Dynamic Systems Perspectives on Willingness to Communicate: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Investigation of Task-Induced Variability in EFL Oral Interaction

Abstract

Conceptualizing willingness to communicate (WTC) as a dynamic, non-linear construct rather than a stable trait, this study employs a longitudinal mixed-methods design grounded in Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) to examine moment-to-moment fluctuations in learner WTC during task-based oral interaction. Thirty-six intermediate EFL learners at a Pakistani university participated in a sixteen-week intervention involving cognitively and interactionally varied speaking tasks, with WTC operationalized through idiodynamic self-report tracing, retrospective stimulated-recall protocols, and multichannel discourse analysis of learner talk. Growth curve modeling reveals substantial intra-individual variability in WTC trajectories that resist explanation by static trait-based models, instead correlating with task-internal variables including cognitive complexity, interactional symmetry, and affordances for identity investment. Qualitative trace data further illuminate the self-organizing, context-sensitive nature of communicative willingness as it emerges through the interaction of learner-internal and task-external attractor states. The study advances a dynamic systems reconceptualization of WTC with methodological and pedagogical implications for task design, learner autonomy, and assessment practices in TESOL contexts.