The paper titled "Teacher Communication and Learner Willingness to Communicate in English as a Foreign Language: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach" primarily focuses on investigating the relationships between teacher communication behaviors and learners’ willingness to communicate (L2WTC) in a foreign language, specifically English, within a Saudi Arabian context. The study examines how teacher immediacy and credibility, as situational variables, influence learners' affective factors such as motivation, attitudes, and communication confidence, and how these factors, in turn, predict learners' L2WTC.
The purpose of this study is to propose and empirically test a comprehensive communication model that structurally verifies the associations between teacher communication behaviors and learner affective variables, aiming to better understand the factors that enhance learners' willingness to communicate in English as a foreign language.
The methodology employed involves collecting data from 412 undergraduate students enrolled in English courses across four Saudi universities. Participants completed an online questionnaire that had been translated and verified in Arabic, capturing their perceptions of teacher immediacy, credibility, and their own communication confidence, motivation, and attitudes. The study utilized descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and sequential mediation analysis via structural equation modeling to analyze the data.
Key findings indicate that while teacher immediacy and credibility behaviors do not directly predict L2WTC, they do so indirectly through the mediation of learner affective variables. Specifically, teacher credibility has a significant direct effect on learner motivation and teacher immediacy, which in turn influence learner attitudes and communication confidence. These learner variables were found to significantly and positively predict L2WTC. The study highlights the importance of teacher behaviors in shaping learner motivation and communication confidence, which are crucial in determining their willingness to communicate in a foreign language.
The study concludes by emphasizing the pedagogical implications of these findings, particularly the need for teacher education programs to focus on enhancing teacher communication skills to foster learner motivation and confidence. This is seen as essential for improving learners’ willingness to communicate in English, which is critical in EFL contexts where learners are often reluctant to engage in language use. The research underscores the teacher's role in creating a supportive and motivating classroom environment that can positively influence learners’ affective states and their readiness to communicate in a second language.