An investigation of Willingness to Communicate from an English as an International Language (EIL) perspective: The case of Macao

Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in asecond language has been widely researched in English as a Second Language(ESL), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and bilingual French/English immersioncontexts. A large body of these... [ view full abstract ]

Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in asecond language has been widely researched in English as a Second Language(ESL), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and bilingual French/English immersioncontexts. A large body of these studies have mainly focused on 1) the dynamicand situated nature of this construct in experimental, quasi-experimental andclassroom-based settings; 2) its complex interrelationship withlearner-internal factors such as motivation, personality, perceivedcommunicative competence and anxiety, as well as with learner-external factorsincluding interlocutor, teacher, topic, task type and other learning contextualfactors; 3) WTC in face-to-face communication as opposed to onlinecommunication; 4) establishing causal relationships among WTC, its predictors(e.g., motivation, personality, self-confidence) and actual communication; 5)informing WTC research with cultural, ecological, idiodynamic and sociocognitivetheoretical perspectives. However, to our knowledge, no previous research hasbeen conducted to investigate WTC from English as an International Language(EIL) perspective. This study attempts to fill this gap. In the current realityof an increasingly globalised multilingual and multicultural world community,English is used as a pluracentric language and as a lingua franca forintercultural communication occasions. It is probably inappropriate to stilluse the EFL/ESL dichotomy when exploring issues related to language use. Thusthe aim of this study was to investigate WTC from a new EIL perspective andexplore the factors underlying WTC in intercultural communication contexts. Thestudy was conducted in Macao, a sociolinguistically diverse context with 90first-year and second-year linguistics major university students. Focus groupinterview was used as an instrument for data collection for this exploratory study.The students were asked questions regarding their willingness to communicateusing different varieties of English in face-to-face communication andcommunication on social networking sites (SNS). The results indicate that themajority of the participants are more willing to use the inner-circle Englishvarieties, particularly American English and British English for face-to-facecommunication with strangers and acquaintances. However, English varieties fromboth inner-circle and expanding circle countries (e.g. Chinese English) are thepreferred varieties in communication on SNS. The results add complexity to theexistent body of research on the multidimensional WTC construct.