A Study Of The Relationship Between Learning Motivation And Reading Strategies Of Grade One Students In Senior High School

Reading is one of the most important skills in English learning, and it is a significant part in the English examinations. More and more researchers have paid their attention to how to improve the learners’ reading abilities. This research is about the relationship between Grade One students’ English learning motivation and reading strategies in senior high school. The purpose of this research is analyzing the correlation between English learning motivation and reading strategies, through investigating the main types of students’ learning motivation and the usage of reading strategies. There are some suggestions about English reading and teaching methods for both high school students and English teachers.Questionnaire and interview are used to investigate the types of Grade One students’ English learning motivation and the usage of reading strategies. There are 315 senior high school Grade One students from Liangcheng No. One Middle School took part in the survey. SPSS17.0 is used to analyze and summarize the data of the questionnaire. The results show that: Firstly, the strongest motivation of students for learning English is extrinsic motivation, and the weakest is achievement motivation. Secondly, the usage of English reading strategies by senior high school students in average is at the medium level. The most frequently use by students are cognitive strategies. Thirdly, all the four categories of learning motivations are significant positive correlation with meta-cognitive strategies. Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and achievement motivation are positively significant correlation with cognitive strategies, except for the relationship between motivation attribution and cognitive strategies is negative.According to the results, some suggestions are put forward to stimulating the students’ English learning motivation and using the reading strategies. To improve the students’ reading abilities, teachers should know the students’ learning motivation and stimulate their intrinsic motivation. At the same time, students should use effective reading strategies, especially meta-cognitive strategies in reading process.