| Lexicon is one of the basic elements of language and foundation of language learning. It is widely accepted that lexical knowledge is probably one of the most vulnerable aspects of the language system, without which nothing can be expressed. Thus, how to prevent lexicon attrition has aroused the concern of many language teachers and linguists. Based on studies from different perspectives, like psycho-linguistic, neurology, linguistics and social-linguistic approaches, linguists believe motivation exerts influence on language attrition.Motivation generally refers to a student's desire and efforts to learn a foreign language in second language acquisition. Gardner & Lambert (1972) divided motivation into two types:integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. Integrative motivation refers to the desire to achieve proficiency in a new language in order to participate in the life of the community that speaks the language. Instrumental motivation refers to the desire to achieve proficiency in a new language for utilitarian purposes.With a social-linguistics as the main approach, this thesis studies the correlation between motivation and lexicon attrition. It tries to find out the influence of different types of motivation on learners'lexicon attrition as well as the difference between integrative learners and instrumental learners. The experiment was conducted in a period of six months, in which 70 non-English major freshmen from 2 intact classes in Hunan Engineering Polytechnic participated. They were assigned to do motivation questionnaires after class. The subjects were unexpectedly tested on twenty target words in a pre-test and a post test. The results were analyzed with the help of SPSS. The author also conducted interviews with the subjects to check the motivation influence.The results obtained in this thesis suggest:motivation has negative correlation with lexicon attrition; students with instrumental motivation suffer more lexicon attrition than those with integrative motivation. Another finding is that motivation intensity can also be a determining factor in lexicon attrition. Findings of the experiment indicate that motivation has strong influence on lexicon attrition.Based on the results, the author proposes suggestions to students, teachers and researchers. In lexicon learning, teachers are expected to help students to convert instrumental motivation into integrative motivation. At the same time, students should adjust their own motivation for reducing lexicon attrition. |
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