A Study On The Correlation Between The Gender Difference In Junior High School Students’ Efl Learning Motivation And Their Performance

Among the multi-factors on learning English as a foreign language(EFL), learning motivation plays a vital role in students’ EFL learning. As a junior high school English teacher, the author finds some of her students, especially boys, are not interested in EFL learning, hence they don’t learn English well due to lack of learning motivation. Suppose students’ learning performance(LP) is closely related with motivation, is there any difference between boy and girl students in junior high school in their learning motivation type(MT) and motivation intensity(MI)? How can teachers cultivate and stimulate students of different genders in English learning motivation? Further research needs to be done on this issue.On the basis of previous researches and theories on second language learning(SLL), this study employs a revised learning motivation scale, based on Gardner’s(1985) learning motivation scale with consideration of the characteristics of junior high school students’ English learning. This study is carried out through a language learning motivation questionnaire survey and interview. The research centers on two questions:(1) Does any gender difference exist in junior high school students’ EFL learning MT and MI?(2) Is there any correlation between gender differences in junior high school students’ EFL learning motivation and their language performance(LP)? If there is, in what aspect is it?The subjects are 144 junior high school students of three grades in Number 9 Middle School in Dalian Development Zone. Besides, 18 students from the same school are asked for an interview with the purpose to obtain more necessary statistics.Questionnaire is the main instrument of this study, with an interview as an auxiliary tool. The questionnaire is conducted on January 15, 2015. The data are collected and analyzed through software SPSS 20.0 which focuses on the gender differences in ELF learning MT, MI and the correlation between the gender differences and LP. For further validation of the questionnaire, the author also conducts an interview on 18 students four days after the questionnaire. The data are sorted out and compared with that of the questionnaire.The study finds that there are some differences on MT and MI between boy students and girl students, and the differences have close correlation with their LP: with better LP, girls have more integrative motivation than boys and their MI is stronger; boys have more instrumental motivation and weaker MI, leading to worse LP than girls. There’s little effect on MI due to instrumental motivation, but some influence on the students’ LP. Integrative motivation has a great influence on both MI and LP. As students move up in grade, their integrative motivation and MI reduces while instrumental motivation increases. Teachers can take some proper steps to enrich boy students’ integrative motivation and strengthen their MI according to the characteristics of their MT and MI.