Factors affecting Thai students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in English with foreign teachers in a secondary school

Willingness to Communicate (WTC) is necessary for English language learning. A literature review demonstrated the relationship of a Second Language (L2) to communication in English. Although students in Thailand study English starting in elementary school, they remain unwilling to communicate with foreign teachers. The present study examines factors affecting Thai student willingness to communicate in English during conversation classes. Multiple factors affect learning WTC and identifying an initial WTC may be based on traits and circumstances of L2 learners. Therefore, this study investigated diverse significant factors for WTC among students in different programs and overall factors among participants in WTC. The participants were English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Mathayom three students from three study programs in a secondary school in Pathum Thani, Thailand. Data was collected using a Google Form questionnaire in Thai language and analyzed by mean and standard deviation from WTC proficiency in conversation classrooms. The instrument used in this study is a 5-point Likert Scale. The findings of this study revealed WTC of three study programs related to WTC factors which had lower linguistic factors such as L2 use and state Communicative Self -Confidence. They were strongly correlated. In addition to these findings, Self-Confidence had implications as a significant factor leading to student WTC in English classrooms. In particular, the students had affective and cognitive contexts about mistakes while speaking in English was a sign of learning. Moreover, they expressed the motivation of WTC was the interesting topic.