Tomoko Yashima

Willingness to Communicate in a Second Language: The Japanese EFL Context

Willingness to communicate (WTC) is emerging as a concept to account for individuals’ first language (L1) and second language (L2) communication. This study examined relations among L2 learning and L2 communication variables in the Japanese English as a foreign language context using the WTC model and the socioeducational model as a framework. A L2 communication model was constructed and tested using AMOS version 4.0, with a sample of 297 Japanese university students. In the model, a latent variable, international posture, was hypothesized to capture the general attitude toward the international community and foreign language learning in Japan. From structural equation modeling, it appeared that international posture influences motivation, which, in turn, influences proficiency in English. Motivation affected self-confidence in L2 communication which led to willingness to communicate in a L2. In addition to this indirect path, a direct path from international posture to WTC in a L2 was significant. The model’s fitness to the data was good, which indicates the potential for using the WTC and other constructs to account for L2 communication.

A comparison of three- and four-option English tests for university entrance selection purposes in Japan

The present study investigated the effects of reducing the number of options per item on psychometric characteristics of a Japanese EFL university entrance examination. A four-option multiple-choice reading test used for entrance screening at a university in Japan was later converted to a three-option version by eliminating the least frequently endorsed option in each item, and was given to a separate group. Responses to the two tests indicated that using three options instead of four did not significantly change the mean item facility or the mean item discrimination. Distractor analyses revealed that whether four or three options were provided, the actual test-takers’ responses spread, on the average, over about 2.6 options per item, that the mean number of functioning distractors was much lower than 2, and that reducing the least popular option had only a minimal effect on the performance of the remaining options. These results suggested that three-option items performed nearly as well as their four-option counterparts.

Willingness to Communicate: Momentary Volition that Results in L2 Behaviour

It is a common perception among language teachers that the acquisition of L2 competency does not necessarily lead to communication in the L2. As MacIntyre (2007) puts it, “even after studying language for many years, some L2 learners do not turn into L2 speakers” (p. 564). Research on willingness to communicate in an L2 (L2 WTC) has attempted to shed some light on this enigma. L2 WTC is particularly significant from a pedagogical perspective because L2 communication is a necessary part of L2 learning. As many researchers agree, L2 competency develops through productive use of the language (e.g., Swain, 1995).

Roles of social support and social skills in the intercultural adjustment of Japanese adolescent sojourners in the USA

Intercutlural adjustment of Japanese high school students who sojourned in the United States for one year is the focus of the study. Building relationships with host nationals using limited English competency is the challenge that seems basic to successful adjustment to life in the USA. A path model was constructed in which English competence leads to better social skills, which in turn affects the amount of social support gained from host nationals. This model was tested through structural equation modeling, and the models fit to the data was satisfactory. The predictive roles of English proficiency and personality were suggested in a supplementary analysis.

Situated willingness to communicate in an L2: Interplay of individual characteristics and context

Recently, situated willingness to communicate (WTC) has received increasing research attention in addition to traditional quantitative studies of trait-like WTC. This article is an addition to the former but unique in two ways. First, it investigates both trait and state WTC in a classroom context and explores ways to combine the two to reach a fuller understanding of why second language (L2) learners choose (or avoid) communication at given moments. Second, it investigates the communication behavior of individuals and of the group they constitute as nested systems, with the group as context for individual performance. An interventional study was conducted in a class for English as a foreign language (EFL) with 21 students in a Japanese university. During discussion sessions in English over a semester in which Initiation–Response–Feedback (IRF) patterns were avoided to encourage students to initiate communication, qualitative data based on observations, student self-reflections, and interviews and scale-based data on trait anxiety and WTC were collected. The analyses, which focused on three selected participants, revealed how differences in the frequency of self-initiated turns emerged through the interplay of enduring characteristics, including personality and proficiency, and contextual influences such as other students’ reactions and group-level talk–silence patterns.

Talk and Silence in an EFL Classroom: Interplay of Learners and Context

Much has been said about Japanese students’ reticence in classrooms (e.g., Anderson, 1993; Korst, 1997), a feature that has been associated with Japanese (or more broadly Asian) cultural characteristics (Ferris & Tagg, 1996; Flowerdew & Miller, 1995; Littlewood, 1999). With regard to second and foreign language learning, Japanese EFL learners’ silence tends to be seen as a serious problem that interferes with the L2 acquisition process when successful learning requires a great deal of oral interaction in the language (Izumi, 2003; Swain, 2005). However, empirical studies have not accumulated enough evidence to verify these allegations. This has led some researchers to dispute the claim, criticising the attribution of reticence to cultural characteristics as overgeneralisation and stereotyping (Cheng, 2000; Kubota, 1999).

Self-regulation and Autonomous Dependency amongst Japanese Learners of English

A Japanese motivational psychologist, Uebuchi (2004), analysed the motivation of Naoko Takahashi, an Olympic marathon laureate. In an interview after she won a gold medal in the Sydney Olympics, Takahashi recalled her decision to work with a famous coach, Yoshio Koide: When I looked at the training schedule that Mr. Koide presented to me, I cried, ‘It’s impossible!’ Mr. Koide then told me I could choose whatever way I thought would be right. But I could not deny that his programme made so much sense. I decided in my heart: ‘I will be my coach’s pawn. I will follow his instructions blindly’. (Uebuchi 2004: 62)