Article

International EAL Students’ Linguistic Self-Perception and Willingness to Communicate

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Abstract

This mixed-methods study used the Willingness to Communicate framework to investigate international EAL students’ classroom participation in relation to both actual and perceived oral proficiency. We surveyed 41 EAL linguistics students from a Canadian university about their behaviors and self-perceptions on the dimensions of accentedness, fluency, and intelligibility. The speech of a subset of 19 students was recorded in an oral task and assessed by native-speaking listeners. The students also participated in semi-structured interviews about their linguistic experiences and self-perceptions. Quantitative results showed that EAL students felt that their language skills hold them back from participating in class. Participants were moderately accurate their L2 self-assessment, in contrast with previous research. Self-perception ultimately did not correlate with participants’ reported in-class behavior, suggesting that other factors influenced their decision to participate. In the qualitative results, students’ views of their speech were influenced by their knowledge of SLA and sociolinguistics. Students held conflicting attitudes, simultaneously recognizing that accentedness does not necessarily impede communication, while also expressing a desire to sound more native-like. Our results may assist post-secondary institutions in better supporting EAL students’ integration in the classroom.

How to Cite:

Gluhareva, D. & Munro, M. J. (2022). International EAL students’ linguistic self-perception and willingness to communicate. In J. Levis & A. Guskaroska (eds.), Proceedings of the 12th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, held June 2021 virtually at Brock University, St. Catharines, ON. https://doi.org/10.31274/psllt.13271