Abstract
Learning a foreign language is not easy for many students, particularly for nursing students who need to complete their internships in the hospital. However, motivation always drives them to the foreign language classrooms. The purpose of this study was to understand the motivations and reasons behind why these nursing students decided to study Mandarin Chinese as part of their personal development and enhancement beyond the curriculum. One main question and one sub-research question were written, why would nursing students decide to take Chinese as the tool for foreign language and culture development? What and why are the reasons and motivations for nursing students to take Chinese beyond their curriculum? The qualitative case study method was employed in order to investigate 36 nursing university students in the United Kingdom. The results of this study concluded that nursing students tend to study Chinese due to personal development and career goals. School leaders, department heads, government leaders, policymakers, human resources professionals, vocational trainers, and researchers may take this study as the opportunity to reform their current human resource and education plans to offer foreign language courses to university students, members of the public, learners, and interested parties for both personal development and career enhancements.
Highlights
In recent decades, due to ideas of globalisation and the economic growth of Chinese business communities and markets, the Chinese language has become a popular foreign language in many schools, universities, and graduate schools internationally
In 2018, one-fourth of the participants indicated that they might encourage their children to learn a foreign language at school, with Mandarin Chinese as one of the most popular targets in the United Kingdom
Motivation always drives them to the foreign language classrooms
Summary
Due to ideas of globalisation and the economic growth of Chinese business communities and markets, the Chinese language has become a popular foreign language in many schools, universities, and graduate schools internationally. According to a recent report [1], Spanish (21%), French (10%), Italian (7%), German (5%), and Japanese (3%) were ranked as the top five languages for British students to learn in the United. More than half of the participants believed that it is important for British students to understand at least one foreign language beyond the basic conversation level, as this may increase their skills and abilities during the post-Brexit era. In 2018, one-fourth of the participants indicated that they might encourage their children to learn a foreign language at school, with Mandarin Chinese as one of the most popular targets in the United Kingdom. The knowledge and skill in Mandarin Chinese language and culture may allow individuals to access international opportunities and promotions
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