On Self-attribution Of College Students In English Learning

This thesis is a discussion on the self-attribution of the college students in their English learning. It is true that in the process of English learning students are quite different from one another in affective factors, cognitive styles and learning environment, which lead to success or failure in the end. Motivation is one of the most important factors that influence students learning outcomes. The self-attribution of the students has a great influence on their motivation. The purpose of the thesis is to explore the self-attribution of students to motivate their later learning by examining the causal explanations of the students for their success and failure, the difference of self-attribution and the difference of motivation between successful students and unsuccessful students in English learning.It begins with the literature review, including the previous studies on attribution and motivation. The attribution theory focuses on causal explanations for events or behaviors. The prior researchers on attribution before Weiner emphasized the information-processing aspects of human behavior. Weiner derives the strength from aspects of achievement motivation and views of the prior researchers on attribution and constructs the attribution theory of motivation. Weiner's theory lays emphasis on the effects of attribution and postulates that the attributions for achievements determine the expectations for future success and subsequent motivated behavior and meanwhile lead to emotional reaction. The following chapter is concerned with the rationales from the theoretical points of view. An attribution model, which generalizes the whole structure of the theoretical part for the study, is first presented. Along the attribution model, the definition ofself-attribution, causal attributions and dimensions of self-attribution, and the effects of attribution on motivation are dealt with. Based on the rationales, an investigation has been carried out among three classes of non-English majors at Zhaotong Teachers' College. The investigation consists of three parts: interviews of the teachers and questionnaires to the students on self-attribution and motivation. The purpose of the questionnaires on self-attribution is to explore students' self-attribution in English learning and the differences between successful learners and unsuccessful learners from the perspective of the students themselves. The interviews are aimed at finding out whether the teachers' views on students' self-attribution are identical with the self-attribution of students themselves. Some effective ways to motivate their students' learning are also expected. The aim of the questionnaires on motivation is to reconfirm the self-attribution of college students and to know their motivation as well. All of the results from interviews of teachers and questionnaires of students are found in accordance. The results show that students usually attribute their success to effort, interest and learning strategies, and attribute their failure mostly to effort. They attribute their success and failure mostly to internal factors. The self-attribution of college students is positive. In addition, the self-attribution of the successful students differs from that of the unsuccessful students. The successful students tend to ascribe their success to interest, foreknowledge, effort and learning strategies and ascribe their failure to effort and ability, while the unsuccessful students tend to ascribe their failure and success mostly to effort. The successful students are apt to attribute their success to internal factors and attribute their failure to external factors more than the unsuccessful students. It is also found that the successful students have both intrinsic andextrinsic motivation while the unsuccessful students have only extrinsic motivation. The following part is implications to enhance the positive self-attribution of the students and foster their motivation in English teaching from the practical points of view. The suggestions including reasonable m...