Willingness to communicate in a multilingual context: part two, person-context dynamics

ABSTRACT

In many contexts of multilingualism, language learners can initiate communication in the target language (TL), or a contact language (such as English). Patterns of use emerging from these choices vary between individuals and affect TL development. Willingness to communicate (WTC) needs to be investigated in ways that capture these variations. So far, WTC has not been studied in multilingual contexts, or using individual-level designs. This case study explores intraindividual variability in the WTC propensities of adult learners of Swedish for whom the TL and English provide viable communication options in community interaction. Carried out over a period where TL skills began to develop, the purpose was to explore the process characteristics of changes in communication-initiation propensities. A person-context dynamics perspective was employed, and analyses of time-serial data were combined with analyses of concurrently generated interview data. Results reveal how changes in WTC could be gradual and nongradual, continuous and discontinuous.

KEYWORDS:

• Willingness to communicate
• process dynamics
• migration
• multilinguals
• multilingual language acquistion
• multilingualism

Acknowledgements

Our deepest thanks go to the study participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Students enrolled on the program could also study basic- and intermediate-level Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) courses at municipally-operated centres.

2 The interview dataset totalled 34 000 words. While initial interviews were carried out in English, by the end of the period interviews with both participants were carried out in Swedish. In the excerpts, translations from Swedish are in italics.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by funding received from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) (grant number 2018-03559).

Notes on contributors

Alastair Henry

Alastair Henry is professor of language education at University West (Sweden). His research focuses on L2 motivation, L2 perseverance, multilingualism, language teachers’ motivational practices and teacher identity dynamics. He is the co-author and co-editor of a number of books on these topics.

Cecilia Thorsen

Cecilia Thorsen is senior lecturer in education at University West (Sweden). In addition to the psychology of language learning and teaching, her research involves educational assessment, issues of equity in education, and academic resilience. Currently she is involved in a project investigating the development of motivation in primary mathematics.

Peter D. MacIntyre

Peter D. MacIntyre is professor of psychology at Cape Breton University (Canada). His research focusses on the psychology of language and communication, including anxiety, motivation and willingness to communicate. He has written books or edited anthologies on Positive Psychology, Motivational Dynamics, Nonverbal Communication, Teaching Innovations, and Language Learner Individual Differences.