Understanding and Developing the Willingness to Communicate Peter D. MacIntyre Cape Breton University Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada Presented at EMUN October, 2007
Jan 16, 2015
Understanding and
Developing the Willingness to Communicate
Peter D. MacIntyre
Cape Breton University
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Presented at EMUN
October, 2007
2
Plan for this workshop
� Brief review of underpinnings of WTC theory (20 minutes)
� Focus on the choice to communicate or not
� Brief review of studies of WTC (10 minutes)
� Activity showing situational variation in WTC (20 minutes)
� Group discussion of factors affecting WTC (35 minutes)
� Discussion of personal experiences with high and low WTC
� Discussion of ways to alter the situation to increase WTC
� Focus on the personal experiences of people attending the workshop
� Summary and Conclusions (5 minutes)
3
When does a language learner
become a language speaker? (observations from a paper forthcoming in Modern Language Journal)
� Moment of decision reflects a collision of
motivation and language anxiety
� implicates other process as well
� Volitional Action, Freely chosen
� Sometimes mindless, sometimes mindful
� Reflects the ‘self’
� Four Studies
� Personal Experiences of attendees
4
Language anxiety
� 3 levels of concepts
� Trait
� Situation-specific
� State
� 3 levels of prediction
� Poor
� Very good
� Not well known
“Worry and Emotionality (usually negative) associated with L2 learning”
Observation #1: The relationships among variables under study in
SLA may change substantially when concepts are defined at different levels of abstraction (e.g., state, situation-specific or trait levels).
5
Motivation
� Gardner’s SE model
� Integrative Motivate
� Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System
� ‘Ideal’ Self
� ‘Ought to’ Self
6
Gardner’s integrative motive
Integrativeness
Attitudes toward
the learning
situation
Motivation Language
Achievement
Language Aptitude
Integrative motivation:
other other
Observation #2: The major motivation to learn another language is to
develop a communicative relationship with people from another cultural group.
7
Expansion of motivation concepts
in SLA
� Self-determination theory (Noels)
� Physiological approaches (Schummann)
� Learner Autonomy (Ushioda)
� Task Motivation (Julkunen)
� Process Model (Dörnyei & Otto)
� L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei)
� Critical-Qualitative Perspective (Norton)
8
Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational
Self System
� Rephrasing of integrative motivation is needed to account for:
�Learning situations without contact
�World English has no ethnic group
� Integrative and instrumental co-occur
� Ideal Self (what we wish to be become)
� Ought to self (what we should become)
� L2 learning experience (past L2 behavior)
9
On the nature of ‘the self’
� The Self:
“What began as an apparently singular, static, lump-like
entity has become a multi-dimensional, multifaceted dynamic structure that is systematically implicated in
all aspects of social information processing.”
� (Markus & Wurf, 1987, pg 301).
• Identity – multifaceted, dynamic
• Motivation - multifaceted, dynamic
10
Possible Selves (PS) as motivation
� PS are views of oneself in the future� Both wanted and feared
� Theory emphasizes balance between wanted & feared
� Vague hopes and specific expectations
� The vision of a new self is motivating� Articulate goals
� Links behaviour to goal
� Provide potential incentives for actions
� The more specific they are, the better they guide behaviour (Oyserman et al., 2004)
11
Motivation differs over time
� Different motivational processes occur before, during, and after behavior.
� Motivational approaches will implicate a time frame, for example
� Focus on longer lasting process (integrative)
� Focus on rapidly changing events (tasks)
Observation #3:The manner in which motivation affects language
learning changes as the time frame under study changes.
12
Social and Individual Context
Affective-Cognitive Context
Motivational Propensities
Behavioural Intention
Communication
Behaviour
Situated Antecedents
Layer I
Layer II
Layer III
Layer IV
Layer VI
Layer VSocial
Situation
Intergroup
Attitudes
Intergroup Climate Personality
Communicative
Competence
L2
Self-Confidence
Interpersonal
Motivation
State
Communicative
Self-Confidence
Desire to
communicate with
a specific person
L2 Use
Willingness to
Communicate
Intergroup
Motivation
1
2
3 4
5 6 7
8 9 10
11 12
13
WTC concept
� Original L1 concept was ‘trait-like’
� Our concept proposes a ‘state’ of readiness
� Initiating communication is a matter of choice
� Volitional act
14
Volition
� Long history in psychology and philosophy
� Concept all but abandoned as issues of ‘free will’ were found intractable
� Offers the potential to study how multiple, sometimes contradictory impulses, affect action
Observation #4: Studying volitional choices demonstrates that
opposing processes (e.g., approach and avoidance) converge to affect second language communication.
15
Two studies on the process of
initiating communication
� MacIntyre, Babin & Clément (1999)�communication in both oral and written forms.
� MacIntyre, Clément & Noels, 2007� In familiar conditions, introverts learned more
and were more WTC than extraverts
� In moderately unfamiliar conditions, extraverts learned more and were more WTC than introverts
16
Effects of Extraversion and Familiarity of Study Situation
0
5
10
15
20
25
Very Similar Somew hat Similar Not at all Similar
Sco
re
Introvert
Extrovert
Posttest
State WTC
17
Two Focused Essay Studies
Baker & MacIntyre (2000)
� 200 English speaking students learning French,
regular and immersion programs
� Described 2 situations
� most willing
� least willing
� We looked for themes and noticed emotional
expression
18
Most willing
� Immersion students had weaker emotional reactions in these situations than non-immersion students
� Non-immersion students were pleased with small successes:
“My father has a tailoring and bridal shop… and one day a French speaking lady came in and my Dad’s wife can speak French but she was off that day, so I was able to help her [the lady] out enough so that she would come back.”
19
Least Willing
� Immersion students expressed stronger emotion in these situations
� In both immersion and non-immersion, the type of event that upset them most was a Francophone interlocutor switching to English� a dramatic rejection of volitional self-presentation, it
is ignominious
� unexpectedly, many reported this was a motivating experience
20
Second Focused Essay Study
� Again used Most / Least Willing
� Over 100 Anglophone and Francophone students in Ottawa
� strongly bilingual institution, bilingual city
� Typically, Francophones have higher more experience speaking English than Anglophones have speaking French
21
Most Willing
� Anglophones most willing in situations where the only other choice was silence (25% of situations described)� Interlocutor was expected to speak English if possible
� Anglophones said error correction increased and decreased WTC, depending on context (20% mentioned error correction).
“I’d be most willing if I had friends around me. I always felt comfortable in a classroom giving a speech. When you are out of the classroom I feel like people are analyzing me. I don’t mind when a teacher does it, but not an acquaintance.”
� Francophones were generally highly willing, especially if friends spoke English
22
Least Willing - Anglophones
� Anglophones described two situations:
� a lack of self-confidence in French (over 20%)
� speaking to strangers (over 20%)
� reported a feeling of being analyzed and
critiqued, especially for accent and grammar
� Recall William James’ account of the ‘cold outside’
as a paralyzing force.
23
Least Willing – Francophones
� Least willing with Francophones (50%)
� family, friends, etc.
� Political dimension, English poses a threat to the vitality of French
� Highly specific situational vocabulary
“Quand je dois parler de sujets tres precis ou je ne suis pas certains de l’exactitude des termes.” (“When I must talk about precise topics and I am not certain of the exact terminology.”)
24
At the moment of decision…
� Many factors can increase or decrease the likelihood of ‘crossing the Rubicon’� Psychological
� Pedagogical
� Situational
� Linguistic
� Sociopolitical
� The influence of these will vary, wax and wane over time
25
Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory
� Action is based on totality of co-existing, mutually interdependent facets.
� General life vs momentary influences� Momentary influences have greater impact on action
� Driving vs Restraining forces� Easier to modify action by reducing restraining
forces.� Anglophone speakers in Ottawa were clearly holding
back
26
Future research� Better understand the combinations of multiple driving
and restraining forces
� Focus on the moment, state-level processes
� Increases the complexity of the models� Wen & Clément (2003) additional restraining forces among
Chinese (based on deference and responsibility)
� Yashima (2002) found WTC predicted adjustment and satisfaction with a stay-abroad program
Observation #5: Future research in SLA should focus on the
momentary restraining forces that come into play when a speaker is choosing whether or not to initiate communication.
27
Summary: The ‘Observations’
#1: The relationships among variables under study in SLA may change substantially when concepts are defined at different levels of abstraction (e.g., state, situation-specific or trait levels).
#2: The major motivation to learn another language is to develop a communicative relationship with people from another cultural group.
28
Summary: The ‘Kernels of Wisdom’
#3: The manner in which motivation affects language learning changes as the time frame under study changes.
#4: Studying volitional choices demonstrates that opposing processes (e.g., approach and avoidance) converge to affect second language communication.
#5: Future research in SLA should focus on the momentary restraining forces that come into play when a speaker is choosing whether or not to initiate communication.
29
Workshop activities
� WTC most and least willing exercise (handout)
� WTC questions for the workshop participants (handout)
� WTC and possible selves (handout)
Willingness to Communicate:crossing the psychological
Rubicon from learning to communication.
Peter D. MacIntyre
Cape Breton University
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Presented at EMUN
October, 2007