Young Chinese Language Learners’ L2 Motivational Self System and Learning Achievement in Chinese Literacy Acquisition
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of young Chinese second language learners’ motivation on their Chinese literacy acquisition.
Based on the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), 188 Grade 5 ethnic minority students in Hong Kong were assessed.
Students completed an L2MSS questionnaire, a Chinese oral vocabulary test, and Chinese literacy measures (character reading, spelling, reading comprehension, & sentence writing).
Structural equation modelling results showed that the L2MSS tripartite predictors (ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, & learning experience) predicted the students’ intended learning effort and literacy achievement controlling for oral vocabulary.
The ought-to self had the strongest total effect on effort and achievement, while the ideal self had a substantial effect on the learning experience and indirectly contributed to effort.
This study argues that young learners’ perceived social expectation significantly influenced their motivation to learn to read and write Chinese.
Their identification as fluent Chinese readers and writers generated positive learning experiences that were conducive to literacy learning.
Keywords
CSL literacy
Hong Kong’s ethnic minority
L2 literacy learning motivation
L2MSS
Primary students
Introduction
Acquiring literacy skills in Chinese presents a significant challenge for learners of Chinese as a second or foreign language, particularly those with an alphabetic first language (Everson, 2011, 2016).
Previous research has explored the cognitive and linguistic factors affecting Chinese literacy acquisition among CSL/CFL learners (Chan et al., 2022; Yao et al., 2022), however, this study focuses on the role of motivation and its relationship with literacy achievement.
Uses the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS, Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011) to investigate the link between future self-guides, learning experiences, motivated behaviours, and reading and writing performance among Grade 5 CSL students in Hong Kong.
These students, as ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, are acquiring the dominant Chinese language as an L2 (Hua et al., 2023), where the stakes underscore the utility of L2MSS as a framework for assessing their learning motivation (Aryadoust et al., 2023).
Boo et al. (2015) and Al-Hoorie (2018) underscore the L2MSS has been utilized across diverse age groups, spanning from primary to post-university participants; however, there exists a notable concentration of studies involving university-level participants.
Boo et al. (2015) particularly emphasize the significance of comprehending the language learning motivation of primary to secondary-level students.
Evaluated the young learners’ CSL literacy achievements with various measures and scrutinized the role of motivation by controlling the impact of oral vocabulary.
The results of this study offer a more comprehensive understanding of the L2 motivation-achievement relationship, particularly in young CSL learners’ literacy acquisition.
L2MSS and Hong Kong’s ethnic minority students’ Chinese learning motivation
Language learning motivation has long been regarded as a contributing factor for success in L2 learning, motivated learners are more likely to put in extended efforts and to persist in times of difficulty, to achieve a high-level proficiency in the target language (Al-Hoorie, 2017; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011).
The L2MSS, a dominant theoretical framework of the field (Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011), has been adopted by numerous empirical studies to evaluate the impact of motivation on L2 learning in diverse linguistic contexts (Dörnyei & Chan, 2013; Han, 2021; Kim & Kim, 2014; Wong, 2018) and by some intervention studies to enhance learning engagement (Al-Murtadha, 2023; Magid & Chan, 2012).
L2MSS is a tripartite model with two future L2 self-images as its core constructs:
Ideal L2 self: reflecting how much one would like to become a proficient user of the L2.
Ought-to L2 self: represents what L2-related attributes learners think they should have to satisfy social expectations or evade negative consequences.
L2 learning experience: concerns situated motives related to the immediate L2 learning environment and experience.
The tripartite factors predict learners’ motivated behaviour, such as their intended effort in their L2 learning.
As specified by Csizér and Dörnyei (2005), this is a mediating link between learning motivation and achievement.
The L2MSS-achievement relationship has been supported by research conducted in different L2 contexts (Al-Hoorie, 2018).
The adaptability and flexibility of the L2MSS render it applicable across various language learning contexts (Csizér, 2019; Yousefi & Mahmoodi, 2022).
Noteworthy is its facilitation of understanding the motivation of L2 learners acquiring the dominant language of a society. The high stakes associated with mastering the dominant language of a society shape learners’ aspirations for fluency and their perceived obligation to learn it, which are central to the ideal and ought-to selves within the L2MSS framework (Aryadoust et al., 2023).
In the case of Hong Kong’s ethnic minority students, whose families originate from South Asian countries like India, Nepal, and Pakistan, they undertake the study of both Chinese and English as second languages in school.
Proficiency in Chinese, particularly the Cantonese dialect prevalent in the region, holds significant importance due to the dominance of Chinese ethnicity in society (Hua et al., 2023; Karim & Hue, 2023).
Studies found that students’ Chinese proficiency is crucial for their academic and career prospects (Cheung et al., 2015), with parents and teachers expressing high expectations regarding their Chinese language learning (Karim & Hue, 2023; Shum et al., 2014).
Despite these expectations, ethnic minority students in Hong Kong often perform below expectations in Chinese language tests and perceive their proficiency as low (Hua et al., 2023; Li & Chuk, 2015; Tsung et al., 2010; Wong, 2018, 2020).
This underperformance adversely affects their academic progress and social integration (Karim & Hue, 2023; Loh & Tam, 2016).
It underscores the urgent social need to evaluate the Chinese learning motivation of these students, with the usefulness of the L2MSS framework evident in various studies that have adopted it to investigate ethnic minority students’ Chinese learning motivation (Gu & Cheung, 2016; Li & Zhang, 2021; Wong, 2018, 2020).
L2MSS and acquisition of specific L2 skills
Researchers have adopted objective measures as outcome criteria to investigate the effects of L2MSS on achievement, which provides a more thorough understanding of the role of motivation in L2 learning (Al-Hoorie, 2018; Csizér, 2019; K. Dunn & Iwaniec, 2022; E. Liu et al., 2022).
The use of objective measures has also facilitated the investigation of L2MSS’s effects on the acquisition of specific language skills.
Polat and Schallert (2013) found that Kurdish students’ ideal L2 self was correlated with the accurate pronunciation of Turkish words.
Nagle (2018) found that the intended effort, rather than the ideal and ought-to self, was correlated with improving pronunciation skills in English-speaking L2 Spanish learners.
Jang and Lee (2019) discovered that the ideal L2 writing self positively affected both writing strategy use and writing quality, while the ought-to self’s effect was limited to strategy use.
Tahmouresi and Papi (2021) identified a positive relationship between the ideal self and L2 writing joy and between the ought-to self and writing anxiety, which, in turn, affected writing achievement.
Zhu et al. (2022) found that learners’ ideal writing self, predicted by their linguistic competence, predicted writing quality through learning behavioural engagement in Chinese-speaking English language learners.
This study aims to investigate the impact of L2MSS on the Hong Kong ethnic minority CSL learners’ acquisition of literacy skills, an area that has been particularly challenging for CSL learners.
Furthermore, research has shown that language minority students, in general, tend to underperform in literacy when compared to their native-speaking counterparts (August & Shanahan, 2008).
Investigating the relationship between literacy-specific L2MSS and literacy achievement, we will also include the learners’ Chinese oral vocabulary as a controlled variable.
This is crucial because it allows us to examine the potential differential impact of literacy-specific L2MSS and oral language skills on literacy achievement.
By controlling for learners’ oral vocabulary, we aim to address a significant concern: the possibility that motivation may merely serve as a proxy for high proficiency.
Considering the context of literacy acquisition and development, it is widely recognized that vocabulary proficiency is a cornerstone of oral language competence, playing a pivotal role in literacy development for both first language (L1) and second language (L2) learners across languages (Bialystok, 2007; Li et al., 2021; Nation, 2001; NICHID Early Child Care Research Network, 2005).
Therefore, by controlling for oral vocabulary, we can ensure that observed effects of literacy-specific L2MSS on literacy achievement are not simply artefacts of differing proficiency levels.
The importance of accounting for learners’ L2 language proficiency has been highlighted in previous L2MSS studies within the context of CSL (Jang & Lee, 2019; Wong, 2018, 2020).
This underscores the significance of considering and addressing proficiency levels when investigating the relationship between language learning motivation and language proficiency.
CSL literacy acquisition and motivation
Chinese is a morpho-syllabic language with a distinctive writing system based on characters, each character typically representing a syllable and carrying various meanings.
The orthographic forms of Chinese characters are intricate, as most of them comprise componential chunks known as radicals, which usually consist of clusters of strokes, such as “一” (a horizontal stroke) and “亅” (a vertical stroke).
It is estimated that about 95% of Chinese characters are compound characters, comprised of multiple radicals (Huang, 2005; Lin, 2006; Su, 2001).
Most compound characters are ideo-phonetic composed of a semantic radical, which relates to their meaning, and a phonetic radical, which suggests their pronunciation, arranged in different positions such as left-right, top-bottom, and surrounding (Kang, 1993; Y. Li & Kang, 1993).
Example: the character 想 (think,/soeng2/) has a top-bottom structure, consisting of the bottom semantic radical 心 (heart,/sam1/, which as a radical may mean “mind”) and the top phonetic radical 相 (form,/soeng1/) to cue the sound.
The sophisticated Chinese writing system presents a notable challenge for Chinese language learners, especially those from alphabetic language backgrounds (Everson, 2011, 2016).
Research has shown that, similar to learners of other second languages, motivation plays a positive role in the success of CSL learners (Gao et al., 2022; Liu, 2017; Winke, 2013; Xie, 2014).
Learners’ perceptions of language learning difficulties are shaped by linguistic disparities between their native and target languages and affect their learning experiences (Yang, 2018).
Given the prevalent challenges perceived in learning Chinese, motivation becomes even more critical for CSL learners’ acquisition. A strong motivation to learn can alleviate negative emotions and help learners persist in the face of difficulties.
One of the consistent findings was that non-heritage learners are less motivated, relative to their learning of oral communication, to acquire literacy skills.
As such, it is crucial to have a better understanding of the relationship between motivation and achievement in CSL learners’ literacy development.
L2MSS and CSL learning motivation
This study was conducted with regard to the growing body of research using L2MSS to explore CSL learning motivation in recent years (Wen, 2018, 2022).
Campbell and Storch (2011) found that college students’ ideal and ought-to L2 selves affected their initial decision to study CSL and that a strong future L2 self-identity could mitigate the negative impact of a demotivating learning environment.
Both the ideal self and learning experience were found to contribute to learning motivation in terms of intended efforts (Wen, 2022; Xie, 2014; Yeung & Chanyoo, 2022).
However, the ought-to self was found to have no effect (as in Yeung & Chanyoo, 2022) or negatively affect learning motivation (as in Wen, 2022). This finding was attributed to the significant influence of positive learning experiences, aspirations, and a sense of accomplishment, which was considered more important than social and parental expectations among college students studying CSL.
Similar results were found in secondary students. Gu and Cheung (2016) found that Hong Kong’s Grade 7–12 ethnic minority students’ ideal self contributed to their intended efforts for CSL learning.
The tripartite L2MSS factors predicted intended effort and, to a much lesser extent, performances in a Chinese language achievement test in Tibetan high-school students (Li & Zhang, 2021).
Li and Zhang further identified that both the ideal self and learning experience were positive predictors of intended effort and test performances; however, the ought-to self’s effect on intended effort was indirect, and its effect on performance was negative. It was suggested that the students may not have internalised the social expectations of CSL learning to a high degree, which could have had a detrimental effect on the relationship between the ought-to self and intended effort.
It was also found that the students’ ideal self was closely related to their previously performed and self-perceived proficiency, and their ought-to self had a positive, albeit relatively weak, direct effect on intended effort and, through which, an indirect effect on achievement (Wong, 2018, 2020).
Few CSL motivation studies using L2MSS have used objective language measures as outcome criteria, and none have explored the learning motivation of specific language skills.
To better understand CSL learners’ motivation in literacy acquisition, this study will further investigate the influences of the tripartite predictors of L2MSS, relative to their Chinese oral vocabulary knowledge, on their CSL literacy learning motivation and achievements.
Research questions
Does the literacy learning motivation of CSL students, as defined by the L2MSS, have a differential relationship with literacy skills and oral language competence?
Does the CSL students’ literacy L2MSS have a significant effect on their achievements, while controlling for oral language competence?
What is the relative contribution of the ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and learning experience in predicting the literacy learning motivation and achievements of CSL students?
Methods
There were 188 Grade 5 students (101 boys and 87 girls) with an average age of 10.50 years (Range: 9.72–11.91, SD = 0.48), coming from five Hong Kong’s government-subsidized schools with a substantial proportion of ethnic minority students, participated in the study.
The majority of the students were South Asians (174 students, 92.55%), whose families had come from India (24 students, 12.76%), Pakistan (74 students, 39.36%), and Nepal (76 students, 40.43%).
Most of them were born in Hong Kong (144 students, 76.60%) and had received Hong Kong kindergarten education (156 students, 82.98%).
The students speak different mother tongues and are generally proficient in English. Because of this, the schools adopted English as the medium of instruction except for Chinese lessons.
Measures:
The L2MSS in Chinese literacy questionnaire:
Developed with reference to the theory and specific items as presented in Dörnyei (2005, 2009) and Taguchi et al. (2009).
The items were developed with a focus on reading and writing in Chinese and their acquisition for three predictive factors, ideal L2 self with six items, ought-to L2 self with five items, and one criterion factor of intended learning effort with six items.
Examples:
“I can imagine myself as someone who is able to read and write in Chinese” (ideal L2 self)
“I have to learn to read and write in Chinese because if I do not do so, my parents will be disappointed” (ought-to L2 self)
“I like the way my Chinese language teachers teach reading and writing” (L2 learning experience)
"I would like to spend lots of time learning to read and write in Chinese” (intended effort).
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to evaluate the factor structure of the questionnaire, following the procedures recommended by Costello and Osborne (2005).
The student’s Chinese literacy achievement was evaluated by a literacy proficiency battery, which includes tests on Chinese character reading, dictation, reading comprehension, and sentence writing. The oral vocabulary consisted of receptive and expressive vocabulary.
Analysis
Descriptive statistics and correlational analysis to evaluate the distributional properties and simple relationships among all the variables.
Confirmatory factor analysis to assess the validity of the measurement models for the latent variables, including ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, L2 learning experience, intended effort, oral vocabulary (with receptive and expressive vocabulary as indicators), and literacy achievement (with character reading, spelling, reading comprehension, and sentence writing as indicators).
Examining the correlations between these latent variables to investigate the differential relationships between CSL students’ literacy L2MSS, oral vocabulary, and literacy achievement.
With the measurement model confirmed, structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis to evaluate the influences of the L2MSS on L2 literacy achievements, as stated in research questions 2 and 3.
Results
Descriptive statistics and correlations:
No anomalies were observed among the distributions of the L2MSS questionnaire items; the skewness of which ranged from −1.10 to 0.09, and the kurtosis ranged from −0.99 to 0.80. Reliabilities of items within each factor were good, with Cronbach alphas ranging from 0.79 to 0.88.
The distributions of the oral vocabulary and literacy tests also observed the normalcy assumption with skewness ranging from 0.45 to 1.15 and kurtosis ranging from −0.83 to 1.69. The Cronbach alphas ranged from 0.75 to 0.98, indicating satisfactory to excellent reliability.
The correlations among all variables are presented in Table 3; patterns of the correlations aligned with the factor structure of the L2MSS and the natures of the oral vocabulary and literacy tests. High correlations were observed among questionnaire items of the same factor and tests on similar linguistic competence.
It was also observed that the L2MSS items, which were focused on literacy acquisition, generally had moderately significant correlations with the literacy tests and insignificant correlations with the two oral vocabulary tests. This differential correlational pattern supported the validity of the questionnaire and ability tests.
Validity of the measurement model:
Confirmatory factor analysis was run, and initial results showed some significant covariances between indicator variables within the factors left unaccounted for by the model. These relationships were made free to vary, and the finalised model fitted well with the data: \chi^2 (188) = 233.08, p = .01, CFI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.04, RMSEA = 0.04, 90%CI [0.02, 0.05], PCLOSE = 0.95.
There were strong correlations within the L2MSS factors with correlation values, rs, ranging from 0.72 (between ought-to self and learning experience) to 0.88 (between ought-to self and motivated behaviours). The correlation between oral vocabulary and literacy achievement was also high at r = 0.81.
Correlations between the L2MSS variables and literacy achievement were moderate and consistent, ranging from 0.26 (between the L2 learning experience and achievement) to 0.34 (between intended effort and achievement).
The correlations between oral vocabulary and the L2MSS factors were low: vocabulary’s relationships with the ought-to self and learning experience were statistically non-significant, and those with the ideal self and intended effort were weak with r at 0.20 and 0.19 respectively.
Structural model for relationships between L2MSS and literacy achievement
A structural model was constructed to specify the relationships between L2MSS and achieve- ment. The structural model fitted well with the data: \chi^2 (193) = 235.75, p = .02, CFI = .98, SRMR = .04, RMSEA = .03, 90% CI [.02, .05], PCLOSE = .97.
The model showed that both L2 selves were facilitative in promoting positive learning experience, with 65% of the variance explained. The ideal self had a substantial influence ($\beta = 0.57$) compared to the ought-to self ($\beta = 0.28$).
The three L2MSS predictors together explained 88% of the variance in the intended effort, with the highest direct effect from the ought-to self ($\beta = 0.53$), followed by the learning experience ($\beta = 0.43$), and the lowest from the ideal self ($\beta = 0.06$, insignificant).
Even when controlling for the strong influence of oral vocabulary ($\beta = 0.78$), the intended effort still significantly contributed to literacy achievement ($\beta = 0.19$).
Discussion
The study investigated the relationship between learning motivation and achievement in CSL learners’ literacy acquisition, within the context of young Hong Kong ethnic minority students learning to read and write in the dominant language of the society.
A differential relationship was observed between the literacy-specific L2MSS, oral vocabulary, and literacy achievement. L2MSS influenced CSL students’ literacy learning motivation, thereby contributing to their achievement, while specifically controlling for the strong influence of the related Chinese language skill of oral vocabulary.
Ought-to self had the strongest effect on motivation and achievement, while the ideal self and learning experience had similar strengths and a close relationship. Overall, the findings suggest that motivation is an important factor in promoting the literacy acquisition of CSL learners.
CFA results indicated that the literacy-specific L2MSS constructs had a much stronger relationship with literacy achievement than they had with oral vocabulary.
Educational Implications
Developing literacy skills is essential for the comprehensive and advanced development of L2 learners. However, mastering Chinese literacy presents a significant challenge, particularly for Hong Kong’s ethnic minority students for whom proficiency in Chinese, the dominant language of society, is indispensable (Hua et al., 2023; Karim & Hue, 2023).
This study highlights the role of motivation in CSL learners’ literacy acquisition, even after controlling for language competence, such as oral vocabulary.
Findings reveal that CSL learners value social expectations of Chinese literacy acquisition and can be used to enhance their motivation.
Conclusion and limitations
Concluded usefulness of the L2MSS in investigating the motivation of young CSL learners, particularly among Hong Kong’s ethnic minority primary students as they acquire literacy skills in the dominant language.
Results indicated that the L2MSS predictors of ideal self, ought-to self, and learning experience were significant factors in predicting learners’ motivation and achievement in CSL literacy learning.
Key limitations include only assessing oral vocabulary, and focusing solely on primary students in Hong Kong which may limit the generalizability of our findings to other populations.