Different Motivations of Chinese Students Learning Japanese and English in Japan

Abstract

As literacy in English and Japanese is usually a part of requirements for international students applying for Japanese universities, Chinese students in Japan, like other international students whose first language is neither English nor Japanese, have to engage in learning the two foreign languages simultaneously. The focus of this research is on the learning motivations of this Chinese student population. It attempts to judge whether differences exist in terms of motivations between their English and Japanese learning; and if so, what differences are there? It also aims to investigate what variables might influence their self-regulation of Japanese and English respectively. A survey of 46 subjects was conducted using a questionnaire with questions related to ideal L2 self, international orientation, self-efficacy beliefs, instrumentality, intrinsic motivation, motivated behavior, language learning anxiety, self-regulation, learning experience, peer pressure, parent encouragement and the role of teachers. The results of Independent Sample t-Test seem to suggest that there are distinctive differences between English learning and Japanese learning in terms of motivation. Regression analysis seems to indicate that Chinese students’ self-regulation in Japanese learning differs to some extent from that in English learning in the sense that they tend to be affected by different sets of variables.