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XU Hongchen Peking University michaelxhc@sohu May 20, 2007

The Effect Of English Learning Motivation and Self-identity On Bilingual Education Attitudes: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach. XU Hongchen Peking University michaelxhc@sohu.com May 20, 2007. Contents. Introduction ; Method ; Results and Discussion ; Conclusion ; Limitation.

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XU Hongchen Peking University michaelxhc@sohu May 20, 2007

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  1. The Effect Of English Learning Motivation and Self-identity On Bilingual Education Attitudes:A Structural Equation Modeling Approach XU Hongchen Peking University michaelxhc@sohu.com May 20, 2007

  2. Contents • Introduction; • Method; • Results and Discussion; • Conclusion; • Limitation. Xu Hongchen

  3. I. Introduction 1.1 Definition of Bilingual Education; 1.2 Bilingual Education in Universities; 1.3 Purpose of the Present Study. Xu Hongchen

  4. 1.1 Definition of Bilingual Education • It refers to “the use of a second or foreign language in school for the teaching of content subjects” (Richards et al. 2000: p45). • Chinese-based bilingual education to ethnic minorities in China; • English-based bilingual education to the Putonghua community in China. Xu Hongchen

  5. 1.2 Bilingual Education in Universities • Research flourished since the issue of The Instructions on the Teaching in Tertiary Level in 2001 by the Department of Education of China in the areas of: • Education; • Language teaching and learning; • Language acquisition; • Psychology and cognition; • Sociolinguistics. (Cont’d) Xu Hongchen

  6. 1.2 Cont’d • Bilingual education research topics : • Its importance, necessity, nature, task, goals and evaluation approaches; • Its teaching modes; • The development of bilingual teaching staff; • The relationship with ESP; • The relationship with EGP; • Etc. Xu Hongchen

  7. 1.3 Purpose of the Present Study • Previous studies are mainly • top-down, • theoretical reasoning, • and regulation making, • with the reference to the Western countries’ experience (esp. that of Canada); • without bottom-up empirical support for the theoretical discussion. • The present study aims to provide a bottom-up empirical support for the above discussion. Xu Hongchen

  8. II. Method 2.1 Structural Model; 2.2 Participants; 2.3 Instrument; 2.4 Statistics. Xu Hongchen

  9. 2.1 Structural Model 2.1.1 Independent variables: English learning motivation (F1 to F4); Self-identity (F5-F7); 2.1.2 Dependent variables: Positive Attitude to Bilingual Education (A1); Negative Attitude to Bilingual Education (A2); 2.1.3 Mediators: Characteristics of major (F8); English proficiency(F9); 2.1.4 The hypothesized model: SEM 1. Xu Hongchen

  10. English Learning Motivation Intrinsic interest Integrative motivation (F1) Immediate achievement Instrumental motivation Learning situation Interest motivation (F2) Cultural motivation Go abroad Social responsibility Instrumental motivation (F3) Situational motivation Individual development Situational motivation (F4) Information medium (cf Gao, Zhao, Cheng, & Zhou 2002) Xu Hongchen

  11. Self-Identity Subtractive bilingualism Subtractive bilingualism (F5) Additive bilingualism Cultural identity Productive bilingualism Additive bilingualism (F6) Self-esteem change Split of identity Non-cultural identity Productive bilingualism (F7) Zero change of identity (cf Gao, Zhao, Cheng, & Zhou 2003) Xu Hongchen

  12. 2.2 Participants • 430 undergraduates from five universities; • All with the experience of certain kind of bilingual education. Table 1 Demographics of the Participants Xu Hongchen

  13. 2.3 Instrument • A self-designed 5-point Likert scale questionnaire (see appendix) with 30 items: • Motivation (q2, q3, q4, q13, q14, q26, q27, q29); • Self-identity (q6, q9, q15, q19, q20, q21); • Characteristics of major (q5, q17, q30); • English proficiency (q1, q12, q25); • Bilingual education attitudes (q8, q11, q23, q28); • Bilingual education modes (q7, q10, q16, q18); • The first two sections borrowed items from the questionnaire of Gao et al. (2004); • The Cronbach’s  is 0.77, which signifies a good reliability. Xu Hongchen

  14. 2.4 Statistics • The missing data were first deleted from the data by SPSS 13.0 (Arbuckle & Wothke 1999). • Maximum likelihood estimation method was applied to test the hypothesized model by AMOS 5.0. Xu Hongchen

  15. III. Results and Discussion 3.1 Goodness-of-fit; 3.2 Positive attitude to bilingual education; 3.3 Negative attitude to bilingual education; 3.4 Other issues. Xu Hongchen

  16. 3.1 Goodness-of-Fit • SEM 1 (see Figure 1 and Table 2) was tested to be an acceptable model; • SEM 2 (see Figure 2 and Table 2) was tested to be a better one than SEM 1 because all the statistically insignificant paths were removed. Table 2 Goodness-of-Fit of SEM 1 & SEM 2 (Byrne 2001:pp76-90) Xu Hongchen

  17. 3.2 Positive attitude to bilingual education • Finding No. 1; • Explanation to Finding No. 1; • Finding No. 2; • Explanation to Finding No. 2; • Finding No. 3; • Explanation to Finding No. 3. Xu Hongchen

  18. Finding No. 1 • Productive bilingualism (F7) and characteristics of major (F8) directly affect the positive attitude towards bilingual education (A1). At the same time, productive bilingualism has indirect effect on the positive attitude through the characteristics of major (see Figure 1). • The total effect of the above two independent variables (F7 & F8) can explain 53% of the variance of the dependent variable (A1) (Table 3), which implies that productive bilingualism not only exists in common language learners (Gao et al. 2004),but also affects other variables. Xu Hongchen

  19. Explanation to Finding No. 1 • The nature of productive bilingualism (Gao 2001:abstract): • “is the command of the target language and that of the native language positively reinforce each other; deeper understanding and appreciation of the target culture goes hand in hand with deeper understanding and appreciation of the native culture. In the process of learning another language and related culture, the learner’s personality becomes more open and integrated at the same time.” • Bilingual education is a brand new issue to university students because they are confronted with different culture which demands a positive and constructive psyche to adjust to the new teaching approach. If their majors are closely related to English as well as the international development, they will definitely agree to the teaching method. Xu Hongchen

  20. Finding No. 2 • In contrast, subtractive bilingualism (F5) affects the positive attitude towards bilingual education (A1) indirectly and in an opposite direction (see Figure 2 and Table 3) Xu Hongchen

  21. Explanation to Finding No. 2 • The nature of subtractive bilingualism: • refers to the identity that the native language and native cultural identity are replaced by the target language and target cultural identity (Lambert 1974). • Therefore, those subtractive bilingual students are more concerned with the target culture instead of their own. In fact, they show their contempt to or even reject their own culture (Xu Keqi 2004). Hence, it is not surprising that they don’t like the “artificial” bilingual environment as in bilingual education in their mother culture. Xu Hongchen

  22. Finding No. 3 • English learning motivation affects the positive attitudes towards bilingual education (A1) through two mediators: the characteristics of their majors (F8) and their English proficiency (F9). The indirect effect of integrative motivation (F1) on the positive attitude ranks a litter bit higher than that of interest motivation (F2) (see Figure. 2 and Table 3). Xu Hongchen

  23. Explanation to Finding No. 3 • The students with more integrative motivation will try every means that can help them to integrate with the target culture. Bilingual education is one of the means. If their majors are closely related with the development of the English-speaking countries, they will, of course, take the advantage of bilingual education as an opportunity to improve their English proficiency. • Those with interest motivation also support bilingual education because they are in nature interested in language itself. So, when they have more chance to contact with English, they will express their love of the language. Moreover, the content of bilingual education is related to their own majors, it is natural that they reveal their approval to bilingual education. Xu Hongchen

  24. 3.3 Negative attitude to bilingual education • Finding: • Instrumental motivation (F3) has direct effect on the negative attitudes towards bilingual education (A2). The former can explain 9% of the variance of the latter (see Figure 2 and Table 4). • Explanation: • Those with instrumental motivation regard English as a means to obtain what they want, which in China, is related to all kinds of examinations and the corresponding diplomas. Therefore, those students consider English as a heavy burden which is quietly likely to be removed once they have achieved their goals through it. In fact, they cannot wait to reject it. Hence, they try not to be confronted with English. As a consequence, they tend not to adopt bilingual education when they have the choice and feel comfortable in Chinese-monolingual teaching of content subjects. Xu Hongchen

  25. 3.4 Other Issues • There are no statistically significant paths starting from additive bilingualism (F6) to either positive attitude (A1) or negative attitude (A2) (see Figure 2, Table 3 and Table 4). • The reason might be the close relationship between additive bilingualism (F6) and productive bilingualism (F7).Theoretically speaking, they are not the same, but in the process of index estimation, the computer program regards them as the same thing. (Cont’d) Xu Hongchen

  26. 3.4 Other Issues (Cont’d) • As for the situational motivation (F4), there are no statistically significant paths to either A1 or A2 (see Figure 2, Table 3 and Table 4). • The reason might be related to the traits of situational motivation (Dörnyei 1994). The students dominated by that motivation are easily affected by the external environment, such as teachers, textbooks, or the classes they are studying in. Their most typical feature is the dependence on the actual situation they are involved in, which means if they are satisfied with the external environment, they would like to devote into the study of English; otherwise, they would not. That is to say, if they are attracted by the teaching of bilingual education, they will agree to it; if not, they will be indifferent to it. In fact, their attitude towards bilingual education is neither positive nor negative. Xu Hongchen

  27. IV. Conclusion • English learning motivation: • integrative and interest motivations affect the positive attitude towards bilingual education; • whereas instrumental motivation, the negative attitudes • Self-identity: • productive bilingualism has great effect on the attitudes towards bilingual education; • subtractive bilingualism reveals its negative effect. • Characteristics of major and English proficiency (Han & Yu 2007) are important mediators. Xu Hongchen

  28. V. Limitation • Elements are too restricted, without concerning the motivation of major, bilingual teachers, textbooks, etc, thus the explanatory power of the model reduces; • Since there is no other data from the same population to retest the model, the external validity demands further justification. Xu Hongchen

  29. References • Arbuckle, L. J. & W. Wothke. 1999. Amos 4.0 User’s Guide [M]. Chicago: SmallWaters Corporation. • Byrne, B. M. 2001. Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS: Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming [M]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. • Dörnyei, Z. 1994. Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom [J]. Modern Language Journal 78: 273-284. • Gao, Yihong. 2001. Foreign Language Learning: 1+1>2 [M]. Beijing: Peking University Press. • Lambert, W. E. 1974. Culture and language as factors in learning and education [A]. In F. E. Aboud & R. D. Meade (eds.). Cultural Factors in Learning and Education [C]. Bellingham: Washington State College. (pp.91-122). • Richards, J. C., J. Platt, & H. Platt. 2000. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics [M]. Beijing: FLTRP. • Thompson, B. 2000. Ten commandments of structural equation modeling [A]. In L. G. Grimm & P. R. Yarnold (eds.). Reading and Understanding More Multivariate Statistics [C]. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (pp.261-283). • 高一虹等，2004，中国大学生英语学习社会心理——学习动机与自我认同研究[C]。北京：外语教学与研究出版社。 • 高一虹、赵媛、程英、周燕，2002，大学本科生英语学习动机类型与自我认同变化的关系[J]。国外外语教学(4)：18-24。 • 高一虹、赵媛、程英、周燕，2003，中国大学本科生英语学习动机类型[J]。现代外语26(1)：28-38。 • 韩建侠、俞理明，2007，我国高校进行双语教学学生需具备的英语水平[J]。现代外语30(1)：65-72。 • 教育部，2001，关于加强高等院校本科教学工作提高教学质量的若干意见[Z]。教高[2001]4号。 • 许克琪，2004，“双语教学”热中应关注中华民族文化遗失问题[J]。外语教学25(3)：86-89。 Xu Hongchen

  30. Appendix Bilingual Education Attitudes Questionnaire (1/3) 1. 我的性别是： 1)男 2)女 2. 我的年级是： 1）大一 2）大二 3）大三 4）大四 3. 我的专业是： 1）人文社会科学 2）理工自然科学 4. 我的大学英语四级成绩是： 1）639以上（含639） 2）560-638 3）490-559 4）489以下（含489） Xu Hongchen

  31. Bilingual Education Attitudes Questionnaire (2/3) • 1．我在英语听力课上能听懂百分之七十左右的内容。 • 2．我学英语的劲头主要来自我对英语国家的文化的喜爱。 • 3．我学习英语主要是为了应付各类英语考试。 • 4．我喜欢学英语因为我喜欢我英语老师的授课方式。 • 5．我觉得英语对我所学的专业会很重要。 • 6．英语学到现在，我觉得我的思维观念有些开始西化了。 • 7．我觉得“汉语教学、英汉双语教材”的双语教学模式会适合我。 • 8．我觉得目前实行双语教学可行，因为这有利于促进学生的全面发展。 • 9．随着对英语文化欣赏水平的提高，我对中国文化也越来越感兴趣了。 • 10．我觉得“英语教学、汉语教材”的双语教学模式会适合我。 • 11．我认为目前实行双语教学不可行，因为这会使学生倾向英语忽略汉语。 • 12．我现在能看懂英文杂志上百分之七十左右的内容。 • 13．我就是喜欢学英语，说不清是因为什么。 • 14．我学英语的主要动力是我想出国留学。 • 15．英语学习使我比以前更能将中西方价值观念融会贯通了。 Xu Hongchen

  32. Bilingual Education Attitudes Questionnaire (3/3) • 16．我觉得“汉语教学、英语教材”的双语教学模式会适合我。 • 17．我所学的专业有很多英文资料。 • 18．我觉得“英汉双语教学、汉语教材”的双语教学模式会适合我。 • 19．学了这么多年英语之后，我觉得我对中国的一些传统观念产生了反感。 • 20．和中国人接触我就按照中国的习惯，和西方人接触就按照西方的习惯。 • 21．英语学习让我拥有了一种西方文化体系，它和我的中国文化体系并存。 • 22．我觉得“英语教学、英汉对照教材”的双语教学模式会适合我。 • 23．我认为目前实行双语教学不可行，因为这会使学生注意语言而忽略专业。 • 24．我觉得“英汉双语教学、英语教材”的双语教学模式会适合我。 • 25．我的英语阅读速度大约是50词/分钟。 • 26．我学习英语的动力来自我喜欢学习语言。 • 27．我学英语是为了在考研中获得理想的成绩。 • 28．我觉得目前实行双语教学可行，因为有利于各专业紧跟国际最新进展。 • 29．我喜欢学英语因为我喜欢我现在所在的英语班。 • 30．我所学的专业需要密切关注国际相同行业的最新发展。 Xu Hongchen

  33. Figure 1 Xu Hongchen

  34. Figure 2 Xu Hongchen

  35. Table 3 Effect of IV’s on A1 Xu Hongchen

  36. Table 4 Effect of IV’s on A2 Xu Hongchen

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