Perceived Competence Congruence and Its Effects on the Willingness to Communicate and Foreign Language Anxiety of the Foreign Language Student

Abstract

The shift from learning a foreign language to communicating in this language has been likened in research to the crossing of a psychological Rubicon for the language learner. Three variables that have been linked to the developing communication competence of a language learner is the Willingness to Communicate, the Foreign Language Anxiety and the Self-Perceived Communication Competence of the learner. This study proposes to reexamine this triad of variables through the lens of the congruence of perceived competence between student and teacher. Language schools for adult learners in Luxembourg participated in the empirical study where the effects of the congruence between Self-Perceived Communication Competence and Teacher-Perceived Communication Competence on Willingness to Communicate and Foreign Language Anxiety in the foreign language classroom is examined. Polynomial regression with surface response mapping is utilized to present the congruence in a two-dimensional space where the effect of the fit between Self-Perceived Communication Competence and Teacher-Perceived Communication Competence on Willingness to Communicate and Foreign Language Anxiety is clearly shown to vary in magnitude and nature along the lines of congruence and incongruence. This research brings insight into the importance of fit between student and teacher perceptions of communication competence in the crossing of the psychological Rubicon by foreign language students.

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Author Information
Elouise Botes, Luxembourg University, Luxembourg
Matthias Stadler, Luxembourg University, Luxembourg
Samuel Greiff, Luxembourg University, Luxembourg

• Category: ECLL2018

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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