非英语专业学生英语学习动机调查研究
[Abstract] Motivation has been considered a key factor to successful language learning. From different dimensions, motivation can be classified into integrative and instrumental, intrinsic and extrinsic, etc. The behavioral, humanistic, cognitive and social learning theories account for “what is motivation” from different perspectives. The subjects of this study are 55 third-year non-English majors of Class Two in Math Department of Zhangzhou Teachers’ College. Each of them was given a questionnaire. The paper, based on the previous findings, explores useful methods and strategies for teachers to enhance students’ motivation, such as, applying meta- cognitive strategies, using communicative method in their teaching, improving teaching methods, cultivating the students’ autonomous learning ability. It’s hoped that the present study will help to bring about great progress in making English teaching and learning more effective and efficient .
[Key Words] non-English majors; motivation; English teaching; English learning
[摘 要] 动机被看作是影响成功的语言学习的一个重要因素, 从不同的方面动机可分类为:融合性动机、工具型动机、内在动机和外在动机等等．行为主义、人文主义、认知理论和社会学习理论可以从不同的角度解释＂什么是动机＂. 这次调查的对象是漳州师范学院０３级数学系师本（２）班的５５位同学．每位同学都分到一张调查问卷．此根据先前的研究并结合当前的数据分析得出，教师可以采用一些强化策略，如在教学过程中充分运用元认知策略，采用英语交际教学法，改进教学手段，培养学生的自主学习能力，以更好地促进英语的教与学．
[关键词] 非英语专业学生; 动机; 英语教学; 英语学习
1. Introduction
There has been a great deal of research on the role of motivation in foreign language learning. “And researchers have found a high correlation between motivation and achievement.”[1] Motivation in foreign language learning is a complicated phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors : learners’ communicative needs and their attitudes towards the foreign language community. What’s more, the problem of low English proficiency and insufficient learning motivation generally exists among non-English majors.
“Motivation is regarded as one of the most important variables affecting the students’ performance of English, which is widely concerned by foreign language learners and teachers for a long time.”[2] The research of motivation is very important in foreign language teaching. Teachers can not effectively arouse students’ motivation and improve their teaching effects until they know what motivational factors influence students’ English achievement and understand students’ internal and external needs.
2. On motivation
Motivation has always been considered to be one of the most important factors in foreign language learning. But why are some students successful at language learning while others are not? Teachers often say that students who really want to learn will succeed whatever the circumstances suggests that the motivation that students bring to class is one important factor affecting their success.
2.1 Definition of motivation
“Motivation is a force that energizes, sustains, and directs behavior toward a goal,”[3] which is the dynamically cumulative arousal. Some psychologists perceive that motivation is some kind of internal drive which encourages someone to pursue a course of action, such as, the motivation of shopping, the motivation of hunting a job, etc. Concretely speaking, motivation is what moves us from boredom to interest. It is something like the engine and steering wheel of an automobile. It is the same for the motivation of learning English. Because motivation has a major influence on our behavior but they don’t really tell us how.
There are different views on the definition of motivation. Gardner defines motivation to learn the foreign language as “the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity”. Brown defines motivation as such: “motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action.” [4] According to Gardner, motivation consists of four aspects: a goal, effortful behavior, a desire to attain the goal and favorable attitudes towards the activity in question. There are many kinds of classification of motivation ,such as, the integrative and the instrumental, the intrinsic and the extrinsic, etc.
On the whole, researchers have found a strong, positive correlation between motivation and achievement. Motivation and achievement are directly related just because the effects of learners’ orientation are mediated by their motivation.
2.2 Types of motivation
2.2.1 Integrative and instrumental motivation
People who take possession of the integrative motivation are those who learn the second language in order to identify themselves with the second language community and ultimately join it. They not only want to learn the language, but also the native culture and living styles, etc. People may choose to learn English because they are interested in the people and culture represented by the second speaking group.
However, instrumental motivation refers to language learning for more immediate or practical goals. It is also called “task-oriented motivation” or “certificate motivation”. Learners may make efforts to learn a second language for some functions reasons- to pass an exam, to get a better job, or to get a place at university. They are motivated to learn a second language because it opens up educational and economic opportunities for them. “Learners who prefer to instrumental motivation can be identified as the following three types: a) EOP learners. They learn English because of their jobs, eg, the waiters learn hotel English to serve the guests, etc. b) EAP learners. They learn English in order to go abroad and get further education. c) EST learners. They learn English so hard that they can comprehend literature of science and technology.”[5] Above all, instrumental motivation is generally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language. An instrumental motivation seems to be the major force determining success in the second language learning.
While both integrative and instrumental motivation are essential elements of success, it is integrative motivation which has been found to maintain long-term success when learning a second language. But nowadays the importance of instrumental motivation is also stressed especially for Chinese. It is remarked that “integrative and instrumental motivation are not necessarily mutually exclusive”, whereas integrative motivation is continually linked to successful second language acquisition.
In conclusion, integrative motivation has been shown to be strongly related to second language achievement. It serves as a powerful factor of success combining with instrumental motivation. Teachers should be able to identify both the types and the combination of motivation that assist in the successful acquisition of a second language.
2.2.2 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
“Intrinsic motivation is the motivation to be involved in an activity for its own sake.”[6] Intrinsic motivation is also called self-motivation. Because the feeling of competence and self-determination are significant factors of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsically motivated learners study because they want to understand the content and they view learning as worthwhile in itself. If a person performs behavior for its own
sake rather than for rewards or outcomes the behavior might produce, then this person is intrinsically motivated. People are intrinsically motivated not because accomplishing the activity they do brings a reward, but because doing the activity itself is a reward.
In contrast to intrinsic motivation is the type of motivation referred to as extrinsic motivation. “Extrinsic motivation is characterized as the motivation to engage in an activity as a means to an end.”[7] Extrinsically motivated learners may study hard for a test because they believe studying will lead to high test scores, teacher compliments or some other end. Extrinsic rewards is encouraged by outside force, which comes from the desire to get a reward or avoid punishment and it focuses on something external to the learning activity itself. “Although we tend to think of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as two ends of a continuum (meaning the higher the extrinsic motivation, the lower the intrinsic motivation and vice versa), they are actually on separate continua.”[8] Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation also vary with the situation, and can change over time. Research shows that intrinsically motivated students achieve higher than those who are only extrinsically motivated. “Moslow claims that intrinsic motivation is clearly superior to extrinsic motivation.”[9] Ideally, students will be intrinsically motivated. Teachers are important in promoting intrinsic motivation and need to take effective measures to sustain students intrinsic motivation.
2.2.3 Indirect long-range motivation and direct short-range motivation
Indirect long-range motivation bears no direct relationship with learning activities. It emphasizes results and value of learning activities, relating with social significance of foreign language learning, such as, in the view of some middle-school students, learning foreign language is to be engaged in careers concerning with foreign language. The motivation reflects the requirements of society and households, concerning with foreign language learners’ understanding upon the significance of foreign language learning, great aspiration and their world view. It holds great influence upon the consciousness and initiative, bearing relationship with results of long-term activities, stable and reliable, being efficient in a longer time.
Direct short-range motivation bears direct relationship with learning activities, mainly evoked by learning activity itself directly, chiefly manifesting the direct interest upon foreign language discipline contents or learning activities. It is probably evoked by pressure , reward and punishment from teachers and parents, or by competition between classmates. The motivation is mainly evoked by demanding from curiosity and recognition, the effective range smaller than that of indirect long-range motivation, such as, due to the interest upon foreign language, some students like foreign language class rather than others, what motivation more concrete, intense and effective. During the period in university, the motivation appears more prominent, which brings about great influence on foreign language learners all the time as soon as it comes into being.
The division between these two motivations is mainly determined by motivation
sources and effective term. The motivations are mutually related and complementary. “In the view of Mr. Chen Guangsheng, owing to the affection of some occasional condition in actual concrete situations, direct short-range motivation needs indirect short-range motivation working as supplement and complement to improve the initiative and significance of learning activities.”[10] Indirect long-range motivation needs a longer term, therefore, it requires direct short-range motivation working as supplement and complement to work out a better integration between the encouragement of long-range goal and present specific learning activities.
2.2.4 Achievement motivation
“Achievement motivation, namely, resultative motivation, means that motivation is the result of learning rather than the cause of L2 achievement. Learners who experience success in learning may become more, or in some contexts, less motivated to learn.”[11] Achievement motivation is regarded one of the main motivation of learning English in classes. Teachers play an important role in promoting students’ achievement motivation by meeting with their curiosity or approving their achievement, etc.
3.Theories of motivation
There are three theories views of motivation as such: behavioral, humanistic, and cognitive theories of motivation. These theories can also help to understand motivation.
3.1 Behavioral views of motivation
“Behavioral theories view motivation as a change in behavior as a result of experience with the environment.”[12] Here motivation is regarded as reinforcement. Because reinforcement results in an increase in behavior, praise, comments on homework, high test scores, and good grades are common classroom reinforcers that can cause this increase. Effective reinforcers of using rewards in classroom may cultivate intrinsic interest in learning or not. Although motivation and learning are closely related, they are not identical. Because the effects of reinforcers depend on learners’ expectations, beliefs, and other thoughts. To sum up, behaviorism focuses on changes in behavior that result from experiences with the environment. The teachers, who praise students appropriately for accomplishments, can fully promote the students motivation.
3.2 Humanistic views of motivation
“Humanistic theories view motivation as people’s attempts to fulfill their total potential as human beings,”[13] whereas behaviorism focuses on reinforcement in its explanation for motivation. According to humanistic psychologists, two elements of the teaching-learning process are essential to the development of motivation: a strong student-teacher relationship and a positive classroom climate. Collectively, humanistic theories suggest that an accepting and supportive classroom environment where each student is valued regardless of academic ability or performance is important for both learning and motivation. Teachers who apply humanistic approaches to motivation in classroom by displaying a caring and empathetic manner with students and creating a
supportive classroom climate for learners can fully motivate their students.
3.3 Cognitive theories of motivation
Cognitive theories of motivation focus on learners’ belief, expectations and needs for order, predictability, and understanding. This paper mainly examines five cognitive theories of motivation: expectancy × value theory, self-efficacy theory, goal theory, attribution theory and self-determination theory.
3.3.1 Expectancy × value theory
“Expectancy × value theories suggest that learners are motivated to work on a task to the extent that they expect to succeed on the task times value task achievement or other potential outcomes.”[14] Expectancy for success is important in classrooms. Learners with high success expectations persist longer on tasks, choose more challenging activities, and achieve higher than those whose expectations are lower. In contrast, task value is influenced by four factors: intrinsic interest, importance, utility value and cost. a) Intrinsic interest is the characteristics of a topic or activity that induce a person’s willing involvement in it. Students’ interest is increased if the class is filled with logical and coherent presentations, concrete examples, personalized content and student involvement. b) Importance is the extent to which a topic or activity allows a person to confirm or disconfirm important aspects of his or her self-schemas. c) Utility value refers to the perception of a topic or activity as useful for meeting future goals, including career goals. Utility value can effectively help us see how extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation , and motivation to learn interact and support one another. d) Cost is the perceived negative aspects of engaging in a task, such as, time, emotional cost, etc.
3.3.2 Self-efficacy theory
“Self-efficacy is a belief about one’s own capability to organize and complete a course of action required to accomplish a specific type of task.”[15] There are four factors that influence people’s beliefs about their capability of succeeding on specific tasks as such: past performance, modeling, verbal persuasion, psychological state. Past performance on similar tasks is the most important. High efficacy learners accept more challenging tasks, exert more effort, persist longer, use more effective strategies, and generally perform better. It’s an important goal for all teachers to promote high efficacy in students.
3.3.3 Goal theory
“Goals can also have a powerful influence on motivation. It equals to an outcome an individual hopes to achieve.”[16] Learning and performance goals are two main goals. Learning goals are highly desirable, whereas the influence of performance goals on motivation is more complex. It is characterized by five kinds of goals: learning goals, performance-approach goals, performance-avoidance goals, social goals and work-avoidance goals. Using goals effectively involve four processes as follows: effective goal setting, goal monitoring, strategy use and metacognition. Learners can be highly motivated if they efficiently apply the goal theory.
3.3.4 Attribution theory
Attribution theory is a cognitive theory of motivation that attempts to systematically describe learners’ explanation for their successes and failures. Attributions occur on three dimensions: locus, stability and control. Attributions influence learners in at least four ways: emotional reactions to success and failure, expectations for future success, future effort and achievement. This theory suggests that teachers can have important influences on the ways students interpret their performance by teaching them learning strategies and encouraging them to attribute success to effort.
3.3.5 Self-determination theory
Self-determination is the process of deciding how to act on one’s environments. Self-determination theory assumes that people have three innate psychological needs: competence , control or autonomy, and relatedness. Self-determination theory is one of the most comprehensive cognitive motivation theories. It examines both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and describes a continuum of increasing self-determination that begins with extrinsic motivation and ends in intrinsic motivation. Many variables of self-determination theory are really sources of intrinsic motivation.
To summarize, applying cognitive approaches to motivation in classroom is so important that teachers should pay great attention to it. Teachers can fully inspire their students if they explain the reasons for dealing with the topics being studied, provide clear and prompt feedback on assignments and tests, establish clear expectations for their students, etc. It’s an important aim for all teachers.
4.A case study based on questionnaire
4.1 Literature of review
Many Europeans, ie, Gardner, Brown, have proceeded a quite high level of motivation research. They consider instrumental motivations are less important factors in predicting learning success, whereas it is quite contrary that instrumental motivations are the commonest among the college non-English majors.
It’s obvious that numerous studies have been conducted before 2004. But 2005 is a significant year for English learning and teaching. In 2005, CET4/6 won’t link with the academic degree anymore. This study focuses on expounding the transformation of motivation after 2005. How does the motivation change? Are instrumental and extrinsic motivations still taking superior position after 2005’ reform?
This survey aims to answer the following three questions: (1) What motivation do non-English majors have in FLL? (2) Do motivation factors have significant correlation with English achievement? (3) What’re the differences of motivation between successful learners and unsuccessful learners?
4.3 Subjects
The third-year non-English majors have learned English for two years in Zhangzhou Teachers’ College. The level of their English learning should meet the requirement of College English teaching. The total number of the subjects is 55 third-year students of Class Two in Math Department in Zhangzhou Teachers’ College. They are educational majors. Each one is given a questionnaire. Of them, 54 questionnaires are valid. The rate of validity is 98.2%. They are divided into three groups according to their English level (Group A= CET-6, Group B= CET-4, Group C=Not Yet).
4.4 Instruments
The questionnaire (see APPENDIX) is used in the study, which is designed based on the particular situation under research. It is composed of 16 items which are put into five subscales including interest in English (Item 1 and 4), instrumental orientation (Item 5,6,7,8), integrative orientation (Item 9), attitudes towards learning English (Item 10,11,14,15,16) and parental encouragement (Item 2,3). Besides, Item 13 is concerned with the students’ real English level. Furthermore, Item12 is based on the 2005’s CET-4/6 reform that CET-4/6 won’t link with the academic degree anymore. That’s to say, if you don’t pass the CET-4, you will still be able to get your academic degree. They are just asked to mark the items with a tick which is suitable for them no matter how many items they will agree.
4.5 Procedure
Each student was given a questionnaire during the break. The questionnaire was completed under the supervision. Before giving out the investigation, they were assured that their answers remained anonymous and had no relation with their final scores. They were told to be as accurate and honest as possible since the success of the investigation depended upon their answers and they were required to complete the questionnaire within the break for 20 minutes. No communication was allowed between students during the completion of the questionnaire in case that they would be influenced by others’ opinions.
4.6 The analysis of the collected data
Three charts are concluded from the collected data as follows:
Chart One
Chart Three
ITEM A B C
14 one hour 0 8 9
1.5-2 hours 3 6 2
2.5-3 hours 4 1 2
15 long-term plan 4 5 2
short-term plan 1 9 5
no plan 2 8 13
16 some efforts 5 5 5
not enough efforts 3 15 5
no effort 0 3 10
From this sector of Chart One, it is characterized that the efficiency of English learning of non-English majors is quite low. After two years’ learning, more than 40% of students don’t pass the CET-4. The number of Group A is just 16%. The problem of low English proficiency and insufficient learning generally exists among non-English majors.
From Chart Two, only 3 of Group C choose Item 1 “I am interested in English”. On the contrary, there are 7 of Group A and 13 of Group B that choose Item 1. It is proved that interest can be the best teacher. Interest is important in expectancy × value theory. It is the same for Item 4 “I learn English because I want to get more information, learn about the culture and broaden my horizon.” According to the theories of motivation talked in Chapter Two and Three, it is evident that integrative motivation is low among unsuccessful learners, but quite high in successful learners. Most of successful learners are integrative-oriented. In contrast, it is obvious from Chart Two that for college non-English majors, the most important four motives are Item 5 “to get a good job”, Item 7 “to pass the CET-4/6 to get the diploma”, Item 8 “to pass the graduate entrance examination” and Item 9 “to adopt myself to the development of the society”, all of which belong to instrumental orientation. From this, it is concluded that it is quite contrary to Garden’s motivation theory, which considers instrumental motivations are less important factors in predicting learning success. Item 6 “I learn English in order to go abroad” also belongs to instrumental orientation. But it is unrealistic. Many students come from families that can’t afford to send their child abroad. As for Item 2 “I learn English because of my teachers’ appreciation ”, only one of the whole class agrees with it, which arouses public attention of teachers’ roles. But Item 3 “I learn English because of my parents’ requirements” and Item 10 “I want to learn English well because I admire those who do well in it”, which belong to extrinsic motivation, play an important role in English learning in a certain degree. That’s to say, extrinsic motivation is common in college non-English majors. The combination of extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation is the best way for teachers in English teaching. It is optimistic that few students choose Item 11 “I dislike to learn English and If I pass the CET-4, I won’t learn it anymore ” and Item 12 “CET-4/6 doesn’t link with the academic degree after 2005’s reform, so I want to give up learning English.”, which prove that students realize the importance of English and begin to pay attention to it. However , the present status of students’ motivation in learning English is not quite clear to college English teachers. Some of the teachers even ignore the importance of student learning motivation and they just go on and on blindly.
According to Chart Three, it is attained that most students of Group C don’t spend enough time in learning English. Time is a kind of cost. It is essential in the expectancy × value theory. If the cost is at or near zero, the value will be at or near zero, too. If either the expectancy for success or the value placed on success is at or near zero, motivation will also be near zero. Because anything “time” zero is zero. As for Item 15 the goal setting, 13 of Group C don’t draw up any plan for their English learning. Goals can have a powerful influence on motivation. Goals increase self-efficacy because people set goals they believe they can meet and accomplishing them will increase their sense of competence. The significance of goal theory is being increasingly recognized in education. More than 50% of Group C and Group B students think they don’t make enough efforts or even no effort in English learning. But according to attribution theory, effort is one of the most frequent perceived causes of success or failure. In the final analysis, interest is the most influential variables in determining students’ time and efforts spent on English learning. In fact, all these factors correlate closely and act on each other.
To add up, there are two reasons that account for low motivation of college
non-English majors in English learning. “Firstly, in China, English is not used as a medium of daily communication. The student can not have enough experience of communication with the native speakers or living in the English-speaking countries. Therefore, his motivation is not as high as the English majors who must learn to communicate fluently in the target language. Secondly, the non-English majors have their own major courses to learn. They can not spend all their time and energy in learning English unlike English majors who devote most knowledge concerning to it.” [17]
4.7 Conclusion
From all the analysis in the above part, we gain the answers to the questions as such:
1) Instrumental motivation is the commonest one among the college non-English majors. Integrative motivation and extrinsic motivation rank two and three respectively.
2) It’s evident that motivational factors have significant correlation with English achievement.
3) Integrative motivation and intrinsic motivation are higher among successful learners than unsuccessful learners.
4.8 Implications
According to the results and analysis of the investigation, we know that the result is like this:
1) The different levels of motivation of non-English majors in learning English have positive correlation with their English learning autonomy. That’s to say, the higher levels of motivation of non-English major are, the higher his English learning autonomy is.
2) The learner’s autonomy of non-English majors in learning English has positive correlation with their learning achievement. That’s to say, the higher English learning autonomy of non-English major is, the higher his learning achievement is.
3) The learning achievement of non-English majors have positive correlation with their different levels of motivation, in which learning autonomy is a decisive factor. That’s to say, the higher learning achievement of non-English major is, the higher his self-autonomy is, and the higher level of his motivation is. Therefore, how to enhance the learner’s autonomy is a key point for the teachers in English teaching.
5. How to improve English learning motivation of non-English majors
5.1 A framework for motivation strategies---using metacognitive strategies
It is not surprising that successful learners use more strategies than unsuccessful learners. Furthermore, different strategies are related to different aspects of L2 learning. The study of learning strategies is of potential value to language teachers. Teachers should identify those strategies which are crucial for learning and train students to use them.
Metacognitive strategies are those involved in planning, monitoring and evaluating learning, for example, the learner makes a conscious decision to attend to particular aspects of the input. Teachers should help students to know themselves, to have a clear idea about the difficulties and the weakness they have in their learning, to perceive the essence of the language, etc. Metacognitive strategies are especially important for freshmen. If freshmen have a basic knowledge about metacognitive strategies, they are sure to set learning goals, draw up study plan, etc. If they do, they will change their traditional learning concepts and adjust themselves to the learning of college English.
Metacognitive strategies are playing a significant role in improving intrinsic and integrative motivation. So is for college English learning.
5.2 Rebuild students’ English learning motivation
Based on the survey, it is clear that instrumental and extrinsic motivation are predominant among students, whereas integrative and intrinsic motivation are certainly superior than them. So it is quite important to know how to reconstruct students’ English learning motivation.
5.2.1 The transformation from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation
Improving intrinsic motivation aims to increase the learning interest. According to Qin and Wen, they argue that “among all the variables, learning interest has both the greatest direct influence and the greatest indirect influence on students’ motivation”. However, as the survey shows, only 13% of the unsuccessful learners think “I’m interested in English.” As we know, the key issue of improving students’ intrinsic motivation is to arouse students’ curiosity and attention, and to create an attractive image for the course. The strategies can be divided into five main groups:
l Cultivate students’ English learning interest
l Help students set and monitor learning goals
l Give students guidance for study methods according to individual differences
l Foster students’ autonomy in study
According to the survey, only 40% of the whole class think “I’m interested in English.” But how to stimulate the English learning interest of the other 60% of the students? Intrinsic motivation comes from curiosity and interest. Nowadays, the multimedia teaching style is so common that the teaching and learning process can be very interesting. The process of English teaching and learning can be vividly described by a new word “edutainment”, which equals to education plus entertainment. Teachers should make the tasks varied and challenging and relate the content of the tasks to the learners’ natural interest. Up to now, since the multimedia computers are popular, the students won’t get bored in English learning. Students’ learning motivation can be greatly aroused when they study in such a dynamic, varied and natural learning environment. What’ more, personalization and involvement are two ways to arouse students’ interest and motivation.
Individual appropriately goal setting is one of the most effective ways to enable students to feel a sense of autonomy over their own learning, which has a powerful motivating function. In college English classes, many students who fail to set goals feel confused about what to learn in the class or even what has learned after class. Therefore, these students gradually lose their interest in English study. Teachers should provide guidance for students’ goals setting according to individual differences. Long-term goals should be at a high-level and not end with passing the exams, whereas short-term goals should be practical, clear and specific, leading to concrete outcomes. Finally, teachers should provide informational input or extrinsic rewards that increase students’ efficacy for achieving the goals.
As for learning methods, it is crucial for teachers to help students perceive the most suitable way. Learning without the suitable methods is wasting time but in vain.
Autonomy is one source of intrinsic motivation. The most obvious way for teachers to promote autonomy in their students is to give them choices. Besides, teachers can increase learner autonomy and motivation by creating high levels of student participation in learning activities, encouraging students to set and monitor learning goals and using assessments that emphasize learning and provide feedback. The learner’s autonomy has a positive correlation with the achievements.
5.2.2 The transformation from instrumental motivation to integrative motivation
Integrativeness, which contains integrative orientation, interest in foreign languages, and attitudes towards in L2 community. The following are the most efficient ways:
l Promote communicative teaching method
l Provide authentic materials for students
l Pay enough attention to the classroom setting
Up to now, “dumb English” is a common phenomenon among non-English majors. English learning is an organic combination of ing, speaking, reading and writing. Because of such kind of certificate motivation, students often pay great attention to reading, but ignore the competence cultivation of listening, writing, speaking, etc. Communicative teaching method follows the discipline of student-centered rather than teacher-centered, which aims to reduce the time of teachers’ monologue. It’s universal that students who have passed CET-4 or CET-6 can’t put their English into practice. 2005 is significant for non-English majors. The reform of unlinking the CET-4/6 with the academic degree is meaningful for English teaching and learning. To some extent, communicative method is fully embodied. Such kind of social culture is helpful for the promotion of personal English learning motivation.
What’s more, there is a need to make the English “real” by introducing to learners its cultural background, using authentic materials, etc. “Authentic materials bring learners closer to the target language culture, making learning more enjoyable and therefore more motivation. Authentic materials are produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community.”[18] The atmosphere of the class is enlivened by authentic materials.
In a teacher’s mind, motivated students are usually those who participate actively
in class, express interest in the topics, and study a great deal. Classroom setting is quite important for motivation increasing. Students can be highly motivated if teachers motivate students into the lesson, vary the activities, tasks, and materials, use cooperative rather than competitive goals. At the opening stages of lessons, it has been observed that remarks which teachers make about forthcoming activities, can lead to higher levels of interest on the part of the students. Then it is obvious that lessons which always consist of the same routines, patterns have been shown to lead to a decrease in attention and increase in boredom. Varying the activities, tasks, and materials can help to avoid this and increase students’ interest levels. “Furthermore, cooperative learning activities have been found to increase the self-confidence of students, including weaker ones, because every participant in a cooperative task has an important role to play. Knowing that their team-mates are counting on them can increase students’ motivation.”[19]
5.3 Suggestions for teachers
According to the survey, though only 2% of the students think “I learn English because of my teachers’ appreciation”. But it is clear that a teacher plays an important role in students’ motivation promotion. It’s argued that teachers’ appreciation, praise and compliment can greatly motivate students. That’s to say, the direct source of English learning motivation for students is teachers’ attitudes towards them. A teacher can be an organizer, a controller, a resource-provider, a participant or even a friend. Following are ten commandments for teachers :1) teacher modeling; 2) create a safe and orderly environment; 3) provide an umbrella for the lesson; 4) set up a close and supportive relationship with students; 5) enhance students’ self-confidence of English learning; 6) bring pleasures into classroom; 7) increase students’ autonomy of English learning; 8) make learning activities personalized; 9) help students realize their learning purposes; 10) make students familiar with the culture of target language.
6. Conclusion
The research of English learning motivation is helpful for us to understand the psychology of English learning, society elements and individual discrepancies, what’s more, it is meaningful to explore the methods and strategies to inspire students’ English learning motivation.
The results of the survey reveal the main types of motivation of college non-English majors, the influence of the motivational factors on students’ English learning, and motivational differences between successful learners and unsuccessful learners.
It’s universally acknowledged that motivation plays a very important role in successful second language acquisition. Since motivation is a very complicated construct, the results of this survey cannot reflect all the aspects of this multifaceted issue. Numerous studies will still be conducted to study motivation to stimulate students’ greatest English learning motivation.
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[17] 余冬冬. 如何提高中国非英语专业大学生的英语学习动机:[硕士学位论文].中国期刊网. 武汉理工大学，2004，P36-37
[18] 石永珍. 大学生英语学习动机调查报告[J]. 西北工业大学学报，1999，4，P74
[19] Lightbown Patsy M, Spada Nina. How Language are Learned[M]. 上海：上海外语教育出版社，2004，P57
