Insights into Indonesian Students’ Willingness to Communicate in English in the Classroom

Maria Maranatha; Virginia Gabrella Sengkey

doi:10.31849/elsya.v5i2.13029

Maria Maranatha Perguruan Advent XII, Sukabumi, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3712-5744
Virginia Gabrella Sengkey Universitas Klabat, Manado, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3838-8833

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v5i2.13029

Keywords: English classroom, Linguistic factors, Non-linguistic factors, Secondary students, Willingness to communicate

Abstract

English learners need to be willing to communicate in English for them to learn the language successfully. Considering that English has been taught since elementary school in Indonesia, it is interesting to identify how willing students are to communicate in English, especially in secondary school. Thus, this study aimed to know the secondary school students’ willingness to communicate in English in terms of using English in the classroom and linguistic and non-linguistic factors. Furthermore, this study identified whether there was a significant difference based on gender and grade levels. This study used a quantitative method with a descriptive and comparative design. This study was conducted at a private secondary school, with 95 respondents recruited via convenience sampling. As a result, students’ willingness to communicate in terms of using English in the classroom was medium, indicating that students were willing enough to communicate in English. Specifically, the students’ willingness to communicate in terms of linguistic and non-linguistic factors was medium. This shows that students were willing enough to use English regarding linguistic and non-linguistic factors. Moreover, there was no difference based on gender but a significant difference based on grade level, with the highest mean score of 75.55 in grade 7. Thus, since students are willing enough to communicate in English, teachers need to find strategies to help the students to be very willing to communicate in English, especially secondary school students at higher grade levels. Also, future studies on WTC must be done in different regions in Indonesia by considering WTC other factors such as parental involvement, teachers, socio-economic status, anxiety, motivation, or other environment-related factors at various levels or schools.

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Author Biographies

Maria Maranatha, Perguruan Advent XII, Sukabumi, Indonesia

Maria Maranatha is an English teacher at Perguruan Advent XII Sukabumi, West Java. She completed her undergraduate degree, majoring in English education at Universitas Klabat, North Sulawesi, Manado, Indonesia. For her, every day is learning. Being a teacher means being a servant who tries to do the best for every student. Then, the thing that motivates her the most is constantly remembering that every student is precious in God's eyes and must be guided by the teacher by continuing to convince students that they can learn something new as long as they are willing to learn. She tries to encourage students to learn more and more.

Virginia Gabrella Sengkey, Universitas Klabat, Manado, Indonesia

Virginia Gabrella Sengkey is a lecturer of English education at Universitas Klabat. She has finished both her bachelor’s and master's degrees majoring in English education. She loves teaching and is passionate about motivating and helping students to reach their potential. Whenever she teaches, she wants her students to feel relaxed yet serious so they can learn comfortably without worrying about making mistakes. Her experience teaching university students has aroused her interest in researching topics significant to those concerned with teaching and learning English. Currently, she is interested in diving into research topics such as common English errors made by Indonesian students so she can help her students become successful in their English learning.

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