The Study Of Foreign Students’ Beliefs About Chinese Language Learning In China

This paper looks at the Chinese learning styles of international students in China learningChinese as a second language. The paper considers two groups of students, those who belongto “Chinese character culture circle” and those who do not. The paper studies languagelearning through using questionnaires and theoretical analysis and then makes suggestions onhow to improve the teaching of Chinese as a second language.This paper uses the language learning questionnaire of Horowitz (BALLI) withadditional questions on personal information and Chinese language learning experience.47international students in the international relations department of Hebei Normal Universitycompleted the questionnaire. The survey found that more than half of the students stronglyagreed or agreed that language learning aptitude exists, and most the students believe that theyhave a good aptitude for language learning. With regards to the factors which influencelanguage learning ability, students agree that age, intelligence and foreign language learningexperience all affect language learning aptitude. More than half of the students believe thatnot all languages are equally difficult to learn and regard Chinese as a very difficult ordifficult language. However most students are optimistic about the results and timerequirements for learning Chinese. An overwhelming number of students recognize theimportance of language environment. Students recognize the importance of review andpractice. Students are optimistic about their casual communication strategy. With regards tocorrect pronunciation and spoken mistakes, students have differing views. Students ofdifferent ages and cultural backgrounds have different motivations for Chinese learning.The paper also looks at the views of students with different language and culturalbackgrounds those from “Chinese character culture circle” and those who are not. The studyfound that students from “non-Chinese character culture circle” are more optimistic aboutlearning Chinese. Regarding which factors influence language aptitude, students from “non-Chinese character culture circle” think that age is more important, and they believe thateveryone, regardless of gender or background could learn a foreign language well. Howeverlearners from “Chinese character culture circle” believe that gender and foreign languagelearning experience are more influential on language learning ability. Students from the two groups both believe in the idea of a difficulty hierarchy of languages. They regard Chinese asa very difficult or difficult language who’s listening, speaking, reading and writing are alldifficult. Writing is the most difficult part for students of “non-Chinese character culturecircle” and speaking is the most difficult part for students of “Chinese character culturecircle”. The two groups both believe in the importance of the language and culturalenvironment. However students of the “non-Chinese character culture circle” think that it ismore important, which shows that they have a strong interest in Chinese culture. With thehelp of interview, we discovered that most students of the two groups think it is important tostudy a large vocabulary. Students from both groups affirm the importance of review andpractice. However students from “non-Chinese character culture circle” agree more with this..Students from the “Chinese character culture circle” pay more attention to other people’sperceptions of their language ability. In language learning, students of the “Chinese characterculture circle” worry about learning bad habits so they feel more anxious when speaking.Learners of “Chinese character culture circle” have more external motivations for learningChinese, for example in order to take the HSK test, job requirements and so on. Students ofthe “non-Chinese character culture circle” have more intrinsic motivations, for examplepersonal interest, understanding Chinese people and so on. The paper gives some Chineseteaching advices to the two culture circles.Through the investigation and study of language learning, including Chinese aptitude,Chinese difficulty, the nature of language, learning and communication strategy we know thatevery student has their own unique in language learning style. Students of different culturalbackgrounds have different learning styles. Therefore the author suggests that the style ofteaching is modified to suit the individual requirements of each class or student. This isnecessary for teaching the Chinese as a second language.