Empowering learners through negotiated curriculum: Exploring its impact on WTC in a synchronous online language learning environment

While learner-centered approaches in language education increasingly emphasize co-constructing content and learning processes, most research has focused on conventional classroom settings. This study explores how a negotiated curriculum shapes learners’ Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in the specific context of synchronous one-on-one online Chinese language tutorials between adult learners and native-speaker tutors. Grounded in the Synchronous Chinese Online Language Teaching (SCOLT) framework and informed by Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), the study employs a mixed-methods design. A major methodological contribution lies in its fine-grained analysis of moment-to-moment WTC dynamics using the idiodynamic method, triangulated with stimulated recall interviews, learner reflection journals, and session-based WTC scales. Findings show that WTC co-evolved with features of the negotiated curriculum—such as rapport building, real-time topic negotiation, and collaborative learner involvement in task design and informal assessment—alongside learners’ emotional investment and emerging agency. The one-on-one synchronous format enabled personalized negotiation and reciprocal tutor–learner interaction, which significantly influenced communicative readiness. Challenges included residual teacher-centered practices, difficulties in interpreting learner needs, and limited learner preparedness for co-construction. While contextually bound, the study contributes to a more situated theoretical understanding of WTC as an emergent, interaction-sensitive construct and offers practical insights for curriculum design and tutor development in similarly personalized online environments.