Exploring the Motivation of National Common Language Learning among Ethnic Minority College Students in Inner Mongolia

As the importance of the national lingua franca in social communication is increasingly highlighted, this study aims to explore the learning motivation of minority university students in Inner Mongolia regarding the national lingua franca, with the purpose of understanding and analyzing the factors that contribute to students’ learning motivation in a specific linguistic environment. This paper selects minority students in Inner Mongolia universities as the research subjects and collects data through questionnaire surveys and interviews. Combining quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, it reveals the multidimensional differences in learning motivation in terms of gender, grade, and major background. Empirical research results indicate that students’ learning motivation is jointly influenced by social environment, cultural identity, and career planning. Positive factors provide motivation for learning engagement, while negative factors hinder the improvement of learning outcomes to a certain extent. The conclusions of this study have certain practical value in providing targeted language teaching strategies for higher education institutions and also play a positive role in promoting language integration and cultural exchange among minority university students.