Factors Affecting Situational Willingness to Communicate in Young EFL Learners

Abstract

While recent WTC (Willingness to Communicate) research has focused on the situational nature of WTC, few studies have explored the key factors influencing young language learners’ situational L2 WTC in instructional settings. In response, this study aims to capture what stimulates or reduces these learners’ situational WTC as they engage in interactional tasks. The participants were eight junior high school students (aged 14–15). A series of task-based interactions was implemented over four months in a class of 33 students including the participants. Factors influencing WTC were captured through inductive analysis of data from videotaped conversations and stimulated recall interviews. Results revealed the integration of two contextual factors: (a) interlocutor factor (communication efforts, proficiency gap between learner and interlocutor, and relationship with interlocutor), and (b) task condition factor (topic, task difficulty, task goal, and self-selected task implementation). These factors either stimulated or hindered participants’ situational WTC. Moreover, novice learners’ WTC levels depended on whether or not they could manage situational constraints caused by task demand and higher proficiency in interlocutors.