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Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Research background
Over the years, the demand for English learning and English languageeducation has dramatically increased. According to Peiya Gu(2009), China has nowthe largest number of English learners in the world, with an estimated 50 million inthe regular education sector, and 150 million in the non-formal education sector.Although the government pays much emphasis on English learning，it seems that theprogress in English teaching and learning have been unsatisfactory, especially inenhancing the learners' communicative ability. To a great extent, this is attributed totheir lack of Willingness to communicate (WTC).Macintyre (2003) pointed out that Willingness to communicate (WTC) has beenproposed as the intention to initiate communication, and has been suggested as animportant goal of second language (L2) and foreign language (FL) learning andinstruction. It also has been a crucial concept in explaining first language (L1) andsecond language (L2) communication. In order to foster a harmony communicationatmosphere and facilitate a better understanding between individuals, modernlanguage teachers lay an increasing emphasis on authentic communication and engagein L2 real–world communication. Currently, English teaching in China takes thestudent-center model by focusing on teacher-student and student-student interaction.According to Jakang Su (2005), the role of interaction in language development canbe developed from different perspectives, such as linguistic (e.g. Long, 1985; Swain,1985, 1995), sociocultural (e.g., Regan, 1998; Vygotsky, 1978), and the learners (e.g.stoller et al.1995). If we can foster our language development though interaction, wecan lead to more language development and learning.
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1.2 Purpose and significance of the study
In China, students usually begin to study English at grades 3 of primary school.However, many Chinese students can’t speak out a complete sentence after systematicstudies of English for almost ten years. Although they can have a good memorizationof English vocabularies, recite English texts or articles, have acquaintance withEnglish grammars, or be good at English writing, they still lack of competence inEnglish speaking. Considering the phenomenon that Chinese students are oftenreluctant to speak English inside and outside classroom, it is important to find outwhy students are lack of communication with others and how to overcome theirreticence.Thus, this thesis aims to investigate the features of English and non-Englishmajors’ willingness to communicate inside and outside classroom in Chinese EFLcontext. Based on the theories of second language acquisition and the achievements ofprevious researchers, it will also explore how the two groups of students differ in their WTC inside and outside classroom. English majors are expected to have higher WTCthan non-English majors. The third goal is to explore factors affecting L2 willingnessto communicate inside and outside the classroom.The significance of this study lies in three aspects. First, it helps to find a wayto solve the problem of English communication in the EFL context. That is, why dosome students seek communication while others avoid it? By doing this, we will beable to broaden and deepen our studies about English learning in China. Second, someimplications could be practically provided to foster students' willingness tocommuni本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。