Factors Affecting Students’ Willingness to Communicate in EFL Classroom at Higher Institution in Indonesia

One of the primary goals of learning and teaching process in EFL classroom is to enhance students’ willingness to communicate (WTC). This study aims at exploring factors affecting willingness to communicate (WTC) in EFL classroom at higher institution in Indonesia. This study employed quantitative research method. Questionnaire data were obtained from seventy university graduate students (19 males or 27.14% and 51 or 72.86% females) major in English study program of Graduate Program State University of Makassar participated in this study. The data of the study were analysed using descriptive statistics which presented percentage, mean, and standard deviation (SD). The present study therefore reveals that the influential factors of EFL students’ WTC are interested in speaking in group discussion if the topics discussed are interesting. Other evidences from the present study are: 1) the participants said that classroom discussion is the best way to practice speaking English, 2) they find it easy to have conversations in the classroom discussion, 3) they are excited to speak in front of the English class, 4) group discussions are the activities they enjoy most in English classes, and 5) they enjoy starting the group discussion with a number of critical questions.