Background

 Motivation amplifies and sustains the learning of a new language. Previous studies have shown that learning environments affect motivation (Hartnett et al., 2011). Japanese language learners in some countries struggle from the dearth of opportunities to use Japanese in daily life and few chances to meet Japanese people or interact with other language learners in Japanese. Finland is an example of this learning environment, with few higher education facilities that offer Japanese classes. Moreover, Japanese language programs with classes at the intermediate or advanced level have even had to cut them due to institutional funding constraints.

Aims

 As the learning environment has regressed, we were wondering what kind of motivations Japanese language learners have maintained in Finland.

Method

 We conducted a quantitative survey in 2017 and 174 learners responded (M age=21.41, SD=6.247; 62.1% female). Sample items include “I am good at learning foreign languages,” and “I can improve myself”. This poster reports descriptive analysis and psychometric properties for an original scale (k=34).

Results

 Seven factors for motivation were identified: “cross-cultural understanding” (α= .91, ω= .85), “practicality for the future” (α= .85, ω= .87), “interests in Japanese itself” (α= .77, ω= .79), “interest in foreign language learning” (α= .81, ω= .83), “self-improvement,” (α= .78, ω= .78) “interest in pop culture” (α= .67, ω=.68), and “interest in high culture” (α= .75, ω= .80). An independent samples t-test for mean factor scores showed that “interest in learning foreign languages” (t(170)=2.06, p<.05) and “self-improvement” (t(172)=2.07, p<.05) differed for beginners in favor of intermediate to-advanced learners.

Conclusion

 From these results, learners with stronger “interests in foreign languages learning” and “self-improvement” appear to keep learning Japanese despite the isolated language use environment. We interpret these factors as tendencies in learning behaviors among those who possess positively characterized forms of self-concept in spite of limited instrumental support. Implications for research on student resilience, kanji learning, and self-determination among imagined communities of Japanese users are discussed.