On Willingness To Communicate Among Chinese Non-English Major Freshmen EFL Learners

Chinese English learners have long been considered as good test-takers but poor speakers. How to improve students' oral communication skills and competence has attracted great attention among English researchers and teachers. With this question in mind, the present research starts to find answer, with a focus on learners' affect and individual difference.Affective factor has long being studied in the field of second language acquisition. Individual difference has attracted more and more attentions in these years. A recent addition to the affective family is willingness to communicate (WTC). WTC is emerging as a concept to account for individuals' first language and second language communication. McCrosky, Mclntyre, and Yashima are pioneers in this field.This study examined relations among L2 learning and L2 communication variables in the Chinese English as a foreign language context using a framework developed upon the WTC model. A total of 450 students participated in the formal study in the fall semester, 2005. L2 learning motivation scale, L2 communication apprehension scale, WTC in L2 scale, Self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) scale and a background questionnaire were utilized to collect the data. The SPSS version 11.0 for windows was administered to computer the data collected. Descriptive statistic, Pearson product-moment correlation, stepwise multiple regression were used to analyze the data at p<.05 level. The major findings of the present study were illustrated. The result is believed to benefit college English teaching in China.