A Review of a Malaysian Public University Students’ Motivational Behaviour in Learning a Foreign Language

Abstract

The motivation of students to learn Chinese as a foreign language has received considerable research attention. Related research has been conducted by the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) researchers or lecturers on UiTM students over years. However, there is currently no research investigating the trend, changes, and prospect of UiTM students’ motivation in learning Chinese as a foreign language, which retard future enhancement of the field. Thus, this study applied the structured review method to review publications produced by UiTM researchers or lecturers from 2003 to 2023. A total of 8 relevant publications were identified and analysed using PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The review indicated that the number of publications on the related topic is still limited but showing a potential growth. This study discovered a methodological gap that calls for more qualitative and mixed method investigations, as well as population and analysis gap which encourage more comparative studies rather than general investigations. The findings demonstrated both Diploma and Degree students’ motivational trend were balanced between instrumental and integrative motivation. Nonetheless, Degree students’ motivational behaviour changed more distinctly from intrinsic to extrinsic, compared to Diploma students. This study suggests putting more attention to nurturing students’ intrinsic motivation, correlates to extrinsic motivation. This study provides pedagogical implications on the teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language. Future study on the factors influencing students’ change of behaviour, the impact of the behavioural changes, and the reason of the rise of situation-specific motives in elder students and higher foreign language learning level students are required.