Effects Of Reading Role-play On English Learning Motivations Of Senior High School Students From The Perspective Of Directed Motivational Currents

Learning motivation has been a significant topic in the field of second language acquisition(SLA),which directly impacts the efficiency of second language learning.Dornyei has long been committed to exploring the essential attributes and dynamic effects of second language(L2)motivation and has successively proposed "L2 selfsystem and self-imagery"(2009),"Ideal and ought-to L2 self"(2010),and "Vision"(2014).In 2014,he and Muir proposed the Theory of Directed Motivational Currents(TDMCs),marking the latest progress in the research of second language motivation theory(Chang Haichao,2016).The TDMCs are based on the dynamic system theory,supported by goal/vision orientedness theory,the flow theory,the self-determination theory,and other theories.A Directed Motivational Current(DMC)is a conceptual framework that depicts unique periods of intensive motivational involvement both in pursuit of and fueled by a highly valued goal/vision.(Dornyei,Muir,Ibrahim,2014)TDMCs have integrated motivational psychology with mainstream motivational theories in SLA and has enhanced the researchability of motivation in SLA from the perspective of the dynamic systems theory(Duan Yilai,2017).At present,although the theoretical basis and the application framework of TDMC has been proposed,the results of related research have not been well applied to classroom teaching(Cheng Xiaotang,2016).Specific measures are not established.Additionally,almost all the current research focuses on the status quo and the change mechanism of DMCs with adults or senior high students as research subjects.Some research explores the application mode of DMC theory.There are few empirical studies on the DMCs of high school students and their theoretical application strategies,not to mention integrating TDMCs with a common English classroom activity,i.e.,role-play.Role-play activities,by definition,are close to the reality of students’ lives.Role-play allows students to communicate in a simulated situation and they should have a deep understanding and accurate grasp of the knowledge they have learned.It can improve teaching efficiency and promote students’ overall language skills(Han Baocheng &Liang Haiying,2019).There are many role-play-related studies on English subjects,but most of the current empirical studies focus on elementary and junior high school English teaching while few studies focus on senior high school English teaching.Based on the theory of DMCs,this thesis designs a new type of reading role-play activity that fits its theoretical framework and application model.Part of the design refers to the genre circle activities for argumentation proposed by Han Baocheng and Liang Haiying(2019),aiming to launch high school students’ DMCs of English learning.Due to space limitations,this thesis only discusses the activity based on the text in English textbooks which demonstrates unilateral or multi-party perspectives of its authors,so as to avoid other types of reading role-play activities interfering with the results.The research questions in this thesis are as follows:1.What effects does the reading role-play have on the learning motivations of senior high school students? Can the argumentative reading role-play activate DMCs?2.What factors in the reading role-play activities affect the senior high students’ DMC in English learning?3.Do reading role-play activities influence the senior high students’ DMC in English learning among students of different English proficiency levels? What are the differences in their motivational changes?In order to explore the answers to the above research questions,this study selected two classes in the first grade of Nantai Senior High in Haicheng City,Liaoning Province,with a total of 90 students as the research participants.Class A is the experimental class,and Class B is the controlled class.According to the English scores of the senior high entrance examination,the participants in the experimental class were divided into two groups: high and low scores.The experiment lasted for 14 weeks,during which two questionnaire surveys(week 1 and week 14),one interview(week 14),and 12 weeks of reading role-play activities(from week 2 to week 13,the activity was carried out once a week on Wednesdays)were conducted.In addition,students were invited to fill in the English Learning Plan and Feedback Journal and turn it in every week.The experimental results show that:1)The argumentative reading role-play activities could stimulate the senior high students’ DMC,and the motivational surge can be explained from the three key elements of the DMCs,including goal orientedness,salient and facilitative structure,and positive emotionality.2)The influencing factors of the reading role-play mainly included three aspects which were forms of reading role-play,the roles of different levels of difficulty,and positive evaluation offered by the immediate evaluators in the activities.3)The increase in the intensity of a DMC and its constituent elements among the high-score group students was higher than that among the low-score group students.In the time dimension,the DMCs of the high-score students were statistically more significant than that of the low-score students in most of the experimental cycles.The initiation and surge of DMCs of the low-score group were slower than that of the highscore group.In short,this study found that senior high students’ DMCs in English learning can be stimulated by the new argumentative reading role-play activities in the classroom.The reading role-play based on TDMCs is simple and easy to operate.It can provide operational schemes for teachers to carry out interactive teaching in the classroom and play a vital role in the improvement of teaching efficiency.