PARENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD MOTIVATION IN MASTERING MANDARIN: PRELIMINARY STUDY FOR PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Product development and science in several countries in the world are currently using Mandarin. Mastery of Mandarin will strengthen Indonesia's economy and development of science and technology. School X in Tangerang is one of the trilingual schools (Indonesian, Mandarin, and English) in Indonesia that applies more than 70% of Mandarin learning at the KB and Kindergarten levels so that students can communicate in two directions (expressive and receptive) orally. The researcher found that most of the students whose parents did not master Mandarin were able to learn Chinese quickly, but some had difficulties and were less motivated. A learning program is needed that can motivate students in mastering Mandarin. This research is an initial study on the development of a program that motivates young children to learn Mandarin, to get a picture of parents' perceptions of motivation to learn Mandarin. The research method is descriptive and quantitative. The participants were 124 parents of Early Childhood Education in School X. The researcher gave an Intrinsic Motivation Instrument questionnaire to parents regarding their perceptions of their children's motivation in learning Mandarin. Interviews were also conducted with students' parents and teachers. The results showed that 18 parents perceived that their child's motivation was extraordinarily high, 34 parents perceived that their child's motivation was very high, 37 parents perceived that their child's motivation was moderate, 23 parents perceived that their child's motivation was very low, and 12 parents have the perception that their child's motivation is unusually low. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to have a program specifically designed to motivate young children to learn Mandarin.