Factors Affecting Grade Eight Students' Learning Motivation in Chinese Reading when Learning with Flipped Classroom Approach

Abstract

With the spread of information technology in Chinese education, the flipped classroom, an innovative learning method with the potential to improve teaching effectiveness, is gradually gaining attention from scholars. However, limited research has been conducted on Chinese language teaching in the flipped classroom, which is a major subject for a large number of Chinese students. It has been shown that the motivation of students to study in flipped classroom activities can be affected by many factors and they may impact the effectiveness of the course. Therefore, this study randomly selected 48 Grade 8 students from Mainland China to participate in three-week Chinese reading flipped classroom activities. Both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (interviews) methods were used to explore which factors significantly impacted students' motivation in the Chinese reading flipped classroom activities and how these factors influenced students from the student's perspective. The results showed that students' self-motivation (e.g., learning will) and self-efficacy (e.g., learning behavior) were the main factors influencing students' motivation to participate in the Chinese reading flipped classrooms, with averages of 4.239 and 4.163 respectively. And students' controlled motivation (e.g. study cognitive) was not a major factor with an average of 2.674. Through thematic analysis, it was concluded that students' self-achievement and exploratory desire stimulated their self-motivation and self-efficacy to learn in the Chinese reading flipped classrooms. In summary, this study provides educators with insights into how to increase student learning motivation.