Willingness to communicate in English among secondary school students in the rural Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom Qiuxuan (Melody) Xie A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education 2011 School of Education Primary Supervisor: Professor John Bitchener TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................................ iv ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... v ATTESTATION OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background of the Study .................................................................................................................1 1.2 Aims of the Research.......................................................................................................................4 1.3 Organization of the Thesis ..............................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 2 A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .........................................................................................7 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................7 2.2 Rationale of the Study .....................................................................................................................8 2.3 English Language Teaching in China .............................................................................................11 2.4 The Socio-educational Model ........................................................................................................14 2.5 Willingness to Communicate ........................................................................................................15 2.5.1 Willingness to Communicate in L1 .........................................................................................16 2.5.2 Willingness to communicate in L2 ..........................................................................................17 2.5.2.1 Trait versus situational WTC in L2 .......................................................................................18 2.5.2.2 Heuristic Models of WTC in L2.............................................................................................21 2.5.2.2.1 MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, and Noels’s (1998) Heuristic Model of WTC in L2 ...............21 2.5.2.2.2 Wen and Clément’s (2003) WTC Model in China...............................................................26 2.5.2.3 Variables underlying WTC in L2 ...........................................................................................32 2.5.2.4 Empirical Studies of L2 WTC in China ..................................................................................46 2.5.2.5 Limitations of Previous Studies ............................................................................................50 2.6 Summary ..................................................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................54 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................54 3.2 Methodological Approach .............................................................................................................54 3.2.1 Mixed methods Research Design .............................................................................................55 3.2.2 Triangulation ...........................................................................................................................57 3.3 Data collection ...............................................................................................................................59 3.3.1 Participants and context ..........................................................................................................59 3.3.2 Instruments ............................................................................................................................61 3.3.2.1 Questionnaires .....................................................................................................................61 3.3.2.2 Classroom Observations .......................................................................................................64 3.3.2.3 Interviews ............................................................................................................................67 3.3.3 Data Reliability and Validity ......................................................................................................69 3.3.3.1 Data Reliability .....................................................................................................................69 3.3.3.2 Data validity .........................................................................................................................71 3.3.4 Data collection procedures ......................................................................................................73 3.4 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................................76 i 3.5 Ethical Issues ..................................................................................................................................77 3.6 Summary .......................................................................................................................................78 CHAPTER 4 PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ...............................................................79 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................79 4.2 Results of Question One: Rural Chinese Secondary Students’ L2 WTC ............................................79 4.2.1 Discussion of Results of Research Question One ....................................................................84 4.3 Results of Research Question Two: Relationship between self-report WTC and behavioural WTC ..89 4.3.1 Discussion of Results of Research Question Two ....................................................................90 4.4 Results of Research Question Three: Factors Likely to Influence L2 WTC ........................................94 4.4.1 Discussion of Results of Research Question Three ................................................................ 100 4.5 Summary .................................................................................................................................... 109 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 112 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 112 5.2 Aims and Methodological Approach of the Research .................................................................. 112 5.3 Summary of Key Findings ............................................................................................................ 113 5.4 Contributions to Theory .............................................................................................................. 114 5.5 Contributions to Methodology .................................................................................................... 115 5.6 Contributions to Research ........................................................................................................... 116 5.7 Pedagogical implications ............................................................................................................ 117 5.8 Limitations of This Study and Suggestions for Future Research .................................................... 119 5.9 Final comment ............................................................................................................................ 121 LIST OF REFERENCES............................................................................................................................. 122 APPENDIX A: WTC Questionnaire (English Version) ............................................................................. 130 APPENDIX B: WTC Questionnaire (Chinese Version) ............................................................................ 131 APPENDIX C: WTC Classroom Observation Scheme (English Version) .................................................. 132