A Correlation Study Of American College Students Learning Motivation,Attributional Tendencies And Autonomous Learning Ability

Recent years, with the shift of language researchers’ focus from how to teach to how to learn, and the popularization of learner-centered teaching method, cultivating learners’ autonomous learning ability is becoming a hot topic in the field of language teaching. A series of researches have been done in the field of TESL(Teaching English as a Second Language), focusing on college students’English autonomous learning ability, correlative factors and methods of training,etc. Whereas, the same kind of research on learners who are learning Chinese as a second language is still rare. Therefore, this research is designed to study the autonomous learning ability and correlative factors of American college students who are learning Chinese as a second language in China with questionnaires and interviews. In this research, we analyzed the subjects’ autonomous learning ability from 5 facets, as well as the correlative relations between their learning motivation/attributional tendencies and autonomous learning ability. Apart from that, we have also made a regression analysis of motivational and attributional factors that proved to be correlated with autonomous learning ability and tried to find out the path of those factors affecting the subjects’ autonomous learning ability.Questionnaire includes Questionnaire of College Students’ English Learning Ability, designed by Jinfen Xu (2007), the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation sections of Language Learning Orientations Scale (LLOS-IEA), framed by Noels, et al (2000) and the part relating classroom learning of Multiple-dimensions and Multiple-attributions Questionnaire, constructed by Lefcourt (1981). The researcher integrated all 48 items into one complete questionnaire and translated it into English. During this research,98 copies have been distributed and 82 of them have been collected back. After examination,80 out of 82 collected copies were found valid. As for the interviews,3 students were interviewed based on an outline drafted by the researcher herself. SPSS 19.0 was applied for statistical calculation and correlation analysis. Based on data from questionnaires and information from interviews, we’ ve got the following conclusions:(1)The level of American college students’ autonomous learning ability is pretty high. They also have strong intrinsic motivation toward Chinese language learning and tend to attribute both success and failure to intrinsic,controllable factors.(2) Correlation analysis shows a significant positive correlation between both American students’ intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and their autonomous learning ability. The correlation index between intrinsic motivation and autonomous learning ability is even bigger.(3) Correlation analysis also shows a significant positive correlation between the intrinsic/controllable attributional tendency and autonomous learning ability.(4) Regression analysis finds that the intrinsic/controllable attributional tendency and intrinsic motivation are effective in predicating the level of subjects’ autonomous learning ability. Of all the effective factors, tendency of attributing failure to lack of effort shows the largest impact on subjects’autonomous learning ability.The researcher carried out a survey on the autonomous learning ability and correlative factors of American college students who are learning Chinese in China. The correlation analysis and regression analysis have verified that both intrinsic motivation and intrinsic/controllable attributional tendencies have a significant impact on autonomous learning ability. These findings have filled in some blank in the research field of Teaching Chinese as a second language.