An Investigation On Motivation Changes At Different Stages Of English Learning

Motivation is an important emotional factor, which plays a vital role in Englishlearning for Chinese students. The study of recent English learning motivation ismostly related to the study of a particular stage. In contrast, there is a lack of study forthe various stages of students’ English learning motivation. In order to fill the gaps inthis area, this study appeared. It is a comprehensive study of the various stages ofstudents’ English learning motivation, in order to provided theoretical support ofrelevant studies and provide meaningful reference for the reform of English teaching.This paper is guided by Lambert and Gardner’s social psychological model,Trembley and Gardner’s expand motivation theoretical model and Dornyei’sthree-leveled learning motivation model. The questionnaire on students’ Englishlearning motivation was designed based on Gardiner’s Attitude/Motivation TestBattery and also based on the reality of Chinese students. The author analyzeddifferent stages of students’ English learning motivation according to the data of thequestionnaires. To this end, the author selected elementary, junior high, high schooland college these different stages of learning. In order to ensure the objectivity, thecomparability and the representations, schools in Jinan and Zibo two cities wereselected. The investigation on the English learning motivation was carried out on363pupils of4schools in the form of questionnaire. Using Excel and spss software toanalyze the data. According to the study of questionnaires, this study is trying toanswer the following questions:1. Whether students’ English learning motivation is changing in recent years?2. What are the common features of English learning motivation for students atdifferent stages, the differences and how it changes?3. What are the recommendations of this study can provide for English teaching?This thesis is divided into six chapters: Introduction, overview of the backgroundand significance of the study, the research objectives and the structure of this paper.Chapter I is literature review, describes the concept of learning motivation, theoretical foundation, and domestic and foreign research status on this issue. Chapter II istheoretical basis, content of motivation and the developmental model at appliedlinguistics. Chapter III is the study design, including research questions, questionnairedesign, survey process and data collection. Chapter IV is the results and analysis,according to the data analyzed the English learning motivation trends at differentstages and the relationship between motivation, academic achievement and the surveyabout which part is the most interest one for students. Chapter V is the researchfindings and inspiration, to answer the research questions raised by this study.Conclusion is the summary of this study, self-assessment its significance andeffectiveness as well as the limitations and suggestions for further research.At the end, this paper concludes that: First, different stages of students’ Englishlearning motivation has greatly changed: Although pupil’s motivation is still thehighest level, but at all stages of English learning motivation mainly dominated byinternal motivation. Secondly, different stages of the students’ English learningmotivation following in common: high English class anxiety and English use anxiety;larger external environment factors influence learners’ English learning; theinstrumental motivation is higher than the integrative motivation; students’ Englishculture recognition is low. Second, there are differences between different stages ofthe students’ English learning motivation: the highest level of primary school Englishlearning motivation, high school has the lowest level of English learning motivation;the level of college students and junior high students are almost the same; collegestudents have the highest anxiety on English use in and out of class; parents andteachers play different roles on students’ English learning motivation at differentstages.A further conclusion can be drawn that teachers should:(1)obey the law ofstudents’ physical and mental development, the law of students’ cognitivedevelopment; pay more attention to emotional teaching, pay attention to students’interest; stimulate students’ internal motivation and fully mobilize the students’enthusiasm of English learning to improve English teaching efficiency;(2) OptimizeEnglish teaching, reform the contents of English courses;(3)stimulate students’ motivation to understand and integrate into the English culture;(4) develop a goodteacher-student relationship;(5)teach students learn how to deal with English useanxiety.Due to the limitations of time and space, the breadth and depth of thisinvestigation need to be deepened.