Chinese interpreting students’ learning motivation and performance in the Covid-19 context: a quasi-experimental study

Covid-19 has brought about profound changes and challenges to the interpreting profession, and this study aims to explore Chinese students’ learning motivation and performance in the new context. Motivation is a main determinant of performance. Referring to the studies on intrinsic motivation, ideal self, and Maslow’s needs theory as well as the characteristics of interpreting, we have summarized six motivation dimensions, including safety, social, esteem, cognitive, actualization, and transcendence ones. A questionnaire was designed to address the six motivation dimensions. Experimental teaching was carried out on two undergraduate classes. The Covid-19 context was incorporated into the experimental group but not the control group. Three parallel tests were organized, and students completed the motivation questionnaire after each test. Data analyses showed that the experimental group’s actualization and transcendence motivation dimensions increased significantly after the experimental teaching, but not the control group, and the experimental group also had a significantly higher score in the final test. It implied that the actualization and transcendence dimensions were closely related to students’ performance.