Foreign language enjoyment and willingness to communicate: The mediating roles of communication confidence and motivation

While research on factors affecting willingness to communicate (WTC) abounds in second language acquisition in perspective of positive psychology over the past decade, relatively few studies have been undertaken to investigate how learners' foreign language enjoyment (FLE) relates to WTC. Aiming to address this issue, and based on the broaden-and-build theory and findings of previous research on WTC, the present study examined relationships among learners' foreign language enjoyment (FLE), language learning motivation, communication confidence and willingness to communicate (WTC) under the guidance of the broaden-and-build theory. 441 Chinese undergraduates completed the questionnaires. A structural equation model (SEM) was proposed to test the hypothesized structural relations among the variables. The results showed that FLE positively predicted WTC via motivation and confidence, which extends the literature on WTC by exploring the interplay of emotional and affective variables, and WTC. The results also showed the positive link between FLE and communication confidence, deepening our understanding of the mechanism that underlies the relationship between FLE and WTC. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications for the results of this study and pedagogical implications for language teachers to boost students' WTC are discussed.