Integrative motivation of students towards learning Mandarin in Scotland and Hong Kong

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Abstract

The study was conducted under the backdrop of the increasing demand of Mandarin-learning in Scotland and Hong Kong. Inspired by Gardner’s (2010) socio-educational model, this study is the first to compare students’ integrative motivation towards learning Mandarin under the two contexts. The data was obtained from a total of 132 secondary school students (54 from Hong Kong, and 78 from Scotland) through questionnaires. It also aimed to examine the robustness and culture-specific applicability of the model. Due to the geographical proximity and cultural similarity to Chinese, the integrativeness of non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students in Hong Kong is expected to be relatively higher compared to the students in Scotland. However, the results showed that NCS students displayed lower integrative motivation than students in Scotland. The significant difference we identified lay upon one of the constructs - fear of assimilation. This unexpected phenomenon could invite more in-depth studies on factors affecting integrative motivation in learning Mandarin.
漢語作為第二語言的學習日益普及,無論是香港的非華語學生,或是全球的「漢語熱」,都顯示需求日益增長。本研究以Gardner(2010)的社會教育模式為理論基礎,比較了兩種語境下學生學習普通話的綜合動機。 是次研究的數據來自132 名中學生(54 名香港非華語學生,78 名蘇格蘭本地學生)的問卷調查結果。本研究還旨在了解社會教育模型在特定文化的適用性。由於香港地理上相鄰內地,文化亦相似,所以香港非華語學生的綜合性預期會比蘇格蘭的學生高。然而,結果卻顯示非華語學生的綜合動機較蘇格蘭學生為低。我們發現的顯著差異在於其中一個建構因素─對同化的恐懼。這個現象能讓我們對綜合動機及跨文化的因素進行更深入的研究。 Copyright © 2021 香港教育大學中國語言學系、哥倫比亞大學中文部、中華書局(香港)有限公司.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-44
JournalInternational Journal of Chinese Language Education
Volume10
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

Citation

Lam, S.-M. S., & Cheng, W.-T. M. (2021). Integrative motivation of students towards learning Mandarin in Scotland and Hong Kong. International Journal of Chinese Language Education, 10, 17-44.

Keywords

  • Mandarin learning
  • Integrative motivation
  • Foreign language learning
  • Second language acquisition
  • Motivation intensity
  • 漢語作為第二語言
  • 綜合型動機
  • 語文學習動機
  • 第二語言習得
  • 動機強度
  • Alt. title: 學習漢語作為第二語言的綜合型動機:香港及蘇格蘭的個案研究

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