Motivation in Learning Mandarin as a Foreign Language Among Secondary Student in International School.
Keywords:
L2MSS, Motivation, Secondary Student, International SchoolAbstract
Although the number of secondary students learning Mandarin as a foreign language in Malaysia is increasing from year to year, the desired outcome of the secondary students learning Mandarin does not seem to be achieved. Most of the secondary students still unable to communicate the target language that they learnt fluently and effectively. The purpose of this research is to investigate motivation in learning Mandarin as a foreign language among secondary student in international school. Both quantitative and qualitative method have been employed in this study. Survey questionnaire and interview have be used as the research instrument to collect data. The sample of the study collected were the 212 secondary students from year seven - 11 who are currently learning Mandarin as a foreign language in international school for quantitative study whereas 15 secondary students were selected among the 212 secondary students for qualitative study. Quantitative findings reveal that Ideal L2 self is the key motivator for the overall secondary students to put in effort in learning Mandarin with a high correlation coefficient(r) of .776, p< 0.001 when compared with other two motivational factors. The study also proved that there is a significant difference between male and female students in term of the score on motivational factors and the correlation coefficient between variables. Qualitative findings report that secondary students who have accumulated more cultural capitals based on Bourdieu’s concept of capitals and experiencing a smooth process during their situated learning based on Wenger’s community of practice during their early learning experience are more able to develop their Ideal L2 self. Results also concluded that the development of Ideal L2 self and current motivation level of a secondary student are interrelated. Recommendation has been given to help the teachers to develop lesson plan that best suit these secondary students.
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