Being a Chinese sojourner in Japan: a journey into Japanese learning motivation and acculturation

Thailand has always maintained?friendly relations with China throughout?long history, which include relationship in the cultural, political, economic, social and tourism?areas, among others. In recent decades, especially following?the development of the Chinese ?one belt,?one road? policy, more and more Chinese sojourners have chosen?Thailand as their sojourning destination. However, looking?back to the history, we will see that most old Chinese immigrants moved from China to Thailand to?make?a living as businessmen or labor force. During?that period, commercial associations needed to be?established, so that these Chinese immigrants could?help each other, (such an association was then called a chamber of commerce). The original role of these Chinese commercial associations?was to help?the overseas Chinese people to get together and to provide support for their?business activities. But nowadays, Chinese sojourners are from different provinces?and occupational fields, and they would like to establish their own hometown commercial association to facilitate?communication?among themselves.?This thesis has chosen the Thai-Guangxi commercial association as a case study. This can be regarded as a typical case of this kind of commercial associations and thus should be studied?in detail. It is?worth, in particular,?to explore?the relationship between new Chinese sojourners and?this?Chinese commercial association,?as well as?the role of the?association in supporting the new Chinese sojourners.

Foreword

Motivation in second language learning is an important factor that should be never ignored, it requires much attention for second language learning and teaching to be successful, the students should be motivated and the teacher needs to employ teaching methods that motivate the students in acquiring their target language. This research was conducted at the University of Zimbabwe Confucius Institute which is the main center for teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture in Zimbabwe and concluded that students who are motivated are easy to teach and can perform better without much assistance from the instructor. The paper discusses the role played by motivation in the acquiring of second language, which is Chinese language, and the impact it has in improving the target language by students. Usually the teaching methods and criteria used by the teachers to reward or motivate the students are the ones which determine the students’ performance in the second language learning. Without motivation students easily quit or lose interest in the target language. However, although motivation plays a pivotal and unreplaceable role in the second language learning and teaching, it is easily forgotten and not given much attention. This paper will also focus on showing the impact motivation has in the second language learning and teaching, and how the University of Zimbabwe students are being motivated to acquire Chinese as a second language. Most teachers know and are aware of the importance of motivation in second language learning, but easily neglected in the actual teaching and learning process. Motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate learning the L2 and the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process. The University of Zimbabwe students who are learning Chinese are motivated well but there is still need for review of the teaching methods and the frameworks being used, since the majority of the students complained about the methods used in class.

With the recent influx of immigrants from Chinese speaking regions to all over the world, in many countries there now exist a noticeable Chinese community. Within these overseas Chinese communities there emerge great needs to maintain the Chinese language and culture among the younger generations and accordingly there emerges a new type of learner who are ethnically Chinese and have some competence in Chinese yet still needs to learn the language systematically. When these learners go to the classroom to study the Chinese language, they are often treated the same as the traditional foreign language learners of Chinese, and their unique characteristics and learning needs are often ignored. The current article aims to provide an insight into the understanding of this new type of learner of the Chinese language. Adopting the term ‘heritage language learners’ to classify this new type of learner, the article starts with a discuss of how ‘heritage language’ and ‘heritage language learners’ are defined in literature, and then elaborates the general characteristics of HL learners that have be reported by previous research on heritage learners of various other languages. Based on this background knowledge, the specific challenges existing in the learning of Chinese as a heritage language are then discussed and the characteristics of Chinese heritage learners presented. Finally some existing research gaps in the research of Chinese heritage language learners are discussed.

Language learning

* Correspondence: yujulan@gmail.com The Department of Applied Chinese Language and Culture, National Taiwan Normal University 162, Section 1, Heping E. Rd., Taipei City 106, Taiwan Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Owing to the rapid development of information and computer technology, numerous studies have investigated how to harness state-of-the-art technologies for effective language teaching and learning in the past decades. The unique features of modern information and communication technologies (ICT), such as 3D virtual environments, mobile computing, embodiment, and visual learning, have been expanding the potential and possibility of promoting the idea of learning languages anywhere and anytime in immersive and interactive contexts. Language learning is no longer limited in traditional settings or approaches. With the usage of modern advanced technologies, language learning can be different experiences as we have so far. However, it is possible to encounter challenges and problems while introducing powerful learning technologies into practical application. This special issue aims at providing a platform for researchers to present their efforts on studies that may offer insights into the practical and technical challenges that might be faced while applying advanced ICT technologies to language teaching and learning (LTL), and also aims at addressing important research trends and societal needs. It is expected that through the publication of this special issue, we can help develop a further understanding of ICT in LTL. After a rigorous review process, three highquality research papers have been accepted for publication in this special issue. These papers clearly provide perspectives from different angles to the above concerns. We hope that these studies will inspire future research in this direction. In the first paper entitled “The Effects of an online student question-generation strategy on Elementary school student English learning,” Yu, Chang, and Wu investigated the effects of employing the strategy of students generating questions via the support of an online system on learners’ English performance and learning motivation. A total of 106 sixth graders participated in this study. After analyzing the collected data, the authors found that the participants in the question-generation group significantly outperformed their peers without using the strategy. In addition, participants’ learning motivation was also enhanced by the support of the online system. In the second paper with the title of “GPS sensor-based mobile learning for English: An exploratory study on self-efficacy, self-regulation and student achievement,” Sun, Chang, and Chen built a GPS sensor-based mobile learning system for college students to learn about the plants in the campus in English in the real context. A total of 41 college students participated in this study. They were grouped into two groups according to their selfefficacy and regulation, high versus low in the two learner variables. After the

Motivational Orientation in Foreign Language Learning: The Case of Filipino Foreign Language Learners

In today’s globalized world, the development of intercultural competence, which includes concepts such as cultural knowledge, curiosity about “otherness”, intercultural sensitivity and openness to other cultures, is considered one of the basic objectives of education, including foreign language (L2) education. Computer-based technologies, embracing various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), appear to be particularly useful in promoting an intercultural approach, as they provide L2 users with opportunities to access cultural information and engage in authentic intercultural exchanges with other L2 users. The article reports the findings of a study that investigated whether and to what extent advanced EFL learners, English majors from Poland and Romania, made use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance their intercultural experience. The results indicate declared high levels of ICT use to get information about the culture of English-speaking countries, but also enhanced interest in other cultures, openness to cultural differences and willingness to communicate with foreigners through CMC. On the basis of the findings, conclusions are drawn about the potential benefits of online experience for the development of L2 learners’ intercultural awareness, although intercultural training within formal instruction is needed to better prepare learners for pursuing intercultural competence development through online resources.

Although Eileen Chang, one of China’s most popular twentieth-century writers, never visited Nanyang (lit., the South Sea, referring principally to Southeast Asia), Nanyang and huaqiao (Chinese sojourners) are mentioned frequently in her writings. This essay first analyzes Chang’s images of Nanyang and huaqiao , and then discusses the societal and individual contexts of her literary conceptualizations by tracing her direct and indirect knowledge of these themes. Chang’s imagination of Nanyang and huaqiao , examined within the historical context of Sino- Nanyang interactions, provides a valuable opportunity to discuss the emergence of a nationalist-driven huaqiao community and the expansion of Sino- Nanyang interactions before the Pacific War.

Over the last few decades, motivation has become recognized as crucial in language learning success. Researchers have conducted numerous of studies which have sought to explain why people select, perform, and continue to learn a language. The results and findings of these studies allow us a greater understanding of second language (L2) learning motivation. However, one area of language learning motivation research that has not received as much attention is the temporal aspect of motivational fluctuations. In recent years, there have been calls for a more widespread adoption of qualitative research methods to investigate what Dornyei and Ushioda (2011) describe as the dynamic processes of a learner’s’ motivational development. This thesis is a response to those calls. This thesis attempts to discover perceptions of language learning motivation. In particular, the research reported in this thesis is an attempt to develop a greater understanding of temporal motivational fluctuations of Japanese university L2 learners. As such, the overall aim of this longitudinal qualitative study is to explore the temporal progression of the motivational thinking of three different age groups of Japanese university learners. More specifically, this research sheds light on the motivations of L2 learners in a medium-sized university in Japan, discovers similarities and differences in language learning motivation between different age groups of university learners, and determines how their language learning motivation fluctuates over the period of an academic year. The tools of inquiry used in this qualitative research project were interviews and diaries. Three sets of interviews were conducted with 23 learners in a Japanese university over the course of an academic year. Seven of the participants were freshmen students and seven were in their second year. The remaining nine were in the third grade. Participants completed and submitted a total of seven diary entries at regular intervals throughout the study and these were used to inform the second and third rounds of interviews. The overall findings showed that the learners in each grade were influenced by both their sociohistorical and cultural context and their values and goals at the start of the study. During the middle of the academic year, these goals and values were placed on hold as their immediate context seemed to have more motivational influence. Towards the end of the study the values and goals returned to play a more prominent role in their language learning motivation. There were also several subtle differences in the motivation of the three age groups and this could be seen most clearly in the educational context where institutional pressures were stronger for the older students in the study.

Parental agency of their children’s language learning is often determined by their perceptions of the significance of the language in both family and society levels. Based on a larger ethnography conducted in Sydney from 2017 to 2020, this study investigates the language ideologies of Chinese immigrant parents from the People’s Republic of China in the recent decades, regarding the maintenance of their children’s Chinese heritage language(s). Drawing on the concept of language as pride and profit shifting between communities across time and space, this study reveals that Chinese parents primarily emphasize the economic benefits associated with Chinese languages when it comes to preserving their heritage language(s). While the significance of cultural pride and identity remains evident, there is a notable shift where the concept of pride is merging with that of profit concerning the importance of Chinese heritage language. However, the commodification of Chinese and identity, privileging “national” mandarin while marginalizing “regional” others, impedes the transmission of diverse Chinese heritage languages other than Mandarin. Simultaneously, the value-laden calculation of language prioritizes the “most” prestigious English, often at the expense of “heritage” Mandarin, regardless of its acknowledged economic potential. The findings illustrate how language ideologies and practices within the Chinese diaspora are shaped by power conflicts between English and Mandarin Chinese, hierarchical distinctions between Mandarin and non-Mandarin Chinese, and subtle stratification within regional Chinese languages. The research underscores the challenges faced by minority communities in preserving their heritage languages, particularly those with limited economic capital or political influence.

This book illustrates the complex issues surrounding the identity formation of Chinese immigrants in Yokohama, Japan, from the end of the nineteenth century to 1972. Through a solid examination of such multinational sources as archives; newspapers; and personal collections in Japanese, Chinese, and English, it provides a path-breaking study of Chinese communities in modern Japan. It makes an important contribution to our understanding of the intertwined past of China and Japan, which cannot be fully grasped in any nation-based narrative.The five chapters of the book follow a chronological order. Chapter 1 examines the history of Chinese immigrants in Japan from the premodern era to the end of the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. A declining view of Chinese immigrants in the archipelago mirrored a discursive shift of Japanese ethnicity from a cultural unit to a modern nation, and consequently the deterioration of diplomatic relations between Meiji Japan and the Qing Empire.Chapter 2 shows how the Chinese community in Yokohama became a central ground for competition between the two schools of Chinese nationalism—the reformers represented by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao and the revolutionists led by Sun Yatsen. It provides an intriguing story of Chinese identity formation in Japan that aptly synthesizes both the political transformations in China and the Japanese domestic debate about mixed residence.Chapter 3 argues that Chinese immigrants became more integrated into the Chinese nation during the era between the establishment of the Republic of China and the Manchurian Incident, when both China’s and Japan’s borders of national identity were strengthened. Chapter 4 discusses how the Japanese imperial state utilized Chinese immigrants in Japan to promote its Pan-Asianist ideology, calling for the collaboration of Chinese diasporic communities around the world. Chapter 5 reveals how the Yokohama Chinese were divided by their ties to either the People’s Republic of China (mainland China) or the Republic of China (Taiwan) between 1945 and 1972. These opposing Huaqiao identities eventually declined with the further integration of Chinese immigrants into Japanese society as ethnic minorities.This monograph is the most important scholarly work in recent years to examine the issues of race and citizenship in the Japanese Empire from the perspective of Chinese immigrants. Joining current studies that highlight the role of multi-ethnic racial discourse in sustaining Japanese colonial rule, Han shows the unexpected tolerance of the Japanese imperial state toward Chinese immigrants in the archipelago, citizens of an enemy nation during the Asia-Pacific War. However, different from existing literature that focuses on the racial inclusion of colonial subjects, such as Koreans and Okinawans, Han’s book argues that the Japanese did not try to assimilate the Chinese immigrants. Instead, they actively encouraged Chinese to retain an independent ethnic and cultural identity, utilizing them to mobilize other Chinese around the world to collaborate with the Japanese Empire under the premise of Pan-Asianism. The book thus adds one more important layer to our understanding of the complexity of racial discourse in the Japanese Empire.Focusing on Chinese communities in Yokohama also enables Han to explore the local dimension in the formation of Chinese identity in Japan. Chinese immigrants in Yokohama, as the study argues, embraced the identity of the city’s residents, on the one hand to challenge Japan’s official refusal to recognize them as Japanese nationals and on the other hand to avoid being exploited by the imperial state to promote Sino-Japanese amity during the war. With rich and fascinating stories, this book shows how Chinese residents in Yokohama negotiated their sense(s) of belonging between the local, the national, and the transnational during moments of peace and war.Although it is a comprehensive study, the book leaves at least one important question unanswered. How was the experience of Chinese women similar to and different from that of their male counterparts in Yokohama? Gender, as an important facet of migrant identity formation, demands further analysis. Nonetheless, Rise of a Japanese Chinatown is a valuable reference for historians of both China and Japan in the twentieth century as well as for scholars interested in the relationship between diaspora and nationalism in general.

Journal of the International Network for Korean Language and Culture 22-1, 287-312. This study analyzes the morphological combination patterns of verb and adjective inflection to examine the developmental aspects of inflectional usage among Korean language learners. Rather than focusing on the frequency of occurrence of combination patterns, this study forces on the number of learners using each pattern to investigate universal developmental trends. To achieve this, a corpus of 1,686,802 written word tokens produced by Korean language learners was analyzed. The analysis revealed that, regardless of the learners' native language, seven fixed patterns were employed by 75% of learners from Level 4 onwards. Among these, the structure combining verb endings with connective endings and attributive-formative endings was used by over 90% of learners from Level 3 onwards. Furthermore, differences were observed among native language groups in the combination of non-final endings. Japanese native language learners employed a wider variety of patterns compared to Chinese native language learners, and even when using the same patterns, Japanese learners did so more frequently and at an earlier stage.(The Academy of Korean Studies, Konkuk University)

Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview: The Inescapable Confluence of Technology, Psychology and Second Language Learners and Users (Mark R. Freiermuth).- Chapter 2: The Acquisition of Pragmatically Appropriate Requests by Second Language Learners of Spanish Using an Input-Based Virtual Environment (Karina Collentine).- Chapter 3: Exploiting Vocabulary CALL Interventions to Operationalize and Test the Depth Levels of the Processing Model (Saad Alzahrani and Leah Roberts).- Chapter 4: The Cognitive and Psychological Effects of YouTube Video Captions and Subtitles on Higher Level German Language Learners (Peter Yang).- Chapter 5: Computer-Assisted Language Testing and Learner Behavior (Brett Milliner and Blair Barr).- Chapter 6: Blogging in an Autonomous, Constructivist and Blended Learning Environment: A Case Study of Turkish EFL Teachers in Training (Isil Gunseli Kacar).- Chapter 7: EFL Student Engagement in an English-for-Specific-Purposes Tourism Class: Flipping the Class with Facebook (Tran Thi Thanh Quyen and Nguyen Van Loi).- Chapter 8: Learner Autonomy and Responsibility: Self-Learning Through a Flipped Online EFL Course (Hsin-chou Huang).- Chapter 9: A Spanish Speaker and a Friend: Identity Transformation in Foreign Language Chat (Adam Mendelson).- Chapter 10: Catalan Teenagers' Identity, Literacy and Language Practices on YouTube (Boris Vazquez-Calvo, Nikolaj Elf and Adriana Gewerc).- Chapter 11: The Phenomenology of Experiencing Oneself Online: Critical Dimensions of Identity and Language use in Virtual Spaces (Liudmila Klimanova).- Chapter 12: Leveraging Multilingual Identities in Computer Science Education (Sharin Jacob, Leiny Garcia and Mark Warschauer).- Chapter 13: The Implications of Using Online Social Networks on EFL Learner Self-Concept (Nourollah Zarrinabadi and Ensieh Khodarahmi).- Chapter 14: EFL Blogging in the Greek Secondary School Classroom: The Positive and Negative Effects on Student Attitude (Gina Paschalidou).- Chapter 15: Chinese Language Learners' Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Perceptions of a Pinyin Text to Speech System (Goh Ying Soon, Saiful Nizam Warris and Rasaya Al Marimuthu).- Chapter 16: Gliding Across the Digital Divide with High Anxiety: Electronic Resource Selection Towards Self-Directed Writing Practice in a South African EAP Context (Jako Olivier).- Chapter 17: Artificial Intelligence Technology for EAP Speaking Skills: Student Perceptions of Opportunities and Challenges (Bin Zou, Sara Liviero, Mengyuan Hao and Chaoyang Wei).- Chapter 18: A Need to Communicate: An Intercultural Story of Motivation Generated in Disrupted Text-Based Electronic Chat (Do Thi Ha and Mark R. Freiermuth).- Chapter 19: A Motivational Story in Hong Kong: Generating Goals for Language Learners and Blended Learning Designers from a Mixed-Method Learning Analytics Approach in English for Academic Purposes (Julia Chen and Dennis Foung).- Chapter 20: The Impact of Digital Storytelling on the Motivation and Engagement of Young Foreign Language Learners (Lizzie Abderrahim and David Navarro Gonzalez).- Chapter 21: The Impact of Online Lower-Level Courses on World Language Learners' Self-Perceptions, Mindset and Willingness to Communicate (Rebecca L. Chism and Carine Graff).- Chapter 22: Criteria for Motivational Technology Enhanced Language Learning Activities (Pinelopi Krystalli, Panagiotis Panagiotidis and Panagiotis Arvanitis).- Chapter 23: Future Considerations Concerning Technology and the Psychology of Second Language Learners and Users (Nourollah Zarrinabadi and Mark R. Freiermuth).

The impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) expansion has changed the dynamics of foreign language learning in Pakistan. Due to the increased regional importance of Chinese language, some public and private sector universities are offering Chinese as a compulsory language course at the undergraduate level. Due to the significance of forthcoming opportunities for local youth, one public university in Karachi, Pakistan hired native Chinese teachers to teach undergraduate students Chinese as a foreign language. The present study explored the beliefs of Chinese teachers based on their teaching experiences at the university. Data for this collective case study was collected through semi-structured interviews with three native-Chinese teachers and analysed thematically. The findings revealed that the Chinese teachers held positive beliefs about the prospects of Chinese language learning in Pakistan due to job opportunities. However, they seemed to hold reservations regarding the limited time span for the offered Chinese language course. There were also certain negative beliefs in connection with the traditional learning practices of the learners which the teachers considered barriers to the learners’ language learning. These findings depict the requisite exigency to address the issues highlighted by the Chinese teachers for effective Chinese language learning. The beliefs of teachers and their shared experiences need to be addressed for productive development in teaching and learning Chinese. Curriculum designers and decisionmakers should consider teachers’ beliefs to align the curriculum and teaching methodologies as per the provision that includes teachers’ experiences to further improve Chinese language teaching and learning.