Willingness to Communicate, L2 Self-Confidence, and Academic Self-Concept: A Mixed-Methods Study of Vietnamese University Students in the UK
Faculty of Health, Education and Society, University of Northampton
How they used Delve
Researchers at the University of Northampton and Flinders University used Delve to thematically code interviews with Vietnamese students studying in the UK, running deductive three-stage coding against their conceptual framework, with a second researcher reviewing coded transcripts until coding decisions reached consensus.
“Qualitatively, transcripts were analysed thematically using the Braun et al. (2019) approach, facilitated by qualitative data analysis software (Delve via delvetool.com).”
- Field
- Second language acquisition / international students' willingness to communicate in English
- Data
- Surveys from 32 Vietnamese undergraduate and postgraduate students at a single UK public university, followed by semi-structured interviews with a maximum-variation subsample of five drawn from TESOL, Marketing, Accounting and Finance, and Fashion Design programmes
- Approach
- Explanatory sequential mixed-methods design: validated survey scales analysed with Cronbach's alpha and Kendall's tau-b, followed by thematic analysis of interviews using the Braun et al. (2019) approach. Coding was deductive against the conceptual framework while staying open to emergent themes, and ran in three stages after Cohen et al. (2007) — initial open coding, categorisation into higher-order themes, then synthesis with the quantitative findings. Note that the consensus-based, deductive procedure departs from reflexive thematic analysis as Braun and Clarke describe it, despite the citation
- Data types
- Interviews, Open-ended survey responses
Abstract
The study investigates the interplay among second language (L2) learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC), L2 self-confidence (L2SC), and academic self-concept (ASC) within a cohort of Vietnamese university students studying in the United Kingdom. Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, self-reported quantitative data were collected via validated survey instruments (n = 32 students), followed by semi-structured interviews with a purposive subsample (n = 5 students) to contextualise the findings. Results revealed that participants exhibited moderate levels of WTC and L2 self-confidence, alongside emerging academic self-concept. Significant positive correlations were observed between WTC and L2 self-confidence and between L2 self-confidence and academic self-concept; a weak, non-significant association was found between WTC and academic self-concept. Qualitative data corroborated these patterns, highlighting how learners’ communicative confidence was shaped by supportive environments and evolving self-perceptions. While self-comparisons and cultural expectations occasionally influenced students’ academic self-concept, most participants reported resilience and a commitment to communication development. The study contributes to the literature by integrating psychological and contextual variables influencing WTC, offering pedagogical implications for enhancing communicative competence among international English as a second language learners.
Citation
Ngo Nhat Thanh Tra, Weifeng Han, Shane Pill (2025). Willingness to Communicate, L2 Self-Confidence, and Academic Self-Concept: A Mixed-Methods Study of Vietnamese University Students in the UK. Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15091176