An Empirical Study Of Expectancy-value Of Senior High School Students In English Learning

Motivation is always one of the most widely studied learner factors in cognitive field. Expectancy-value theory is one of the most influential theories among the motivation theory system. The concept of"expectancy"was first applied by Tolman as early as the 1930s. Then Levin introduced"task value"into expectancy model. Based on the former studies, Atkinson proposed classic expectancy-value theory, which was the first achievement motivation theory to integrate expectancy with task value systematically and played the dominant role between the early 1960s and the early 1980s in the achievement motivation study field. In the late 1980s, Eccles et al proposed modern expectancy-value model to perfect the constructs of expectancy and task value. And the most important is that Eccles et al's modern expectancy-value was studied in a wide socio-cultural background, which is a big forward step than Atkinson's classic expectancy-value theory.The modern expectancy-value theory is widely applied in educational field, such as mathematics, physics, physical education as well as occupational options and so on. However, the expectancy-value in English learning attracts less attention. The subjects are usually children and adolescent students as well as adults who are going to attend jobs in the empirical studies of expectancy-value abroad. In China, the subjects are mostly college or university students. Therefore, the group of senior high school students is ignored no matter in china or abroad. This empirical research explores the expectancy-value of senior high school students in English learning in the hope of expanding the application of expectancy-value theory to English field and serving as a reference for English learning and teaching in China.According to modern expectancy-value theory, the individual motivation largely depends on individual's expectation of success and individual's subjective task value. The expectation of success is made up of self-concept and perceived task difficulty. Because the two elements are negatively related, perceived task difficulty is separated out to facilitate the discussion process. This study is carried out through three aspects to investigate senior high school students'expectation of success in English learning, subjective value of English learning and their perceived difficulty of English learning. This is the theoretical framework and discussion base.Two main research methodologies are employed in this study: quantitative study (questionnaire) and qualitative study (interview). The quantitative study (questionnaire) aims to explore the gender differences,grade differences and area differences of senior high school students in the expectancy-value of English learning and to discuss the relationships among the three elements of expectancy-value. The subjects in the quantitative study are 340 senior high school students who are from city senior high school and rural area senior high school. The instrument is the revised self-concept and task perceptions assessing items invented by Eccles et al. All questionnaire results are analyzed through SPSS 17.0 software. The qualitative study (interview) has designed three open questions in order to find out deeper reasons behind those differences. The subjects in the interview are six students who also participate in the questionnaire. Each student is interviewed about half an hour.Moreover, a pilot study is carried out among 35 senior high schools students (not including in the 340 senior high school students) before questionnaire investigation to ensure the great reliability and high discrimination of the questionnaire.The major findings of this study are:1) Senior high school students have high expectancy-value in English learning. Most of them expect they can do well in English. More than half students think English learning is important and useful, but it is a challenge to learn English well.2) The three factors in expectancy-value theory are strongly related with each other, but in different ways. Senior high school students'expectation of success in English learning are positively related with subjective value in English learning, but negatively related with students'perceived difficulty in English learning.3) Boys'expectation of success and subjective value in English learning is significantly lower than those of girls, but there is no significant difference on perceived difficulty in English learning between boys and girls.4) The expectation of success in English learning among three grades shows no significant difference. However, students in Grade One perceived English much more difficult to learn than students in Grade Two and Grade Three students place significantly higher subjective value on English learning than students in Grade Two.5) Students in rural area senior high school have significantly lower expectation of success and subjective value in English learning, but higher perceived difficulty.At last, limitations of this study are pointed out and a series of pedagogical suggestions are proposed to English learning and teaching in senior high schools of China. Parents, teachers and other relative social staff should give proper expectation to students according to students'individual differences; sex differences and so on, then in turn improve students'self-expectation in English learning through positive hints. Senior high school teachers should arrange the knowledge transfer and English activity according to grade differences in order to improve the subjective value of senior high school students in English learning. The area differences of expectancy-value in English learning should also be paid more attention to.