
Because there was no elementary school program for Korean in this study, analyses were restricted to high school data only. Students' responses were analyzed with respect to gender, language program type, and level of instruction (beginning level vs. advanced level). The beginning level includes the first and second years of high school foreign language study. The advanced level includes the third, fourth, and fifth years. On the "Instrumental/Integrative Motivation" scale, there was a statistically significant difference between students in the beginning- and advanced-level classes (F [1, 436] = 12.29, p < .0001). It is not surprising to note that students in the advanced classes (M = 4.81) reported having greater motivation to learn the language than did beginning level students (M = 4.41).
Although there was a significant main effect for instructional level on the "Instrumental/Integrative Motivation" scale, significant differences did not emerge among all language programs. Table 7 summarizes the mean differences on the "Instrumental/Integrative Motivation" scale by level of instruction in each language program type. The results of the ANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect for language program type and level of instruction (F [2, 436] = 7.20, p < .0001). Scheffˇ tests for pairwise comparisons suggested that this interaction was specifically attributable to the greater instrumental/integrative motivation on the part of advanced-level students in the Korean and Chinese programs than their beginning-level counterparts. No such difference surfaced for students in the Japanese programs.
Some significant differences were detected on the scale for "Ethnic Heritage-Related Motivation" for learning Asian languages. One such difference was for language program type (F [2, 430] = 51.72, p < .0001). Scheffˇ tests for multiple comparisons showed that students in the Korean high school program (M = 3.51) had significantly higher scores than students in either the Japanese (M = 1.78, p < .0001) or Chinese programs (M = 2.61, p < .0001). The difference in motivation scores between students in the Japanese and Chinese programs was also significant (p = .02). This finding may be a result of the number of ethnic heritage students in the Korean program, where 91% of the students were of Korean descent. This compared with 43% ethnic Chinese students in the Chinese program and only 19% Japanese background students in the Japanese program. A significant difference by level of instruction (F [1, 430] = 23.20, p < .0001) indicated that students in the advanced language classes (M = 3.09) were more highly motivated by ethnic heritage than were students in the beginning-level classes (M = 2.18). Again, this may have been a function of the larger number of ethnic heritage students enrolled in advanced-level classes (75%) than in beginning level classes (51%).
There was a significant interaction effect for language program type by level of instruction (F [2, 430] = 4.826, p = .008). As shown in Figure 2, pairwise comparisons revealed that although students in both the Korean beginning- (M = 3.32) and advanced-level classes (M = 3.70) reported higher motivation related to ethnic heritage than students at the Japanese beginning (M = 1.56, p < .0001) and advanced levels (M = 2.00, p < .0001), advanced-level students in the Chinese programs (M = 3.56) had higher motivation than did their beginning-level counterparts (M = 1.66, p = .004). This finding can be explained by the percentage of ethnic heritage students in each level; that is the advanced versus beginning level in the Korean (100% vs. 85.18%), Chinese (85.7% vs. 27%), and Japanese (26.8% vs. 15.9%) language programs.
On the subscale entitled "Personal Interests-Related Motivation," female students (M = 4.08) reported significantly higher motivation than did male students (M = 3.69, F [1, 430] = 5.01, p = .026). This gender difference was noted in both the beginning and advanced levels of all three language programs (see Table 8). Further, students in the Japanese programs (M = 4.10) had significantly higher motivation scores than did students in the Korean program (M = 3.70, F [2, 430] = 3.36, p = .04). This scale also revealed a significant difference between the advanced and beginning classes (F [1, 430] = 5.64, p = .02). Overall, students in advanced classes (M = 4.09) showed significantly higher motivation based on personal interests than students in beginning classes (M = 3.68). There was a significant interaction effect between language program type and language class level (F [2, 430] = 7.82, p < .0001). Higher scores on the "Personal Interests-Related Motivation" scale for advanced students occurred in both the Chinese and Korean programs, but not in the Japanese programs (see Table 8).
On the scale reporting students' perceptions of their parents' involvement in their foreign language study, female students (M = 3.49) in every language program and in both beginning and advanced levels reported significantly higher parental involvement than did their male counterparts (M = 3.23, F [1, 435] = 4.31, p = .04). There was also a significant program type difference on this scale (F [2, 435] = 33.51, p < .0001). Scheffˇ tests showed that students in the Korean program (M = 4.19) perceived significantly higher parental involvement than students in either the Japanese (M = 3.29, p < .0001) or Chinese (M = 1.99, p < .0001) programs. Students in the Japanese programs, however, showed significantly higher parental involvement than students studying Chinese (p < .0001).
Parent Group Comparisons
Japanese and Chinese Programs.
Parents' responses to the various sections of the questionnaire were further analyzed in terms of respondents' gender, their child's grade level, and the language program type. Analyses for only the Japanese and Chinese elementary and high school programs were carried out first. It is interesting to note that there was no gender difference in the parents' attitudes toward foreign language learning or in their involvement in their child's foreign language study. There was, however, a significant difference between parents of elementary and high school students for attitudes toward foreign language study (F [1, 722] = 27.05, p < .0001). Parents of elementary school children (M = 5.28) reported more positive attitudes toward foreign language learning than did parents of high school students (M = 4.95).
There was a significant difference between elementary and high school parents on involvement in their child's foreign language study (F [1, 722] = 39.70, p < .0001). Parents of elementary school students (M = 5.12) reported significantly more involvement in their child's foreign language study than did high school parents (M = 4.66). The significant interaction between school grade level and language program type (F [1, 722] = 5.21, p = .02), however, casts these findings in a somewhat different light. Although parents of elementary school students scored significantly higher on their involvement than did parents of high school students, the difference was especially large for parents of children in the Chinese programs . At the elementary school level, parents with children in the Chinese programs reported significantly higher involvement (M = 5.29) than parents with children in the Japanese programs (M = 5.04, p < .0001). On the contrary, at the high school level, parents of students in the Japanese programs expressed significantly higher involvement (M = 4.69) than did the parents of students in the Chinese programs (M = 4.50, p < .001).
Three High School Programs.
Using data for high schools only, analyses were carried out with the parents' gender, language program type, and students' level of instruction (beginning vs. advanced) as the independent variables. No gender difference was found in parents' responses indicating their attitudes toward foreign language learning or their involvement in their child's foreign language study. Likewise, for program type, no significant differences were found in parents' attitudes toward foreign language learning. However, there was a significant effect for program type on parental involvement (F [2, 369] = 8.40, p < .0001). Parents of students in the Korean program (M = 5.16) reported significantly higher involvement in their child's language study than parents in the Japanese (M = 4.68) or Chinese (M = 4.52) programs. Student and Parent Comparisons on Parental Involvement
The reported level of parental involvement in students' foreign language study varied significantly when students' and parents' responses were compared. There was a significant difference in how each group perceived the involvement of parents in foreign language study (t [1, 163] = 9.67, p < .0001). Parents for all language programs and at all grade levels expressed significantly greater involvement than did their children, who downplayed parental involvement in their foreign language study.
Home | Organization | Map | Events and Discussions | Resources | Standards and Frameworks