The research in this volume takes account of the context of policy promoting Chinese as a second language (CSL) in several countries and regions, (Australia, East Asia and South-East Asia), and the wider social context of multilingual and multicultural societies. Furthermore, this book reports results of two research studies which investigated how…

This study examined young learners' motivation and strategy use for Chinese-as-a-foreign-language (L2 Chinese) learning in New Zealand. A total of 1157 primary school students from 29 primary schools were recruited for the study. The results revealed that primary school young learners' overall motivation and strategy use for L2 Chinese learning…

Using a structural equation modeling approach, this study investigates the structural relationships between second language (L2) oral proficiency and interest in learning the target language (L2 interest), in the presence of potential mediating variables (i.e. perceived importance of speaking, out-of-class contact with L2 resources). It also…

Background study: Chinese tone pronunciation instruction gains increasingly attention and various instructional strategies have been studied to develop effective tones in students. Students usually listen to successful pronunciation stimuli provided by the teacher or peers, to be copied by themselves. However, individuals seem more sensitive to…

The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons for low retention rates among students in the Chinese classes in upper secondary education in the Czech Republic. The principal research question was whether Chinese characters were the main reason why many students decided to stop attending their Chinese classes. Semi-structured interviews with…

The growth of the Chinese language in African countries and African students' consequent flocking into Chinese higher education are both emergent phenomena. This partly explains the lack of empirical research on this body of student migrants and their Chinese language learning. This paper applies Watkins' theorisation on pedagogic affect to…

Spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) is a form of virtual reality that employs 360-degree videos to immerse learners in virtual environments. As SVVR can simulate realistic experiences, the current trend of language education is towards more use of it. To examine its current status, this study systematically reviewed 31 articles on…

Pre-class learning plays a crucial role in the teaching and learning of the flipped classroom. While it is a challenging task to stimulate students to engage in pre-class autonomous learning, especially for the learning of a foreign language that requires a long-term commitment. In this study, we dealt with the problem of how to improve and…

In language learner identity research, there is an underrepresentation of LOTE-as-L3 learners in instructed foreign language learning contexts. This study addresses this gap by exploring the multilingual identity profiles of Chinese high school LOTE-as-L3 learners in two school contexts and seeks to understand how the schools may influence…

This study investigated English first language (L1) speakers' motivation for learning Chinese as a second language (L2) in Australia and the links of underlying motivational components to learner sociobiographical (e.g. gender and reasons for learning) and language learning variables (i.e. experience abroad, hours of self-study, and speaking with…

People have many reasons to want to learn a foreign language: some want to enjoy foreign media in its original form, some need it for business or travel, personal enrichment, and so on. Roughly 1/6 of Earth's population's learn languages with logographic writing systems (LWS) such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean as their native tongues. These…

This study investigated the motivation of Taiwanese undergraduate EFL students in learning English-to-Chinese translation and the intention to use a digital game-based learning app called CHEN-slate. The app, consisting of a learning zone, practice zone, and competition zone and including translation skills needed for actual translation practice,…

This study investigates the effect of personal investment in the form of learner-generated content (LGC) on the lexical recall of beginning-level learners of Chinese. The study employed a 2 x 2 repeated-measures design with content at two levels -- teacher-generated content or TGC, and learner-generated content or LGC -- and time at two levels…

This study longitudinally examined the effects of cognitive and sociopsychological individual differences (aptitude, motivation, personality) and the quantity and quality of second language (L2) experience on L2 speech gains in naturalistic settings. We elicited L2 spontaneous speech from 50 Chinese learners of English at the beginning and the end…

Taiwanese students learn Chinese from 3 years old using Bopomofo (Zhuyin Fuhao), but they still struggle with spelling and reading, even in middle school. Thus, we guided students still struggling to read Chinese text to use their logical skills and creativity to incorporate the Bopomofo phonetic alphabet into the Rummikub strategy board game.…