Conceptualizing Willingness to Communicate in a L2: A Situational Model of L2 Confidence and Affiliation
1998/12/01 by PETER D. MACINTYRE, Peter D. MacIntyre, RICHARD CLÉMENT +4 · 2,018 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Affect (linguistics) #Communication #Communicative competence #Competence (human resources) #Discourse Analysis in Language Studies #EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning #Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies #Linguistics #Pedagogy #Psychology #Situational ethics #Social psychology #Willingness to communicate
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb05543.x
published in Modern Language Journal 82(4), 545-562 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 1998/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract
Why do some students seek, while others avoid, second language (L2) communication? Many language teachers have encountered students high in linguistic competence who are unwilling to use their L2 for communication whereas other students, with only minimal linguistic knowledge, seem to communicate in the L2 whenever possible. Despite excellent communicative competence, spontaneous and sustained use of the L2 is not ensured. A colleague, who teaches a L2 and whose L2 competence is excellent, is well known to avoid “like the plague” L2 communication in social settings. A related observation is that many learners have noticed that their willingness to communicate (WTC) varies considerably over time and across situations. Our aim in this article is twofold. First we wish to provide an account of the linguistic, communicative, and social psychological variables that might affect one's “willingness to communicate.” As demonstrated in the text below, and examination of WTC offers the opportunity to integrate psychological, linguistic, and communicative approaches to L2 research that typically have been independent of each other. We view the WTC model as having the potential to provide a useful interface between these disparate lines of inquiry. Our second goal is to suggest potential relations among these variables by outlining a comprehensive conceptual model that may be useful in describing, explaining, and predicting L2 communication. In an effort to move beyond linguistic or communicative competence as the primary goal of language instruction, this article represents an overt attempt to combine these disparate approaches in a common theme, that is, proposing WTC as the primary goal of language instruction.
Citations
Cited by
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- Willingness to Communicate in a Second Language
- Testing a model of growth mindset, ideal L2 self, boredom, and WTC in an EFL context
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- Introduction to the special issue on individual differences in foreign language learning
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- Willingness to communicate: can online chat help?1
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- Impact of the Dogme ELT Methodology on Sixth-Grade Students’ Willingness to Communicate
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- The Effects of Virtual Reality Infused Instruction on Elementary School Students’ English-Speaking Performance, Willingness to Communicate, and Learning Autonomy
- A Multidimensional Perspective on Individual Differences in Multilingual Learners' L2 Chinese Speech Production. [europepmc]
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- Commentary: Chinese as a Second Language Multilinguals' Speech Competence and Speech Performance: Cognitive, Affective, and Sociocultural Perspectives. [europepmc]
- A Study of the Relationship Between Students' Global Perspective and Willingness to Communicate in English at an English Medium Instruction University in China. [europepmc]
- Toward the favorable consequences of academic motivation and L2 enjoyment for students' willingness to communicate in the second language (L2WTC). [europepmc]
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- The Roles of Growth Language Mindset, Metacognitive Strategies, and Language Learning Self-Efficacy in Predicting L2 Willingness to Communicate: A Network Analysis and a Chain Mediation Model. [europepmc]
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