An exploration of the increasing popularity of Chinese language education relative to English language education

The aim of this research was to investigate the motivations of Thai high school students for learning English and Chinese in an English-Chinese program and compare their preferences. The study surveyed 50 students aged between 15-18 years and explored the reasons behind their learning, including cultural popularity, perceived easiness, structural similarity to Thai, future importance, and interest in exchange language learning programs. The results showed that although English was perceived as more economically related and essential for students' future career paths, Chinese was considered easier to learn due to similar grammatical structures with Thai. There was a stronger motivation for the cultural popularity learning factor among Chinese. The students expressed their willingness to join exchange programs to learn Chinese actively. They expect to achieve a high level of proficiency in both English and Chinese, which would benefit their future career paths. The study found trends and changes in English learning among Thai students due to the knowledge of Chinese language and provides suggestions about how language policymakers and curriculum creators could balance the learning of English and Chinese to prepare students for the global market where both languages are increasing in their impact on the economy.