School of Language and Culture

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https://hdl.handle.net/10292/554
The study of language, society and culture is at the core of the broad spectrum of knowledge known as the humanities. AUT's School of Language and Culture focuses on language in its widest sense — creative writing, English and its relationship with new media, translation and interpreting, international studies and the importance of intercultural competencies, discourse analysis and language teaching.

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Browsing School of Language and Culture by Author "Cameron, DL"

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    “In Iran I Didn’t Speak English Any More”: The Effects of Contextual Changes on the Willingness to Communicate of Iranian Migrants to New Zealand
    (2016-11-30) Cameron, DL
    Since the development of the willingness to communicate (WTC) construct by MacIntyre et al. in 1998, a variety of psychological factors which enhance or diminish an individual’s desire to speak in a second language have been investigated as to whether they are fixed or fluctuate according to contexts such as time, place, or social environment. More recently the principles of dynamic systems theory, which provide ”an ecological theory” to describe ”a moving tapestry of interacting systems” (LarsenFreeman, 2016, p. xi), have been seen as an appropriate way to analyse the WTC phenomenon (e.g., King, 2013; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011). However, the dominant methodological approach of many WTC researchers is still quantitative and focuses on learners in a context where English is primarily the language of the classroom. In this presentation I will report on a qualitative and longitudinal case study which investigated the WTC of Iranian migrants in their past Iranian English classrooms, in their present New Zealand pre-university classrooms, and in the community outside. By means of observations and multiple interviews with the learners and their teachers, I addressed the question as to whether past learning experiences affected their present WTC and which elements of classroom and community context facilitated or inhibited their readiness to speak. In the process of this study, I explored the relevance of dynamic systems theory and the usefulness of an ecological framework to describe my findings as to the nature of their WTC, ranging from the micro context of the classroom to the macro context of the wider society of Iran and New Zealand. By revealing ”the learners’ own subjective interpretation” (Mercer, 2016, p.17) of the meaning of contextual factors which affect their WTC, I hope to provide a more holistic picture of the interplay between learners and their pedagogical and community environment.
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    ‘In New Zealand I Feel More Confidence’: The Role of Context in the Willingness to Communicate (WTC) of Migrant Iranian English Language Learners
    (Servicio de Publicaciones. Universidad de Murcia., 2015-12-21) Cameron, DL
    This article will discuss recent theories of Willingness to Communicate (WTC) and provide an overview of studies into this individual difference which have been conducted in both Iran and New Zealand (NZ). So far few qualitative studies have been carried out into WTC or have used permanent migrants as participants. The article reports on a longitudinal study of the WTC of a group of Iranian migrants to NZ. By means of questionnaires, observations, and individual semi-structured interviews conducted at six-month intervals, case studies of these learners in a NZ university English class were compiled. Their WTC was found to encompass such learner characteristics as confidence, motivation, and personality, and varied from country to country and semester to semester. Finally, this article discusses the contribution of this study to the WTC field of research, identifying the implications of these results for teachers of English in the ESL (English as a Second language/migrant) context and possible avenues for future research.
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    Willingness to Communicate in English As a Second Language As a Stable Trait or Context-influenced Variable: Case Studies of Iranian Migrants to New Zealand
    (John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2013-07-12) Cameron, DL
    Whether Willingness to Communicate (WTC) is a permanent trait or is modified by situational context has previously been investigated in various studies (e.g. Cao & Philp, 2006; Kang, 2005; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011). However, most research into WTC has been quantitative or conducted in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or Study Abroad situation in countries such as Canada, Japan, Korea and China. This article reports on the qualitative component of an exploratory mixed methods study in a New Zealand (NZ) university with participants who are permanent migrants from Iran. These students completed a questionnaire and participated in further in-depth semi-structured interviews. The article provides an overview of previous research into WTC and motivation in Iran and NZ as the context for these three case studies. In this study, six factors, both trait and situational, were identified as having an effect on these students’ WTC in both countries: self-perceived competence; personality; anxiety; motivation and the importance of English; and the learning context. Finally, this article discusses the contribution of this study to the WTC field of research, identifying the implications of these results for teachers of English in the ESL (English as a Second Language or migrant) context and possible avenues for future research.
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