An Empirical Study Of The Interrelationship Of Learner Autonomy, Learning Motivation And Language Achievement Of EFL Learners In Senior High Schools

Over these years, learner autonomy and learning motivation have become one of the hot topics in the field of foreign language teaching. As the New Curriculum Reform focuses on students’ development, autonomy and motivation deserve much consideration. Many a researcher (Little,1991; Dornyei,1994; Gao et al.,2003; Xu et al.,2004) has carried out a large quantity of studies on learner autonomy and on learning motivation from both theoretical and practical aspects, mostly focusing on theoretical background, current situation and practical application of them. However, there are only a few studies on the correlation between learner autonomy and motivation, and research subjects are mostly college students. In addition, under the circumstance of Chinese education background, English achievement is one of the remarkable points which attract people’s great attention, and it is also an important measurement of learning effect. Nevertheless, there are few empirical researches paying attention to the interrelationship of learner autonomy, learning motivation and English achievement, needless to say on the subject of senior high school students.The current study attempts to explore the interrelationship of learner autonomy, learning motivation and English achievement among senior high school students by the employment of quantitative method. In the meanwhile, it also explores the differences between learners from different star-level schools and between learners of different genders. Altogether 303 participants from two senior high schools of Nanjing took part in this investigation. Learner autonomy is measured by Learner Autonomy Questionnaire of Xu Jinfen et al. (2004), and learning motivation is measured by English Learning Motivation Questionnaire of Zoltan Dornyei and Tatsuya Taguchi (2010). English achievement is measured by the grade of a English final examination. By the employment of SPSS 18.0, the data collected are analyzed. The results are as follows:(1) learner autonomy, learning motivation of senior high school students are both at a medium level, and English achievement of them is unsatisfactory in general. Thereinto, students have a relatively clear understanding of teachers’ teaching aims and requirements but with worse usage of learning strategies. Students have relatively stronger motivation of Cultural Interest, Integrativeness and Attitudes toward L2 Community, but with weaker motivation of Ought-To L2 Self and Fear of Assimilation. Four-star school students generally have stronger learner autonomy, autonomous motivation and better English achievement than three-star school students. Female students generally have stronger learner autonomy, learning motivation and better English achievement than male students. (2) Generally speaking, there is significant positive weak correlation between learner autonomy and learning motivation. Different components of learning motivation have different relationships with learner autonomy. Autonomous motivation has significant positive correlation with learner autonomy and even with its five components. Thereinto, Attitudes toward Learning English has the strongest positive correlation with learner autonomy, followed by Integrativeness and Criterion Measures. Controlled motivation has significant negative correlation with learner autonomy and its five components. Learner autonomy and autonomous motivation have significant positive correlation with English achievement, and controlled motivation has significant negative correlation with English achievement. However, these three variables have different extent of impact on English achievement. (3) Learner autonomy has the strongest influence on English achievement, followed by controlled motivation and then autonomous motivation.Finally, based on the results of this study, implications for fostering learner autonomy, cultivating positive autonomous motivation and improving English achievement as well as English teaching effect are presented. At the end of this study, limitations of the research and suggestions for further studies are also provided.