An Exploration Of Students’ Willingness To Communicate In The Business English Class From The Perspective Of The Second Language Motivational Self-system

Willingness to Communicate,as a concept in the field of second language research,has received extensive attention since it was introduced by Macintyre in1998.He believes that the ultimate goal of second language education is to cultivate people who have good communicative competence and can communicate with foreign cultures and ethnic groups in real situations.However,most scholars only focus on speaking,yet ignore the importance of listening,reading,and writing.Therefore,this thesis explores business English students’ Willingness to Communicate in four skill areas: listening,speaking,reading,and writing from the perspective of the L2 motivational self-system.Through questionnaires and interviews,this study collected data on 179 business English majors from two universities in southwest China.It shows that there is a positive correlation between students’ L2 motivational self-system and their Willingness to Communicate in listening,speaking,reading,and writing in business English classes.This means that students with a higher level of the second language self-motivation system are more willing to communicate in business English classes.Moreover,the results from the qualitative and quantitative analysis show that the highest degree of correlation is in writing.It can be seen that,whether in the future work or in the classroom,writing is considered by business English students as the most effective and beneficial skill.Therefore,they present the strongest Willingness to Communicate in writing in business English classes.On the basis of the conclusion,this thesis puts forward some pedagogical suggestions for business English teachers to improve students’ Willingness to Communicate.On the one hand,business English teachers should improve students’ level of the ideal L2 self and enhance their second language communicative competence in English classes.For instance,business English teachers can help students visualize their ideal L2 self by providing innovative materials,such as business contracts,and enterprise merger plans in the classes.On the other hand,business English teachers should integrate different curriculum designs in one class at the same time,such as individual presentations,and impromptu debates around specific topics,which can effectively improve students’ Willingness to Communicate.