Love on Studying Chinese Language (热爱学习汉语): Students’ Perceptions of Special Program in Foreign Language Chinese-Mandarin at San Jose Community High School

Learning Chinese Mandarin is imperative, considering the number of speakers in China and its status as one of the powerhouses in the global market. However, researchers have shown difficulties in learning Chinese Mandarin because of its complexity. This study aims to analyze the students' perceptions towards learning Chinese Mandarin. Specifically, this research aims to determine the difficulty level of learning Chinese Mandarin in terms of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing. In addition, this study also focuses on determining why students enroll in Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) Chinese-Mandarin and what challenges they face when learning the language. Based on the existing studies and reviewed literature, mixed-method explanatory sequential design and purposive sampling were employed to gather data among the 33 identified students under SPFL Chinese-Mandarin at San Jose Community High School. This research utilized two primary instruments, which are the Questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). As for the research instruments, this study employs a weighted mean for the Questionnaires and thematic analysis 'for the FGD. The results show that students have varying degrees of perception, and they perceived writing as the most difficult to learn in Chinese- Mandarin. The results also show the different reasons SPFL students enrolled in SPFL Chinese-Mandarin and various motivations for learning the language. On these grounds, it is recommended that tailored learning materials should be made to address the difficulty of learning Chinese Mandarin among students. Further research is also suggested to delve deeper into the students' perceptions of learning Chinese Mandarin.