A comparative study of academic motivation between Tibetan and Han college students

Abstract

Objective To compare the learning motivation of Tibetan college students with that of Han college students, and compare the learning motivation of Tibetan and Han students with different majors and genders. Methods Learning motivation questionnaire for university students were used, and 172 Tibetan students and 156 Han students participated in the study, while their general population information were collected at the same time. Results Learning motivation for both Tibetan and Han students was above the average level. Tibetan students scored ((3.97±0.52), (3.47±0.58), (3.49±0.50), (3.23±0.58), (3.37±0.50 ))significantly higher than those of Han students((3.83±0.56), (3.15±0.71), (3.37±0.50), (2.99±0.65), (3.20±0.53), P 0.05). For those Han students who majored in liberal arts, their scores in hankering for capability, tendency of altruism and intrinsic motivation((3.17±0.49), (3.32±0.73), (3.47±0.46 ) )were significantly higher than those who majored in science((2.91±0.56), (2.98±0.65), (3.28±0.52), P<0.05). Conclusions (1)The Tibetan students showed stronger motivation than Han students.(2) Gender plays a different role in the learning motivation of Tibetan and Han students, that is, compared with the Tibetan girls, Tibetan boys have stronger motivation in altruistic orientation. For Han students, there is no significant difference between male and female students' learning motivation.(3)Tibetan and Han students from different majors show the same trend in learning motivation, that is, for both the Han students and Tibetan students, liberal arts students' learning motivation is higher than that of the science students. Key words: College students; Academic motivation; Tibetan college students; Han college students