Research on Decreasing Interest in Mandarin Studies in Mainland China

This paper is aiming at exploring possible reasons for decreasing interest in Mandarin studies for high school students. We summarize characteristics of high school students from three perspectives: observation, memory, thinking ability. According to some report, interest in Mandarin studies at Longxian High School is waning in recent years. In this paper, we find the reasons for the decreasing interest in Mandarin are as follows: negative emotion and deficient knowledge of teachers, increasing gap between teachers and students caused by inadequate communication. In reading classes, problems lie in traditional cramming way of teaching, exam-oriented and overemphasis on scores, and monotonous way of class organization. To solve these problems, we provide suggestions on strategies of organizing Chinese classes using performing and competition ways. In writing class, topics are too far away from students’ daily lives, and exams are overemphasized too. Positive feedbacks from teachers are inadequate to maintain the situational interest of students. Recommendations are proposed on preparation before class, timely positive feedbacks in the essay, and adjustment in evaluation ways.