Willingness to Communicate in Instructed Second Language Acquisition: Combining a Macro- and Micro-Perspective (Second Language Acquisition, 110) - Hardcover

Mystkowska-Wiertelak, Anna; Pawlak, Miros¿aw

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783097167 ISBN 13: 9781783097166

Verlag: Multilingual Matters, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

This book offers a comprehensive account of individual differences variables as well as contextual factors that impinge on second language learners' willingness to communicate (WTC). Firstly, 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 higher education setting. Secondly, it embraces a micro-perspective on WTC, striving to pinpoint the individual and contextual influences on levels of WTC in the course of regularly-scheduled, naturally-occurring English classes, as well as to capture the dynamic nature of WTC during such classes. Together, these perspectives bring the reader closer to understanding the mechanisms underlying WTC in specific contexts, thereby providing a basis for recommendations for classroom practice that could translate into learners' success. It will be of interest to second language acquisition researchers and students, as well as to methodologists and materials writers who can use the research findings to improve the practice of teaching and learning speaking in the language classroom.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak is Assistant Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Kalisz, Poland and at the State University of Applied Sciences in Konin, Poland. Her research interests include individual differences, motivation, willingness to communicate and language learning strategies.

Miroslaw Pawlak is Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Kalisz, Poland and at the State University of Applied Sciences in Konin, Poland. His research interests include form-focused instruction, corrective feedback, individual learner differences and language learning strategies.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Willingness to Communicate in Instructed Second Language Acquisition

Combining a Macro- and Micro-Perspective

By Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak, Miroslaw Pawlak

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2017 Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Miroslaw Pawlak
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78309-716-6

Contents

Introduction, 
Part 1: Overview of Theoretical, Methodological and Empirical Issues, 
1 WTC: Definitions and Evolution of the Concept, 
2 Methodology of Empirical Investigations into L2 WTC, 
3 Empirical Investigations of L2 WTC Antecedents, 
Part 2: Exploring WTC in a Foreign Language Context: A Macro-Perspective73, 
4 The Rationale for and Design of the Study, 
5 Findings of the Study, 
6 Discussion of the Findings, 
Part 3: Investigating WTC in the Course of Speaking Classes: A Micro-Perspective117, 
7 The Rationale for and Design of the Study, 
8 Findings of the Study, 
9 Discussion of the Findings, 
Conclusions, Implications and Directions for Future Research, 
Appendix 1, 
Appendix 2, 
Appendix 3, 
Appendix 4, 
Appendix 5, 
Appendix 6, 
Appendix 7, 
References, 
Author Index, 
Subject Index, 

CHAPTER 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 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 self-esteem 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, 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...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Multilingual Matters
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1783097167
• ISBN 13: 9781783097166
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 250
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland