CC BY
18IRSTI 14.35.09
THE KAZAKH LEARNERS' WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH
M. Ye. Seitova, N. Ye. Bekmakhanbetova Khoja Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Turkistan, Kazakhstan meruyert.seitova@ayu.edu.kz. bnarki96@gmail.com
This study aims to investigate how willing Kazakh learners studying at English Philology Department at Khoja Akhmet Yassawi University are to communicate in English. and whether gender have an effect on their willingness to communicate (WTC). For these purposes of this study. both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used and a total of 30 A2-level students participated in the study. While the quantitative data were obtained through a questionnaire. the qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. The results showed that A2 level students were moderately willing to communicate. No statistically significant differences in their WTC levels were found with regard to their gender.
Keywords: willingness to communicate, language learning, language teaching, English as a foreign language, gender.
1. Introduction
With the increased importance given to improve learners' communicative skills in the language they are learning. more and more studies are being conducted in the field of second language teaching and acquisition. Learning a foreign language and being able to communicate in this language is the ultimate aim of most of the language learners.
However. there are some factors that affect this process. Learning a language is not just simply mastering vocabulary and grammar rules of the language. and this knowledge is not necessarily enough to communicate in that language. Such being the case. the construct of willingness to communicate (WTC) has been subjected to many studies. And only few studies were conducted in Kazakh context. Thus. we tried to to investigate how willing Kazakh learners studying at English Philology Department at Khoja AkhmetYassawi University are to communicate in English. and whether gender have an effect on their willingness to communicate (WTC).
2. Literature review
It is a construct that is thought to predict and explain learners' probability to engage in a conversation which has been studied by several scholars since the 1990s [1.4].
The term willingness to communicate (WTC) is used to refer to the desire to start communication when free to do so. McCroskey (1997) also explained WTC as "an individual's predisposition to initiate communication with others" [2,77].
According to Maclntyre and his colleagues (1998). there are several possible factors that can affect someone's willingness to communicate. Among these: they mentioned the quantity of people in the conversation. how formal the situation is. the level of the acquaintance of the interlocutor with the listeners. the conversation subject and so forth. However. they point out that the most significant variable that can affect the WTC is the language of communication and it can potentially affect the other variables.
Based on these previous findings. Maclntyre (1994) conducted another study by using causal modelling to examine the correlation among WTC and factors like alienation. anomie. introversion. anxiety. self-esteem and self-perceived communicative competence (SPCC). Based on the findings. a model was proposed in order to predict WTC. It was found out that the correlation among communication apprehension. SPCC. and WTC was very strong. These two variables were found to directly affect the level of WTC. (see figure 1) This finding suggested people tend to show more willingness to communicate when the SPCC is high and communication apprehension is low. Introversion. self-esteem and anomie were the variables that were found to cause CA and SPCC. and thus. they were indirectly contributing to WTC. MacIntyre (1994) also stated that WTC model may be utilized to observe
variability in different situations. This study was important in WTC studies as it studied the correlations among the variables that were supposed to affect WTC.
Figure 1.MacIntyre (1994)'s Model [3,140].
With the aim of extending the previous model, a further study was conducted by MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei, and Noels (1998). In their study, MacIntyre and his colleagues (2003) described WTC as "a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2" [4,600]. They also defined WTC as "the probability of engaging in communication when free to choose to do so". Contrary to previous studies on L1 WTC which conceptualized WTC as a personality trait, WTC was regarded as a situational variable with both enduring and transient influences by MacIntyre and his colleagues (1998). They also studied WTC in listening, writing and reading besides speaking.
Another study in Canadian context was conducted by MacIntyre, Baker,Clement and Donovan in order to study how age and gender affect L2 WTC,L2, anxiety, integrativeness, perceived competence and motivation. 268 grade 7, 8and 9 students of a French immersion programme took part in the study. Researches utilized a questionnaire consisting of eight scales in order to collect data. It was found out that WTC of the girls was higher than the boys. There was found an increase in perceived competence, WTC and frequency of communication fromgrade 7 to 8. However, they did not change from grade 8 to 9. There was no change in the level of anxiety. Finally, in all three grades, it was suggested that perceived competence had the strongest correlation with WTC.
Following year, Clement, Baker and MacIntyre (2003) did another study again in Canada to study the impacts of individual and contextual factors on L2 use. With this aim, they combined social context models and WTC models. The research was conducted with the participation of 130 Anglophone and 248 Francophone students studying at a bilingual university in Canada. By being the minority group, Francophone students were found to have higher WTC in L2 which is English for them. Also, they had higher second language confidence, higher L2 usage and interaction compared to English-speaking Anglophone students. Considering that French-speaking students were the minority in this setting, they had more chance to interact in L2 in their daily lives.
Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, and Shimizu (2004) carried out another study in Japanese context with the participation of 160 high school Japanese adolescent learners in Kyoto, Japan. They conducted two separate investigations with the aim of investigating the results and antecedents of WTC in L2. In the first investigation, a WTC model which suggested that WTC increased the frequency of communication and international posture had a direct effect on WTC was tested. It was found out that there was a direct path from learners' international posture to their WTC levels and communication frequency in second language. They also found that WTC was affected by motivation, personality, self-confidence and intergroup attitudes. The second investigation whose participants were 60 study-abroad program students concluded that students reported to have higher WTC before they left Japan tended to communicate more frequently with people from their host country. The result of the second investigation confirmed the first
investigation. The results of this study were totally parallel with Yashima's previous study from the aspects of the role of self-confidence, interest in international affairs, professions and activities on WTC in L2 [6,122].
In an Iranian setting, Zarrinabadi and Abdi (2011) worked with 67 intermediate students majoring in English Literature and Translation to examine the correlation between WTC of Iranian EFL students and their orientations of language learning. It was found that there was a significant correlation between WTC inside and outside the classroom and language learning orientations. It was also revealed that motivation had a significant impact on students' WTC [7,210].
In another study, Oz investigated the relationship between Big- Five personality traits and WTC with the participation of 168 university students. It was concluded that these big five traits might significantly increase WTC in second or foreign language learning. He found out that WTC, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively correlated. A positive correlation between participants' academic achievement and L2 WTC was also found [8,1480].
Cao and Wei investigated sixty two university students' willingness to communicate in Macau. Semi-structured interview was utilized as an instrument for this exploratory examination. The participants were posed inquiries with respect to willingness to communicate (WTC) utilizing various assortments of English in up close and personal correspondence and correspondence in the online life settings [9,6].
Lee and Lee studied the role of the L2 motivational self system on L2 willingness to communicate with Korea 105 university and 112 high school students. An explanatory sequential mixed method design was employed in the study. Results indicated that high school students, who displayed more grounded perfect L2 self and should L2 self, had a more significant level of L2 WTC inside and outside the classroom. However, university students showed a more grounded feeling of perfect L2 self, had a more elevated level of L2 WTC in both informative settings [10,14].
Yashima, MacIntyre and Ikeda conducted an interventional study with 21 Japanese university students and findings of the research revealed the differences in the frequency of self-initiated turns emerged through the interplay of enduring characteristics [11,7].
Dewaele and Dewaele identified the strongest predictors of WTC from 189 British pupils in two high-achieving London secondary schools studying mostly French, German and Spanish as FLs. Correlation analyses followed by multiple regression analyses showed that the strongest predictors of WTC were FL classroom anxiety, frequent FL use by the teacher, a positive attitude towards the FL[12,8].
Tavakoli and Davoudi investigated the effect of three independent variables of interlocutor, age and gender on the same construct of WTC orally. The results showed no interaction effect between any of pairs of variables but the main effect of interlocutor on WTC orally [13,5].
Along with them, the following studies have the same results. Khajavy, Ghonsooly, Hosseini Fatemi and Choi examined the interrelationships among WTC in English, communication confidence, motivation, classroom environment, attitudes toward learning English, and English language achievement. A total of 243 English-major university students in Iran completed a questionnaire. Results of the study indicated that classroom environment was the strongest direct predictor of L2WTC[14,9].
Khajavy, MacIntyre and Barabadi studied the relations between emotions, classroom environment, and willingness to communicate (WTC) using the advanced quantitative methodological procedure of doubly latent multilevel analysis. Findings of the study showed that a positive classroom environment is related to fostering WTC and enjoyment, while it reduces anxiety among students [15,19].
Suleimenova tried to find out whether EFL learners feel anxious or embarrassed while learning to speak English and what consequences the students reported. The results of the study stated that many students experience a feeling of uneasiness and anxiety when having to speak in the foreign language [15,9].
Upon reviewing the literature, it could be clearly seen that the WTC construct is an important variable in language education as it is considered as the last step before the actual communication in L2.Although it is a recently proposed concept in foreign language education, willingness to communicate has been attracted the attention of the researchers in the field of language teaching. Hence, studies have been conducted to examine WTC in different contexts and the effects of several variables on WTC have been examined. In order to explain the relationship among these variables, some WTC models have also
been proposed. The main focus of this study was to find out about Kazakh learners' WTC in English as there is a limited amount of studies conducted in the Kazakh EFL context.
3. Methodology
In this study. the following research questions were investigated:
1- What are the perceptions of Kazakh A2 level students of their willingness to communicate (WTC) in English?
2- How does the A2 students' level of WTC differ according to gender?
A questionnaire and semi-structured interview were conducted in order to collect data in the current study. 30 students from different A2-level classes were asked to participate in the questionnaire and interviews. These students were randomly chosen out of the participants who had already answered the questionnaire. Interviews were conducted only with those students that were willing to take part and in their own availability. At the beginning of the interviews. students were asked to share some background information. Each Interview lasted around 10 minutes and was recorded by a mobile phone. The interview language was Kazakh, participants' native language, as it was assumed that students would express themselves better in their native language. After the interviews were completed. the data were transcribed and translated by the researchers. The data for this study were collected in September and November 2019 during the fall term at English Philology department of Khoja AkhmetYassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University.
4. Findings
Research Question 1: What are the perceptions of A2 level Kazakh students of their willingness to communicate (WTC) in English? For the first research question. a 12-item WTC questionnaire was utilized to measure the level of WTC of the students and the collected data were analysed by SPSS descriptive analysis tool. It was revealed that students were moderately willing to communicate (M= 61.08). They were most willing to give a presentation in English to a group of friends (M= 70.03). Talking in English to friends (item 6) and talking to a small group of friends in English (item 12) were the next two items students were showing higher WTC. Furthermore. students were least willing to talk in English in a large meeting among strangers (M= 53.35). It was also shown that they were more willing to communicate with friends and acquaintances compared to strangers. Also. they tended to choose small groups to communicate instead of large groups. More than half of the participating students (N = 16) reported that they were willing to communicate in English. There were also few students (N = 4) that mentioned they were not willing to communicate in English at all. Among the interviewees. there were also few students (N = 5) who claimed to be highly willing to communicate in English. Some of those more willing students mentioned that they had foreign friends at school that they communicated with in English. Others said that they wanted to communicate in English more. but they did not have much chance to do so in their daily life as they said they were surrounded by Kazakh people. Also. some students said that they wanted to be able to communicate fluently in English. but they did not do much for this inside and outside the class. Below are some excerpts from students with different levels of WTC about their perceptions of their own willingness to communicate:
I am very willing to communicate. Getting high grades from exams increases my WTC. I am willing to communicate more in English. I am planning to go abroad and also work part-time at a job that I can communicate in English (S22).
I am moderately willing to communicate. I do not communicate much in English. I feel more willing if the person I talk to have a similar level of English with me (S3).
I am not willing to communicate at all and I don't want to communicate in English. I usually avoid it. I speak English only if I have to. I am more comfortable with friends while having casual chats. I am not very interested in communicating in English (S2).
When students were asked about who they were more willing to communicate with. the most common answer was that they were most comfortable with friends and they were more willing to communicate when they felt comfortable. A big majority of them said that they were less comfortable and willing to communicate with strangers. Most of them (N = 18) reported that they would feel nervous
when they spoke with strangers, but when they were with friends and people they know, they could show better performance. Some students (N = 10) also said that they were willing to have foreign friends in order to communicate in English because they wanted to communicate with foreigners and they would find it less stressful if they were friends.
I am most willing to communicate. I like communicating with friends. I am more willing to communicate with close friends and in class and I want to have more chances to communicate in English, so I try to make friends with foreign students at our school (S24).
I am willing to communicate in English, but there are not many chances for it in Kazakhstan. I wish I had more chances. I am comfortable with friends. I would be more motivated if I had friends from different countries (S5).
In addition, although there were some foreign teachers and students at this school where the research was conducted, they were not the majority, so the students in classes were mostly Kazakh. Some students mentioned about this during the interview saying that it did not feel natural to communicate with a Kazakh teacher or a Kazakh friend in English just for the sake of an in-class activity.
Our teachers try to get us speak in English in class even with our Kazakh classmates. We do some communicative activities in class which require speaking in English, but speaking in English in a class in Kazakhstan with Kazakh people just does not feel natural (S11).
Finally, some students mentioned about the need to be able to communicate in English for business life. They pointed out that even if they would be working in Kazakhstan, they would need to use English to communicate as they wanted to work in big, international companies. Talking to business people from different countries, going abroad for business trips and giving presentations were the areas they mentioned that they would be required to communicate in English. That seemed like a major reason to be willing to communicate for students who were more willing to communicate.
I do my best to communicate in English as much as possible. It is important for my future, especially for my career. I want to work at an international company, so I will need to communicate with colleagues or do presentations in English. We give presentations at Prep school here and I find it quite useful as it helps with getting used to giving presentations in English. It will be needed during university and business life (S18).
Research Question 2: How does A2 level students' level of WTC differ according to gender? When interview results were analyzed, female and male students did not show a significant difference in their WTC. There were both female and male students who were reported to be very willing and unwilling to communicate. They mentioned different factors that could affect their WTC, but gender was not mentioned as a factor. Below are some quotes from male and female students that reported high and low willingness to communicate in English:
I am not willing to communicate and I avoid communicating in English. Don't want to have more opportunities to communicate in English (An excerpt from an unwilling female participant) (2). I don't think I am willing to communicate in English. I do not use English outside of class and don't like being forced to use English in class (An excerpt from an unwilling male participant) (S8).
I am very willing to communicate in English and try to create more chances to communicate. I communicate with my foreign friends in English but I want to do that more often. That's why, I would like to go abroad and meet people from different countries. I like English and want to use it more (An excerptfrom a very willing female participant) (S9).
I am very willing to communicate and I somehow communicate in English every day. I do my best to use in English in class to communicate and I play games and I also communicate there in English very comfortably (An excerpt from a very willing male participant) (S14).
5. Discussion
The purpose of the first research question was to reveal how willing the students were to communicate in English. Students were asked to choose how willing they would be to communicate in a given situation with different types of receivers, and during the interviews, were asked to elaborate on this topic. Therefore, the results showed that students were moderately willing to communicate in English.
The total mean score for their willingness to communicate was 61.08 out of 100 and most of the interviewees expressed that they were willing or somewhat willing to communicate in English. In the Turkish context, Oz (2014) found high levels of WTC among Turkish learners. Participants of his study were preparatory school students who would be majoring in different departments while the participants of these aforementioned studies were English-major students who would be studying English intensively and highly likely become English teachers after they graduate. It can be assumed that their linguistic proficiency, motivation and perceived competence were high as they were majoring in English. However, these findings do not mean that these students are always communicating in English whenever they have a chance. There are several social, personal, cultural or affective factors that could change their communication preferences in English. Some students want to communicate in English, but they still do not initiate conversation or take part in one. Hence, teachers should consider these individual differences before simply labelling students as "not competent enough" to communicate and try to increase their willingness to communicate since it is considered by many scholars as the step before the actual communication in L2.
The purpose of the second research question was to find out if students' level of willingness to communicate displays a difference according to their gender. The results of the present study showed that there was no significant difference in WTC levels of participating students in terms of their gender. Male students (N=14) were found to have a slightly higher WTC level (M= 60,09) than female students (N=16) (M= 62,05), but this was not a significant difference. This finding is in line with MacIntyre et al.'s (2002) study which concluded that gender did not have a major influence on the WTC of learners. However, this finding is contradictory with Smith (1997) and Li (2004) who found that female students had higher WTC levels.
6. Conclusion
The current study contributed to the literature by investigating Kazakh EFL students' willingness to communicate in English and the factors affecting it. Results indicated that participating students who enrolled in A2 level students of the university are moderately willing to communicate. They were found to be more willing to communicate with their friends and people they know compared to strangers. The relationship between their WTC and gender, faculty, duration of English learning experience and the overseas experience was not found to be statistically significant, but interview results gave a deeper insight in some of these areas.
References
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Готовность казахских студентов общаться на английском языке
М.Е. Сейтова, Н.Е. Бекмаханбетова Междунардный казахско-турецкий университета имени Ходжи АхмедаЯссави, г. Туркестан, Казахстан
meruyert.seitova@ayu.edu.kz, bnarki96@gmail.com
Это исследование направлено на изучение того, насколько охотно казахские учащиеся, обучающиеся на кафедре английской филологии Междунардного казахско-турецкого университета имени Ходжи Ахмеда Яссави, общаются на английском языке, и влияет ли гендер на их готовность общаться (WTC). В нашем исследования были использованы как количественные, так и качественные методы сбора данных, в исследовании приняли участие 30 студентов уровня A2. Количественные данные были получены с помощью опросника, качественные - полуструктурированных интервью. Результаты показали, что студенты уровня А2 умеренно готовы к общению. Не обнаружено статистически значимых гендерных различий в уровнях готовности к общению на английском языке.
Ключевые слова: готовность к общению, изучение языка, обучение языку, английский язык как иностранный, гендер.
^азак студенттершщ агылшын тшшде сейлесуге дайындыгы
М.Е. Сейтова, Н.Е. Бекмаханбетова
Кожа Ахмет Яссауи атындагы Хальщаральщ казак-TYpiK университет^ Туркестан, Казахстан meruyert.seitova@ayu.edu.kz, bnarki96@gmail.com
Б^л зерттеу Кожа Ахмет Яссауи атындагы Хальщаральщ казак-rYpiK университетшщ агылшын филологиясы кафедрасында окитын казак окушыларынын агылшын тшнде каншалыкты ыкыласпен сейлейтшш жэне жыныстын карым-катынас жасауга дайындыгына (WTC) эсер ететшш зерттеуге багытталган. Бiздщ зерттеуiмiзде деректердi жинаудын сандык жэне сапалык эдiстерi колданылды, зерттеуге A2 денгешндеп 30 студент катысты. Сандык мэлiметтер сауалнаманын, сапалык-жартылай к^рылымдалган с^хбат кемепмен алынды. Нэтижелер А2 денгешндеп студенттердщ карым-катынаска орташа дайын екендтн керсетп. Агылшын тшнде сейлесуге дайындык денгешнде статистикалык манызды гендерлш айырмашылыктар табылган жок.
Туйт свздер: царым-цатынасца дайындыц, т1л YüpeHy, тгл YüpeHy, агылшын тш шет тЫ1 ретгнде,
гендер.
Received on December 9, 2019.
