Willingness to Communicate and Its Implications for English Language Teaching in EFL Contexts

Abstract

This study is a contribution to a continued exploration of some of the factors responsible for second or foreign language learning. It is an examination of the true state of Japanese English learners’ Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in classrooms and attempts to investigate effective approaches to enhance learners’ WTC. The study hypothesizes that WTC within classrooms is influenced by whether students are extroverted or introverted and examines the correlation between learners’ WTC and extroversion-introversion theory. In addition, previous studies have suggested that affective factors, such as international posture and confidence are mostly responsible for WTC in second language learning, and these factors are also examined.
Epistemologically, I employed a quantitative research methodology with two groups of university students in Japan: the freshmen and the fourth grade (seniors) students with the aid of questionnaires. The data suggests that students’ WTC is not influenced by whether students are extroverts or introverts. It strongly indicates a correlation between WTC and students’ other personality traits. Moreover, I discovered that the degree by which WTC is influenced by these other personality traits depends on the contexts of learning in the EFL classrooms. The data also confirms the veracity of international posture and confidence.
Therefore, the study suggests that the most effective approaches to enhance students’ WTC are to provide a variety of stimulating learning experiences for the students; to reduce students’ anxiety; to boost their confidence through positive feedback that places less emphasis on students’ errors and to conduct classes through an invigorating eclectic mixture of methods and approaches that include task-based learning activities in small groups.

Keywords

Motivation / International Posture / Confidence / Anxiety / Willingness to Communicate (WTC) / Japanese students

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