Despite the constant controversy over the term CALL (computer-assisted language learning), technology integration into language classrooms has been an important issue to educational researchers since the introduction of the Internet and the Social Networking Sites (SNSs). According to Prensky (2007):
Today’s schoolchildren … travel with their own personal GameBoys,
Handicams, cell phones, portable CD and MP3 players… Each day the average teenager in American watches over 3 hours of television, is on the Internet 10 minutes to an hour, and plays 1½ hours of video games. (p.37)
Besides face-to-face interaction and paper-based letter, the tools or media enabling us to communicate in recent days encompass e-mail, blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Skype, Plurk, and virtual social gaming worlds, just to name a few. In this sense, to satisfy the emerging communicative needs of the Digital Natives learners, coined by Prensky in 2001, instructors could not educate them in traditional ways anymore (Fischer &
Konomi, 2005; McLoughlin & Lee, 2007): “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow” (Dewey, 1916). According to Hsi (2007), therefore, literacy requires a redefinition that incorporates “digital fluency”—intelligences to use the Internet, social networking software, communication multimedia tools, and mobile phones in order to functionally live and learn in the Digital Age. On the other hand, the incorporation of online technology into L2 teaching holds considerable promise for improving learners’ motivation and willingness to communicate (WTC).
MacIntyre et al. (1998) indicated that WTC should be the primary goal of language instruction since it contributes to increased opportunity for genuine second language (L2) practice. Derived from unwillingness to communicate (Burgoon, 1976), WTC was initially defined as the probability of one’s tendency to initiate a
communication when presented with an opportunity (McCroskey & Baer, 1985).
Before MacIntyre et al’s (1998) proposal of a heuristic WTC model, WTC was recognized as a trait-like personality-oriented predisposition to talk in various situations. In MacIntyre et al’s (1998) model, more emphasis is placed on the influence of situational factors on WTC among L2 learners; and WTC is
conceptualized as “a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using an L2” (p.547). Following this situational view, the role of varying media as a platform of communication in WTC is worth attention.
According to Internet World Stats (2012), the amount of Internet users is over 2 billion, which accounts for 34.3% of global population. Social media, which provide us various internet-based communication platforms, show great promise as a
motivator to foster WTC among learners of the new generation. It is thus necessary to examine how social media could influence WTC. The importance of social media in communication offers the background for conducting the present study.
Statement of the Problem
Several popular social media have received the attention of WTC researchers.
Generally, their studies showed that social media could positively affect WTC among L1 or L2 students by suspending the threat of social penalty in face-to-face settings, triggering interest in communication, and/or providing various channels of
communication for users to choose from. However, most of these studies investigated WTC through single social medium, such as online-chatting system, digital game, or SNS (Freiermuth & Jarrell, 2006; Lloyd, 2012; Reinders & Wattana, 2011; Sheldon, 2008). Few studies compared WTC across different social media though it is
interesting to find out if one’s WTC vary with social media.
Similarly, few studies have compared WTC across different functions afforded
by the social media, which can generally be categorized based on immediacy (i.e., synchronous or asynchronous) and communication mode (e.g., written or spoken).
Previous research has suggested that immediacy and communication mode might play a role in determining one’s WTC. For example, in Lloyd’s (2012) study, media users of different personality traits exhibited different levels of WTC in the contexts of synchronous voice chat and asynchronous text-based interaction. However, the interaction effect of immediacy and communication mode on WTC remains unclear.
Also, it should be noted that only a few TESOL researchers in Taiwan paid their attention to the role of social media in students’ WTC, analyzing it from the
perceptive of Taiwanese culture milieu. Since communication is always bound with the cultures of its speakers, generating pancultural assumptions about speakers’ WTC appears to be unwarranted (McCroskey & Richmond, 1990a). More specifically, from McCroskey and Richmond’s viewpoint, the personal quality of being verbally
expressive does not necessarily correlate to one’s interpersonal relationships in a positive way. People’s perception of willingness to talk may dramatically differ from culture to culture. This “variability in talking behavior among people” is said to be rooted in the WTC construct (McCroskey & Richmond, 1990a, p.72). Then, research findings about WTC via social media obtained in other cultures might not apply to Taiwan. Therefore, localized studies on WTC are much needed if we hope to offer implications for enhancing Taiwanese students’ English L2 WTC via social media. To conclude, this study intends to fill the above-mentioned research gaps by examining the effects of different social media and different functions of social media on WTC among EFL learners in the context of Taiwan, the culture of which is strongly influenced by Chinese culture.
Considering the fact that the relationship between users’ personal trait and social media usage has aroused many researchers’ attention in the fields of L1
communication and cyberpsychology (e.g., Hamburger & Ben-Artzi (2000) on extraversion-introversion, Chak & Leung (2004) on shyness, and Ehrenberg, Juckes, White & Walsh (2008) on self-esteem), this study also aims to investigate the role of personality in L2 WTC through different social media. Among the personality factors investigated in previous WTC research, risk-taking propensity has been identified as one of the influential elements of Chinese students’ L2 WTC (Wen & Clément, 2003).
According to Wen and Clément (2003), the fear of looking ridiculous and of identity loss “is commonly found among Chinese students who are, on average, more inclined to adopt a face-saving option” (p.29). Although appropriate amount of risk-taking performance was suggested to facilitate L2 learning (Beebe, 1983; Naimen, Frohlich ,
& Stern, 1975; Rubin, 1975; Rubin & Thompson, 1982; Trimpop, 1994), this face-saving tendency may restrain Chinese students from taking risks in
communication so as to avoid making mistakes and could consequently reduce their desire to communicate. However, the effects of this personal trait on Chinese learners’
L2 WTC via social media remain under-explored. Thus, the researcher decided to explore the relationship of WTC through social media to the personality factor of risk-taking propensity.
Purpose of the Study
The present study was conducted for three purposes. The first goal was to compare Taiwanese EFL learners’ WTC when they communicate in English on four internet-based means of communication: Facebook Messenger, Facebook Messages, Skype video calls, and Skype video messages. The research focus will be placed on the functions the social media provide rather than on the social media itself since a single social medium may allow more than one feature in terms of interpersonal socializing. The functions listed in Table 1 are classified according to their immediacy
(i.e., the horizontal axis) and communication mode (i.e., the vertical axis): For example, one of the most common methods to conduct synchronous written
communication is online chat, Cell 1, where users could exchange verbal information simultaneously. If two interlocutors are unable to be online at the same time, then the information could be electronically stored and read later by the receiver when he or she connects to the Internet, which belongs to Cell 2. For another kind of
communication mode, which requires users’ listening and speaking ability, it can be classified as synchronous or asynchronous as well, referring to Cell 3 and 4
respectively. Specifically, the researcher attempts to investigate whether immediacy and mode of communication provided by different functions of the social media make a significant difference in learners’ English L2 WTC.
Second, the study aims at examining the influence of risk-taking propensity on WTC through the four internet-based means of communication mentioned above. The third aim is to explore other potential factors that guide EFL learners to choose a specific social medium to communicate with others in English.
Table 1
Categorization of Functions Provided by Social Media Immediacy
Synchronous Asynchronous
Communication Mode
Written 1. Online chat
(e.g., on Facebook Messenger) (e.g., on Skype video calls)
4. Video message
(e.g., on Skype video messages)
Research Questions
In this study, the following three key research questions are addressed.
RQ1: What is the effect of the social media’s functions on an EFL individuals’
willingness to communicate in English? More specifically, we address the following two questions: (a) Is there a significant difference in an EFL
individuals’ willingness to communicate in English through different functions of the social media in the context of Taiwan? (b) Is there a significant interaction effect of social media’s immediacy and communication mode on willingness to communicate?
RQ2: Does the personality factor of risk-taking propensity have a significant effect on EFL individuals’ willingness to communicate in English through different
functions of the social media in the context of Taiwan?
RQ3: What factors do EFL learners perceive to influence their choice of different social media for communication in English in the context of Taiwan?
Significance of the Study
The previous WTC studies have demonstrated the dynamic nature of UnWTC or WTC through a social medium (Freiermuth & Jarrel, 2006; Lloyd, 2012; Reinders &
Wattana, 2011) and the link between individuals’ personality traits and their online communication behavior (Hamburger & Ben-Artzi, 2000; Kraut et al., 2002; Sheldon, 2008). Nevertheless, most of these studies were limited to a single social medium and did not offer much analysis in terms of the effects of a social medium’s nature or the communication mode it provides. In contrast, the present study examines how L2 WTC differs with functions or media among learners of relatively high L2 proficiency level. The findings of this study may enrich our understanding regarding the role of social media in WTC. Furthermore, EFL students’ WTC through different functions of
social media have not been sufficiently researched at the undergraduate level in Taiwan. Therefore, the results of the present study might shed some light on the effects of social media and personality traits on undergraduate EFL learners’ WTC in the context of Taiwan. Rather than being confined to the speaking aspect or
face-to-face communication only, focus on WTC could be expanded into text-based or delayed-time mode of communication as well. Moreover, through such an
examination, the researcher anticipates giving pedagogical implications to the college instructors in Taiwan in engendering L2 learners’ WTC when they attempt to
introduce the social media in question into language classrooms. To heighten learners’
L2 WTC, students’ innate personal attributes and different natures of social media are worth our attention. Finally, the researcher hopes to academically contribute to the domain of WTC theory from a situational perspective by connecting it with analysis of social media’s natures.
Definitions of Terms Willingness to Communicate (WTC)
The concept of willingness to communicate (WTC) refers to the probability of one’s tendency to initiate a communication in L1 when presented a free choice (McCroskey & Baer, 1985). Later, McCroskey and Richmond (1987) defined WTC more specifically as “a personality-based, traitlike predisposition which is relatively consistent across a variety of communication contexts and types of receivers” (p.134).
This trait perspective was widely challenged by those who took a situational
perspective and argued that WTC should be better understood as a dynamic construct emerging through situational variables (e.g., Cao & Philp, 2006; Kang, 2005; Tiu, 2001; Wang, 2008). The situational perspective of WTC has gained more recognition from L2 researchers, such as MacIntyre et al. (1998), who defined WTC as “a
readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using an L2” (p.547). Conceptually derived from the situational approach, an
ecological understanding of WTC, which stresses the impact of both individual and contextual/environmental variables on WTC, was proposed in recent years by Cao (2011), Peng (2012), and Peng and Woodrow (2010). From an ecological perspective,
“a learner is an organism embedded in the environment…any changes in a learners’
behavior would affect the psycho-social atmosphere in the environment, which in turn causes changes to all parties involved” (Peng, 2012, p.211). Therefore, an ecological approach to WTC research is “contextualized, situated and observation-based research which focuses on contextual analysis” (van Lier, 2004; cited in Cao, 2011, p. 469).
Among the diverse conceptualizations as presented above, MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) perspective of WTC seems to best suit the purpose of this research because the present study does not intend to examine the broader contextual factors in WTC but assumes WTC varies with different situations and interlocutors. Therefore, the researcher defines WTC in English via social media as learners’ perceptions of their psychological readiness to initiate a conversation in English online via different functions of social media with their classmates and friends.
Asynchronous and Synchronous Communication
Often contrasted with face-to-face interaction, computer-mediated
communication (CMC) is an umbrella term describing any form of communicative transaction conducted via computers. With respect to immediacy, CMC can be achieved in the asynchronous or synchronous form: While the former allows
delayed-time interaction such as electronic mail, the latter refers to real-time activities such as text-based chatrooms despite the possible geographical distances between the interlocutors. In this study, as presented earlier, the emphasis will be placed on the
asynchronous and synchronous communication occurring in different functions of social media, which serve as a virtual platform for them to operate.
Social Media
Distinct from traditional media such as newspaper or television programs, social media are relatively inexpensive and readily accessible to the public to publish or receive information. Kaplan and Haelein (2010) defined social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content”
(p.61). According to Kaplan and Haelein (2010), types of social media therefore include blogs, collaborative projects, SNSs, content communities, virtual social worlds, and virtual game worlds. Whereas similar ideas like social media were termed
“information and communication technology (ICT)”, “social networking service”, or
“social networking tools”, to avoid ambiguity, the researcher would use the term
“social media” and follow Kaplan and Haelein’s (2010) idea, defining it as the online interactive applications that individuals use to construct their own personal social network in real life.
Risk-Taking Propensity
Ely (1986) labeled the construct Language Risk Taking, specifically referring it to “an individual’s tendency to assume risks in using the L2 in the second language class” (p.3), and viewed it as a crucial antecedent of voluntary classroom participation.
The researcher expanded Ely’s (1986) conceptualization and defined risk-taking
propensity as one’s tendency to bear risks in using the L2 to communicate with others.
Organization of the Study
The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction of
background, the statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, research questions, the significance of the study, definition of terms and organization of the study.
Chapter two contains a detailed literature review of theoretical foundations of WTC constructs, approaches to conceptualizing WTC, development of L2 WTC models, risk-taking propensity and WTC, and social media and communication. It also
reviews empirical studies on the relation between WTC and social media usage in the L2 contexts. Chapter three offers information about the research design and data collection and analysis procedures of the study. Chapter four displays the findings of both the quantitative and qualitative data analyses. Finally, Chapter five summarizes and discusses the main findings, followed by limitations. Besides, pedagogical implications and suggestions are given at the end of the chapter.