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Article published In:
Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 53:2 (2018) ► pp.163–186

Motivation of ideal Chinese L2 self and global competence

A case study on postsecondary Chinese language learners

| Liberty University
This article probes the motivation of ideal L2 self and perceptions of global competence of Chinese language learners taking high-level Chinese courses to fulfill degree requirements at a university on the East Coast of the United States. The results show that the students envision an ideal L2 self with high speaking fluency, which they believe can develop their intercultural communication skills and promote their future careers. It was also found that integrative motivation, in the past found predominant among second language learners, is also a prominent form of motivation for foreign language learners in the 21st century. The study provides evidence that the students’ perceptions of global competence still need to improve, but that learning Chinese has contributed to the development of their global competence. The study demonstrates that motivation of ideal L2 self and global competence complement each other. Informed by the results, the researcher suggests some pedagogical implications about maintaining learner motivation, developing learners’ intercultural communication competence and perceptions of global competence, and encouraging students to take higher-level language courses.
Keywords: learning Chinese as a foreign language, motivation of ideal L2 self, perceptions of global competence, language learning impacts on global competence
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • Global competence
    • Language learning motivation
    • Language learning motivation alongside global competence
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Setting
    • Procedure
    • Instrument
    • Data analysis
  • Results
    • General motivation to learn Chinese language
    • Career-related motivation (instrumentality)
    • Integrative motivation
    • Perceptions of Chinese language
    • Ideal Chinese L2 self
    • Perceptions of global competence
    • Impacts of learning Chinese on development of global competence
    • Interplay of motivation and global-competence perceptions
    • Can learning Chinese help one’s future career?
  • Discussion
  • Implications
  • Future research suggestions
  • Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 21 January 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.17023.xie
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