Motivations And Barriers For Learning Chinese As A Second Language In Australian Secondary Schools

Although Chinese Mandarin has been one of the most commonly taught foreign languages in Australia for over twenty years,the number of proficient non-Chinese background adults who can speak fluent Chinese remains to be particularly low.When it comes to second language learning for students in Australian secondary schools,the high drop rates of non-Chinese background students in senior years have long been a critical problem across the nation.With the major focus on Victoria's Chinese second language education,this study probes into motivations and barriers of students learning Chinese as a second language in Australian Secondary Schools with a case study of Chinese second language(L2)learners in Doncaster Secondary College to explain the low participation rate of non-Chinese background students especially in senior school years.Quantative and qualitative data were both collected through surveys and interviews with students,an education scholar and a practitioner to provide first-hand information for policy makers,educational administrators,and teachers.Motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate L2 learning and also becomes the driving force to continue studying the L2 after the initial glow.This study adopted Dornyei's process-oriented motivation theory,who developed a more comprehensive multi-level L2 motivation model based on Gardner's socio-psychological approach with a focus on L2 motivation in the classroom context.Domyei proposes a three-level categorization(the language level,the learner level and the learning situation level),which attempts to synthesize various lines of research in a way that offers a more extensive list of motivational components.The language level consists of two subsystems:integrative and instrumental motivational subsystem.Integrative motivations emphasize the "emotional affinity" like interests in languages,cultures and peoples,while instrumental motivations are correlated with the perceived usefulness of the language,like obtaining higher scores and better employment prospects.The learner level focuses on the role of attitudes and self-confidence of the L2 learners.The learning situation level,which is the most elaborated dimension in Dormyei 's motivation model,including components related to the course,the teacher and the group dynamics.The questionnaire design and interview questions were mainly developed interms of the three levels of Domyei's empirical-oriented situated motivation theory to establish a motivational profile of students and identify the difficulties they've encountered in learning Chinese as a second language.84 students consisting of 52 heritage learners and 32 non-heritage learners from Year 7 to Year 12 in Doncaster Secondary College participated in the survey and five non-heritage learners of Chinese in Year 9 who had strong motivations in their learning Chinese and obtained encouraging results were interviewed afterwards.Semi-structured interviews were carried out with Professor Jane Orton who has been an expert in Chinese language education from the University of Melbourne,and Kennedy Tip,the principal of Richmond West Primary School with a prominent Chinese immersion bilingual program in Victoria.This study found that significant divisions were observed in terms of the motivations of learning the language between heritage and non-heritage learners at the language,learner and learning situation level despite that parental influences proved to be strong in both groups.At the language level,instrumental motivations have a far more apparent impact on heritage learners,most of whom have much more exposure to Chinese language environment and many of them are Chinese home speakers.However,for excellent non-heritage learners,instrumental reasons,particularly the advantages Chinese bilinguals could have in the future employment market,can be a strong driving force for long-term persistence in learning Chinese.At the learner level.positive attitudes and self-confidence of language learners also play an important role in classroom participation and involvement.At the learning situation level,teacher's pedagogy can have significant influences on students' motivation,especially non-heritage learners.Yet overall,non-heritage learners seemed to display an apparently lower motivation in learning the language,compared with heritage learners.A few of them claimed that they randomly chose the language from the three languages(French,Italian,Chinese)provided in Doncaster Secondary College.As to the barriers faced by Chinese second language learners,four main factors can be identified:intrinsic difficulties of Chinese language,presence of large numbers of home speakers,a lack of quality teachers,and inconsistent federal and state government funding,which together lead to the low participation rate of classroom second language learners of Chinese especially in Year 11 and Year 12.The intrinsic difficulties of Chinese language itself could intimidate students and contribute to the perceived low motivation of non-heritage learners.The writing system and tones of Chinese are major difficulties for non-heritage learners as reflected in the questionnaires.Language difficulties for heritage learners can be much more diverse.The prevalent presence of home speakers being categorized into the Chinese as Second Language in Year 11 and 12,particularly under the current eligibility criteria of VCE(Victorian Certificate of Education),makes it impossible for anyone who is not of Chinese background to achieve a high score,which could undermine instrumental motivations and self-confidence of genuine classroom learners.Besides,in a broader context,a lack of quality Chinese teachers who know how to effectively engage the students in Australia,and the inconsistent federal and state government funding,to some extent,impede the development of Chinese second language education in Australia.