A Survey On Willingness To Communicate In English Of Non-English-Major Undergraduates

In view of the important role of L2 willingness to communicate in learners' foreign language learning and communicative practice,this study investigates and studies the WTC in English among non-English major undergraduates both inside and outside the classroom.The purpose of the study is to objectively and comprehensively understand the students' willingness to communicate in English and to provide useful reference for universities and college English teachers in improving the level of students' willingness to communicate,thereby further improving students' communication skills.This study is a survey of the willingness to communicate in English among non-English major undergraduates inside and outside the classroom.The author takes the Pyramid Model of Variables influencing L2 WTC inside and outside the classroom proposed by Professor Shi Yunzhang as the theoretical basis.Based on the full review of existing literature,it focuses on three specific issues:(1)The general tendency of non-English major undergraduates' WTC in English?(2)Does learners' WTCI and WTCO differ across gender,major and English level?(3)How is students' L2 WTCI and WTCO influenced by the difference in the starting time of receiving English instruction?Through the investigation of 268 non-English major undergraduates from Guangxi Normal University,Jiangxi Normal University and Yunnan Normal University,the data of non-English major undergraduates' willingness to communicate in English and relevant factors were collected.The questionnaire for this study was adapted from Mac Intyre et al.(2003),Xin Yanqing(2006)and Shi Yunzhang(2008).The willingness to communicate inside the classroom scale was compiled from two dimensions of situation and task,and the The willingness to communicate inside the classroom scale was compiled from the two dimensions of the interlocutors and the English speaking situation.Five students were selected from the students who participated in the survey.The main findings of the study are as follows:(1)Non-English-major undergraduates have a moderate to low level of WTCI and WTCO.Whether Inside or outside the classroom,students are most willing to speak English when the tasks require less cognitive demands and are psychologically safer,such as making a self-introduction and greeting English teacher or fellow students;and least willing to participate in English teacher involved activities,for example,ask for clarifications from the teacher in person and chat with English teachers in English after class.(2)Students' L2 WTCI and WTCO doesn't differ across gender and major,but there is a difference in learners' English level.Students with high English level are more willing to communicate in English.(3)The difference in the starting time of receiving English instruction has no influence on students' L2 WTCI and WTCO,which demonstrates that Critical Period Hypothesis doesn't apply to the element of willingness to communicate.(4)Most students don't realize the importance and necessity of speaking English,let alone the willingness to communicate in English.And students have low tolerance of their language mistakes.This article has drawn the following implications from the research findings:(1)Teachers and English textbook designers should choose and sequence the activities or tasks in-class;(2)teachers' role should be facilitators,cooperators and classroom organizers.English instructors should try their best to teach in English and also provide as many opportunities as possible with students and give more positive evaluation to make their students feel more confident about their English and minimize the negative comments;(3)teachers to do their best to create an open,lively,mistakes-tolerance atmosphere for students.And during this process,teachers should also deliver an idea of making fewer comparison with others and possessing high tolerance of language mistakes to students;(4)Educational technology is constantly updated.Electronic lesson plans and videos have entered the English classroom.Teachers and colleges should use multimodal teaching methods to help establish the meaning of classroom communication and promote students' willingness to communicate;(5)colleges and teachers should make students realize the importance of WTCO;(6)universities should create better environments for students to communicate in English outside the classroom.In general,this study has important inspiration for college English teachers' understanding of the students' willingness to communicate and their main influencing factors and adopting effective measures to improve the students' willingness to communicate inside and outside the classroom and their practical communicative abilities.However,due to many subjective and objective factors,this study still has some limitations,such as the size and number of the sample can be enlarged;research methods can include observation;the demonstration and analysis of implications can be further improved.