An Empirical Study Of The Willingness Of Non-English Majors To Communicate In Second Language

As people pay much attention to the communicative competence of English learners,more and more attention has been focused on the study of the willingness to communicate(WTC)in L2.The research on WTC abroad is very rich,however,domestic research on this aspect is still in its infancy.Based on McIntyre&Charo's(1996)and Wen&Clement's(2003)WTC theoretical models,this study conducts a qualitative and quantitative research on 105 non-English sophomores from 3 majors of Tianjin Polytechnic University.The research instruments include questionnaires,interview and classroom observation.The research focuses on the characteristics,the gender difference variables and factors affecting non-English majors' WTC inside and outside the classroom.The major findings show that the non-English majors' WTC in L2 is generally low,and the male students' WTC in L2 is higher than the female and the affecting factors of non-English majors' WTC in L2 include individual factors and social factors.