[ELTWeekly Volume 6, Issue 4 | February 17, 2014]

In the November/December issue of The Language Teacher, internationally renowned author and educator Jack Richards commented that “Affect refers to a number of emotional factors that may influence language learning and language use” (Richards, 2012, p. 49). These emotions may range from excitement and enthusiasm to boredom, stress and anxiety. The first two are commonly found in extroverted students everywhere, while the latter three are very often present in introverted and reticent Japanese students. In addition, the latter may hinder students desire to communicate in English. As Richards (2012) mentions, “Two important aspects of affect are anxiety and willingness to communicate.” (p. 49). Therefore, this paper reports the results from a willingness to communicate (WTC; McCroskey & Baer, 1985) survey, which tests for perceived Anxiety (nervousness), WTC and Confidence or perceived competence (see Hashimoto, 2002, p. 57) for 30 scenarios requiring the use of English. It has been found that “both language anxiety and perceived competence influence(d) WTC” (Hashimoto, 2002, p. 40). (more…)