This paper investigated students’ perception of learning Chinese characters at the University of Ghana. The Chinese writing system is an exclusive indispensable script that forms part of the Chinese culture. However, the complexity, forms, strokes, pronunciation, radicals, and orthography structure of the characters makes it difficult for Ghanaian students to learn the Chinese language. A qualitative and quantitative design was used for the study. Of 338 students, 183 participated in the study from the first to the fourth year. Purposive sampling was used to select the students to respond to the questionnaire and share their opinions about the Chinese characters in interviews. The findings showed that (a) reading and writing of the Chinese characters were perceived to be more difficult than speaking. (b) the Chinese character radicals, forms, remembering of strokes, orders, numbers, and the orthography structure of the Chinese characters were a hurdle for Chinese language learners. Suggestions were made to urge students to cultivate the habit of consistently practicing the characters through collective participation and learning. The language learners need to do away with excuses, fear, and make-believe obstructions and spend more time in the learning process to enhance their skills in the Chinese writing system.

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has become an important role that facilitate language learning, the aim of this paper is to investigate WTC in Chinese as foreign language of motivation to transfer learning through oral communication among students learning Chinese at the university of Ghana. Second language learner’s motivation to transfer learning is grounded on effort, desire, knowledge, and skills learned in classroom and beyond the classroom to achieve the goal of learning a language.   By adopting a survey approach, a quantitative data was administered for the study via questionnaires. one hundred (100) participants from level 200,300 and 400 were involved in the study to ascertain the factors that influence student’s willingness to communicate in Chinese. According to the results, personality trait, environment and teaching practice, language skills, the complexity of medium of translation, anxiety and self-confidence, were factors that contributes to students WTC. Keywords-University of Ghana, Chinese learners, willingness to communicate

E-learning has gained prominence in education institutions across the world. Teaching and learning of the Chinese language at the University of Ghana has been done online due to the university’s announcement to use e-learning to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The aim of this paper is to investigate the online experiences of students learning Chinese language at the University of Ghana in the era of COVID -19. A structured questionnaire was employed using a simple descriptive case study to obtain the research information. The study selected two hundred and fifty (250) Chinese language learners who responded to the research questionnaires. Findings showed that the majority of the students desired to have training in e-learning because they considered it very useful since it enabled them to learn at their own pace and convenience. Most students shared that they have adequate skills in computing. The study also established that e-learning has become a new way of teaching and the study recommends adaptability in studying Chinese language through the internet.

Demotivation is a negative counterpart of motivation that affects student learning process and outcome. The present study attempted to determine the demotivating factors in learning a second language in Ghana using the Chinese language as a case study. A structured survey questionnaire data were collected from two hundred students learning Chinese at the University of Ghana to achieve the stated objective. The study identified the significant demotivation factors affecting students learning a second language: Teacher competence and teaching style, learning materials, crowded classroom, high competition in acquiring scholarship to China, less chance to get Chinese Ambassador Scholarship Award, and lack of self-confidence and experience of failure. Teachers should use more appropriate textbooks to improve their teaching skills. Also, students should be motivated to learn and participate in classroom activities to form lasting reminiscences.