An Investigation On English Learning Motivation Of Non-english Major Postgraduate Students

Since motivation has been widely accepted by both teachers and researchers as one of key factors that influence the success of second language learning, there have been considerable investigations and research related to motivation in second language learning. Most of the studies on foreign languages learning motivation have taken undergraduates as their subjects, and few have focused on Chinese Non-English Major postgraduates'foreign language learning motivation. However, in recent decade, the number of postgraduates has been increasing rapidly, and consequently it is important for us to investigate postgraduates'motivation in second language learning. Such a kind of study will help us have a better understanding of second language learning motivation of the postgraduate students in China.This study employed the questionnaire adopted from that by Gao (2003) as its instrument. The subjects in this study were 118 non-English major postgraduate students randomly selected form Jiangxi Normal University. It attempts to have a clear picture of postgraduate students'motivation types, and to reveal the interrelations of motivation types, motivational intensity, and achievement. The third objective is to explore how the magnitude of English achievement can be accounted for by motivation types and motivational intensity. The data were analyzed by using SPSS 14.0. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and t-test were employed for the data analysis.The results of the study show that the first-year non-English major postgraduate students hold three types of motivation: cultural, instrumental and situational, and seven sub-types: individual development, immediate achievement, information media, intrinsic interest, social responsibility, situational motivation, and going abroad. Students show a stronger instrumental motivation than cultural motivation and learning situation motivation in their English learning process. Six out of the seven motivation subtypes (except Situational Motivation) are significantly correlated with motivational intensity positively or negatively. It shows that postgraduate students care little about the course quality, the teacher, the textbook, and classmates. They still need to become voluntary to do some extra assignment and engage themselves actively in reviewing what they have learnt in class. The study also shows that cultural motivation has correlations with achievement at the significant level, while instrumental and situational motivations seem to influence little. Meanwhile there exists a positive relationship between motivational intensity and learning achievement.On the basis of the results of this study mentioned above, some implications can be drawn for English teaching and learning. To increase students'motivation to learn English, teachers should use some useful techniques and strategies to improve their English teaching, such as maintaining and protecting motivation, fostering students'cultural motivation, stimulating students'self-improvement motivation. On this way students can enhance their efficiency in learning English.