A Study Of English And Non-english Majors’ Willingness To Communicate Inside And Outside English Classroom

Since the1950s, foreign language researchers have gradually come to realizethat the process of foreign language learning is not a simple learning process ofgrammar and language skills (Li Fu2012). One must communicate in the targetlanguage in order to learn the second language well. Thus, Willingness tocommunicate plays an important role in English language learning. Therefore, it isnecessary and urgent to help language learners and educators have acomprehensive understanding on willingness to communicate.This study aims to investigate the trait-like, psychological and situationalfactors of students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in Chinese EFL context.80third-year English and80non-English majors from a Chinese college were involvedin this research. It adopted the “L2WTC inside and outside the classroomquestionnaire” developed by Shi (2008) and an interview. In order to answer theresearch questions, the present study used both the quantitative and qualitativemethods. The study explored the main characteristics and influencing factors ofEnglish majors and non-English majors inside and outside the classroom. Clearly, theresearch objectives are as follows:(1) the main characteristics of learners’ WTC inEnglish inside and outside the classroom (2) the difference in WTC inside and outsidethe classroom between English and non-English majors.(3) The factors affecting L2WTC both inside and outside the classroom. By answering these questions, it couldhelp the researchers have a better understanding of students’ willingness inside andoutside the classroom.The major findings showed that:(1) With respect to the main characteristics ofwillingness to communicate, students displayed a moderately low level L2of WTC.Meanwhile, L2WTC inside the classroom is a little higher than WTC outside theclassroom.(2) Non-English majors are less willing to communicate both insideand outside the classroom than English majors.(3)Seven main factors (Classroomatmosphere, English proficiency, self-confidence, teacher, communicationenvironment, personality, and motivation) affecting students’ willingness tocommunicate inside and outside the classroom were found in this study.Based on the above research results, the author put forward three suggestions for English teaching. First of all, the teachers should create a lessthreatening and safe atmosphere to reduce students’ anxiety and help students tobuild self-confidence. Besides, the teachers should pay attention to protecting thestudents’ self-esteem to encourage all the students to speak in classroom. Secondly,The English teachers can adopt many kinds of methods to make the English coursemore enjoyable and appropriate for the students’ needs and design variety activities interms of students’ interest. Thirdly, the teachers should provide some software andgive them some websites for students to improve their WTC outside the classroom.