Willingness to communicate in english of first year students at felte ulis vnu

Tóm tắt One of the main purposes of learning a foreign language is to use it to communicate in an effective way. However, whether the EFL students are willing to use English to communicate has been a question to most of the English teachers. Given the important role of willingness to communicate (WTC) in learning English, there have been a number of studies about the level of WTC and the factors affecting WTC. This study is conducted to investigate the level of willingness to communicate (WTC) in English of EFL first year students at the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) and to identify the factors that influence the WTC in English of the participants. In order to find the answers to the research questions, two types of data collection instruments were used: a questionnaire and a semistructured interview. Both the questionnaire and the interview aimed at measuring the level of WTC in English of the participants across different communication situations inside classroom and the factors that affect their WTC in class. The findings show that the WTC in English in class of the EFL first year students at ULIS is relatively high. First year students seemed to prefer initiating communication in English in group discussion to speaking in front of the whole class. Regarding the factors affecting the student’s WTC, the desire to enhance the English speaking skill is the most influential variable. In addition, some pedagogical recommendations are also provided for the purpose of encouraging students to communicate in class.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

HANOI – 2018

I hereby state that I: Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, class QH2014.F1.E2, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the College relating

to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

May 31, 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement i

Abstract ii

Lists of abbreviations, tables, and figures Error! Bookmark not defined List of tables iv

List of figures v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationales for the study 1

1.2 Statement of research problems and questions 1

1.3 Scope of research 2

1.4 Significance 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 Willingness to communicate 3

2.2 The importance of WTC in the context of English language learning 3

2.3 Factors affecting WTC of EFL students 5

2.3.1 Heuristic Model of Variables Influencing WTC by MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei, Noels (1998) 5

2.3.2 Factors affecting WTC in L2 16

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Participants of the study 20

3.2 Data collection instruments 20

3.2.1 Questionnaire 20

3.2.2 Semi-structured Interview 21

3.3 Data analysis 22

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 23

4.1 Willingness to communicate in English in class of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU 23

4.1.1 WTC in Casual conversations 24

4.1.2 WTC in Task-related conversations 26

4.2 Factors affecting WTC in English in classroom 28

4.2.2 Personality traits 31

4.2.3 Motivation 32

4.2.4 L2 perceived competence 33

4.2.5 Performance conditions 34

4.2.6 Topical knowledge 34

4.3 Further information from the semi-structure interview 35

4.3.1 The level of WTC of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU 35

4.3.2 The factors affecting WTC of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU 37

Motivation 37

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 39

5.1 Summary of the findings: 39

5.2 Pedagogical implications 40

5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research 40

REFERENCE 41

APPENDICES 44

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University

of Languages and International Studies for offering me an opportunity to do my graduation paper, which enables me to gain a lot of valuable experience in my learning and my preparation for future career

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thu Hien, for her kindness, her support, her patience, her tolerance, her precious suggestions and valuable advice, all of which encouraged me to complete my graduation paper

I would also like to thank all the students for their participation in my study

One of the main purposes of learning a foreign language is to use it to communicate in

an effective way However, whether the EFL students are willing to use English to communicate has been a question to most of the English teachers Given the important role of willingness to communicate (WTC) in learning English, there have been a number of studies about the level of WTC and the factors affecting WTC This study is conducted to investigate the level of willingness to communicate (WTC) in English of EFL first year students at the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) and to identify the factors that influence the WTC in English of the participants In order to find the answers to the research questions, two types of data collection instruments were used: a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview Both the questionnaire and the interview aimed at measuring the level of WTC in English of the participants across different communication situations inside classroom and the factors that affect their WTC in class The findings show that the WTC in English in class of the EFL first year students at ULIS is relatively high First year students seemed to prefer initiating communication in English in group discussion to speaking in front of the whole class Regarding the factors affecting the student‟s WTC, the desire to enhance the English speaking skill is the most influential variable

In addition, some pedagogical recommendations are also provided for the purpose of encouraging students to communicate in class

List of tables

Table 1 WTC in Casual conversations 25

Table 2 WTC in Task-related conversations 27

Table 3 Summary of the student‟s preferable types of communicative situation 30

Table 4 Summary of the student‟s personality traits 31

Table 5 Summary of the student‟s motivation 32

Table 6 Summary of the student‟s L2 perceived competence 33

Table 7 Summary of the student‟s performance conditions 34

List of figures

Figure 1 Heuristic Model of Variables Influencing WTC 6 Figure 2 Willingness to communicate in English in class of the first year students in FELTE, ULIS, VNU 23 Figure 3 Factors affecting WTC in English 29

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationales for the study

In recent years, English has played an integral part in the context of global communication as English serves various purposes, ranging from entertainment to international businesses It is also considered „a „contact language‟ between persons who share neither a common native tongue nor a common (national) culture, and for whom English is the chosen foreign language of communication‟ (Seidlhofer, 2011, p.339) Given its prominent role in communication, there is a growing tendency in learning English in a number of countries including Vietnam In the context of learning English as a core subject at school, students normally study English as a subject rather than a means to communicate However, the goal of learning a second language (L2) or a foreign language (FL) is to communicate and understand people from different cultures Therefore, communicative goal in learning another language should be emphasized (Aliakbari, Kamangar, and Khany, 2016)

Willingness to communicate (WTC) in English is believed to exert a significant influence on a student‟s L2 language use (Hashimoto, 2002) Willingness to communicate is defined as a learner‟s „„readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei & Noels, 1998, p 547) WTC in L2 has been examined in a number of studies around the world (Hashimoto, 2002; Yashima, 2002; Nation & Newton, 2009; Mahdi, 2014) These studies indicate that WTC has certain influences on an individual‟s L2 use, and there are a number of factors affecting one‟s WTC However, there has been little effort in investigating WTC of English learners in Vietnam Therefore, the researcher would like to investigate how willing the students in Vietnam are to communicate in English and what factors are likely to affect their communication in English

1.2 Statement of research problems and questions

Given the emphasized goal of learning English as to communicate effectively, willingness to communicate is of primary concern as a factor that is related to communication competence and attitudes of students Furthermore, language and communication belong to cultural matters (Yashima, 2002) McCroskey and Richmond (1990) also suggested that the relationship between WTC and diverse

variables considerably varies in different cultures There have been several studies investigating the WTC in English as a second language, such as WTC in English of Iranian students (Aliakbari, Kamangar, & Khany, 2016), Japanese students (Yashima, 2002), Pakistan students (Bukhari, Cheng, & Khan, 2015) However, there has been little concern about WTC in English of Vietnamese students, which probably has certain different features, when compared with that of students from other country Furthermore, it is also claimed that WTC in English is able to have specific significant influences on the practice of learning English among Vietnamese students

In the light of those concerns, the researcher conducts an investigation to answer the following questions about students in FELTE, ULIS, VNU:

1 How willing are the first year students to communicate in English when they have an opportunity in class?

2 What are the factors perceived by the students to affect their willingness

to communicate in English in class?

1.3 Scope of research

There have been a number of studies investigating the WTC of students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in some other countries (Hashimoto, 2002; Yashima, 2002; Mahdi, 2014; Haidara, 2016) WTC could refer to willingness to communicate in both written and spoken forms (Yashima, 2002) This concept was also studied inside and outside the context of classroom However, within the scope of this study, WTC is studied inside classroom in the form of speaking Specifically, this study investigates first year EFL student‟s WTC in English in class and the factors as perceived by students to affect their WTC

1.4 Significance

As one of the few studies investigating the willingness to communicate in English of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU in classroom context, this study will raise the awareness of teachers and students about the important role of WTC in language teaching and learning and the possible factors that may influence students‟ WTC The pedagogical implications provided in this study are expected to be helpful

to English language teachers of first year student at ULIS, VNU in motivating their students to communicate in English in classroom

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Willingness to communicate

The concept WTC originally refers to communication in the first or native language and it was defined as “the probability of engaging in communication when free to choose to do so” (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p.546) WTC was also defined as the tendency of a person to start a conversation when they feel free to do so (McCroskey

& Richmond, 1990)

WTC has been studied in both L1 and L2; however, it is believed that there are certain differences between WTC in L1 and L2 WTC in L2 could not be a simple manifestation of WTC in L1 (MacIntyre et al., 1998) The difference between WTC in L1 and L2 can be caused by the different levels of language competence The language use in L2 would interact with the variables affecting WTC in a more complicated manner than the language use in L1 (MacIntyre et al., 1998) L1 users are likely to have had a great deal of competence of that language, while L2 users are believed to have a greater range of competence from no L2 competence to full L2 competence More importantly, L2 use could have a relation to intergroup issues, social and political implications, which are not relevant to L1 use (MacIntyre et al., 1998) Hence, the WTC in L2 will vary among language users more significantly when compared to WTC in L1

2.2 The importance of WTC in the context of English language learning

WTC has long been believed to play a significant role in the process of language learning (Hashimoto, 2002; Baghaei, 2012; Bergil, 2016) For instances, it was claimed that there was a correlation between WTC and the frequency of L2 use (Hashimoto, 2002), WTC and language achievement (Mahmoodi & Moazam, 2014), WTC and overall speaking skills (Bergil, 2016) As such, the WTC is likely to have important influences on L2 learning

There is a significant positive correlation between WTC and motivation to learn a L2 and the frequency of L2 communication (Hashimoto, 2002) The students with higher level of willingness to communicate will have more motivation to speak English in class, so the frequency of using English to communicate also increases Furthermore,

motivation is regarded as a determining factor the process of learning a L2; therefore, the role of WTC should be emphasized in the pedagogy of L2 learning In addition to this, it is reported that WTC has diverse effects on an EFL student‟s overall speaking skills (Bergil, 2016) Mahmoodi and Moazam (2014) also claimed that there could be

a correlation between WTC and language achievement in the sense that the students who are more willing to communicate in English would be more likely to be high at language achievement Similarly, those with high L2 achievement tend to show higher level of WTC in English

In general, WTC plays a vital role in L2 learning process because WTC can have diverse influences on different aspects of L2 learning such as motivation, success in L2 learning and overall speaking performance Hence, WTC of EFL students should

be taken into consideration as a focus of the research on L2 learning

Given its prominent role in L2 learning, the level of WTC of EFL students has been of great interest among the studies on language teaching and learning Because WTC in L2 is not a permanent trait, the level of WTC can vary among different groups of EFL learners A number of studies have been conducted in order to investigate the WTC of EFL students in different contexts in a number of countries including Japan (Hashimoto, 2002; Yashima, 2002), Iran (Mahmoodi & Moazam, 2014), and Indonesia (Haidara, 2016) It is reported that EFL students could have different levels

of WTC in certain situations For instance, students tend to be more willing to participate in a discussion than to make a presentation in front of their class (Khabiti & Zakeri, 2014)

There have been different scales to measure the WTC of EFL students in class Macintyre, Baker, Clement, Conrod (2001) applied a WTC scale to measure the percentage of time the students would choose to communicate in each type of communication tasks in class such as talking in small groups, or speaking in public, or communicating in daily conversation Zarrinabadi and Abdi (2011) developed a scale based on the model of MacIntyre and his associates to investigate the WTC of Iranian EFL learners In the model of Zarrinabadi and Abdi (2011), the WTC scale included

27 items, each of which ranges from 1 to 5 (1 = almost never willing, 2 = sometimes willing, 3 = willing half of the time, 4 = usually willing, and 5 = almost

always willing) The items were used to ask students how much they were willing to communicate inside classroom in all four skills including speaking, listening, reading, writing The results of this study by Zarrinabadi and Abdi (2011) indicated a relation between WTC and language learning orientations

To sum up, WTC could be considered as one of the important variables affecting different aspects of L2 learning and L2 use Therefore, a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the level of EFL student‟s WTC which had a relation to the language learning process

2.3 Factors affecting WTC of EFL students

2.3.1 Heuristic Model of Variables Influencing WTC by MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei, Noels (1998)

MacIntyre and his associates (1998) developed a heuristic model of variables influencing WTC in Figure 1 This heuristic model represents a number of variables that could be the predictors of WTC The interrelations of those factors are presented

in a pyramid-shaped model The top of the pyramid model is the starting point when one is about to communicate using a L2, which is influenced by both situational factors and enduring factors The organization of the layers of the pyramid represents the level of influences of each factor to WTC and the use of L2 in communication It means that the level of the relation of WTC with other variables could be indicated by

“the immediacy of some factors and the relatively distal influence of others” (MacIntyre et al., 1998) Prior to further explanation of these variables, the researcher will give a differentiation between two types of factors which are enduring factors and situational factors MacIntyre (1998) stated that the enduring influences such as international postures or personality refer to “stable, long-term properties of the environment or person that would apply to almost any situation” (p.546) On the other hand, the situational factors such as the desire to speak with a specific communicator,

or knowledge of topic could be considered “more transient and dependent” on the

specific contexts in which a person communicates at a certain time (p.546)

Figure 1 Heuristic Model of Variables Influencing WTC

These are six categories represented by six layers of the model The six layers further indicate two basic structures: the first three layers (Communication behavior, Behavioral Intention, Situated Antecedents) demonstrate the situational influences which could be regarded as immediate influences, and the latter three layers represent the more distal influences which are the stable and enduring factors affecting WTC The immediacy of the influences will descend from the top to the bottom of the model, from the situational influences to the stable and enduring influences

Layer I: Communication behavior

Communication behavior is understood in a broad sense, which includes such activities as speaking up in class, reading in L2, listening to L2 material, and utilizing L2 in job MacIntyre (1998) believed that the language teacher hardly had the capacity

to create such variety of opportunities for language students to practice their language Therefore, he claimed that the ultimate goal of language education is to encourage in language learners to seek out the opportunity to actually communicate in the target language Accordingly, that is seen as a proper goal of language education program

Layer II: Behavioral Intention - WTC

As previously mentioned, WTC was regarded as “as a readiness to enter into discourse

at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (MacIntyre et al.,

1998, p.547) This definition could also mean that even when the opportunity to

communicate is available, the students still would choose whether they are willing to communicate or not What makes students communicate probably depends on the behavioral intention An example for this practice taken by MacIntyre (1998) is that if

a teacher poses a question in class, there are some students to raise their hands which indicate their willingness to verbalize the answers The reasons for this could be that the students feel confident enough and they wish to talk to their teacher and classmates In addition to this, they also develop their self-confidence with their language in general in order to comprehend the question and form a response They also feel motivated by “the interpersonal situation, likely a combination of affiliation and control motives (to both please the teacher and to get good grades)” (MacIntyre,

1998, p 548) The students learn the language course for a specific reason, maybe for their job; therefore, this volition to speak reflects sort of motivation for language learning including both integrative motivation (affiliation) and instrumental motivation (control-based motive) (MacIntyre, 1998) WTC could imply the behavioral intention, which have been studied widely based on the Theory of Planned Behavior This theory holds that „the most immediate cause of behaviour is the intention to engage in a behavior and the person's actual control over his or her action‟ ( MacIntyre et al., 1998,

p 548) Intention needs to combine with the opportunity to form a behavior The intention also refers to “the attitude towards the behavior and the perceived behavioral control” (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p 548) The theory that behavior could be indicated

by the intention or willing to act is applied by MacIntyre (1998) in an attempt to prove

a correlation between WTC and communicative behavior

Layer III: Situated antecedents

This layer illustrates two immediate precursors of WTC which are: (a) the desire to communicate with a specific person, and (b) the state communicative self-confidence

a The desire to communicate with a specific person could be supposedly result

from the interpersonal motivation and the group motivation presented in the lower layers which will be discussed in the next layer

The desire to communicate with a particular person can be affected by control and affiliation Regarding research on social psychology, affiliation often happens with persons “who are encountered frequently, physically attractive persons, and those who

are similar to us in a variety of ways (MacIntyre et al., 1998) Therefore, it can be inferred that within the context of classroom, the students will have the desire to communicate with a specific person in class, which will possibly also affect their WTC

b The state communicative self-confidence

Self-confidence involves two key constructs which are perceived competence and lack

of anxiety (Clement, 1980, 1986, as cited in MacIntyre et al., 1998) These constructs may be perceived as relatively enduring characteristics Additionally, MacIntyre (1998) also stated that there has been little empirical work investigating on L2 self-confidence It is predicted that some situations will generate higher confidence than others Furthermore, a differentiation between the concept of trait-like self-confidence and state self-confidence is also needed to clarify these two different concepts In the heuristic model of WTC developed by MacIntyre and his associates (1998), state confidence is perceived as “a momentary feeling of confidence, which may be transient within a given situation” (p 549)

In the light of the difference between trait-like self-confidence and state confidence, there is also a distinction between its constructs Accordingly, there exist state anxiety and state perceived competence Spielberger (1983) said that the state anxiety can

“vary in intensity and fluctuate over time” (as cited in MacIntyre et al., 1998, p.549), and anything that increases the state anxiety will reduce the state self-confidence, thus the WTC of one person It was also claimed that “anxiety may be increased by many factors such as unpleasant prior experiences, intergroup tension, increased fear of assimilation, an increased number of people listening, and so forth” (MacIntyre et al.,

1998, p.549).This could be interpreted that language students could feel more anxious when they communicate in English if they made some embarrassing mistakes before when speaking, which represents the “unpleasant prior experiences” Alternatively, students also feel unready to speak in group if that group has any tension or arguments Additionally, the number of people listening to the speakers also affects their anxiety when speaking, thus influencing their WTC In other words, students tend to feel less willing to communicate when speaking in a larger group than a smaller one

The state perceived competence refers to a person‟s feeling that he/she is able to

communicate effectively at a certain moment (MacIntyre et al., 1998) It is also believed that given the speaker have adequate language knowledge and skills to communicate, the state perceived communicative competence would arise when the situation of the conversation has been encountered before As a result, if the speaker could be out in a familiar situation, they are more likely to be more willing to participate in the conversation For this reason, new situation may decline the state perceived competence of the speakers More predictably, if the speakers have lower levels of language knowledge and skills, their state perceived competence will probably reduce

Generally, the desire to speak to a specific person and the state communicative confident are being examined as the most immediate determinants of WTC

self-Layer IV: Motivational Propensities

As MacIntyre (1998) said, „the decision to initiate a speech is a motivated action that may be governed by both situation-specific and enduring influences‟ (p 550) In this layer, there are three groups of variables which are interpersonal motivation, intergroup motivation and L2 confidence As the organization of the structure suggests, the affective and cognitive contexts of intergroup interaction affect the motivational propensities and thus the desire to interact with specific person and the state self-confidence in the layer above

a Interpersonal Motivation

MacIntyre (1998) sees the motivational nature and antecedents of each communication act as „contributing to a particular interpersonal purpose‟ (p.550) Control and affiliation are two purposes explaining the vast majority of communication episodes (Patterson, 1990; Wieman & Giles, 1998; as cited in MacIntyre et al., 1998)

Control is considered a motivational orientation, which can limit the cognitive, affective, and behavioral freedom of communicators This type of communication could be found in hierarchical or task-related situations For instances, the teacher exerts control over students in class, the students will communicate in order to express their opinion in class, or give responses in a test (MacIntyre et al., 1998) This situation of communication demonstrates the enduring social roles and therefore is categorized as a „cross-situational influence‟ on WTC (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p 550)

Affiliation is the other aspect in interpersonal motivation It results from a number of factors which belong to the personal characteristic of the interlocutor such as

„attractiveness (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972), similarity (Byrne, 1971), physical proximity (Newcomb, 1961) and repeated exposure (Zajonc, 1968)‟ (MacIntyre et al.,

1998, p.550) Considering the context of a language classroom, these characteristics could affect a student‟s affiliation, and thus their WTC For instance, student‟s WTC will increase if they have an opportunity to communicate with the one who is attractive

to the speaker, who have something in common, or who sits next to the speaker for an adequately long period of time, or with whom the speaker has already worked in the same group before It should be noted that people have different tendencies of affiliation; some people will possess higher affiliation tendencies than others This could result from the introversion or extroversion tendency of the personality trait Considering the above mentioned ideas, the interpersonal motivation is affected by both the particular situation such as the characteristics of the interlocutor‟s personality, the relationship between the communicators and the difference among individuals

b Intergroup Motivation

Intergroup motivation refers to an individual‟s sense of belonging to a specific group, which is opposed to the social role of each person in the group As can be observed from the model, this particular type of motivation is affected by the intergroup climate and the intergroup attitudes MacIntyre and his associates (1998) also claimed that the orientation of learning a L2 played a vital role in determining the motivation to speak

in that language For instance, a language learner who learns a L2 for friendship or pragmatic reasons would be likely to have more inspiration to initiate a L2 speech Similar to the components in the interpersonal motivation, control and affiliation are considered two essential components in the intergroup motivation

Control in the intergroup motivation is the motive that can result in the same communicative behavior as in the interpersonal motivation Communication is initiated to maintain the social positions and it could be started by members of whether dominant or subordinate groups often in task-related activities (MacIntyre et al., 1998) Affiliation in the intergroup motivation is a type of motive that encourages the interlocutor to initiate a conversation in order to maintain relationship with members

of another group especially due to the different group memberships MacIntyre (1998) regarded this motive as integrative motivation in language learning motivation, which contrasted with the instrumental motivation Generally, the desire to affiliate with people who speak another language and take part in another culture has certain influence on language study and communicative behaviors

c L2 Self-confidence

This factor concerns the relationship between the individual and the L2 use As MacIntyre (1998) stated, L2 self-confidence would not be situation-specific, and different from state perceived competence L2 confidence refers to the general belief

of the speaker about their ability to communicate in L2 appropriately and effectively

It consists of two main components which are cognitive component and affective component (MacIntyre et al., 1998) The cognitive components corresponds with self-evaluation of language skills of the speaker, while the affective component corresponds with language anxiety, for example, discomfort encountered when the speaker use the L2 (MacIntyre et al., 1998)

Layer V: Affective – Cognitive Context

The variables presented in this layer have less direct influences on WTC than the specific variables mentioned above In other words, these factors could exert their influences on WTC via other more specific variables There are three variables included in the affective – cognitive context: intergroup attitudes, social situation, and communicative competence

a Intergroup Attitudes

Intergroup attitudes can be comprised of two components which are integrativeness and fear of assimilation These factors have a relation to each other and both of them have influences on motivation to learn a language

Integrativeness refers to an individual‟s adaptation to different cultural groups (MacIntyre et al., 1998) It is claimed that one of the reasons for language learning is

to „identify and affiliate with members of the L2 community‟ (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p.552) While integrativeness shows an individual‟s orientation in attempt to participate in L2 community, fear of assimilation tends to discourage the speaker to use L2 to communicate A person may feel afraid of losing their identification and

involvement with the L1 community, thus they may „resist L2 communication‟ (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p.552) Integrativeness and fear of assimilation are claimed to have certain influences on an individual‟s attitudes and motivation of learning a L2 Additionally, positive attitudes towards L2 will generate more motivation in learning that target language It is believed that enjoyment and satisfaction in learning will encourage the learners to put more effort on their learning MacIntyre and his associates (1998) found out that the attitudes towards the L2 are likely to affect the attitudes towards the L2 community, consequently, towards the intergroup relations

b Social Situation

L2 confidence is considered to be part of the experience that the speaker has when communicating with members of the L2 community This variable tends to affect the attitude regarding the pleasantness to communicate in L2 However, it is claimed that the positive feeling when speaking in a L2 will vary according to communicative situation (MacIntyre et al., 1998) The speakers are likely to have different levels of L2 confidence, thus different levels of willingness to communicate

Certainly, there are different ways of classifications of the factors causing variation in different communicative situations In this model, MacIntyre (1998) proposed five main factors that have influences across the communicative events These factors are the participants, the setting, the purpose, the topic, and the channel of communication The participant variable is among the most influential factors, and it is about the speaker‟s age, gender, social status, or various aspects of the relationships among the communicators such as power relation, level of intimacy The second factor – the setting corresponds with the place and time in which communication takes place Biber (1994) categorized the types of locations into 6 domains which are business/ workplace, education/academic, government/ legal, religious, art/ entertainment, and domestic/ personal Each of these domains can have private and public contexts The third factor – the purpose is the goal of the communication discourse Some communicative events are featured by only one purpose; however, there is often a group of several purposes directing one communicative situation (MacIntyre et al., 1998) Biber (1994) described four main categories of purpose in communication: persuade, transfer information, entertain, or reveal self The topic is the fourth factor

that leads to the variation in L2 confidence and attitudes towards L2 use among different situations It is likely that the topical knowledge and the familiarity with a certain register will boost the speaker‟s self-confidence, while unfamiliar topic or lack

of topical expertise may cause the speaker‟s hesitation to speak in L2 Finally, the communication channel refers to the medium chosen to communicate Whether in speaking or writing, there are more subtypes of communication channel that can cause situational variation In general, WTC in L2 could be considered dependent on situations to some extent

c Communicative Competence

L2 proficiency level would have a major effect on one‟s WTC The language knowledge and skills could be described with regards to the term “communicative competence” This could be categorized into five main competencies of communicative language abilities including linguistic competence, discourse competence, actional competence, sociocultural competence, and strategic competence

Linguistic competence is related to knowledge of language that the speaker has in order to communicate effectively such as syntactic and phonological rules, lexical resource This category language ability could serve as a precondition of WTC (MacIntyre et al., 1998) The second competence – discourse competence is concerning the way that the speaker selects, arranges words, structures, and sentences

to form a meaningful spoken or written text This could involve subareas such as cohesion, deixis, coherence, structure of certain types of conversations Therefore, if the speaker has a chance to participate in a discourse that is familiar to them, this situation will definitely boost their confidence to enter the discourse In other words, the level of familiarity with the discourse will encourage the willingness to communicate of L2 learners Actional competence refers to communicative intent with the linguistic forms used The key units are speech acts, in which utterances are made

in order to achieve certain goals when a person engages in a conversation The fourth competence, sociocultural competence indicates how the speaker can communicate their ideas appropriately in L2 This involves cultural factors, social contextual factors, and nonverbal communicative factors Finally, strategic competence represents the

knowledge of communication strategies required to communicate This factor could support other competence and compensate for them so that the speaker can communicate effectively and appropriately The way people perceive their communicative competence is believed to have strong influences on their WTC (MacIntyre et al., 1998) There are those who are not competent language users but believe they are competent show higher level of WTC In contrast, there are those who tend to underestimate their actual communicative competence There is claimed to be a cognitive link between perceived and actual communicative competence of an individual which require more research to analyze

Layer VI: Societal and Individual Context

The context of communication involves the interaction of the society and the individual The societal factor is indicated by the intergroup climate and the individual context is feature by the personality characteristics of the individual

a Intergroup Climate

The intergroup climate is characterized by two components which are the structural characteristic and the perceptual and affective correlates (Gardner & Clement, 1990) The structural characteristic is defined along the concepts of ethnolinguistic vitality and personal communication networks The ethnolinguistic vitality refers to the relative demographic representation of the two communities, that is their socioeconomic power and the extent to which they are represented in social institutions, such as the government, the legislation, or the church (MacIntyre et al., 1998) The language with higher ethnolinguistic vitality is expected to be used more regularly in daily exchanges However, personal communication network would be likely to lessen the influence of ethnolinguistic vitality This network refers to the group that the speaker often communicates and interacts with Both the ethnolinguistic vitality and personal communication networks make a contribution to the preference to communicate in a L2 Another consideration in intergroup climate is the perceptual and affective correlates MacIntyre and his associates (1998) focused on the role of attitudes and values about L2 community and the motivation to adapt and narrow the social distance The positive attitudes towards a L2 group could generate L2 learning motivation and achievement The desire to adapt to a new environment would

encourage an individual to learn the L2 and engage in the L2 community In contrast, the negative attitudes to members of other group may affect the WTC of an individual The negative attitudes can derive from an individual‟s social categorization It has been found out that an individual has a tendency to favor their own group when compared to other groups If a person engages in different groups at the same time, his/ her membership would be varied; therefore, the social categorization will be less influential to their behavior However, it is unlikely that all members of a group behave in the same way to other group, so the individual personality should be taken into consideration

b Personality

Similar to intergroup climate, personality play a significant role in an individual‟s WTC Certain personality patterns would result in variation in the level of WTC among the L2 users However, it was stated that each type of personality trait will have both advantages and disadvantages in communicating in L2 MacIntyre (1998) mentioned the Authoritarian personality as a type of personality that make people think they are superior to other people and find it unnecessary or even unworthy to communicate with other people, because they assume that other people are in lower level and inferior to them Another example is the “intuitive-feeling” people, who have advantages in their high level of L2 achievement However, these people often get into trouble with interpersonal disagreement

In general, personality plays a crucial role in the WTC of an individual However, the influence of personality would not directly affect one‟s WTC, alternatively, the effect

is channeled through more specific variables including intergroup attitudes and L2 confidence Personality trait is reported to set the stage for L2 communication, along with other situational factors, affecting an individual‟s WTC

The model developed by MacIntyre and his associates (1998) presented a group of variables that affect a person‟s WTC, and it is claimed to promote the focus of L2 teaching and learning on increase the learner‟s WTC and the authentic use of the language, more than just grammatical rules, and linguistic competence This model has been applied in a significant number of studies about the WTC in L2 of language learners in many countries There have been a number of studies applying this WTC

model as a conceptual framework such as “Motivation and willingness to communicate as predictors of reported L2 use: The Japanese ESL context” (Hashimoto, 2002), “Willingness to communicate in a second language: The Japanese EFL context.” (Yashima, 200), “Willingness to communicate: A critical overview” (Mohseni & Niknejad, 2013), “Iranian EFL Learners‟ Willingness to Communicate

and Language Learning Orientations” (Modirkhameneh & Firouzmand, 2014)

2.3.2 Factors affecting WTC in L2

Willingness to communicate has been of growing concern among studies on teaching and learning a L2 As mentioned above, this concept refers to the tendency of an individual to initiate a conversation in a L2 when they are free to do so It is undeniable that there are a host of factors influencing WTC of an individual Whether these factors could be permanent or situation-based and the ways they interact with each other and with WTC have been the focus of a number of studies Along with the WTC model proposed by MacIntyre and his associates (1998), the findings of various studies have indicated that there were different factors and different views about the relations between numerous variables and WTC However, there are some determining factors affecting WTC that are commonly presented in a number of researches

Motivation is among the most influential factors determining whether a person is willing to participate in a conversation in a L2 The broad term “motivation” could be defined in different ways This could refer to integrative motivation and instrumental motivation, and the attitudes towards language learning While the integrative motivation refers to an individual‟s tendency to participate in a L2 group (MacIntyre et al., 1998), the instrumental motivation is related to “the interests in learning the language for pragmatic reasons that do not involve identification with the other language community” (Gardner, 2001) The study on “Motivation and Willingness to communicate as predictors of the second language use” in Japanese ESL context conducted Hashimoto (2002) showed that there was a significant link between motivation and WTC This finding is also in agreement with that of the study by Yashima (2002) in the sense that motivation would affect an individual self-confidence, which in turn could influence the WTC in L2 communication

Generally, motivation can be caused by the desire to learn the language for pragmatic

reason or the integrative attitudes in which an individual wants to participate in a L2 group so he/she is willing to communicate in L2 Integrative motivation used to be considered more influential than instrumental motivation However, this idea was later changed by Gardner (2001), simply because integrative motivation gives a EFL learners more chance to be successful in language learning However, both integrative motivation and instrumental motivation accounted for the differences among the level WTC in L2 of individuals (Peng, 2007)

The individual preference for certain type of communication is also a factor contributing to the level of a person‟s WTC in L2 Student‟s WTC in L2 is likely to be influenced by communicative situation types including public speaking, meetings, group discussions, interpersonal conversations (Mahdi, 2014) Mahdi (2014) also found that EFL students in King Khalid University preferred talking in the interpersonal conversation context, or group discussion; therefore, they seemed to be more ready to start a conversation in these contexts However, these students were less willing to initiate communication in public speaking context and the meeting context The explanation for student‟s avoidance of speaking in the meeting is that they did not prefer the formality of the meeting context A similar finding can be found in the research by Khabiti and Zakeri (2014) that EFL students show high level of WTC in two types of communication contexts including group discussion and friendly chat in class The main explanation for this is that the students have more experience in using English in class in group discussion and communicate with their friends The majority

of students claimed that they lacked confidence in public speaking Therefore, it could

be stated that the context-type familiarity makes a contribution to the student‟s decision to initiate a speech in English

Another determining factor affecting an individual‟s WTC in L2 is L2 perceived competence This factor refers to the general belief of a person about his/her ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in L2 (MacIntyre et al., 1998) This involves both cognitive and affective components which correspond with self-evaluation and L2 anxiety The students could think that they have adequate level of language knowledge and skills to communicate in English but they still feel insecure when they speak English (Haidara, 2016), thus they are not really willing to use

English to communicate Similarly, Aliakbari, Kamangar, and Khany (2016) also stated that students who perceived their communicative competence as low seemed less talkative in speaking English In contrast, if the speakers perceive their language competence is adequate to communicate, they can show higher level of willingness to communicate (MacIntyre et al., 1998) Furthermore, the study conducted by Hashimoto (2002) also suggested that an individual‟s perceived competence have a strong and direct influence on motivation to learn a L2, which affects an individual‟s WTC as previously mentioned

Some of the main reasons for the modest self-evaluation could be fear of making mistakes, lack of confidence when speaking in English (Haidara, 2016), which can be caused by the L2 anxiety Haidara (2016) also reported that some students believed they did not have problems of fear of making mistakes when they talked to each other, but they were afraid of making mistakes when they had to present ideas to the lecturer who had a superior language competence to theirs, or make a talk in front of the class

It could be said that those researchers agreed that perceived competence and L2 anxiety were among the main causes of WTC

In addition, topical knowledge can be considered to have certain influences on the L2 learner‟s WTC Bachman and Palmer (1996) believed that students with adequate topical knowledge would have advantages in certain test tasks The topical knowledge refers to the speaker‟s knowledge of relevant information to the topic Bachman and Palmer (1996) said that the topical knowledge can affect student‟s speaking performance The findings from the study by Nguyen and Tran (2015) showed that most of the students participating in the study agreed that a lack of topical knowledge was the most influential factor that affected an individual‟s WTC in English inside classroom

Performance condition is also a factor facilitating a student‟s WTC This factor involves the class atmosphere or the amount of support from listeners, which exert some effects on the student‟s WTC The amount of support is one of the performance conditions that affect the student‟s speaking performance Therefore, it is likely that it can affect student‟s WTC in class Furthermore, the atmosphere in which the speakers communicate can influence their readiness to communicate MacIntyre (1998) claimed

that if the group has any tension or arguments, the students may feel unready to speak

in that group

While the abovementioned factors depend on the communication situation to some extent, personality trait is the factor that seems less situation-based A number of studies also found that the students‟ personality trait had a significant effect on their WTC in L2 (MacIntyre et al., 1998, Yashima, 2002; Nguyen & Tran, 2015) Most of L2 learners agreed that the positive personality trait could support them not only in communicating in their mother tongue but also in English as a second language (Mahdi, 2014) On the contrary, the reluctance to communicate in English is attributed

to their lack of daily practice, lack of language competence, or lack of confidence in communicating Haidara (2016) also stated that students with good level of vocabulary and grammar in English still feel shy, so they hesitated to speak Some students participating in his research admitted that their feeling shy was “part of their cultural background” (Haidara, 2016, p 1504) Generally, personality traits were claimed to have great influences on WTC in L2 of EFL students

To sum up, there have been a number of studies investigating WTC of EFL learners, given its prominent role in English language learning However, there has been an inconsistency among the findings about the factors that have strong influences on WTC in L2 Moreover, there is little research about Vietnamese student‟s WTC in English, especially when there has been an increasing trend of learning English among Vietnamese learners All things considered, this study is conducted to investigate the level of WTC of first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU and the factors perceived

by them to influence their WTC in the classroom context

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This study employ a case study research to investigate in depth the WTC of first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU and the factors perceived by them to influence their

WTC in the classroom context

3.1 Participants of the study

5 classes of mainstream first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU were randomly chosen to participate in this study There were total 100 participants, including 87 girls and 13 boys participating in this study These participants came from different high schools before having passed the entrance exam to university The participants are currently studying in the first year They are majoring in English, and they will probably become English teachers or interpreters after graduation Their current levels

of English are generally estimated in B1/ B1+ (CEFR)

After the data from the questionnaire ware collected and analyzed, 15 out of 100 respondents were purposefully selected with regard to the interesting responses they gave in the questionnaires For instance, the students were chosen when their responses indicate a high level of WTC, or show a factor that has a really strong effect

or has no effect on their WTC to seek for further explanation and explore more important information about the WTC in some communicative situations, or the factors that affect the WTC

3.2 Data collection instruments

Questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect data from the participants

3.2.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire used in this study contains two main sections, which investigate the level of WTC of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU, and the factors affecting their WTC in class

The first section of the questionnaire was used to measure the level of WTC inside classroom This section of questions was developed based on the WTC scale of MacIntyre (2001) and the questionnaire used by Hashimoto (2002) Some of the items were modified with reference to the typical tasks in the classroom context in ULIS,

VNU This part comprises of 10 items representing 10 specific communicative situations, each of which ranges from 1 to 5 (1 = almost never willing, 2 = sometimes willing, 3 = willing half of the time, 4 = usually willing, and 5 = almost always willing) The students were asked to show how much willing they would be to communicate in those communication tasks inside classroom The communication situations being examined were generally divided into two main types which are casual conversations and task-related conversations Casual conversations included 5 situations which are speaking in a group about one‟s interest, speaking to the teacher about homework assignment, speaking to a stranger who enter the class and communicate in English, asking for instructions/clarification of a task in class, talking

to friends during break time In addition, the students were also asked about 5 related conversations including role-playing in pairs or in groups, describing the rules

task-of a game in class, playing a game in class, contributing ideas in a group discussion, making presentation (such as oral sharing project of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU)

The second section of the questionnaire was used to investigate the factors that are likely to have influences on the students‟ WTC in English inside classroom This section was constructed based on the findings of a number of previous studies mentioned in the literature review about the factors affecting WTC in English (MacIntyre et al., 1998; Hashimoto, 2002; Yashima, 2002; Mahdi, 2014; Nguyen & Tran, 2015; Haidara, 2016) This part of questionnaire consists of 12 items representing 6 main factors that possibly exert influences on the student‟s WTC in class; those factors are preference for communication types, personality traits, motivation, L2 perceived competence, performance conditions, topical knowledge

3.2.2 Semi-structured Interview

In addition to the questionnaire, the semi-structured interview was used to collect information to support the data collected from the questionnaire, and to gain further information about the student‟s WTC in specific communicative situations as well as the influences of some specific factors on the WTC in English in class The interview questions were developed based on the data collected from the questionnaire, so the questions are divided into two parts The first part of the interview is used to gather

information about the student‟s WTC in the communicative situations mentioned in the questionnaire The students were asked about their favorable type of communicative situation and the reasons why they are willing to communicate in that situation The second part of the interview collects information about some factors that influence the student‟s WTC in class This part put a focus on the two main factors which are the most influential factor that affect the WTC in class (as found from the results of the questionnaire data analysis), and the less situational-based factor that is the student‟s personality traits

3.3 Data analysis

The data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed with reference to the predetermined themes that were previously discussed in the literature review Any new themes that emerged from the data being collected was also analyzed and discussed All the analyzed data are presented in the tables and figures in the result and discussion section In addition to the data from the questionnaire, any further information gathered from the semi-structured interview was also analyzed to give further explanation and in-depth understanding In order to protect the privacy of the participants, the names of the students being interviewed are replaced by pseudonyms

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter describes the findings of this study including 3 main parts: (1) the level of WTC in English in class of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU; (2) the factors affecting the WTC as perceived by these students, (3) further information obtained from the interview

4.1 Willingness to communicate in English in class of the first year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU

The section presents the findings indicating the level of WTC of the first year students

at FELTE, ULIS, VNU The WTC is examined in two types of conversation including task-related conversation and casual conversation in which the students use English to communicate The comparison between the level of WTC of these students in task-related and casual conversation is also mentioned

Figure 2 illustrates the level in which the first year students are willing to communicate in English in the class context

Figure 2 Willingness to communicate in English in class of the first year students in

FELTE, ULIS, VNU

As is shown in Figure 2, first year students showed a relatively high level of WTC when they have the opportunity to speak English inside classroom They were the most willing to communicate in English when they took part in an English game in class, while they show the least WTC in English when discussing with their teacher about their homework assignment Moreover, the students seemed to be more willing to use English in task-related conversation than in casual conversation in class

4.1.1 WTC in Casual conversations

Casual conversations refer to the communicative situations when students use English

to exchange information rather than do a learning task As previously mentioned in the literature review, it was stated that the students were more willing to participate in the interpersonal conversations, especially friendly chatting with classmates (Khabiti & Zakeri, 2014) The results from this study indicate that among these casual conversations, the students are the most willing to ask for instructions/clarifications of

a task they have to complete, and these students show the least WTC when speaking to their teacher about their homework assignment Table 1 presents the student‟s WTC in five typical casual conversations in class

#1 - Speak in a group about your interest

#2 - Speak to your teacher about your homework assignment

#3 - Have a conversation with someone entering your class if he/she talks to you first

#4 - Ask for instructions/clarification when you are confused about a task you must complete

#5 - Talk to a friend during break time

#6 - Do the role-playing tasks in pairs and groups

#7 - Describe the rules of your favorite game

#8 - Play a game in English

#9 - Contribute your ideas in a group discussion

#10 -Make a presentation in front of your classmates (e.g.: your oral sharing project, mini presentation,…)

Table 1 WTC in Casual conversations

#1 - Speak in a group about your interest 2.93 0.916

#2 - Speak to your teacher about your homework assignment 2.44 0.952

#3 - Have a conversation with someone entering your class if

he/she talks to you first

3.29 0.915

#4 - Ask for instructions/clarification when you are confused about

a task you must complete

to complete, which motivates student‟s listening comprehension in English Hence, asking for instructions or clarifications in English probably facilitates the student‟s understanding of the task they have to complete better than speaking in their first language Moreover, when the teacher talks about a task to complete, students raise their questions in English may indicate that they feel confident enough and they are willing to talk to their teacher (MacIntyre et al., 1998) More importantly, the students wish to communicate with their teacher for the instructions or clarification about a task they have to do possibly because they feel motivated by the interpersonal situation, which could refer to a combination of affiliation and control motives (MacIntyre et al., 1998) While affiliation makes students communicate in English to please the teacher, the control motives could be to get good grades for the task so the students find it necessary to understand the instructions or the requirements of the task clearly

Contrary to the highest willingness to communicate with the teacher to ask for the instructions of a task to complete in class, the students seemed to be the less ready to enter a conversation using English to talk about their homework assignment Even though the homework assignment could be also considered as a task, the students