Arabic-Speaking University Students' Willingness To Communicate In English In The Study Abroad Context
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Date
2016-03
Authors
Nuri Abdalla, Saleh Ali
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
This study aims to explain Arabic-speaking students’ willingness to communicate in English while studying outside their country. It is hoped that this study will add value to the limited empirical research evidence regarding a person’s willingness to communicate in English as a second language, in the context of studying abroad in Malaysia. Furthermore, this study also aims to investigate the influence of an individual’s attitude towards intercultural learning community, communication self-confidence (SC) and motivation on their willingness to communicate (WTC). Situation cognition, socio-educational model, and willingness to communicate model were applied to underpin the theoretical framework of this research A total of 180 Arabic-speaking learners at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) were surveyed and 12 of them were interviewed. Data was collected during the 2010/2011 academic year using the ‘non-probability sampling’ technique. Data analyses were performed using various methods, including multiple regression; structural equation modelling using the SPSS; and the AMOS software package was used for quantitative data while the NVIVO 8 software was used for qualitative data. The results of this study have shown that students had moderate levels of willingness to communicate (WTC), self-perceived communication competence (SPCC), language communication anxiety (LCA), motivation, and positive attitudes towards the intercultural learning community. All of these communication variables were found to be significantly correlated with each other at the .01 level. However, the ‘respect for cultural differences’ (RCD) variable was not correlated with WTC. Language communication anxiety and self-perceived communication competence that reflect the communication self-confidence of the students were the most influential factors and motivation was the secondary influential factor that showed good predictions of students’ WTC. However, the attitude (intercultural posture) of a student was also found to be a significant predictor of WTC. This factor was found to be a partially influential factor of WTC. SEM results revealed that students’ willingness to communicate in English has a statistically significant direct path from self-confidence and an indirect path from intercultural posture (IP) through Self-confidence (SC). Intercultural posture (IP) has a direct path to motivation. Developing and understanding the influential roles of willingness, attitudes, motivation, self-perceived communication competence, and communication anxiety within an intercultural community of practiced perspectives presents a theoretical lens that would help to explain the success of Arabic-speaking students in learning language skills in the context of studying abroad.
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Keywords
Communication , Communicate in English