Understanding and

Developing the Willingness to Communicate

Peter D. MacIntyre

Cape Breton University

Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

Presented at EMUN

October, 2007

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Plan for this workshop

� Brief review of underpinnings of WTC theory (20 minutes)

� Focus on the choice to communicate or not

� Brief review of studies of WTC (10 minutes)

� Activity showing situational variation in WTC (20 minutes)

� Group discussion of factors affecting WTC (35 minutes)

� Discussion of personal experiences with high and low WTC

� Discussion of ways to alter the situation to increase WTC

� Focus on the personal experiences of people attending the workshop

� Summary and Conclusions (5 minutes)

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When does a language learner

become a language speaker? (observations from a paper forthcoming in Modern Language Journal)

� Moment of decision reflects a collision of

motivation and language anxiety

� implicates other process as well

� Volitional Action, Freely chosen

� Sometimes mindless, sometimes mindful

� Reflects the ‘self’

� Four Studies

� Personal Experiences of attendees

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Language anxiety

� 3 levels of concepts

� Trait

� Situation-specific

� State

� 3 levels of prediction

� Poor

� Very good

� Not well known

“Worry and Emotionality (usually negative) associated with L2 learning”

Observation #1: The relationships among variables under study in

SLA may change substantially when concepts are defined at different levels of abstraction (e.g., state, situation-specific or trait levels).

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Motivation

� Gardner’s SE model

� Integrative Motivate

� Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System

� ‘Ideal’ Self

� ‘Ought to’ Self

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Gardner’s integrative motive

Integrativeness

Attitudes toward

the learning

situation

Motivation Language

Achievement

Language Aptitude

Integrative motivation:

other other

Observation #2: The major motivation to learn another language is to

develop a communicative relationship with people from another cultural group.

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Expansion of motivation concepts

in SLA

� Self-determination theory (Noels)

� Physiological approaches (Schummann)

� Learner Autonomy (Ushioda)

� Task Motivation (Julkunen)

� Process Model (Dörnyei & Otto)

� L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei)

� Critical-Qualitative Perspective (Norton)

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Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational

Self System

� Rephrasing of integrative motivation is needed to account for:

�Learning situations without contact

�World English has no ethnic group

� Integrative and instrumental co-occur

� Ideal Self (what we wish to be become)

� Ought to self (what we should become)

� L2 learning experience (past L2 behavior)

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On the nature of ‘the self’

� The Self:

“What began as an apparently singular, static, lump-like

entity has become a multi-dimensional, multifaceted dynamic structure that is systematically implicated in

all aspects of social information processing.”

� (Markus & Wurf, 1987, pg 301).

• Identity – multifaceted, dynamic

• Motivation - multifaceted, dynamic

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Possible Selves (PS) as motivation

� PS are views of oneself in the future� Both wanted and feared

� Theory emphasizes balance between wanted & feared

� Vague hopes and specific expectations

� The vision of a new self is motivating� Articulate goals

� Links behaviour to goal

� Provide potential incentives for actions

� The more specific they are, the better they guide behaviour (Oyserman et al., 2004)

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Motivation differs over time

� Different motivational processes occur before, during, and after behavior.

� Motivational approaches will implicate a time frame, for example

� Focus on longer lasting process (integrative)

� Focus on rapidly changing events (tasks)

Observation #3:The manner in which motivation affects language

learning changes as the time frame under study changes.

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Social and Individual Context

Affective-Cognitive Context

Motivational Propensities

Behavioural Intention

Communication

Behaviour

Situated Antecedents

Layer I

Layer II

Layer III

Layer IV

Layer VI

Layer VSocial

Situation

Intergroup

Attitudes

Intergroup Climate Personality

Communicative

Competence

L2

Self-Confidence

Interpersonal

Motivation

State

Communicative

Self-Confidence

Desire to

communicate with

a specific person

L2 Use

Willingness to

Communicate

Intergroup

Motivation

1

2

3 4

5 6 7

8 9 10

11 12

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WTC concept

� Original L1 concept was ‘trait-like’

� Our concept proposes a ‘state’ of readiness

� Initiating communication is a matter of choice

� Volitional act

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Volition

� Long history in psychology and philosophy

� Concept all but abandoned as issues of ‘free will’ were found intractable

� Offers the potential to study how multiple, sometimes contradictory impulses, affect action

Observation #4: Studying volitional choices demonstrates that

opposing processes (e.g., approach and avoidance) converge to affect second language communication.

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Two studies on the process of

initiating communication

� MacIntyre, Babin & Clément (1999)�communication in both oral and written forms.

� MacIntyre, Clément & Noels, 2007� In familiar conditions, introverts learned more

and were more WTC than extraverts

� In moderately unfamiliar conditions, extraverts learned more and were more WTC than introverts

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Effects of Extraversion and Familiarity of Study Situation

0

5

10

15

20

25

Very Similar Somew hat Similar Not at all Similar

Sco

re

Introvert

Extrovert

Posttest

State WTC

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Two Focused Essay Studies

Baker & MacIntyre (2000)

� 200 English speaking students learning French,

regular and immersion programs

� Described 2 situations

� most willing

� least willing

� We looked for themes and noticed emotional

expression

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Most willing

� Immersion students had weaker emotional reactions in these situations than non-immersion students

� Non-immersion students were pleased with small successes:

“My father has a tailoring and bridal shop… and one day a French speaking lady came in and my Dad’s wife can speak French but she was off that day, so I was able to help her [the lady] out enough so that she would come back.”

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Least Willing

� Immersion students expressed stronger emotion in these situations

� In both immersion and non-immersion, the type of event that upset them most was a Francophone interlocutor switching to English� a dramatic rejection of volitional self-presentation, it

is ignominious

� unexpectedly, many reported this was a motivating experience

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Second Focused Essay Study

� Again used Most / Least Willing

� Over 100 Anglophone and Francophone students in Ottawa

� strongly bilingual institution, bilingual city

� Typically, Francophones have higher more experience speaking English than Anglophones have speaking French

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Most Willing

� Anglophones most willing in situations where the only other choice was silence (25% of situations described)� Interlocutor was expected to speak English if possible

� Anglophones said error correction increased and decreased WTC, depending on context (20% mentioned error correction).

“I’d be most willing if I had friends around me. I always felt comfortable in a classroom giving a speech. When you are out of the classroom I feel like people are analyzing me. I don’t mind when a teacher does it, but not an acquaintance.”

� Francophones were generally highly willing, especially if friends spoke English

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Least Willing - Anglophones

� Anglophones described two situations:

� a lack of self-confidence in French (over 20%)

� speaking to strangers (over 20%)

� reported a feeling of being analyzed and

critiqued, especially for accent and grammar

� Recall William James’ account of the ‘cold outside’

as a paralyzing force.

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Least Willing – Francophones

� Least willing with Francophones (50%)

� family, friends, etc.

� Political dimension, English poses a threat to the vitality of French

� Highly specific situational vocabulary

“Quand je dois parler de sujets tres precis ou je ne suis pas certains de l’exactitude des termes.” (“When I must talk about precise topics and I am not certain of the exact terminology.”)

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At the moment of decision…

� Many factors can increase or decrease the likelihood of ‘crossing the Rubicon’� Psychological

� Pedagogical

� Situational

� Linguistic

� Sociopolitical

� The influence of these will vary, wax and wane over time

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Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory

� Action is based on totality of co-existing, mutually interdependent facets.

� General life vs momentary influences� Momentary influences have greater impact on action

� Driving vs Restraining forces� Easier to modify action by reducing restraining

forces.� Anglophone speakers in Ottawa were clearly holding

back

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Future research� Better understand the combinations of multiple driving

and restraining forces

� Focus on the moment, state-level processes

� Increases the complexity of the models� Wen & Clément (2003) additional restraining forces among

Chinese (based on deference and responsibility)

� Yashima (2002) found WTC predicted adjustment and satisfaction with a stay-abroad program

Observation #5: Future research in SLA should focus on the

momentary restraining forces that come into play when a speaker is choosing whether or not to initiate communication.

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Summary: The ‘Observations’

#1: The relationships among variables under study in SLA may change substantially when concepts are defined at different levels of abstraction (e.g., state, situation-specific or trait levels).

#2: The major motivation to learn another language is to develop a communicative relationship with people from another cultural group.

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Summary: The ‘Kernels of Wisdom’

#3: The manner in which motivation affects language learning changes as the time frame under study changes.

#4: Studying volitional choices demonstrates that opposing processes (e.g., approach and avoidance) converge to affect second language communication.

#5: Future research in SLA should focus on the momentary restraining forces that come into play when a speaker is choosing whether or not to initiate communication.

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Workshop activities

� WTC most and least willing exercise (handout)

� WTC questions for the workshop participants (handout)

� WTC and possible selves (handout)

Willingness to Communicate:crossing the psychological

Rubicon from learning to communication.

Peter D. MacIntyre

Cape Breton University

Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

Presented at EMUN

October, 2007