A Study of Teaching Contexts Influencing College Students’ Willingness to Communicate in English Willingness to Communicate in English_英语论文

摘要

本文的研究方向是教学情境因素对大学生英语课堂内交际意愿的影响，旨在调查大学生英语交际意愿的现状以及影响因素。本研究以Kang提出的情境交际意愿基本结构模式为理论基础，主要探讨以下两个问题：第一，英语课堂活动中交际规模对学习者交际意愿的影响；第二，英语课堂活动中交际对象的熟悉程度如何影响学习者的交际意愿。为了回答上述研究问题，本文采用问卷调查的方式，共对150名受试者进行调查访问。对调查结果进行定量分析后，本研究的主要发现有：第一，目前大学生的英语交际意愿并不十分强烈；第二，受试者在双人对话和多人谈话中所表现出的交际意愿并无明显差别；第三，交际对象越熟悉，受试者的英语交际意愿越高。本研究所得结果能为英语课堂教学情境设置提供导向，但同时本研究也存在一定的局限性，在后续研究中可以通过扩大受试群体等方式弥补不足。

关键词：教学情境  交际规模  交际对象熟悉程度  交际意愿 

Abstract

This dissertation presents a study of the influence of teaching contexts on students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in English. Based on the construct of situational willingness to communicate proposed by Kang, this study mainly discusses the following two issues: first, the influence of communication scale on learners’ WTC in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom; second, how the degree of familiarity with communication partners affects English learners’ WTC. In order to answer the above two research questions, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 150 participants. Based on the quantitative analysis of the survey results, the main findings of this study are as follows: first, the college students’ WTC is not so strong; second, there is no significant difference in students’ WTC between dyad and group discussions in the class; third, the more familiar the communication partner is, the higher the students’ WTC will be. Moreover, the results of this study can provide guidance for English classroom teaching planning. However, at the same time, there are some limitations to this research. In future studies, deficiencies can be made up by making some refinements such as expanding the number of participants and so on.

Key words: teaching contexts  communication scale  degree of familiarity with communication partners  willingness to communicate

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Research Background 1

1.2  Significance of This Thesis 2

Chapter Two  Literature Review 3

2.1  Introduction 3

2.2  Willingness to Communicate 3

Chapter Three  Research Methodology 6

3.1  Introduction 6

3.2  Research Questions 6

3.3  Participants 6

3.4  Research Instruments 7

Chapter Four  Results 9

4.1  Introduction 9

4.2  College Students’ WTC in EFL classroom 9

4.3  The Influence of Teaching Contexts on College Students’ WTC 11

4.3.1 The Influence of Communication Scale on WTC 12

4.3.2 The Influence of Degree of Familiarity with Communication Partners on WTC 13

4.3.3 Other Main Factors that Affect Students’ WTC 14

Chapter Five  Discussion 15

Chapter Six  Conclusion 17

Bibliography

Appendix

Acknowledgements