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Factors affecting students’ willingness to communicate in english classroom

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN HƯƠNG GIANG

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ WILLINGNESS TO
COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH CLASSROOM

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN HƯƠNG GIANG

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ WILLINGNESS TO
COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH CLASSROOM (TESOL)
FIELD
CODE

: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
: 60140111

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof., Ph.D. LÊ VĂN CANH

Nghe An, 2017




STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
The thesis entitled “Factors affecting students’ willingness to communicate in
English classroom.” is conducted under the supervision of Dr. Le Van Canh, a senior
lecturer of Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
I declare that the information reported in this paper is the results of my own work,
except where a reference or citation was made. This thesis has not been accepted for any
other degree or diploma.
Vinh, August 2017
Author’s signature

Nguyễn Hương Giang

i


ABSTRACT
This study is a report to investigate the factors affecting students’ willingness to
communicate (WTC) in English classroom. The findings of this study revealed that
English language has become a tool of international communication for language
learners and after many years studying a language, many the second language (L2)
learners will not become the second language (L2) speaker. Nowadays, human means
to work together, toward the goal of equality, happy. It is from communicating
knowledge to help them have good relationships with friends and teachers. This will be
the factors that help create good conditions for studying, learning, exchange and
acquire knowledge. On the other hand, after leaving the school, students get the basic
knowledge about communication skills to help their daily life well, working
successfully in social relationships and work in a good environment.
Currently, the vast majority of students have acquired the knowledge, certain

communication skills, but also clumsy, shy, passive in the classroom as well as the
exchange between peers and with faculty. This restriction due to many reasons,
including the cause of their communication skills is not high. In the cause of economic
development-social, education today is communication skills valuable luggage to help
them succeed in the profession in particular and life in general and explains some
major factors that influence motivation factors affecting students’ willingness to
communicate (WTC) in English classroom as self-confidence, self-image, inhibition,
empathy, etc. In order to find out the real problems in activities and techniques applied
by teachers and students’ preference and then give some suggestion to have a number
of practical solution to the problems between teachers and students overcome the
difficulties they face their willingness to communicate (WTC) through teaching and
learning speaking in language classrooms.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Le Van Canh, who has guided me and
encouraged me, provided me with valuable comments on my work with great energy
and endless faith in my abilities and whose invaluable feedback kept me going in the
right direction.
I am also grateful to my colleagues who give me some helpful advice in the
study and have given me the chance of time to complete the research in the school and
the students who participated in my study. Moreover, many thanks go to my friends for
their encouragement and for their patience when it was most needed, especially go to
Mis Thu Thuan, my close friend for giving me permission to collect data at Tran Hung
Dao secondary school.
I would also like to thank my family who supported me and contributed to
complete this work.
Ultimately, I would like to thank with all my heart all the people who have

helped me make this research project a success.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP..................................................................................i
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………iv
LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………….…vii
LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………..viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………….……........ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………....1
1.1 Rationale……………………………………………………………………………1
1.2 Aims of the study…………………………………………………………………...3
1.3 Research questions…………………………………………………………….........3
1.4 Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………..3
1.5 Methods of the study………………………………………………………………..4
1.6 Design of the thesis…………………………………………………………….…...4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………….6
2. 1 Definition of Willingness to communicate (WTC)…………………….………......6
2.2 Heuristic Model of WTC in L2……………………………………………………..9
2.3 Factors affecting students’ willingness to communication………………………..15
2.3.1 Motivation……………………………………………………………………….16
2.3.2 Self-confidence…………………………………………………………………..22
2.3.3 Personality……………………………………………………………………….25
2.3.4 Language attitude………………………………………………………………..29
2.3.5 Classroom atmosphere in WTC the second language…………………………...31

2.3.5.1 Space class……………………………………………………...……………..32
2.3.5.2 Method of teaching……………………………………………………………32
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2.3.5.3 The role of the teacher…………………………………………………………33
2.3.5.4 The role of students……………………………………………………………35
2.4 Studies on willingness to communicate in the world and in Asia……...………….36
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH MOTHODOLOGY……………………………………...40
3.1 Research questions………………………………………………………………...40
3.2 Research Methodology……………………………………………………………40
3.3 Instruments………………………………………………………………………...41
3.3.1 Questionnaires…………………………………………………………………...41
3.3.2 Interviews………………………………………………………………………..42
3.3.3 Data collection procedures………………………………………………………42
3.3.4 Participants and context…………………………………………………………43
3.3.5 Data analysis…………………………………………………………………….44
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………………………………46
4.1 The result of quantitative data (WTC questionnaire)...…………………….……...46
4.2 Findings of quantitative data ……………………………………...……………....50
4.3 Discussion of result of research question one……………………………………..51
4.4 The result of qualitative data: Factors likely to influence L2WTC ……………….53
4.5 Findings of qualitative data…...………………………………………………..….56
4.6 Discussion of result of research question two……………………………………..57
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………...67
5.1 Contributions to Theory…………………………………………………………...67
5.2 Contributions to Methodology…………………………………………………….68
5.3 Contributions to Research…………………………………………………………69

5.4 Pedagogical implications………………………………………………………….70
5.5 Limitations of This Study and Suggestions for Future Research………………….71
5.6 Final comment……………………………………………………………………..72
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………...…76
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APPENDIX A: WTC Questionnaire (English version)………………………..…….90
APPENDIX B: WTC Questionnaire (Vietnamese version)………………………….92
APPENDIX C: Semi-structured WTC Interview Questions (English version)……...93
APPENDIX D: Semi-structured WTC Interview Questions (Vietnamese version)…95

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1.1 Characteristics of Respondents…………………………………………...46
Table 4.1.2 Descriptive Statistics of the Overall WTC (N=150)……………………...47
Table 4.1.3 Less cognitively demanding and psychologically safe tasks……………..47
Table 4.1.4 More cognitively demanding and psychologically safe tasks…………….48

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: MacIntyre et al.’s heuristic model of WTC in L2 (1998)…………………...10

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ESL: English as a Second Language
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ELT: English Language Teaching
SLA: Service Level Agreement

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CHAPTER 1


INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale
Willingness to communicate is the condition of human existence, personal
communication through joining social relationships, acquiring social culture history,
turning it into one of its own, while also contributing on the general cultural
development. Social development, science and technology as modern as affecting
behavior, thought and human life should be the relationship between people and the
more people are interested, so communication has been called topical in many areas,
especially in the field working directly with people such as education, teaching,
diplomatic communication. Nowadays, human means to work together, toward the goal
of equality, happy. Communication needs is critical needs of the people. To satisfy the
needs to communicate and conduct communications with the results, people need to
have communication skills, in which English language is used as a means of
communication of almost all countries and territories in the world. English has
influenced the Vietnamese people with more opportunity to improve their study, work,
and living conditions. Therefore, students need to improve their English skills more
and more to be able to communicate in English and even be fluent in English for work
and study in an international environment. Some students are not aware nor have
clearly identified their path, not a rational approach, while the requirement of academic
initiative is very high. So students need to have a proper learning method, appropriate
and effective, anxiety, motivation and confidence is very important. Another
researches, the factor affecting willingness to communicate (WTC) such as social,
situations, culture, language and loved ones. In that study methods play a role of
utmost importance. Self-study role of great significance is not only in education but
also in school life. In addition to improving academic performance, self-study also
facilitate forming and training the ability to operate independently, everyone’s
creativity, thereby creating conditions and opportunities for lifelong learning. Hence, it


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is difficult to support the notion of willingness to communicate (WTC) is the most
basic orientation toward communication. Given that communication is an
indispensable part of L2 acquisition, MacIntyre and Charos (1996) argue that whatever
the purpose of language learning might be, e.g., meeting new people, traveling,
experiencing other cultures, or even using language in one’s job, the primary reason for
language learning often is to be able to use language to communicate. The current
study is aimed at contributing to the examination and testing of the L2 WTC construct,
thus continuing the line of research initiated in the 1990s, in an attempt to enrich the
theoretical foundation of this construct in a different country and linguistic
environment. Although the concept willingness to communicate could include
communication in written forms (MacIntyre et al. 1998), this study focuses exclusively
on oral communication, or more specifically, talking in a L2.
English is used in areas from diplomacy, international trade, and tourism to
international media, air-traffic control, and technology. All these suggest that English
has become an international language that is used for communication among different
nations and cultures (Alptekin, 2002; Norton, 1997; Smith, 1992; Strevens, 1992).
Willingness to communicate is the need, a need to have the capacity of people in this
day and age. Therefore the most important goals of schools not equipped with the
knowledge that learners are self-learning methods. In fact today, self-learning activities
of students in grade 8 are still many limitations, many students do not spend a lot of
time for self-study, no construction skills training and self-learning for themselves,
forms of irrational self-study, etc. Likewise, Andreou et al. (2006) argue that the way
people learn and succeed in language study is greatly influenced by individual

differences (ID). One of the ID variables which have been the subject of intensive
research in second language (L2) research is willingness to communicate (WTC). Most
of the people that have never communicated in English outside of the classroom will
face difficulties when trying to communicate orally with a native English speaker.
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They typically understand what is being said to them but are unable to deliver a
proper response and so at times they may just remain silent and wait or travel with
someone that has more fluency, because the students lack opportunity to have contact
with native English speakers, is it possible for these students. It can be said that not all
language students can speak the target language accurately and fluently and this may
be due to many factors concerning with language study. For this reason, there is a
research investigation on the problem of self-study L2 WTC in secondary school
student base in the Tran Hung Dao secondary school in Can Tho and proposed
measures to boost the effectiveness of self-learning activities of students in order to
contribute improve learning outcomes. The major goals of all English language
teaching process should give the learners have the ability to use English effectively,
accurately in communication (Davies & Pearse, 2000).
1.2 Aims of the study
This study aims at:
(1) Investigating students at different institutions are willing to communicate in English
when they have the opportunity.
(2) Exploring the factors and personal traits that underlie the lack of WTC in English
as a foreign language.
1.3 Research Questions

In order to achieve the aforementioned aims, the following research questions
are formulated, to which the study seeks answers:
1) What is the extent to which students are willing to communicate in English in the
English lessons?
2) Which contextual and individual factors influence students’ willingness to
communicate in the lessons?
1.4 Scope of the study

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The study limits itself to the identification of the researched students’
participation in communicative activities in English language lessons as well as the
factors that facilitate and inhibit their participation. As the study was conducted within
the context of on secondary school, no generalizations of the findings were intended.
1.5 Methods of the study
A quantitative method, being complemented with qualitative method was used
to collect and analyze the data. As the study is a survey, data was collected from two
instruments: the questionnaires administered to 150 eighth graders at Tran Hung Dao
secondary school in Can Tho, and interviews of 15 students randomly selected from
the questionnaire respondents.
1.6 Structure of the thesis
This thesis consists of five chapters.
Chapter One presents the rationale of the current study, provides knowledge of
the impact of the learners’ second language learning environment when they are faced
with authentic L2 communicative contexts. Similarly, this study contributes insights

into the oral development of the high school students who engage in the study. It adds
evidence to support the notion that the willingness to communicate a model that
effectively describes L2 communicative behavior and may be considered as being
applicable within a Vietnamese L2 context.
Chapter Two reviews previous literature and research relevant to the research
questions addressed in this study. It also introduces the fundamental theoretical
underlying WTC, and reviews some major findings from empirical research studies
concerning L2 WTC. Gaps in previous research are subsequently identified and as a
consequence, three research questions are raised for investigation.
Chapter Three describes the methodological approach employed in the current
study. A mixed-method design is adopted to enrich the data from different
perspectives. The major research instruments, the WTC questionnaire, a classroom
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observation scheme, and semi-structured interviews are identified. This chapter also
describes procedures for collecting and analyzing data. Ethical issues concerning the
research process are clarified as well.
Chapter Four reports key findings from an analysis of the research data. These
include results based on the use of both quantitative and qualitative research
techniques. Results from a content analysis of the interview data are also considered. A
detailed account and interpretation of the findings of the study, with reference to each
of the research questions, are also presented in relation to previous relevant research
findings. This chapter summarizes the key findings of this study.
Chapter Five summarizes the study, discusses the results, and makes
suggestions for further research.


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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature on willingness to communicate in second and
foreign language learning in an attempt to construct a conceptual framework for the
study. The chapter begins with the definition of the concept of willingness to
communicate, followed by a review of the studies on this topic.
2. 1 Definition of Willingness to communicate (WTC)
Second language (L2) willingness to communicate (WTC) is defined as the
intention to communicate a choice, continues to establish itself as a decisive tool in
achieving success or failure in learning a second language (Dörnyei, 2005, Peng &
Woodrow, 2010). According to Clément et al (2003), willingness to communicate is
seen as the “most immediate determinant” of a student’s decision to engage in
communication. Learners should not only be able to communicate L1 but also be
willing to communicate in L2. Willingness to communicate is also defined as
“readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons
using a L2”. The willingness to communicate takes the role of both the individual
difference variable affecting the second language acquisition, and the goal of the
second language instruction (MacIntyre et al., 1998). In people’s life, communication
takes place daily and participates in the whole process of human activity.
Communication is the basis for creating a human-to-human relationship and working

together as a community. McCroskey and associates (McCroskey & Baer, 1985;
McCroskey & Richmond, 1987, 1991) postulated that WTC is a personality-based
construct representing such regularity in individuals’ predisposition toward verbal
communication. Through communication, people understand each other, exchanging
information and experience of each other.
Communication is therefore considered as the most basic means of conducting
work effectively. Communicative behavior in a cultured way is the basis for forming
good relationships with friends, teachers, colleagues; help individuals gain trust and
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friendliness from people around them. Communication is not just a process of
communication but through the process of helping people shape and develop their
personality through communication that can assess the individual’s well-being. Hence,
many linguistic and non-verbal factors play an important role in the media. In
particular, psychological and socio-cultural factors are quite consistent with the WTC,
especially in L2.
Students communicate in L2 not only exchange information around lectures,
learning methods, problems in the classroom, the school but also it has thoughts,
interests, social concerns and experiences with new jobs, to share the comments about
their life, their feelings, their relationships of themselves and everyone. In addition, the
language in the curriculum should be used in real life and used spontaneously. For
foreigners when they learn English, English is their first language (L1), they learn
easily and hardly have difficulty because it is their mother tongue and the language and
culture of the language. The language they learn is available. They learn it naturally.
They do not have to try to learn English because it is part of their everyday life. The

opposite for the English learner, English as a second language L2, for example as
Vietnamese students, this is a completely different thing. It is a completely new
language with them, with all other cultures, different ways of thinking, different
expressions, and so on. In addition, L2 learners not only need to know their linguistic
knowledge but they also understand acceptable cultural behaviors when they interact
with others in different situations and relationships.
Cultural understanding plays an important and decisive role in communicating
meaning in communication. In English communication, they learn not only English
pronunciation, but they also learn to “shared values and beliefs create the traditions
and social structures that bind a community together and are expressed in their
language” (Carrasquillo, 1994). Therefore, willingness to communicate in English is
one of the issues that many researchers are interested in studying. It takes the role of
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both the individual difference variable affecting the second language acquisition, and
the goal of the second language instruction (MacIntyre et al., 1998). There are many
different perspectives on communication that we can be understood in general as
communication is the process of transfer, receiving and processing information
between one person and another to achieve the goal.
In researching WTC in the first language scholars (McCroskey,1992);
(McCroskey and Baer,1985); (McCroskey and Richmond,1987); (McCroskey and
Richmond,1990); (Zakahi & McCroskey, 1989), used the concept to refer to “an
individual’s general personality orientation towards talking”. Willingness to
communicate (WTC) is an affective variable that has impact on L2 and/or FL
acquisition (MacIntyre, Baker, Clément & Donovan, 2002; MacIntyre, Clément,

Dörnyei & Noels, 1998; Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide & Shimizu, 2004). They then
expanded the concept to include personality traits and variance with WTC in different
communication situations. This variance is called “variability in talking behavior”
MacIntyre and Charos (1996) developed the version to research communication in the
second language (L2) through motivation, attitudes, linguistic, communicative and
social psychological variables, perceived competence, personality traits, context and
L2 anxiety while context would directly influence the frequency of L2 communication.
During this period of anxiety students go through feelings of worry and dread, have
trouble concentrating, sweat, experience heart palpitations, and become forgetful.
Many studies have shown that there is a negative relationship between L2 WTC and
anxiety (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993; Hashimoto, 2002; MacIntyre & Clément, 1996;
Yashima, 2002; Ghonsooly et al., 2012). Hence, willingness to communicate is
conceptualized as an individual’s “readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time
with a special person or persons, using an L2” (MacIntyre et al., 1998, p. 547).
According to a variety of researchers (e.g., Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986;

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MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989, 1991a, 1991b), foreign language anxiety can be a
predictor of success in learning the foreign language.
However, an acquired a new language also can make changes about native
language or culture. It means that every individual’s communication in L2 is dependent
on the relationship between them. For example, in a class where learners are collecting
information about what goes on in our classroom, and by analyzing and evaluating this
information, teachers can identify and explore their students own practices and

underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in student’s
learning. Here, the real aim of communication is find information, break down barriers,
talk about self, and learn new things about different cultures with many class levels.
The direct and indirect effect of communicative competence on WTC shows that by
increasing communicative competence other predictors of WTC would change in a
way to increase students’ WTC. Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide and Shimizu (2004) also
claim that students who show willingness to communicate in various contact situations
are more inclined to initiate communication in the classroom. Besides, communicative
activities create opportunities for learners when they use the language with one another
and with people in the community. They also have the potential to determine the
learners’ WTC and the degree of acculturation and identification with the target
language community or international community (Yashima, 2002).
2.2 Heuristic Model of WTC in L2
MacIntyre et al., Dörnyei, Clément and Noels (1998) developed a pyramidshaped heuristic model for communicating in a second language that incorporates
many variables in psychology, linguistics, education and communication. By including
all possible social, affective and emotional influences on a person’s WTC, based on
personal factors such as anxiety, motivation, experience, and contextual social factors
that increase or decrease the WTC, in order to reflect the choice to speak at a particular
moment to a specific person or group, as well as a state of confidence, and long-term
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personal differences activities in different social structures and networks. That model is
thought to have both theoretical and practical implications, organized in a continuous,
multi-layered continuum, having a lasting effect on the real world. The results of
MacIntyre et al., Dörnyei, Clément and Noels’ model-based observational studies show

that personality traits affect the speaker’s WTC in the second language or a foreign
language.

It is based on the description illustrated in Figure 1, the multiplayer pyramid
model of the WTC has two types of effects in the WTC in L2 as the influence of the
situation during L2 communication (layers I, II and III). Conversely, layers IV, V, and
VI have a long-term effect on L2’s communicating information, which affects human
communication in the second language. The model consists of a total of six types
called “layers” and each layer contains a different name. The name of each layer is “(I)
Communication Behavior”, “(II) Behavioral Intention”, “(III) Situated Antecedents”,
“(IV) Motivational Propensities”, “(V) Affective-Cognitive Context”, “(VI) Social and
Individual Context” and twelve different structures including “(1) L2 Use”, “ (2)
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Willingness to Communicate”, “(3) Desire to Communicate with a Specific Person”,
“(4) State Communicative Self-Confidence”, “ (5) Interpersonal Motivation”, “(6)
Intergroup Motivation”, “(7) L2 self-confidence”, “(8) Intergroup Attitudes”, “(9)
Social Situation”, “(10)Communicative Competence”, “(11) Intergroup Climate”, “(12)
Personality”. Each layer (I, II, III, IV, V and VI) has different meanings as layers I, II,
and III reflect the impact of the situation during L2 communication.
Layer I, Communication Behavior, includes the variable L2 use, some instances
of which are activities such as using L2 in the classroom, watching TV in an L2,
reading material published in an L2, and using an L2 outside the classroom.
Layer II, Behavioral Intention, includes the ability to willingness to
communicate. The WTC mentions the argument that language learners who are willing

to communicate in L2 seeking opportunities and welcomes the opportunities to actively
engage in L2 communications.
Layer III, Situated Antecedents, consists of two variables: the desire to
communicate with a specific person and the communicative self-confidence of the
state. It takes into account a person’s desire to talk to (a) certain people talking
privately in certain contexts. It also includes the speaker’s confidence in their ability to
communicate effectively in L2 in a particular situation.
Layer IV, Motivational Propensities, is constituted of three variables: (1)
Interpersonal Motivation, (2) Intergroup Motivation, and (3) L2 self-confidence.
Layer V, Affective-Cognitive Context, reflects interpersonal attitudes, social
status, and communication. Intergroup attitudes represent L2 student’ communication
patterns in specific L2 situations. The social situation includes a number of factors such
as interlocutor, setting, the purpose, the topic, and the communication channel.
Accordingly, the communicative ability is considered as an individual’s level of
language proficiency that can affect their WTC level.

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Layer VI, Social and Individual Context, includes both personality and
intergroup climate which are described as individuals’ personality traits and their desire
to adapt themselves to the values of the members of the respective L2 community.
In this pyramid model, the first three layers show the effect of the situation on
the WTC at a certain period in time, in which, as well as the other three layers, the last
three layers only affect the solid elements, the long term for the second language
communication process. This factor will be higher in the pyramid, the more WTC

situation the more and the more specific is. The pyramid’s top layers exert an influence
on lower layers and directly interact with the lower layers. Therefore, the factors to be
considered as the most stable at the bottom of the pyramid such as illustrated model for
the WTC and making clear the causes can occur on WTC in L2.
Personality is considered a part of media information. In fact, it is the
foundation of it but there are many different factors that are effect. At the second level
of the model proclaimed it is willingness to communicate with using practical because
it demonstrates the learners’ ability to use language in interacting with others when
they have opportunities arise. The model shows that people who have different
character are willing to communicate when they are not afraid of the media and when
they realize they are capable of being effective communicators. Also in the process of
communication, variable states change throughout the communicative action, the
available situation to communicate tends to change over time.
From a theoretical perspective, some hypotheses derived from a triangulated
approach (WTC model of MacIntyre et al. (1998)) that was formed throughout the
analysis to answer two research questions. In particular, the findings strengthen the
evidence for the importance of the positive effects of various factors and role of
participants in different situations affect WTC in the English lesson in classroom, for
example, when students speak English in front of the class, they feel worried about
making mistakes, nervous about using the second language, afraid if they could not
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understand what the interlocutors said, and sharing their feelings and opinions. This
study examines the relationship between individuals and the interaction, especially,
between students and teachers on developing a positive attitude toward WTC. The

analysis shows that students’ level of confidence in using English in communication in
English classroom although their English knowledge is limit and they wish their
teacher can use more English than ever. Through the key of finding research, students
are aware of the importance of factors that affect the willingness to use of the second
language and necessary to learn a second language.
The researchers argued that L2 relates to the development of identity hypothesis
that L2 learners prefer more communicative approaches in teaching and learning
English through media purposes. This is also supported to students who are willing to
use their English skills to communicate successfully in their future careers by
MacIntyre et al (1998: 547). Therefore, students need to focus on developing four basic
language skills in different contexts that will help their future careers. So students have
many reasons to become more willingness to communicate. It means that they are
ready to start speaking the second language on a particular occasion with a specific
person. This represents students’ level of behavioral intention to willing to
communicate if they have the opportunity. Based on the observations, the researchers
show that students have different attitudes and motivation in their behavioral
communication, for example, some students like to speak actively and freely while
other students just want to talk to specific communicators, some others students too
only want to talk to communicators when they feel really necessary and some people
are speaking happily, they can suddenly stop talking to others because of certain
personal characteristics. As a result, it is based on results from the assumption; we
realize that these personality traits are an important premise of the WTC even in one’s
language.

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This study proposes some solutions to overcome these issues and promotes
students’ WTC in English. In the fact that English in the world is used for media,
commercial organizations, abroad as an international language can no longer be denied
(Crystal, 1999:02). In Vietnam, the researchers are trying to make it look like the same
of an official language of the country or giving it a special priority in the country as a
standard foreign language. Moreover, they determine that the attraction, self-esteem,
communicative competence, media literacy and cultural diversity as the precursors
which make different between the WTC. According to researcher Barjesteh (2012)
surveyed twenty five participants in his study, he used a questionnaire consisting of 20
situations in which a person could choose to communicate or not communicate. The
study concluded that students are very willing to communicate in two types of contexts
(group discussions, and meetings) and one recipient type (friend).
The reason of investigation into WTC in an L2, according to (Baker &
MacIntyre, 2000: 318,) is to understand how “learners’ attitudes toward the target
language group affect their success in learning the target language”. For some students,
motivation in the WTC may be in the form of interdisciplinary dynamics because they
want to integrate into the culture of an English-speaking country such as England, the
United States, Canada or Australia. For another, the mastery of the English language as
a tool that can bring students to a better job or many opportunities for the future. On
the other hand, students’ motivation in learning English can give them a suitable and
useful knowledge for interesting lessons or activities that students will take part in
laying games, role playing, group discussion. Nunan (1991) also stated that students
are motivated to learn language through speaking skill (as cited in Le, 2008) and
motivation and attitude in WTC become a requirement for the success in second
language learning through linguistic self-confidence.
In summary, through studying communication of an individual about L2 WTC
in a variety contexts include speaking, in front of the crowd, small meetings, large
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