A Correlation Study On L2Motivational Self System And College Students’ English Achievements

In recent years, the second language acquisition study has developed rapidly. And the core ofsecond/foreign language teaching has been shifted from teachers to students. It is known to us all thatmotivation researches have already become the important topic for second language acquisition scholars.The current condition of the English learning motivation among non-English major students is far fromsatisfying, which researchers have focused a lot on. The present study conducted among non-Englishmajor students in the North University of China in the framework of the latest L2motivation theory—theL2Motivational Self System (L2MSS) theory.On the basis of D rnyei’s recent L2MSS, this thesis aims to explore the relationship betweennon-English major students’ English motivational self system and their English achievements in the NorthUniversity of China. The three research questions of the empirical study are as following:1) What is thegeneral situation of non-English major college students’ English motivational self system?2) Are thereany differences in their three components of English motivational self system between the students ofliteral arts and science? If there are, what are they?3) For science and arts students, among the threecomponents of the English motivational self system, which is the most prominent correlation with students’English achievements?The present study is both in quantitative and qualitative methods. The subjects were200non-English major students who came from the North University of China in the second year. The authortries to explore the general situation of their English motivational self system and the relationship betweenthis system and their CET4achievements. For the quantitative data, the questionnaire based on L2MSSand developed by Doctor Liu Fengge’ L2Motivational-Self Questionnaire (L2MSS) was surveyed amongthe subjects before CET4exam in June,2014and their CET4achievements were collected in October,2014. All the quantitative data were put into and analyzed with SPSS19.0. Descriptive statistics,independent-samples T test, Pearson correlation analysis and multi-regression analysis were proceeded toanswer the three research questions. Then the author did an interview to support the results ofquantitative research. The major findings are:(1) among the non-English major students, the condition of English SelfSystem is not good. The level of ideal L2self is in median, but these of the ought-to L2self and Englishlearning experience are relatively low.2) The ought-to L2self of the students in science is stronger thanthose in arts, but their ideal L2self and English learning experience have no remarkable difference.3)For the arts students, the components of the L2MSS are not correlated with their English achievements; forthe science students, ideal L2self and English learning experience have positive correlationship with theirEnglish achievements. And the English learning experience is more correlated with Englishachievements than ideal L2self. But ought-to L2self has no relationship with English achievements ofthe non-English students.At last, this thesis discussed the results and then gave its implications for English teaching innon-English majors:(1) The teachers should do their best to make students maintain their ideal L2self andeven more motivated;(2) it is urgent for SLA scholars to explore more corresponding strategies to improvetheir ought-to L2self and English learning experience.