A Study On Willingness To Communicate In English Of Chinese College Non-English Majors

The ultimate goal of language learning is to communicate but many students are reluctant to speak in English classes. Many language teachers also have encountered students high in linguistic competence who are unwilling to use their L2 for communication whereas other students, with only minimal linguistic knowledge, seem to communicate in the L2 whenever possible which is because of different levels of willingness to communicate (WTC) found in related observations. Recent research has shown the growing interest in WTC in second language learning. The present study aims at exploring the determinants of willingness to communicate of language learners in china and proving the relationship between willingness to communicate and frequency and amount of communication in English.The subjects used in this study were 200 first-year non-English major undergraduates in Huazhong University of Science and Technology participating in 2005 Summer Extensive English Program.The instrument used in this study was the questionnaire of willingness to communicate scale, societal context scale, personality, anxiety scale,intergroup attitude scale, L2 learning motivation scale, frequency and amount of communication in English scale.Descriptive analysis was conducted to investigate the intensity of the learner's willingness to communicate and the relationship between willingness to communicate and societal context. Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients were used assess the relationship between willingness to communicate and personality, anxiety, intergroup attitude and L2 learning motivation. The scatter plot indicated that the intensity of willingness to communicate was positively related to societal context, personality, intergroup attitude and frequency of using English respectively and it was negatively related to anxiety. A multiple regression analysis was used to predict willingness to communicate and determine which of the factors the best predictor was. A two-way ANOVA was conducted to determine whether or not there was an interaction among the variables in terms of their relationship to the WTC intensity. The results showed that anxiety was the best predictor and there is no interaction among the variables. The correlation coefficient between WTC and frequency of using English was calculated and the result showed that frequency of using English was significantly related to WTC.From this study, we can see that a strong willingness to communicate results in frequent and great amount of using English. Thus the students'ability of speaking English is greatly improved. It is recommended that in the classroom teachers create a secure and harmonious atmosphere and help to develop a positive attitude toward the L2 community.