Comparative Study on Willingness to Communicate over Four Different Countries: Japan, Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, and Spain
Abstract
The study aims to discover the extent of country differences in attitudes of students toward English in four distinct countries. Willingness to communicate and the needs to utilize English differ with regard to the situational context, domain as well as culture.
However, there is no clear evidence as to how they differ and what contributes to the differences. There might be a wide gap between the European and the Asian contexts regarding the attitude and needs of students toward English.
In order to investigate the issue, a questionnaire adapted from Iwamoto (2014) which was developed through multiple studies (McCroskey & Richmond, 1987: MacIntyre & Charos, 1996) was utilized. The questionnaire has 30 items in which willingness to communicate statements are supposed to be assessed by students.
Participants answer questions on a 6-point likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Four researchers from the Czech Republic, Japan, the Slovak Republic, and Spain administered the questionnaire submitting it to university students at six universities in the respective countries.
More than 600 students participated in the research. The participants majored in various fields of study such as economics, law, natural science, management, mathematics, physics, ICT and business.
The participants were students of one Czech university (Charles University), two Japanese universities (Dokkyo University and Tokiwa University), two Slovak universities (Comenius University and the University of Economics in Bratislava), and one Spanish university (the University of Nebrija). The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 22.
The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and through exploratory factor analysis to discover their categorical features. The results were considered in terms of the geographical backgrounds of the participants.
The subject of their study program as well as insights of the researchers were considered. The dimensionality of the 30 items over the four countries was analyzed using Principal axis factor analysis.
The scree plot proved that the data were not unidimensional. Based on the plot, four factors were rotated using Promax rotation.
All data sets showed four distinct factors. In Japan, self-confidence, positive attitude toward speaking English, speaking nervousness, and willingness to communicate were yielded.
In the Slovak Republic, speaking nervousness, willingness to communicate, self-confidence, and motivational intensity were yielded. In the Czech Republic, fear of negative evaluation, motivational intensity, self-confidence, and willingness to communicate were yielded.