A Dynamic Study On English Learning Motivation Of Ethnic Minority MKM Non-English Major University Students In Xinjiang

Since the 1970s, the field of foreign language teaching has witnessed a gradual but significant shift taken place, resulting in less emphasis on teachers and teaching and greater stress on learners and learning. This shift brought the increasing attention on foreign language learning motivation. However, among the large amount of previous researches concerning the English learning motivation at home and abroad, few of them have taken the ethnic minority students as subjects to explore their English learning motivation. The present study is designed to investigate the preference and developmental pattern of the English learning motivation and the most important factor (or factors) that exerts effects on it among the MKM ethnic minority non-English major university students in Xinjiang.The present study, with Wen Qiufang's classification of motivation and Yuan Yichuan's category of motivation influencing factors as theoretical framework, selected 204 MKM ethnic minority students among the non-English major university students from Xinjiang Normal University, Xinjiang Agriculture University, and Xinjiang Medical University as subjects. Wen Qiufang's motivation questionnaire was employed as the instrument and distributed twice in the December of 2007 and the December of 2008, to explore the motivation preference of subjects and their developmental pattern in one year's time span. Yuan Yichuan's motivation influencing factors questionnaire was distributed together with Wen Qiufang's in the second investigation. Ten of the subjects were selected at random for the interview to attain more information about their English learning motivation,In terms of data analysis, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted in the present study. In the quantitative study, inferential statistical analysis was applied. Paired-sample T test was employed to reveal the motivation preference and its changing trend, while multiple regression analysis was employed on the basis of correlation analysis to explore relational pattern between the motivation influencing factors and motivation typesThe main findings of the present study include the following:1. According to the first investigation, the ethnic minority MKM university students in Xinjiang have strong English learning motivation(M>3.00). The mean of deep motivation(M=3.3735)is higher than that of surface motivation(M=3.2772), and the T-test showed that there is not significant difference(T=.-1.320;P=.188,>.05)existing between them; according to the second investigation, both the deep and the surface motivation of the same group of subjects changed after one year further study; the mean of the deep motivation(M=4.1775)is still higher than that of the surface motivation(M=3.5082), and significance can be found through the T-test(T=-11.999;P=.000,<.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that non-English major MKM ethnic minority university students in Xinjiang do not have English learning motivation after one year's English study in universities, and after another one year's further study, deep motivation became their motivation preference.2. Comparing the results of the two investigations, it can be found that the mean value of both the deep and surface motivation of the subjects increased a year later. The mean of the deep motivation in the second investigation (M=4.1775)is higher than the mean of deep motivation in the first investigation(M=3.3735), and T-test showed that there is significant difference(T=-10.996; P=.000,<.05)existing between them; the mean of the surface motivation in the second investigation (M=3.5082)is also higher than that in the first investigation(M=3.2772), and significance can also be found through the T-test(T=-2.827;P=.005,<.05).3. The result of multiple regression analysis showed that, among the eleven categories of motivation influencing factors, social responsibility (B=.327;P=.005, <.05) and instructional factors(B=.311;P=.000,<.05)are the most influencing factors towards the surface motivation, and the social responsibility(B=.141;P=.043, <.05) and attitude towards the foreign culture (B=.175;P=.010, <.05) are the most influencing ones affecting the deep motivation.