Motivational effects of standardized language assessment on Chinese young learners

Abstract

This review paper examines how standardized language assessment affects Chinese young learners’ motivation for second-language learning. By presenting the historical and contemporary contexts of the testing system in China, this paper seeks to demonstrate the interrelationship among cultural, social, familial, and individual factors, which collectively contribute to test impacts on young learners’ motivation. In order to call for future research on standardized language assessment’s motivational effects on Chinese young learners, this paper synthesizes findings and arguments from established research on learners of different age groups in different social contexts, which serve as a theoretical foundation for emerging studies on Chinese young test takers. The author concludes that Chinese young learners’ motivation for second-language learning is shaped by the sociocultural and historical context of the testing system, subject to age-related characteristics, and vulnerable to adults’ attitudes toward test results.

Keywords

• standardized language assessment
• motivation
• chinese young learners
• second-language learning