An investigation into the relationship between willingness to communicate and classroom environment in a Turkish EFL context

Abstract

Theories of second/foreign language (L2) learning attach great significance to meaningful communication both inside and outside language classrooms. In this respect, it is vital that language learners use the target language. However, they substantially differ from one another with regard to how much they talk. This difference has been partly justified by willingness to communicate (WTC) in the second/foreign language. Over the past years, WTC and its relation with a number of social, personal and affective factors have been researched in various settings. Nonetheless, little research has been carried out to investigate L2 WTC in speaking inside the classrooms, specifically in Turkey. Besides, though language classrooms are the main platforms for the majority of learners, WTC has gone unnoticed in conjunction with classroom environmental factors thus far. Thus, this study aimed at investigating Turkish preparatory school students’ WTC levels, their perceptions of language classrooms and the relationship between the two variables. In addition to that, gender differences were investigated to find out how male and female students differ in terms of their WTC and their perceptions of classroom environments. To these ends, two different questionnaires were employed. The results unraveled that the students were somewhat willing to communicate in English. Besides, regarding classroom environments, the students reported having positive perceptions. As for gender, females were found slightly more willing to communicate than their male counterparts; however, no significant difference was obtained concerning perceptions of classroom environments. Lastly, correlation analyses indicated that the level of L2 WTC was significantly and strongly related to the classroom environment. In other words, the more positively the students perceive their language classrooms, the more willing they are to communicate.

Keywords

• willingness to communicate; classroom environment; L2 learning; language use; gender differences

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