A Study Of English Learning Motivation Of Chinese Higher Vocational College Students

Motivation, as a significant factor which can influence students' English learning directly, has become an important subject for research in the field of SLA. Although there have been considerable investigations and researches related to motivation in SLA abroad and at home, the researches on the higher vocational college students' English learning motivation are far less than adequate. Therefore, the author makes an empirical study in order to have a deep and definite insight into the real conditions of English learning motivation for higher vocational college students on the basis of the previous researches.English learning has become one of the most important aspects in modern higher vocational education. In recent years, Chinese high vocational education has developed rapidly. The development of society, economy and vocational technology requires more and more applied professionals who master both skills and foreign languages. And the demand in those economically developed areas such as the Yangtze River Delta is especially high. The vocational graduates are required to have a high capacity to master English, to center on the core competences to fit the market needs, to read the foreign technological data skillfully, to learn the world's advanced knowledge and technology in their own domain and to receive the original training abroad. However, for various reasons, it is hard for the vocational graduates to meet the above requirements. How to improve English learning/teaching? How to improve students' English applied competences? Most teachers agree that effective ways to arouse and sustain students' English learning motivation must be worked out.In order to investigate Chinese Higher vocational college students' English learning motivation and factors affecting their motivation, the author conducts a questionnaire survey among 271 non-English majors in Suzhou Industrial Park Institute of Vocational Technology. The questionnaire is adapted from Gao Yihong's questionnaire which is used to investigate Chinese college undergraduates' English learning motivation. All the collected data are put into Excel and processed by SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) 13.0 software. The statistical analyses employed are descriptive statistics, t-test and z-test. After the survey, an interview is conducted among eight students randomly chosen to get some information on the underlined causes of their English learning motivation. The study reveals the following findings:1) Eight types of English learning motivation are found in Higher vocational college students. They are intrinsic interest, immediate achievement, learning situation, going abroad, social responsibility, individual development and information media, which are in line with the findings of regular university students. But the motivation of going abroad is mainly instrumental, while college undergraduates' motivation of going abroad is both instrumental and cultural. Besides, the motivation of identity change is a unique feature of higher vocational college students.2) Female students are more interested in English learning and they concern more about their individual development. But neither female nor male students have high motivational intensity.3) There's no significant difference among students of arts and students of science and engineering on motivation types and motivational intensity.4) Rural students are more interested in English learning and have stronger motivation to learn than urban students. Moreover, rural students have a strong desire to change their identities through learning English well. Rural students' motivational intensity is significantly higher than urban students.Through the study, the author achieves the factors affecting higher vocational college students' English learning motivation as follows:1) Higher vocational college students' English learning motivation and motivational intensity is affected by the social needs and enterprises' requirements greatly.2) Higher vocational college students' English learning motivation and motivational intensity comes from the parental expectations and family influences.3) Traditional outlook influences the evaluation criteria to talents and accordingly affects higher vocational college students' motivation.4) Higher vocational college students' motivation and motivational intensity is affected by their learning environment.5) Sociocultural experiences influence higher vocational college students' motivation and behavior as well.On the basis of the survey, the author gives some implications and suggestions for the ways of generating and maintaining motivation to higher vocational college English teachers and students.1). The implications for teachers are: creating a pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom, building up a good relationship with students, enhancing students' language related values and attitudes, making curriculum relevant for the students, having students set proximal and distal goals and helping them try to achieve goals step by step, adopting the communicative approach and giving proper evaluations and feedbacks.2). As for students, they must take responsibility for their own learning and performance. They should build up self-confidence, try to be self-motivated and exchange learning experiences.