Keywords
idiodynamic method
willingness to communicate
communication traits
dynamic turn
How to Cite
Number of views: 2171
Number of downloads: 1685
Abstract
The dynamics underlying willingness to communicate in a second or third language (L2 for short), operating in real time, are affected by a number of intra- and inter-personal processes. L2 communication is a remarkably fluid process, especially considering the wide range of skill levels observed among L2 learners and speakers. Learners often find themselves in a position that requires the use of uncertain L2 skills, be it inside or outside the classroom context. Beyond issues of competencies, which are themselves complex, using an L2 also evokes cultural, political, social, identity, motivational, emotional, pedagogical, and other issues that learners must navigate on-the-fly. The focus of this article will be on the remarkably rapid integration of factors, such as the ones just named whenever a language learner chooses to be a language speaker, that is, when the moment for authentic communication arrives. Communicative events are especially important in understanding the psychology of the L2 learner. Our research group has developed the idiodynamic method to allow examination of an individual’s experience of events on a timescale of a few minutes. Results are describing complex interactions and rapid changes in the psychological conditions that accompany both approaching and avoiding L2 communication. The research takes a new approach to familiar concepts such as motivation, language competence, learning strategies, and so on. By examining willingness to communicate as a dynamic process, new types of research questions and answers are emerging, generating new theory, research methods, and pedagogical approaches applicable both within language classrooms and beyond.
References
Ayers-Glassey, S., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2019). Measuring willingness to communicate in first and additional languages: An annotated bibliography (Unpublished manuscript). Cape Breton University.
Burgoon, J. K. (1976). The unwillingness-to-communicate scale: Development and validation. Communication Monographs, 43, 60-69. http://doi.org/10.1080/03637757609375916
Cao, Y. (2014). A sociocognitive perspective on second language classroom willingness to communicate. TESOL Quarterly, 48, 789-814.
Chan, B., & McCroskey, J. C. (1987). The WTC scale as a predictor of classroom participation. Communication Research Reports, 4, 47-50.
Charos, C. (1994). Personality and individual differences as predictors of second language communication: A causal analysis (Unpublished honors thesis). University of Ottawa, Canada.
Clément, R., Baker, S. C., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2003). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The effects of context, norms, and vitality. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22, 190-209.
de Bot, K. (2012). Time scales in second language development. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1, 143-149.
Dörnyei, Z. (2003). Attitudes, orientations, and motivations in language learning: Advances in theory, research, and applications. Language Learning, 53, 3-32.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. London: Erlbaum. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781410613349
Epstein, S. (1991). Cognitive-experiential self-theory: An integrative theory of personality. In R. C. Curtis (Ed.), The relational self: Theoretical convergences in psychoanalysis and social psychology (p. 111-137). New York: Guilford Press.
Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49, 709-724.
Epstein, S. (2003). Cognitive-experiential self-theory of personality. In T. Millon & M. J. Lerner (Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of psychology. Volume 5: Personality and Social Psychology (pp. 159-184). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Epstein, S., & Erskine, N. (1983). The development of personal theories of reality. In D. Magnusson & V. Allen (Eds.), Human development: An interactional perspective (pp. 133-147). New York: Academic Press.
Epstein, S., & Fenz, W. D. (1965). Steepness of approach and avoidance gradient in humans as a function of experience: Theory and experiment. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70, 1-12.
Frankish, K. (2010). Dual‐process and dual‐system theories of reasoning. Philosophy Compass, 5, 914-926. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2010.00330.x
Gregersen, T., MacIntyre, P. D., & Meza, M. (2014). The motion of emotion: Idiodynamic case studies of learners’ foreign language anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 98, 574-588.
Kang, S. (2005). Dynamic emergence of situational willingness to communicate in a second language. System, 33, 277-292. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2004.10.004
Kaufman, S. B. (2016). An ode to Seymour Epstein, originator of modern dual-process theory (1925-2016). Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/an-ode-to-seymour-epstein-originator-of-modern-dual-process-theory-1925-2016/
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. CA: Anchor Canada.
Khatib, M., & Nourzadeh, S. (2015). Development and validation of an instructional willingness to communicate questionnaire. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 36, 266-283. http://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2014.914523
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MacIntyre, P. D. (2007). Willingness to communicate in the second language: Understanding the decision to speak as a volitional process. Modern Language Journal, 91, 564-576.
MacIntyre, P. D. (2012). The idiodynamic method: A closer look at the dynamics of communication traits. Communication Research Reports, 29, 361-367.
MacIntyre, P. D. (2018, October). Willingness to communicate: A dynamic approach. Plenary talk presented at the Second Language Research Forum.
MacIntyre, P. D. (2019). Anxiety, uncertainty management and communication accommodation in women’s brief dyadic conversations with a stranger: An idiodynamic approach. Sage Open, 9(3), 1-18.
MacIntyre, P. D., Babin, P. A., & Clément, R. (1999). Willingness to communicate: Antecedents and consequences. Communication Quarterly, 47, 215-229. http://doi.org/10.1080/01463379909370135
MacIntyre, P. D., Baker, S. C., Clément, R., & Conrod, S. (2001). Willingness to communicate, social support, and language-learning orientations of immersion students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23, 369-388. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263101003035
MacIntyre, P. D., Baker, S. C., Clément, R., & Donovan, L. A. (2002). Sex and age effects on willingness to communicate, anxiety, perceived competence, and L2 motivation among junior high school French immersion students. Language Learning, 52, 537-564.
MacIntyre, P. D., Burns, C., & Jessome, A. (2011). Ambivalence about communicating in a second language: A qualitative study of French immersion students’ willingness to communicate. Modern Language Journal, 95, 81-96. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01141.x
MacIntyre, P. D., & Charos, C. (1996). Personality, attitudes, and affect as predictors of second language communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 15, 3-26. http://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X960151001
MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. Modern Language Journal, 82, 545-562. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb05543.x
MacIntyre. D., Clément, R., & Noels, K. A. (2007). Affective variables, attitude and personality in context. In D. Ayoun (Ed.), Handbook of French applied linguistics (pp. 270-298). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
MacIntyre, P. D., & Legatto, J. J. (2011). A dynamic system approach to willingness to communicate: Developing an idiodynamic method to capture rapidly changing affect. Applied Linguistics, 32, 149-171. http://doi.org/10.1093/ applin/amq037
MacIntyre, P. D., & Serroul, A. (2015). Motivation on a per-second tTimescale: Examining approach-avoidance motivation during L2 task performance. In Z. Dornyei, P. D. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp 109-138), Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
MacIntyre, P. D., Mercer, S., & Gregersen, T. (in press). Reflections on researching dynamics in language learning psychology. In R. Sampson & R. Pinner (Eds.), Complexity perspectives on researching language learner and teacher psychology. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
MacIntyre, P. D., Noels K. A., & Moore, B. (2010). Perspectives on motivation in second language acquisition: Lessons from the Ryoanji Garden. In M. Prior (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 2008 second language research forum (pp. 1-9). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
McCroskey, J. C., & Baer, J. E. (1985). Willingness to communicate: The construct and its measurement. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Speech Communication Association, Denver, CO, USA.
McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1991). Willingness to communicate: A cognitive view. In M. Booth-Butterfield (Ed.), Communication, cognition, and anxiety (pp. 19-37). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A., & Pawlak, M. (2016). Designing a tool for measuring the interrelationships between L2 WTC and confidence, beliefs, motivation, and context. In M. Pawlak (Ed.), Classroom-oriented research (pp. 19-37). Heidelberg: Springer.
Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A., & Pawlak, M. (2017). Willingness to communicate in instructed second language acquisition: Combining a macro- and micro-perspective. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Peng, J. E. (2007). Willingness to communicate in an L2 and integrative motivation among college students in an intensive English language program in China. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 2, 33-59.
Skehan, P. (1989). Individual differences in second language learning. London: Edward Arnold.
Verspoor, M. (2015). Initial conditions. In Z. Dörnyei, P. D. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp 38-46). Bristol, Multilingual Matters.
Weaver, C. (2007). Willingness to communicate: A mediating factor in the interaction between learners and tasks. In K. Van den Branden, K. Van Gorp, & M. Verhelst (Eds.), Tasks in action: Task-based language education from a classroom-based perspective (pp. 153-187). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press.
Wood, D. (2016). Willingness to communicate and second language speech fluency: An idiodynamic investigation. System, 60, 11-28.
Yashima, T., Zenuk‐Nishide, L., & Shimizu, K. (2004). The influence of attitudes and affect on willingness to communicate and second language communication. Language Learning, 54, 119-152.
Zakahi, W. R., & McCroskey, J. C. (1989). Willingness to communicate: A potential confounding variable in communication research. Communication Reports, 2, 96-104.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.