College Students' Motivation For English-Learning And Its Implications In Classroom Teaching

Psychologists study motivation to understand why people think and behave as they do. Contemporary motivation theories appear to be in an exciting state of flux, with various multiple perspectives being increasingly recognized and pursued. According to the main principles of expectancy-value theories, motivation to perform various tasks is the product of two key factors: the individual's expectancy of success in a given task and the value the individual attaches to success on that task. Goal theories assert that human action is caused by purpose, and effort will lead to success. Self-determination theory mainly deals with intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Social psychological theories assume that attitudes exert a directive influence on behavior.Literature on second/foreign language learning motivation is extensive. The most influential work in the field has been the socio-educational model of Gardner and Lambert and their associates. The model has mainly focused on two motives for learning a second or foreign language: the integrative motive, which occurs when the learners wishes to become a member of the target cultural community and identify with the culture of the second language (L2), and the learners should develop a positive attitude towards the language learning situation, and the instrumental motive, which occurs when the learner's goals for learning L2 are for pragmatic, utilitarian benefits of language proficiency, such as a better job or passing a certain test. However, the integrative-instrumental approach is not adequate for all contexts, especially for the foreign language classroom-teaching. In the 1990s, a number of writers tried to broaden the theoretical perspective and research base to incorporate different approaches to motivation in education. Dorney put forward a process model of L2 motivation. Brown (1994) proposed the intrinsic-extrinsic continuum in motivation as a simple framework for the explication of conscious, motivated language learning behavior, drawing attention to the promotion of motivation in second and foreign language classroom.