A Research On Motivating English Learners In Votech Colleges

Motivation plays an important part in the process of English learning. It is known to us that optimal motivation can lead to successful learning. Skehan (1989) considered motivation was the second most powerful factor which was only after aptitude in forecasting learning effect. Gardner (1985) pointed out that it was one of the four main factors of individual differences that affect learning. Wu Yi'an (1993) found that motivation was one of seven factors that had influence on English learners in China. So motivation is the key issue in foreign language learning. This thesis focuses on a research on motivating English learners in votech collegesThis thesis falls into four chapters: the first chapter discusses the theories related to motivation and the enlightenments on English teaching. The second chapter deals with the roles that English teachers should play and the principles that English teachers should obey in motivating English learners. The third chapter illustrates the status quo of English learning motivation in votech colleges through questionnaires, interviews and observations. It also analyzes the outcomes from such aspects as English learners' psychological status, goal-setting, feedback and evaluation, learning task difficulty, attribution about failures and successes, self-efficacy, competition and cooperation, experience of successes, maintaining and protecting motivation and classroom atmosphere. The fourth chapter offers ten strategies to motivate the English learners in votech colleges with the help of motivation theories and the outcomes of surveys in Chapter three. These strategies include the following: ① Helping learners set appropriate goals, ② Making effective use of feedback and evaluation, ③ Designing learning tasks precisely, ④ Making good use of competition and cooperation, ⑤ Increasing individualistic self-efficacy, ⑥ Conducting positive attribution training ⑦Offering learners more opportunities of successes,? Motivating Learners by graded progress teaching, (9) Creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere, ? Maintaining and protecting motivation. Those strategies can increase English learning motivation effectively in votech colleges and as a result the effects of English teaching in votech colleges will be enhanced.Based on the analyses of the status quo of learners' learning motivation in votech colleges, this thesis makes a full study of how to motivate English learners in votech colleges. We integrate the motivation theories and pose these original strategies with a meaningful instruction to the English teaching practice in votech colleges.