Motivation in Foreign Language Learning among Malay Undergraduates in a Malaysian Public University

Abstract

This study investigated the motivational orientations of undergraduates in learning Mandarin as a foreign language in a Malaysian public university. The subjects were four hundred and twenty-three Malay undergraduates who enrolled in a level three Mandarin course. A 30-item five-point Likert scale questionnaire which integrated Gardner's socio-educational model and Dörnyei's framework of second language (L2) motivation was used to gather data on the respondents' integrative, instrumental and attitudinal motivations. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that generally the students were highly motivated to learn Mandarin as a foreign language. They were both integratively and instrumentally motivated but were more oriented towards attitudinal motivation in learning Mandarin as a foreign language. Moreover, the students were more inclined towards the teacher-specific than the course-specific and group-specific sources of attitudinal motivation in learning Mandarin. These results offer useful practical instructional implications concerning the students' motivational orientations in the Mandarin language classroom.