Motivations And Attitudes Affecting American High Schools Students' Selection Of Chinese As A Foreign Language

The purpose of this thesis is to better understand the language learning attitudes of American high school students who are currently studying Chinese Mandarin. In an educational system with a variety of language offerings, why are American students selecting to study Chinese?Over the past thirty years, the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) located in Washington D.C has conducted extensive foreign language surveys of American elementary and secondary schools. Data indicates that traditionally Spanish has been the most popular language, with 93% of the students selecting it as their foreign language of choice. Some of the reasons for this are perceived ease of learning, existence of Spanish language speaking in the students'homes, and close proximity of the U.S. to Spanish speaking countries. According to 2008 CAL data, over the past ten years the number of American high school students studying Chinese has increased from 1% up to 4%. Recognition of China as a major global power and trading partner with the United States has brought greater attention to the importance of and expediency for learning Chinese language. Just what do U.S. high schools students think about the Chinese language and culture? Why are more of them selecting Chinese as their foreign language elective?In an effort to answer these questions, a survey was conducted in three United States high schools (New Jersey, Illinois, California) with students being given a questionnaire to complete. The first section of the questionnaire gathered information about the students'language learning backgrounds. The second section asked for student responses toward eight factors that could be instrumental in their selection of which foreign language they chose to pursue. Using a Likert-type format, the last section of the questionnaire solicited students' responses to nine statements regarding their attitudes toward learning foreign languages in general.Among both male and female students surveyed, the following three reasons emerged as important motivational factors in selecting Chinese:I have a strong interest in language and culture.My parents encouraged me to study this language.I think this language will improve my opportunities for higher education and a good career.While there were no major differences in motivational factors based on gender, there were significant differences in results based on ethnicity. Students with an ethnic Chinese background responded most positively to:I have a cultural heritage link to this language.According to the responses given regarding the nine statements about learning attitude, the following three statements emerged from both male and female participants as the ones most agreed on.Learning this particular foreign language will enhance my career possibilities.Some day I want to travel to the country where this language is spoken.In the future I expect to converse with native speakers of this language.Initially students are very excited about learning Chinese. They are aware of the growing importance of China in the world and are excited about learning a totally different sounding language with its interesting history. However, they soon realize the degree of difficulty in actually learning the language and often their enthusiasm wanes before the first year of study has been completed.The United States Department of State Foreign. Service Institute (FSI), has classified foreign languages according to their level of difficulty for Americans to learn. Chinese is listed as a level 3 (most difficult to learn) along with Japanese, Korean, and Arabic.The question becomes not only how to initially interest students into taking Chinese, but how to maintain long term motivation in students that do not have a cultural tie to the Chinese language.