willingness to communicate in the iranian context: language learning orientation and social support

why some learners are willing to communicate in english, concurrently others are not, has been an intensive investigation in l2 education. willingness to communicate (wtc) proposed as initiating to communicate while given a choice has recently played a crucial role in l2 learning. it was hypothesized that wtc would be associated with language learning orientations (llos) as well as social support. this study explored the relationship between wtc, llos, and social support among 60 intact learners attending english intermediate and upper-intermediate courses in iran. utilizing a wtc questionnaire adopted from macintyre et al’s., this study measured wtc both inside and outside the l2 classroom in each of the 4 language skills: speaking, writing, reading, and listening. in addition, the function of llos counting travel, job, friendship with english speaking people, school achievement, and personal knowledge as well as the role of social support from parents, siblings, friends, and teachers was investigated. the results showed significant correlations between wtc inside and outside the l2 classroom. therefore, it may be indicted that iranian efl learners tend to use their english both inside and outside the l2 classroom; they learn english for real life situations not practice. it was also revealed that motivational orientations were significantly intercorrelated. accordingly, it might be inferred that iranian efl learners’ motivational orientations are both integrative and instrumental. moreover, the findings indicated significant correlations between wtc and llos. as a result, it can be claimed that the ultimate goal of iranian efl learners is practical use of english. it was also discovered that support from parents, teachers, and, to some extent, friends affected wtc, on the one hand, and motivational orientations, on the other hand. this may suggest that approving attitudes of others can impact wtc and motivation for learning english among iranian efl learners.