved are in a state of flux, demonstrating shifts towards attractor states and away from repeller states in the course of activities. WTC can also be described as non-linear and prone to a threshold effect evident in the impressive declines or surges in response to a given condition. MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) point not only to fluctuations in WTC but also, as other dynamic systems show, its periods of relative stability: WTC shows the properties of a dynamic system. We see that there are changes over time wherein each state is partially dependent on the previous state. We also see the interconnectedness of the linguistic, social, cognitive and emotional systems that produce WTC. When systems function together to facilitate communication, we see WTC as an attractor state. (MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011: 169) As noted by de Bot (2014), systems are embedded with systems and subsystems and each of the (sub)components operates on its own timescale and has its own rate of change. Thus, in the context of language acquisition, development is not a sum of the development of individual skills, but should rather be seen as ‘their mutual influence on each other over time’ (de Bot, 2014: 33). MacIntyre and Legatto (2011) identified four timescales functioning in their study. The longest, which took years to emerge, referred to personality, trait WTC and language anxiety. The second, the scale of one hour, referred to the way that these individual characteristics affect a learner’s behaviour during a class. The third timescale was seconds in task performance, the fourth timescale being tenths-of-seconds evident in the WTC ratings measured by means of the idiodynamic methodology. The dynamic nature of WTC was also explored by MystkowskaWiertelak and Pawlak (2014), who investigated fluctuations in WTC levels occurring in the course of performing communicative tasks. The authors

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looked for typical patterns in WTC fluctuations as well as differences in WTC in learners taking part in monologues (presentations) and dialogues (discussions), two types of communicative tasks that the participants were most likely to perform in class. The task that generated a higher level of WTC was a monologue because it enabled the participants to exercise greater control over the activity without having to conform to somebody else’s choices and decisions, it eliminated the danger of embarrassment at surprising or difficult questions, and it helped them avoid irritation while hearing a partner use their own arguments. All this must have contributed to lowering their anxiety, thereby increasing their WTC. Another regularity detected in the data was the tendency for initially high WTC to drop steadily until the end of the task, which could be accounted for by the fact that the speakers might have simply presented all the pertinent ideas or articulated all the arguments to support their stance, Thus, they might have felt that they had nothing more to say or they might have experienced feelings of tiredness and boredom. In contrast to monologues, in tasks requiring a exchange of ideas, the low initial level of WTC gradually increased as the interlocutors became more engaged, or perhaps felt the obligation to respond to the interlocutor’s claims. Apart from observing the patterns of fluctuations, the authors correlated the mean level of WTC in both tasks with the results they obtained from a survey comprising scales of classroom WTC, perceived competence, WTC in English, frequency of communication and anxiety. None of the measures correlated with the WTC measures reported in the course of task performance, which provides evidence for the contextdependent nature of the construct. In another classroom-based study, Pawlak and Mystkowska-Wiertelak (2015) examined English majors’ WTC fluctuations reported in the course of performing a communicative task in pairs (see Chapter 2). Four pairs of students were asked to discuss a topic that did not require specific background knowledge nor did the range of lexis required to accomplish the task impose any excessive demands on the participants. The ups and downs in WTC that they experienced while discussing the topic in pairs were self-rated on a grid and they were also asked to fill out a short questionnaire focusing on identifying the factors responsible for the changes in their readiness to interact. The conversations were recorded and then played to the participants to elicit comments concerning the changes in WTC levels and the reasons underpinning them. Although the mean WTC values of most of the participants oscillated around the same point, there were students whose WTC was evidently higher or lower, which could be accounted for by the impact of individual variables. Among the reasons that the students provided for the growth of WTC levels, the highest percentages were reported for the topic, the nature of a partner’s contribution and the degree of controversy between

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interlocutors. A drop in WTC levels was reported in reaction to problems in understanding the partner’s argument and the presence of the teacher. What emerged from the detailed accounts provided by the students as they were interpreting the graphical representations of the fluctuations in their self-reported readiness to speak is that it can be negatively affected by problems at the lexical or conceptual levels. To be more precise, inefficient retrieval of vocabulary, inability to generate and/or formulate arguments and opinions increased anxiety and diminished WTC. As observed by the researchers, the nature of interaction in individual pairs testified to their insufficient knowledge of conversational routines concerning turn-taking or signalling disagreement in a positive way. This might also have impacted the general atmosphere of the exchanges, decreasing the students’ willingness to interact with a partner who did not show concern for or appreciation of their contributions. The question of the effectiveness of instructional treatment on the increase of WTC has engaged researchers for quite a while with the most recognisable attempt to address it being that of MacIntyre et al. (2003) who explored WTC among immersion and non-immersion students. The learners enjoying the experience of full immersion demonstrated a significantly higher level of WTC than those in the other group. The immersion programme offered many more opportunities for language practice and use, which resulted in higher perceived competence, frequency of communication and consequently higher WTC. Rich in pedagogical recommendations concerning, for example, a stress-free classroom climate, group composition or teacher support, WTC studies have rarely attempted to determine the relationship between WTC levels and a particular type of teacher intervention offered to the students with a view to increasing their readiness to initiate or contribute to communication in and out of class. Such an attempt was undertaken by Mesgarshahr and Abdollahzadeh (2014) in a study seeking to establish the impact of communication strategy training on self-reported readiness to contribute to classroom interaction. Students in experimental groups were exposed to the treatment involving communication strategy training embedded in specially designed classroom procedures. The tasks that they performed encouraged the use of communication strategies to deal with communication problems arising in the course of interaction. The pre-test–post-test procedure enabled the researchers to show that WTC levels before and after the treatment differed significantly in the case of students who took part in the treatment sessions, but not those in the control group. Much in the same vein, the possibility of enhancing learners’ WTC in the classroom context has been explored by Munezane (2015). Based on the tenets of Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 motivational self system, Munezane’s treatment involved visualisation and goal setting. The participants

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attending foreign language classes had the same number of communicative activities and were divided into three groups: the non-treatment one, the visualisation group and the visualisation plus goal setting group. The students in the first group attended regular content-based classes involving communicative activities, those in the second group were encouraged to visualise themselves as proficient speakers of English using the language in their desired jobs, while those in the third group, apart from visualising future careers involving the use of English, were also required to perform activities in the course of which they set long- and short-term goals and visualised their ideal L2 selves. Comparison of WTC levels after the treatment revealed that they were not significantly higher in the visualisation only group than these in the non-treatment group, whereas the group involved in visualisation plus goal setting turned out to outperform the other two groups with respect to the WTC levels, with the differences being statistically significant. The results testify to the claim that WTC can be enhanced through classroom procedures involving both visualisation and setting lifelong goals that can be fulfilled by accomplishing short-term goals, seen as steps gradually leading to the implementation of plans and the realisation of dreams.

Conclusion The main objective of the present chapter has been to provide a comprehensive, but, out of necessity, only a selective account of the most important findings of the research into the factors that impinge on L2 learners’ WTC. With this goal in mind, at the beginning, factors comprising the learner’s individual profile were introduced, including communicative competence, motivation, age, gender, as well as personality. No less significant in the process of shaping learners’ readiness to interact turned out to be context-related variables, including aspects of the setting, the issues tackled or the individuals involved. The catalogue of WTC determinants comprises participation in immersion and non-immersion programmes, the topic under discussion, the type of task that students are required to perform or participate in, as well as the size, composition and response of the group. Another line of inquiry that has gained momentum only recently is trying to gauge the impact of pedagogic intervention, for example, in the form of strategic instruction, on learners’ WTC in the classroom or outside, which might open up new and promising avenues for WTC research. The picture that emerges from the foregoing discussion is complex and far from clear on account of the fact that the interplay of the factors entailed in the process of language learning involves levels and dimensions which render most generalisations simplistic and superficial. Undoubtedly, following more than 20 years of WTC research, some principles are warranted and some recommendations desired; however, the

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wealth of WTC determinants of a psychological, linguistic, educational and communicative nature as well as the complexity of their mutual co-dependence generate numerous methodological problems, with the effect that many questions are still left unanswered, thus necessitating further empirical investigations. Two such investigations, one representing the macro perspective and the other the micro perspective on WTC are reported in Parts 2 and 3 of this book.

Part 2: Exploring WTC in a Foreign Language Context: A Macro-Perspective

The main focus of this part of the book is to present and discuss the findings of a study which represented what has been described as the macro perspective on willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language (L2) and had two main aims. First, it was intended to design and validate a tool that would be well-suited to the study of WTC in a foreign language context, such as the Polish one, as well as illuminating the structure of the construct and tapping into the relationships between this construct and its antecedents. Second, it was conducted with the purpose of shedding light on different facets of WTC manifested by advanced Polish learners of English in situations inside and outside the classroom, and offering insights into the factors shaping the participants’ readiness to interact. In doing so, the study sought to build on and contribute to the existing body of empirical evidence yielded by quantitative, largescale research projects which have been to a large extent inspired by the model put forward by MacIntyre et al. (1998) and have aimed at exploring the interdependencies between L2 WTC and a wide array of individual and contextual factors (e.g. Clément et al., 2003; Denies et al., 2015; Ghonsooly et al., 2012; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996; MacIntyre et al., 2002; Peng & Woodrow, 2010; Ryan, 2009; Yashima, 2002, 2009). As illustrated in the overview included in Chapter 2, although research of this kind has generated invaluable insights into the intricate relationships between the variables in question, as will be elaborated upon below, the generalisability of such insights is in most cases constrained by the particular contexts, populations as well as types of communicative behaviours under investigation. For this reason, there is a pressing need for further research, such that would be context sensitive and draw upon specifically devised data collection instruments, taking account of the realities of a given instructional setting, a goal that the empirical investigation reported below set out to accomplish. First, in Chapter 4, the rationale for the research project will be elucidated, the aims and research questions will be specified and key issues related to the procedures involved in data collection and analysis in the pilot study and the main study will be described. Chapter 5 will present the findings of the two studies with

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respect to the factors identified in the course of the analyses. Finally, in Chapter 6, a discussion of these findings will be provided, the merits as well as the shortcomings of adopting a macro perspective on the study of L2 WTC will be touched upon and the potential directions of future research projects embracing this stance will be considered.

4 The Rationale for and Design of the Study

This chapter lays the necessary groundwork for the remainder of this part of the book, that is the results of the analyses presented in Chapter 5 and the discussion and interpretation of the findings as well as the recommendations advanced on this basis in Chapter 6. In line with such a goal, this chapter starts with a description of the rationale for undertaking the study, both with reference to the adoption of the macro perspective and the need to modify the existing tools tapping into their various antecedents and allowing the examination of the relationships between them with the purpose of designing an instrument that would be geared to the specificity of the context that is the focus of the current investigation. This is followed by a presentation of the aims of the study and the research questions, the characterisation of the participants as well as a description of the tools used to collect the necessary data and the analytical procedures applied in the analysis of these data. Since, with the exception of the participants, all of these issues were to a large extent common to both the pilot and the main stages of the study, they will be discussed under the same heading in both cases, with differences or modifications being explicitly spelled out whenever such a need arises.

The Rationale for Applying a Macro-Perspective in the Study of WTC On the face of it, offering a rationale for the application of the macro perspective in the study of willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language (L2) should be unproblematic in light of the fact that, as can be seen from the discussion in Chapter 2 of Part 1, this stance was embraced in most of the early research on L2 WTC. Such research sought to validate the construct, identify its more and less enduring antecedents and explore the mutual relationships between them. In fact, it was the findings of the empirical investigations falling into this category that in large part provided a basis for the pyramid model of WTC put forward by MacIntyre et al. (1998), which demonstrated how the actual act of communication, alongside the behavioural intention to contribute to interaction directly preceding it, are mediated by a whole gamut of interdependent individual,

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contextual and situational variables (see Chapter 1: ‘The heuristic model’ in Part 1 for an in-depth discussion of the model). What is more, the macro perspective on WTC has been embraced in a number of very recent research projects which have attempted to modify the existing tools, often with an eye to making them suitable to specific instructional settings (e.g. Peng & Woodrow, 2010), relied on new combinations of scales in an effort to illuminate relationships that have thus far remained unexplored (e.g. Ryan, 2009), shifted the emphasis to additional languages other than English (e.g. Denies et al., 2015), expanded the theoretical basis for the study of WTC (e.g. MacIntyre & Doucette, 2010) or drawn on novel models of statistical analysis (e.g. Gallagher & Robins, 2015). On the other hand, however, as the discussion in the theoretical part of this book has amply demonstrated (see Chapter 2: ‘Situational and dynamic WTC: A shift from quantitative to mixed-methods research’ in Part 1), the last decade or so has witnessed a conspicuous change of heart with respect to methodological preferences, with researchers more and more frequently turning to smallerscale studies, some of which have been set in real classrooms (e.g. Bernales, 2016; Cao, 2011; Kang, 2014; Pawlak et al., 2016; Yue, 2014). Studies of this kind typically involve only a handful of participants, often members of intact classes, whose WTC, however, is meticulously investigated, as if through the proverbial magnifying glass, taking into consideration a range of situational and individual variables. This allows for not only tapping into the factors shaping learners’ readiness to speak but also tracing the ups and downs in WTC levels on a moment-by-moment basis. Since the rationale for adopting such a stance will be discussed in some detail in Part 3, suffice it to say at this juncture that this trend has recently come to the fore in research on individual differences in its entirety (cf. Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Williams et al., 2015), being particularly salient in empirical investigations of motivation (e.g. Dörnyei et al., 2015), a development that can be related to a large extent to an attempt to account for individual variation within the framework of complex dynamic systems theory (e.g. de Bot et al., 2013; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008). Even though the adoption of a more fine-grained, situated and contextsensitive perspective on WTC in an L2 without doubt has merit and such an approach has in fact been espoused in several studies carried out by the present authors (e.g. Pawlak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2015; Pawlak et al., 2016), this is by no means tantamount to suggesting that studies representing the macro perspective are no longer needed and should be abandoned. On the contrary, as the title of this book indicates and as has been emphasised throughout its pages, the two positions should not be viewed as mutually exclusive but, rather, as complementary, with each of them contributing insights that the other is incapable of yielding. This argument is superbly expressed by Dewaele and Al-Saraj (2015) in response to the appeal that conventional methodologies, based on inferential

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statistics and inherently tied to examining linear relationships, should be rejected in favour of novel approaches that focus on the whole system and the interactions between its parts so that ‘uncharted territories’ can be staked out (cf. Dörnyei et al., 2015; see Chapter 7 in Part 3). Dewaele and Al-Saraj (2015: 207–208) write that ‘(…) while it is excellent to boldly go where no man (or woman) has been before, it is still important to continue the exploration of supposedly “charted territories”. Just as artists can revisit common themes with striking originality, researchers can cast fresh light on supposedly familiar topics’. Indeed, despite all of the undeniable and somewhat inherent limitations of the macro perspective, connected, among other things, to the fact that the Likert-scale items typically included in different instruments are overly general and not easily relatable to specific situations or that the means tabulated for entire samples tend to conceal what happens at the individual level, this stance also has a number of benefits. One of these advantages is that only by collecting data from an adequate number of participants are we in a position to seek relationships between WTC, its antecedents as well as links among them, also establishing the significance of specific variables, identifying new clusters of factors and coming up with fresh models which seek to explain the influence of these factors. Another is that while insights gleaned from the in-depth investigation of WTC in specific contexts and learner groups (e.g. a particular class composed of a particular group of students taught by a particular teacher in a particular location) are enlightening, they are inevitably fragmented and difficult to integrate into a coherent whole due to the unique nature of such situations stemming from the distinctive constellations of the individual and the contextual influences affecting them. It is reasonable to assume that insights of this kind can only become meaningful if they are in some way superimposed onto more general trends pinpointed by means of statistical analyses. In fact, it stands to reason that only then are we likely to obtain a more accurate, multifaceted and nuanced picture of the factors that affect learners’ WTC in the target language (TL), both globally and with reference to the concrete situations in which they may have to function inside and outside the classroom. Obviously, for such benefits to accrue, the instruments employed and the scales that they contain should be suited to the specificity of a particular instructional context as well as the attributes of the learners who are asked to indicate the degree of their agreement or disagreement with the Likertscale items. This is because a tool designed for one setting which may have been successfully validated within its confines and may offer invaluable insights into the factors underlying WTC, their relative contributions and the potential connections among them, may prove to be patently inadequate in another context. This inadequacy could derive, for example, from wide-ranging differences in pragmatic norms which could have a

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considerable bearing on how participants respond to particular questions (e.g. they may be expected to be more reticent in some cultures and more outspoken in others), disparate opportunities for out-of-class use of the TL (e.g. in second and foreign language contexts, such as Canada in the case of French and Poland in the case of English, respectively), diverse educational traditions and related beliefs about language learning and teaching (e.g. with respect to the need to emulate in the classroom the conditions of naturalistic discourse), the nature of instructional activities typically employed in order to develop communicative skills (e.g. predominance of role plays which may hardly involve spontaneous interaction or communication tasks which inherently promote it), differences in the impact of information and computer technologies (e.g. the extent to which learners can and do engage in computer-mediated communication on a regular basis) or the characteristics of the respondents (e.g. age, proficiency level or learning goals determine the ways in which the research tools are constructed and the items they comprise). It was the cognisance of all these issues and the need to construct a data collection tool that could be employed most beneficially to explore the factors underlying WTC among Polish university students majoring in English that provided an impulse for undertaking the study to which we now turn our attention.

Aims and Research Questions As stated above, the study was undertaken with the purpose of developing and validating a research instrument that would be suitable for investigating WTC among advanced learners of English in the Polish educational context, examining the relationships between the construct and the variables pertaining to it as well as identifying the factors underlying the participants’ readiness to contribute to ongoing interaction in the classroom as well as outside. More specifically, the following research questions were addressed: (1) What are the components and correlates of WTC in an L2 in the case of English majors in Polish institutions of higher education? (2) What are the relationships between these components and correlates of WTC? (3) What is the role of the identified factors as well as the specific variables that they comprise in the identified structure of WTC?

Participants Two groups of participants were involved in the present study and provided data that were analysed in two rounds of exploratory factor analysis, with the caveat that the second one was much larger and, as

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a consequence, it was the responses of this group that served as a basis for an in-depth investigation of L2 WTC and its components. As regards the first stage of analysis, the sample was composed of 107 students, 82 females and 25 males, enrolled in Year 1, 2 or 3 of a three-year bachelor (BA) programme or Year 1, 2 or 3 of a two-and-a-half year masters (MA) programme. At the time of the study, they were on average 22.59 years of age and they had been learning English as a foreign language for the mean length of 12.13 years, which referred to instruction received in elementary, lower and senior high school as well as private tutoring. In light of the focus of the study, what is also worth reporting here is their command of speaking skills, understood both in terms of external evaluation, equated for the purpose of this research project with the mean grade in a conversation class, and self-assessment in this respect, with the two being almost identical and equalling 3.98 and 4.04, respectively, on a scale of two to five, typically used for assessment purposes in the programme. With respect to the second round of the exploratory factor analysis, it involved a sample of convenience consisting of as many as 614 participants, 504 females and 110 males, enrolled in BA and MA programmes in English in 21 foreign languages departments in institutions of higher education across Poland. Their mean age amounted to 25.07 years and at the time the study was conducted they had been learning English as a foreign language, both formally and informally, for an average of 12.62 years. When it comes to their mastery of speaking skills, it was almost identical to that reported by the members of the previous group, amounting to 3.96 with regard to the mean grade in a conversation class and 3.93 with reference to the participants’ self-evaluation. While no data of this kind were collected, it can be assumed on the basis of the authors’ experience and similar studies recently conducted in this context (e.g. Pawlak, 2016), that the students in both groups were also to a large extent similar with respect to other characteristics, such as the type of instruction that they were offered and the nature of exposure to the TL. To be more precise, they had the benefit of an extensive programme in English, which, in spite of some likely minute differences, comprised separate classes in pronunciation (at least in the first year), grammar, speaking, writing, integrated skills or translation, and they were also required to obtain credits for a number of content courses in linguistics, applied linguistics, literature, cultural studies as well as electives of their choosing, such as seminars and proseminars, most of which were taught in the TL. The pattern of their contact with English out of the classroom would also have been similar, mostly taking the form of watching movies with the original soundtrack, accessing internet websites in English, reading books or newspapers, using the TL for professional purposes, as is the case with teachers, as well as engaging in computer-mediated communication through the medium of that language. By contrast, it can

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be hypothesised that, on the whole, relatively few of the participants had the opportunity to engage in face-to-face communication with native speakers or other advanced TL users in their everyday lives, whether in Poland or during the course of trips abroad. An important caveat in this case, however, is that the students involved in the second stage were much more varied in this respect as they came from different institutions across Poland, ranging from large universities located in big cities to smaller institutions of higher education situated in medium-sized towns and this must have had major consequences for their opportunities for access to the TL or different types of encounters with foreigners, whether exchange students, professionals or merely tourists. It should also be noted that the characteristics of the students who took part in the two rounds of the two studies representing the macro perspective mirrored to a large extent those of the participants of the research project grounded in the micro perspective to be reported in Part 3.

Data Collection and Analysis Since the process of developing a tool for investigating WTC included several phases, with some modifications being made in each case, for the sake of clarity, the subsections that follow are intended to be reflective of these stages. Accordingly, first, issues involved in the construction of the original instrument as well as its application in a pilot study will be described. Subsequently, emphasis will be shifted to the two stages of the study proper, with the procedures for data collection and analysis outlined and successive changes to the pilot tool discussed.

The development of the original tool Although, as was explained in the introduction, the present study consisted of two stages during which the research instrument was developed and data were collected about different facets of English majors’ WTC in the TL, the starting point for the research project was the construction of a data collection instrument and conducting a pilot study in order to determine its psycholinguistic properties, a procedure that was described in Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pawlak (2016). This instrument comprised 105 Likert-scale items, in which the participants had to indicate the degree of their agreement or disagreement with a particular statement on a scale of 1 to 6 (1 – ‘completely disagree’ and 6 – ‘completely agree’). These items were taken from several data collection instruments applied in different research projects undertaken in order to tap into the antecedents of WTC as well as to examine the relationships between various constructs (see below for a detailed discussion of the scales used). However, three important modifications were made for the purpose of the pilot study, namely: (1) all the scales were translated into Polish, the participants’

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mother tongue to ward off the danger of some of the statements being misunderstood, which might have jeopardised the reliability of the data collection; (2) negative items were transformed into positive ones, also with the purpose of avoiding misunderstanding; and (3) some of the statements included in the original scales were revised with an eye to adjusting the content to the realities of the educational context under investigation, taking into account the characteristics and needs of the participant, and ensuring that the activities that the items referred to reflected the focus of the practical English classes that were part and parcel of the BA and MA programmes that the participants attended. Such changes were indispensable because, among other things, many of the scales which served as a point of reference for the research tool were initially intended for cultural settings far removed from the one in Poland, particularly with respect to everyday contact with native speakers (second rather than foreign language contexts), different educational stages, ages and proficiency levels involved, and, in effect, the nature of typical instructional activities was also different. To be more specific, the following modifications were undertaken: (1) rewriting some of the items so that they could refer to the Polish context (e.g. changing words such as Chinese or French into Polish); (2) adjusting the content of some of the statements to make them more reflective of situations, tasks and activities that the participants were confronted with in the classroom (e.g. role plays or dialogues acted out from a script in front of the whole group were eliminated, the use of more challenging communication tasks was recognised, reliance on a wider range of discussion topics was acknowledged, cases of standing in front of the entire class were scrapped and items referring to situations in which the first language [L1] was used were dropped); and (3) some entirely new items were added to the original scales, which was done with the purpose of taking into account three crucial considerations. First, the rapid development of information and computer technology was recognised, with the corollary that the internet has achieved the status of a necessity in the lives of many people, especially the younger generation, and that, particularly in foreign language contexts, access to native speakers or other proficient users of the TL is more often than not confined to computer-mediated communication, either of the asynchronous (e.g. emails or blogs) or synchronous (e.g. Skype, other software of this kind or text-based internet communicators) type. Second, the fact was acknowledged that, both in Poland and throughout Europe, contacts with foreigners are facilitated or even instigated by the availability of the Erasmus Plus programme, which enables and encourages mobility within and outside the European Union. Third, a decision was made that it was warranted to include several items connected with the provision of corrective feedback, especially those related to the distinction between input-providing (e.g. recasts) and output-prompting (e.g. a clarification request) error correction. This was done in recognition of the fact that the nature of the learner response to a corrective move with

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reference to the incorporation of the accurate form provided by the teacher, the willingness to attempt self-correction or the readiness to indicate and react to inaccuracies in the TL production of their peers may hinge to a large extent on the level of WTC, a possibility that was for some reason overlooked by most specialists working in this area (see Loewen, 2015; Lyster et al., 2013; Nassaji, 2015; Pawlak, 2014; Sheen & Ellis, 2011, for an overview of options in the provision of corrective feedback). While the changes described above were important and necessary to ensure that the tool fitted the instructional context for which it was intended, they were not overly extensive and it could thus be assumed that the scales included in the data collection instrument manifested high content validity, not least because they had been designed and validated by leading experts on WTC and, moreover, had been applied and verified in numerous empirical investigations. The scales included in the final version of the research instrument, together with the modifications that were introduced in each case are briefly described below (cf. MystkowskaWiertelak & Pawlak, 2016): •

•

In-Class WTC (Peng & Woodrow, 2010), an instrument which is intended to measure WTC in speaking in different instructional contexts and is made up of 14 Likert-scale items which are responded to on a six-point scale; examples of items it includes are the following: ‘I am willing to present arguments to the rest of my class’, ‘I am willing to take part in a discussion in a small group’ or ‘I am willing to do a role play with my peer at my desk’. Two new items were added here: ‘I am willing to correct a mistake that I notice in what others are saying’ and ‘I am willing to modify what I have said in response to an indication of an error’, both related to the provision of error correction because of the reasons specified above; the reliability of the original scale was high, as evident in the value of Cronbach’s alpha amounting to 0.88. Out-of-Class WTC in a foreign language context (MacIntyre & Charos, 1996), which comprises 12 items adopted from McCroskey and Baer (1985) and seeks to determine the average percentage of time, from 0 to 100%, that the respondents would choose to engage in communication in French in a variety of situations; when it comes to the adjustments made to the original scale, French was changed to English and a six-point Likert scale replaced an indication of percentages in order to ensure the comparability of the statements that were included in the entire tool; the modified scale included such statements as: ‘I am willing to initiate communication with a foreigner met on the street’, ‘I am willing to use CMC to address an acquaintance of mine’ or ‘I am willing to speak to exchange students enrolled in my programme’; the reliability of the original scale, before changes were made, was more than satisfactory, with Cronbach’s alpha standing at 0.97.

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•

•

•

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Communication Confidence (Horwitz et al., 1986; Woodrow, 2006), a tool which is aimed to constitute a composite measure of communication anxiety in English as well as perceived communication confidence in that language; based on the rationale explicated above, 3 out of the 16 original items were scrapped, with the scale consequently reduced to 13 Likert-scale statements, which had to be responded to on a six-point scale, such as: ‘I know I am able to speak without preparation in class’, ‘I know I am able to speak informally to my English teacher during classroom activities’ or ‘I know I am able to give a short impromptu speech to my class’; the reliability of the original scales related to the two factors they aspired to measure, that is communication anxiety and perceived communication confidence and which amounted to 0.84 and 0.93, respectively. Learner Beliefs (Peng, 2007a; Sakui & Gaies, 1999), a tool that was designed in order to offer insights into the participants’ perceptions of classroom behaviours that could be assumed to foster or impede readiness to interact in an L2, with responses being provided, yet again, on a six-point Likert scale; a total of 10 items were included, such as ‘You should try to speak English even if you know you might not speak it correctly’, ‘Students who speak a lot in classes achieve a higher level of proficiency’ or ‘I should be given an opportunity to correct myself when I make an error’; the reliability of the initial scale was estimated at 0.80, a value that can be considered quite satisfactory. Classroom Environment (Fraser et al., 1996), an inventory that aims to provide information about teacher support, group cohesion and task orientation; it was composed of 13 six-point Likert-scale statements, representative examples being the following: ‘Tasks designed in this class are attractive’, ‘The teacher asks questions that solicit viewpoints or opinions’ or ‘I help other class members who are having trouble with their work’; the reliability of the original instrument was highly satisfactory with Cronbach’s alpha equalling 0.88. International Posture (Yashima, 2002, 2009), a tool which was designed to determine learners’ readiness to engage in different forms of intercultural communication; it is made up of items dealing with such factors as intergroup approach–avoidance tendency, interest in international vocation or activities, concern with foreign affairs, as well as possession of information that can be passed on to others; in order to ensure coherence with the other items included in the instrument, the initial seven-point Likert-type scale was contracted to a six-point scale; the resulting tool included 20 statements, such as the following: ‘I try to use every opportunity to speak to a foreigner in English, online or in reality’, ‘I want to work in an international organisation or company’, ‘I often talk about situations and events (sports events, concerts, festivals, etc.) in foreign countries with my

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family and friends’ or ‘I have ideas about international issues such as sports, cultural, social, political or economic events or phenomena’; the value of Cronbach’s alpha tabulated for the entire inventory was 0.78, which can be regarded as satisfactory. Ideal L2 Self (Dörnyei, 2010), an instrument that was constructed in order to shed light on the abilities and skills that learners imagine that they should possess in the future with reference to learning English; no changes to the original items were deemed necessary and all the original six-point Likert-scale statements were included in the final tool, representative examples being the following: ‘I can imagine myself living abroad and having a discussion in English’, ‘I can imagine myself speaking English with international friends or colleagues’ or ‘The things I want to do in the future require me to use English’; the reliability of the scale was established for different language versions, with the values of Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.78 to 0.83. Ought-to L2 Self (Dörnyei, 2010), a scale intended to tap into the attributes which, according to learners, are necessary with respect to learning English in the eyes of significant others, also in order to avoid adverse consequences; as was the case with the previous scale, all the original six-point Likert-scale items were kept in the data collection tool, examples of which are as follows: ‘Learning English is necessary because people surrounding me expect me to do so’, ‘My parents believe that I must study English to be an educated person’ or ‘Studying English is important to me because other people will respect me more if I have a knowledge of English’; Cronbach’s alpha values for the scale ranged from 0.75 to 0.78, depending on the language version, a result which ensures adequate reliability of the scale. Integrativeness (Taguchi et al., 2009), a scale based on items extracted from a version of the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (Gardner et al., 1997) and intended to tap into the respondents’ willingness to assimilate into the TL community; only the following three six-point Likert-scale items were included: ‘It is important to me that I learn English to learn more about the culture of its speakers’, ‘I would like to be similar to native speakers of English’ and ‘I like English’; depending on the language version, the values of Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.56 to 0.73, values that are not high but satisfactory given the length of the scale.

An online version of the instrument constructed in this way was completed by 79 English majors (63 females and 16 males), enrolled in a two-and-ahalf year MA programme online and the data collected in this way were subjected to quantitative analysis. It consisted of establishing the internal consistency reliability of the scales by calculating the values of Cronbach’s alpha, tabulating item-total correlations for each of the scales involved

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with the purpose of identifying items that statistically significantly diverged from the performance of others, with the cut-off point being set at 0.40, and tallying the values of Cronbach’s alpha for the scales, irrespective of whether they had been subject to major modifications or merely translated from Polish into English. Even though the analysis indicated that the correlation coefficients for five of the items failed to reach the predetermined value of 0.40 or higher, it was ultimately decided that they should be retained in view of the fact that their exclusion would have exerted only a marginal impact on the internal consistency reliability of the specific scales. As Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pawlak (2016: 30) explain, ‘the elimination of the inconsistent items (…) from four scales did little to further enhance the reliability of these scales since the increase in the values of Cronbach’s alpha was miniscule and could be viewed as negligible (from 0.002 to 0.012)’, adding that ‘(…) further refinement of the tool is needed, which will involve performing at least one round of exploratory factor analysis, followed perhaps by confirmatory factor analysis, because this will allow the reduction of the number of variables as well as identification of the underlying factor structure of the measures of WTC in English, communication confidence in English, motivation to learn English, learner beliefs and context’. In effect, a tangible outcome of the pilot study was an inventory of 105 six-point Likert-scale items that will be referred to below as the Willingness to Communicate Inventory or WTCI (see Appendix 1).

The study proper It was first and foremost the need for further development and refinement of WTCI that provided an impulse for the two stages of the largescale, quantitative research project, the findings of which will be reported in Chapter 5. The first stage involved administering the WTCI to a group of 107 English majors that was briefly characterised above. This was done with the help of an online survey which the students were requested to complete in their own time within one week from the moment they were provided with an adequate link, with the effect that they could take as much time as they felt was needed to respond to all the Likert-scale items. Initial analysis consisted of tabulating the descriptive statistics, that is determining the means and standard deviations for all of the items as well as for the scales enumerated above. This was followed by establishing the reliability of the initial scales, which involved calculating Cronbach’s alpha values for each of them and then conducting exploratory factor analysis by means of the principal component extraction measure with an eye to, first, reducing the items to several scales and, second and more importantly, detecting the variables underlying the construct of WTC as well as the interrelationships between them in the context under investigation (i.e. English majors

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Part 2: Exploring WTC in a Foreign Language Context: A Macro-Perspective

in Polish institutions of higher education). More precisely, the Varimax rotation method was applied and the Keiser rule was followed, which dictates that all the components with eigenvalues falling below the level of 1.0 should be dropped. This procedure was deemed adequate in view of the result of Bartlett’s test of sphericity (T=12848.84; p