Willingness to communicate in English, communication self-confidence, motivation, shyness and teacher immediacy among Iranian English-major undergraduates: A structural equation modeling approach

•L2WTC and individual and situational variables were studied in EFL context.•Communication self-confidence and motivation directly affected L2WTC.•Shyness and teacher immediacy indirectly affected L2WTC.•Teacher immediacy could predict shyness and motivation.

This study takes the initiative to test a model of L2 communication that examines the potential connections among willingness to communicate in English (L2WTC), three individual differences (shyness, motivation, communication self-confidence) and one situational variable (teacher immediacy). A number of 252 Iranian English-major university students filled in a questionnaire survey. The collected data were then tabulated and analyzed via SPSS and structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings revealed significant positive paths from motivation and communication self-confidence to L2WTC, from immediacy to motivation and from motivation to self-confidence and negative paths from shyness to self-confidence and motivation and from teacher immediacy to shyness. Further, it was shown that shyness and teacher immediacy could indirectly affect L2WTC through the mediation of self-confidence and motivation. The implications are discussed.