Ideal L2 Self, Self-Efficacy, and Pragmatic Production: The Mediating Role of Willingness to Communicate in Learning English as a Foreign Language

The role that individual difference factors play in pragmatic learning behavior has received increasing attention in second-language (L2) pragmatics. However, there is a dearth of studies exploring the relationship between learners’ motivational variables and their pragmatic production. To address this gap, the present study aims to examine a model of the ideal L2 self, self-efficacy, willingness to communicate (WTC), and pragmatic production among English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners. The study also seeks to explore the mediating role of WTC within this structural model. For this purpose, a total of 427 undergraduate students at a public university in China were recruited for an online survey. The structural validity of the questionnaires was established using a confirmatory-factor analysis, while the hypothesized structural relations between the variables were tested through structural-equation modeling. The results demonstrated that self-efficacy and WTC significantly and directly predicated pragmatic production. Nevertheless, the ideal L2 self influenced pragmatic production indirectly, through the mediation of WTC. The study concludes by providing implications for teaching and by offering suggestions for future research.