Article: ‘JHS students’ willingness to communicate: dyads, meetings, public speaking and with strangers’ by David Ockert

[ELTWeekly Volume 6, Issue 4 | February 17, 2014]

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In the November/December issue of The Language Teacher, internationally renowned author and educator Jack Richards commented that “Affect refers to a number of emotional factors that may influence language learning and language use” (Richards, 2012, p. 49). These emotions may range from excitement and enthusiasm to boredom, stress and anxiety. The first two are commonly found in extroverted students everywhere, while the latter three are very often present in introverted and reticent Japanese students. In addition, the latter may hinder students desire to communicate in English. As Richards (2012) mentions, “Two important aspects of affect are anxiety and willingness to communicate.” (p. 49). Therefore, this paper reports the results from a willingness to communicate (WTC; McCroskey & Baer, 1985) survey, which tests for perceived Anxiety (nervousness), WTC and Confidence or perceived competence (see Hashimoto, 2002, p. 57) for 30 scenarios requiring the use of English. It has been found that “both language anxiety and perceived competence influence(d) WTC” (Hashimoto, 2002, p. 40).

The results for this study reveal a low level of Confidence to speak English, WTC in English, and a high degree of Anxiety about using English in various contexts and with different types of receivers. Finally, a regression analysis determined whether Confidence and / or Anxiety are predictors of WTC amongst the students of JHS age and English learning level. The data presented herein indicate that Confidence has a strong impact on student WTC and are consistent with the results of research involving Japanese in high school (Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, & Shimizu, 2004) and university students (Hashimoto, 2002; Heffernan & Otoshi, 2011). The results and implications are discussed.

Willingness to communicate

The willingness to communicate (WTC) construct was first presented by McCroskey & Baer (1985). Since then, McCroskey and his associates have researched and reported extensively on WTC and the implications for second language (L2) learning (McCroskey, 1992; McCroskey & Richmond, 1987, 1991). WTC captures the major implications that affective variables such as anomie (personal unrest, feelings of alienation and/or anxiety that come from lack of purpose or ideals), communication apprehension, introversion, reticence, self-esteem and shyness have in regards to their influence on communicative behavior (McCroskey & Richmond, 1991), resulting in the individual’s “readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2”  according to MacIntyre, Clement, Dörnyei and Noels (1998, p. 547). McCroskey (1992) has broken down the interactions into contexts (public, meeting, group and dyad) and receiver (stranger, acquaintance and friend). In his research, the results for the various contexts differed by culture (McCroskey, 1992, pp. 19-20).

Yashima and her associates have conducted research on WTC in the JEFL context. For example, the relationships between motivational orientations, motivation and proficiency (Yashima, 2000) and the relationship between motivation and willingness to communicate amongst university students (Yashima, 2002); the influence of attitudes and affect on willingness to communicate and L2 communication amongst high school students (Yashima et al., 2004); and the interplay of classroom anxiety, intrinsic motivation, and gender amongst university students (Yashima et al., 2009).

In her 2002 study, Yashima found a positive, causal relationship between a latent variable, motivation (which was comprised of two indicator variables, desire and intensity) and the latent variable communication confidence (comprised of two indicator variables – communication anxiety, aka nervousness, and perceived communication competence) in the L2, which led to WTC. In addition, Yashima (2004) found that “self-confidence in communication in an L2 is crucial for a person to be willing to communicate in that L2” (p. 141).

The role of Confidence as a predictor variable for WTC has also been found by Hashimoto (2002), Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide & Shimizu, (2004). In addition, Matsuoka’s (2004, 2005) results indicate that while WTC and proficiency are not correlated, confidence may predict English proficiency amongst Japanese college students.

Since it remains the goal of The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT; 2003) “To develop students’ basic communication abilities such as listening, speaking, reading and writing, deepening their understanding of language and culture and fostering a positive attitude toward communication through foreign languages” (p. 1), the research results presented herein may help educators better understand exactly what students’ attitudes are toward English language based on context and audience.

The current study examines Japanese JHS students’ levels of Anxiety, Confidence and WTC to use English in various communication contexts (dyads, small groups, meetings and public speaking) and three types of receivers (strangers, acquaintances and friends; see Barraclough, Christophel & McCroskey, 1988; McCroskey, 1992; and McCroskey & Baer, 1985). In addition, a regression analysis will determine to what extent either Confidence and / or Anxiety are predictors of WTC.

Methods

Participants

The participants were 142 second year Japanese students at a junior high school in Nagano City, Japan. Two surveys were discarded since they were incomplete; the final sample consisted of 68 male and 72 female (N=140) students. Students were either 13 or 14 years old with the majority having reached 14 years at the time the surveys were administered.

Instrument

The WTC survey consists of three sections. The first section uses a 6-point Likert scale to test for confidence and asks the students to rate 30 scenarios related to using English in various circumstances from 1 (I absolutely don’t think I could do that) to 6 (I think I could do that easily). The second section tests for nervousness and asks the students to rate the same scenarios from 1 (I would definitely not be nervous) to 6 (I’d be extremely nervous). The third section, for desire (to communicate in English), asks the respondents to rate the same scenarios from 1 (If I could, I’d run away!) to 6 (I would absolutely want to try that!). The surveys were translated into Japanese. Back-translation was used to determine the accuracy of the translation. The English and Japanese language surveys are in Appendices A and B, respectively.

The WTC survey for this project was adapted from Matsuoka (2004), which was adapted from Sick et al. (2002). It has three sections, which test for Confidence, Anxiety and WTC. These sub-sections are similar to those developed and used by Barraclough, Christophel and McCroskey (1988), McCroskey, (1992), McCroskey and Baer (1985) and McCroskey and Richmond (1987; 1991).

Procedures

The surveys were completed during regular class time in March, 2011. Student participation was voluntary and anonymous. The questionnaires were completed without a time limit. Both the SDT and the WTC surveys were completed in Japanese. The students were asked to provide their age and gender only. All students agreed to participate in the study. Grades were not affected by participating in the project.

Results

Means, standard deviations, correlation coefficients and Cronbach’s alpha of the WTC survey challenging items are presented in Table 1. These individual items are the four with the least amount of Confidence and WTC, and the most Anxiety. For these results, Confidence and WTC are in tandem: the higher the score, the more the participants endorse possessing this trait. On the other hand, for Anxiety, a low score indicates a low amount of this variable. In other words, low Anxiety and high Confidence and WTC scores are ideal. These results reveal four scenarios that are particularly difficult or emotionally challenging for these students: Item 17, Greet a group of medical professionals who came from the United States to visit your school; item 19, Stand in front of your class and talk about your memories of your summer vacation for two minutes; item 21, Take a small number of English speaking people sightseeing in Tokyo for one day; and item 30, Participate in an English language speech contest for Japanese students. Judges are native speakers. Not surprisingly, these scenarios involve speaking in public, in a group and with strangers.

Table 1. The WTC survey sub-section Cronbach’s alpha and challenging items’ Mean and SD (N=140)

Individual item statements	Confidence	Anxiety	WTC
(Whole sub-section Cronbach’s alpha)	(.94)	(.96)	(.93)
17 Greet a group of medical professionals who came from the United States to visit your school.	2.00 [1.40]	4.78 [1.61]	1.77 [1.33]
19 Stand in front of your class and talk about your memories of your summer vacation for two minutes.	2.21 [1.28]	4.27 [1.71]	1.94 [1.15]
21 Take a small number of English speaking people sightseeing in Tokyo for one day.	1.96 [1.34]	4.48 [1.65]	1.98 [1.38]
30 Participate in an English language speech contest for Japanese students. Judges are native speakers.	1.80 [1.24]	4.64 [1.81]	1.64 [1.16]

In order to test the construct validity of the WTC survey scales, a principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted to test if the items on the three scales would cluster into sub-components as factors, hypothetically by either the context (public or private) or partner (dyad or group). Unfortunately, the scree plot indicated that two components could be extracted; three components accounted for more than 50% of the variance; and seven components had eigenvalues greater than one. Additionally, the rotated component matrix failed to converge in 25 iterations. These results indicate that a more detailed attempt will have to be made to account for the internal validity of the instrument. The correlation matrix of Confidence, Anxiety and WTC can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2. The correlation matrix of the three affective variables (N=140)

	Mean	SD	Confidence	Anxiety	WTC
(Cronbach’s alpha)			(.94)	(.96)	(.91)
1 Confidence	2.66	1.52	1
2 Anxiety	3.78	1.68	-.41*	1
3 WTC	2.34	1.38	.73*	-.36	1

*Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

In order to determine the antecedents of WTC to communicate in English, a regression analysis with WTC as the dependent variable was undertaken. Confidence and Anxiety were the independent variables. The only independent variable showing a significant predictive influence on WTC was Confidence, as shown in Table 3. 

Table 3. The result of regression analysis on WTC, confidence and anxiety (dependent variable: WTC)

Step	Variables entered	R squared	beta	t	P
1	Confidence	.53	.53	9.86	.000

Discussion and conclusions

The students surveyed for this research project indicated a reluctance to use English in dyads with native speakers, and in front of a group, whether the group is made up of their peers or native speakers of English. Yet, previous results in the above mentioned studies have also shown that Japanese students are strongly motivated to learn English. Additional questions might ask, “Why would they hesitate to use their language skills in certain situations?” and “What can educators do to alleviate nervousness, increase confidence and desire to use English under similar conditions?” For example, in Yashima’s (2002) study, no significant path was found from L2 learning motivation to WTC. However, a significant path (.41) was found from motivation to L2 communication confidence. Future research questions might inquire as to what type of activities the students enjoy and what, if any, correlations exist between Confidence, Anxiety, WTC and approaches to pedagogy in the EFL JHS classroom in Japan. In addition, another line of inquiry may show that the ability to increase student Confidence, and therefore WTC, may improve student spoken language fluency – a primary goal of the Japanese education system (MEXT, 2003). Teacher / facilitators may try and involve the students in ‘low-anxiety’ activities in pairs and one-on-one interviews with assistant language teachers (ALTs) to lower anxiety and gradually increase confidence, too.

There are several limitations to the present study. First, the data presented herein is from self-reported surveys and not observations of actual behavior. Second, the students are all from the same school and therefore a sample of convenience. Therefore the results should not be generalized to Japanese JHS students; however, since the results are similar to those found by other researchers both in Japan and abroad, it can be taken that Confidence is the greatest predictor of WTC for this age group. Also, the students were not aggregated for gender in this study, but a future study could certainly take this into consideration.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the students and teachers who helped with this research project; Bob Calfee for his assistance with the statistical analysis; and the members of JALT, as this project was made possible with the aid of a JALT Research Grant. Any errors are the author’s.

References

Barraclough, R. A., Christophel, D. M., & McCroskey, J. C. (1988). Willingness to communicate: A cross-cultural investigation. Communication Research Reports, 5(2), 187-192.

Clement, R., Baker, S. C., & MacIntyre, P. E. (2003). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The effects of context, norms and vitality. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22(2), 190-209.

DOI: 10.1171 O26192TXO3255a27

Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The Role of Attitudes and Motivation. London, GB: Edward Arnold.

Hashimoto, Y. (2002). Motivation and willingness to communicate as predictors of reported L2 use: The Japanese ESL context. Second Language Studies, 20(2), 29-70.

Otoshi, J., & Heffernan, N. (2011, September). An analysis of a hypothesized model of EFL students’ motivation based on self-determination theory. The Asian EFL Journal, 12(3), 66-86.

MacIntyre, P. D., Clement, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to    communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. Modern Language Journal, 82, 545–562.

Matsuoka, R. (2005). Willingness to communicate among Japanese college students. In Proceedings of  the 10^th Conference of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics (pp. 165-176). Retrieved April 12, 2011 from http://www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/PAAL10/pdfs/matsuoka.pdf

Matsuoka, R. (2004). Willingness to communicate in English among Japanese college students. In Proceedeings of the 9^th Conference of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics (pp. 165-176). Retrieved September 25, 2010 from

http://www.paaljapan.org/ resources/proceedings/PAAL9/pdf/Matsuoka.pdf

McCroskey, J. C. (1992). Reliability and validity of the willingness to communicate scale. Communication Quarterly, 40, 16-25.

McCroskey, J. C., & Baer, J. E. (1985, November). Willingness to communicate: The construct and its measurement. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Speech Communication Association, Denver, CO.

McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1987). Willingness to communicate. In J. C. McCroskey, & J. A. Daly (Eds.), Personality and interpersonal communication (pp. 129-156). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1991). Willingness to communicate: A cognitive view. In    M. Both-Butterfield (Ed.), Communication, cognition and anxiety (pp. 19–44).  Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

MEXT. (2003). The course of study for lower secondary school. Retrieved on February 23, 2011 from

< http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/03/17/1303755_013.pdf >

Richards, J. C. (2012). Some affective factors in Language teaching. The Language Teacher, 36(6), 49-50.

Sick, J. & Nagasaka, J. P. (2000). A test of your willingness to communicate in English (Japanese version): Unpublished questionnaire.

Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The Japanese EFL context. Modern Language Journal, 86, 55–66.

Yashima, T., Zenuk-Nishide, L., & Shimizu, K. (2004). The influence of attitudes and affect on    willingness to communicate and second language communication. Language Learning, 54, 119-152.

Author Biodata

 

David Ockert has a BA in Japanese and pre-law from James Madison College, Michigan State University and a MEd from Temple University. When not enjoying outdoor time with his family in Nagano, he enjoys classroom research and sharing the results with others.

Appendix A.  The WTC survey sub-section Cronbach’s alpha, item mean scores and standard deviations (N=140)

	Sub-section affective variable tested (Whole sub-section Cronbach’s alpha)	Confidence* (.94)	Anxiety** (.96)	WTC* (.93)
1)	Asking a Japanese teacher for a copy of an audio recording.	3.24 (1.36)	2.93 (1.39)	2.96 (1.29)
2)	Complaining to a Japanese teacher that the speed of the listening test was too quick to catch.	2.85 (1.67)	3.18 (1.58)	2.58 (1.49)
3)	Complaining to a native teacher that the speed of the listening test was too quick to catch.	2.36 (1.36)	3.68 (1.67)	2.17 (1.16)
4)	Giving a reply for an American television program covering student life in Japan.	2.31 (1.37)	4.57 (1.59)	2.38 (1.64)
5)	Making a telephone call in order to make a reservation at a hotel in English speaking country.	2.34 (1.36)	4.21 (1.58)	2.17 (1.22)
6)	Interviewing a native English speaker for an article in the school paper.	3.17 (1.36)	3.62 (1.44)	2.71 (1.34)
7)	Asking a pair work partner for the time now.	3.85 (1.70)	2.68 (1.43)	3.17 (1.44)
8)	Speaking to a foreigner sitting next to you on the train.	2.16 (1.52)	4.24 (1.67)	2.09 (1.36)
9)	Asking a native English speaking teacher the meaning of a word.	3.55 (1.47)	3.17 (1.44)	3.08 (1.34)
10)	Making a phone call to invite a friend who can speak only English to a party.	2.44 (1.40)	3.69 (1.66)	2.34 (1.27)
11)	Asking a native teacher for a handout given when you were absent from class.	3.05 (1.45)	3.16 (1.52)	2.70 (1.17)
12)	Talking to your pair work partner about a TV program which you watched.	3.09 (1.66)	3.07 (1.55)	2.68 (1.43)
13)	Stand in front of the entire class and talk about a TV program which you watched.	2.24 (1.33)	4.19 (1.73)	1.99 (1.31)
14)	Helping a foreigner that looks troubled because he cannot read a restaurant menu.	2.66 (1.45)	4.06 (1.58)	2.54 (1.39)
15)	Asking a foreigner for the time when you do not know it.	3.06 (1.60)	3.62 (1.57)	2.76 (1.36)
16)	Help a troubled foreigner because he cannot understand what the salesclerk says at the supermarket.	2.61 (1.35)	3.96 (1.49)	2.58 (1.38)
17)	Greet a group of medical professionals who came from the United States to visit your school.	2.00 (1.40)	4.78 (1.61)	1.77 (1.33)
18)	In front of your class, answer a native teacher’s questions about your trip during summer vacation.	2.34 (1.37)	4.19 (1.63)	2.08 (1.26)
19)	Stand in front of your class and talk about your memories of your summer vacation for two minutes.	2.21 (1.28)	4.27 (1.71)	1.94 (1.15)
20)	To buy a rare CD sold only overseas, call a CD store in the United States by telephone to order one.	2.39 (1.40)	4.19 (1.67)	2.21 (1.30)
21)	Take a small number of English speaking people sightseeing in Tokyo for one day.	1.96 (1.34)	4.48 (1.65)	1.98 (1.38)
22)	Call your host family and thank them for letting you stay with them.	2.55 (1.36)	4.09 (1.51)	2.54 (1.39)
23)	Tell your pair work partner in English the way to a place using a map.	2.59 (1.45)	3.63 (1.53)	2.45 (1.28)
24)	Say five English words which start with S to your pair work partner.	3.80 (1.68)	2.66 (1.52)	3.23 (1.54)
25)	Ask a native English speaking teacher to copy a CD.	2.64 (1.37)	3.54 (1.58)	2.38 (1.13)
26)	Ask the meaning of a word to a Japanese teacher using classroom English.	2.91 (1.35)	3.21 (1.49)	2.61 (1.15)
27)	Stand and tell your entire class five words using classroom English.	2.61 (1.49)	3.81 (1.67)	2.11 (1.25)
28)	Talk to your pair work partner about your memories of summer vacation for two minutes.	2.49 (1.40)	3.60 (1.68)	2.21 (1.32)
29)	Help a foreigner who looks troubled at the station.	2.43 (1.35)	4.25 (1.61)	2.24 (1.34)
30)	Participate in an English language speech contest for Japanese students. Judges are native speakers.	1.80 (1.24)	4.64 (1.81)	1.64 (1.16)
	Adapted from Matsuoka (2004), which was adapted from Sick et al. (2002).

*The six lowest scores (in bold) indicate the scenarios in which students have the least amount of confidence and desire to speak.

**The six highest scores (in bold) indicate the scenarios in which the students would feel the most nervous and are in bold face.

Appendix B. The Japanese language version of the WTC survey