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Attitudes of British Students Towards Mandarin Chinese and Intercultural Sensitivity Development

Explore British students' attitudes toward Mandarin Chinese and intercultural sensitivity through a pilot study. Analyze motivations and implications for teaching based on questionnaire results. Reference intercultural sensitivity inventory for insights.

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Attitudes of British Students Towards Mandarin Chinese and Intercultural Sensitivity Development

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  1. A pilot study on British students’ attitudes towards Mandarin Chinese and the development of intercultural sensitivity through learning Chinese Qi ZHANG Q.Zhang@mmu.ac.uk

  2. Overview • Previous results • Research design • Results and discussion • Implications for teaching

  3. Previous results • Instrumental vs. Integrative • practical reasons • identity • Languages perceived as • difficult (students & parents) • aesthetic (parents)

  4. Research Design 1 • Questionnaire: 2 pages (Anonymous) • Part One: participants’ background information • Gender • Chinese language level • 1st language & parents’ 1st languages

  5. Research Design 2 • Part Two (eight statements): • 1=Strongly disagree; 5=Strongly agree • difficult/aesthetic e.g. “ Mandarin Chinese has four tones. I think this could be the main problem for me to achieve a high proficiency of Chinese. “ • instrumental motivation e.g. “ Knowing Mandarin Chinese will bring me better career opportunities. “ • integrative motivation e.g. “ Speaking Mandarin Chinese can help me to interact or identify with Chinese people. “

  6. Research Design 3 • Part Three: 16-item Intercultural Sensitivity Inventory (ICSI, Bhawuk & Brislin 1992) • 1=Strongly disagree; 5=Strongly agree • 9 items for collectivism; 7 items for individualism • “Imagine you are living and working in China. Then Circle the appropriate number to show to what extend you agree/disagree the following statements. “

  7. Result 1 • Participants: 63 university students • 56 valid questionnaires * Speak Chinese dialects. One missing data.

  8. Result 2 • Mandarin Chinese Level

  9. Results 3

  10. Result 4

  11. Implications 1 • Mainly instrumentally motivated to learn Chinese: curriculum design, lesson plans, etc. • Integrative motivation [Students with/without Chinese background: F (51, 2)=.05, p=.95, >.05]

  12. Implications 2 • Chinese is not particularly difficult: suitable input • Chinese is not especially aesthetic: class activities • Be aware of the cultural differences: lesson plans

  13. References • Bhawuk, D. and R. Brislin (1992). The measurement of intercultural sensitivity using the concepts of individualism and collectivism. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. Vol. 16, pp 413-436. • Bullo-Alos, S. and Y. Wang (2009). Parental attitudes to language learning in Arabic and Chinese supplementary/complementary schools: a case study. Paper presented at the BAAL Language Learning and Teaching SIG conference. July 2009. • Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequence: International differences in work related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. • Luo, S-H. and R. L. Wiseman (2000). Ethnic language maintenance among Chinese immigrant children in the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. Vol. 24, 307-324. • Ou, Y. and H. P. McAdoo (1993). Socialization of Chinese American children. In H. P. McAdoo (Ed.), Family Ethnicity: Strength in Diversity (pp. 245-270). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. • Yang, F. (2006). An exploration of teaching Chinese as a second language in England. MA Dissertation, Manchester University.

  14. Thank you! • Any question?

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