A Study Of Senior High School Students' English Learning Directed Motivational Currents

Studies on learning motivation have gained great attention in the field of Second Language Acquisition,and this occurrence is mainly due to one reason that learning motivation is one of the most active factors in language learning(Yang & Zhang,2007).Some researchers found that a result is caused by the complex and interactive process of many factors and these factors are continuously changing as well.Many motivation phenomena cannot be explained through linear cause-effect relations.Thus,many researchers gradually investigated L2 motivation from a dynamic perspective(D?rnyei 2014;D?rnyei,MacIntyre & Henry 2015).In recent years,D?rnyei et al.proposed a more dynamic concept named “Directed Motivational Currents” to explain motivation phenomena.Directed Motivational Currents are a novel motivational construct which describe periods of highly motivated behavior while working towards a well-defined goal.It involves four key dimensions:goal or vision orientedness,parameter triggering,positive emotionality,salient and facilitative structure.Researches on the DMCs in the context of English learning is a promising area which has much educational potentials.Therefore,the author has decided to carry out a study to investigate senior high school students' English learning Directed Motivational Currents,with the hope of finding out the current situation of senior high school students' DMCs to inspire the future teaching of high school English.This study addresses the following three research questions:(1)Do the Directed Motivational Currents exist in English learning for senior high school students?(2)Are there any differences between the high score group and the low score group in terms of directed motivational currents of English learning? If there are,what are they?(3)What are the main factors affecting the directed motivational currents of English learning?Guided by the theories of dynamic systems,the author has selected 253 senior high school students to participate in the study.All the subjects were divided into different groups according to their English scores in the final examination of the last semester.The grouping dividing standard was that less than 90 points represented low-score group and more than 110 points as high-score group.8 students from different groups were involved in interview,among which 4 came from the high score group and 4 are chosen from the low score group.By using the questionnaire(Muir,2016),the method of drawing locus diagram by subjects and interview targeting the triggers,influencing factors and emotional states of DMC in English learning for senior high school students,the author has finally come to three conclusions:(1)DMC is not a unique thing experienced by lucky few students,but a well-known and recognized motivational phenomenon in high school;(2)the differences of DMC between the high score group and the low score group reflected in four aspects: goal/vision orientedness,parameter triggering,positive emotionality,salient and facilitative structure;(3)there are three main factors affecting the DMCs of English learning: learning goal,learning atmosphere and teacher.Based on such findings pedagogical implications have been made in the hope of inspiring the future teaching and learning of English.