A Comparative Study Of Grit In Thai Language And Vietnamese Language Students’ L2 And L3 Learning

Grit has been a hot research topic in the realm of psychology and education since it was first proposed in 2007 by Duckworth.In recent years,grit research in the field of second language acquisition has been also attracting increasing attention of researchers in SLA and exploring its role in language learning outcomes.However,much of previous research has mainly focused on English as second or foreign language,leaving less commonly taught languages(LCTLs)such as Thai and Vietnamese unknown.Thus,it is of both theoretical and practical significance to explore Chinese undergraduates’ grit in learning Thai and Vietnamese as a foreign language.From the perspective of positive psychology and Personality Psychology,and based on the L2 Grit Scale(Temouri et al.,2020),the present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the L2 Grit Scale in the context of less commonly-taught languages in China,and Chinese L2 English and L3 Thai or Vietnamese learners’ grit.A total of 500 Chinese Thai(N=271)and Vietnamese(N=229)learners from six universities in Yunnan participated in the survey of questionnaire.Quantitative data were computed by SPSS 23 and AMOS 26,and qualitative data were analyzed through Nvivo 12 Plus.Results obtained from the present study revealed that: 1)The construct validity and reliability of L2 English and L3 Thai or Vietnamese grit scales in China’s context was confirmed as a two-dimensional factorial structures consisting of two subscales,5-item perseverance of effort(PE)and 3-item consistency of interest(CI);2)Mean levels of L2 English(M=2.90)and L3(M=3.36)grit of Chinese Thai or Vietnamese undergraduates were at a lower moderate level,with L3 grit reported significantly higher than L2 grit at a medium effect size;3)Differences of L3 grit were found between Thai and Vietnamese learners,Vietnamese learners displaying a significant higher level of L3 grit than that of Thai learners,with L2 grit showing no statistical significance between the two languages learners.Besides,senior learners had the lowest level of L2 and L3 grit in comparison with sophomore and junior students.Furthermore,differences of L3 grit were tested among learners choosing Thai and Vietnamese with different reasons;4)A small predictive power of L2 and L3 PE to L2 and L3 achievement was testified,with L2 CI and L3 CI not contributing significantly to language learning achievements;5)The analysis of learners’ responses to the open-ended questions explained the reasons of these differences existing between L2 and L3 grit as time spent,self-interest,major language,self-perceived language achievements,etc.The findings of the present study shed light on the research of L2 grit,especially the less commonly-taught language teaching and learning in China.Pedagogical implications for Chinese Thai and Vietnamese teachers and learners are tentatively provided.The thesis ends with limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.