How Motivation Affects Intended Effort Of African Learners Of Chinese? The Meditation Effect Of Engagement

An extensive body of studies have confirmed the significant impact of motivation on L2 learners' intended effort.Few studies,however,have focused on motivation of African Chinese learners.Besides,it is believed that engagement is a significant factor associated with students' academic outcome,and its mediation effect between motivation and outcome has been confirmed by a number of studies from diverse domains except L2 learning.Therefore,focusing on the interactions among motivation,engagement and intended effort in Chinese learning will improve previous research,which will further provide us with better understanding of and strategies to improve Chinese learning and teaching.Questionnaire survey has been adopted in the present study as the main method.The aims of the present study were to investigate the overall condition of,difference between and interactions among motivation,engagement and intended effort of South African secondary Chinese learners.Research conclusion are as follows:First,the present study has revealed positive condition of Chinese motivation,engagement and intended effort of South African secondary learners of Chinese.Second,there were difference between motivation,engagement and intended effort of South African secondary Chinese learners.In terms of gender,female students tended to use more study failure avoidance than male students.In terms of grade,motivation,engagement and intended effort declined with the rise of grade.In terms of time for self-study,motivation,engagement and intended effort of students who spent more than 1 hour per week were significantly higher than students who spent less than 1 hour per week.Third,there were significant positive correlations between Chinese motivation,engagement and intended effort.In terms of motivation,ideal Chinese state had the highest association with students' desire to learn Chinese followed by community and culture identity,outside study pressure and study failure avoidance.Besides,engagement had a high positive correlation with intended effort.Last,engagement mediated the effect of Chinese motivation on intended effort.Precisely,ideal Chinese state not only directly but also indirectly predicted intended effort via engagement,while the effect of study failure avoidance on intended effort was totally mediated by engagement.Community and culture identity and outside study pressure had no effect on intended effort.Suggestions for Chinese learning and teaching in South African secondary schools were provided.First,ideal Chinese state should be paid close attention to.In addition,students should be encouraged to involve into both within and extra curriculum Chinese learning.Last but not the least,formal credit curriculums should be established soon,and it is necessary to extend Chinese learning period.