RESEARCHES ON SCIENCE AND ART IN 21st CENTURY TURKEY 119 CHAPTER 13 THE VIEWPOINT OF IMMIGRANT UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON TURKISH NEWSPAPER DISCOURSE RELATED TO IMMIGRANTS AND THE EFFECTS OF THIS DISCOURSE ON THEIR WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN TURKISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE Elcin ESMER INTRODUCTION he concept of “willingness to communicate (WTC)” was irst developed by McCroskey and Baer (1985) to describe individual diferences in the irst or native language. According to McCroskey (1992), individual persons exhibit speciic tendencies to initiate or continue communication, and WTC is a personality trait that is stable over time and across situations. In the late 1990’s, the concept of WTC was extended to second-language communication situations by MacIntyre et al. (1998). MacIntyre et al. (1998) deined WTC in a second language as “a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a speciic person or persons, using a L2” (p. 547). hey also stated that “the degree of acquaintance among communicators, the number of people present, the formality of the situation, the topic of discussion and other factors can all inluence learners’ willingness to communicate”(p.546). WTC is not only a personal trait but also a situational variable. MacIntyre et al. proposed a heuristic pyramid model to show the range of potential inluences on WTC in L2. As seen in the following igure (1), in this model there are six layers of potential inluences on WTC. Potential inluences are divided into two groups. Enduring inluences such as intergroup climate and personality are among the bottom layers (IV, V, VI). Situational inluences, such as the desire to communicate with a speciic person and the state of communicative self-conidence, make up the top layers of the pyramid (I, II, III). his organization suggests that situational factors have more inluence on WTC in L2 than stable personality traits. Figure 1. A heuristic pyramid model of L2 WTC. Several studies (e.g. Öz et al., 2015; Bektaş-Çetinkaya, 2005; MacIntyre et al., 2001) have been conducted on various aspects of the model. he studies showed that motivation, communicative competence, and language anxiety are predictors of WTC. According to MacIntyre et al. (1998) motivation is a major factor inluencing second language acquisition (SLA), and there is a signiicant relationship between motivation and L2 WTC. he studies on L2 motivation are mostly inluenced by Gardner’s (1985) socio-educational model that focused on integration and Gardner and Lambert’s study (1972) on L2 motivation. Gardner and Lambert’s (1972) study showed that the desire to meet and form a real bond with native speakers and to be accepted by the host society were the strongest motivation factors for second language learners. Also, Gardner (1985) stated that sociocultural context inluences learners’ attitudes toward the target language and the target society and its culture; so the integrative motivation is the most important factor in the second language learning. Today immigration is an important economic and social issue all over the world. Every day, millions of people cross national borders to improve their quality of life, so the number of immigrants has grown and the issue of their integration with the host society has gained importance. Mass media not only provide information, but also have a strong inluence on public opinion, social identity formation and the host population’s attitude toward immigrants. Mass media thus plays a crucial role in the cultural and social integration of immigrants (Elias, 2003). he studies conducted by Chafee et.al. (1990) and Elias (2003) showed that immigrants who are heavily exposed to the host nation’s mass media become acculturated to the host society more quickly.