The Dynamic Relationship Between English Reading Motivation And English Reading Achievements Of Junior Middle School Students

Learning motivation refers to the psychological tendency that can initiate and maintain learners' learning behaviors and meet their learning demands.Since the introduction of learning motivation into the second or foreign language acquisition,overseas and domestic researchers have investigated learning motivation which is related to some specific domains.Recently,some researchers focus on a specific domain,reading,attempting to reveal how reading motivation affects language learning.Reading motivation can be defined as an integrative drive which includes the beliefs,attitudes and purposes learners have for reading.The previous study mainly focuses on theory and some factors related to English reading motivation.However,the variation trend of learners' English reading motivation in junior middle school and the relationship between English reading motivation and English reading achievements have not been well investigated.Therefore,with the English Reading Motivation Questionnaire as the main instrument,this study is carried out among students in a junior middle school in Zhangzhou,and investigates the dynamic relationship of English reading motivation and English reading achievements from Grade One to Grade Three.The questions this study tries to explore are as follows:(1)How does English reading motivation vary from Grade One to Grade Three in junior middle school?(2)How does the relationship between English reading motivation and English reading achievements change from Grade One to Grade Three in junior middle school?(3)To what degree can English reading motivation explain learners' English reading achievements from Grade One to Grade Three in junior middle school?The data are gathered and analyzed in a software called SPSS 13.0 and the results are as follows:(1)there is a declining trend of learners' English reading motivation from Grade One to Grade Three in junior middle school;(2)the coefficient of English reading motivation with the four dimensions(competence and efficacy beliefs,goals for reading,social purposes for reading and reading material)and English reading achievements declines from Grade One to Grade Two and then rises from Grade Two to Grade Three.That is to say,the coefficient between them declines at first and then rises with their grades rising and the coefficient reaches to the lowest point in Grade Two;(3)the explaination of English reading motivation tolearners' English reading achievements also declines firstly and then rises with their grades rising.From the perspective of the four dimensions,in Grade One,both competence and efficacy beliefs and goals for reading can explain learners' English reading achievements and when combined,the explanatory powers are enhanced;in Grade Two,only competence and efficacy beliefs can explain students'English reading achievements;in Grade Three,the two dimensions,including competence and efficacy and reading material,can explain learners' English reading achievements and the explanatory powers are also enhanced when combined.This paper,to some degree,enriches the teaching theory for learners' English reading motivation in junior middle school and also provides some tentative suggestions about English reading and teaching for learners and teachers in junior middle school.