Fluctuations in an EFL teacher’s willingness to communicate in an English-medium lesson: an observational case study in Japan

ABSTRACT

Willingness to Communicate (WTC) plays a crucial role in second language (L2) learning, and is believed to be closely related to learning in general; the higher a learner’s WTC, the better their fluency with the L2. WTC can also be conceptualized as fluctuating from moment to moment during the course of L2 use and communication. This also seems to be true for EFL teachers when conducting classes in the target language, but to date, this has not been tested empirically. Thus, this study explores a Japanese EFL teacher’s WTC, focusing on its fluctuation over the course of a lesson. All the teacher’s oral L2 and L1 utterances in an EFL class were audio and video-recorded for the analysis, which was based on the quantitative data of the teacher’s self-rating of WTC for each utterance, and qualitative data obtained through a stimulated recall interview after the lesson. The results of this observational case study show that the teacher’s WTC both increased and decreased. The factors underlying this fluctuating WTC are analyzed through the interview, while the implications of the study and further study directions are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Willingness to communicate
• non-native EFL teacher
• L1 use
• English-medium lesson
• EFL education

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Mr. Tadashi Izumitani, who was a graduate student at the time of this study, for helping to analyze the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on the contributor

Rintaro Sato is a Professor in the Department of English Education of Nara University of Education. His research interests include intake and output processing, feedback, and negotiation of meaning.

Notes

1 The STEP Test is an English proficiency test conducted by a Japanese non-profit organization, and backed by MEXT. The test consists of listening and writing sections followed by a speaking test, and has been generally regarded as one of the most reliable and valid English proficiency tests in Japan.