CSL International Students’ Chinese Learning Motivation Types

Abstract

Motivation plays an important role in learning a second language. This study aims to investigate the international students’ motivation types in learning Chinese language. The participants were 59 international students studying in two Chinese universities, who completed an online questionnaire survey on Chinese learning motivation. The results of an exploratory factor analysis revealed that the international students’ motivation fell into six types: intrinsic interest, learning situation, others’ influence, personal achievement, deep understanding and language anticipation. The results from descriptive analysis found that the students’ overall motivation level was high, and language anticipation ranked at the highest motivation value, followed by deep understanding, intrinsic interest, learning situation and personal achievement, which all belonged to the high motivation group, while others’ influence ranked at the low motivation level. The results provide pedagogical implications for CSL teaching and learning that students’ motivations should be taking into consideration when designing teaching plans.