Beliefs about Difficulties in Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language in a Public Sector University

Abstract

Chinese language teaching in universities was introduced as part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative (CPEC) signed in 2013 for economic, entrepreneurial, and social reasons. Over a decade of introducing Chinese as a foreign language, Pakistani language learners invested in Chinese language for scholarships, higher education, jobs, and business purposes. However, many CFL learners were unable to acquire Chinese language and had low proficiency in the language. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the beliefs about difficulties that foreign language learners face about learning Chinese as a foreign language in a public sector university. For this purpose, quantitative research using BALLI questionnaire was conducted within a public sector university. The beliefs about language learning inventory (BALLI) questionnaire inquired about the general and specific language learning difficulties that students face while learning CFL. Data was collected using stratified sampling from two hundred undergraduate students who have completed CFL-I and CFL-II language courses at the university. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics through SPSS. The findings of the study showed that learners considered Chinese as a difficult language to learn as compared to other foreign languages. Also, when inquired about the success of their spoken Chinese language in future, few of the participants believed that they would be able to succeed with Chinese language. Similarly, learners reported about the four language skills in Chinese and considered listening as easier than speaking. Additionally, the learners reported that reading and writing are equally difficult in acquiring Chinese.