Willingness to Communicate in the Chinese EFL University Classroom

An Ecological Perspective

Jian E. Peng

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781783091577
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Psycolinguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book presents mixed-methods research into Chinese students' willingness to communicate (WTC) in an EFL classroom context. The interrelationships between WTC and motivation, communication confidence, learner beliefs and classroom environment are examined using structural equation modelling on data collected in a large-scale survey. These results are then complemented and expanded upon in a follow-up multiple case-study that identifies six themes which account for fluctuations of WTC over time and across situations. The qualitative and quantitative data provide the grounds for the proposition of an ecological model of WTC in the Chinese EFL university classroom, which reveals that WTC is socioculturally constructed as a function of the interaction of individual and environmental factors inside and beyond the classroom walls.

Part 1

The Research of Willingness to Communicate in a Second Language

1 Introduction

The impetus for the research reported in this book originated from my classroom experience as an English language teacher in China. More often than not, I observed that, while some students actively engaged in the class activities that I smugly believed were interesting, others preferred to stealthily read a brick-thick vocabulary book hidden under the textbook or handouts in front of them. I was also puzzled that sometimes the same lesson plan highly motivated one class group, yet was responded to with indifference by another. Truly, individual students are different, yet somehow there seem to be ‘secret elements’ going on in a classroom setting which regulate the extent of student involvement. Students’ active participation constitutes a motivating atmosphere facilitative to the undertaking of teaching and learning. What then makes students willing or unwilling to engage in oral English communication in class? This question prompted the inquiry in this research project.

This research set out to investigate willingness to communicate (WTC) in English language classrooms among Chinese university students who learn English as a foreign language (EFL). WTC in a second language (L2) is a relatively new individual difference (ID) variable that has been extensively studied in recent years (MacIntyre, 2007; MacIntyre et al., 1998; Wen & Clément, 2003; Yashima, 2002, 2009). It is conceptualised as a state of being ready to engage in L2 communication in particular situations with particular persons (MacIntyre et al., 1998), which directly predicts L2 communication behaviour. High L2 WTC, that is, learners’ high willingness to ‘talk in order to learn’ (Skehan, 1989: 48), can prompt learners to seek out L2 communication opportunities that extend from the classroom context. Frequent communication practice can, in turn, enhance learners’ self-confidence. Therefore, L2 WTC is a factor facilitating L2 acquisition and also a desired non-linguistic outcome in the process of language learning (MacIntyre, 2007). MacIntyre et al. (1998) argued that fostering learners’ L2 WTC should be the target of language instruction.

The L2 WTC theory is of particular relevance to English language teaching (ELT) in China. Similar to other EFL contexts, English is primarily learned as a curriculum subject in China. Students have scarce authentic situations to speak English outside the classroom. This contextual constraint on language acquisition may be compensated for by students creating an intrinsic willingness to use English. Such a desire from within may drive them to seek out and take advantage of any opportunities that arise inside and outside class to practise English, such as chatting with an English-speaking peer online or undertaking voluntary work at international events. Frequent self-initiated L2 communication may facilitate language learning and bring about non-linguistic outcomes such as favourable attitudes and enhanced confidence (Clément et al., 2003), which in turn sustains language learning efforts. In this sense, WTC in EFL contexts has the potential to trigger a virtuous circle of linguistic, cognitive and psychological development in the process of language learning. Therefore, the creation of WTC among EFL learners is of paramount importance in educational settings.

English Language Teaching in China

English language has been enjoying a prominent status in China’s education system. In the past decades, China has undergone profound development in its economy, trade, science and technology, creating a high demand for competent English language users from all walks of life. In the mid 1990s, English language education became a compulsory subject from Grade 3 in elementary school to junior high school (Cheng, 2008). It is a compulsory subject in national entrance examinations to colleges and universities. Competence in English is an asset that is greatly valued in the job market (Jin & Yang, 2006) and a ticket to overseas studies, which has been the goal of an increasing number of students in recent years (Jin & Cortazzi, 2006). This need for English stemming from educational policy, societal demand and personal development has somehow led to a ‘craze’ (Zhao & Campbell, 1995: 382) for English in China.

At the tertiary education level, English is a compulsory subject for all non-English majors, who are required to study English at least in the first two years. Their English proficiency is tested by the biannual College English Test (CET), which is a nationwide, standardised written test at two levels: Band 4 (CET-4) and Band 6 (CET-6). In many universities, undergraduate students are required to pass CET-4, and postgraduate students to pass CET-6 to obtain their final degree (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996b). Therefore, passing this national examination is likely to be a major concern for most students. The CET certificate has become a criterion in the evaluation of college graduates’ English proficiency by the public, and on many occasions a prerequisite for employment (Jin & Yang, 2006).

Despite the prestige of English, which is recognised by both teachers and students, ELT in China is facing challenges. On the one hand, the traditional approach to ELT, which emphasises discrete structural knowledge and the use of translation, has been found to be ineffective in producing communicative competence in students (Hu, 2002). To gear Chinese ELT towards contemporary language pedagogy, top-down reforms at various levels have been launched, introducing the principles and practices advocated in communicative language teaching (CLT). The government-directed curriculum for college English (Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education, 2007) highlights the enhancement of listening and speaking skills. Classroom instruction, accordingly, is taking on more communicative features by incorporating oral activities such as oral presentations and group or pair discussions. On the other hand, this pedagogical effort is not always met with committed participation. For instance, it is not unusual for students to question the value of ‘talking’ in class for them to pass the CET. They often show passive oral involvement in class (Hu, 2002; Yu, 2001), and such non-participation and reticence are dissonant with the innovative curriculum and frustrate many teachers.

The challenges for ELT in China may partly result from the discrepancy between the Chinese culture of learning and the tenets of the Western-originated CLT approach (Hu, 2002; Rao, 1996). CLT places a unique focus on language use, meaningful communication and interaction (Anderson, 1993), whereas traditional Chinese approaches to language learning concern mastery of knowledge, with a focus on grammar, vocabulary and written discourses (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996b; Hu, 2002). In the Chinese culture, learning is considered as a process of accumulating knowledge rather than constructing knowledge (Hu, 2002). Cortazzi and Jin (1996a) stated that Chinese students are accustomed to being mentally rather than verbally active in class. Wen and Clément (2003) attributed Chinese students’ unwillingness to communicate in class to Chinese cultural influences. However, there are also strong views opposing the stereotyping of Chinese learners as being passive and submissive, and relying on rote-learning (Biggs, 1996; Cheng, 2000; Shi, 2006). Gu and Schweisfurth (2006) argued that situation-specific factors other than culture alone should be considered to explain students’ learning behaviour. Thus, a closer look at both the individual and contextual factors that possibly account for EFL learners’ L2 WTC is mandated to avoid any stereotyped assumptions and to shed light on ELT in China and other similar EFL contexts.

Overview of the Research

In targeting the university students in the Chinese EFL classroom context, this research aimed to explore WTC in English; its relationships with other individual and contextual factors; and its fluctuations over time and across classroom situations. To fit into this specific context, this research drew on hybrid theoretical perspectives from second language acquisition (SLA), Chinese indigenous culture and an ecological paradigm which underscores the relatedness of human behaviour with the environment. I employed a mixed methods approach throughout the overall research project, which involves three phases. A quantitative questionnaire survey preceded by a pilot study was carried out in the first phase, followed by a qualitative multiple-case study in the second phase. L2 WTC was speculated to possess trait and state characteristics (Dörnyei, 2005), with the former being stable and enduring, and the latter transient and situation dependent. If trait WTC was captured in the current quantitative survey, then the multiple-case study was intended to reveal the nuance of state WTC across situations. In the final phase, I integrated the quantitative and qualitative findings, based on which meta-inferences were made. This research addressed the following five questions:

1. (1) To what extent are the participants willing or unwilling to communicate using English in their language class?
2. (2) What is the underlying factor structure of the measures of WTC in English, communication confidence in English, motivation to learn English, learner beliefs and classroom environment?
3. (3) What are the interrelationships between WTC in English, communication confidence, motivation, learner beliefs and classroom environment?
4. (4) Does the participating cases’ WTC in the language classroom fluctuate over time and across situations? If yes, what are the factors underlying such fluctuations?
5. (5) To what extent does the combination of quantitative and qualitative findings extend the understanding of WTC in Chinese EFL classrooms?

The survey study served three subpurposes. First, from the survey results a general picture about the participants’ perceptions of their willingness or unwillingness to communicate using English was generated. Second, I intended to establish the psychometric properties, or the reliability and validity of the measures of the five variables in question, namely, WTC in English, communication confidence, motivation, learner beliefs and classroom environment. This was achieved by identifying and validating the factor structure of the items for each scale. The factor structure refers to the dimensions of a latent variable underlying a battery of items supposed to reflect this variable. The dimensions of the five variables measured by their related scales were preliminarily identified in the pilot study using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and then validated in the main survey study using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Validating the factor structures of the constructs is an important prerequisite before testing their relationships (Hair et al., 2006). The third purpose was to explore the interrelationships between WTC and the other four variables using structural equation modelling (SEM) in the main study. SEM is a multivariate statistical technique for estimating the theoretical robustness of proposed relationships between multiple variables (Jöreskog, 1993).

In the multiple-case study, I tracked the trajectories of WTC changes in the classrooms of four participating students over seven months in order to explore the dynamic and situational nature of WTC in English. A multiple-case study is an instrumental case study involving several cases with the main purpose of investigating a phenomenon or situation with less interest given to individual cases (Stake, 2005). The multiple-case design enables cross-case comparison and contrast which strengthens research findings. Another important consideration in a case study is its boundary. A case is usually embedded in and blurred within its context (van Lier, 2005) and thus, according to Miles and Huberman (1994: 25), researchers need to identify its boundary, that is, to decide ‘what will not be studied’. This study targeted individual students taking an English course in their university English class. This study’s boundary defined the classroom as the context within which the activities of the four focal students, their teachers and classmates were observed.

Multiple sources of data were obtained through non-participant classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and learning journals recorded by the participating students. Compared with the close-ended survey in the first phase, interviews with individual students provided me with the flexibilities to elicit the participants’ perspectives, whereas classroom observations served well to supplement contextualised information and triangulated evidence to self-reported data. Learning journals that were regularly kept by the participants greatly facilitated me to trace the developmental trajectories of their WTC over this seven-month inquiry.

In the final stage, meta-inferences were made by integrating the quantitative and qualitative findings obtained in the previous phases. The breadth and depth of this research pursued, respectively, by the survey and the multiple-case study jointly contributed to a more comprehensive and contextualised understanding of WTC in Chinese EFL classrooms.

Methodological Framework

The research has adopted a mixed methods approach, which characterises a quantitative survey followed by a qualitative inquiry. Quantitative and qualitative methods have long been recognised as a dichotomy reflecting two camps of philosophical stance, also known as the paradigm (Lincoln & Guba, 2000) or world view (Creswell, 2009). Quantitative methods reflect the positivism or post-positivism, for which there is truth in the world that can be discovered through scientific methods, which usually involves reducing ideas into ‘a small, discrete set of ideas to test, such as the variables that comprise hypotheses and research questions’ (Creswell, 2009: 7). This camp emphasises objectivity in collecting data, testing hypotheses and revising theories.

In contrast, the assumption underlying qualitative methods is that knowledge comes from a complexity of subjective meanings constructed by individual experiences. Researchers need to ‘rely as much as possible on the participants’ views of the situation being studied’ (Creswell, 2009: 8). Qualitative research is often conducted in an open-ended way which focuses on revealing participants’ voices and the sense they make of the process in specific research contexts.

The mixed methods approach, as the third method situated between the quantitative–qualitative continuum (Dörnyei, 2007b; Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004), represents a philosophy of pragmatism. A pragmatic stance rejects the notion that any single method can access the truth (Maxcy, 2003). Many researchers pursue answers to problems by maximising the utility of any method regardless of its underlying epistemology. Researchers have called for a shift in focus from paradigmatic debate to the actual research problem, utilising any methods available to obtain knowledge about the problem (Creswell, 2009; Dörnyei, 2007b; Morgan, 2007; Tashakkori & Teddlie,...