Diversities and motivations of Chinese L2 learners

AbstractIn the face of significant growth in student enrolments in Modern Chinese language programs at tertiary educational institutions in Australia, the ongoing Chinese language curriculum is facing challenges as to how to cater best for a corpus of students with various language backgrounds and motivations. This study aims to make contribution to the field of Chinese language education by examining how the students’ linguistic/cultural backgrounds and motivations have impacted on their learning of this language in Australian universities. This study examines the interrelationship between language background, motivation, language learning practice and academic achievement of newly-enrolled students in a modern Chinese language program with a view to creating a well-informed curriculum so as to further improve the students’ Chinese language proficiency. The primary data of this study consist of a questionnaire survey of 168 newly enrolled students and observation of first year classes in a modern Chinese language program at a leading university in Australia. While reaffirming that students’ linguistic backgrounds can make a significant impact on their language learning experience, motivations and academic results, this study finds that the closer the relation between the students’ cultural and linguistic background and the Chinese language, the easier it is for the students to learn the language. On the other hand, this situation can also lead to students’ high self-efficacy belief, which can be detrimental to their actual learning experience. Further, the study indicates that the students’ interest in Chinese language and culture as an intrinsic motivation greatly enhances their learning experience.

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A Working Model for Assessing Spanish Heritage Language Learners’ Language Proficiency through a Placement Exam

Heritage Language Journal ◽

10.46538/hlj.9.1.7 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 121-138

Author(s):

Marta Fairclough

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Language Education ◽

Working Model ◽

Heritage Language Education ◽

Content Selection ◽

Placement Exam ◽

Clear Idea

Having a clear idea of the knowledge in the heritage language that a student brings to the classroom is essential for a successful language-learning experience; for that reason, research in heritage language education has been focusing increasingly on assessment issues, especially language placement exams. Professionals debate whether assessment procedures should measure what students know and can do with the heritage language, or what deficiencies they have. Ideally, a balance of both will produce a better placement exam. This paper presents a working model of language placement based on current second-language theory and research and on what is known of heritage language learning. It explains the rationale for content selection and the design of effective tasks in a language placement exam for incoming university students and, finally, briefly voices some key logistical considerations.

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”Snakke med ved? Snakke med maskin?” Voksne flyktningers narrativer om norskopplæring

Acta Didactica Norge ◽

10.5617/adno.5916 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 4

Author(s):

Anne Golden ◽

Guri Bordal Steien

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Democratic Republic ◽

Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Language Education ◽

Teacher Qualifications ◽

Language Program ◽

Insight Into ◽

Additional Language Learning

I denne artikkelen har vi en talerfokusert tilnærming til det å lære språk i voksen alder. Målet vårt er å svare på en oppfordring fra flere forskere om at taleres egne erfaringer med og perspektiver på språkinnlæring bør komme fram i andrespråksforskningen. Fokuset vårt er rettet mot en gruppe voksne flyktninger fra Den demokratiske republikken Kongo, og vi ser på hvordan de opplevde den norskopplæringen de fikk som nyankomne til Norge. Et kjennetegn ved disse personene er at de er svært flerspråklige; de hadde allerede bred erfaring med å lære nye språk da de begynte å lære norsk. Vi har studert et utvalg narrativer der de forteller om sine erfaringer fra norskopplæring. Temaene for narrativene er kartlegging for kursplassering, lærernes kvalifikasjoner, antall timer per kurs og norskpraksis på arbeidsplass. Deltakerne stiller seg kritiske til flere aspekter ved den opplæringen de fikk. De fremstår som selvsikre språkinnlærere og framforhandler ulike identiteter. Narrativene gir et innblikk i disse personenes verden, deres egne behov og refleksjoner rundt norskopplæring for flyktninger. De minner oss på det mangfoldet av opplevelser som finnes blant målgruppen for andrespråksopplæring.Nøkkelord: narrativer, norsk som andrespråk, talerfokuserte tilnærminger, identitet, voksne flyktninger“Talk to the wood? Talk to the machine?”Adult refugees’ narratives from Norwegian classesAbstractIn this article, we have a speaker-centered approach to adult additional language learning. Our aim is to answer the call from several researchers to take learners’ own perspectives and experiences into account in research on learning. Our focus is on how a group of adult refugees from the Democratic republic of Congo experienced the language program they attended when they arrived in Norway. A characteristic of the participants is that they are extremely multilingual, and had already extensive language learning experience when they started to learn Norwegian. Our data are narratives where they tell about their experiences from Norwegian classes. The topics of the narratives are assessment, teacher qualifications, number of teaching hours and language internships at workplaces. The participants express criticism towards several aspects of the programs they attended. They seem to be self-confident language learners and negotiate different identities. The narratives give us an insight into their worlds, needs and reflections on education for refugees. They remind us of the multitude of experiences that exist among members of the target group of language education programs.Keywords: narratives, additional language learning, speaker-centered approaches, identity, adult refugees

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Representations of Chinese Language Learning in Contemporary English-language News Media: Hope, Hype, and Fear

Global Chinese ◽

10.1515/glochi-2015-1006 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 139-168 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Patricia A. Duff ◽

Tim Anderson ◽

Liam Doherty ◽

Rachel Wang

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

News Media ◽

Media Coverage ◽

English Language ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Chinese Language ◽

Language Education ◽

Critical Discussion ◽

Chinese Language Education ◽

The Media

Abstract The growing body of research on Chinese as an international (or “global”) language examines linguistic, psycholinguistic, social-psychological, and orthographic aspects of acquisition primarily. There has been relatively little critical discussion or analysis of the larger social context and discourses in which Chinese language education is embedded. However, recently sociocultural, discursive, and critical aspects of the teaching, learning, and use of Chinese as an additional language have begun to receive more attention. This study analyzes circulating discourses, ideologies, and tropes related to Chinese in news media, as one means by which information and perspectives are spread by media and by which public attitudes and policy decisions are (recursively) shaped or reproduced. To this end, a large sample of English-medium news reports of Chinese language education in three Anglophone countries was created and analyzed for the years 2004 to 2012. The findings revealed that reports dealing with Chinese education tended to fall into one of several major tropes, which we have roughly classified as “hope,” “hype,” and “fear,” distinctions that parallel existing models of cyclical or amplified media coverage of innovations or otherwise newsworthy events. The sociopolitically and socioeconomically motivated occurrence of these tropes in the media, combined with the novelty of the Chinese language itself, a historically less frequently taught language in comparison with various European languages, constituted a consistent and recurring narrative. Thus, the shifting representations of Chinese learning in the media tended to appear as corollaries or “side stories” servicing the needs of larger geopolitical events and perceived or desired changes in public sentiment. These trends and their significance are illustrated and discussed in relation to Global Chinese.

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CHINESE LANGUAGE LEARNING IN ASIA AND THE ETHNIC IDENTITY OF THE CHINESE POSTERITY

Jurnal Kependidikan Penelitian Inovasi Pembelajaran ◽

10.21831/jk.v4i2.35300 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 308-330

Author(s):

Yutaka Otsuka

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Identity ◽

Language Learning ◽

Chinese Language ◽

Language Education ◽

Political Arena ◽

Chinese Language Education ◽

Republic Of China ◽

Chinese Language Learning ◽

Economic Exchanges ◽

Questionnaire Surveys

This paper firstly overviews the historical changes of Chinese language and its education in four nations of Southeast Asia. These nations experienced the blank period when Chinese language was oppressed or forbidden to use by the ruler at the time, although length and austerity of the blank period differs from nation to nation. However, according as their relationship with People’s Republic of China in the international political arena has improved and economic exchanges have been vitalized, a different scene from previous era can be observed in the attitude towards overseas Chinese and their language. Questionnaire surveys were carried out for several years to make clear how the situation of Chinese language education looks like. Statistical analysis of the responses by nation and the comparison of responses from Chinese and non-Chinese youngsters leads us to some findings of how different conditions of each country give influence to the way Chinese language education is carried out and the consciousness and ethnic identity through language is being formed.

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