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Willingness to Communicate in L2 and Self-Perceived Levels of FL Skills in Polish Adolescents

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Aspects of Culture in Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Learning

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

Abstract

The willingness to communicate (WTC) construct, originally referring to individuals’ tendencies to engage in communication in the L1 when given the free choice (McCroskey and Richmond, Personality and interpersonal communication, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 129–156, 1987), can also be applied to a second language context (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément and Noels, Mod Lang J 82:545–562, 1998). It can then be defined as “a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément and Noels, Mod Lang J 82:545–562, 1998, p. 547). MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément and Noels, (Mod Lang J 82:545–562, 1998) proposed a pyramid-shaped L2 WTC model, showing the relationship between linguistic, communicative and sociopsychological precursors to L2 communication. Among them there are situational influences (e.g., desire to communicate with a specific person), and enduring influences (e.g., motivation, self-confidence). Empirical research carried out to date reveals that students’ perception of themselves as learners in the classroom is related to their willingness to communicate. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between L2 WTC and students’ self-perceived levels of FL skills in the context of a Polish secondary school. The results show that students with high self-perceived levels of FL skills significantly differ from low achievers on all WTC measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Opole University, Opole, Poland

    Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel

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  1. Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel
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Correspondence to Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel .

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  1. Dept. of Language Acquisition, Institute of English, University of Silesia, Grota-Roweckiego 5, Sosnowiec, 41-205, Poland

    Janusz Arabski

  2. Institute of English, Department of Language Acquisition, University of Silesia, Grota-Roweckiego 5, Sosnowiec, 41-205, Poland

    Adam Wojtaszek

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Piechurska-Kuciel, E. (2011). Willingness to Communicate in L2 and Self-Perceived Levels of FL Skills in Polish Adolescents. In: Arabski, J., Wojtaszek, A. (eds) Aspects of Culture in Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Learning. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20201-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20201-8_17

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