An Investigation Of Individual Differences Into Motivation And Strategies Of Chinese Learners In Northeast Thailand

There is a regional imbalance in teaching Chinese in Thailand.Due to backward economic reasons,the situation of Chinese teaching in northeast Thailand is not as good as that in south Thailand and middle Thailand.The research object of this paper is 362 people,they come from 6 provinces(NakhonRatchasima?Khon Kaen?Ubon Ratchathani?Udon Thani? Roi Et?Loei)in northeast Thailand,they include primary school students,middle school students,vocational learning students,college students and social personages,their gender,age,family background and major are different.Through 724 questionnaires,this paper comprehensively investigated the learning motivation and learning strategies of Chinese learners in northeast Thailand.The Chinese learning motivation of learners in northeast Thailand is relatively clear and the types of Chinese learning motivation are relatively comprehensive.There are both instrumental motivation and integrative motivation.Instrumental motivation is slightly stronger than integrative motivation.Learners' gender,age and family background(whether Chinese or not)have a small impact on Chinese learning motivation,but there are still subtle differences in Chinese learning motivation among learners of different gender,age and family background.Learners' Chinese learning motivation will weaken with the increase of years of Chinese learning,but the Chinese learning motivation of learners in northeast Thailand is well maintained.There are three main reasons for the weakening motivation of Chinese learning: first,students have a low sense of self-efficacy;second,it is difficult to learn Chinese;third,the course content and exam difficulty do not match students' Chinese proficiency.The overall frequency of Chinese learning strategies of learners in northeast Thailand is general,with an average value of 2.8831,belonging to the medium frequency(2.5-3.4).Among the use frequency of each sub-strategy,compensation strategy is the highest,followed by social affective strategy,metacognitive strategy and cognitive strategy are the lowest.Gender and age have less influence on Chinese learning strategies,but there are still slight differences in Chinese learning strategy among learners of different genders and ages.The use frequency of Chinese learning strategies will change with the improvement of Chinese proficiency.The overall use frequency of Chinese learning strategies of HSK4-6 level learners is much higher than that of HSK1-3 level learners,and only the overall use frequency of strategies of HSK4-6 level learners reaches a high frequency(3.5-5.0),with an average value of 3.5.There is no significant correlation between Chinese learning motivation and Chinese learning strategies,and the level of Chinese learning motivation does not determine the frequency of learners' Chinese learning strategies.Based on the research results,this paper puts forward the assumption of "Chinese learning motivation enhancement method" and "Chinese learning strategy training method",providing certain reference for the improvement of Chinese learning motivation and Chinese learning strategy of learners in northeast Thailand."Chinese learning motivation enhancement method" can be divided into three steps to improve learners' Chinese learning motivation: unmotivated to motivated conversion stage,motivated to high-motivated conversion stage and high-motivated sustained stage."Chinese learning strategy training method" can be divided into three steps to improve learners' Chinese learning strategy: establish strategic awareness,learning strategies and strategy selection.