Impact Of Motivation On English Learning Strategy Choice

This study is designed to explore the impact of motivation on English learning strategy choice. The aim of the study is to make an investigation of non-English majors' motivation and their use of learning strategies, to analyze the impact of motivation on learning strategy choice statistically so as to provide empirical evidence in this area, and to present some implications for College English teaching and learning in Chinese context.Data were collected from two major sources: literature and questionnaires. The participants were 120 non-English majoring sophomores from four universities in Shandong province (Qufu Normal University, Shandong University, Shandong Economic University and Jinan University). The participants were first asked to fill in the "Motivation Questionnaire" offered by Wen (2003). Data shows that among the participants' motivation types, extrinsic motivation (58.3%) stands at the top place. The followings are intrinsic motivation (18.3%), strong motivation (mixed with intrinsic & extrinsic motivation, 6.7%) and poor motivation (mixed with intrinsic & extrinsic motivation, 16.7%). Then, the participants were asked to complete the questionnaire of the "Strategy Inventory for Language Learning" (SILL) offered by Oxford (1990). Data shows that the participants use cognitive, memory and metacognitive strategies more than affective and compensatory strategies. The last ones they would like to deploy are social strategies. At last, the data were put into the computer using the program SPSS 11.0, and correlational analysis between participants' motivation and learning strategy choice were analyzed. The study reveals the following three major findings.First, there is a close relationship between motivation and learning strategy choice. There are significantly positive correlations between extrinsic motivation and cognitive, memory and metacognitive strategies (r=0.462, 0.241, 0.236 respectively). The positive correlations between intrinsic motivation and metacognitive, affective, cognitive and memory strategies are found to be significant (r=0,555, 0.541, 0.449, 0.428 respectively). There are significantly positive correlations between strong motivation and social, affective, memory, cognitive and metacognitive strategies (r=0.708, 0.712, 0.712, 0.715, 0.724 respectively). Poor motivation has negative correlations with all kinds of learning strategies except affective ones.Second, motivation has a great impact on English learning strategy choice. Either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation plays an important role in stimulating learners to employ different kinds of strategies. Strong motivation greatly influences learners' use of strategies and provides learners with a broader range of strategy choice. Poor motivation cannot motivate learners to deploy effective and systematic learning strategies.Third, there are differences between the impacts of different types of motivations on strategy choice. Learners with intrinsic motivation prefer using metacognitive, affective, cognitive and memory strategies; while those with extrinsic motivation prefer using cognitive, memory and metacognitive strategies. Strongly motivated learners have a larger view of strategy choice and they would like to use strategies related to formal rule-related practice, functional practice (authentic language use), general study, and conversational input elicitation significantly more often than do poorly motivated learners.The findings of the impact of motivation on learning strategychoice indicate that it is important to motivate learners to study English and strategy training as a necessary part should be integrated into instructional process. Some tentative suggestions for College English teaching and learning are provided.First, teachers should take flexible measures to arouse and maintain learners' intrinsic or strong motivation for English learning.Second, teachers should integrate strategy training into instructional process. First of all, teachers should identify the current strategies used by the learn...