1. Willingness to Communicate:
The dynamics of motivation for
language use in context
Peter D. MacIntyre
Cape Breton University
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
1

2. Where is Nova Scotia?

3. Where is
Cape Breton University?
Languages:
English 93%
French 4%
Mi’kmaq 3%

4. Outline
Language learning is done by individuals in a social
context
A view of time
Willingness to communicate is a choice
Individuals’ volitional action
Influenced by a number of factors
The choice to communicate reflects ambivalence
Two competing tendencies: to Approach and to Avoid
Convergence of dynamic processes
Implications for language learning and use

5. Language learning
Done by individuals
motivations, anxieties, beliefs, values, etc.
In a social context
intergroup conflict, demographic patterns,
migration, etc.
Interact among variables
Focus today on:
Choice to communicate in the L2.

6. A view of “time”
Simplistic, often implicit view of time
start finish
Better to think that we arrive at a point in time
(distal influences)
“Then”
“Now”
(proximal
influences)

7. L2 Acquisition:
individual decision making
Choosing to communicate or not
Affects Pedagogy
Affects Intergroup contact
Willingness to communicate
“The probability that one will choose to initiate
communication, given the opportunity to do so.”
Intention to communicate
A person might be Able but unwilling

8. Motivation meets anxiety
?
anxiety
1
motivation
2
We require some way to capture what is happening as the
learner goes along, in their day-to-day activity .

9. WTC In The Second
Language
Pyramid model of WTC
6 layers
Immediate vs. Distal
Enduring vs. Situational
Top 3 layers = situational
Bottom 3 layers = enduring

10. Layer I 1
Layer I L2 Communication
Use Behaviour
2
Layer II Behavioural Intention
Willingness to
Communicate
3 4
Layer III Desire to State Situated Antecedents
communicate with Communicative
a specific person Self-Confidence
5 6 7
Layer IV Interpersonal Intergroup L2 Motivational
Motivation Motivation Self-Confidence Propensities
8 9 10
Layer V Affective-Cognitive Context
Intergroup Social Communicative
Attitudes Situation Competence
Layer 11 12
Social and Individual
VI
Intergroup Climate Personality Context

11. Motivation & Anxiety
as a State
At a particular moment, motivation & anxiety
will interact
Feeling both motivated and anxious
Creates ambivalence
• At moderate levels
Desire to both approach and avoid
A very interesting moment in time
Affects the course of future events
Effects build up over longer periods of time

12. An analogy - Skydiving
Emotions are ambivalent

13. Approach and avoidance
gradients Epstein and Fenz (1965)

14. Approach and avoidance
gradients Epstein and Fenz (1965)

15. Ambivalence in Language Learning:
Crossing the Rubicon (Dörnyei & Otto)
do I raise my hand to answer a question in the
classroom,
what if I make a mistake?
do I offer assistance to a second language speaker I
just met at the airport,
is there somebody more capable of providing
assistance?
do I use the second language in conversation,
not knowing exactly what course it might take or what
embarrassment awaits?

16. An example of ambivalence
I was most unwilling to speak French when I
was at a craft show with my mom and she
met someone who spoke French. Mom
introduced me to her friend, vice versa. I felt
like saying hello in French [but did not] I felt I
would make a mistake. I don’t feel comfortable
talking with strangers in French. I would though,
if I had another opportunity.”
Taken from an ‘unwillingness to communicate diary’
of a French immersion student (approximately 12 years old) .

17. Simultaneous approach and
avoidance
Neurological level (brain)
Behavioral Activation System (BAS)
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)
Interact to regulate motivation
Opponent Process Theory (emotions)
An emotion triggers its opposite
The opposite emotion may be below our awareness
Maintain homeostasis

18. WTC research
Immersion education increases WTC
Friends enhance WTC
Social context must provide for choice
WTC affected adjustment of Japanese
student sojourners
WTC initiation of communication in L1
Introverts can be made more willing to
communicate than extraverts

19. Implications for language
learning and use
Time must be clearly understood (Dörnyei)
Dynamics of change
Consistency is not expected
We must account for ambivalence
Convergence of relevant learner variables
A more individualistic approach is needed
Based on willingness not competence
• Idiographic (Gordon Allport, 1962)
• Idiodynamic (Rosenzweig, 1986)

20. Willingness to Communicate:
The dynamics of motivation for
language use in context
Peter D. MacIntyre
Cape Breton University
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
20