An Investigation On English Learning Motivation Of Secondary Vocational School Students And Its Implications For English Teaching

Starting with the theories on motivation, especially on foreign language learning motivation, this thesis attempts to detect secondary vocational students'types of motivation and the relationship between types and strength of motivation, and to study the methods of fostering students'motivation and to enhance the motivational strength, in the hope that the findings can establish a convincing and scientific reference work for English teaching in secondary vocational schools in China. The subjects were 240 students from Qingdao Huaxia Vocational School, Qingdao Gaoxin Vocational School and Jimo No.2 Vocational School. The instrument in the survey study was a Likert Scale questionnaire. Statistical package, SPSS, was employed for data analysis.It is revealed that students of secondary vocational schools show particular characteristics of motivation. Students' low level of English mainly results from their inadequate efforts which due to their low motivation. Some implications have been drawn from the study about how to motivate vocational students' English learning and how to improve English teaching in secondary vocational schools.The thesis consists of seven parts: an introduction, a conclusion and five chapters. The thesis starts with an introduction. The first chapter is a literature review. It gives a brief introduction of research on second/foreign language learning motivation abroad and in China. The second chapter introduces rationale for this study. Motivation and attitude, integrative-instrumental motivation and intrinsic-extrinsic motivation are introduced. The third chapter describes the investigation made by the author including the background, necessity, subjects, procedure and instruments. The fourth chapter goes on to analyze and discuss the results of the investigation which include the types of motivation, the strength of motivation and the importance of teachers'praise and encouragement. The fifth chapter is about the teaching suggestions which include creating the basic motivational conditions, generating students'motivation, maintaining and protecting students'motivation and encouraging positive self-evaluation. Research limitations are also discussed. At last a conclusion of the thesis is made.