A Study Of English Learning Motivation Of English Majors Upgrading From Colleges To Universities

Motivation, as a non-intelligent factor, has become an important subject for research in the field of SLA because of its indirect influence on students' English learning. Researches reveal that highly-motivated students always achieve greater success. Then what is motivation? What factors influence learner motivation? How do these factors influence motivation?With these questions, I conducted the literature review. I find that different researchers have different views on motivation. Motivation is defined as an inner driving force that activates an individual to do something that will satisfy his need or desire; it is also defined as referring to a combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language. Motivation can be classified into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, integrative and instrumental motivation, etc. The behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, social learning and some other theories account for "what is motivation" from different perspectives. Learner motivation is influenced by many factors, among which sociocultural-related factors, family-related factors and school-related factors are considered to be the most important.The appearance of "Zhuan Sheng Ben" reflects that every province's urgent need for high-level talents to meet the demand of economic and social development. Upgrading from colleges to universities is an excellent-student-selecting system which selects outstanding students in proportion from graduating college students and higher vocational institutes to study the same or close major in universities by way of recommendation and entrance examination. In face of this special colony produced under the special system, teachers need to work out effective ways to arouse student motivation. How could our teachers accomplish this?With these questions, I conducted the survey to explore the motivation type and factors influencing student English learning among English majors upgrading from colleges to universities. One hundred and eighty copies of questionnaires were given to the subjects of the survey who passed the Entrance Examination of Upgrading fromColleges to Universities in Shandong province in 2003 and are English majors now in the new universities (hereinafter this special group of students are given the name "c-u undergraduates" for convenience). The collected data were processed by SPSS (11.5) and analyzed by factor analysis and comparing means analysis. In addition, diaries written by 10 subjects were also analyzed by qualitative approach. The following are the results:(1) Eight types of English-learning motivation are found in English c-u undergraduates, among which intrinsic interest, immediate achievement, learning situation, going abroad, social responsibility, individual development and information media are in line with the findings of undergraduates. Besides, Respect need is a unique feature of this special group;(2) Female students are more interested in English learning; they lay more stress on achievement; they tend to be dependent on learning situation and have stronger motivation to leam English than male students; -.(3) Rural students are more interested in English learning and have stronger motivation to learn English than urban students;(4) Respect need, self-actualization and a sense of competence in language learning are crucial factors affecting learner motivation;(5) Student English-learning motivation and motivational intensity also comes from the parental encouragement and expectations;(6) Sociocultural experiences affect student motivation and behavior as well;(7) Educational systems and policies are also significant factors that may influence the student motivation and motivational intensity;(8) Traditional outlook influences evaluation criteria to talents in China.On the basis of the survey, the thesis provides some useful implications for students, parents, and especially and mostly for English teachers. The suggestions include: generating and maintaining student intrinsic motivation by stimulating their interest and help them to set goals for learning; generating and maintain student extrinsic motivation by providing clear expectations and giving appropriate feedback and creating favorable learning environments, etc.In general, it is very useful and beneficial for foreign language teachers to research student learning motivation. Only after knowing students' motivational differences and factors affecting their English-learning motivation can teachers effectively arouse students' motivation and improve their teaching effects.