A Comparative Study Of Non-english Majors' Willingness To Communicate In English In Flipped And Traditional Classroom

According to the domestic and international researches,in the English learning environment the stronger willingness to communicate(WTC)will stimulate the English learners to create or grasp more chances to communicate with others.That will effectively and efficiently help these learners to master a foreign language.Thus,WTC plays an important role in English learning and teaching.At present,the flipped classroom model is a research hotspot in English teaching reform.Flipped classroom has attracted much attention from researchers and teachers both at home and abroad.However,there are few studies on the impact of flipped classroom model on students' willingness to communicate in English teaching.Based on MacIntyre's(1998)and Wen & Clément's(2003)WTC theoretical models,the present study conducts a quantitative and qualitative research on 340 non-English freshmen of a university in Zhejiang province.The research instruments include questionnaires and interview.The research focuses on the following three questions:(1)What are the main characteristics of non-English majors' willingness to communicate in English in the classroom?(2)Whether there is significant difference in students' willingness to communicate between traditional and flipped class?(3)What are the main factors affecting non-English majors' willingness to communicate in the classroom?The major findings showed that:(1)The non-English majors in this study have a relatively modest English willingness to communicate,and there is big individual difference among the individuals.(2)The subjects' willingness to communicate is stronger in flipped class than in traditional class.However,the differences are not statistically significant.(3)The affecting factors of non-English majors' WTC include individual factors(personality,motivation,affiliation,positive expectation of evaluation,anxiety,self-perceived communication competence)and situational factors(classroom atmosphere,teacher support).The study is helpful for the language teachers to know more about the current states of college students' WTC and the influential factors.It is recommended that teachers should create a more relaxing and harmonious atmosphere to reduce students' anxiety and help students to improve their WTC and the actual communicative competence.