A Study On The Motivation Of Non-English Major Undergraduates

In the paper the motivation types are studied among the Chinese college undergraduate in independent second grade institution; the effect of demographic features on motivation and the relationship between different types of motivation. This study examined Chinese graduates students' motivation types in English learning by a Likert-scale questionnaire on 69 Chinese graduates students from Jiangxi Normal University . Factor analysis and MANOVA were performed on the data, to explore motivation types and examine the effect of demographic features. Six factors resulted from the analysis: situation motivation, development motivation, going abroad motivation , interest motivation, achievement motivation, and responsibility motivation.According to the classical model and expansion model theory, among these types , "intrinsic interest" was related to "integrative" motivation in the classical model, whereas " achievement" and "development" all had some features of "instrumental" motivation, but with focus on different goals. "Going abroad" had both "integrative" and "instrumental" elements. " Achievement" might be characteristic of the Chinese EFL context.There are some factors which affect the motivation, including internal variables and external variables . Internal variables embrace learner expectancies, learner attitude, learner strategy, learner interest ,goal orientation, introversion-extroversion and self-confidence. External variables in classroom setting learning include teaching materials, teachers' role , teaching methodology , learning environment, major, sex and English level.