Willingness to Communicate and the Ideal L2 Self Inside and Outside the EFL Classroom. A Literature Review

Abstract: This literature review investigates why EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students are reluctant to speak the target language in the classroom. As this is a complex question with complex answers, this review focuses on how the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), specifically the ideal L2 self, affects willingness to communicate (WTC). The L2MSS is a motivational model based on the psychological theories of the self with the ideal L2 self denoting a future L2 speaking self the student wants to become. WTC in turn specifies how willing a person is to speak in an L2 at a specific time and place. Furthermore, this study also reviews studies conducted on extramural English (EE) and how it affects WTC as it is highly prevalent in Swedish teenagers’ lives and it has to be taken into consideration. EE encapsulates all English activities a student participates in outside formal educational contexts. Results showed that WTC was positively affected by a strong and vivid ideal L2 self. Little research on how EE affects the L2MSS and WTC has been made, which makes the results less conclusive, but there are tendencies that show a positive correlation. What this review can conclude is that it is difficult to analyze simply how one variable of the L2MSS affects another, they are all intertwined and impact each other constantly. The pedagogical implications are manifold, but the main finding is for teachers to help students create an ideal L2 self which will enhance WTC and make use of EE as a language learning resource.