Study On The Relationship Between English-speaking-countries Chinese Learners' Self-identification And Their Study Results On Chinese Context

The study on the relationship between Chinese learners5 self-identification and their study results is comparatively new.At present,the umber of relevant studies in this area is limited.Theoretical studies are rich,while the comparative research on the difference between heritage Chinese learners and non-heritage Chinese learners is also limited.This essay aims to gain a close insight into the relationship between English-speaking-countries Chinese learners' self-identification and their study results on Chinese context,based on which we hope to propose some practical suggestions that are beneficial to Chinese teaching.The theoretical framework of this study is "human agency","language socialization"and "motivational theories".Based on this framework,the qualitative research this study adopts focuses on 8 subjects,all of whom are from the Institute for International Students,Nanjing University and are from English speaking countries.The study consists of 2 periods.The first period started from the end of March,2015 and lasted for 5 weeks;the second period started from the end of January,2016 and lasted for 1 week.The data collection instruments include 2 open-ended questionnaires,8 diary entries and 1 semi-structured interview from each of the participant.Through the research we want to know how they study Chinese,how their self-identification changes during the process of Chinese study,how dififerent identifications influence their study,and the differences between heritage Chinese learners and non-heritage Chinese learners.Based on the analysis of the language data,we reached the following three conclusions:Chinese heritage learners from English speaking countries on Chinese context have stronger self-identification in comparison with non-heritage learners.Heritage learners are more able to find suitable learning methods and propose reasonable suggestions to improve current Chinese teaching system in in-class environment;in out-of-class environment,they are more willing to gain a deep insight into China;non-heritage Chinese learners tend to be more anxious during Chinese learning,especially those with comparatively low Chinese proficiency.There are 2 main reasons to this finding:compared with non-heritage Chinese learners,heritage Chinese learners have stronger "human agency" and motivation.The second finding of this study is that English-speaking-countries Chinese learners,self-identification becomes stronger as the time passes by.This can be shown in 3 aspects:first,as Chinese learners study longer in China,their Chinese proficiency and fluency get improved.As a result,their self-identification is promoted;second,as Chinese learners study longer in China,they begin to study and master some Chinese social customs and culture.As a result,their self-identification is promoted;third,as Chinese learners study longer in China,they are gradually influenced by the habits of Chinese people,such as the way they talk to each other.As a result,their self-identification is promoted.The main reason of this finding is language socialization both in in-class environment and out-of-class environment.The third finding of this study is that the relationship between English-speaking-countries Chinese learners' study results and their self-identification is positive,but self-identification does not influence study results directly,but by influencing the motivation and human agency of Chinese learners,which are vital in determining their study results.Students with stronger self-identification tend to have stronger study motivation and human agency,as a result of which their study results are comparatively better.As for students with low self-identification,they can also achieve desirable 'study results academically under the auspices of strong motivation and human agency.This study proposes the following four suggestions for Chinese teaching:first,small-size Chinese classes are more preferable and heritage and non-heritage learners should be paid equal attention;second,Chinese teachers should pay attention to their words and actions,which should enhance Chinese learners' motivation and human agency and students' suggestions should be laid emphasis on;third,language programs should strengthen the supervision on students' use of Chinese;lastly,the teaching tasks can refer to relevant writing tasks and regular interviews.