Factors affecting Willingness To Communicate of young EFL learners

Willingness To Communicate (WTC) is one's volition to enter into communication at a particular time with a specific person or persons using an L2. Despite the growing interests about WTC in ESL and EFL context, there is little research done in the Korean EFL classroom context with young learners. This study investigated variables affecting WTC of young Korean EFL learners in regular English classes. A total of 149 fifth graders participated in the study. Data were analyzed using factor and correlation analysis, cross-tabulation, and the ANOVA. The results confirmed the consensus about the positive correlation of competence and the negative correlation of apprehension to WTC. The most powerful predictor of WTC was communication with the native teacher and the second was prohibition of L1. There were partial statistical differences of WTC, Frequency of Communicative Behavior, and Self-Perceived Communicative Competence according to the age of onset, the amount of studying, and the length of stay in English speaking countries.