Study On Chinese Learning Interest Of Pupils In Multilingual Environment

As globalization is fast becoming the major economic driving force in today’s modern society,China’s status as the world’s second largest economy has propelled an increasing demand to learn the Chinese culture and language as a second or third language in many Asian countries.Hence,to promote International Chinese Education through strategic export of Chinese culture on a national level,it is imperative that we consider factors that would possibly increase the competitiveness of the Chinese Language in a multi-lingual environment,by examining how to generate greater interest and motivation to learn Chinese amongst students in primary school as a second language.This thesis is written based on data collated from a group of 132 students from the Singapore International School Bangkok（SISB）,age 10 to 13.It also includes the Author’s experience in the said school as a volunteer teacher,teaching Chinese as a second language to non-Chinese students and her observations of how learning Chinese in a multi-lingual environment affect students’learning attitude towards the language.The paper is divided into five chapters.The introduction part discusses the background and significance of this thesis,that is,how to improve the competitiveness of Chinese language and enhance learners’interest in learning in a multilingual environment is necessary.Chapter 2 and Chapter 3,investigate how the motivation of primary school students to learn Chinese is affected,through analyzing the characteristics of the students,influence of parents at home,teachers’and the school curriculum used in SISB.The 4^thchapter provides tentative suggestions on how to improve student’s learning Chinese based conclusion of the analysis of data in Chapter 3.The 5^thchapter entails the Author’s teaching experience,reflection and results of her lessons after applying some of the suggested improvisation for teachers in Chapter 4.