Effects of situational variables on willingness to communicate and English classroom communication behaviors of ninth grade students

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to investigate the effects of situational variables on willingness to communicate and English classroom communication behavior of ninth grade students. The situational variable examined in this study were topic familiarity, group cohesiveness, and conversational contexts. The participants were eight ninth-grade students who were studying in the second semester of the academic year 2009 at a public secondary school in Chon Buri province. The data were collection over the period of nine weeks. The research instruments employed in this study were four questionnaires used to measure willingness to communicate, English classroom communication behaviors, topic familiarity, and group cohesiveness; English communicative instruction; classroom observation scheme; and stimulated recall. The findings indicated that willingness to communicate and English classroom communication behaviors were affected by topic familiarity, group cohesiveness and some conversational contexts. The participants were found to have willingness to communicate and perform communication behaviors in situations such as in the lessons that they were familiar with the topic, when being in a cohesive group, in an English-speaking environment, when the participants did not know the answer and someone spoke out, in enjoyable atmosphere, when there was a sense of competition, and when other people made mistake. In contrast, the participants lacked willingness to communicate and did not communicate when they made a mistake and were interrupted by other people.