A Mixed Method Study on Grade 10 ESL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate

Abstract

This study aims to measure the students' level of perceived/self-report WTC and to explore their situational/behavioural WTC in the classroom. It further investigates the most influential factors of their WTC and the significant relationship of their self-report WTC and behavioural WTC. The study incorporates qualitative and quantitative approaches by means of the WTC Scale and Factors influencing WTC questionnaires, classroom observation and semi-structured interviews. A total of one hundred (100) Grade 10 students from MSU-UTC Experimental Campus, Marawi City, were asked to answer the questionnaires and twelve (12) selected students were subjected for the observation and interviews. Findings show that the extent of WTC of the students is sometimes willing to communicate. The most observable behavioural WTC of students is volunteering an answer. However, there is no observed behavioural WTC like giving an answer to an individual student, responding to an opinion, and guessing the meaning of any unknown word. In addition, self-report WTC and behavioural WTC of students has no significant relationship and that their WTC is most influenced by speaking confidence while least influenced by preparedness. The investigation concludes that respondents vary situations before willing to communicate. Teachers are recommended to involve students in interactive activities that allow them to speak. Future researchers are suggested to further investigate students' behavioural WTC by including the teacher as a validator of such actions to enrich the findings.