Study On Willingness To Communicate In Chinese Of International Students In China

This article is an empirical study on willingness to communicate in Chinese among international students in the three universities from Nanchang city.By investigating the current situation and the factors that influence the willingness of 198 international students to communicate in Chinese,the author puts forward that there are four elements,which concludes objective variables,affective variables,language learning orientation and social support variables,affecting their WTC in Chinese.According to this hypothesis,this paper focuses on the following three aspects: First,the present situations and characteristics of international students’ WTC in Chinese inside and outside class;Second,the influence of objective variables,affective variables,language learning orientation and social support variables,on the WTC of international students in Chinese inside and outside class;Third,the main factors affecting the WTC in Chinese inside and outside class those foreign students can be aware of.In order to validate assumptions,this paper uses a method combining quantitative and qualitative research.Quantitative research is conducted by questionnaires while qualitative research uses a semi-open interview structure.The main contents of this paper are summarized as below:First of all,the result of 198 questionnaires shows that international students in Nanchang city in Chinese are willing to communicate in Chinese both inside and outside class,and that their enthusiasm outside class is slightly higher than inside class.Secondly,through analysis of objective variables,affective variables,language learning orientation and social support variables,we find that the personality,gender,cultural context have no significant differences in WTC in Chinese of international students;however,scholarship and Chinese graduation examination have significant differences in WTC of Chinese among international students;What’s more,major and Chinese language proficiency have a considerable effect,although not on students of all levels.Taking major as an example,humanities and major of science and engineering,humanities and medicine have significant difference;As for Chinese language proficiency,there are gaps between those primary level and mid-level ones,but there are no obvious differences between high level ones and lower-leveled ones.We think this phenomenon is related to the "plateau period" for Chinese learners in the senior;Yet for the affective variables,we notice that anxiety and motivation are the most important factors influencing WTC of international students in Chinese inside and outside class;And for the language learning orientation variables,we note that studying scores and the friendship are essential causes which affect WTC of international students in Chinese inside and outside class;When in the social support variables,we discover that support from parents and the best friends really matters..Besides those mentioned above,according to the interview of 12 international students,factors that affect the WTC of the international students also can be the classroom atmosphere,teaching methods,teachers’ support,students’ Chinese language proficiency,dialect and cultural differences and so on.In addition,we summarize that the positive factors of WTC in Chinese are actively contacting with Chinese friends,active communication with teachers,integration into Chinese life circle,extensive participation in social language practice activities,small distance with Chinese people,strong motivation,self-confidence communicative attitude,using of modern technology and outside reading.However,there are some inactive factors of WTC in Chinese that are not actively contacting with Chinese friends,keep distance with Chinese people,unable to use of modern technology and outside reading.On the basis of quantitative and qualitative research,the writer proposes to apply the task-based approach to Second Class to help foreign students to improve their Chinese communication skills.