A Survey On Senior High School Students’ Willingness To Communicate In English Class

The National English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School(2017Edition,revised in 2020)proposes that the purpose of learning language knowledge is to develop ability in using language.At present,in the context of English as an international lingua franca,senior high school students should be able to use spoken language to express meaning and conduct interpersonal communication effectively.Many studies by scholars at home and abroad show that enhancing students’ willingness to communicate(WTC)is an important prerequisite for improving learners’ communicative behavior and communicative competence.Based on the above,this study adopts the research methods of questionnaire,semi-structured interviews and classroom observation to explore the current situation of senior high school students’ willingness to communicate in English,expecting to provide effective suggestions for senior high school English teaching.This study aims to explore the following questions:1.What is the current situation of senior high school students’ WTC in English?2.Are there significant differences in WTC in English between students of different genders? Are there significant differences in students’ WTC in English at different levels?3.Are there any differences in classroom communication behaviors between students with high WTC and students with low WTC?First of all,the author adapts the “Questionnaire on High School Students’ Willingness to Communicate in English Class” and conducts a questionnaire survey on 464 students in a senior high school in Huaibei City,Anhui Province.And the English scores of the tested students are collected.Then,with the help of SPSS statistical software,descriptive statistical analysis and independent-samples t test are carried out on the questionnaire results to analyze the current situation of students’ WTC in English and the differences among students in different gender and English level.Secondly,the differences in classroom communication behavior between high and low WTC students are analyzed.Finally,the interview and classroom observation results are analyzed and discussed,therefore,qualitative analysis can verify and supplement the results of the questionnaire.The results are as follows:(1)The overall willingness of senior high school students to communicate in English in the classroom is above average.Among the four types of classroom interaction,the order of students’ WTC from high to low is: teacher-whole class interaction,dyadic interaction,group interaction,and teacher-individual interaction.(2)There are no significant differences in WTC in English between students of different genders.There are significant differences in WTC in English among students of different levels.The willingness to communicate in English of high group students is significantly higher than low group students in terms of overall and various types of classroom interaction.(3)There are significant differences between students with high WTC and students with low WTC in three aspects: frequency of communication,consistency of communication behavior,and risk-taking spirit.Based on the above findings,some suggestions to improve students’ willingness to communicate in English are put forward from the perspectives of teachers and students.