Effects of Attitudes and Motivation on Willingness to Communicate PDF Download

Author: Alexandra Chiang
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ISBN:
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Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
The importance of speaking a second language is now irrefutable with rapid 20th century globalization. Subsequently, willingness to communicate (WTC), a theoretical precursor to attaining communicative competency, has also gained widespread attention. In the early 2000s, Taiwan's Ministry of Education (MOE) adjusted the National curriculum to begin English education in grade school. Soon after the announcement, private schools nationwide started introducing 9 year bilingual educational tracks from lower to middle school. As more and more parents saw the benefits of learning a second language, school aged children quickly became one of the largest language learning demographic in Taiwan. Nonetheless, despite the shift in demand, most local studies still target university students. Noting such knowledge gap, this study focuses on young bilingual learners that study in a EFL environment. Utilizing a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis processes, this study aims to (a) examine correlations between attitudes and WTC for both Chinese (L1) and English (L2); and (b) to evaluate how their WTC and communicative habits compare across different situational contexts in scenarios among peers and with adults in the classroom. The quantitative part 1 of the study was conducted during the Spring of 2017 and informs half of the thesis (Chiang, 2019). Part 1was first presented in 2019 at The Asian Conference on Language Learning on May 17, 2019 and published in their 2019 conference proceedings. In the fall of 2017, a 36 question 4 point-Likert survey was given to 58 seventh grade students at a private Elementary and Middle School in Northern Taiwan; results indicate that L1 WTC is more determined by trait influences while L2 WTC is comparably more malleable and influenced by education (attitude has a moderate positive correlation to WTC in L2 but not in L1). Additionally, participants are more WTC in task-based activities in L2, which is consistent with findings on how students are generally more WTC in classes taught in L2 at the private school, regardless of their trait dispositions. This thesis heavily references part 1 of the study and builds upon its findings with a follow up qualitative interview study (part 2). Elaborating on Taiwanese bilingual EFL students' communicative habits, the qualitative interviews explains that L1 WTC is more trait based because students are expected to stay quiet during class and defer communication to social settings where trait dispositions largely determines their L1 WTC. L2 WTC on the other hand, is more encouraged in the classroom and more influenced by affective reasons relating to culture, convenience, and individual fluency. Informed with the above, this paper will provide insights to ways educators can better promote young learners' WTC in the classroom. Furthermore, findings will also reveal differences in WTC across various contexts such as with teachers vs. peers or in different academic vs. social constructs. Finally, teaching techniques will be discussed in response to key findings.