The Influence of Online Classrooms on EFL Students’ Willingness to Communicate at NTTU

Abstract

Online learning has been brought into the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education as a significant transformation which requires an analysis of the key factors in the virtual classroom environment to identify whether it fosters or hinders students’ Willingness to Communicate (WTC) at Nguyen Tat Thanh University. The research was conducted with 137 EFL students in their second year and 35 lecturers teaching online classes at university with data collected from doing online surveys for two groups of participants, so a quantitative method was employed. Based on the research results, the enhancing and decreasing factors of WTC are found to point out though online learning platforms offer opportunities to motivate students to interact and overcome several obstacles. Findings from the present study also suggest measures for EFL instructors at Nguyen Tat Thanh University to maximize online classroom functions to boost learners’ communication and engagement.