The Correlation Between Chinese College Students’ Learning Motivation And Spoken English Proficiency

The development of the society and economy in the 21 st century has promoted higher demands for college graduates. In 2006, “College English Syllabus” of National Ministry of Education requires that “College English teaching should pay special attention to training students’ English practical application and communicative skills based on the national and social need of comprehensive application capacity of talents, especially the need of listening and speaking capacities.” English listening and speaking will certainly be essential basic skills of college graduates. However, the overall level of Chinese students’ spoken English proficiency is rather low. Most students are not sure about their learning motivations or they lack motivations. They spend less time in spoken English learning and practice, and show unwillingness to participate in classroom spoken English activities.The academic foundation and bases of the thesis are learning motivation theories put forward by Dorneyei, Williams & Ellis, Gardner and so on. The experimental samples are 87 non-English majors(Grade 2012) from two classes in Shenyang Normal University. The study has adopted quantitative research and qualitative research to investigate English learners’ motivation types and motivation intensity. Questionnaires and spoken English tests have been applied to investigate the students’ learning motivation and spoken English proficiency in the two classes. The research questions are(1) What types of motivation do the students in the two classes have? Do the two classes of students have different types of motivation?(2) After one term of English learning, which class of students shows higher level of spoken English proficiency?(3) After one term of English learning, do the two classes of students show great differences in motivation levels?(4) What is the correlation between motivations and spoken English proficiency? The study has also adopted observations and interviews to collect data and information. The data is analyzed by SPSS 20.0 to identify the types and intensity of the students’ motivation. Pearson correlation is utilized to measure the correlation of students’ motivation and spoken English proficiency.The results of the study show that(1) The students of the two classes have the same motivation types, and they are extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation, instrumental motivation and integrative motivation, surface motivation and deep motivation(2) After a semester of English study, the students in EC show obvious advantage in spoken English proficiency than those in CC.(3) After a semester of English study, the students of the two classes show great differences in motivation levels of English learning. The students in EC have stronger motivation and they show great differences in extrinsic motivation, instrumental motivation, integrative motivation and surface motivation.(4) The study on the correlation between motivation and spoken English proficiency shows that the students who have strong motivation have high level of spoken English proficiency. Compared with the students in CC, the students in EC have stronger motivation in learning competition, personal interest, future jobs, going abroad and other aspects, therefore, having higher level of spoken English proficiency.The study is the guidance for future English teaching and learning. The results of the study confirm the characteristics of the students’ learning motivation and the correlation between motivation and spoken English proficiency. The thesis proposes advice that English teachers should stimulate students’ motivation and promote their spoken English learning. Meanwhile, English learners should exert their own initiatives to make their learning motivation clearer, make short-term and long-term plans for spoken English practice and make more progress in spoken English.