Examining the Role of Emotioncy in Willingness to Communicate: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach // Examinar el papel de la «emotioncy» en la voluntad de comunicarse: un enfoque de modelos de ecuaciones estructurales

Abstract

Given that willingness to communicate (WTC) as an important individual difference (ID) variable plays a pivotal role in the second language acquisition (SLA) domain and the fact that an array of factors may affect it in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms, this study examines the relationship between the sensory emotioncy types and L2 WTC. To this end, 236 EFL learners ranging from intermediate to advanced proficiency levels were asked to take the willingness to communicate and the sensory emotioncy type scales. Afterwards, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were utilized to analyze the data. The results demonstrate that all three types of sensory emotioncy namely, emotional, cognitive, and sociocultural have significantly positive correlations with the L2WTC subscales, including willingness to speak (WTS), willingness to read (WTR), willingness to write (WTW), and willingness to listen (WTL). The findings also reveal that the cognitive type is a significantly positive predictor of WTR and WTL. In the end, the results are discussed, and some suggestions and implications are presented to the benefits of rejuvenating SLA education.