Profiling mediating factors in CSL learners’ willingness to communicate and talk realisation: An observation-enhanced repeated Q methodology study

Translating willingness to communicate (WTC) into learner talk is a complex adaptive process which involves the coactions of multiple learner-internal and -external factors. However, the dynamic interplay among these factors and the relative strength of such factors carry into the process remain underexplored. Furthermore, WTC in languages other than English has been underrepresented in existing literature. Addressing these gaps, this study investigates: 1) the key factors, interactions, and their selective salience underlying multilingual multicultural learners’ WTC-talk realisation in a Chinese-as-a-second-language classroom, and 2) whether these interplays and prioritisations shift across a half-semester period. Two rounds of Q-sorting and semi-structured interviews were triangulated with classroom observational data collected during the intervening period. Findings revealed two factor profiles that remained largely consistent across both time points. The two profiles exhibited disparities in factor interactions and the factors they prioritised, with these differences persisting throughout the study. These findings provide evidence for the understanding that not all factors are equally impactful in WTC-turn-talk processes and underscore the importance of examining contextualised confluences of factors rather than isolating factors. This study concludes with context-contingent agent-centred pedagogical suggestions that address the selective salience of factors and their interactions in mediating WTC and its behavioural manifestations.