The impact of social media applications on the learning of Chinese as a second language among ethnic minority students in Hong Kong

Abstract

<p>Ethnic minority students in Hong Kong face difficulties in learning Chinese as a second language, which discourage their motivation to pursue higher education, find employment and integrate into the community. Research shows that the use of social media platforms, such as Facebook, WeChat, Twitter, YouTube, etc., can improve the language learning abilities of ethnic minorities in different countries and help them integrate into local communities more quickly. In this paper, a quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the impact of social media use on the learning of Chinese as a second language among ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary school by using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. At the same time, one local school was selected as a case study to explore the effectiveness of Secondary 3 and 4 ethnic minority students using social media to enhance their ability and motivation in learning Chinese language. The results of the study showed that social media applications could help improve the ability of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong to learn Chinese language and enhance their confidence in integrating into the local community.</p>

香港的少数族裔学生在学习华文第二语言时，一直面对听说读写的困难，打击他们在港升学就业及融入社会的动机。研究指出，社交媒体（如Facebook、WeChat、Twitter、YouTube等）的应用有助提升少数族裔人士学习不同语言的能力，并帮助这些人士更快地融入当地社区。本文设置一项准实验研究，运用问卷调查和半结构式访谈等研究工具，以香港的少数族裔中学生作为研究对象，探究社交媒体的应用对他们学习华文第二语言的影响。本研究以一所本地学校作为个案研究，探讨中三、中四级学生运用社交媒体来提高他们学习华文的能力之成效。研究结果显示，社交媒体应用有助提升香港少数族裔学生学习华文的能力和动机，并增强他们融入本地社区的信心。