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

In recent years,learning motivation has been a main research topic in the field of Second Language Acquisition.Many studies have provided statistical evidence that motivation is a key factor to language learning.This thesis is to investigate adult students' college English learning motivation and its enlightenment for English teaching.Due to the importance of learning motivation and the specialty of adult students,it is necessary to study their learning motivation so as to better motivate them.Based on the literature review,the author summarized nine motivation factors that affect learner's motivational behavior:language valence,culture learning,group evaluation,personal development,teacher evaluation, individual personality,causal attribution,certificate and self-efficacy.A questionnaire survey was carried out among 120 freshmen at the Adult Education School of North China Electric Power University.The result of data analysis presents a clear picture of the current status of the subjects' motivation,the relationship among motivational components and motivational intensity,and the motivational differences among the three groups:high-achievers, middle-achievers and low-achievers.Finally,some suggestions are proposed in terms of improving students' intrinsic motivation(the learner's level),creating a relatively relaxed and supportive learning environment(the learning environment level),and enhancing teacher's role(the teacher's level).On the whole,the study of motivation is very important in English teaching.Only after knowing what motivational factors are most influential to students' English study can teachers apply rational strategies to enhance students' English learning motivation and constantly improve teaching efficiency.