A Study of Korean ESL Learners' WTC in an L2 Environment: An Approximate Replication of Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, and Shimizu (2004)

An approximate replication of Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, and Shimizu (2004), the main focus of this study was on the relationship between L2 WTC and International Posture in an ESL environment. International Posture measures the degree of connectedness to the international community from within an EFL context. However, attitudes may change when there is direct communication with the L2 community. The present study tested the generalisability of IP to an ESL environment. The relationship between IP and L2 WTC was found to be non-significant. This was contrary to Yashima et al. (2004). It indicates that there may be a number of sociocultural factors at play in an ESL environment that may covertly influence a learner's WTC. Further analysis showed that participants overseas for four months or more presented higher scores in Perceived Competence. This aligns with Yashima et al. (2004), where no relationship was found between Perception of Adjustment and Perceived Competence over a three week sojourn period. This indicates that it may take a longer time to develop language competence while overseas. Intercultural Friendship Orientation had higher scores for participants sojourning for three months or less, highlighting that early sojourners can have a mindset akin to learners in an EFL environment.