Www.fh-joanneum.at Engineering Students’ Attitude towards WTC: A Case Study Situating Strategy...

www.fh-joanneum.at

Engineering Students’ Attitude towards WTC: A Case Study

Situating Strategy Use:The Interplay of

Language Learning Strategies and Individual Learner CharacteristicsKlagenfurt Conference 2015

gerhild.janser-munro@fh-joanneum.attanja.psonder@fh-joanneum.at

www.fh-joanneum.at

Engineering Students’ Attitude towards WTC: A Case Study Reasons for the questionnaire Choice of criteria that might influence the students’ willingness

to communicate (WTC) Master degree level ESP courses Comparison of results from two engineering institutes Round table with students

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder2

www.fh-joanneum.at

Engineering Students’ Attitude towards WTC: A Case Study

WTC is an important variable in the interpersonal communication process that clearly exerts influence on the communicative behavior of each individual. It is characterized by personality-based, trait-like predispositions such as apprehension, alienation, introversion and self-esteem. In general, WTC shows stable differences over time and across situations.

Retrieved from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08824099409359951?journalCode=rcrr20#preview

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 3

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Questionnaire

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 4

1a. Which factors do you think influence your willingness tocommunicate in L2?

Personality – being introvert or extrovert (Missing) self-esteem in L2 (Inherent) language transfer L1 to L2 Fear to fail to produce a meaningful statement

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Questionnaire

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 5

1b. Which factors do you think influence your willingness tocommunicate in L2?

Fear of correctness and accurateness: pronunciation, choice of words, grammar

Communicative situation / scenario: obligatory L2 class is not adequate exchange platform

Lack of interest in topic Mixture of the before listed aspects

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Questionnaire

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 6

2. Is WTC a constant problem in the L2 classroom or does it change over time (good versus bad days)?

Some people usually communicate with the others, they might have bad days though while others just never want to talk.

Of course, there are good and bad days but I don’t like to speak in English anyway.

I think it depends on the situation, on some days I like to communicate more and on some days less.

I think it’s a constant problem.

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Questionnaire

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 7

2. Is WTC a constant problem in the L2 classroom or does it change over time (good versus bad days)? Continued If the topic is interesting and concerning the people, there is no

problem. Bad days for communication do exist lack of sleep, stress… Depends on the people, changes over time. In my opinion the personality is the biggest problem. In L2 classes

the same people are always talking. Yes – topic, climate, presentations …

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Questionnaire

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 8

3. Does WTC depend on the communicative situation? If so,please have a look at Question 4.

4. In which of the following situations is WTC according to yourexperience high, average or low?

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Questionnaire

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 9

Question 4 continued:

Assessed presentations Talking in meetings Talking in small groups with teacher observation Talking in small groups without teacher observation Talking in pairs

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Results Academic Year 2014/2015

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 10

Architecture / Construction

Management & Engineering, N= 49

Advanced Information Management,

N= 21

(Missing) self-esteem in L2

2 + 5 8

Fear of correctness & accurateness

1. Choice of words 2. Grammar3. Pronunciation

1. Choice of words2. Grammar 3. Pronunciation

Lack of interest in topic

5 + 7 6

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Results Academic Year 2013/2014

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 11

Construction Management &

Engineering, N= 34

Advanced Information Management,

N= 17

(Missing) self-esteem in L2

10 11

Fear of correctness & accurateness

1. Choice of words 2. Pronunciation 3. Grammar

1. Grammar2. Choice of words3. Pronunciation

Lack of interest in topic

8 6

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Results Academic Year 2014/2015

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 12

Architecture / Construction

Management & Engineering, N= 49

Advanced Information Management,

N= 21

Assessed presentations

H 7 + 10

A 8 + 17

L 1 + 1

H 6 A 9 L 6

Talking in small groups with teacher observation

H 6 + 10

A 10 + 15

L 0 + 4

H 3 A 16 L 2

Talking in small groups without teacher observation

H 5 + 10

A 4 + 10

L 7 + 9

H 8 A 9 L 4

www.fh-joanneum.at

WTC Results Academic Year 2013/2014

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 13

Construction Management &

Engineering, N= 34

Advanced Information Management,

N= 17

Assessed presentations

H 15 A 16 L 2 H 7 A 4 L 6

Talking in small groups with teacher observation

H 9 A 21 L 3 H 3 A 11 L 3

Talking in small groups without teacher observation

H 11 A 11 L 11 H 5 A 7 L 5

www.fh-joanneum.at

Student Round Table

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 14

Main observations:

Frontal teaching still dominates Fear of assessment Different communicative situation in L2 classroom Communication mostly via social platforms ‘Safe environment’ offered in L2 playground

www.fh-joanneum.at

References

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 15

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08824099409359951?journalCode=rcrr20#preview

http://www.google.at/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidpublishing.com%2FDownLoad%2F%3Fid%3D8773&ei=1dBxU6SjBOLDygO-jYH4BA&usg=AFQjCNHlCcPZqhdUBPX3ZZ_0Y-ss1m_g1w&bvm=bv.66330100,d.bGQ

http://www.hawaii.edu/sls/sls/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Hashimoto.pdf

http://www.finchpark.com/courses/grad-dissert/articles/methodology/willingness-to-communicate.pdf

http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/uncategorized/dce1049_reinders_html_2011/

www.fh-joanneum.at

Appendix

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 16

www.fh-joanneum.at

17 October 2015 Janser-Munro / Psonder 17

FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences Alte Poststraße 147 + 154, 8020 Graz

Institute of Advanced Information ManagementGerhild Janser-Munro, gerhild.janser-munro@fh-joanneum.at

Institute of Construction Design and Economics & Institute of Architecture and Project ManagementTanja Psonder, tanja.psonder@fh-joanneum.at