Towards Adult English Learners' Motivation And Classroom Teaching Strategies

"Motivation is probably the most often used catch-all term for explaining the success or failure of virtually any complex task"(Brown, 1987: 114). In the field of Second Language Acquisition, many studies provided statistical evidence that indicates motivation is a predictor of language learning success and that individuals who are motivated will learn another language faster and to a greater degree. (e.g. Gardner 1985; Ellis 1994; Tremblay 1995). Since motivation is of vital importance in English learning and teaching, studies on motivation can help to explore the strategies to motivate the English learners, and therefore promote their motivational levels. The writer of this thesis has been teaching adults English for many years in Shanghai Medical Workers College. In the teaching practice, it is found that most of the adult learners lack motivation and their motivational levels are relatively low. In this paper, the writer makes a study on the motivation of adult English learning from multiple dimensions, aiming at achieving two purposes: First is to identify the motivational features in adult English learning and the correlation between the nine motivational variables and the motivational behavior, which specifically refers to efforts expended in English learning); the second is to put forward a series of strategies to motivate the adult learners according to the research results.Such research methods as literature study, interview, classroom observation and questionnaires are adopted. The thesis first summarizes theories on motivation in psychology and in Second Language Acquisition as well as the implications of these theories on English learning and teaching, which analyzes the importance from the theoretical perspective. Based on the literature review, this thesis goes on to fix its emphasis on the motivational variables. In addition, the thesis also summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of adult English learners and reviews the theory of the principles of adult learning. Questionnaires are used to study adult learners'motivation in English learning and their motivational behavior in SMWC.The following are the results: 1) Among the nine motivational variables, self-efficacy, teachers, language anxiety and interest in the target language and its culture exert greater influence on efforts expended in learning English. 2) Textbooks, valence, short-term and long-term aims also correlate with efforts to some extent. 3) These motivational variables do not affect motivational behavior (efforts) in an isolated way, but form an interrelated chain. The writer then identifies the problems in current English teaching and learning. On the basis of the motivation theories, the characteristics of adult learners, the findings of the survey, and the writer's previous teaching practice, some strategies are put forward aiming to motivate the adult learners in SMWC, which are: 1) to make full use of class time; 2) to raise self-efficacy; 3) to arouse the interest in English and its culture; 4) to set specific and proper goals; 5) to adapt the textbooks; 6) to improve the assessment system. Furthermore, the thesis also discusses the roles and responsibilities of English teachers who teach adults and proposes some ways which are helpful in developing a good relationship between teachers and adult learners. An evaluation of the strategies implemented is provided, aiming at comparing the learning effects and the extent of efforts between the experimental group and the contrastive group. The thesis concludes, according to their examination marks, questionnaires on efforts expended in learning English and class observation, that these strategies have proved to be effective at least within the present scope of studies.