Examining the Willingness of Immigrant Primary School Students to Communicate in the Target Language
Keywords:
Immigrant primary school students; target language; willingness to communicateAbstract
This study sought to investigate the willingness of immigrant primary school children to communicate in Turkish as the target language. The research was conducted with immigrant students in the fourth grade of primary school, selected using a convenience sampling method during the 2022–2023 academic year. Given the lack of a measurement tool specifically developed for this target group, a target language willingness to communicate (TLWTC) scale was developed, encompassing various communication styles including listening, reading, speaking, and writing. The exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that the scale exhibits a three-factor structure, comprising motivation, self-confidence, and developmental effort, and demonstrates good fit indices. It uniquely identifies leisure activities as indicators of developmental effort as one of the significant dimensions of willingness to communicate in the target language. Subsequently, the TLWTC levels of students and differences based on gender, native alphabet, school type, length of residence, and Turkish-speaking family members were examined. The findings revealed that students exhibited moderate-to-high TLWTC, with no differences based on gender; however, differences were observed based on native alphabet, school type, duration of residence, and the presence of Turkish-speaking family members. The developed TLWTC scale within the migration context may significantly contribute to the research agenda on willingness to communicate in a second language. The findings may provide valuable insights for researchers, administrators, and educators regarding the TLWTC of immigrant primary school students, a topic that has not yet been explored.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.4.23
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