Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Given its key role in enhancing learners’ communicative competence, willingness to communicate (WTC) has received much research attention in the field of second language (L2) teaching and learning. Numerous studies have explored the antecedents of WTC in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jalil Fathi, Farnoosh Mohammaddokht, Saeed Nourzadeh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Allameh Tabataba'i University Press 2021-12-01
Series:Issues in Language Teaching
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ilt.atu.ac.ir/article_13340_8a7e8f04ee8ba18ace3622ace6115c3c.pdf
_version_ 1797378172057026560
author Jalil Fathi
Farnoosh Mohammaddokht
Saeed Nourzadeh
author_facet Jalil Fathi
Farnoosh Mohammaddokht
Saeed Nourzadeh
author_sort Jalil Fathi
collection DOAJ
description Given its key role in enhancing learners’ communicative competence, willingness to communicate (WTC) has received much research attention in the field of second language (L2) teaching and learning. Numerous studies have explored the antecedents of WTC in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. As an attempt to shed more light on this line of research, this study was set to investigate the effects of grit and foreign language anxiety as predictors of L2 WTC among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, a number of 163 undergraduate English major students from several universities participated in this survey. The required data were collected by distributing valid and reliable instruments measuring the three target variables (i.e., WTC, grit, and anxiety). A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was utilized to test the hypothesized structural models for the relations between these variables. The SEM results indicated that grit accounted for 10.6 % of the variance and FL anxiety explained 20% of the variance in the participants’ L2 WTC. Furthermore, the unique impact of foreign language anxiety on WTC was greater than that of grit. The implications of these findings for language teaching and learning are discussed at the end of the paper.
first_indexed 2024-03-08T20:03:53Z
format Article
id doaj.art-47ea8dd0d3e54dd496e2e6f18e8d7523
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2322-3715
2476-6194
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-08T20:03:53Z
publishDate 2021-12-01
publisher Allameh Tabataba'i University Press
record_format Article
series Issues in Language Teaching
spelling doaj.art-47ea8dd0d3e54dd496e2e6f18e8d75232023-12-23T10:47:39ZengAllameh Tabataba'i University PressIssues in Language Teaching2322-37152476-61942021-12-0110213010.22054/ilt.2021.63362.62713340Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling ApproachJalil Fathi0Farnoosh Mohammaddokht1Saeed Nourzadeh2Assistant Professor, TEFL, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, IranMA, TEFL, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, IranAssistant professor in TEFL, Damghan University, Semnan, IranGiven its key role in enhancing learners’ communicative competence, willingness to communicate (WTC) has received much research attention in the field of second language (L2) teaching and learning. Numerous studies have explored the antecedents of WTC in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. As an attempt to shed more light on this line of research, this study was set to investigate the effects of grit and foreign language anxiety as predictors of L2 WTC among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, a number of 163 undergraduate English major students from several universities participated in this survey. The required data were collected by distributing valid and reliable instruments measuring the three target variables (i.e., WTC, grit, and anxiety). A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was utilized to test the hypothesized structural models for the relations between these variables. The SEM results indicated that grit accounted for 10.6 % of the variance and FL anxiety explained 20% of the variance in the participants’ L2 WTC. Furthermore, the unique impact of foreign language anxiety on WTC was greater than that of grit. The implications of these findings for language teaching and learning are discussed at the end of the paper.https://ilt.atu.ac.ir/article_13340_8a7e8f04ee8ba18ace3622ace6115c3c.pdfgritforeign language anxietyl2 willingness to communicatestructural equation modeling
spellingShingle Jalil Fathi
Farnoosh Mohammaddokht
Saeed Nourzadeh
Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
Issues in Language Teaching
grit
foreign language anxiety
l2 willingness to communicate
structural equation modeling
title Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
title_full Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
title_fullStr Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
title_full_unstemmed Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
title_short Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety as Predictors of Willingness to Communicate in the Context of Foreign Language Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
title_sort grit and foreign language anxiety as predictors of willingness to communicate in the context of foreign language learning a structural equation modeling approach
topic grit
foreign language anxiety
l2 willingness to communicate
structural equation modeling
url https://ilt.atu.ac.ir/article_13340_8a7e8f04ee8ba18ace3622ace6115c3c.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT jalilfathi gritandforeignlanguageanxietyaspredictorsofwillingnesstocommunicateinthecontextofforeignlanguagelearningastructuralequationmodelingapproach
AT farnooshmohammaddokht gritandforeignlanguageanxietyaspredictorsofwillingnesstocommunicateinthecontextofforeignlanguagelearningastructuralequationmodelingapproach
AT saeednourzadeh gritandforeignlanguageanxietyaspredictorsofwillingnesstocommunicateinthecontextofforeignlanguagelearningastructuralequationmodelingapproach