An Investigation into the Iranian High School EFL Learners' Willingness to Communicate: A Gender-Based Study

This study was an attempt to investigate the gender-based differences between Iranian senior high school EFL learners’ willingness to communicate in different settings as inside and outside the classroom context during the COVID-۱۹ outbreak. To this end, ۱۱۰ secondary senior high school EFL learners (۶۵ males and ۴۵ females) with the age range from ۱۴ to ۱۸ were selected through convenience sampling. Two forms of Willingness to Communicate Questionnaires regarding learners’ communication inside the classroom and outside the classroom context developed by MacIntyre, Baker, Clément, and Conrod (۲۰۰۱) were utilized as the instruments of the study. The results demonstrated that the male and female participants were significantly different in terms of their WTC, in general, and their WTC inside the classroom situation in specific. This study suggests some remarkable pedagogical implications for language teachers, learners, and educational authorities.

Keywords:

Gender , EFL learners , Willingness to Communicate