The role of ideal L2 self in predicting L2 willingness to communicate inside and outside the classroom

This study reports on findings of an investigation into the relationship between ideal L2 self as a motivational variable and willingness to communicate in English (L2 WTC) in and outside the classroom. Participants were a total of 90 university students majoring in English as a foreign language (ELF) at a foundation university in Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected using the Ideal L2 Self measure and the Willingness to Communicate questionnaire. Findings showed that 28% of the participants had high L2 WTC outside the classroom whereas 24% had high L2 WTC inside the classroom. The findings also indicated that there was a significant link between the ideal L2 self and L2 WTC both inside and outside the classroom and that the ideal L2 accounted for 13% of the variance in total L2 WTC scores. Based on the findings obtained, the study concludes by outlining pedagogical implications and recommendations in relation to instructional practices in L2 classrooms.

___

  • Baker, S. C., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2000). The role of gender and immersion in communication and second language orientations. Language Learning, 50(2), 311–341.
  • Başöz, T. (2018). Willingness to communicate: A path-analytic model for tertiary level learners of English in Turkey (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). Hacettepe University, Ankara.
  • Başöz, T., & Erten, I. H. (2018). Investigating tertiary level EFL learners' willingness to communicate in English. English Language Teaching, 11(3), 78–87.
  • Bursalı, N., & Öz, H. (2017). The relationship between ideal L2 self and willingness to communicate inside the classroom. International Journal of Higher Education, 6(4), 229–239.
  • Cohen, A. D., & Dörnyei, Z. (2002). Focus on the language learner: Motivation, styles, and strategies. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), An introduction to applied linguistics (pp. 170–190). London: Arnold.
  • Csizér, K., & Kormos, J. (2009). Learning experiences, selves and motivated learning behaviour: A comparative analysis of structural models for Hungarian secondary and university learners of English. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 98–119). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • Donovan, L. A., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2004). Age and sex differences in willingness to communicate, communication apprehension, and self‐perceived competence. Communication Research Reports, 21(4), 420–427.
  • Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9–42). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • Dörnyei, Z. (2014). Motivation in second language learning. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. M. Brinton, & M. A. Snow (Eds.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (4th ed.) (pp. 518–531). Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning.
  • Dörnyei, Z. (2020). From integrative motivation to directed motivational currents: The evolution of the understanding of L2 motivation over three decades. In M. Lamb, K. Csizér, A. Henry & S. Ryan (Eds.), Palgrave Macmillan handbook of motivation for language learning (pp. 39–69). Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  • Dörnyei, Z., & Chan, L. (2013). Motivation and vision: An analysis of future L2 self images, sensory styles, and imagery capacity across two target languages. Language Learning, 63(3), 437–462.
  • Dörnyei, Z., & Taguchi, T. (2010). Questionnaires in second language research: Construction, administration and processing (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.). Harlow, UK: Longman.
  • Ghonsooly, B., Hosseini Fatemi, A., & Khajavy, G. H. (2013). Examining the relationships between willingness to communicate in English, communication confidence, and classroom environment. International Journal of Research Studies in Educational Technology, 3(1), 63–71.
  • Hadfield, J., & Dörnyei, Z. (2013). Motivating learning. Harlow: Longman.
  • Hair, J. F., Black, B., Babin, B., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: 7th Pearson Prentice Hall.
  • Higgins, E.T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94, 319–340.
  • Higgins, E.T. (1998). Promotion and prevention: Regulatory focus as a motivational principle. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 1–46.
  • Kanat-Mutluoğlu, A. (2016). The influence of ideal L2 self, academic self-concept and intercultural communicative competence on willingness to communicate in a foreign language. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2(2), 27–46.
  • Khajavy, G. H., & Ghonsooly, B. (2017). Predictors of willingness to read in English: testing a model based on possible selves and self-confidence. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38, 1–15.
  • Kim, S. J. (2004). Exploring willingness to communicate (WTC) in English among Korean EFL (English as a foreign language) students in Korea: WTC as a predictor of success in second language acquisition. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation) Columbus: Ohio State University.
  • Lamb, M. (2011). Future selves, motivation and autonomy in long-term EFL learning trajectories. In G. Murray, X. Gao, & T. Lamb (Eds.), Identity, motivation and autonomy in language learning (pp. 177–194). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • MacIntyre, P. D., & Doucette, J. (2010). Willingness to communicate and action control. System, 38(2), 161–171.
  • MacIntyre, P. D., Babin, P. A., & Clément, R. (1999). Willingness to communicate: Antecedents & consequences. Communication Quarterly, 47(2), 215–229.
  • MacIntyre, P. D., Baker, S. C., Clément, R., & Conrod, S. (2001). Willingness to communicate, social support, and language-learning orientations of immersion students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(3), 369–388.
  • MacIntyre, P. D., Baker, S. C., Clément, R., & Donovan, L. A. (2002). Sex and age effects on willingness to communicate, anxiety, perceived competence, and L2 motivation among junior high school French immersion students. Language Learning, 52(3), 537–564.
  • MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal, 82(4), 545–562.
  • MacIntyre, P. D., Mackinnon, S. P., Clément, R. (2009). The baby, the bathwater, and the future of language learning motivation research. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 43–65). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • MacIntyre, P., Baker, S., Clément, R., & Donovan, L. (2003). Talking in order to learn: Willingness to communicate and intensive language programs. Canadian Modern Language Review, 59(4), 589–608.
  • Markus, H. R., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954–969.
  • Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1987). Possible selves: The interface between motivation and the self-concept. In K. Yardley & T. Honess (Eds.), Self and identity: Psychosocial perspectives (pp. 157–172). New York, NY: Wiley.
  • McCroskey, J.C., Baer, J.E. (1985). Willingness to communicate: the construct and its measurement. Paper Presented at the Annual Convention of the Speech Communication Association, Denver, CO.
  • Munezane, Y. (2013). Attitudes, affect and ideal L2 self as predictors of willingness to communicate. EUROSLA Yearbook, 13(1), 176–198.
  • Munezane, Y. (2015). Enhancing willingness to communicate: Relative effects of visualization and goal setting. The Modern Language Journal, 99(1), 175–191.
  • Nagy, B. C. (2007). To will or not to will: Exploring advanced EFL learners’ willingness to communicate in English. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pécs, Hungary.
  • Noels, K. A. (2009). The internalisation of language learning into the self and social identity. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 295–313). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • Öz, H. (2014). Big Five personality traits and willingness to communicate among foreign language learners in Turkey. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 42(9), 1473–1482.
  • Öz, H. (2016). Role of the ideal L2 self in predicting willingness to communicate of EFL students. In I. J. Mirici, I. H. Erten, H. Öz, and I. Vodopija-Krstanović (Eds.), Research papers on teaching English as an additional language (pp. 163–182), Rijeka, Croatia: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka.
  • Öz, H., Demirezen, M., & Pourfeiz, J. (2015). Willingness to communicate of EFL learners in Turkish context. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 269–275.
  • Peng, J. E. (2007). Willingness to communicate in an L2 and integrative motivation among college students in an intensive English language program in China. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 2(1), 33–59.
  • Peng, J. E. (2012). Towards an ecological understanding of willingness to communicate in EFL classrooms in China. System, 40(2), 203-213.
  • Peng, J. E. (2015). L2 motivational self system, attitudes, and affect as predictors of L2 WTC: An imagined community perspective. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 24(2), 433–443.
  • Peng, J. E., & Woodrow, L. (2010). Willingness to communicate in English: A model in the Chinese EFL classroom context. Language learning, 60(4), 834–876.
  • Shirvan, M. E., Khajavy, G. H., MacIntyre, P. D., & Taherian, T. (2019). A meta-analysis of L2 willingness to communicate and its three high-evidence correlates. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 48(6), 1241–1267.
  • Taguchi, T., Magid, M., & Papi, M. (2009). The L2 motivational self system among Japanese, Chinese and Iranian learners of English: A comparative study. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 66–97). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • Ueki, M., & Takeuchi, O. (2013). Forming a clearer image of the ideal L2 self: the L2 Motivational Self System and learner autonomy in a Japanese EFL context. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 7(3), 238–252.
  • Ushioda, E., & Dörnyei, Z. (2009). Motivation, language identities and the L2 self: A theoretical overview. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 1–8). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • Williams, M., Mercer, S., & Ryan, S. (2016). Exploring psychology in language learning and teaching. Oxford University Press.
  • Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The Japanese EFL context. The Modern Language Journal, 86(1), 54–66.
  • Yashima, T. (2012). Willingness to communicate: Momentary volition that results in L2 behaviour. In S. Mercer, S. Ryan, & M. Williams (Eds.), Psychology for language learning (pp. 119–135). Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Yashima, T., Zenuk‐Nishide, L., & Shimizu, K. (2004). The influence of attitudes and affect on willingness to communicate and second language communication. Language Learning, 54(1), 119–152.
  • Yu, M. (2008). Willingness to communicate of foreign language learners in a Chinese setting. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Florida State University, Tallahassee.
  • Zarrinabadi, N., & Haidary, T. (2014). Willingness to communicate and identity styles of Iranian EFL learners. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 2010–2017.