Correlation Between Motivation Types Of English Majors' Oral English Learning And Their Autonomy In Oral English Learning

Learners' oral proficiency of second or foreign language has become an indispensable part of second and foreign language teaching and learning, research and practice since 19^th century (Richards, 1978; Brumfit & Johnson, 1979).It is universally believed that both motivation and LA correlate highly with language achievements. Researchers at home and abroad have conducted a great number of studies concerning motivation and LA respectively in SLA. However, there are few studies on the correlation between motivation and LA. Although some researches are about motivation to oral English learning, they focus on the relationship between motivation to oral English learning and oral English proficiency. Up till now, there have been few quantitative studies on the correlation between CEMs' motivation types of oral English learning and their autonomy in oral English learning.Taking motivation types as influential variables on LA in oral English learning, this research tries to find out the relationship between CEMs' motivation types of oral English learning and their autonomy in oral English study by probing into CEMs' motivation types of oral English learning and their autonomy in oral English study with the adoption of quantitative and qualitative approaches.The following two research questions are proposed in this present research:1. Are there any correlations between CEMs' motivation types of oral English learning and their autonomy in oral English study or not?2. If yes,1) What are the overall patterns of the correlation between CEMs' motivation types of oral English learning and their autonomy in oral English study? And why?2) How much and to what extend each sub-motivation type of oral English learning correlates with learner autonomy in oral English study? And why?Quantitative and qualitative analysis was conducted to interpret the correlations between motivation types of oral English learning and LA in oral English study and five main findings were found: 1) Motivation correlates LA at the significant level in general in oral English learning; 2) There are positive correlations at the significant level between LA and (A) motivation of learning situation, (B) instrumental motivation and (C) between cultural motivation in oral English learning; 3) There are positive correlations between LA and (A) motivation of intrinsic interest; (B) motivation of going abroad; (C) motivation of individual development; (D) Motivation of immediate achievement in oral English learning at the significant level; 4) There is no significant correlation between motivation of social responsibility and LA in oral English learning; 5) Cultural motivation holds much higher correlation with LA in oral English learning compared with motivation of learning situation and instrumental motivation.And then, it suggests that LA can be improved by triggering learner's motivation of intrinsic interests, facilitating the transfer from instrumental motivation to the motivation of intrinsic interest and creating the supportive environment to cultivate students' motivation of learning situation. The limitations of this present study and the suggestions for the future studies are also included at the end of this thesis.