Motivational strategies in Chinese language classrooms: A comparative study of novice and experienced teachers

Abstract

Abstract Plenty of research in applied linguistics has confirmed that language teachers’ motivational strategies are playing a crucial role in relation to the learning motivation of their students. While previous research on motivational strategies has focused almost exclusively on teaching English as an international language (TESOL), this paper seeks to explore what motivational strategies are used by teachers of Chinese as a second language (CSL), and how their use differs between novice and experienced teachers in the Chinese cultural context in mainland China. The study was carried out in four Beijing universities with 90 novice and 85 experienced CSL teachers. The research instrument was adapted from the classical model developed by Dörnyei, Zoltán, & Kata Csizér. 1998. Ten Commandments for motivating language learners: Results of an empirical study. Language Teaching Research 2(3). 203–229. Participants were asked to rate the motivational strategies in terms of their perceived importance and the frequency by which they implemented them in their teaching practices. Following this, six participants also took part in semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study reveal a significant relationship between teachers’ preferences of motivational strategies and their cultural background, teaching objectives and the teaching contexts. Results also show a remarkable difference in motivational strategies between novice and experienced teachers at both macro and individual levels. The study suggests a few interpretations of the results and several implications for CSL teacher’s professional development based on its findings.