Looking at Willingness to Communicate in a Second Language as a Complex Dynamic System through Drama Tasks: An Attractor and Repeller States Perspective

Willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) is a key predictor of L2 use and can be conceptualized as a complex dynamic system that fluctuates over short time scales. While drama tasks are known to foster oral skills and reduce language anxiety, their interaction with the dynamic evolution of L2 WTC remains under-explored. This study examines how drama tasks interact with L2 WTC among seven adult learners enrolled in an eight-week intensive French L2 program in Quebec. Fourteen drama workshops were implemented, and L2 WTC was assessed at three points using the idiodynamic method ( MacIntyre, 2020 ), which captures moment-by-moment self-evaluations of affective variables during task performance and enables the characterization of fluctuations and participants’ reasons for them. Cross-tabulation analyses revealed significant associations between aspects of drama tasks – such as affective engagement, collective interaction, and improvisation – and the layers of the L2 WTC pyramid model. Results indicate that drama tasks can both stabilize L2 WTC through attractor states and destabilize it through repeller states, with the drama facilitator’s role emerging as a sensitive factor in these repulsive dynamics. These findings contribute to a dynamic understanding of pedagogy by highlighting how task design can influence moment-to-moment changes in learners’ L2 WTC.