The Motivational Factors Among Undergraduates Learning Mandarin In A Higher Education Institution

• Main Authors: Cheong, Kar Mee, Jano, Zanariah, Yahya, Aziz, Hussin, Hanipah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scottish Journal of Arts, Social Sciences and Scientific Studies (SJASS). 2013
• Online Access: http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/10793/1/cheong.pdf; http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/10793/
• Institution: Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

Today, Mandarin is considered an increasingly important international language. Many high schools and universities in many countries throughout the world offer Mandarin as a foreign language.The purpose of this study was to investigate the motivational factors of undergraduate students learning Mandarin as a foreign language at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM). A quantitative analysis was used through motivation inventory as a survey instrument. It involved 147 undergraduate students who were learning Mandarin as a foreign language at UTeM. The findings have shown that future occupation is a major motivational factor for a student to learn Mandarin at UTeM followed by intrinsic value and self-development. The results is important in determining the content of Mandarin learning material. In future more research in different learning contexts should be considered for a deeper understanding of motivation in Mandarin as well as other foreign language learning.