Author Description

As an English language learner and teacher,I havewitnessed a common phenomenon of a mismatch betweenlearners'' willingness to communicate in English andtheir actual English proficiency. It was not unusualthat individuals who could obtain high scores instandardized English proficiency tests, such asTOEFL, GRE, and GMAT, could barely carry outpragmatic conversation in English. The lack ofpractice opportunities in the environment, in whichEnglish was primarily studied as a school subject andused exclusively inside the classroom, seemed to bethe principal reason for students'' low capability inEnglish communication. However, not until I became ateacher of an Oral English class a couple of yearsago did I realize that most of the students in theclass were reluctant to participate in Englishcommunication even when they were given sufficientcommunication opportunities.This book is expected to answer the followingquestions: What are the causes of students''unwillingness to communicate in English? What factorscould be influential toward students'' Englishcommunication willingness? How could the factors, ifany, affect students'' willingness to communicate inEnglish?