Persistence in Japanese language study and learners' cultural/linguistic backgrounds

Motivational characteristics of students learning Japanese as a foreign language at universities in Australia were investigated to find out what affecting factors are closely related to their intentions for continuing/discontinuing their study. The results showed that students cultural/linguistic backgrounds have a significant impact on their performance in learning the language, and sustaining motivation, which is closely related to their interest in aspects of Japanese culture, is an important determinant for persistence in their study. Developing intrinsic cultural interest is an important factor for sustaining motivation, which is more likely to occur when learners have distant cultural/linguistic backgrounds from Japanese. Closer cultural/linguistic backgrounds, on the other hand, may become hazardous for having accurate self-efficacy. Copyright 2009 Masanori Matsumoto. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.