Social Media and Willingness to Communicate in English

Abstract

This thesis investigates diverse factors potentially impacting 7th-grade pupils' English communication engagement on social media platforms. The research question for this thesis is: How does the use of social media affect pupils' willingness to communicate in English? Willingness to communicate (WTC) is an emerging study field with visible gaps within its Extramural digital environment (ED) context. This study seeks to analyse these gaps by employing a mixed-method approach, employing a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews.

Building upon Bandura's social cognitive theory, MacIntyre's WTC model, and previous WTC studies, this study has conducted semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants in total to investigate the contextual and individual variables that affect pupils' WTC. Permission for the study and audio recordings was obtained from the project school, the principal, the parents, and the pupils.

The study's findings indicate that social media platforms can positively affect pupils' willingness to communicate in English. The results reveal that children are exposed to a significant volume of English language media daily, contributing to their WTC through various forms. With the advancement of technology and the widespread use of social media, the interview participants conveyed that they were able to create safe ED environments for English communication centered around the content they find enjoyable. In addition, various factors, such as familiarity with interlocutors, online communities, platforms, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and anxiety, had all impacted pupils' willingness to communicate. Nevertheless, this study has also acknowledged the significance of recognizing the potential negative elements of social media, such as its contribution to linguistic mistakes or cyberbullying. Therefore, this study has utilized Bandura's social cognitive theory as a framework to elucidate the various factors of social media that contribute to pupils' willingness to communicate.