PERCEIVED DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING OF MANDARIN AMONG FOREIGN-LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND STRATEGIES TO MITIGATE THEM

This study explored the hardship faced by foreign-language learners of Mandarin and the strategies applied to overcome them. Literature review found that technology created a positive effect that enhanced the learners’ achievement. Nevertheless, it was still doubtful how far the activities advocated by technology or its potential increase in motivation could boost the students’ learning. Most techniques, real expansions in education and competence had yet to be proven. The hardship and coping strategies were classified and examined according to quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings indicated that different learners experienced various levels of difficulty, and they had their own coping response. Gender and course stream did not seem to be associated with obstacles. The barriers that triggered incompetence and the ways that learners used to overcome them were explained. The grounds of hardship and response strategies were limited. The actual number of coping methods could be more than reported as learners tended to use whatever strategy that was convenient for them.