Do Motivational Teaching Strategies Boost Learners’ Willingness to Communicate in EFL Classrooms?

by Minako Antoku

Both Willingness to Communicate and motivation are studied as causes of each other (MacIntyre & Charos, 1996; Yashima, 2002). How they fluctuate during a lesson has been suggested to closely correlate (Pawlak, Mystkowska-Wiertelak, & Bielak, 2016). On the other hand, teachers' usage of motivational teaching strategies (MotS) and students' motivation have been demonstrated to correlate (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007; Guilloteaux & Dörnyei, 2008).

Therefore, the author conducted a mixed-method study in a Japanese high school EFL classroom to investigate whether teacher use of MotS enhances students' WTC. Pre-treatment and post questionnaire, self-reports, classroom observation, and stimulated recall interviews were used as research instruments. As a result, it was shown that the MotS usage by the teacher stimulated students’ desire to speak, but some elements including anxiety towards speaking English and lack of L2 self-confidence were holding them back from actually speaking.

Broadly speaking, three types of students were identified. The first type, “learners with low anxiety and high L2 self-confidence,” could speak up if the topic and the task interested them. The second type, “learners with high L2 anxiety and low L2 self-confidence,” had trauma towards speaking English caused by their negative past experience, regardless of their proficiency. However, with linguistic support from the teacher, they were able to speak. The third type, “learners with high L2 anxiety and low L2 self-confidence, also with low L1 WTC,” tended not to speak up even in classes conducted in the Japanese language. They were able to speak, however, with personal support from the teacher which helped enhance their self-esteem.

The significance of this study is that it shows that teachers need to provide emotional and cognitive as well as linguistic support to the whole class and to individuals to fulfill learners' WTC. This presentation would be suitable for ELT teachers and researchers who are interested in this field.