Exploring the “Situation” of Situational Willingness to Communicate - A Volunteer Youth Exchange Perspective

Oct 15, 2026

This paper presents perspectives of Canadian youth participating in the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges’ Volunteer Youth Experience (VYE), based on pre- and post-program questionnaires, observations, interviews, and journals. Pan-Canadian questionnaire results indicate that the short bilingual volunteer exchange strengthens motivation to learn a second official language and to join the target language community. Triangulated qualitative findings suggest situational factors—such as access to native speakers and authentic community participation—shape participants’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in the second language.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

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CJAL * RCLA Mady & Arnott 1 Exploring the “Situation” of Situational Willingness to Communicate: A Volunteer Youth Exchange Perspective 1 Callie Mady Nipissing University Stephanie Arnott PhD Candidate, OISE/UT Abstract This paper presents the perspectives of youth participating in the Society for Educational Visitsand Exchanges in Canada’s Volunteer Youth Experience (VYE) as gathered by way of pre-and post-program questionnaires, observations, interviews, and journals. The pan-Canadian questionnaire results suggest that this short, bilingual volunteer experience enhances participant motivation to learn a second official language and to be part of the target community. Triangulated findings from observations, interviews and journals indicate that participants’willingness to communicate (WTC) in the second language (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément, & Noels, 1998) may have been influenced by situational factors inherent to the volunteer experience such as access to native speakers ofthe target language and opportunities for authentic community participation. Résumé Cet article présente les points de vue de jeunes ayant participé au programme Expériencebénévole jeunesse (EBJ) de la Société éducative de visites et d’échanges au Canada (SEVEC), tels qu’ils ont été obtenus au moyen de questionnaires pré-et post-échange, d’entrevues et de journaux de bord. Les résultats pancanadiens du questionnaire suggèrent que cette brèveexpérience bilingue de travail bénévole augmente la motivation des participants enversl’apprentissage d’une deuxième langue officielle et leur sentiment d’appartenance à l’égard de la communauté locutrice de la langue cible. La triangulation des résultats des entrevues et de ceux des journaux de bord indique que le désir de communiquer (WTC, pour Willingness To Communicate) dans la langue seconde (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément et Noels, 1998) a pu être influencé chez les participants par des facteurs circonstanciels inhérents à l’expérience debénévolat, comme le contact avec des locuteurs natifs de la langue cible et l’occasion departiciper de façon authentique à la vie de la communauté . 1 We acknowledge with thanks the detailed, thoughtful feedback on an earlier draft of this paper provided by the two anonymous reviewers. CJAL * RCLA Mady & Arnott 2 Exploring the “Situation” of Situational Willingness to Communicate: A Volunteer Youth Exchange Perspective Introduction Bilingual exchanges have been viewed as one of the ideal means to sustain and revitalize second language (L2) programs. Offering exchanges for learners of French as a Second Language (FSL) in Canada, in particular, has been identified as a complement to the FSL curriculum and essential to attracting and retaining students in FSL education (Canadian Parents for French, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006; Fraser, 2008) . Given the demonstrated impact of exchanges, the Canadian government has continued to draft policies and offer funding packages to associations that organize exchange opportunities for youth looking to learn Canada’s two official languages: French and English. In 2003, the federal government outlined their Action Plan for Official Languages with a mandate to invest $5 million dollars per year to facilitate L2 learning through linguistic exchanges and youth awareness activities (Government of Canada, 2003). After recently re-examining this policy (see Department of Canadian Heritage, 2009), the federal government renewed its mandate to support initiatives that coordinate opportunities for Canadian youth to use the official languages they are learning outside of the classroom context. Delivery organizations such as the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada (SEVEC), which is funded by Exchanges Canada (2009), continue to use this funding to expand experiential learning opportunities and community involvement for youth in their second official language (SEVEC, 2009a) . The study reported here offers th

FAQs

What data sources does the study use to capture youth perspectives in VYE?

The study gathers evidence through pre- and post-program questionnaires, observations, interviews, and journals.

How does the questionnaire evidence describe the effect of the VYE experience?

The pan-Canadian results suggest the short bilingual volunteer experience increases motivation to learn a second official language and supports participants’ sense of belonging to the target community.

What situational factors may influence participants’ willingness to communicate (WTC)?

Triangulated findings indicate WTC in the second language may be influenced by factors inherent to volunteering, such as access to native speakers and opportunities for authentic community participation.

Oct 15, 2026

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