A Study Of The Relationship Between Language Learning Strategy And Learning Motivation

For a long time, applied linguists and language teachers have been trying to seek an ideal teaching method or ideal teaching materials which are suitable for all language learners. However, the results are not satisfactory. So researchers' attention shifted from teaching to learning. From the 1970s, people began to study individual differences among language learners, such as age, sex, motivation, intelligence, aptitude, personality and learning strategies. Until now, there have been a lot of researches on the relationship between one of these factors and the learners' academic achievements. However, not much work has been done on the relationship between these factors.Recently, researchers abroad have begun to study the relationship between language learning strategies and language learning motivation. According to Rod Ellis, the strength of learner's motivation can be expected to have a causal effect on the number of learning strategies they employ. Oxford and Nyikos found that the degree of motivation is the single most powerful influence on the choice of language learning strategies. Politzer and McGroaty also make the point that learners' goals are likely to determine strategy use. All these findings show that language learning strategies (LLSs) and language learning motivation (LLM) are closely related, but they do not point out what the relationship is. Therefore, the author of this thesis decided to do research on this topic.The research was carried out among 132 non-English majors in Chengdu University of Technology through a questionnaire survey. This questionnaire is composed of 44 questions concerning students' language learning strategies and learning motivation. By means of SPSS software, the author makes analysis of these data and aims at finding out the relationship between language learning strategies (LLSs) and language learning motivation (LLM).The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One introduces the reasons for the study and the objective of the study. Chapter Two and Chapter Three set a theoretical foundation for the author's study. Chapter Two is a general survey of the research on language learning strategies (LLSs): providing definitions and classifications of LLSs, comparing LLSs used by efficient and less-efficient language learners and analyzing various factors affecting learners' LLSs. Chapter Three is a general survey of the research on language learning motivation (LLM): giving definitions and classifications of LLM, introducing some influential theories in LLM and reviewing the research achievements of the relationship between LLSs and LLM. Chapter Four is the main body of the thesis: introducing the subjects, instrument and process of the study and analyzing the results by means of SPSS in order to find out the relationship between LLM and LLSs. In the conclusion part, according to these findings, the author gives some suggestions to college English teachers and students respectively.