Testing the L2 WTC Pyramid in Business English: Anxiety, Boredom, Mental Toughness, and Resilience

Abstract

In Saudi Arabia, Business English courses often assess speaking, yet many undergraduates still avoid initiating classroom talk. Willingness to communicate (WTC) explains why students with adequate language knowledge may remain silent. This study tests an integrated model of Business English WTC by combining MacIntyre’s L2 WTC pyramid with two emotion mechanisms (anxiety as threat; boredom as low value) and two coping resources (mental toughness; resilience). A cross-sectional survey is implemented in a College of Business Administration at a public university in Saudi Arabia. Students in credit-bearing Business English courses complete a scenario-based WTC measure and short scales for course-referenced situational self-confidence, desire to communicate, speaking anxiety, boredom, mental toughness, and resilience. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling estimate direct effects, indirect effects via situated antecedents, and buffering (moderation) effects of coping resources. Anxiety and boredom are expected to reduce WTC directly and indirectly by lowering situational self-confidence and desire to communicate. Mental toughness and resilience are expected to predict higher WTC and to weaken the negative impact of anxiety and boredom. The study models two routes to reduced participation in an ESP setting—threat-based inhibition and value-based disengagement—within one pyramid-consistent framework, providing a replicable analytic blueprint for Saudi Business English programmes. WTC in Business English is a situated intention shaped jointly by emotions and coping resources, not language competence alone.