Fluctuations in willingness to communicate of an EFL lecturer: An observation study in Indonesia

Despite the growing number of research on Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in English students, research of teachers’ WTC in English is still scarce. At the same time, the fluctuations of WTC in English in authentic classroom interactions are still under research. This study aims to observe the fluctuations in WTC of the English lecturer in the Indonesian context. The data were collected through video recordings during an online classroom learning session where participants were teaching their students. The data were then transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically by drawing from MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) Heuristic Model. From the results of the analysis, WTC fluctuations in English are divided into four factors: (1) modeling the use of English in the classroom, (2) the power of affirmation, (3) focusing on the message, and (4) showing language similarity. The implication of this study is also discussed.


Introduction
As a foreign language, English has been considered difficult especially when it comes to speaking. In this sense, learners' Willingness to Communicate (WTC) using English is affected by various reasons, including self-confidence, enthusiasm in using the language, and attitudes toward other L2  (MacIntyre et al., 1998) From the Heuristic Model, it can be concluded that WTC in English is complex and multidimensional. Therefore, it is important to consider WTC as dynamic rather than constant. Sato (2019) has also highlighted that an individual's WTC fluctuates as he/she interacts with others.
Nevertheless, many previous studies mainly examined WTC using English as something constant and unidimensional. For example, in an observational study involving 68 secondary school students Havwini (2019) pointed out that the students' WTC in English was influenced by the teacher's constant use of English. A survey study involving 100 EFL learners from three different Indonesian universities by Amalia et al. (2019) found that group size, classroom environment, students' cohesiveness, familiarity to the topic, degree of topic preparation, classroom seating arrangement, gender, self-awareness, and familiarity with interlocutors could influence students' WTC in English. Reinders and Wattana (2015) examined the increase of WTC in English after online digital game-based learning. By involving five students who had participated in a fifteen-week game-based learning and conducting six interviews for each participant, Reinders and Wattana (2015) found that the use of online games influenced the increase of the WTC in English. Focusing on the role of teachers in increasing students' WTC in English, Khodarahmi and Nia (2014) pointed out that teachers' discipline strategies of involvement, recognition/reward/ aggression, and punishment in the classroom could influence the students' WTC using English. Through a correlational study involving 252 Iranian English-major university students, Fallah (2014) found that self-confidence, motivation, shyness and teacher immediacy could be correlated with students' WTC in English both directly and indirectly. Another correlational study involving 243 university students by Khajavy et al. (2016) found that there are several predictors of WTC in English, with classroom environment as the strongest predictor. Despite indicating the complex nature of WTC in English predictors, their study did not consider the dynamic nature of WTC in English. Thus, Khajavy et al. (2016) suggested that qualitative study on WTC in English be conducted.

Fluctuations in willingness to communicate of an EFL lecturer: An observation study in Indonesia
Marhamah Ika Putri The current body of research on WTC in English mostly focuses on students as participants, so the number of studies involving teachers is still limited although teachers' WTC in English and students' WTC in English are interwoven. The WTC in English of the teachers during the learning session might influence the students' WTC in English. The students' WTC in the target language is partly influenced by teachers' ways of teaching in the classroom. Sato (2019) has argued that a fluent teacher with a successful English-medium lesson can attract students' interest in using the language. To ensure the success of an English lesson, a teacher needs to be able to use the language both in context inside and outside the classroom, which will therefore enable them to handle various difficulties in the teaching process (Alavinia & Alikhani, 2014). A teacher is also required to show the WTC using English because learning English will be more challenging for students if their teacher does not provide any modeling for the use of the language in real life (Sato, 2019).
One of the studies on teachers' WTC in English identifiable by the author is Sato (2019). Through observation and recall interviews involving an English teacher in Japan, Sato (2019) found that the participant's WTC in English increased and decreased dynamically. For instance, the WTC in English increased if the participant talked about what he liked and decreased when he became more anxious. Sato's (2019) study addressed the two above-mentioned gaps, namely the lack of research on the dynamic nature and multidimensionality of WTC in English and on the WTC in English of teachers. He also added that it was necessary to conduct more research on the fluctuation in WTC in English for teachers and students as well. The second study on teachers' WTC in English by Lo (2018) involved 250 Malaysian English teachers. Drawing on McCroskey and Baer's (1985) construct of WTC in English that includes talking in a group, personal traits, speaking in public, and using English in the classroom, Lo (2018) found that most participants' WTC in English were high in the professional settings rather than in public. However, female participants tended to have higher WTC in public rather than the male ones. The study also showed that the participants' WTC in English was also influenced by the school they were teaching in. Therefore, it can be concluded that research of teachers' WTC in English is still scarce. At the same time, the fluctuations of WTC in English in authentic classroom interactions are still under research. For that reason, the present study attempted to describe the fluctuations of an Indonesian lecturer's WTC in English in an online classroom to answer the following questions:  Vol. 6, No. 2, Desember 2021, pp. 26-38 nine years. Dian had visited the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea to give presentations at international conferences. With that, it could be said that she was considered proficient in English. Her Extensive Listening class consisted of 17 students aged ranged from 17 to 18 years old. All of the students were from Indonesia, and they were fluent Indonesian speakers with varying levels of English proficiency.

Procedure
Dian was first contacted to ask for her participation in the study in February 2021. To avoid the observer's paradox, in which Dian might adjust her behavior due to the awareness of being observed, Dian was not given any details related to the focus of the study. The observed interaction occurred in a 50-minute online session for an intensive listening course, during which the students were having a discussion and several presentations delivered by some of them. The session was conducted using a Zoom video conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The session was audio and video recorded to capture Dian's utterances, behaviors, and interactions with the students. The data from the recorded session were transcribed verbatim after the in-class observation.
This study used thematic analysis to analyzed the data. The step of the data analysis consists of some steps; familiarizing with the data, coding, generating the themes for each utterance, reviewing each utterances' themes, and naming themes for each group of the themes. To answer the first research question, the data were firstly rated using color-coding to indicate the fluctuations in WTC in English. Three colors were used for this coding: blue indicating stable WTC in English, red indicating a decrease in WTC in English, and green indicating an increase in WTC in English. Blue was given to multiple utterances in English. Red was used to indicate a shift from English to Indonesia in an utterance. Green was used to highlight an utterance in English after Indonesian was used in a previous utterance.
Drawing on the WTC in the target language of the Heuristic Model by MacIntyre et al. (1998), this study then thematically analyzed the transcript of the session for finding the answer for the second research question. The second coding was conducted to identify the patterns of interaction between Dian and her students. The coding was based on MacIntyre et al. (1998) model. By doing so, general themes regarding the factors that made Dian willing or unwilling to communicate in English could be interpreted. When the data had already been rated, coded, and interpreted, Dian was asked to read them as a way of confirming its validity. After that, the results and the discussion of this study were written based on the confirmed data.

Results and Discussion
The results of the data analysis indicated that Dian's WTC in English fluctuated frequently from the beginning to the end of her teaching session. At the beginning of the session, Dian's WTC in English tended to be stable. Although her students asked her used Indonesian, she answered the questions using English. During the discussion, Dian's WTC in English fluctuated dynamically, increasing and decreasing consecutively depending on the response from the students. After the discussion was | 31 |

Fluctuations in willingness to communicate of an EFL lecturer: An observation study in Indonesia
Marhamah Ika Putri done, she used Indonesian more often than English. In other words, her WTC in English was stable at the beginning of the session, fluctuated dynamically in the main part of the session, and decreased rapidly at the end of the session.
Using thematic analysis to identify factors affecting the fluctuations of WTC in English, this study found that the fluctuations of Dian's WTC in English were intended, either purposefully or accidentally, to achieve the following: (1) modeling the use of English in the classroom, (2) asserting power, (3) focusing on messages, and (4) showing a common lingua-cultural background, with the first and the second indicated the tendency of the increase in WTC in English and the third and the fourth the tendency of the decrease in WTC in English. The first factor was related to Dian's responsibility for being a role model in speaking English frequently to encourage her students to use English more often during the discussion. The second factor indicated that her preference of using English was closely related to its status as the language of instruction in her class, which could strongly emphasize her authority as the teacher especially for the students who were unwilling to communicate or even respond to her instructions. The third factor was closely linked to the use of student mother tongue for assisting material delivery and enhancing student comprehension of the instruction. The fourth factor was related to the shared first language and its culture between Dian and her students. These four factors are discussed in more detail below.

Modelling the use of the English in the classroom
This factor was relevant to Intergroup Motivation from layer IV -Motivational Propensities of the Heuristic Model from MacIntyre et al. (1998). This factor was most influential in the increase of Dian's WTC in English. In this case, Dian's role as the teacher made her use English to encourage the students to use the language too. As Amalia et al. (2019b) pointed out, teachers with positive attitudes in learning could make students' WTC in English higher. Thus, Dian's sense of duty led her to use English more to show the students how the discussion was supposed to go. Also, the experiences of using English extensively might help Dian build her confidence to use English most of the time, as explained in the Heuristic Model that experiences in using the language could lead an individual to be more confident in using it (MacIntyre et al., 1998).

#6
: Dian kept using the English language in the classroom at the beginning of the session to model the use of English particularly because she was teaching a class focusing on improving her students' listening skills. She used English from the very beginning of the session to open the class. She also explained what the class was going to do using English. For every single instruction, she kept using English consistently. The excerpt above indicates that Dian used English to explain what the students were going to do in the meeting with the expectation that the students would follow her. During the discussion, Dian kept using English although there were several students asking questions using Indonesian. She made an effort to answer the questions using English. Dian's WTC in English as part of her duty as a teacher was also related to Layer II -Behavioral Intention in the Heuristic Model of MacIntyre et al. (1998). When there was the opportunity to use English, she would use English to become a model for her students. However, when the discussion ended, her WTC in English decreased. It was likely that she thought her role as a teacher was fulfilled, thus it was not a big deal to use Indonesian especially because she wanted to involve more students in the interaction. The excerpt above occurred almost at the end of the classroom when the discussion had ended. As MacIntyre et al. (1998) asserted, although the opportunities to communicate in English were always available, it was not always necessary to use the language. Here, despite her good English proficiency, Dian chose not to use English at the end of the teaching-learning process to communicate more casually with her students.

Asserting power
This factor was closely associated with Intergroup Attitudes and Social Situation in Layer V -Affective-Cognitive Context in the Heuristic Model by MacIntyre et al. (1998). This factor mostly influenced the increase of Dian's WTC in English. MacIntyre et al. (1998) asserted that some of the important variables that could increase WTC in the target language were age, gender, social class, and specific relationship between interlocutors. They also suggested that an individual's prior encounters with the use of English might influence the way that individual used the language for broader contexts. Here, as an English-major lecturer, Dian assumed authority by using English to ask her students to do something as she instructed. Her role as the teacher and as the one who had more experience in using English encouraged her to use the language to demand her students to be active in class.

#50
: From the excerpt above, we could infer that Dian wanted to show her authority in the classroom by giving a subtle warning using English to students as shown in utterance #51. She also tried to emphasize her request for the students to become a volunteer to start the discussion in the next utterance. Starting from utterance #53, Dian kept repeating her request for her students to respond to her instruction while assuring that it was something easy, implying a growing disappointment with how the students did not respond to her. Eventually, a student responded to her questions, and Dian, using English, happily thanked and appreciated the student's bravery to be the first volunteer to read the result of the assignment.
The use of English as a way of assuming authority was somewhat common in the context of language teaching and learning. Fuller (2007) argued that the choice of particular languages may be intended as a way of shaping an individual's identity. It can be inferred that Dian's WTC in English as a way of asserting her authority as the teacher was part of her teacher identity construction. Since the subject she taught was about a practical skill in English, she was likely to use English more as a way of convincing her students that she knew what she was doing, which would assure the students to follow her instructions. When no one responded to her, Dian kept using English to ask the students and gave a subtle warning. Referring to Fuller's (2007) notion of language choice for shaping identity, it could be implied that Dian did so as a way of distancing herself from the lingua-cultural similarity with her students, which in turn strengthened her role as the one who had the authority to control the flow of the class.

Focusing on messages
This factor was relevant to Interpersonal Motivation from layer IV -Motivational Propensities of the Heuristic Model from MacIntyre et al. (1998). This factor was most influential in the decrease of Dian's WTC in English. On some occasions, Dian ended up giving explanations using Indonesian since the students did not respond to her when she used English. Here, she used Indonesian to ensure that her students comprehend the messages from what she stated.

#29
: Two students from the United States? Utterances #29 and #34 indicated that Dian gave the instructions in English, but no students were responding. Thus, in utterances #30 and #35, Dian tried to use Indonesian to deliver her message easily to the students. In this case, Dian only wanted the students to understand the instruction well, regardless of the language. By relating this to the Interpersonal Motivation aspect from the heuristic model by MacIntyre et al. (1998), it could be inferred that Dian expected that by using Indonesian, the students would be willing to respond to her.

#65
: The excerpt above showed that Dian used English in utterance #68 to respond to her students. However, utterance #69 indicated that she switched her language to her mother tongue to re-explained what she said before in English. As a non-native English-speaking teacher (NNEST), Dian had the advantage in the way that she could speak both English and Indonesian, the language spoken by her students too. Aslan and Thompson (2017) argued that NNESTs were more approachable due to their shared language with students. Thus, it was likely that Dian chose to use Indonesian on some occasions to give a sense of approachability to the students.

Showing a common lingua-cultural background
Due to this factor, Dian's WTC in English mostly decreased. This factor was related to the Intergroup Motivation in layer IV -Motivational Propensities in the heuristic model from MacIntyre et al. (1998). This factor was identified particularly when Dian used Indonesian to express her excitement and joke with the students.

#35
: Due to the similar lingua-cultural background, Dian and her students were connected. Thus, a joke like an utterance #39 was understandable for them. The joke was common among Indonesians, and it meant that two persons, male and female, seemed like a perfect couple, implying that they had to go on a date. Moreover, when Dian and the students were talking about culture, Dian preferred using Indonesian to English.

#59
: In utterance #61, Dian talked about a student's hometown using Indonesian, clarifying the mispronunciation of the town's name in utterance #60. Zentz (2015) argued that people tend to prefer their mother tongue in communicating, and Dian was likely to be more comfortable using Indonesian especially when talking about culture-related things. Using the mother tongue could also make Dian feel close to her students.

#37
: In some instances, Dian used translanguaging to interact with the students. Translanguanging is the practice of using two or more different languages interchangeably in interaction with the purpose to enable all interlocutors to communicate and understand each other without any boundaries of language separation (García & Wei, 2014). Frequent shifts of languages in the classroom should not be considered as mistakes because the use of the mother tongue could make it easier for teachers to teach the target language as well as appreciate students' linguacultural backgrounds. In the context of the study, Dian used translanguaging not only to ensure that the students understood how the discussion went through but also to show the shared lingua-cultural background between her and her students. As Prasetya (2021) pointed out, translanguaging could help teachers highlight the existing connection between teachers and students in terms of language.

Conclusion
This observational case study has explored the fluctuations of an English-major lecturer's Willingness to Communicate in English in an online teaching-learning session in Indonesia. The study concluded that during the learning session, the participant's WTC in English fluctuated dynamically. This result indicates that WTC in English, and presumably in any second or foreign languages, is not | 36 | | 37 |

Fluctuations in willingness to communicate of an EFL lecturer: An observation study in Indonesia
Marhamah Ika Putri stable and unchanging. Rather, it can change in a matter of seconds as an unexpected situation occurs in an interaction. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that future studies focus on the dynamic nature of WTC in second and foreign languages by thoroughly exploring real-life situations instead of ratings.
This study also found four factors that influence the WTC in English of the participant in the context of the study. These are modeling the use of English in the classroom, asserting power, focusing on messages, and showing a common lingua-cultural background. The first two factors tend to be influential in the increase of WTC in English, while the last two factors in the decrease of it. However, This study only involved a single participant and the observation was conducted only in a single teaching-learning session. Therefore, the results of this study are not generalizable for other teaching-learning contexts. Still, this study may be useful for future research in the way that it provides a picture of the fluctuations in WTC in English in a particular teaching context in Indonesia. In addition, since the teaching-learning session being observed was conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of this study may not be similar to the fluctuations of WTC in English in an offline teaching context.
To better understand the fluctuations in WTC in English, future research may include more participants with diverse contexts, including in both online and offline classes. Moreover, future research may also explore the differences between the fluctuations of WTC in English in contentknowledge classes and skill classes, particularly in EFL contexts.