A Comparative Study On College Students’ L2 Motivational Self System Between English Majors And Non-english Majors

Learning motivation is one of the key factors affecting the success or failure of language learning,which has attracted many scholars’ attention in second language acquisition field.Since Gardner and Lambert(1972)studied L2 learners’ learning motivation from the perspective of social psychology,learning motivation research has become an important part of L2 teaching and learning studies.D(?)rnyei(2005)proposes L2 motivation self system which introduces the self concept into L2 motivation research.This theory expands the range of L2 motivation research and applies it to more various learning environments.However,L2 motivational self system theory has not received sufficient attention from Chinese scholars.Based on D(?)rnyei’s(2005)L2 motivational self system,this thesis aims to conduct a comparative study on college students’ L2 motivational self system between English majors and non-English majors.It mainly discusses the following three questions:1)Are there any differences in L2 motivational self system between English majors and non-English majors?2)For English majors and non-English majors,which subsystem can best predict L2 learning motivation in L2 motivational self system?3)For English majors and non-English majors,what is the correlation between L2 motivational self system and English achievement?This study combines quantitative research method with qualitative researchmethod.There are 120 students participating in the questionnaire on learning motivation from Qingdao University of Science and Technology.Among them,60 students major in English and 60 students are from non-English major.The results of questionnaires are dealt with by SPSS 17.0.The statistical tools consist of descriptive analysis,pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis.Major findings are as follows: 1)Ideal self and second language learning experience have strong influence on college students’ learning of English,while ought-to self has little influence.English major students’ ideal self is higher than non-English major students,but their ought-to self and second language learning experience are lower than them.2)For English major students,second language learning experience can best predict L2 learning motivation;Ideal L2 self follows and ought-to L2 self has little influence on English learning motivation.For non-English major students,ideal L2 self is the best predictor of L2 learning motivation and second language learning experience follows.3)For English major students,ideal self and second language learning experience have positive correlation with their English achievements.For non-English major students,ought-to self has positive correlation with English achievements,but ideal self and L2 learning experience have little influence.The study shows that second language learning experience and ideal L2 self play an important role in college students’ English learning and ought-to self has less influence.It also has important guiding significance for teaching.Teachers should create a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere to stimulate students’ learning motivation better,and help learners to construct their ideal L2 self.