The influence of orientation and perceived language competence on ESP students' willingness to read

Abstract

Willingness to communicate in a foreign language is a construct that is affected by a number of interrelated variables ranging from the learner's personality and intergroup climate to the situational context. Orientation towards learning a foreign language and perceived language competence have been proven to be two factors that strongly underlie willingness to communicate. The present paper explores willingness to read in English as a foreign language between two groups of ESP students: students of humanities and students of sciences. The aim of the study is twofold: to determine to what extent the two groups are willing to read inside and outside the classroom, and to investigate if orientation and perceived language competence influence the students' willingness to apply this receptive skill. The obtained results suggest that the students' willingness to read is considerably high and positively correlated with perceived language competence, while the correlation between this variable and orientation for learning English proved to be negative.