A Study On Non-English Majors’ Motivation Of English Learning

Motivation is a critical factor in learner’s second or foreign language learning process. It affects the degree of learner’s active learning and the final English competence one can achieve.This was an empirical study of English learning motivation among Chinese non-English majors. The study aimed to explore three questions:1) What are the motivation types and motivation intensity of Chinese non-English majors? 2) What is the correlation between motivation and learner’s achievements? 3) What are the differences on motivation types with regard to high and low level achievers? The major results and findings of the above three questions are hoped to provide pedagogical implications.The data of this study were collected from motivation questionnaires which were designed by referencing previous scholars’motivation type scales. The participants were 190 non-English major students from Qingdao University of Science and Technology, and all have attended the CET-4 or CET-6 with their test achievements collected from the records kept in their department offices. All participants were assembled and completed the English Motivation Questionnaire composed by three parts:personal information, motivation type and motivation intensity. The statistical tools employed in this study include descriptive statistics, product-moment correlation and t-test by SPSS 16.0. The major findings are summed up as follows:1) There are three general motivation types in Chinese non-English majors: instrumental, cultural and situational. Among them, instrumental motivation is in a dominant position. The overall motivation intensity is at a medium level.2) Motivation and learner’s achievements present significant positive correlation. Among three general types, cultural motivation presents positive relation to learners’ achievements whereas the other two types reveal no correlation.3) Motivation is influenced by English proficiency. High score group has stronger cultural motivation, while low score group tends to have stronger instrumental motivation. There is no difference between high and low score groups as to situational motivation.Finally, the paper put forward a series of suggestions about how to stimulate non-English major students’ learning motivation based on the findings in the present study. It is hoped that the study can provide beneficial implications for college English teaching and learning.