Exploring CSL Learners’ Willingness To Communicate In Online Lessons

Willingness to communicate(WTC),a significant topic in second language acquisition,is widely believed to have an effect on the actual communicative behaviors.Hence,numerous researches have been conducted to address the level of WTC and factors that may influence WTC in the L2 classroom context over the past two decades.Due to the spread of COVID-19,lots of domestic Chinese language educators had got to adopt online teaching and utilized online synchronous meeting tools such ZOOM,Tecent Conferencing and Class In.However,only a few studies have been made to investigate WTC in Chinese in the context of online classroom at all.To fill in the gap,three research questions have been designed:(1)the general characteristics of foreign students’ learning behaviors;(2)the level of foreign students’ WTC in Chinese in online classes;(3)factors that may affect learner’s WTC in Chinese in online classes.In order to address the above questions,both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been employed.After conducting one-to-one interviews with 9foreign students,and collecting 122 valid questionnaires,we can draw the following conclusions:(1)Foreign students "sometimes" participate in online Chinese communication activities,while the frequency of students’ oral communication is higher than that of students’ text communication.The video function is not fully utilized.And respondents are confronted with the problem of loneliness.(2)In total,foreign students have good ideal L2 self and Chinese learning experience,high level of self-perceived communicative competence(SPCC)and L2 enjoyment,and low level of L2 anxiety.There is no difference between the WTC in oral and the WTC in text.(3)The factors influencing foreign students’ WTC can be divided into 4 types,including personal background such as personality,experience of learning in China and cultural background;personal emotional factors such as SPCC,L2 anxiety and L2enjoyment;classroom environment factors such as teachers,interlocutors and classroom atmosphere;and learning conditions factors such as learning environment.This study makes contribution to the empirical investigation of L2 WTC,as it examines Chinese language education in the context of online synchronous videoconferencing.Meanwhile,exploring the learning psychology and the behaviors of foreign students in online classroom can help improve the efficiency of online Chinese teaching.Thus,the study owns both theoretical and practical significance.