During the day of the HSK, I found out that thing that I do not have in studying Chinese, that thing that definitely motivates other second-language learners of Chinese to study the language zealously.

I have a different view of the Chinese language. I see Chinese as a linguistically beneficial language. The Chinese words seem to be linguistic data for me. I study Chinese for its typology and grammar and its use in other Asian languages like Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and even to literary Chinese. It is just like the same reason for learning Latin or Ancient Greek. I decided to learn Chinese in the first place not to speak to a Chinese speaker. Just so you know, I am also studying Korean on my own since I was 13 and have been receiving formal Korean language education since last June while I have been studying Chinese since last year of June at the same university. I think why my Korean skills are better than my Chinese is because my motivation to learn Chinese was not to communicate in Chinese in the first place. For me, I think I have to have this “communicative motivation” to speak Chinese. I have always wanted to study Korean and go to Korea but since that day of our HSK, I have changed my mind. Now, I want to go to China to learn Chinese, to practice my Chinese. I only have competence in Chinese but I do not “perform” it (to those of you who are familiar with linguistic performance and competence). I also want to have the confidence in speaking Chinese. I want to speak Chinese fluently and I really thank my laoshi and tongxuemen for always supporting me in this endeavor. I really hope the results of my HSK Level 4 and HSKK Elementary would be good so that I could apply for a Chinese scholarship next year. Thank you for reading my comment and more power to this very informative site ^^

Instructors must also set realistic goals and adjust them as students react to homework and out of class assignments. If your students are not completing these assignments – why? Are the goals you set not aligned with the motivations and available time your students have? When students are in a for-credit class, goals are typically teacher determined. However, this does not always lead to high student satisfaction. When students are in non-credit classes “customer satisfaction” is primary and teachers need to engage students in the goal setting process.

On a personal level, when I studied in private classes at Taipei Language Institute (highly recommended), I was able to set my own goals, work with my teachers to select curriculum that would meet those goals, and move farther in less time than I had previously.