Is Chinese Popular? Exploring the Learning Motivation of CSL Learners in a University in Malaysia

Chinese, as the official language of China, has the largest number of speakers worldwide, including those who learn it as a first, second, or foreign language. The launch of the first Confucius Institute in South Korea in 2004 signaled China's goal to promote global Chinese language education. Currently, around 30 million people are studying Chinese, and over 3,000 universities across 100 countries offer Chinese language courses, making it one of the most popular languages after English. Malaysia is a multicultural country, and the peculiarities of the country's character are considered a conducive place to learn languages. Because almost a quarter of the country's population is Chinese, this theoretically provides an open and inclusive environment for any learner who wants to study Chinese. Not only that, Malaysia has a very comprehensive Chinese education system, which covers from Chinese kindergartens to Chinese primary schools, independent Chinese secondary schools and higher education. The integrity of the Chinese education system is unparalleled in other countries around the world. Therefore, the uniqueness of Malaysian Chinese education lies in the completeness of its education system, the standardization of classroom teaching, and the breadth of learners (Wu & Teng, 2019). In addition, the establishment of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area has promoted friendly political and economic exchanges between China and Malaysia. Meanwhile, China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative has promoted the development of Southeast Asian countries and has had a significant impact on Chinese education in Southeast Asian countries (Yan, 2022). A qualitative study on 21 learners at a Malaysian university's Mandarin club explored motivations for learning Chinese. Findings indicated that economic, social, and cultural factors were primary influences, with some learners also motivated by technological factors.