Bring your support team with you: The role of family and friends in supporting the motivation of international secondary students

Abstract

To increase their prospects of acceptance into a Western university, a growing number of teenagers from Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) countries complete their secondary schooling in an English-speaking host country. The many challenges these teenagers encounter studying overseas can negatively impact their desire to persist with their studies. To investigate the positive mediating influences on students’ motivation, this study explored the influences on the achievement motivation of 15 academically successful CHC international secondary students. A framework employing theories about the influence of Confucian cultural heritage on motivation was used to analyse findings. Findings show that the teenagers’ motivation was influenced more by beliefs fostered in their home countries and by relationships with family at home and friends in their host country who shared a similar heritage background, rather than by school-based factors. These teenagers, while studying overseas, in effect study alongside rather than being integrated with host nation students, which fails to fulfil several goals of international education for students and host governments. Implications for host nations and schools are discussed in light of this finding.