A Study On The Relationship Among EFL Motivations,Autonomy And Learning Achievement Of College Non-English Major Students

In recently years, autonomous learning has drawn more and more scholars’ attention home and abroad in the field of foreign language teaching and lots of studies have been conducted. However, their focuses all lie in aspects like1) the definition of autonomous learning;2) the characteristics of autonomous learners,3) the theoretical basis of autonomous learning and4) ways to promote learners’ autonomous learning. Studies on the relationship between autonomous learning and learning motivation, which is a significant factor in individual difference, are few. Studies on the correlation among autonomous learning, motivation and English learning achievement are even fewer.This study intends to explore the relationship among autonomous learning, motivation and English learning achievement. Participants of the study consist of99freshmen of non-English majors in Hubei University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Questionnaire and interview are used to collect data. And correlation, regression analysis and paired sample T-test are used to analyze the data.Through the statistic analysis of the relations among autonomous English learning, motivation and English achievement on SPSS13.0, the following conclusions are arrived at: firstly, in terms of the current situations of AEL and motivations of the subject, college students hold strong motivation of immediate achievement and weak motivation of intrinsic interest. The overall AEL level is low. Secondly, as regards the relationship among the three variables, within the eight submotivations, intrinsic interest as well as attribution shows closer relationship with AEL and English performance compared with other submotivations. Moreover, AEL is closely related to motivation and displays great influence on English performance. Selection and implementation of strategy, the second stage of autonomous learning, shows a close relation with English achievement. And finally, concerning attribution, students tend to attribute the success or failure of their performance to the high or low degree of efforts. Students in low score group show more uncontrollable and unstable attribution than students in high score group do. Based on the results, some suggestions centered on the fostering of intrinsic interest, strategy use and correct guidance on appropriate attribution the teacher side are given respectively. This paper consists of five chapters. Chapter one introduces the background and aim of the present study. Chapter two reviews the research of learning motivation and autonomous English learning. Chapter three is the research methodology, which includes subjects, instruments, data collection and data analysis. Chapter four discusses the results of the study. The last chapter, chapter five, presents the summary of the findings and pedagogical implications; and limitations are pointed out after that.