Assessing Motivation to Communicate - National Communication ...

The nature and assumptions underlying the Willingnessto Communicate (WTC) scale are outlined and discussed.Data are discussed which relate to the reliabilityand validity of the instrument. It is concluded that thescale is of sufficient quality to be recommended for researchand screening purposes.Kearne, P. & Waldeck, J., (2001). Teacher e-mail messagesstrategies and students’ willingness to communicateonline. Journal of Applied CommunicationResearch, 29(1), 54.In light of the prevalent use of e-mail between teachersand students, researchers have highlighted the need toassess its uses and effects. Relying on the research andthinking of teacher immediacy and extra-class communication,we developed a scale that measures those e-mailmessage strategies that influence student’s willingness tocommunicate online with their teachers. Next, we isolatedthose reasons that students use e-mail to interactwith their teachers: (1) to clarify course material and procedures,(2) as a means of efficient communication, and(3) for personal/social reasons. Finally, we examined studentcharacteristics such as gender and ethnicity, and historyof e-mail use that may (or may not) influence theirattitudes toward e-mail exchanges with teachers.Olaniran, B.& Roach, D. (2001). Intercultural willingnessto communicate and communication anxiety ininternational teaching assistants. Communication ResearchReports, 18(1), 26-35.This study addressed patterns and correlates of communicationapprehension, intercultural communicationapprehension, and intercultural willingness to communicatein international teaching assistants. Results indicatedan inverse relationship between communicationapprehension of international TAs and their satisfactionwith students, relationship with students, and perceptionsof” student ratings of instruction. Similar resultswere found for ITA state anxiety. Inverse relationshipswere also found between ITA intercultural communicationapprehension and relationship with students andperceptions of student ratings of instruction. Internationalteaching assistant CA and ICA were positivelyrelated with ITA state anxiety.Miller, J., & Morgan, S. (2002). Beyond the organ donorcard: The effect of knowledge, attitudes, and valueson willingness to communicate about organ donationto family members. Health Communication, 14(1),121-134.Although numerous studies have examined many ofthe predictors of signing an organ donor card, includingknowledge, attitudes, values, and demographic variables,very few have examined the factors associatedwith individuals’ willingness to communicate aboutorgan donation with family members. Because organdonation does not take place without the permission ofa person’s next-of-kin, government agencies and organprocurement organizations have targeted communicationwith family members as a primary objective of organdonation campaigns. This study reports the resultsof a survey of a stratified random sample of adults at 2local sites of a national employer. Results indicate thatknowledge, attitude, and altruism are significantly relatedto 2 measures of willingness to communicate: pastbehavior (whether respondents had already discussedorgan donation with family members) and a scale measuringwillingness to communicate about organ donationin the future. Because the quality of discussionsbetween the potential donor and his or her family willdepend on how well the donor is able to address vital issuesregarding donation, it is concluded that campaignsseeking to promote communication between familymembers about organ donation must simultaneouslyseek to increase knowledge, debunk myths, and bolsterpositive attitudes about donation.Yahima, T. (2002). Willingness to communicate in asecond language: The Japanese EFL context. ModernLanguage Journal, 86(1), 54.Willingness to communicate (WTC) is emerging asa concept to account for individuals’ first language (L1)and second language (L2) communication. This studyexamined relations among L2 learning and L2 communicationvariables in Japanese English as a foreign languagecontext using the WTC model and the socioeducationalmodel as a framework. A L2 communicationmodel was constructed and tested using AMOS version4.0, with a sample of 297 Japanese university students.In the model, a latent variable, international posture,was hypothesized to capture the general attitude towardthe international community and foreign languagelearning in Japan. From structural equation modeling, itappeared that international posture influences motivation,which, in turn, influences proficiency in English.Motivation affected self-confidence in L2 communicationwhich led to willingness to communicate in a L2.In addition to this indirect path, a direct path from internationalposture to WTC in a L2 was significant. Themodel’s fitness to data was good, which indicates the20 Assessing Motivation to Communicate