Dynamic Changes in Motivation and Willingness to Communicate in the Second Language Classroom: A Multiple Case Study

Recent years have seen extensive research exploring changes in second language (L2) motivation and willingness to communicate (WTC) across different timescales (see Dörnyei et al., 2015; Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2017). However, only a handful of studies to date have investigated their fluctuations in an authentic L2 classroom context, and even fewer have explored the relationship between these two constructs from a dynamic, situated perspective (e.g. Peng, 2014). This chapter seeks to address these gaps by investigating the dynamic development and interrelationship of WTC and motivation over the course of two 45-minute lessons. This chapter begins by reviewing earlier theoretical and empirical work into L2 motivation and WTC, specifically from a dynamic perspective. We then provide details of the method, design, data coding and analysis of the study before presenting and discussing the results. The chapter concludes by discussing directions for future research and formulating implications for the L2 classroom.