Exploring Students' Willingness to Communicate in a Translanguaging Classroom: A Qualitative Study in Vietnam

Abstract

This qualitative case study explores EFL students' willingness to communicate (WTC) in a translanguaging classroom at a Vietnamese university. Drawing on MacIntyre et al.'s (1998) situational WTC model and sociocultural theories of translanguaging, the study investigates how seventeen non-English-major students enrolled in a Speaking course perceive translanguaging, what factors shape their communication willingness, and how translanguaging practices influence their actual communicative behavior. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis framework. The findings reveal that translanguaging functioned as a cognitive and affective scaffold: it reduced speaking anxiety, strengthened comprehension, and created an inclusive classroom climate. Vocabulary limitations, fear of negative evaluation, and uneven participation were identified as persistent barriers. The study contributes to the growing literature on translanguaging pedagogy in Vietnamese higher education and calls for intentional integration of students' full linguistic repertoire in EFL speaking instruction.