Participants
Five-hundred ninety-one students participated in the present study. They were enrolled in one of the following Asian language programs in public schools in California: Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese), and Korean. Among these students, 451 were from six different high schools (three schools offering Japanese, two offering Mandarin, and one offering Korean programs) and 140 students were from two elementary schools (one with Japanese and one with Cantonese programs). At the secondary school level, students took an Asian language as a regular foreign language class (for one class period daily), whereas at the elementary level, the programs varied from a total immersion program in Japanese to a FLES (Foreign Languages in Elementary Schools) program, in which students receive 20-30 minutes of language instruction per day. Of the completed questionnaires, 275 were from female students and 312 from male students. Four respondents failed to indicate gender on the questionnaire. A total of 50% of the students were of Asian descent (10.7% Japanese, 20.8% Chinese, and 18.6% Korean). Another 11.5% were of mixed Asian descent (e.g., Japanese-Caucasian).
In addition, 847 parents whose children were enrolled in these Asian language programs also participated in this study. Exactly, 388 respondents were parents of students at the same six high schools and 459 were parents of elementary students enrolled in one of three schools (one Japanese immersion, one Japanese FLES, and one Cantonese language programs). A total of 529 mothers and 297 fathers completed the questionnaire. Twenty-one parents did not specify their gender. An ethnic breakdown of parents indicated that 61% were of Asian descent (22.8% Japanese, 25.86% Chinese, and 12.2% Korean). Another 4.8% were of mixed Asian descent (e.g., Chinese-Caucasian).
Materials and Procedure
Information was collected by means of a questionnaire. Questionnaires were distributed to six high school foreign language programs and three elementary school programs at the beginning of the 1993-94 school year. Only students who were in the 4th through 12th grades received the questionnaire. For students enrolled in kindergarten through third grades, completing the questionnaire was too difficult. Parents of students at all grade levels did receive and respond to the questionnaire.
The questionnaire for students consisted of three parts. Part 1 contained eight items comprising a scale of instrumental and integrative motivation for Asian language study (e.g., "Studying Japanese is important because it will be useful in getting a job in the future;" "It will allow me to meet with a variety of people"). This scale was adapted from one used previously by Gardner (1985). Part 2 was designed specifically for this study and consisted of 14 items that tapped other motives or reasons for studying specific Asian languages. These motives included: (a) motivation based on ethnic heritage (e.g., "This is my heritage language"), (b) school-related motivation (e.g., "I heard that the Chinese teacher at our school was good"), and (c) reasons based on personal interests (e.g., "I thought that studying Korean would be more interesting than studying European languages such as French, Spanish, or German"). Part 3 of the questionnaire asked students to indicate the level of parental involvement in their foreign language study. Examples of the nine items include the following two statements: "My parents encourage me to practice the foreign language as much as possible" and "My parents show considerable interest in my foreign language study."
The questionnaire for parents was divided into two parts. Part 1 contained nine questions relating to attitudes toward foreign language learning in general (e.g., "Studying a foreign language is an enjoyable experience;" "I wish to learn many foreign languages"). The second part, also consisting of nine items, asked parents to indicate their level of involvement in their child's language study (e.g., "I encourage my child to practice the foreign language as much as possible"). The final nine items of the parent questionnaire were identical to those in Part 3 of the student questionnaire. Responses to items on both the student and parent questionnaires were recorded on a 7-point Likert-type scale raging from "strongly agree" (6) to "strongly disagree" (0).
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