A Study On Beliefs About Chinese Learning Of Foreign Students From Western Countries

There are many factors that affect the effectiveness of the Chinese learning for foreign students.The belief on language learning is one of the important factors that cannot be ignored.Students from Western countries are one representative group which has a large number of students and accounts for a large part of total students.Their mother tongue's cultural background is quite different from that of the Eastern countries.Most of their mother tongues are Indo-European languages which are completely different from Chinese.The differences in language and culture background lead them to have unique beliefs about Chinese learning.This dissertation selects 65 foreign students from Western countries who are studying Chinese at the Institute for International Students of Nanjing University,CIEE Nanjing Center,and Chinese Language Flagship Program Nanjing Center as respondents.Through questionnaires and personal interviews,the dissertation collects the first-hand datum and data,then collates and analyzes data.This dissertation combines quantitative analysis with qualitative analysis to study the beliefs about Chinese learning of foreign students from Western countries and puts forward some suggestions for teaching applications.The main body of the dissertation consists of five parts:the first part summarizes the research significance,research objectives and content,research objects and methods,and research status;the second part introduces the research design of this article,including the concepts and definitions of belief on language learning,the linguistic and cultural background and its influence of foreign students from Western countries,as well as the design of questionnaires;the third part analyzes the collection of survey data on beliefs about Chinese learning of foreign students from Western countries,and compares the differences in beliefs about Chinese learning between students at the intermediate and advanced levels of Chinese;the fourth part is an interview with seven Chinese teachers from the Institute for International Students of Nanjing University;the fifth section summarizes the beliefs on Chinese learning of foreign students from Western countries,and proposes five heuristic suggestions for Chinese language teaching.Finally,this part describes the research limitations and deficiencies of this dissertation.The research summary of this dissertation reviews the research results of the belief on language learning at home and abroad,introduces the predecessors' research on the definition,classification,research scope of belief on language learning,and focuses on the relevant research on learning strategies and behaviors of foreign students from Western countries,and the predecessors'studies on the relationship between reading ability and oral language level.Finally,based on this,this part proposes the problems to be solved in this dissertation.The research tool being used is based on Horwitz's "Surveying student beliefs about language learning",and references WEN Qiufang's "English Learning Survey Form".On this basis,I have made certain selections and deletions based on the actual learning situation of foreign students from Western countries,and design the " Beliefs about Chinese Learning Inventory",then use SPSS statistical software to verify the reliability and validity of this questionnaire.The theoretical framework and basis of this dissertation are the belief on language learning of Horwitz and WEN Qiufang.Through the investigation and analysis of beliefs about Chinese learning of foreign students from Western countries,the dissertation finds that among these students,their strongest motivation for learning Chinese is to find a good job,and the motivation for coming to China to travel and completing university studies are slightly weaker;in terms of Chinese learning behavior,more than three-fifths of students are fond of communicating with Chinese orally,but less than one-third of students will spend much time and effort on Chinese reading;many learners recognize different forms of classroom interaction,and most learners prefer to engage in extracurricular interactions,and more than 80%of students have the learning expectation to be corrected by teachers or friends promptly;a large number of students think that reading Chinese news and Chinese books can help them improve the level of Chinese,but this is inconsistent with their seldom Chinese reading behavior;most students have affirmed some listening and speaking input methods like doing listening practice,watching Chinese movies or videos,listening to local people when they are chatting and so on.Through an interview with Chinese teachers,this dissertation compares the similarities and differences between the students' beliefs and the teachers' beliefs.The survey finds that both students and teachers believe that correcting mistakes is very important.;they all agree that in the initial stages of Chinese learning,they need to strengthen their correctness of pronunciation;they all value the position of grammar teaching and are more inclined to intersperse the use of task-based teaching methods in the teaching process.However,there are some differences in the beliefs of students and teachers.Some teachers believe that it is necessary to determine the quantity and level of Chinese reading based on the students' Chinese proficiency,rather than pursuing the quantity and range of reading blindly;for those who place a heavy emphasis on spoken language and despise Chinese listening and reading,teachers need to persuade them and do some corrective training.This dissertation surveys the Western students' motivation,Chinese learning behaviors,interactive-based beliefs about Chinese learning,and input-based beliefs about Chinese learning,and conducts an interview with related teachers.The significance of this study is to enrich the survey data of beliefs about Chinese learning of international students coming to China.It also has certain reference value for the study of beliefs about Chinese learning in the future and the teaching of Chinese as a second language.The dissertation finds that,first of all,there is a deviation from previous understanding that foreign students from Western countries generally believe that learning Chinese through reading is very important nowadays;secondly,the vast majority of students are less interested in or more exclusion of Chinese websites;in addition,the most important point is that contrary to their acceptance of reading,the students' learning through reading is far from enough.