Willingness to communicate/participate’ in action: A case study of changes in a recipient’s practices in an L2 book club

Willingness to communicate (WTC) is one of many individual difference variables that have been investigated in research on language learning motivation and learners’ cognitive and affective states. To expand its theoretical and methodological understandings, Conversation Analysis (CA) studies have reconceptualized WTC as embodied interactional activity, particularly as regards participation. This CA study further expands the understanding of WTC and participation (WTC/P) as a social practice by examining one focal participant’s engagement in an L2 book club, focusing on her practices when she has the freedom to initiate or avoid communication. The analysis shows how her engagement changes after two co-participants use teasing to hold her accountable for not actively participating. The study provides a deeper understanding of what it means to be an active participant in a book club context, where demonstrating engagement is treated as an essential institutional practice. The study also discusses pedagogical implications for L2 reading classes.