Research On The Correlation Between Socioeconomic Status And English Learning Motivation Of College English Learners

The affective domain is worth being paid attention to in foreign language teaching, because there must be positive as well as negative emotional experiences for students in the language learning process. How to activate students’positive affection so as to improve their learning, and how to help students avoid the negative ones that would reduce their passion for learning, are worth considering. As one part of the affective factors, learning motivation performs active function in language teaching and learning. There are plenty of complex factors affecting learning motivation. Among them, family is an important element in which individuals are born and grow up. At the present stage, there is a big gap between the rich and the poor in our country, which leads to the differences in families’socioeconomic status. The impact of such differences on individual development and learning achievement has drawn more and more attention. But there have been few studies concerning the relationship between socioeconomic status and English learning motivation. Therefore, the present study explores the correlation between socioeconomic status and English learning motivation, hoping to offer some feasible and scientific suggestions for effective English teaching and learning.In this study, two questionnaires are used as the research instruments, and 175 subjects are Grade One and Grade Two students from Guangxi Normal University. The SES Questionnaire for College English Learners is developed from Li Qiang’s (2010) questionnaire. There are three dimensions in this questionnaire:parents’ professional status, parents’educational degree, and family’s economic situation. The Questionnaire of English Learning Motivation Types for College English Learners is adopted from Gao Yihong et al (2003). It includes seven components:intrinsic interest, immediate achievement, learning context, going abroad, individual development, social responsibility, and information medium.The three research questions addressed in the present study are:1. What is the overall situation of family SES of college English learners? 2. What is the overall situation of English learning motivation of college English learners? 3. Is there any correlation between SES and English learning motivation of college English learners? If yes, how are they related with each other?The study results show that:1. The proportions of high, middle, low level SES presents a pyramidal structure, which conforms to China’s real situation at the present stage.2. The overall situation of college English learners’English learning motivation indicates a high level. Specifically, from the strongest to the weakest, college English learners’preference for English learning motivation are individual development, immediate achievement, information medium, social responsibility, intrinsic interest, learning context and going abroad.3. The results suggest that SES and English learning motivation are significantly correlated. Those with high level SES have a combination of cultural and instrumental motivation, but instrumental motivation is the dominant drive for learners with middle or low level SES.Based on the findings, some suggestions are put forward for teachers, college English learners and their parents in order to better English teaching and learning. For teachers, they should integrate students’ major knowledge into teaching content, change traditional methods of assessment, enrich teaching materials by adding cultures and up-to-date information, design appropriate activities, create positive classroom atmosphere, improve teachers’ quality and improve students’ self-efficacy. For students, they should set up clear and proper learning objectives and communicate more with teachers and classmates. For parents, they should improve awareness of developing students’ positive attitude in both life and learning; and create harmonious home environment for their children.