1、The influence of learning motivation on minor studentsEnglish learningA thesis submitted to the School of Foreign Languages,CCNUIn part fulfillment of the requirements for BA degreeIn English Language and Literatureby Supervisor: Academic Title: Signature:Contents Abstract1. Introduction2. Literatur
2、e review2.1 Definition of motivation2.2 Types of motivation2.3 Factors that influence the students motivation2.4 Some problems about motivation3. Methodology3.1 Objectives and subjectives3.2 The classification of questionnaire and the analysis3.3 Results and discussion4. Implication for enhancing mo
3、tivation4.1 Strategies for improving minor students motivation.4.2 Developing proper attitude towards English learning and providing clear expectations4.3 goal and feedback4.4 praise and criticism4.5 making the language class interesting4.6 improving learning environment4.7 improve the systems5. Con
4、clusion 5.1 Findings5.2 SuggestionsBibliography内容摘要主辅修制在培养厚基础宽口径能力强素质高的复合型人才中发挥着重要作用，因此越来越多的高校实行了主辅修制。辅修的学生中有很大一部分选择英语作为他们的第二学位。因此，探究学习动机对辅修英语学生英语学习的影响就变得极为重要。而之前关于学习动机对学生学习成绩的影响的研究都是针对所有学生，很少有研究涉及学习动机对于英语辅修学生这一特殊群体的影响。为了完善英语辅修这一制度，提高辅修英语学生的学习成绩以及让学生正确选择是否辅修英语，有必要了解不同学习动机对辅修英语专业学生的影响程度，以此来帮助学生提高英语综合
5、能力。本文通过问卷调查发现，学习动机对辅修英语学生的综合英语能力的提高影响更深。对于一些学生来说，辅修英语或许并不是一个很好的选择，尤其当他们的学习动机有不单纯和偏离情况的时候。应看到学习动机对辅修英语学生的影响，对辅修正确定位。同时教师应该加强对辅修学生的指导，适当改进和提高对辅修英语学生的要求。AbstractThe major-minor system plays an important role in training talents and its a foundation with high quality and flexible adaptation to new chang
6、es and profound potential capacity. So this system is carried out by more and more universities.A large number of students choose English as their second major.It is necessary to know about the influence of learning motivation on minor students who choose English as their second major. It is necessa
7、ry to perfect this system and offer help for those who want to choose English as their second major. Through questionnaire investigation,this paper finds out that learning motivation have a deep influence on minor students English learning. Its not a good choice for students to choose English as a s
8、econd major if their motivation is not optimistic. The major-minor system should be put in the correctly position, and teachers should give more guidance to students and improve standards to minor students properly.Key words: minor students; learning motivation; English learning; 1.IntroductionIt is
9、 well known that some students who choose English as their second major are more successful than others in English language learning. Learners are influenced by their beliefs about language learning, their affective states and a number of general factors such as age, language aptitude, learning styl
10、es, motivation and personality. Motivation has been considered to be one of the most important factors in English learning among the individual difference. Theoretically speaking, motivation is considered by many investigators to be one of the most important factors or even a determining factor. But
11、 their influence may have some difference on minor students. Some minor students can learn English well and even choose English as their career. But some students who choose English as their second major cant get good grades and cant get a good effect on their life and career. Therefor, there is gre
12、at worth to do some research on this topic. Researchers have studied motivation from a number of diverse perspectives. From psychological perspective, they are integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. These are distinguished to be two major types of motivation in foreign language learning
13、. Some researchers claim that learners with integrative motivation tend to achieve greater proficiency, whereas some other researchers find instrumental motivation correlates highly with success in foreign language learning.Students who choose English as their second major may spent nearly two years
14、 to study English in college. They have learned English for over six years before they got into college, and they also spent two years to learn the same English lessons as students who choose English as their first major. But they are unable to listen, speak, read or write well. What has caused this
15、 unsatisfactory situation? What can we do to improve it? How to teach college English effectively? To answer these questions, we should do some research and find out the answers.2.Literature review2.1 Definition of motivationMajority of the studies about this area reveal that they have benefited fro
16、m these theories of motivation by these researchers. “motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action.”, by Brown(2002). He holds that “effort which students consider learning foreign language as a result of their need or desire
17、to learn it.” According to Gardner(1985), “The combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitude toward learning the language.” Those foreign language learners are equally enthusiastic about the language situation and make many great definitions o
18、f motivation. “motivation and its manifestations are not static and vary from day to day and task to task in a dynamic manner during the course of learning” Brown(2002). Several factors have been pointed to in the research studies which have their bearings upon the level of motivation of learners in
19、cluding age, aptitude, cognitive style, motivation and personality. Brown(2002) . Such studies have contributed in identification and understanding of learners goals in addition to providing guidelines to teachers.The influence of motivation on language learning is very important.Gardner (1985)propo
20、sed that the more motivation a learner has, the more time he/she will spend learning an aspect of a second language. Brown(2002) extended Spolskys perspective by advocating that the more time a learner will spend learning a language, the faster he/she will learn a second language. Motivation has bee
21、n widely accepted by teachers and researchers as one of the key factors influencing the rate and success of second language learning, often compensating for deficiencies in language aptitude and learning . He argues that motivation “is a very important, if not the most important factor in language l
22、earning”. He concluded this consensus as motivation is one of the main deterninants of second language achievements.2.2 Types of motivationThere are various kinds of motivation have been identified, for example, integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic moti
23、vation. Integrative and instrumental motivation is the most widely used and is well known as an theory. Focusing on integrative and instrumental motivation,the former is more important and superior for measuring the extent of success in learning “it leads to acceptability of the target languages cul
24、ture, literature and life-style.”(Bandura& Schunk,1981). However, “the proponents of instrumental motivation are no less vocal in arguing that in most foreign language learning situations, the motive to practically benefit from the target language seems more important than integrating into the targe
25、t group.” Based on various studies (Atkinson,1964), it is said that both types of movation can be equally effective to encourage English learners based on the social and cultural setting of the learners.2.3. Factors that influence the studentsmotivation(1). There is a relationship between students s
26、ex and English learning motivational factors.(2). There is a relationship between students age and English learning motivational factors.(3). The influence of the English learning motivational factors is high on the students who belong to the college with high quality.(4). Their family, teacher, tex
27、tbook and themselves are English learning motivational factors.On the motivational factors of learning in general and English learning in particular, so many researches have been performed. For example (华惠芳，1998) has pointed to the external factors such as Teachers personality and behavior, Classroo
28、m atmosphere, and Teaching method as the influential motivating factors in students learning.(华惠芳，1998) has emphasized that students internal motivation has a positive relationship with their English learning. In a study on teachers role and learners gender, She showed that there is a direct relatio
29、nship between motivation, teachers role and students gender. She emphasizes on reminding the importance of English in order to motivate students, and in her research has shown that using Internet and computers in the classroom motivates students to learn.2.4 some problems about motivationMotivation
30、is an important factor in English achievementMany researchers have found the positive relation between motivation and English learning achievement However, there exist some problems in their studies.First，the self-report questionnaire used in the studies of motivation may not elicit the impartial an
31、d objective responsesResearchers administer carefully designed questionnaires to subjects who are asked to rate themselves according to the extent to which they agree or disagree. Thus, “obtaining reliable and valid measurements is dependent upon learnersself-awareness and candor.” (叶双，曾志新， 2008）.Th
32、ey point out that the questionnaire has three weak points 一一 approval motive，self-flattery and response setSubjects tend to give their answers referring to othersresponses：what others approve，they approve too(approval motive)Sometimes they accept an opinion when they think they should accept it,no m
33、atter whether they really agree to it or not (self-flattery)In addition，as soon as they have given their answers,they tend to insist on them,and keep their opinions consistent in answering the questionnaire(response set)Second,there is great disagreement about the distinction of different types of m
34、otivation Gardner and Brown(2002)propose the integrative and instrumental motivation,while Bandura(1997)and Alison(1993)provide intrinsic extrinsic construct.Gardner(1 985)advances the resultative hypothesis，which claims that learners who do well are more likely to develop motivational intensity and
35、 to be active in the classroom. Other types of motivation have also been identified，including(1)machiavellian motivationthe desire to learn a language that stems from English to manipulate and overcome the people of the target language.3.MethodologyAlthough there are many studies on the relation of
36、motivation to English achievement, there are not too much about the influence of learning motivation and English achievement on minor students English learning. That is the reason why the present research is made.While most college students learn English because they have to learn it as a required c
37、ourse at their first year, some students choose English as their second major by themselves for the last three years. They need to spend more time and a large sum of money to become minor students. The major-minor system give college students a second choice to choose their major. But why they choos
38、e English as their second major? Can they have a good achievement as they hope? What suggestions can help them? Its necessary to be found out.3.1 objectives and subjectives(1)objectivesDifferent types of motivation influence students English achievement and there are significant differences between
39、high score and low score group in motivation. Many students at minor class may not preview their lessons and the efficiency is very low when listening to their teachers. But they become very hard-working when facing the final examinations. For these students, the only purpose to learn English is to
40、pass examinations and get the bachelorss degree. But other students with good performance and achievement have been working hard in English learning for many years. They work hard as if English is their first major. They may have different reasons to maintain their interest in English learning.(2).
41、SubjectivesThe subjects in this survey are 50 students of third semester from 5 departments (their major various from Electronic and Information Engineering, Economics, History, Instructional Technology and Information Management). They are all from Central China Normal University.3.2 the classifica
42、tion of questionnaire and the analysisThe instrument used in the study include one questionnaire.表（1）选择辅修英语专业的原因表（2）平均每周花在英语辅修上的课余时间表（2）平均每周花在辅修上的课余时间The data collection which was carded out was done in Chinese. The contents of the questionnaire are summarized as follows: Part one is designed to fin
43、d out why the participants choose to study English and how long do they spend on their learning. It includes items such as major, gender, age, family background, aims and reasons. These personal data serve as important things to investigate the relationship between individual variables and language
44、learning. Through investigation, we can see that about 68.4 students choose English because they like to learn it. And about 50.4 students choose English because they want to find a job related to English. And most students spend less than three hours to learn English. Its the significant reason for
45、 their not accomplishing this language well.选项 个人 家长 专业 同学 助于主修 对主修不 对考研 将来从事与辅 兴趣 要求 热门 影响 专业学习 感兴趣 有帮助 修相关工作频数 16 2 4 4 6 4 3 11百分比 68.4 10.2 18.0 18.0 26.9 18.0 12.6 50.4 选项 0-1 小时 1-3 小时 3-6 小时 6-9 小时 9 小时以上频数 12 21 10 4 3百分比 23.7 42.5 20.6 7.7 5.4Different experimental evidences have shown that
46、 some English language learners lose their interest and motivation during the English language learning process (施雪梅，2009）. And, students may want to understand the possible cause of their demotivation in order to try to avoid being demotivated. However, the possible causes of demotivation among Eng
47、lish language learners have focused on the important role of internal factors such as lack of self-confidence and negative learning experience. Some reasons can tell why students cant have good achievement. First, characteristics of classes. Course contents and pace, focus on difficult grammar or vo
48、cabulary, monotonous and boring lessons, a focus on university entrance exams and the memorization of the language (陈允芳，1990). Second, experiences of failure. Disappointment due to test scores, lack of acceptance by teachers and others and feeling unable to memorize vocabulary and idioms (陈允芳，1990). Third, lack of interest. Since that English used at schools is not practical and not necessary little admiration toward English speaking people. (郝若平，2001) through an exploratory factor analysis of Questionnaire of English Language Learning, extracted five demotivation factors: (a) Lear
