Foreign language enjoyment, ideal L2 self, and intercultural communicative competence as predictors of willingness to communicate among EFL learners

The aim of this research was set to test a model of willingness to communicate (WTC) based on ideal L2 self, foreign language enjoyment (FLE), and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. To this end, 601 intermediate EFL learners volunteered to take part in an online survey by completing the scales of the four latent constructs. A two-stage structural equation modelling was used to analyze the collected data. Results of the data analysis indicated that ideal L2 self, ICC, and FLE directly predicted L2 WTC. Additionally, ICC and FLE mediated the relationships between ideal L2 self and L2 WTC. Also, FLE had a direct influence on ICC. These findings may provide important implications for EFL teachers.