Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education

International students in higher education: Promoting their willingness to

communicate in classrooms
Dongyao Tan, Mike Yough, Cong Wang,
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Dongyao Tan, Mike Yough, Cong Wang, (2018) "International students in higher education: Promoting
their willingness to communicate in classrooms", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education,
https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-01-2018-0008
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International
International students students in
in higher education higher
education
Promoting their willingness to
communicate in classrooms
Dongyao Tan Received 22 January 2018
Purdue University College of Education, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA Revised 30 March 2018
Accepted 4 May 2018
Mike Yough
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, and
Cong Wang
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Purdue University College of Education, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate international students’ willingness to communicate
(WTC) in US university classrooms, focusing on the role of classroom environment. International students in
higher education have great economic and academic impacts, studying their WTC in classrooms facilitates
their learning and speaking of English and helps them better participate in class activities and acclimatize to
schooling in their adopted cultures.
Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from 50 Chinese undergraduate students
who took English as a second language (ESL) class at a large Midwestern university. Four students
participated in follow-up interviews.
Findings – Results revealed that in ESL classrooms, confidence and motivation had a direct impact on WTC,
classroom environment had an indirect effect on WTC through the mediation of motivation and confidence.
Qualitative analysis also showed that classroom environment greatly impacted WTC in both ESL and general
classrooms, and teacher factors were most important.
Practical implications – These results have direct pedagogical implications for teachers serving
international students in higher education.
Originality/value – This study facilitates the understanding of the previously under-studied influence of
classroom environments on WTC, which has direct pedagogical implications. WTC research focuses
predominantly on language learning classrooms, this study initiates an extended exploration of WTC in
language learning as well as general classrooms.
Keywords Higher education, Confidence, International students, Motivation, Classroom environment,
Willingness to communicate
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
The number of Asian international students studying in institutions of higher education in
major English speaking countries such as USA, UK, Australia and Canada has greatly
increased in the recent decade, with China remaining the top country of origin (Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2013). They make great economic and
academic contributions. For example, international students contribute over $13bn annually
to the US economy, and add diversity to higher education institutions in this globalized world
(Andrade, 2006). However, many international students struggle with language barriers
and unpreparedness for the different instructional approaches in the host cultures.
Many reported language difficulties, anxieties, lack of confidence and discussion skills
(Holmes, 2004; Robertson et al., 2000), as well as unfamiliarity with and disfavor of the more
collaborative, interactive, and dialogic classroom experience domestic students are used to in Journal of Applied Research in
Higher Education
the USA (Holmes, 2004; Kuo, 2011). As a result, they are reticent in classrooms and not well © Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-7003
adjusted (Kuo, 2011), which undermines their educational satisfaction and academic DOI 10.1108/JARHE-01-2018-0008
 JARHE achievement (Andrade, 2006). A majority of these students take the required English as a
second language (ESL) classes in their current institution to improve language proficiency and
communication skills (Redden, 2013). Therefore, the need manifests to study how to facilitate
their learning and natural use of English in classrooms, so as to help them better participate in
class activities and acclimatize to schooling and academia in their adopted cultures.
Willingness to communicate (WTC) in the second language (L2) is an important variable
of interest. WTC refers to the inclination of initiating communication in the L2 when having
a free choice to do so (MacIntyre et al., 1998). WTC facilitates second language acquisition
(Cao, 2014; MacIntyre, 2007), classroom participation (Bernales, 2016; Chan and McCroskey,
1987; Munezane, 2016), and development of interpersonal relationships with teachers and
peers (McCroskey and Baer 1985).
Traditional WTC research focused primarily on the influence of individual variables such as
communication confidence and motivation on WTC (e.g. MacIntyre et al., 1998), recent studies
began to investigate classroom environment variables such as topics and interlocutors
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(Cao, 2014; Kang, 2005). It is particularly important to study classroom environments’ influence
on WTC because: WTC is largely situational (MacIntyre, 2007), hence can be easily supported
or thwarted by classroom environments; and classroom environments are more subject to
change than other, relatively stable variables such as students’ communication confidence,
hence they tie closely with L2 pedagogy and classroom management. However, classroom
environments are still relatively under-researched, and recent studies have mostly been
qualitative. Therefore, more mixed-methods or quantitative studies centering on classroom
environments are needed, which can offer a more comprehensive understanding of how these
environments affect WTC and the magnitude of the effect, thus better inform pedagogy.
Moreover, studies of WTC were mostly conducted in language learning classrooms.
Although international students’ reticence in general classrooms is noted across studies
(e.g. Kuo, 2011; Ryu, 2013), the construct of WTC is scantly researched in general classrooms
where students also rely on the L2 extensively and learn it implicitly. To better improve their
language and communication adjustment, it is necessary to study international students’ WTC
not only in ESL but also in general classrooms. Researchers have advocated collaborative efforts
between ESL and mainstream class teachers to integrate language and content-area instruction
and reform curriculum for these students (Harklau, 1994; Martin-Beltrán and Peercy, 2012).
Based on these rationales, the present study aims to explore Chinese students’ WTC in
US university classrooms as a pilot inquiry, focusing on the role of classroom environment
with a mixed method design. We choose Chinese students as they are the largest
international student group. The center of our inquiry is ESL classes as they represent a
primary effort in facilitating international students’ transition and adjustment
(Andrade, 2006; Harklau, 1994). We also extend our inquiry of such effort and initiate a
preliminary investigation to understand WTC in general classrooms.
To guide our research, we adapted Peng and Woodrow’s (2010) WTC model in Chinese
English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms. Specifically, we collected survey data to
examine how confidence, motivation, learner beliefs, and classroom environment
(teacher support, task orientation, student cohesiveness) were associated with Chinese
students’ WTC in ESL classrooms. We also collected interview data as case study examples
to amplify and complement survey findings. Interviews explored factors underlying WTC
in ESL and general classrooms with a focus on the classroom environment factor from three
broad aspects: teacher, peers, and tasks.

WTC antecedents and their interrelationships

Overall, WTC is influenced by the joint effect of individual, contextual, and linguistic factors
(Cao, 2014; MacIntyre et al., 1998). Major antecedents of WTC include confidence, motivation,
learner beliefs, and contexts/environments. They are also dynamically interrelated.
 Confidence is a primary force shaping WTC in both broad social-cultural and specific International
educational contexts. MacIntyre (1994) proposed perceived communication competence students in
and communication anxiety as two components of confidence influencing frequency of higher
communication. MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) pyramid model of willingness to communicate
proposed direct paths to WTC from various layers of communicative self-confidence and education
competence as well as interpersonal and intergroup motivation and affiliation attitudes.
L2 communication confidence also has significant influence on WTC inside classrooms
(Khajavy et al., 2016; Zhong, 2013). Lack of confidence in their ability to communicate and
perform tasks was found hindering international students’ WTC across studies
(Robertson et al., 2000; Zhong, 2013).
Motivation and attitudes are also important antecedents to WTC. Attitudes and
motivation toward L2 language learning, the instructional setting, and the L2 community
are often intertwined in WTC research. MacIntyre (2007) proposed that WTC is a
motivational and volitional process based on his decades of studies. Researchers also
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confirmed the close relations between WTC and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to
learn L2 (Peng and Woodrow, 2010); integrative or affiliation motives with classmates
(de Saint Léger and Storch, 2009); interpersonal and intergroup motivation in diverse
situations (MacIntyre et al., 1998); and attitudes toward the L2 community and language
learning (Clément et al., 2003). Motivation directly predicted WTC alone and simultaneously
with confidence in some studies (e.g. MacIntyre et al., 1998), and indirectly predicted WTC
through confidence in others (e.g. Khajavy et al., 2016).
Another antecedent is learner beliefs or perceptions. Peng and Woodrow (2010) proposed
that learner beliefs and value judgment about English learning and classroom
communication affected learners’ attitudes and behaviors. They found that learner beliefs
indirectly predicted WTC through motivation and confidence. Similarly, other studies also
reported how WTC and motivation were associated with beliefs about foreign language
study (Graham, 2006; Wen and Clément, 2003) and communication behaviors in different
situations (Zhong, 2013). Some other beliefs influencing learners’ WTC include perceived
contributions to class activities (de Saint Léger and Storch, 2009), self-efficacy beliefs
about oral proficiency, and beliefs influenced by past experience and significant others
(Zhong, 2013).
Comparatively, far fewer studies have investigated social contextual variables’
relationships with WTC. Recent studies specifically focusing on classroom settings
confirmed the important influence of classroom environment on WTC and related variables.
For example, direct, significant paths from classroom environment to WTC as well as
confidence, motivation and learner beliefs were tested both in Chinese (Peng and Woodrow,
2010) and Iranian (Khajavy et al., 2016) EFL classrooms. A positive classroom climate also
supported the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation, and
enhanced EFL learners’ WTC ( Joe et al., 2017). Literature also reported the kinds of
classroom environment variables affecting WTC, such as topic ( familiarity with the topic,
content knowledge), interlocutors (language competence level, cultural backgrounds)
(Cao, 2014; Kang, 2005), task type (group interaction, teacher-fronted activities), teacher
factors (teacher attitudes, teaching styles, methods) (Peng, 2012), group size (Cao, 2014), and
classroom atmosphere (Peng, 2012).
Although attention has been directed toward different aspects of the classroom
environment, thus far research has predominantly utilized qualitative methods with
interviews, observations and learners’ journals as data sources (e.g. Cao, 2014; Peng, 2012).
Peng and Woodrow’s (2010) study of Chinese college students’ willingness to communicate
in EFL classrooms is one of few studies ( Joe et al., 2017; Khajavy et al., 2016) that included
classroom environment in a statistical model of WTC. This model was well tested through
structural equation modeling. The results showed that the joint effect of classroom
 JARHE environment, motivation, learner beliefs, and communication confidence adequately
predicted the variations of WTC. To comprehensively understand the importance of
classroom environment in relation to WTC alone and in comparison to other WTC
indicators, quantitative and qualitative methods should be combined. Our study pilots such
an exploration with survey data and exemplary interview cases to guide a more substantial
research program.

Conceptualization of key variables and theoretical frameworks

Following Peng and Woodrow, we conceptualized willingness to communicate as WTC in
form-focused activities (activities focusing on language forms such as grammar and
vocabulary) and WTC in meaning-focused activities (activities focusing on conveying
meaning and free communication). Confidence was conceptualized as perceived
communicative competence (self-evaluation of L2 skills, the degree of mastery) and
communication anxiety (the discomfort when using the L2). Learner beliefs was
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conceptualized as beliefs about classroom communication (value judgment on what

learning and communication behaviors are appropriate) and beliefs about English learning
(value judgment on how to learn English). These conceptualizations were well established in
previous studies and fit the classroom context well (Peng and Woodrow, 2010).
We followed a self-determination theory (SDT) (Ryan and Deci, 2017) framework to
conceptualize motivation and classroom environment. SDT is an influential framework of
human motivation and is widely applied in education research. It posits that humans have a
natural tendency to master their environments, and the social environments either nurture or
thwart their inner motivational resources and basic psychological needs of autonomy (behaving
with a sense of volition), competence (mastering one’s environment), and relatedness (feeling
connected with others), which have different affective, behavioral and cognitive consequences.
Like Peng and Woodrow (2010), we conceptualized motivation following SDT’s
intrinsic-extrinsic motivation continuum of how much the motivation is self-determined/
autonomous as opposed to alien to the self/controlled. Specifically, along the continuum are
intrinsic motivation (a spontaneous interest in the activity itself), integrated regulation
(evaluating and bringing an identification into a coherent self), identified regulation (identifying
the value of an activity and embracing it as one’s own), introjected regulation (doing what
people think one should do because it is expected), and external regulation (engaging in an
activity to obtain a reward or avoid a punishment) (Ryan and Deci, 2017). In addition, we added
an integrative motivation dimension following Gardner’s (1988) socioeducational theory of
motivation to fit our context. Integrative motivation comprises genuine interest in the target
language, desires to identify with the target language community, and positive evaluation of the
learning situation, and plays a key role in learning and communication in the ESL context
(Gardner, 1988).
For classroom environment, we followed Peng and Woodrow’s (2010) conceptualization of
teacher support (teacher’s help, friendship, trust, interest shown to students), student
cohesiveness (the extent to which students know, help and support each other), and task
orientation (the importance of completing activities and the perceived usefulness of activities).
We also included teacher autonomy in the teacher support dimension based on SDT. SDT
frames classroom environment as a result of teachers’ autonomy supportive (support learners’
initiatives, take learners’ perspectives, motivate through interests) vs controlling (take charge,
evaluate, motivate through pressure) motivational strategies (Ryan and Deci, 2017).
Autonomy support satisfies learners’ basic psychological needs, and promotes perceived
competence and higher quality motivation. Adding teacher autonomy: makes the classroom
environment, motivation, and confidence constructs in the present study more coherent; and
adds a more specified account for the motivational strategy aspect of teacher support which is
decisive for students’ WTC and engagement (Wen and Clément, 2003).
 Method International
Setting and participants students in
Survey participants were 50 Chinese international students (female: N ¼ 32; male: N ¼ 18; higher
average age: 19) at a large Midwestern university in USA. They were mostly freshmen from
various disciplines such as engineering, finance and communication. They had been education
studying English for nine years on average, and their language proficiency ranged from
intermediate to relatively advanced. Four of the students, all females, participated in our
interviews. They took the Test of English as a Foreign Language before being admitted, and
their scores ranged from 80 to 100 (maximum: 120).
Participants had finished a required ESL course in the previous semester. The ESL
course aimed to help international students meet the university’s language proficiency
standards, and focused on academic writing. The class had multiple sections, and class size
was 12 to 15 students with at least two thirds of the students being Chinese. The students
also took several content classes each semester, most were general education courses and
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had large class size.

Procedures
We conducted one informal interview and several rounds of consultations with three ESL
instructors of our targeted participants before data collection. The interview and
consultations provided helpful information to understand our participants, contextualize
our study, design the instruments, and interpret the results.
We first piloted the survey with 20 participants to test scales’ reliability, and reduced
18 items that were relatively less reliable—Cronbach’s α increased when deleting these
items—for survey parsimony. In total, 55 items constituted the final survey. The pilot
survey took place two months after participants finished the ESL course. In all,
50 participants responded to our revised electronic survey one month later.
A semi-structured interview protocol was designed by two of the authors and refined
after a pilot interview. Two months after the survey was finalized, four of the 50 participants
volunteered for one-on-one interviews. Interviews lasted 50 minutes to one hour and were
audio recorded. Chinese, the students’ native language, was used for the interviews. Parts of
the transcripts were translated into English when reporting the results.

Instruments
Survey. The survey asked participants to comment on their experiences in the ESL course
on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Peng and
Woodrow’s (2010) scales were adapted. In addition, the current study added perceived
teacher autonomy from the learning climate questionnaire (Black and Deci, 2000)
to the classroom environment scale, and items of integrative motivation (MacIntyre and
Charos, 1996) to the motivation scale.
The WTC scale (α ¼ 0.845) measured WTC in form-focused activities and WTC in
meaning-focused activities with eight items. The Confidence scale (α ¼ 0.913) measured
perceived communicative competence and communication anxiety with eight items.
The learner beliefs scale (α ¼ 0.919) measured beliefs about classroom communication and
beliefs about English learning with six items. The Motivation scale (α ¼ 0.932) comprised 18
items on intrinsic-extrinsic academic motivation and integrative motivation. The Classroom
Environment scale (α ¼ 0.947) had 15 items on teacher support in general and teacher’s
autonomy support in specific, task orientation, and student cohesiveness. Appendix
A provides sample items of each scale.
Interviews. The interviews asked for students’ WTC in ESL and general classes. Part one
of the interview protocol elicited predictors of WTC in the ESL class. It also examined
 JARHE classroom environment in detail with regard to teacher, students and tasks—three main
components of the classroom ecological dynamics—in accordance with our survey. Part two
explored participants’ perceived predictors of WTC in general classrooms, particularly the
role of classroom environment. Participants were asked to reflect on all content classes they
had taken and were currently taking at the university at the time of the interview, and one or
two classes they had highest and lowest WTC.

Data analysis
Survey data were analyzed through multiple regression and mediation analyses using SPSS
23.0. The distributions of the five variables were first checked, and they met the linearity,
normality, independence, and homoscedasticity assumptions. Pairwise deletion was used to
deal with missing data (number of missing values for each observation ranged from 0 to 10).
Learner beliefs items were reverse-coded as they were worded negatively. We also tested a
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mediation model to examine the relations among classroom environment, motivation,

confidence and WTC using the procedure outlined by MacKinnon et al. (2007).
Interview data were deductively coded into four categories: factors underlying WTC in
ESL classrooms, classroom environment influence on WTC in ESL classrooms, factors
underlying WTC in general classrooms, and classroom environment influence on WTC in
general classrooms. Two authors independently open coded the first two interviews for each
broad category and generated sub-categories and codes. Initial percentage of agreement of
coding was 82 percent based on the number and types of codes assigned to each category.
Discrepancies were resolved through several rounds of recoding and collaborative
discussions, and a final coding scheme was established. The remaining two interviews were
coded accordingly. The importance of the factors predicting WTC was identified based on
frequency across and within participants’ responses.

Results
Survey results
Multiple regression analysis revealed that the overall model fit was good (adjusted
R2 ¼ 0.653) (Table II) after removing learner beliefs which was not significantly correlated
with other variables (Table I). The effects of confidence ( β ¼ 0.436, p o0.01) and motivation
( β ¼ 0.338, p ¼ 0.025) on WTC were significant (Table III). The effect of classroom
environment on WTC ( β ¼ 0.179, p ¼ 0.210) was not significant (Table III). Nonetheless,
mediation analysis revealed that classroom environment indirectly predicted WTC through
the mediation of confidence and motivation (Figure 1) (Tables I-III).
Step 1 of the mediation analysis tested the direct effect of the independent variable
classroom environment on the dependent variable WTC. The effect was significant
( β ¼ 0.580, p o0.01). Step 2 tested the path from classroom environment to the motivation
mediator ( β ¼ 0.651, p o0.05), and the path from classroom environment to the confidence
mediator ( β ¼ 0.410, p o0.05). Both paths were significant. Step 3 tested the paths from

Classroom
M±SD environment Motivation Confidence WTC Learner beliefs
Table I. Classroom environment 4.17 ± 0.56 1
Correlations between
Motivation 4.01 ± 0.55 0.651** 1
classroom
environment, Confidence 3.64 ± 0.75 0.410** 0.432** 1
motivation, learner WTC 4.02 ± 0.61 0.580** 0.532** 0.732** 1
beliefs and willingness Learner beliefs 3.04 ± 0.73 −0.168 −0.205 −0.239 −0.173 1
to communicate Note: **po 0.01
 WTC
International
0.321* students in
0.523**
higher
0.580**a education
Confidence Motivation
/0.157b

0.410* 0.651**
Classroom
Environment
Figure1.
Notes: aThe  before entering the mediating variables; Chinese students’
bthe  after entering the mediating variables. *p < 0.05; WTC model in ESL
classrooms
**p <0.01
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Table II.
Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimates Multiple linear
regression model
1 0.825 0.680 0.653 0.35993 summary

Model B SE β t Sig.

1 (constant) 0.332 0.485 0.684 0.498

Confidence 0.436 0.088 0.543 4.948 0.000 Table III.
Motivation 0.338 0.145 0.303 2.336 0.025 Multiple linear
Classroom environment 0.179 0.140 0.164 1.276 0.210 regression coefficients

motivation to WTC ( β ¼ 0.321, p o0.05) and confidence to WTC ( β ¼ 0.523, p o0.01).

Both paths were significant. Step 4 compared the correlations between classroom
environment and WTC before and after adding motivation and confidence in the model.
After adding the two mediators, the correlation between classroom environment and WTC
dropped to 0.157 from 0.580 and became insignificant ( β ¼ 0.157, p W0.05). Therefore,
classroom environment indirectly predicted WTC through the full mediation of motivation
and confidence (Figure 1).

Interview results
WTC and classroom environment in ESL classrooms. For factors influencing their WTC in
ESL classrooms, all four participants identified classroom environment, and three identified
different types of motivation and confidence. Two identified personality. For example, one
student reported the role of identified regulation, “Sometimes I thought my English was not
good, but I wanted to improve it and I was motivated, so I would speak up.” Another discussed
introjected regulation, “If no one answered the teacher’s question, and there was some
awkward silence, I would feel bad and answer it.” Another commented on communication
confidence, “If I couldn’t express my ideas clearly I wouldn’t be willing to speak up.”
Among the three aspects of classroom environment, participants recognized teacher
influence as most important. Most important teacher factors influencing participants’ WTC
were teacher friendliness, relationship with the teacher, and teacher’s ability to enliven
 JARHE classroom atmosphere. Other factors included teacher’s sense of responsibility, feedback,
encouragement and provision of opportunities for communication. For example, one
participant commented on teacher friendliness and encouragement, “The teacher is very
nice. He encouraged every one of us to express ourselves. He spoke in a manner that you
found comfortable, and never used forceful or commanding language.” One mentioned
relationship with the teacher, “The teacher is cute. She always asked about and
complimented my stuff, we were close, which I felt promoted my willingness to
communicate greatly.” Another discussed teacher’s ability to enliven classroom atmosphere,
“When the teacher built up a relaxing atmosphere, told some jokes, and smiled, I was willing
to participate actively in discussions.”
Among student factors accounting for WTC, peers’ nationality and cohesiveness with
peers were most salient. For example, students commented, “Because we are all Chinese, and
we had a similar level of English proficiency, I was more willing to make jokes or discuss
things in depth.” “It was OK if I made mistakes, my classmates would be patient and we
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would encourage each other. I was more willing to talk when respected.” Additional factors
included peers’ language ability, task responsibility and WTC.
Interests in the task topic was the most salient task factor. For instance, one student
reported, “My willingness to communicate was higher when the tasks were interesting or
useful. For example the tasks about writing techniques were useful and I was more willing
to speak up in those tasks.” Additionally, task type, difficulty and utility were reported.
WTC and classroom environment in general classrooms. For factors influencing their
WTC in general classes, all participants reported teacher factors (providing communication
opportunities, encouragement, friendliness, creating enlivened atmosphere) and task factors
(task difficulty, interests in the task, task type, task responsibility), three reported class size
(communication opportunities, pressure to speak in a large class), and two reported
confidence in language ability. For example, one student mentioned class size and
confidence in language ability, “My willingness to communicate is the weakest when the
class size is big. I’m shy to speak up, especially when I don’t know how to express my
thoughts.” Besides, student factors (cohesiveness, nationality), motivation (introjected
regulation, identified regulation), and personality were also identified.
Teacher factors (most important: providing communication opportunities,
encouragement/help, friendliness) and task factors (most important: task difficulty and
interest) were important classroom environment factors in general classrooms.
Some student factors (i.e. nationality, cohesiveness) were identified but not as important.
For example, one student commented on task difficulty, “When I couldn’t understand what
the teacher is talking about, I’m willing to communicate and ask around.” Another reported
teacher encouragement, “I’m willing to communicate when teachers are nice. Sometimes I
make mistakes or have trouble expressing ideas while speaking, I still like to talk if the
teacher helps me organize my thoughts and provides me with relevant language.”

Discussion
Confidence in using English and low communication anxiety to interact with peers and to
perform tasks was a shaping force for participants’ WTC regardless of the context. Results
from the survey showed that confidence had the highest weight in determining participants’
WTC. Interviews confirmed this role in both ESL and general classrooms. Survey results
also revealed the major influence of intrinsic-extrinsic and integrative motivation on
participants’ WTC as a whole. These findings align with previous literature (e.g. MacIntyre
and Charos, 1996).
Individuals from our sample had relatively high language proficiency and had been
learning English for a number of years. Nonetheless the effect of communication confidence
 on their WTC still outweighed other factors. This warrants more interventions to help International
international students develop communication skills they might not have received adequate students in
training in before coming to the USA. Moreover, interviews further exemplified that the higher
major types of motivation spurring individual students to communicate in classrooms
varied. Some types of more extrinsic motivation—such as introjected regulation, one of a education
participant’s primary reasons to speak up in class—exert compulsion and stress on
students according to SDT albeit their driving force for class participation. These types of
motivation may harm students’ psychological needs and educational satisfactions.
Therefore teachers should attend to the motivational strategies they use and aim for those
enhancing students’ WTC and meeting students’ needs at the same time.
Results lent further empirical support that the classroom environment brought about
variations in students’ WTC, motivation, and confidence. This is consistent with previous
studies—some discovered both direct and indirect links from classroom environment to
WTC (e.g. Khajavy et al., 2016) and others only discovered indirect links through motivation
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and competence (e.g. Joe et al., 2017). Our survey results only supported indirect links,
indicating teachers hoping to promote students’ WTC could invest more efforts in building
an environment that boosts students’ confidence and motivation.
Results also revealed that teacher support, student cohesiveness and task orientation
help create WTC-facilitating classroom environments. Interview cases supported these
dimensions and further illuminated the role of teachers (e.g. friendliness and rapport with
students), peers (e.g. cohesiveness, nationality), and tasks (e.g. interesting, useful topics and
more communicative than teacher-led tasks) in WTC more broadly, confirming extant
evidence (e.g. Cao, 2014). From an SDT perspective, these factors create environments that
nurture needs of relatedness (e.g. close relationship with teacher), competence (e.g. peer
encouragement and respect), and autonomy (e.g. intrinsic, autonomous motivation in
interesting tasks), thereby evoking participants’ volition to engage in classroom
communications. Contrary to some studies (e.g. Kang, 2005), participants reported higher
WTC with peers from their own culture instead of other cultures. This can be explained by
higher confidence in speaking ability and the feelings of relatedness when interacting with
these peers, which suggests an effort to: again increase international students’ confidence,
especially newly coming students; and enhance mutual understanding and support between
students from different cultures.
Learner beliefs did not play a role in WTC in our study. Learner beliefs predicted
participants’ motivation and confidence in Peng and Woodrow (2010), but the
authors suggested their results should be interpreted with caution for their relatively
narrow conceptualization of this variable. One explanation for our different finding is
contextual and individual differences—learner beliefs may not have had influence on the
individuals in our context. Indeed, participants’ responses to the learner beliefs items in
the survey were mostly neutral compared to other variables, indicating they may not have
had an opinion toward learner beliefs. Meanwhile, our scale may not have adequately
assessed learner beliefs in the ESL context. The construct of learner beliefs has a wide
conceptual range. Conceptualizations of learner beliefs/attitudes and motivation often
overlapped in research (Wesely, 2012) but were mutually exclusive in our study,
hence possibly the insignificant relations between learner beliefs and other variables in
our study.
Two additional findings from interviews are consistent with the literature. First, class
size influenced students’ WTC (Cao, 2014). Class size can lead to variations in teaching
approaches, classroom management, and classroom environment, hence the variations in
motivation, communication anxiety and confidence, and WTC. Second, personality was a
precursor to WTC (McCroskey and Baer, 1985) but it is beyond the scope of discussion as
we centered on the situational propensity of WTC.
 JARHE Pedagogical implications
Our results have implications for higher education ESL and general classroom teachers
serving international students. Based on our findings and an SDT perspective, we propose
practices tying closely with our focus on classroom environment that teachers can directly
manipulate. We argue these practices create classroom environments that inherently
support basic psychological needs and promote confidence and self-determined motivation,
which in turn promote WTC and educational satisfactions.
Teachers have crucial personal influence on international students’ participation
intentions, they should be friendly, encouraging, and build rapport with international
students. For example, as interview participants suggested, non-content based interaction
with students before or after class, trying to understand international and individual
students differences and struggles in class, and offering encouragement for mistakes and
recognition for effort and progress could help build a personal relationship that encourages
students to communicate.
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Importantly, teachers also play a role in promoting task engagement and student
cohesiveness. Teachers could incorporate more collaborative tasks in their curriculums and
guide student class interactions, especially for bigger classes. This helps promote student
cohesiveness and relatedness, and offers abundant opportunities to improve communication
skills, competence and confidence over time. Teachers could model peer interaction that
promotes favorable interpersonal climate and interdependence among group members,
especially between international and domestic students who may both lack the experience of
intercultural communication. Teachers could also do more think-pair-share activities to ease
students’ communication anxiety in collaborative work, especially for newly arriving students.
Meanwhile, teachers could help international students understand and identify the benefits of
collaborative tasks, such as by recognizing their accomplishments and explicating how
collaboration contributes. This stimulates initiatives rather than compels students to
participate (e.g. just obligate them to collaborate or link participation to grades), motivating
through identified regulation rather than controlled motivation. In addition, teachers could
strive to make tasks more interesting, useful, and with appropriate levels of difficulty (e.g. learn
students’ interests and goals, and negotiate assignments options, as interview participants
suggested), which promotes autonomous motivation, needs for competence, and WTC.

Conclusion
Our study informs higher education teachers in terms of promoting international students’
WTC. It contributes to WTC research by: facilitating further understanding of the role of
classroom environment; and proposing a new area of WTC research—to extend it to general
classrooms beyond language learning classrooms. Although our inquiry is preliminary, it
can spark interdisciplinary and more substantial research in the future.
The interrelationships among the variables of interests, especially the role of classroom
environment, need further testing. The structure of the model is likely to be more complex
and informative with larger sample size and more advanced statistical analyses.
Our investigation on classroom environment is still limited, future investigations could be
more targeted and in-depth utilizing multiple methods and generating more robust evidence
to understand the problem. Likewise, our implications for promoting international students’
WTC were relatively general due to our limited scope of study, evidence-based and more
concrete strategies to promote WTC are greatly needed, especially for general classes.
Furthermore, we only caught a glimpse of international students’ WTC in general
classrooms. This research area has important pedagogical implications for a broader
audience and warrants detailed investigation. Additionally, enriching the conceptualization
of learner beliefs and retesting it may yield different results. Our learner beliefs scale was
tested with high reliability but the validity might need improving.
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Appendix A. WTC in ESL classrooms survey example items

WTC
I am willing to:
Present the results of our group’s discussion to the class.
Ask my group mates in English the meaning of a word I do not know.

Classroom environment
Tasks designed in this class are useful.
I make friends among students in this class.
My instructor conveyed confidence in my ability to do well in the course.

Motivation
I am motivated in the course and in learning English because:
I think it is good for my personal development.
My feelings about learning English in order to interact with members of the second language
community are strong.
 Confidence International
I am not anxious when giving an oral presentation to the rest of the class. students in
I am able to answer the teacher’s question well in class.
higher
Learner Beliefs education
I learn little by participating in communication activities in class
You should not say anything in English until you can speak it correctly.

Appendix B. Interview Sample Guiding Questions

Part I. WTC in ESL classrooms

What factors affected your WTC in ESL class?
What kind of tasks promoted and hindered your WTC?
Were there any behaviors or traits of the teacher that particularly promoted or hindered your WTC?
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Did your classmates’ certain traits or behaviors impact your WTC in particular?

Part II. WTC in general classrooms

Think about a class where you have the highest WTC. What promoted your WTC? How did the
classroom environment of that class impact your WTC?

Corresponding author
Dongyao Tan can be contacted at: tan146@purdue.edu

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