Shyness and Willingness to Communicate: Levels, Correlations, and Perspectives of Saudi EFL Learners

Abstract

A primary effort has been exerted in the literature to examine how influential affective factors are in language learning. The present study extends these attempts and aims at reviewing the levels of shyness and willingness to communicate among EFL learners and the relation between these two affective factors and their impact on communication skills inside the class from the students’ perspectives. It sheds light on the need to consider the effects of these personal traits on students’ learning. 360 Saudi EFL learners at a Saudi public university completed the shyness and willingness to communicate scales. For further analysis, the researchers interviewed 27 students to explore their perceptions of how these two aspects affect their communication skills inside the class. Quantitative data analysis showed that most participants were at the mid-levels of both scales. Furthermore, there was a negative correlation between the participants’ shyness and their overall willingness to communicate and its subcategories, with the highest correlation value between shyness and these subcategories: strangers, meetings, and public speaking. Qualitative analysis exhibited the participants’ perceptions, misconceptions, correlations of the two variables, and determinants of the participants’ levels of shyness and WTC. The findings of this study shed light on the importance of considering these factors for more successful learning/teaching experiences.