Motivation
plays an important role in learning a second language. This study aims to
investigate the international students’ motivation types in learning Chinese
language. The participants were 59 international students studying in two
Chinese universities, who completed an online questionnaire survey on Chinese
learning motivation. The results of an exploratory factor analysis revealed
that the international students’ motivation fell into six types: intrinsic interest, learning situation, others’ influence,
personal achievement, deep understanding and language anticipation. The
results from descriptive analysis found that the students’ overall motivation level was high, and language
anticipation ranked at the highest motivation value, followed by deep understanding, intrinsic interest, learning situation
and personal achievement, which all belonged to the high motivation group, while others’ influence ranked at the low motivation level. The results provide
pedagogical implications for CSL teaching and learning that students’
motivations should be taken into consideration when designing teaching plans.
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