A Study Of Learner Well-being And Its Influence On Chinese Second Language Acquisition

Recently,problems regarding Chinese teaching have received extensive attention from researchers in the field of Chinese international teaching.However,Chinese language learners’ emotional problems have not gained enough attention.In recent years,positive psychology has obtained strong development in the field of second language acquisition.Based on the PERMA model in positive psychology,this thesis discusses the well-being of Chinese learners and its influence on Chinese language acquisition.It is hoped to expand the theoretical perspective of the studies on emotions of Chinese language learners,and to provide reference for improving the learning experience and outcomes of Chinese L2 learners.On the basis of summarizing the well-being theories in positive psychology,this study defines the well-being of Chinese L2 learners as:the positive emotional cognition and experience obtained by Chinese learners in the process of learning Chinese,which is helpful to language acquisition,mainly include positive emotions,engagement,positive relations,meaning and achievement.Chinese learners with high well-being,have positive emotions about learning Chinese,have a high level of participation and investment in Chinese learning activities,establish a good relationship with others including teachers and students in Chinese learning environment as well as other Chinese people,feel that learning Chinese is meaningful and feel fulfilled in the learning process,also have a positive evaluation of their Chinese learning and a sense of accomplishment.By using existing wellbeing scale(Flourish Scale--PERMA-Profiler)as reference and revising its items,a new scale was designed to measure Chinese language learner’s well-being,and the reliability and validity of the scale were verified.Taking international students studying Chinese in Beijing as the research population,the current level of Chinese language learners’ well-being,group differences and the impact of well-being on Chinese acquisition were examined.The well-being of international students is investigated from five dimensions:emotion,engagement,positive relationship,meaning and sense of achievement.The Chinese acquisition of international students is investigated from two aspects:acquisition process(reflected in learning strategy)and acquisition effect.Using translated Chinese version of Oxford’s Strategy Inventory of Language Learning,this study examines the use of Chinese learning strategies for international students.The combination of students’ final exam results and the teacher’s evaluation of the development of students’ Chinese proficiency were considered as indicators of the effectiveness of Chinese acquisition.Based on the data collected from the questionnaire and the well-being score of the students,12 international students with high and low well-being were selected for in-depth interviews,so as to better understand the perception of Chinese learners on various elements of well-being,factors affecting their well-being and the differences between students with high and low well-being levels.This study examines the overall situation of Chinese learners’ wellbeing through descriptive analysis,and finds that the level of well-being of international students studying Chinese in China is relatively high.From the perspective of various dimensions of well-being,students scored the highest in meaning dimension and the lowest in engagement.Through oneway ANOVA analysis,the differences in the gender,age,length of Chinese learning,Level of Chinese language and cultural background of Chinese language learners were investigated,and the results showed that the wellbeing of Chinese learners was different in terms of length of Chinese learning,Chinese proficiency and cultural background.The investigation of the relationship between well-being and Chinese acquisition found that well-being has a significant impact on the use of Chinese language learning strategies.In terms of the relationship between well-being and Chinese acquisition efficacy,a low correlation was found between the two.One-way ANOVA test result showed that the Chinese acquisition effect of the group with high well-being score was significantly higher than that of the two groups with medium and low well-being scores,whereas the difference in Chinese acquisition effect between the two groups with medium and low well-being scores was not significant.Through interviews,this study summarized the Chinese learners’perception of the various dimensions of well-being and investigated the factors that affect each dimension of well-being.Among them,positive emotions dimension was affected by the sense of achievement,the interestingness of task and the positive relationship,while the negative emotions mainly caused by the lack of sense of achievement,the lack of interestingness of learning activities,high expectations for oneself and the negative attitude towards mistakes.The factors affecting the engagement dimension include the difficulty of learning tasks,the interestingness and meaningfulness of learning activities,the length of Chinese learning and other factors.The factors that influence positive relations involved the difficulty of contact with Chinese people,the learner’s impression of Chinese,the level of Chinese and English proficiency,the degree to which learners approve of their own class,the balance between the Chinese proficiency of students in the class,and the personality traits of the learners.The influencing factors of meaning dimension mainly relate to the orientation of students’ learning motivation,the review and maintenance of the reasons and objectives of their Chinese learning,and the evaluation of the effectiveness of each learning activity.As for the sense of achievement,the rate of learning progress,the degree of clarity about one’s Chinese learning goals,the degree of optimism about one’s ability to achieve the learning goals,the awareness of the value of learning Chinese in China and the students’ nationality are among the important influencing factors.Based on the factors that have been explored in this study,as well as some principles of positive psychology,teaching interventions and emotional interventions were proposed to improve the well-being of Chinese language learners.Teaching interventions involve the reform of the teaching content,teaching method and the evaluation method,in which with regard to the teaching content,more consideration needs to be given to the meaningfulness and difficulty of teaching content.Concerning teaching methods,the lesson’s review form should be adjusted,opportunities should be provided for students to gain a sense of achievement and the purpose and significance of teaching activities should be shared with the students.The evaluation method should reduce the emphasis on dictation,adjust the way of classroom feedback and correction,and reform the placement test principle at the beginning of the semester.The affective interventions include learning gratitude,reviewing the reasons for learning Chinese regularly,and improving the understanding and awareness of one’s own emotions.The results and suggestions of this study can help improve the well-being of Chinese language learners in China,the quality of Chinese teaching in Chinese colleges and universities,and provide reference for Chinese learning management departments,colleges and universities,teachers,researchers and textbook editors to better arrange Chinese teaching.