A comparative study of motivation for and situational interest in learning Chinese as a foreign language among Thai upper elementary school students

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a significant difference in motivation for and situational interest in learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) among Grades 4-6 students at an international school in Bangkok. Research design, data and methodology: In order to accomplish this purpose, a quantitative comparative research design was employed on 36 students from Grade 4, 31 students from Grade 5, and 32 students from Grade 6 enrolled in an international school in Bangkok, in the academic school year 2021- 2022. Motivation-related data were gathered through administering the Motivation for Learning Chinese Questionnaire (MLCQ), adapted from Gardner (2010), while the situational interest scale was measured using the Situational Interest Scale (SIS), adopted from Chen et al. (1999). Results: The overall level of motivation for learning in CFL of the participants, regardless of their grade, was partially high and was numerically very similar across grades, whereas the overall level of situational interest in learning CFL was moderate regardless of the grade, and numerically dropped in Grade 6. Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference in either motivation for or situational interest in learning CFL among Grade 4, Grade 5, and Grade 6 students at the target school. Conclusions: The results indicate that being enrolled in either Grade 4, 5 or 6 at the target school appears to have no statistical effect on the participants’ motivation for and situational interest in learning CFL.