HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF BANKING

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

FINAL ASSIGNMENT

AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH-MAJORED

SOPHOMORES' MOTIVATION IN LEARNING
CHINESE AS THE SECOND FOREIGN LANGUAGE
AT HO CHI MINH UNIVERSITY OF BANKING

Student’s name:
Nguyễn Lê Phương Quỳnh (030438220203)

Instructor’s name:
Huỳnh Thị Bích Phượng, PhD

HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY, 2024

 INSTRUCTOR’S COMMENTS

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HCMC, …../……/………

Instructor’s Signature
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENT ...................................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES ..............................................................................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................................. v
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background to the study ............................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Statement of the problem.............................................................................................................................. 1
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study ............................................................................................................ 2
1.4 Research questions............................................................................................................................................ 2
1.5 Scope of the study ............................................................................................................................................. 2
1.6 Significance of the study............................................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................................. 4
2.1 Definitions of motivation............................................................................................................................ 4
2.2 Types of motivation ....................................................................................................................................... 4
2.2.1 Integrative motivation .......................................................................................................................... 5
2.2.2 Instrumental motivation ...................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Factors of Motivation .................................................................................................................................. 5
2.3.1 Learning a foreign language ............................................................................................................ 5
2.3.1.1 Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3.1.2 Challenges ......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3.1.2.1 Complex Structure and Recalling Words ........................................................... 6
2.3.1.2.2 Homophones and Multi-Syllable Words............................................................. 7
2.3.1.2.3 Reading ..................................................................................................................................... 7
2.3.1.2.4 Pronunciation ........................................................................................................................ 7
2.3.2 Time Spent .................................................................................................................................................. 8
2.3.3 Learning Strategy .................................................................................................................................... 9
2.4 Previous studies ............................................................................................................................................. 10
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 11
3.1 Research design ............................................................................................................................................... 11

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3.2 Research site/context .................................................................................................................................... 11
3.3 Sample and sampling procedures ......................................................................................................... 12
3.4 Research instruments ................................................................................................................................... 13
3.5 Data collection procedures ....................................................................................................................... 13
3.6 Data analysis procedures ........................................................................................................................... 13
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ........................................................................ 14
4.1 Findings and Discussions ....................................................................................................................... 14
4.1.1 Demographic Information ................................................................................................................. 14
4.1.2 Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation ........................................................ 14
4.1.3 Requirements ............................................................................................................................................. 15
4.1.4 Challenges .................................................................................................................................................... 16
4.1.4.1 Complex Structure and Recalling Words ......................................................................... 16
4.1.4.2 Homophones and Multi-Syllable Words .......................................................................... 17
4.1.4.3 Reading and Pronunciation........................................................................................................ 18
4.1.5 Time Spent................................................................................................................................................... 19
4.1.6 Learning Strategy .................................................................................................................................... 20
4.3 Limitations ........................................................................................................................................................ 22
4.4 Implications ...................................................................................................................................................... 21
4.4.1 Implications for Time Spent............................................................................................................. 22
4.4.2 Implications for Learning Strategy .............................................................................................. 22
4.4.2.1 Common Radicals Memorizing .............................................................................................. 22
4.4.2.2 Hieroglyphs and Word Consultation Memorizing ..................................................... 23
4.4.2.3 Dishtinguish Words with Similar Features ..................................................................... 24
4.4.2.4 Words Meaning Guess ................................................................................................................. 24
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 25
REMARK ................................................................................................................................................................... 26
REFERENCE .......................................................................................................................................................... 28
APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................................ 32

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all those who gave me the
possibility to complete the report. Special thanks is to my supervisor Huỳnh Thị Bích
Phượng who helped, stimulated suggestions and encouragements in all time of
fabrication process and in writing this report. I also sincerely thanks for the time spent
proofreading and correcting many mistakes.
Secondly, I would like to thank my friends and the team members who helped me
a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
I am over helmed in all humbleness and gratefulness to acknowledge my depth to
all those who have helped me to put these ideas, well above the level of simplicity and
into something concrete.
Any attempt at any level cannot be satisfactorily completed without the support
and guidance of my parents.

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Ability in Meeting Requirements .......................................................................................... 15

Figure 2. Difficulties in Structure and Recalling Words .............................................................. 16

Figure 3. Students time to study Chinese (days) ............................................................................... 19

Figure 4. Students time to study Chinese (hours) ............................................................................. 20

Figure 5. Converted Words ............................................................................................................................. 23

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 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Features of Participants (n=40) ................................................................................................. 14
Table 2. Reason of learning Chinese ......................................................................................................... 15
Table 3. Difficulties Level in Homophones and Multi-Syllable Words ............................. 17
Table 4. Difficulties Level in Reading and Pronunciation .......................................................... 18
Table 5. Level of Learning Strategy .......................................................................................................... 20

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 ABSTRACT
Learning Chinese is becoming more popular, not only among those who have
already started working, but also among university students. Through as questionnaire
survey method, this study attempts to investigate the factors affect the motivation
behind learning Chinese as the second foreign language for English-majored
Sophomores at Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking. The research found that
Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation affect the reason of choosing
Chinese. The challenge, time spent, and learning strategy impact the factor of
motivation in learning Chinese. The researcher gives students require effective learning
strategies that are appropriate for their level of ability to increase motivation such as:
Memorizing the common radicals, Hieroglyphs, and Word Consultation;
Dishtinguishing words with similar features; and Guessing the meaning of words. The
study is also important to shed light on motivation as a major factor in increasing
learning productivity.
Keywords: motivation, second foreign language, challenges, Chinese

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Because of the rapid pace of globalization, foreign languages are now essential to
the integration and development of Vietnam in particular and every other nation. As the
most spoken language in the world, Chinese language is one of the most popular choices
for everyone. One 2008 poll of employers in the UK, done by the Confederation of
British Industry, discovered that 38% of employers answering the poll wanted to hire
people who spoke Chinese. As a result, learning Chinese as a second language is now
required for students at many universities. Nowadays, expertise in Chinese has grown
increasingly important to the overall global economy and many business owners are
looking to break into this international market. One of the qualifications for meeting the
employer's needs and getting a lot of work possibilities or a well-paid job is having
strong Chinese. Besides, as the world's second-largest economy, China country plays a
vital role in global trade and commerce. By learning Chinese, learners can be able to
communicate with business partners, negotiate deals, and understand market trends.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Because of the growth of the economy, cuture, and education between China and
Vietnam, HCMC University of Banking has suggested students to learn Chinese as the
second foreign language that requires students to (i) have enough Chinese knowledge
equivalent to “Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi” 3; (ii) have the ability to communicate in
different fields such as economy, business, and management; (iii) have the foundational
knowledge for translation. Beside materials and learning conditions, motivation also
plays an important role in helping learners study foreign languages effectively.
Motivation is a fundamental psychological construct that drives an individual's
behavior, actions, and decisions. It plays a crucial role in various domains, including
education, work, and personal development. Recently, learning motivation has been
discussed by researchers all over the world. This paper aims to investigate the factors
of student motivation in the context of Chinese learning as the second foreign language
to increase inquisitive proactiveness and attitude towards language learners, especially
the sophomores, at Ho Chi Minh University of Banking.

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1.3 Aim and objectives of the study
Aims
This research aims to investigate the motivation behind learning Chinese as the
second foreign language for English-majored sophomores at Ho Chi Minh University
of Banking. By identifying the factors that influence their motivation, challenges can
be clarified as well. Then, suggestions to improve their learning efficiency are stated.
Objectives
To address the aims, the researchers follow the steps below.
- To look into the reasons why Sophomores decide to choose Chinese as their
second foreign language.
- To look into the reasons why Sophomores decide to choose Chinese as their
second foreign language.
- To identify the elements that drive Sophomores motivation.
- To find out the challenges that impact Sophomores' motivation when studying
Chinese for suggested solutions.
1.4 Research questions
Two research questions will be addressed in this study:
1) What are the motivations of the Chinese learning by the English-majored
Sophomores at Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking?
2) What are the factors impact the motivation of learning Chinese by the English-
majored Sophomores at Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking?
1.5 Scope of the study
The research content mainly focuses on finding out the factors of motivation on
learning Chinese as the second foreign language. The target participants of this research
are not first-year, third-year, or fourth-year students, but specifically second-year
English majors. Sophomore majors in English were chosen to participate in the study
because they are learning an additional language, Chinese, and they have a certain
amount of time exposure to this language. Finally, the scope of research is encapsulated
in Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking.

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1.6 Significance of the study
This study provides new insights into clear statements of Sophomores about
learning Chinese as the second foreign language. It shows that learning Chinese can
help these students graduate with outstanding results as bachelors, acknowledge
Chinese traditions, and have more opportunities to continue higher education or study
abroad for a better job, a better life, and even change their life story; then, students can
deal with many hard situations in the future life.

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 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definition of motivation
Motivation refers to the purposeful condition or behavior of pursuing a goal. It is a
person's internal drive to succeed. Individuals are motivated by their excitement,
passion, desire, desires, and ambitions to reach their goals. Language motivation is
understood as the attitude, desire, and effort of learners when learning a foreign or a
second language (Gardner, 1985). The learning situation can either strengthen or hinder
motivation for learning a second language.
Motivation refers to the purposeful condition or behavior of pursuing a goal. It is
a person's internal drive to succeed. Individuals are motivated by their excitement,
passion, desire, desires, and ambitions to reach their goals. Motivation is influenced
by emotional, social, and physiological factors. Language motivation is understood
as the attitude, desire, and effort of learners when learning a foreign or a second
language (Gardner, 1985). The learning situation can either strengthen or hinder
motivation for learning a second language. Littlewood (1998) highlights the
importance of motivation in second language learning. "Motivation is an important
driver that determines whether a learner embarks on a task, how much energy he or
she spends on it, and how long he or she maintains."
2.2 Types of motivation
2.2.1 Integrative motivation
Gardner and Lambert (1972) classified motivation into integrative motivation and
instrumental motivation. They define Integrative motivation as follows: Integrative
orientation is the interest in learning a second language due to the individual's sincere
interest in the people and culture of the group. other languages. This motivation appears
when learners have a desire to bond with and penetrate the culture of the target language.
Norris-Holt (2001) also believes integrative motivation is reflected in the learner's
positive attitude toward the target language group and the desire to penetrate that
language community. In Finnegan's (1999) opinion, this type of motivation is the basis

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for the successful acquisition of a wide range of native-like vocabulary and
pronunciation.
2.2.2 Instrumental motivation
The opposite of penetration motivation is instrumental motivation. This
motivation is expressed in the desire to gain something practical or concrete from the
process of learning a second language (Hudson, 2000). With pragmatic motives, the
purpose of language acquisition becomes more practical, such as to meet school
requirements or to graduate from university, apply for a job, or ask for a higher salary.
rely on language competence, reading technical documents, or achieving higher social
status.
2.3 Factors of Motivation
2.3.1 Learning a foreign language
2.3.1.1 Requirements
Students are studying Bilingual English – Chinese major, especially the second-
year students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking have completed Chinese 3
course equivalent to “Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi” 3. This reveals that the second-year
students have a strong foundation knowledge of Chinese 1 and Chinese 2 and have to
accumulate about 600 vocabularies of “Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi” level 3. To graduate
the Bachelor’s degree program in English language, Sophomores need to complete 3
courses: Chinese 4, Business Chinese 1, and Business Chinese 2 with two elective
courses: Chinese for Office and Chinese for Banking and Finance. This requires
Sophomores must have a solid background and a great motivation in pursuing Chinese
language (Đoàn Võ Việt, 2022)
2.3.1.2 Challenges
The main ethnic Han population in China is joined by other ethnic minorities
dispersed over the country's northern, western, southwestern, and southern borders.
There are various dialects spoken by the Hans people. In 1955, Mandarin is a standard
Chinese language, was chosen as the national language and an official language. All
schools are required to teach this language, which is also recommended for usage in the
media, business, industry, broadcasting, military, and for interpreting and translating
duties. Approximately 70% of Hans in the country's northern, middle, and western

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(regions speak it in various sub-dialect forms. The six other Chinese dialects are Wu
(spoken in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai), Cantonese (spoken in Guangdong), Min
(spoken in Fujian), Min (spoken in Fujian), Hakka (spoken in northeast Guangdong and
other southern provinces), Gan (spoken in Jiangxi).
2.3.1.2.1 Complex Structure and Recalling Words
It is a great challenge for Sophomores who learn Chinese as the second foreign
language when many studies have proved that learning Chinese characters has been
found to be the main challenge for Sophomores who have never used a character writing
system (Hu, 2010, Ke et al., 2001, Shei & Hsieh, 2012, Shen, 2015, cited in Olmanson
& Liu, 2017). Chinese especially Mandarin is totally different from English and
Vietnamese, Mandarin words are not formed by letters in alphabetic system, but using
logographic language system. While English using 26 letters to spell words, Chinese
uses 6 basic strokes mixed in a different way to generate radicals, which are the basic
components to make characters (Sung, 2014). 6 basic strokes are horizontal stroke,
straight stroke, dotted line, comma line, upstroke, and marked line. Radicals will
combine with others components to form characters. A Chinese character, no matter
how many strokes, can only be written in a certain square with different type of
characters, positions, sizes, and heights (Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang & Nguyễn Châu Giang,
2015). On the other hand, languages written in Lantin alphabet like English or
Vietnamese only need to be written in the order from left to right with a simple structure.
Lu et al. (2014) explored two challenges to Chinese character acquisition for non-native
learners especially sophomores. The first difficulty is developing structural awareness
of characters, which presents a significant obstacle for sophomores who are not familiar
with the Chinese writing system in terms of identifying and understanding the
information contained in the structure of Chinese characters. The second difficulty is
actually performing the right stroke order even after receiving repeated instruction.
According to Hu’s (2010) research findings on non-native Chinese learners in the UK
reported that the learners especially sophomores face up with character learning
challenges: recalling how to write words, recognizing the words, and recalling
vocabulary.

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 2.3.1.2.2 Homophones and Multi-Syllable Words
Similar to Vietnamese and English, Mandarin also has homophones, which
cannot be sure of writing words when knowing exactly how to read. For example, some
words have sound “dān” are 郸,丹,单,担,耽,眈,聃,殚,箪,儋,甔,耼,躭 . Choosing
words depends greatly on the clear understanding of meaning and the use of words.
Besides, multi-syllable words (same word with different sound) is considered as a
challenge of learners who first get closer to Chinese because it is not exist in
Vietnamese. For example, “首都”/Shǒudū/, “都是” /Dōushì/, “睡觉”/Shuìjiào/,
“觉得”/Juédé/, “银行”/Yínháng/, “ 不行”/Bùxíng/ (Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang &
Nguyễn Châu Giang, 2015).
2.3.1.2.3 Reading
The lack of connection between a character and its pronunciation makes
Chinese characters learning more difficult (Sung & Wu, 2011). Each Chinese character,
only written in a certain square, has a certain meaning and pronunciation. Some words
that learners especially sophomores know the meaning but cannot pronounce them
exactly. For example, the character “大”/dà/ may remind someone of a person standing
with arms outstretched, indicate greatness, but cannot know accurately how to read
without being taught or looked up before. For Sophomores who learn Chinese as the
second language, they said it is hard for them to memorize the pronunciation of a
character. Chinese characters are different from English and Vietnamese in terms of
their shape, sound, and meaning. In these languages, the pronunciation and alphabets
are connected, allowing sophomores to read sentences even if they do not know the
meaning.
2.3.1.2.4 Pronunciation
In the 1950s, “Pinyin”, a phonetic writing system for Chinese, was created to
aid foreign language learners in the initial phases of the language learning process
(Olmanson & Xianquan, 2017). Chinese being a tonal language which is considered to
be one of the challenges for learners especially Sophomores, it contain five tone that
include high level (first tone), rising (second tone), falling rising (third tone), falling
(fourth tone) and toneless to distinguish characters that have similar pronunciation

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(Chua et al., 2015). For example, the character “爸”/bà/ with the first tone means
“father” while the character “拔”/bá/ with the second tone means “pull out”. Another
challenge related to tone is the large number of homophones, or similar sounds in
Chinese are communicated by the unique visual patterns that also convey their meaning.
For example, there are many characters share the pronunciation /ma/ with the tones,
each of them has different meaning (Wang, 1988). Due to the lack of connection
between character and pronunciation, “Pinyin”, the Chinese phonetic system, is used to
provide the visual pronunciation hints when learning Chinese characters (Lee &
Kalyuga, 2011). Therefore, the challenge in pronouncing Chinese lies both in
pronouncing the sounds from “Pinyin” representations, in positioning the tongue
accurately, and in changing the relative pitch when producing sounds (Hu, 2010). As
implied in McGinnis’ study (1999), Chinese learners at the beginning level are likely to
use Pinyin to encode the vocabulary that they know. The difficult of recognizing words
may not only involve in knowing the meaning of vocabulary but also their pronunciation
(Hu, 2015).
2.3.2 Time Spent
While the majority of educational studies has concentrated on the connection
between the qualitative aspects of students’ learning activities and academic
performance (Byrne et al., 2002), quantitative aspects like time spent is less attention in
previous research (Doumen, Broekmans, & Masui, 2014).Time spent is also considered
as behavioral strategy. An evidence has shown that motivation in learning second
language impact time spent (Opdecam & Eveaert, 2012) and time on task (Hattie, 2009)
then impact academic performance. This is also consistent with the culture of higher
education, which emphasizes students autonomy and responsibility for their own
education (Ramsden, 1997). What learners especially Sophomores do in their spare time
is their own responsibilities; however, it impacts their performance in class. The second-
year students need to plan and monitor their study time on their own of scheduled
classes (Doumen et al., 2014). In learning second foreign language, convincing students
to allow all their time for the learning process is challenging (Scully & Kerr, 2014). It
is essential that Sophomores practice the characters system by engaging in a lot of

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exercises, stepwise throughout the whole semester when learning Chinese. Time spent
has often been examined as a potential indicator of academic performance (Plant,
Ericsson, Hill, & Asberg, 2005). It seems that the more time the second-year students
spend studying, the higher academic performance they achieve. Some linguists found
that there is a relation between the weekly amount time of studying and Grade Point
Average (GPA) for college students (Micheals & Miethe, 1989; Rau & Durand, 2000).
However, this relation can be influenced by the time Sophomores spend on part-time
jobs, the ability level of students (Plants et al., 2005).
2.3.3 Learning Strategy
Wu and Wu (2008) believe that positive and relaxed classroom environments are
linked to students' motivation and language proficiency. This argue receives some
support from researchers who believe that having the effective method helps learners to
sense the purpose of developing their language skills. Established by Ebbinghaus
(1885), the ability of human recall new information drops to below 50% in an hour and
to 25% in 48 hours. Therefore, taking class notes ensures that learners do not only listen
to the lecturer but also remember the information. That is, while the instructor's voice
is being passively registered by the short-term sensory store, the information is also
being actively and consciously processed by the working memory (Helena, 1988) .
There are two processes that taking notes is the most effective: before class and during
class.
• Complete Assigned Readings before Class: If students completed textbook tasks
for the particular week or unit before to class, they would be better able to absorb
the material covered in class (Ormrod, 2015). One of the most important tasks in
class is to identify the main ideas. Having already read the whole textbook before
class help learners know what is important (Helena, 1988).
• Review Notes from the Previous class: Understanding the last material provides
a foundation for learning new material (Helena, 1988) especially when learning
Chinese. Reviewing some new words that are learnt help the second-year
students remember how to write characters, recognizing the words, and recalling
vocabulary.

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 • Listen Carefully to the Lecturer: While discussing parts, the lecturer often makes
main points then provides supporting details with examples. Van Blerkom
(2012) offers some tips. Noting the question asked rather than summarizing the
main points. Then, write down the different points throughout the discussion.
2.4 Previous studies
In general, motivation in learning Chinese as the second foreign language has been
discussed by many linguists. Most researchers explore the positive factor of motivation
when learning Chinese. This research wants to find the negative motivation factor and
the challenges of learning Chinese as the second foreign language of English-majored
Sophomores at Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking.

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 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research design
To get the most natural results of English-majored Sophomores’ motivation in
learning Chinese as the second language, quantitative method is conducted with the use
of questionnaire as the research instrument. The study follows a quantitative approach
to gain an in-depth understanding of the elements that drive Sophomore motivation.
3.2 Research site/context
The site where this research was undertaken is at Department of Foreign Language
of Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking. Generally, the school is known as one of
the best school specializing in economic field. Therefore, language major does not
receive much attention. The university was chosen as the research site of the study for
reasons of convenience.
3.3 Sample and sampling procedures
As the research focuses on the students’ language experience, one of the most
important recruitment criteria is that the second-year students are studying in an Chinese
program at Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking. Those who are studying Japanese
language is excluded. Besides, the research focuses on Bilingual English-Chinese
Sophomores only because they have stronger background knowledge after studying
Chinese 1, and Chinese 2 than those who study Commercial English. The population of
Bilingual English-Chinese major consists of 63 students but not all of them is selected.
The sampling techniques this research follow is probability sampling especially is
simple random sampling. The researcher will select randomly 40 students from 63
students conducted the survey. Therefore, they can have an equal chance of being
selected at any stage of the process and the research might be more objective. In general,
the sample is 40 Bilingual English–Chinese Sophomores of Ho Chi Minh City
University of Banking. From this sample, there are 13 male students (accounting for
32.5%) and 27 female students (accounting for 67.5%). The researcher also stresses the
confidentiality of the study, noting that the names of the participants won’t be appeared
in the study's report.

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3.4 Research instruments
The survey method is followed to collect the data on English-majored Sophomores’
motivation in learning Chinese as the second foreign language. The research
instruments is a questionnaire adopted and adapted from Lưu Hớn Vũ (2017); Chua et
al., (2022). The questionnaire is a set of orderly arranged questions prepared to answer
by a sample below to collect information. The questionnaire is developed based on the
study’s objectives and divides into 6 parts. Part 1 asks about demographic features such
as gender, year, major, university, and second foreign language choice. Part 2 is
designed to learn about Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation. Part 3 and
Part 4 includes requirements and challenges in learning the second foreign language.
Part 5 is designed to learn about the time that Sophomores spent in studying Chinese.
The last part asks about the learning strategy.
Part 2 of the questionnaire (Q6) uses the Multiple-choice questions of Closed-
ended question which a respondent has to select one or many responses from a given
list of options. This part consists of 7 options and 1 other option if the participants’
choice are not among the options are given. The Multiple-choice question is to learn the
reason of choosing Chinese as the second foreign language toward Sophomore. Part 3
(Q7) only has 1 question used the Dichotomous question of Closed-ended question
required sample to choose between yes or no; besides, to determine whether students
meet the requirements after studying Chinese or not. Part 4 is mixed 2 type of
questionnaires used on regard with the Literature Review on Challenge that Sophomore
faces with when learning Chinese. Complex Structure and Recalling Words (from Q8
to Q10) uses the Dichotomous question of Closed-ended question to determine whether
Sophomore encounters these difficulties or not. Homophones and Multi-Syllable
Words, Reading, and Pronunciation includes 5 question (from Q11 to Q15). The
respondents answer theses questions using the 5-point Likert scale: 1-Strongly
Disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Neutral, 4-Agree, and 5-Strongly Agree. These question will
give the participants more details on what they agree or disagree about the challenge,
so that participants could show their opinions more specific and clearly. Part 5 (Q16
and Q17) uses the Multiple-choice questions of Closed-ended question that respondents
have to select only one response from a given list of options. These questions aim to

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determine how much time Sophomore spent on learning Chinese. Part 6 (from Q18 to
Q23) uses the 5-point Likert scale: 1-Strongly Disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Neutral, 4-
Agree, and 5-Strongly Agree. This part aims to examine whether participants are using
the right learning strategy or not.
3.5 Data collection procedures
To identify the elements that drive Sophomores’ motivation and find out the
challenges that impact their motivation when studying Chinese, a quantitative research
methodology is used since it focuses on using individuals as the primary source of
information. Because of the urgent project’s timeline, a questionnaire survey is used to
collect data because of its helpful in getting a lot of information from the respondents
in a short time but still maintaining the data’s focus. The online survey participants are
identified as the second-year students majoring in English language. The questions
addresses the motivation reason of choosing Chinese and students’ language difficulty.
The data is collected within five weeks in the middle of the course. The reason for
choosing this because at this time Sophomores have learnt half of the “Hanyu Shuiping
Kaoshi” textbook 3 part 1 and have had their personal perspective. The questionnaires
were recorded through Google Workspace and the collected data was analyzed in
Microsoft Excel.
3.6 Data analysis procedures
The data gathers from the participants are analyzed for the purpose of answering
the research questions. The study is going to analyze using descriptive statistics in order
to collect the frequency count and percentage. The data were analyzing using software
Microsoft Excel and were presented in variety of chart types such as columns, pie
charts, and tables. Additionally, the questionnaire results was scrutinized to determine
the students' goals, difficulties, time spent and learning strategy.

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 CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Findings and Discussions
4.1.1 Demographic Information
A total of 40 students participated and completed the survey. Most of the
respondents were female who represented 67.5% of the sample and 32.5% of the
respondents were males. Because this survey was only sent to students who are studying
in the second year of the English-Chinese Bilingual major at Ho Chi Minh City
University of Banking, so the answers from Q2 to Q5 were absolutely yes accounting
for 100%. The researcher makes sure that students choose to learn Chinese as the second
foreign language.
Features Frequency (n) Percentage (%)
Gender Female: 27 Female: 67.5
Male: 13 Male: 32.5
Study at HUB 40 100
English-majored Sophomore 40 100
Second Foreign Language: Chinese 40 100
Major in Bilingual English-Chinese 40 100
Table 1. Features of Participants (n=40)
4.1.2 Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation
Findings are followed by the question:
“Why did you learn Chinese as the second foreign language?”
Motivation in learning Chinese as the second foreign language is shown on Table
2. The answer is divided into 2 type of motivation. From the answer 1 to 3 belong to
Intergrative motivation and the others belong to Instrumental motivation. The data
reveals Instrumental motivation (average percentage 19.45%) accounts for more
percentages than Intergrative motivation (average percentage 7.41%). Fulfill the
university requirements has the highest percentage (21.11%) while be at case with
people who speak Chinese has the lowest percentages (5.56%). It clears that students’
motivation to study comes from external factors such as meeting school requirements

14
or having a stable job in the future. Besides, parents’ pleasure accounts for relative
percentages (19.44%), showing that students choose this language to please their
parents not from their willingness, love, and interest. Therefore, when encountering
difficulties in the process of learning the new language, Sophomores tend to lose
motivation, have no direction, and easily switch to another language that is easier to
learn.
The Reason of learning Chinese Frequency (n) Percentage (%)
History, culture, and Chinese people interest 11 6.11
Chinese classics, literature, music, and films 19 10.56
Be at case with people who speak Chinese 10 5.56
Fulfill the university requirements 38 21.11
Useful in getting a good job 37 20.56
Effective competition in the global economy 30 16.67
Parents’ pleasure 35 19.44
Other 0 0
Total 180 100.00
Table 2. Reason of learning Chinese
4.1.3 Requirements
Findings are followed by the question:
“Do you accumulate 600 vocabularies of “Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi” 3 after studying
3 foundation Chinese course?”

Figure 1. Ability in Meeting Requirements

Yes No

15
 The pie chart above shows students' ability to meet the requirements after
completing Chinese language course 3. Most of the second-year students could not
accumulate 300 new vocabulary words (70%) equivalent to 28 students and the number
of students who meet the requirement is 12 students (30%). It seems that Sophomores
cannot remember all the common vocabularies because of the huge number of
vocabularies. Chinese 1, Chinese 2, Chinese 3 courses are considered as basic and
foundational to study advanced courses such as Chinese for Office and Chinese for
Banking and Finance.
4.1.4 Challenges
4.1.4.1 Complex Structure and Recalling Words
Findings are followed by 3 questions:
“Can you recognize words?”
“Can you remember writing words in an order?”
“Can you remember the meaning of the characters?”

Figure 2. Difficulties in Structure and Recalling Words

80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Words Recognition Recalling Writing Order Recalling Meaning
Yes No

The bar chart above shows the difficulties in remembering Chinese writing order
and vocabularies. For the question “Can you recognize words?” most students
answered Yes (75%) and No (25%) equivalent to 30 and 10 students. This shows that
students are still able to recognize the vocabulary they have learned clearly. However,
for the question “Can you remember writing words in an order?” most students
answered No is 28 accounting for 70%. This shows that students have not yet

16
memorized the writing order in Chinese because of many strokes and the requirement
in writing correctly Besides, there are still 12 students who remember the order of
writing strokes in Chinese, accounting for 30%. For the question, “Can you remember
the meaning of the characters?” most students answered No are 27 students accounting
for 67.5%, nearly three times as much as that of “Words Recognition”. The number of
students answering Yes are 13 students accounting for 32.5%. It seems that, throughout
the learning process, students are still able to recognize a vocabulary but cannot
remember the writing order and the meaning of words might because students only skim
vocabulary without regularly practicing in writing and using it usually.
4.1.4.2 Homophones and Multi-Syllable Words
Statement Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree agree
I usually read wrong because
there are many words with the 2.5 2.5 22.5 37.5 35
same pronunciation.
I can recognize the word but
cannot pronounce exactly the 12.5 7.5 22.5 32.5 25
“Pinyin” (same word with
different sound).
Table 3. Difficulties Level in Homophones and Multi-Syllable Words
The Table 3 shows that students are often confused because there are many
different words but the same pronunciation, this accounting for 35% (Strongly agree)
and 37.5% (Agree), equivalent to 14 students (Strongly agree) and 15 students (Agree).
Others accounting for 27.5% think they can pronounce at a Neutral, Disagree and
Strongly disagree level. It clear that students have not yet learned about homophones
and have not yet been able to distinguish structural differences but have the same
pronunciation. The Table above also shows that students are able to recognize
vocabulary but do not know the correct pronunciation, accounting for 32.5% (Agree)
and 25% (Strongly agree), equivalent to 13 students (Agree) and 10 students (Strongly
agree). It clears that students are not aware of a word will have many “Pinyin” and each
“Pinyin” refers for different meanings depending on the semantics sentences. In
addition, the percentage of students who recognize the pronunciation of words accounts
for 12.5% (Strongly disagree), 7.5% (Disagree), and 22.5% (Neutral), equivalent to 5

17
students (Strongly disagree), 3 students (Disagree), and 9 students (Neutral) . The
percentage shows that there are still some students who are able to recognize the
pronunciation of words. It seems that the level of difficulty in this part is relatively
significant but still has some solvable solutions.
4.1.4.3 Reading and Pronunciation
Statement Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree agree
I can guess the meaning of the
word but cannot read without 20 30 15 17.5 17.5
being taught.
I cannot pronounce clearly 5
tones. 7.5 5 12.5 37.5 37.5
I cannot distinguish words that
have similar pronunciation but 10 7.5 20 40 22.5
different tones.
Table 4. Difficulties Level in Reading and Pronunciation
The Table 4 shows that the number of students choosing Strongly disagree
accounting for 20% and Disagree accounting for 30%, equivalent to 8 students
(Strongly disagree) and 12 students (Disagree). It seems that students are not able to
guess the meaning based on the shape of words. Because they do not have right learning
reading methods, students only know the meaning when taught and cannot guess the
meaning. For the statement "I cannot pronounce clearly 5 tones.", it shows that the
number of students choosing Agree accounting for 37.5% and Strongly agree
accounting for 37.5%, equivalent to 15 students in both items. It clears that students are
not able to pronounce the 5 tones correctly because they have not practiced speaking
regularly in positioning the tongue accurately, and in changing the relative pitch when
producing sounds. For the statement “I cannot distinguish words that have similar
pronunciation but different tones.”, it shows that the number of students choosing
Agree accounting for 40%, the highest percentage votes equivalent to 16 students and
Strongly agree accounting for 22.5% equivalent to 9 students. It seems that a large
number of students cannot distinguish between words with the same pronunciation but

18
different tones might because during the learning process the lecturer have not taught,
causing confusion of tones and semantics.
4.1.5 Time Spent
Findings are followed by 2 questions:
“How many days of a week you spend in learning Chinese?”

Figure 3. Students time to study Chinese (days)

7 days 4 days 1 day 0 day

The Figure 3 reveals that the number of students spending time in learning Chinese
is not much, only 20% for "7 days" equivalent to 8 students and 25% for "4 days"
equivalent to 10 students. Most students only spend about “1 day” a week studying
Chinese, accounting for 43%, equivalent to 17 students, or even “0 day”, accounting for
13%, equivalent to 5 students. It clears that students do not study Chinese much, which
directly impacts their learning results, causes a tendency to lose direction, lose
motivation, and give up.
“How much time do you spend on a day in learning Chinese?”
Table 4 below shows that the number of students spending time of their day to learn
Chinese is not much, only 18% for "6 hours", equivalent to 7 students and 20% for “4
hours” equivalent to 8 students. Most students only spend “1 hour” a day to learn
Chinese, accounting for 35%, equivalent to 14 students, and even “0 hour”, accounting
for 27.5%, equivalent to 11 students. It clears that students do not spend much time
during their day to learn Chinese, which impacts their results. It can be said that Chinese
is easily forget and confused, so it takes a lot of time to learn. On the other hand, the
number of students spending "4 hours" accounts for 20%, equivalent to 8 students, and

19
the number of students spending “6 hours” accounts for 18%, equivalent to 7 students.
It can be seen that there are still a few students who spend time studying but still lose
otivation. That could be due to using the wrong learning methods leading to poor results.

Figure 4. Students time to study Chinese (hours)

6 hours 4 hours 1 hour 0 hour

4.1.6 Learning Strategy

Statement Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree agree
I look up new vocabularies in a 30 40 12.5 12.5 5
dictionary before class.
I translate the next lesson to 22.5 47.5 15 7.5 7.5
Vietnamese to understand more
before class.
I have completed all the exercises 17.5 22.5 5 30 30
before class.
I learn by heart the vocabularies I 30 20 12.5 17.5 20
have learnt before class.
While studying in class, I usually 12.5 12.5 5 32.5 37.5
take notes of the supporting
details with examples provided
by the lecturer.
I often ask the lecturer again if I 25 40 10 12.5 12.5
am not clear about what they
teach.
Table 5. Level of Learning Strategy
From the statement 1 to 4 belongs to the learning method before class. Statement 1
shows that the large number of students do not look up the meaning of words and

20
pronunciation before coming to class, accounting for 40%, equivalent to 16 students
(Disagree) and 30%, equivalent to 12 students (Strongly disagree). Statement 2 shows
that the number of students who did not translate the reading textbooks into Vietnamese
before class accounting for 47.5% (Disagree), equivalent to 19 students and 22.5%,
equivalent to 9 students. It clears that students are not conscious of preparing new
lessons and are still dependent on the lecturer. Statement 3 shows that the number of
students who did not complete their homework was only 17.5% (Strongly disagree),
equivalent to 7 students and there were 24 students, accounting for 60% of both Strongly
agree and Agree shows that they did complete the homework before class. It seems that
students do not prepare new lessons because they spend time reviewing knowledge by
doing homework. Regarding to statement 4, it shows that there are still students who
always learn vocabulary after each lesson, accounting for 37.5% of both Strongly agree
and Agree, equivalent to 15 students. During the learning process, students also
regularly take the lecturer's notes, accounting for 32.5% (Agree) and 37.5% (Strongly
agree), equivalent to 28 students. However, they do not have the confidence to ask
teachers what they do not understand account for 40% (Disagree), equivalent to 16
students. Overall, it shows that the vast majority of students do not prepare lessons
before coming to class to spend time reviewing previous lessons and learning
vocabularies. During the learning process, students also actively note the supporting
details taught by the lecturer, but when they have questions, they do not dare to ask the
lecturer.
In general, the learning motive of the second-year students comes from external
factors such as: having a stable job and meeting university requirements. Therefore,
when encountering difficulties in the process of learning the new language, they easily
lose motivation. The findings above shows that the demotivation factor mainly comes
from students such as not spending enough time to learn Chinese. That leads to the fact
that even though they memorize vocabularíe and do homework, students are still
unfamiliar with the language.

21
4.3 Limitations
There are several limitations that the researcher is aware of. First, the rather low
number of participants, only 63 students were surveyed and 40 students were randomly
selected for analysis, which limits the generalizability of the results. This happens
because the total number of students required to choose Chinese as the second foreign
language is only 63 students. If it can be expanded to students majoring in Business
English, the research might yield additional encouraging findings. The second
limitation is the lack of prior research studies on the topic. The topic of motivation is
considered as a quite familiar topic for those who are just starting to write research.
However, studies in the idea of "factors impact on motivation" extremely uncommon.
The Literature Review has been divided by the researcher into small factors and linked
together to follow the research problem being investigated. The third limitation is that
the time spent is based on self-reported measurements, which can be both advantageous
and disadvantageous: Strength: Students are the best judges of their own time spent;
Weakness: Owing to social desirability, some students may have replied what they
should have done rather than what they actually do or have done. Since there was no
gain for the students in this study, the researcher does not think that the students inflated
(or underestimated) the amount of time they spent participating.
4.4 Implications
4.4.1 Implications for Time Spent
Some solutions to overcome the problem of spending too little time studying
Chinese for Sophomores. To do homework and memorize the vocabularies they have
learned thoroughly, students need at least 3 hours and 30 minutes to prepare new lessons
before class. In addition, they also need to voluntarily spend more days a week to
practice and apply the knowledge they have learned into practicing at least 4 days a
week.
4.4.2 Implications for Learning Strategy
4.4.2.1 Common Radicals Memorizing
There are a total of 214 radicals but 50 of them are commonly used. Memorizing
the common radicals bring many benefits. When do not know how to read characters,

22
learners can rely on the radicals to look up the meaning of the words. For example,
some words with the radical “日”relates to sun, time; some words with the radical
“车” relates to vehicle. Each radical has its own meaning, so focuses on memorizing
radical of characters will improve the learners's memorization abilities.
4.4.2.2 Hieroglyphs and Word Consultation Memorizing
Chinese is a figurative language. Among the total number of Chinese characters,
there are some words that imitate the shape of things, which are drawings and sketches
of objects that can be seen is Hieroglyphs such as: Moon, Sun, water. For example, “
月”(Moon), “日”(Sun), “水”(water). Word Consultation is the principle of using
two or more radicals with the same meaning to create a new word. For example, radical
“木”refers to trees 2“木”create“木木”means forest. It is easier for learners to
convert words into images because the human brain tends to adapt to images more than
written words. That makes the connection between words and images easier. The
picture below show the words are converted to images.

Figure 5. Converted Words

23
 4.4.2.3 Dishtinguish Words with Similar Features
Chinese have many characters with similar shape. If there is no clear distintion, it
will be easy to get confused. For example, “ 末 ”“ 未 ”“ 来 ”.Distinguishing
Homophones in Chinese, there are many words that have the same pronunciation but
are different in meaning or writing. For example, “在再” (zài), “前钱” (qián),
“深神” (shēn).
4.4.2.4 Words Meaning Guess
Radicals are combined by two basic forms: phonetic radical and semantic radical.
A phonetic radical, which typically appears on the right side of a compound character
with a left-right construction and provides some clue sound of the whole words. Take
the character “晴”(sunny) has two radicals, the meaning of the radical “晴”(sunny)
is represented by the left radical“ 日 ”(sun); the right part “ 青 ”(blueness),
pronounced /Qīng/ indicates a similar sound of the character “ 晴 ” Therefore,
guessing the meaning of the left radical will help learners know the meaning of the
whole character in case they have not looked the vocabulary up in a dictionary.

24
 CONCLUSION
Motivation plays a vital role in helping individuals to achieve their desired goals. It
is also a crucial factor in the language learning process of students at Ho Chi Minh City
University of Banking. This research aims to investigate the motivation behind learning
Chinese as the second foreign language among English-majored Sophomores, identify
the elements that drive their motivation, and find out the challenges impact motivation
when studying Chinese for suggested solutions. The study provides evidence for
challenges affect motivation in the negative way and stresses again to make students
aware of their learning strategy and the importance of it for the learning motives. By
investigating their time spent and learning strategy, the researcher can realize that they
spent quite a bit of time and were having difficulty learning Chinese strategy properly.
Secondly, the researcher found that Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation
have an effect on their learning motives. Students who are highly Instrumental
motivated are more likely to lose motivation and easily switch to another language that
is easier to learn. In this situation, students require effective learning strategies that are
appropriate for their level of ability to increase motivation such as: Memorizing the
common radicals, Hieroglyphs, and Word Consultation; Dishtinguishing words with
similar features; and Guessing the meaning of words. This research will be a reference
which creates a premise for future related studies.

25
 REMARK
Scientific research is a social activity, directed at discovering the nature of things
and developing new technological tools to make the world a better place. Understanding
that it can improve knowledge, aid in the search for the truth and lead to innovation the
quality of education. Therefore the researcher was very excited as soon as the course
started. Through the research, there are many different skills that researcher believes
will help them a lot in the future such as observation and analysis skill. Besides, from
the researcher's personal experience, meticulousness are indispensable when doing
research in addition to patience and passion. For example, when having trouble with
data that are not going in the direction the researcher wants, it requires calmness to find
some methods to solve the problem. The opportunity to expand one's perspectives,
develop skills, and contribute to humanity is what the researcher finds most fascinating
about conducting study. This leads to willingly taking part in scientific research contests
and funding school-sponsored scientific research project.

While working together, our group encountered many setbacks and difficulties,
specifically the lack of cooperation and support between team members. There would
be members who did 80% of the work while other members waited for it. This leads to
differences in the level of work of group members with each other. However, there are
other things that researchers have more difficulty is finding previous studies that have
the same ideas. The topic of motivation is currently very widespread and is a familiar
topic for those who are initially researching. However, the topic that negatively affects
motivation are not many, especially in the Chinese language. Although initially
researching, researcher figured out what she wanted to investigate for the topic but did
not know how to develop it logically. Above all, as the person who invested the most
in the article, researcher found a way to develop the research problem through data and
findings

In the initial steps of writing research, our group wanted to understand and
investigate more some setbacks surrounding ourselves and those close to us such as
teachers or students. During the process of learning Chinese, researchers also

26
experienced similar difficulties in learning Chinese as the language was not our mother
tongue.In addition, it was unlike any language they had learned before. That is also the
reason why our grouo chose this topic when first started researching. During the
research process, researchers also included their own drawbacks and those of the
participants in the research, thereby helping our group have a more multi-dimensional
view of the research problem. Therefore, provide practical and useful solutions for
readers. As mentioned above, there are not many documents that have the same ideas,
so these findings and solutions will be useful for the next research and will be helpful
for struggling readers.
In overall, this assignment helps the researcher conveys ideas and improve the
English writing abilities. The greatest benefit of study is that its findings and the
techniques employed for data processing will be relevant for future investigations.

27
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 APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire is intended to provide data for research on motivation in learning
Chinese as the second foreign language of English-majored sophomores at Ho Chi
Minh City University of Banking. We assure you that the survey results will ONLY be
used for research purposes. Your assistance in answering truthfully would greatly aid
our study.
Section 1: Demographic Information
Instruction: Place a tick on one option that best describe yourself
1. What is your gender?
 Male
 Female
2. Are you studying at Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking?
 Yes
 No
3. Are you an English-majored Sophomore?
 Yes
 No
4. Are you learning Chinese as the second foreign language?
 Yes
 No
5. Are you major in Bilingual English-Chinese?
 Yes
 No
Section 2: Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation
Instruction: Please place a tick in the box next to the options that best describe your
experiences. You can select more than one option for each question. For items marked
"Others", please specify to clarify your response.

32
 6. Why did you learn Chinese as the second foreign language?
 Because I am interested in history, culture, and Chinese people.
 Because I enjoy Chinese classics, literature, music, and films.
 Because it will allow me to be at case with peple who speak Chinese.
 Because I need the course to fulfill the university requirements.
 Because it will be useful in getting a good job.
 Because it will enable me to compete effectively in the global economy because China
is growing fast.
 Because learning Chinese will please my parents.
 Other:.............................................................................................................................................
Section 3: Requirements
Instruction: Please place a tick in only one box next to the options that best describe
your experiences.
7. Do you accumulate 600 vocabularies of “Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi” 3 after
studying 3 foundation Chinese course?
 Yes
 No
Section 4: Challenges
Instruction: Please place a tick in only one box next to the options that best describe
your experiences.
Complex Structure and Recalling Words
8. Can you recognize words?
 Yes
 No
9. Can you remember writing words in an order?
 Yes
 No
10. Can you remember the meaning of the characters?
 Yes
 No

33
Homophones and Multi-Syllable Words
Instruction: Using the 5 point scale shown below. Rate the following questions by
placing a check in the box. Please answer the question honestly. Do not leave each item
unanswered.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree
1 2 3 4 5
No Statements 1 2 3 4 5
11 I usually read wrong because there are many words with the same
pronunciation.
12 I can recognize the word but cannot pronounce exactly the “Pinyin”
(same word with different sound).

Reading and Pronunciation

Instruction: Using the 5 point scale shown below. Rate the following questions by
placing a check in the box. Please answer the question honestly. Do not leave each item
unanswered.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree
1 2 3 4 5
No Statements 1 2 3 4 5
13 I can guess the meaning of the word but cannot read without being
taught.
14 I cannot pronounce clearly 5 tones.
15 I cannot distinguish words that have similar pronunciation but
different tones.

34
Section 5: Time Spent
Instruction: Please place a tick in only one box next to the options that best describe
your experiences.
16. How many days of a week you spend in learning Chinese?
 7 days
 4 days
 1 day
 0 day
17. How much time do you spend on a day in learning Chinese?
 6 hours/day
 4 hours/day
 1 hour/day
 0 hour/day
Section 6: Learning Strategy
Instruction: Using the 5 point scale shown below. Rate the following questions by
placing a check in the box. Please answer the question honestly. Do not leave each item
unanswered.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree
1 2 3 4 5
No Statements 1 2 3 4 5
18 I look up new vocabularies in a dictionary before class.
19 I translate the next lesson to Vietnamese to understand more before
class.
20 I have completed all the exercises before class.
21 I learn by heart the vocabularies I have learnt before class.
22 While studying in class, I usually take notes of the supporting details
with examples provided by the lecturer.
23 I often ask the lecturer again if I am not clear about what they teach.

Thank you for participating in this survey! Your feedback is valuable for our
research.

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