Willingness to communicate in English as a foreign language at a high school: a descriptive qualitative study in 9th grade at YASPIA Islamic Junior High School Bekasi

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has gained an amount of attention in the area of second or foreign language because of its importance as one of the aspects in communication. Researchers have found that WTC might influence students’ speaking skill. Therefore, teachers need to know how students’ WTC and factors in WTC that can help in developing students’ speaking skill. This study aims to find out how WTC and what factors influence willingness to communicate in English as a foreign language at YASPIA Islamic Junior High School Bekasi. To achieve this aim, the researcher adapted from Xie (2011); WTC in English in secondary school, and Pattapong (2010); WTC in second language. A descriptive qualitative method was employed in order to explore the data. The Data were collected through a questionnaire and interviews. The participants, 20 students of the 9th grade, completed the WTC questionnaire. Follow-up interviews were then conducted with three participants. Findings from this study revealed that students of YASPIA Islamic Junior High School might have low willingness to communicate in English as a foreign language. It is shown from the questionnaire that the item never-willing is higher than item always-willing. Some factors that appeared to influence their WTC were identified as self-confidence, international posture, the identity of interlocutors, parental influence, and teacher’s role. The results of this study contribute to an understanding of how WTC can facilitate language instruction in an EFL classroom, with a primary focus on identifying factors that may influence WTC. In addition, this study is also useful for teachers that can help them increase the willingness to communicate in the classroom. The recommendations for future research are that the study Willingness to communicate (WTC) should not only be studied in high school level and in spoken language, but also it should be in higher institution or and in written language.