A Study On English Learning Motivation For Non-English Majors

Motivation is considered to be an essential factor in the acquisition of a second or foreign language. It provides the driving force to sustain the long language learning process. There have been considerable investigations concerning the topic of motivation. The most influential study in this field is the social-educational model of Gardner (1985). Many other researchers in psychological and educational fields make great contributions to the perfection and maturity of this field, too. However, language learning motivation is a complex construct. Although past research in China has identified several factors in models of motivation, its key components have often been subject to debate.To understand language learning motivation fully and exactly, this study explores the potential types of the language learning motivation among the non-English major college students. The correlations between individual difference variables and motivation types are investigated. The researcher utilized the combination of qualitative and quantitative designs to conduct the study with an effort to bring out the best of both approaches while neutralizing the shortcomings and biases inherent in each paradigm. The subject students completed an open-ended question (Why do you learn English?) and a questionnaire. The 38-item questionnaire was revised on the basis of the answers to the open-ended question and some questionnaire items were adapted from relevant literatures. Responses to the questionnaire were put into computer software SPSS14.0. Nine factors were extracted after the principal component analysis with varimax rotation. The nine motivational factors are language interest, cultural interest, language value, learning achievement, learning situation, personality, milieu, personal development and self-confidence. To further analyze the correlations between these motivational types and the individual difference variables, the multivariate ANOVA was used. According to the result of MANOVA, no significant difference of motivation types was found between students learning arts and science. But there was a significant difference between students with different English proficiency level and language learning motivation types. The researcher also found that gender was an important factor to affect the learner's motivation. Females were more likely than males to report that they would exert effort in their learning and to perceive the goals of learning English in a positive manner. The interviews with nine selected learners were intended to explore the above issues in depth, in particular with how they felt about learning English from the very beginning to college time. The results form the interviews testified the existence of the motivation types of the quantitative study factor analysis, but with special emphasis on learning achievement motivation, milieu motivation, personal development and language value motivation. Other types of motivation including language interest, learning situation motivation, cultural interest, personality and self-confidence were not saliently presented in the interview results. Factors affecting language learning motivation were analyzed. Internal factors embrace learner attitudes, learner interest, self-confidence and learner expectancies. External factors embrace teaching materials, learning environment, teaching method and teachers'role.Motivational enhancement strategies were also proposed in the thesis. By means of enforcing students'motivation, the processes of teaching and learning will tend towards greater harmony and unification, thus achieving the best teaching result.