Motivations in Learning Chinese as a Heritage Language: Insights from Two Cases

Yan Shanshan School of Chinese as a Second Language, Peking University

Abstract Based on the framework of Dörnyei’s (2009) L2 Motivational Self System, this study investigates the motivations of heritage language learners in learning Chinese. Adopting the method of case study, it studies the data collected from two heritage language learners using semi-structured interviews, paper creation, and self-selected pictures/photographs. Results show that the participants display a variety of motivations which are influenced by a number of contextual factors. Both the “ought-to L2 self” and the “ideal L2 self” motivations are identified among participants. Thus the findings suggest that the L2 Motivational Self System is a useful framework for understanding Chinese heritage language learners’ motivations. However, a further distinction should be made between the “ideal L2 self” and the “ought-to L2 self”. This study also finds that the traditional “integrative motivation” is losing its explanatory power for Chinese heritage language learners’ motivations, mainly because no participant in this study shows a strong desire to integrate into the Chinese community. This study has significant implications for us to further understand the motivations of heritage language learners and the teaching and learning of Chinese as a heritage language in particular.

Key words motivation; Chinese heritage language learner; case study; L2 self

I. Introduction

Motivation is what “moves a person to make certain choices, to engage in action, to expend effort and persist in action” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011).Research into motivation has great significance for understanding L2 learning as “all other factors involved in SLA presuppose motivation to some extent”(Dörnyei, 2005). Therefore, with the examination of learners’ motivations, educational and pedagogical implications can be identified, so as to improve learning.

In SLA, The L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei,2005, 2009) is viewed as a “reform of motivational thinking” in the L2 motivation research field(Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009). It arose from a large-scale study in Hungary that involved 13,000 students over 12 years. It proposes three constructs: the “ideal L2 self” is the core and most attractive part of this system(Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009). It is the L2-specific facet of learners’ “ideal self”, which refers to “representation of the attributes that one would ideally like to possess(i.e. representation of hopes, aspirations, or wishes)”(Dörnyei, 2009). The “ought-to L2 self” is more concerned with meeting others’ expectations and avoiding unpleasant negative consequences. Dörnyei and Ushioda (2009) have explained that the third construct, i.e. “L2 learning experience”, is derived from the growing number of research findings related to classroom settings in the “cognitive-situated period”,which includes teachers, classmates and teaching materials, as well as other situated issues that affect learners’ motivations to learn a particular language.

The L2 Motivational Self System makes great theoretical contributions. It has greater explanatory power than the traditional integrative motivation, and it has been verified by many quantitative studies in several different learning contexts, all of which have confirmed that the system is suitable for explaining learners’ motivations, and its explanatory power is statistically higher than that of the traditional integrative motivation factor (See Boo, et al., 2015 for a review; see Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009 for an overview).Furthermore, proposing that the learners’ “self” should be incorporated into explaining their motivational actions is a creative aspect. Though the constructs explicitly come from mainstream psychological research, they can broaden our perspective in researching learners’ L2 learning motivations, as the theory has developed a new research area—future identity/self-expectation—for us to explore.In addition, this theory is compatible with the other main theories in this field, thus making it even more powerful. For instance, integrative motivation and intrinsic motivation are incorporated into the “ideal L2 self” part, while extrinsic motivation is incorporated in the “ought-to L2 self” (Dörnyei, 2009). Moreover,the theory also explicitly distinguishes the traditional“instrumental orientation”, which has a “promotion orientation” and belongs to the “ideal L2 self” (i.e.for career advancement), from the “prevention orientation”, which belongs to the “ought-to L2 self”(i.e. avoidance of failing the examination) (ibid.), and this helps us gain an understanding of the nature of the “instrumental orientation” motivation. Because of the unique way in which it highlights the “self” in relation to motivation, and the comprehensive use of previous theories, it should be used as a tool to explore L2 motivation.

In the studies that have adopted this promising and influential theoretical framework, one learner group—Chinese heritage language learners—has not been extensively discussed. Heritage language learners are those who are pursuing their ethnolinguistic proficiency (Fishman, 2001) and have gained a degree of background knowledge and language skills before they began their language study (Wen, 2011).1In the field of Chinese heritage language (hereafter CHL) research, learners’ motivations for learning Chinese need more attention, as few studies have been concerned with this key issue, which influences every aspect of learning. Most studies have focused on the methods used to maintain and develop the heritage language (for example, Van Deusen-Scholl,2003; Weger-Guntharp, 2006; Zhang, 2012, among others). Some studies are intended to examine the linguistic development of CHL learners in relation to diverse characteristics, for instance, proficiency level and linguistic behaviour (for example, Montrul, 2012;Polinsky, 2018). Other studies are focused on the discussion of the social nature of the learning process(for instance, He, 2010). To understand more about these learners’ motivations for learning Chinese, as well as their learning issues, more research is required.Therefore, this study employs the L2 Motivational Self System theory to explore CHL learners’ motivations. It is hoped that it will shed more light on the motivations and learning situations of these learners.

II. Previous Research and Research Questions

2.1 Previous research

There are only very few examples of motivational research on CHL learners. Most of the existing studies have applied traditional integrative and instrumental motivation theory (i.e. Gardner & Lambert, 1959),but their results suggest that these two motivation orientations have different influences. Lu and Li (2008)conclude that both integrative and instrumental orientations are important to CHL learners’ selfconfidence in terms of language proficiency, while instrumental motivation is more important for heritage language learners than non-heritage language learners.However, Yang (2003) suggests that integrative motivation is more important for heritage language learners. And heritage language learners’ status is the most important variable. Some studies have found that there may be a problem with adopting “integrative”motivation theory. Wen (2011) suggests that in a setting in which Chinese culture and native speakers are not directly accessible, integrative orientation becomes a minor motivation and may be better counted as one of the more dynamic motivational dimensions, such as instrumentality. Thus she split integrative motivation orientation into instrumental orientation and interest in the culture, and she found that instrumentality was a significant factor in predicting CHL learners’ current language learning engagement and future learning direction. Moreover, Wen (1999) has suggested that the initial motivation for Asian or Asian-American background learners is their interest in Chinese culture and the understanding of their heritage rather than integrative motivation. In her study comparing factors such as Chinese language proficiency and ethnic backgrounds in affecting learners’ attitudes and motivations for learning Chinese, Wen (2013)has found that the instrumental motivation has nothing to do with the maintenance of motivation and continuation of learning. But it was the most influential motivation type among learners of beginner and intermediate levels in predicting future continuation in learning. Shao (2018) has investigated Japanese CHL learners’ motivations and found that family factors,including both grandparents and parents, were the influential ones in learners’ choice and maintenance of the heritage language. He also showed that career development and willingness in communication were the most important factors for CHL learners to learn Chinese. These learners exhibited more intensive extrinsic motivations, which originated from their families, as compared to non-CHL learners.

However, the “L2 Motivational Self System” as a theory has not been widely applied to heritage language motivation research. Among the research that has adopted this theory, conflicting results exist.Xie (2014) used a questionnaire method to compare heritage language learners with non-heritage language learners at the college level, studying those at beginner levels. It was found that both the ideal L2 self and the ought-to L2 self were important for heritage language learners. Compared to non-heritage language learners,heritage language learners were more affected by family influence and different perceptions of self and the world. Additionally, Cai (2011) also adopted this theory to investigate the motivations of heritage and non-heritage language learners in an online Chinese learning programme and confirmed that this theory is applicable in Chinese heritage language research. Gao(2011) conducted a study on motivations for learning Chinese under this theory. Her study found that the ideal L2 self was the core and the most important element in learners’ perception of their motivations.But she also found that the L2 learning experience has no obvious effect on learners’ motivations to learn Chinese. Although she did not intentionally distinguish the heritage language learners from nonheritage language learners, her study is illuminative for understanding motivation in learning Chinese under this theory.

It seems that there is no uniform conclusion on the ultimate motivation of CHL for learning Chinese.Will the ideal L2 self under the “L2 Motivational Self System” theory be the most influential factor?Will the ought-to L2 self motivate learners to learn Chinese? Will their motivations still possess the same integrativeness into Chinese culture? Because of the many different conclusions from the literature, we need more research to study motivations for Chinese heritage language learning.

Furthermore, despite the advantages of the L2 Motivational Self System, there are also some ambiguities that need to be clarified with further empirical research.2For example, what are the exact distinctions between the “ideal L2 self” and the“ought-to L2 self”? Can it be used in a CHL context?In addition, as addressed by Dörnyei and Chan(2013), the “ought-to L2 self” is in particular need of investigation in comparison to the “ideal L2 self”,which has gained more focus in research.

The current study has adopted this theory and explored several potential problems, with the findings to enrich this system. In this study, for the constructs of this theory, if learners have an imagined future, viewing themselves as fluent Chinese-speaking people, they will be strongly motivated to learn Chinese, and can be considered to possess an “ideal L2 self”. However,if learners are more influenced by the expectations of external factors (in other words, they do not have a strong self-will to learn the language), an “oughtto L2 self” will be identified as the motivation for learning. Based on the understanding of this system,we think the first two L2 selves are at the centre of this system, especially the “ideal L2 self”. The “L2 learning experience” is not in fact at the same level as the first two and it is better for it to be seen as a supplement that includes those who cannot be counted as possessing an “ideal L2 self” or an “ought-to L2 self”, but may develop them in the future. For example, a learner who is motivated by a teacher may study to meet the expectations of that teacher and not disappoint him/her: this is an “ought-to L2 self”. However, if the learner develops into wanting to be a teacher who can speak that language, then this should be counted as an “ideal L2 self”.

2.2 Research questions

In this study, we propose the following research questions to further investigate the motivations of CHL in learning Chinese:

1) What do the two CHL learners perceive as their motivations for learning Chinese?

2) Do the two CHL learners’ imagined views of themselves as Chinese-speaking people in the future(“ideal L2 self”) motivate them to learn Chinese? If so,in what way?

3) Do the two CHL learners have a perception of their Chinese learning as meeting the expectations of others or avoiding possible negative outcomes (“ought-to L2 self”) that motivates them to learn Chinese? If so, in what way?

4) What are the relevant contextual factors that influence their motivations to learn Chinese?

III. Research Methods and Participants

3.1 Research methods

A qualitative case-study methodology was adopted in this study to address the research aims. This methodology views every individual as a unique case situated in a specific context; therefore it provides the best possible opportunity for examining learners’motivations in depth in their real learning contexts.Furthermore, this is to echo Dewaele (2009) and Ushioda (2009), which argue qualitative studies are particularly illuminative and therefore needed in motivation research. In particular, three research methods, including semi-structured interviews, essaywriting and picture/photograph selection were used to capture learners’ motivations for learning Chinese as a heritage language.

The semi-structured interviews were conducted faceto-face. There were two interviews for each participant.The first was conducted to gain a general idea of learners’ motivations and also to build rapport. The second was mainly based on pre-analysis of the essays and pictures/photographs obtained and also to help supplement data obtained in the first interview by addressing ideas that were unclear and in need of clarification. The main themes that the interviews covered were: 1) Chinese learning background and experience; 2) motivations for learning; 3) future self related to Chinese (e.g. learners’ imagined futures,expectations and plans); 4) learning engagement.

The essay-writing task requires participants to write on two topics: 1) My Future When My Chinese Is Perfect;2) The Most Significant People/Event(s)/Thing(s)That Have Influenced My Decision to Study Chinese.Besides the methods introduced above, participants in this study were also required to bring to the researcher at least one picture or photograph that, from their perspective, represented a significant influence on their motivations for learning Chinese. The data were collected at a university in Beijing (for protection of privacy, it will be referred to as BD in what follows).

3.2 Participants

Two CHL learners studying at BD participated in this research. Their general backgrounds are as follows.

Julie3

Julie was 18 years old. She was a shy girl. For example,she said she was chosen by her teacher to act as a narrator in a forthcoming Chinese show because of her good pronunciation, but she did not feel comfortable about speaking in public. The interviews were conducted in a quiet cafeteria while drinking tea or water, where it was more comfortable for her to talk about personal experiences, which would alleviate the pressure on her. She had Singaporean nationality but had grown up in China’s Hong Kong, and had had half a year of undergraduate study in America. She had attended a British international school from when she was very young until her high school, and her first language was English. In that school, Chinese classes were provided and she had learned Mandarin Chinese since then, but only for roughly two hours every week.In her family, her parents did not speak Chinese, either a dialect or Mandarin, to her.

Allen

Allen was an Indonesian, 22 years old. He was born in Singapore, because his family thought the hospital there was better than that in Indonesia, but he only stayed one week then travelled back home. In 1998,due to the historical Chinese exclusion from Indonesia,Allen’s family moved to Singapore and lived there for four years. They did not speak any Chinese with him.This was his second term studying Chinese at BD and his Chinese had improved greatly from when he had first arrived: he was originally at the pre-intermediate level, but had now jumped to the advanced level. Before he came to BD, he had finished his undergraduate degree in America and had worked in a financial firm there for one year. Allen was a patient person, and he always liked to communicate his feelings. He was also someone who loved to prepare himself to take advantage of many opportunities.

3.3 Data analysis

Data were analysed using two processes: one during the data collection process, mainly before the second interview (i.e. the on-field analysis); and the main data analysis conducted after all data had been collected (i.e.the off-field analysis).

The on-field analysis was mainly conducted to gain general ideas of learners and research questions,and also for preparation of further clarification and checking of some unclear ideas and the unanswered themes/questions in the second round of interviews. In the off-field analysis, transcribing interviews, coding textual data and linking data to research questions were the main analysis procedures. Finally, the findings of this study were drawn from these categories and the themes identified in the analysis. The individual case reports were written up on the basis of these findings, and cross-case analyses were conducted by summarising and comparing the themes of the individual cases. These will be shown in detail in the next section.

IV. Results

4.1 Julie

4.1.1 Motivations for learning Chinese

Julie’s motivations for learning Chinese were multiple,and they were influenced by her heritage, her mother,her tutor and an English teaching experience.

Learning Chinese for heritage

Julie mentioned in her essay and interviews that her motivation for learning Chinese was that she considered she had a Chinese heritage and she thought she should learn it, although she had a very complicated personal background:

Maybe the most important thing that influences my Chinese study is to get in touch with my roots. I am Singaporean by nationality, but ethnically Chinese.Although I grew up in China’s Hong Kong, I was not brought up traditionally Chinese, similar to an unconventional Asian family growing up in the US. I have vague understandings of the Chinese culture like some holidays, some food,etc., but I feel as if I should know more. (Julie, essay 2)

Learning Chinese because of personal interest

Julie had a strong interest in learning Chinese. When asked why she chose to learn Chinese in interviews,she said it was partly because of her heritage, but also because she thought Chinese was interesting and she just liked to learn it. Her parents thought learning Chinese was good and important because of China’s economy, but she was not interested in those aspects;she just enjoyed learning it:

I think it [learning Chinese] is useful. But I don’t care whether it is useful or not. I just like to learn it.

(Julie, 1stinterview)

Her interest in learning Chinese was also demonstrated by the fact that she even used a gap term to learn Chinese. Before she came to BD to learn Chinese, she had had half a year of study at an American university at the undergraduate level, but she found she did not like the major, so she left. Before she began a new course in America, she had chosen to come to Beijing to learn Chinese for half of the year. Therefore it was clear that she had very strong enthusiasm for, and interest in,learning Chinese. And her decision even surprised her father as he did not expect her to continue studying Chinese.

Influence of her Chinese tutor

Julie’s strong interest in learning Chinese probably arose partly from the teaching of her Chinese tutor. She had a private Chinese tutor from primary school until she was 15 years old. The tutor first taught her two sisters, and having seen the tutorial teaching and out of curiosity, she actively requested to be tutored, too:

My private Chinese tutor always reminds me of the time when I walked up to her while she was tutoring my sisters. One day, I said “许老师，我也要补习 ” (“Ms Xu, I want to be tutored, too!”).4I think that I would have to say that that would be one event that influences my Chinese study. My private Chinese tutor has literally seen me grow up from a baby to a teenager and I almost consider her my grandmother. She taught me never to give up on anything because all of the effort that is put in will be worth it in the end. I want to continue learning Chinese because not only do I want to make her proud,but looking back on the time I begged her to tutor me when I am finally fluent in Chinese will be quite funny.

(Julie, essay 2)

The tutor helped her a lot, as she could only speak Chinese, so this forced Julie to use Chinese and correct her pronunciation. Besides normal language study, the tutor also provided Julie with some Chinese cultural knowledge by doing handicrafts, making the learning very interesting.

Influence of her mother

Due to her mother’s mastery of several languages, Julie was interested in learning languages, too. Julie’s parents were divorced, and she lived with her father, who had a business in Beijing. Her mother had married again,and she met with her infrequently. Julie was able to confront this reality and talk a little about the influence of her mother on her Chinese learning:

Another reason that I continue learning Chinese is my mother. To be completely honest, my relationship with my mother isn’t the best, but the things that she says always leave an impression on me. My parents were divorced, and while I was in high school, my mum always pestered me to keep learning Chinese. There was a time when I considered dropping Chinese as a subject entirely and wanted to take Spanish instead, but my mum didn’t allow it. Initially I hated that she didn’t allow me to take Spanish, but in retrospect I’m thankful that I didn’t drop Chinese because I’ve grown to really, really enjoy it. Also, another thing about my mum is that she can speak several languages such as English, Malaysian,Indonesian and Chinese. I always thought that that was really fascinating while growing up, and she is probably the reason why I think learning languages is so fascinating, because maybe one day I will be able to speak that many languages, too! (Julie, essay 2)

When talking about why her mother insisted on her learning Chinese in the follow-up interview, she thought it was because her mother thought Chinese was her culture and should be preserved. Also, when I asked why she did not want to study Chinese at that time, she said she had no interest in learning Chinese then, and wanted to learn a foreign language: Chinese was not such a foreign thing. Though she had been somewhat resistant to learning Chinese once, she gradually found herself really enjoying learning it.Although Julie did not have a very good relationship with her mother, she really admired her, and was full of thanks for her influence on her Chinese learning. To express these feelings, she gave me the only photograph of herself and her mother taken together when she was one year old at a family Christmas event.5

Influence of her voluntary teaching experience

A teaching event that Julie participated in also inspired her very much to learn Chinese. Julie had voluntarily taught English to 15 middle school students in Fujian Province in China:

It was a trip that was set up by my high school, and it was a great experience. The children that we were teaching didn’t speak very much English, so teaching them in Mandarin was very, very difficult for me. I found it so hard to teach them a language they weren’t familiar with, in a language that I was even fluent in.Although my friends and I could not teach them English very well, all of the children were so committed and showed so much passion towards learning English, and that inspired me, too. (Julie, essay 2)

She taught them how to introduce themselves in English, how to write Christmas cards and about Christmas traditions. Although the first reason for participating in this event was the cultural experience—providing free sightseeing in Fujian Tulou(a traditional Chinese living architecture)—after the seven days’ teaching experience and interactions with the local children, she was motivated by them and the experience, and wanted to learn Chinese well.

Julie brought me two photographs of this experience:one is the group photograph of herself, other volunteers and the students, which is not shown here in order to protect privacy; the other is a brief note from a student to thank her and her friends for their teaching,which states “Dear teacher, thank you very much for teaching us English. In a few days, we have had a good relationship. I love you”.6When receiving this note,she found it heart-warming and felt a necessity to learn Chinese because her lack of Chinese proficiency and the students’ lack of English proficiency made the teaching very difficult.

4.1.2 Imagined future in relation to Chinese

Julie said she had no specific Chinese learning expectations, but just hoped her proficiency level would improve. She had no future plans or expectations either,perhaps because she was still very young and had not even started her undergraduate study. When writing about her future when her Chinese would be perfect,she also did not mention any specific expectations. All her imagined scenarios were very general and related to the benefits of acquiring another language:

It’s hard to imagine what my future will be like when my Chinese is perfect. I guess that it will be somewhat similar to my life now, where I can comfortably speak to everyone in English, but also in Chinese. (Julie, essay 1)

With her unclear imagination and expectation for the future, Julie had had no significant interaction with native Chinese people and the Chinese community. But this may be partly because people around her always used English to communicate with her.

4.2 Allen

4.2.1 Motivations for learning Chinese

Allen’s motivations for learning Chinese had changed during his learning experience and at this stage were multiple.

Learning Chinese because of his father’s expectations

Allen’s father expected him to learn Chinese when he was very young, so he attended some Chinese classes but was not interested. His father thought Chinese would be important in the future and as a Chinese person Allen should learn it, so he hired a tutor for Allen when they lived in Singapore, but Allen did not learn much. However, now, having learned more about China and having matured, he began to regret not having learned Chinese when he was young:

Because he [my father] thinks that it’s more, I think,for, like, business, family business, and also he thinks we have to learn and the future is, I think, to us it’s inevitable. You know, China will be significant in the future, in the world, its politics, economy, many aspects,and social, everything is gonna be, just because it’s so big.

I think my father’s idea is right. So when I was working,I regretted that I didn’t learn Chinese before, because I think learning a language is easier when we are young.Children learn languages or other subjects easily.

(Allen, 1stinterview)

Learning Chinese because of his Chinese background

In describing his motivation for starting to learn Chinese now, Allen emphasised the influence of his Chinese background. He even used the word“embarrassment” to express his feelings about not being able to speak Chinese:

The opportunity is too hard to miss. The country’s influence is so big that you cannot ignore its culture,like, especially I’m 华人 (Chinese). I think I have to understand more than 一般的人 (the normal people).Even 那些外国人都可以明白的，那些西方人，(those foreigners are able to understand, those Westerners)even like native Indonesian they really understand the culture, it’s OK, but they don’t have to have the relation.For me, actually, I almost have 印尼的 (Indonesian),my Indonesian blood heritage is almost very little. All is from Chinese heritage, from my family. My爷爷奶奶 (grandparents) migrated from China to Indonesia.That’s why 我们是印尼人 (we are Indonesian)， 可是our blood is 中国人 (but our blood is Chinese).我觉得是，怎么说 (I think it’s like, how to say). Does that make sense?It’s a kind of embarrassment if I cannot speak Chinese.Because it’s like you’re real Chinese but you cannot speak Chinese (Mandarin). (Allen, 2ndinterview)

His Chinese background was the first influential motivator for him to learn Chinese. He also expressed this by giving me a big family photograph taken when celebrating this year’s Spring Festival in his father’s birthplace, Bandung, with all his relatives.

Making a contribution to his family business

Allen’s motivation for learning Chinese was more influenced by the fact that he had the responsibility for taking care of his whole family as he was the eldest son:

Family are the most significant people that influenced my Chinese study. It is my goal to utilise my ability to communicate in Mandarin to help benefit my family.As a Chinese Indonesian, we share similar values as other Chinese families. As the eldest son, I feel that I have the greater responsibility to take care of my family in the future. I feel that I can already help out with the family business. However, I feel that I must also be able to contribute, to add something new that benefits our family. I believe that learning Mandarin is one of the ways that I can contribute to our family’s future.So family is what drives me to first study Mandarin…

(Allen, essay 1)

In fact, he was already able to help out with the family business, but he wanted to contribute to it. Thus he believed learning Chinese was necessary as he thought it was important for the future of his family business:

No. My work didn’t require me to. If you cannot speak Chinese, you can also find many jobs. The jobs and opportunities are many. But I think it is related to the situation of China, the economy. It is important in the future. It becomes very significant. My family business may do business with Chinese, so I think just speaking to Chinese people is one thing, and to be able to communicate is another thing. So I decide to come here to learn Chinese so that I can know what China is like, how Chinese people work, and the culture.Because if you just talk, you can gain. That’s one side of communicating, because communicating is more than just speaking. You have to understand their habits, and most stuff. That’s why I came here. I just hire a tutor and the service, which is not useful. I think it’s not useful.

(Allen, 1stinterview)

Classmates’ (friends’) influence and teachers’influence

When studying at BD, Allen’s motivation for learning Chinese was strengthened by his classmates and teachers. The view of his friends there that learning Chinese was interesting and entertaining deeply impressed him:

… then luckily, you know, during the time I spent,it’s sort, kind of motivational to see a lot of different students are willing to learn Chinese. Before I never thought that, all my friends in Indonesia said, “Oh,Chinese is so hard so troublesome, no one wants to learn.” At first, I was used to things like that. It was my ideas before. (Allen, 2ndinterview)

Some of his international friends had majored in linguistics, and their linguistic learning of Chinese impressed and interested Allen very much:

… they see things differently with language, the sentences, the grammar, all the stuff, even like in English, if you have to use a subject for… actually I don’t know how to do that. I just, when they speak English,if it sounds right, OK, it’s probably right. But I cannot see sentence like science, but they can, they are very excellent, study hard, definitely help you learn.

… they make it, like, “Oh, you know, if you notice there is detail that can help you out”, “Oh, I never noticed that before”. (Allen, 2ndinterview)

Besides this, he also mentioned that his teachers, who were professional and had likeable personalities, were also very helpful for his learning:

Teaching style I think is very good, all of the teachers they are, actually the good thing is they are professional,in some schools you know, they actually take 那个不是那个专业的教汉语的，他们能说汉语，汉语很好，英文很好，所以他们来教汉语 (those teachers who are not professionals, who can speak Chinese, and whose Chinese is very good, English is also very good,so they come to teach Chinese). But this one is, they learned, and to become a teacher, so I think that makes a big difference. You can see it really. Their personality is also very nice, 我们不怕他们 (we are not afraid of them), you know, not afraid, not very scared.

(Allen, 2ndinterview)

4.2.2 Imagined future in relation to Chinese

Allen had a strong sense of his future expectations and future development in relation to Chinese. He expected his Chinese “to be able to reach a level of proficiency where I can communicate with Chinese natives comfortably”. He even imagined a future in which his Chinese “can help bring Indonesians and native Chinese to work together”.

Learning Chinese as the fundamental way to realise future expectations

As mentioned above, Allen’s most important motivation was to contribute to the development of his family business, and he had a strong belief that his future would be related to Chinese. In order to develop the family business, Allen first had to develop himself and build relations and this was the “number one”priority; learning Chinese was the fundamental way for him to realise all this:

Yeah, build the relationship. Also it’s like I want to be able to communicate with a lot of people, so in order to build relationships you have to communicate with people. I can only speak English and Indonesian.English, maybe half of the people in the world can speak English, you know. Indonesian, of course I’m Indonesian, and we’re already the fourth largest population in the world, but China is the biggest by far,1.4 billion already. So if I can speak three, I can already speak to at least half of the world. I can communicate and I can establish relationships. If you want to measure the success, if I can speak with half of the people in the world, it will be one kind of success.

I think it’s important and also related to the family business. You know that, if I want to do something more, yeah, I think I have to communicate. Because there are some opportunities outside. Even if you are in China, the opportunities are so big. Yes, you have all the other countries, yeah, opportunities are a lot. Just want to keep my options open. So that’s the number one.

(Allen, 1stinterview)

Thus, learning Chinese would provide him with a tool to communicate with the majority of people in the world, help him to establish relationships with different people, and eventually contribute to his family business.

Allen’s Chinese learning was also partly due to his own personality: he had the willingness to communicate and gain experience, as well as having the curiosity to learn from other intellectuals:

… I want to know why smart people are thinking differently, so I come to China. I like the culture. If I want to know why Chinese people are thinking in that way, and I have learned what the American culture is like, I can take the best. I like to take the best side of the things, all the cultures, and see if I can cooperate with others on my own and become better and, it’s more like learning from other people. (Allen, 2ndinterview)

With all these future considerations, he planned to study for one year at BD as this would help him concentrate more on his studies and gain more; he would also not be away from his family business for too long. Thus, for Allen, with his various motivations and particular future expectations, he was strongly motivated to study.

4.3 Summary and comparison of two CHL learners’motivations for learning Chinese

Multiple motivations.Julie and Allen both had three motivations at their current stage. Julie explained her motivations as learning for her Chinese heritage,having a personal interest in learning Chinese, as well as being influenced by her Chinese tutor, her mother,and her voluntary English teaching experience. As for Allen, he was learning for his Chinese heritage, and for his future contribution to his family business, as well as being motivated by his classmates, friends and teachers. Although they had multiple motivations,we should also bear in mind that actually there were dominant ones. For example, Julie had three different kinds of motivations, but according to her explanation,her interest in learning the language was the most prominent one; for Allen, of his three different motivations, he said learning to be able to contribute to the family business in the future was the most important one. And his motivations even followed a temporal sequence besides importance. His motivation at BD, which was enhanced by his classmates, friends and teachers, was formed only when he had studied there for a period.

Contextual factors. Teachershad important influences on the motivation of learners to study Chinese.Julie’s Chinese learning was mostly influenced by her Chinese tutor. Seeing the tutor teach her sisters, she felt learning Chinese might be interesting. She actively asked for tutoring from this tutor, and as a result,she found Chinese so interesting that she fell in love with Chinese learning. The interesting and effective teaching of the tutor motivated her learning. Allen also mentioned that an important influence on his Chinese studies was the impressive teaching he had received.He was impressed by the professional teaching and friendly personalities of his teachers, both of which further influenced his Chinese learning while at BD.

Classmates or friendscan be another motivational resource for learners. The international students, who had no Chinese heritage background, came to BD to learn Chinese purely out of interest, and linguistic major friends, who were studying Chinese at BD from a linguistic angle, all motivated Allen’s Chinese learning. As he remarked, he had never regarded learning as so interesting, and being together with friends who were at roughly the same stage strongly motivated him to learn even more.Familycan be a very important factor in motivating learners to study Chinese. As we have seen, when they were young, both of the participants were sent to Chinese classes by their parents, but they were not very interested and thus did not learn much. At the current stage, while learning Chinese at BD, the participants were still motivated by their families. Allen’s most important motivation for coming to BD to learn Chinese was to develop his family business and try to make his own contribution through trade or cooperating with Chinese people in the future. His strong feelings of responsibility towards his family, and his foresight about the importance of Chinese, motivated him to learn Chinese.

Social development, social events and cultural experiences.Allen’s motivation for learning Chinese was related to the rapid development of China’s economy, and the growing trend towards doing business with Chinese people and China. To some extent, some personal social experience can also affect learning motivations. Julie’s voluntary teaching of English to middle school students in one of China’s provinces, her limited Chinese when explaining words and expressions, and the students’ limited English ability, which prevented them from understanding her teaching content, all made her think that learning Chinese was important and necessary.

Chinese heritage.Chinese heritage was mentioned by both CHL learners as a motivation for learning Chinese. For both of them, learning Chinese was a consequence of the belief that “being a Chinese person, one should know Chinese”. Julie thought that her mother felt that Chinese was her culture, so Julie should learn it even when she wanted to give it up at her high school. Allen even felt “embarrassed” at being Chinese but not being able to speak Chinese.

An imagined future as a Chinese-speaking person.Allen had strong self-awareness and a sense of responsibility with regard to making a contribution to his family business in the future. This contribution meant adding something new to the development of the business, and this was related to China and to the Chinese, as Allen repeatedly commented on tremendous opportunities in China and the importance of being able to communicate with Chinese people.He also imagined that his fluent Chinese in the future could “help bring Indonesians and native Chinese to work together”. He had no detailed plans for how to realise the connections with Chinese people, but he had a strong sense that it was inevitable. Learning Chinese meant preparing for the future and opening new doors. However, Julie had no clear imagination and expectation of the future.

V. Discussion

5.1 Main findings

Through a deep analysis of various data, four main findings about the two CHL learners’ motivations for learning Chinese were identified: 1) their motivations were multiple; 2) their motivations were influenced by various contextual factors; 3) Chinese heritage was an influential motivation shared by both of the learners,which can be counted as an “ought-to L2 self” to some extent; 4) learners with an “ideal L2 self” were highly motivated to learn.

The findings of this study echo Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System to some extent as learners were motivated by the “ideal L2 self” and the “ought-to L2 self”; in fact, this study also demonstrates that the system is a powerful explanatory tool for interpreting the CHL learners’ motivations for learning Chinese.

5.2 Ideal L2 self

5.2.1 Learners’ engagement in their Chinese study

The “ideal L2 self” provides a better perspective to explain learners’ engagement in their Chinese learning.In previous research into CHL learners’ motivations,some researchers have concentrated on the influence of learners’ motivations on the learning process,community engagement and future learning directions(Wen, 1999, 2011, 2013). Their studies have concluded that positive attitudes and learning experiences lead to greater engagement in learning. This was true for one of the learners in this study: Julie was seeking to learn Chinese mainly due to her personal interests, as she thought it was interesting and she enjoyed learning it.However, learners’ engagement in their current learning was more dependent on whether they had a future ideal self or not. Allen in this study projected a desired “ideal L2 self”, which strongly motivated him to learn Chinese: he demonstrated strong commitment to his Chinese learning. As he mentioned in the interview, he had strong self-control and made efficient plans for his Chinese learning. Having given himself only one year, he wanted to use every minute to study.Therefore, the findings of this study are in line with Gao (2011) and Xie (2014). But in terms of the future learning direction, how the “ideal L2 self” maintains a strong motivational power is beyond the scope of this study; further research is called for.

5.2.2 Learners’ integrative orientation into the Chinese community

As discussed, when reviewing the literature, there are conflicting findings on learners’ willingness to integrate into the Chinese culture and community. Thus it is necessary for us to see whether the learners in this study still have the orientation to integrate into the community.

This study suggests that the integrative motivation is probably losing its analytical power to explain CHL learners’ motivations, especially for young generations,and the “ideal L2 self” may be more appropriate in this respect.

Most of the previous studies have applied the traditional integrative motivation orientation as a theoretical framework, and have provided some insightful findings, as integrative orientation is important (Yang, 2003; Lu & Li, 2008). However, it was found that neither of the two learners in this study had strong connections to the Chinese community in their home country. Therefore, the integrative motivation does not seem suitable as an explanation for the current Chinese heritage language learners’motivations, at least with respect to the cultural or community integrative aspect. But more research is needed to investigate this further.

5.3 Ought-to L2 self

Analysis of whether either of the two learners’motivations related to their Chinese heritage should be counted as an “ought-to L2 self” poses a problem for the L2 Motivational Self System. It rightly touches upon one important controversial issue, that of the distinction between the “ideal L2 self” and the “oughtto L2 self”. As Dörnyei concludes, “at the heart of the issue lies the question of the internalisation of external influences… Because humans are inherently social beings, all their self-perceptions are originally socially grounded” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009). However, there arises the question: “At what point in the internalisation process can we claim with confidence that a desired possible self is ‘ideal’, that is, fully owned by the learner,rather than ‘ought-to’, that is, imposed on the learner by others?” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009) To answer this question, Dörnyei and Ushioda (2009) provide a clue,that it is necessary to focus on the “imaginary element”of a typical “ideal L2 self”. Following this suggestion,and under close scrutiny of the definition of the theory,we propose that the following three methods should be considered in distinguishing between these two constructs:

Box 1 Criteria for distinguishing the “ideal L2 self”and the “ought-to L2 self”

It is useful to take all these three aspects into consideration. But if not all of them can be identified,the “ideal L2 self” and “ought-to L2 self” should be claimed to some extent. From these points of view,since learning for Chinese heritage was generated by the pressure of internalised abstract social conventions and sociocultural values, it can be counted as an“ought-to L2 self”, to some extent, but since the learners both had other motivations as well, it is hard to decide whether their actions and emotions in learning were due to their “ought-to L2 self”. More research is needed.

In fact, the finding that Chinese heritage acts as a motivation for CHL learners echoes the previous findings from Shao (2018), Wen (2011, 2013), Xie(2014) and Yang (2003). But in this study the strong self-awareness of the learners, and the fact that they did not feel pressure to learn, were different from the findings of Wen (2011, 2013) and Yang (2003), who concluded that CHL learners felt more pressure and they viewed learning as an obligation. Other unique aspects of this motivation should also not be ignored.One such feature is that learners’ feelings that they ought to learn Chinese mainly come from within themselves. In fact, in this multilingual world, we view these learners as very different kinds of people, as Chinese heritage people. Thus, we do not expect that they can speak Chinese, which is one of the reasons there are Chinese learning programmes that recruit them, and this also accounts for the initial interest of this study. Furthermore, it is a unique characteristic of heritage language learners, unlike other L2 learners and foreign learners, that it is inherited.

What is more, as this study has shown, L2 learning experiences are influential factors in affecting CHL learners’ motivations for learning Chinese.These factors include teachers, classmates, family members and social experiences. In fact, CHL learners’ motivations for learning Chinese can be directly generated from these factors, such as is the case for Julie, whose tutor and mother, as well as her volunteer teaching experience, all served as bases for the formation of motivations. Thus, the findings of this study to some extent echo Shao (2018) and Xie(2014), as they have also found that family members are important for the motivation of CHL learners for learning Chinese. By contrast, they run contrary to the findings of Gao (2011), which showed that there was no evident influence from the L2 learning experiences.More research is thus called on to shed more light on this.

5.4 Implications for teaching CHL learners Chinese

Some educational implications can be drawn to develop and reinforce CHL learners’ motivations for studying Chinese.

From the learner’s perspective, generating, cultivating and sustaining the “ideal L2 self” is extremely important. As the findings of this study show, learners with an “ideal L2 self” are strongly motivated to learn Chinese. Thus, when they have self-awareness of their motivations to learn, they may plan their future in detail and regulate their studies, as well as finding as many resources as possible to improve their learning,for instance making the most of opportunities to communicate with native people, making use of language exchange programmes, where available,travelling around while in China in order to learn more etc.Teachers can also help learners elaborate and choose from different future expectations, for example by giving learners written tasks in which they can talk about their imagined futures, and presenting them with role models (Dörnyei, 2009).

From the educator’s perspective, teachers and learning programmes should pay great attention to the Chinese heritage aspect, which is the most important motivational factor for both of the learners in this study. Teachers can make use of the Chinese heritage culture to create more meaningful and enjoyable activities to support and sustain their students’learning motivations, such as encouraging learners to explore their Chinese roots, providing more cultural explanations of their Chinese heritage, and organising Chinese cultural visits etc.Programme administrators could also supply much of the support and help in this respect.

Finally, educators should take individual learners’needs and motivations into consideration. As learners’motivations are multiple, programme policy-makers should devise tailored learning programmes or classes for students. Since an L2 learning class usually has fewer learners, it is not difficult to achieve this.Teachers should also draw on each learner’s specific motivations and devise tailored lessons and activities to motivate them to keep on learning.

VI. Conclusion

This study has applied the L2 motivational self system theory to explore two CHL learners’ motivations, using a multi-case qualitative research methodology.

Findings from this research indicate that the motivations of these two CHL learners were multiple and related to various contextual factors, Chinese heritage was an important motivation among learners,and most of these motivations could be explained according to the L2 Motivational Self System. The L2 Motivational System has helped us to understand the motivations of the two learners for learning Chinese,but they are better seen as a cluster of different motivational categories, and the distinctions between the “ideal L2 self” and the “ought-to L2 self” need more investigation and clarification. In conclusion, the two CHL learners’ motivations for learning Chinese have been shown to be a complex process.

About the Author

Yan Shanshan is an assistant professor at School of Chinese as a Second Language, Peking University. Her research interests include second language acquisition, Chinese heritage language learners and heritage language acquisition.

Notes

1 For other arguments about definitions, see Valdés (2001), Polinsky (2018), among others.

2 For an overall conclusion about the drawbacks proposed by previous studies which have applied this system, see Dörnyei & Ushioda (2009), p.350.

3 The names are pseudonyms, to protect the privacy of the participants.

4 The data are quoted in their original format: those in Chinese were translated and shown after the original versions.

5 To protect Julie’s privacy, this photo does not appear here.

6 The original content of the picture is “老师，谢谢你们来教我们学英语，在这几天中，我们之间发生的感情。我爱你们。”.