Students of Chinese - who and why?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to learn more about students of Chinese, why they enrol in university language courses, and how their motivation and engagement changes with time. This cross-sectional, longitudinal study involving questionnaire surveys and interviews, investigates the factors that affect students’ initial and continuing enrolment and their ongoing motivation. This information will be useful to policy makers, administrators and educators wishing to increase initial and continuing enrolments, and to increase Australia’s Chinese language skills and China literacy through both higher numbers of students and their higher proficiency.