Willingness to Communicate in Business English: Testing MacIntyre’s L2 WTC Pyramid Model Through Anxiety, Boredom, Mental Toughness, and Resilience

Abstract

Willingness to communicate (WTC) is widely recognized as a proximal driver of second language use, yet Business English programs often struggle to translate classroom competence into spontaneous participation in professional genres such as meetings, presentations, negotiations, and problem-solving talk. Building on MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, and Noels’ L2 willingness-to-communicate (L2 WTC) pyramid, this article develops a context-sensitive model for Saudi business administration colleges that connects two inhibiting achievement emotions (anxiety and boredom) with two adaptive psychological resources (mental toughness and resilience) (MacIntyre et al., 1998; MacIntyre, 2007; Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998; Nickerson, 2005).
Anxiety and boredom are posited to constrain Business English willingness to communicate (WTC) both directly and indirectly through two situated antecedents in the pyramid: state communicative self-confidence and desire to communicate with specific interlocutors. Conversely, mental toughness and resilience are conceptualized as adaptive resources that consolidate self-confidence, sustain engagement under evaluative pressure or monotony, and attenuate the detrimental influence of anxiety and boredom on communicative intention (Horwitz et al., 1986; Pekrun, 2006; Li et al., 2021; Clough et al., 2002; Smith et al., 2008).
The article is structured as a theory-driven research paper and delineates an empirical design for testing these relationships in a multi-site survey of undergraduate business administration students enrolled in Business English courses in Saudi Arabia (target N = 500–700). Measures are adapted to authentic Business English scenarios and analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and latent interaction techniques. The proposed contribution is an integrated account of affective barriers and endurance-oriented resources within the WTC pyramid, alongside pedagogical implications for designing Business English classrooms in which communication becomes both instrumentally worthwhile and psychologically manageable.