www.fh-joanneum.at
Engineering Students’ Attitude towards
WTC: A Case Study
Situating Strategy Use:
The Interplay of
Language Learning Strategies and Individual Learner Characteristics
Klagenfurt Conference 2015
gerhild.janser-munro@fh-joanneum.at
tanja.psonder@fh-joanneum.at
www.fh-joanneum.at
Engineering Students’ Attitude towards WTC:
A Case Study
 Reasons for the questionnaire
 Choice of criteria that might influence the students’ willingness
to communicate (WTC)
 Master degree level
 ESP courses
 Comparison of results from two engineering institutes
 Round table with students
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Engineering Students’ Attitude towards WTC:
A Case Study
WTC is an important variable in the interpersonal
communication process that clearly exerts influence on the
communicative behavior of each individual. It is
characterized by personality-based, trait-like predispositions
such as apprehension, alienation, introversion and selfesteem. In general, WTC shows stable differences over time
and across situations.
Retrieved from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08824099409359951?journalCode=rcrr20#preview
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WTC Questionnaire
1a. Which factors do you think influence your willingness to
communicate in L2?




Personality – being introvert or extrovert
(Missing) self-esteem in L2
(Inherent) language transfer L1 to L2
Fear to fail to produce a meaningful statement
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WTC Questionnaire
1b. Which factors do you think influence your willingness to
communicate in L2?
 Fear of correctness and accurateness: pronunciation, choice of
words, grammar
 Communicative situation / scenario: obligatory L2 class is not
adequate exchange platform
 Lack of interest in topic
 Mixture of the before listed aspects
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WTC Questionnaire
2. Is WTC a constant problem in the L2 classroom or does it
change over time (good versus bad days)?
 Some people usually communicate with the others, they might have
bad days though while others just never want to talk.
 Of course, there are good and bad days but I don’t like to speak in
English anyway.
 I think it depends on the situation, on some days I like to communicate
more and on some days less.
 I think it’s a constant problem.
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WTC Questionnaire
2. Is WTC a constant problem in the L2 classroom or does it
change over time (good versus bad days)? Continued
 If the topic is interesting and concerning the people, there is no
problem.
 Bad days for communication do exist  lack of sleep, stress…
 Depends on the people, changes over time.
 In my opinion the personality is the biggest problem. In L2 classes
the same people are always talking.
 Yes – topic, climate, presentations …
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WTC Questionnaire
3. Does WTC depend on the communicative situation? If so,
please have a look at Question 4.
4. In which of the following situations is WTC according to your
experience high, average or low?
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WTC Questionnaire
Question 4 continued:





Assessed presentations
Talking in meetings
Talking in small groups with teacher observation
Talking in small groups without teacher observation
Talking in pairs
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WTC Results Academic Year 2014/2015
(Missing) self-esteem
in L2
Fear of correctness &
accurateness
Lack of interest in
topic
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Architecture /
Construction
Management &
Engineering, N= 49
Advanced Information
Management,
N= 21
2+5
8
1. Choice of words
2. Grammar
3. Pronunciation
5+7
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1. Choice of words
2. Grammar
3. Pronunciation
6
10
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WTC Results Academic Year 2013/2014
(Missing) self-esteem
in L2
Fear of correctness &
accurateness
Lack of interest in
topic
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Construction
Management &
Engineering, N= 34
Advanced Information
Management,
N= 17
10
11
1. Choice of words
2. Pronunciation
3. Grammar
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1. Grammar
2. Choice of words
3. Pronunciation
6
11
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WTC Results Academic Year 2014/2015
Architecture /
Construction
Management &
Engineering, N= 49
Advanced Information
Management,
N= 21
Assessed
presentations
H7+
10
A8+
17
L1+
1
H6
A9
L6
Talking in small groups
with teacher
observation
H6+
10
A 10 +
15
L0+
4
H3
A 16
L2
Talking in small groups
without teacher
observation
H5+
10
A4+
10
L7+
9
H8
A9
L4
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WTC Results Academic Year 2013/2014
Construction
Management &
Engineering, N= 34
Advanced Information
Management,
N= 17
Assessed
presentations
H 15
A 16
L2
H7
A4
L6
Talking in small groups
with teacher
observation
H9
A 21
L3
H3
A 11
L3
Talking in small groups
without teacher
observation
H 11
A 11
L 11
H5
A7
L5
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Student Round Table
Main observations:





Frontal teaching still dominates
Fear of assessment
Different communicative situation in L2 classroom
Communication mostly via social platforms
‘Safe environment’ offered in L2 playground
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References
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08824099409359951?journalCode=rcrr20#preview
http://www.google.at/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDcQFjAB&url=h
ttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidpublishing.com%2FDownLoad%2F%3Fid%3D8773&ei=1dBxU6SjBOLDygOjYH4BA&usg=AFQjCNHlCcPZqhdUBPX3ZZ_0Y-ss1m_g1w&bvm=bv.66330100,d.bGQ
http://www.hawaii.edu/sls/sls/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Hashimoto.pdf
http://www.finchpark.com/courses/grad-dissert/articles/methodology/willingness-tocommunicate.pdf
http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/uncategorized/dce1049_reinders_html_2011/
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Appendix
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FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences
Alte Poststraße 147 + 154, 8020 Graz
Institute of Advanced Information Management
Gerhild Janser-Munro, gerhild.janser-munro@fh-joanneum.at
Institute of Construction Design and Economics &
Institute of Architecture and Project Management
Tanja Psonder, tanja.psonder@fh-joanneum.at
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