International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

Frequency: 12
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 Volume 12, Issue 5 (May 2025), Pages: 1-9

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 Original Research Paper

The nexus between ethnic identity and academic performance: The mediating role of learning motivation

 Author(s): 

 Fanghong Li 1, Mohd Muslim Md Zalli 1, *, Mohd Ridhuan Mohd Jamil 1, Mohd Syaubari Othman 1, Beranda Yii Ping Jin 1, Wei Boon Quah 2

 Affiliation(s):

 1Faculty of Human Development, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Serdang, Malaysia
 2Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

 Full text

    Full Text - PDF

 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0908-686X

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2025.05.001

 Abstract

This study explores the direct and indirect relationships between ethnic identity, learning motivation, and academic performance among college students in Guangxi Province, China. Using a quantitative approach with an explanatory research design, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 900 students from three regional colleges. The research hypotheses were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS4 software. The results show that learning motivation fully mediates the relationship between ethnic identity and academic performance. The findings indicate that ethnic identity enhances students’ learning motivation, which in turn strongly improves their academic performance. However, ethnic identity does not have a significant direct effect on academic performance. These results highlight the important role of learning motivation and suggest that strengthening ethnic identity may support academic success among ethnic minority students.

 © 2025 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

 Ethnic identity, Learning motivation, Academic performance, Mediating effect, College students

 Article history

 Received 11 December 2024, Received in revised form 20 April 2025, Accepted 27 April 2025

 Acknowledgment

The author of this article would like to express gratitude to the lecturers at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) in Malaysia for their help and support, especially to the supervisor for the first author's doctoral study and guidance at UPSI.

 Compliance with ethical standards

  Ethical considerations

This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI). All participants were informed about the purpose of the study and their participation was voluntary. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. The survey was anonymous, and the confidentiality of the data was maintained throughout the research process.

  Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Li F, Md Zalli MM, Mohd Jamil MR, Othman MS, Ping Jin BY, and Quah WB (2025). The nexus between ethnic identity and academic performance: The mediating role of learning motivation. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 12(5): 1-9

  Permanent Link to this page

 Figures

  Fig. 1 

 Tables

  Table 1  Table 2  Table 3  Table 4  Table 5  Table 6 

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