Attitudes, Motivation And Major Preference: A Comparative Study Of EFL Learning In A Vocational And Technical College

EFL learning is one of the important aspects in modern vocational education. The increasing economic and intercultural activities require the vocational graduates with high capacity to master English and focus on the core competencies to fit the local labor market needs. EFL teachers in vocational education may encounter students with low attitudes and motivations toward EFL learning. Many students are passive because of deficiencies in their previous formal English learning, and often lack basic academic skills and the equally important knowledge of how to learn English successfully. Another phenomenon is that there seems to be a latent influence between the EFL learning attitudes, motivation and major preference of the students.This paper tries to examine the possible factors influencing students' positive attitudes and motivation toward EFL Learning in vocational education, and to find out whether the necessary link of major preference exist. The concept of attitudes and motivation was based on the discussion by prominent linguists. It also adopted a socio-psychological approach to study the orientations the vocational students hold toward EFL learning. In order to confirm the study, 56 students were selected from 2 majors at The Art Academy attached to Dalian Vocational Technology College as the sample. The subjects were required to answer the close questionnaire on attitudinal and motivational orientation toward EFL learning. The results provided some evidences to support the assumption that major preference does influence to some degree on students' attitudes and motivation to EFL learning.Generally speaking, non-English major students in vocational colleges have negative attitudes and low motivation toward EFL learning. Therefore, it is significant to study the factors influencing their EFL learning attitudes and motivation, to reform the EFL curriculum, textbooks and teaching methodologies in order to facilitate the students' initiative learning ability and English capacity, and to strengthen their competitiveness for employment matching the labor market of the society.