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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 25, No. 0, pp.131-150
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2025
Received 26 May 2024 Revised 19 Jun 2024 Accepted 16 Jan 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.25..202501.131

Exploring the Nexus of Factors Shaping EFL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate

Wildhan Burhanuddin ; Mujib Hasib ; Muthia Mutmainnah Darmuh
(First, Corresponding author) Lecturer, Department of English Education, Muhammadiyah University of Makassar wildhan@unismuh.ac.id
(Co-author) Lecturer, Department of English Education, College of Teacher Training and Education Bina Harapan Celebes mujib.hasib2294@gmail.com
(Co-author) Lecturer, Mandarin for Business Communication and Professional Department, Bosowa University muthia.mutmainnah@universitasbosowa.ac.id


© 2025 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In the context of EFL, WTC correlates with cultural identity, personality traits and the language ability of the learners. These factors are addressed in this research through the lens of the MacIntyre Heuristic Model of WTC, with regard to the Indonesian EFL learning environment. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the study explores the moderation role of personality between contextual factors, cultural identity and communicative competence and WTC. The data were received through self-completed validated questionnaires from EFL learners from Muhammadiyah University of Makassar across faculties. The result of the study shows that cultural identity strongly gives an impact on the personality characteristics while at the same time high language proficiency negatively affects WTC although it is expected to have positive effect stressing on the role of anxiety. The study implies that, overall, these difficulties can be managed by encouraging appropriate classroom atmosphere and culturally relevant pedagogy. This research contributes to the understanding of WTC and showed that cultural and psychological aspects deserve further inclusion into the EFL curriculum in order to boost the learners’ communicative competency.

Keywords:

communicative competence, language proficiency, willingness to communicate, EFL learning

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