A Study On The Correlation Of College Enilish Learner’s Learning Motivation,Learning StraLtegy For EAP And Academic English Proficiency

In the context of the increasing internationalization of education,the demand for professional learning in English is growing.In fact,international students in English-speaking countries(such as the United States and the UK),generally study academic English before they enter university.In Japan,Hong Kong,Taiwan,Thailand and other English-speaking countries,some prominent universities have of-fered academic English courses,aiming at improving students’ academic communication skills.In China,:more and more scholars believe that academic English is an area that cannot be ignored in college English teaching.Therefore,this thesis adopts the quantitative research methods,and takes college English learners of a key Luniversity in China as subjects,to make an in-depth research and discussion on the situation of their EAP learning motivation and learning strategies and the relationship between their EAP learning motivation,learning strategies and academic English proficiency.And this thesis is designed to answer the following questions(1)What is the overall distribution of the three learning motivation types?And what is the correlation between the learning motivation for EAP of college English learners and their academic English proficiency?(2)What is the overall distribution of the six learning strategies used by college English learners in their EAP learning in China?And what is the correlation between the learning strategy for EAP of college English learners and their academic English proficiency?(3)What is the correlation between the learning motivation and the learning strategies for EAP of college English learners and their academic English proficiency?In this study,data collection is conducted by questionnaires and academic English proficiency test.There are two parts in each questionnaire:one includes individual background.The individual background part is designed to get some basic personal data from the subjects.And for the second part,the questionnaire of learning motivation for EAP is based on Ausubel’s Motivation classification,including Cognitive Drive,Ego-enhancement Drive,and Affiliative Drive;the questionnaire of learning strategy for EAP is adapted from the Oxford’s SILL(Strategy Inventory for Language Learning)(1990),which divides learning strategy into 6 types:memory strategy,cognitive strategy,compensation strategy,meta-cognitive strategies,affective strategies and social strategies.Academic English proficiency test is divided into four parts:listening,speaking,reading and writing.This thesis includes five chapters altogether.Chapter One mainly introduces the background and significance of the present research.Chapter Two gives a comprehensive review of three important concepts in this thesis:EAP,EAP learning motivation and learning strategy from perspective of the definition,characteristic and the related research at home and abroad.Chapter Three illustrates the research design and methodology,including the research questions,subjects,instruments and data collection and analysis.Chapter Four presents results and discussion of this study.This chapter reveals the correlation between academic English learning motivation,learning strategy and academic English proficiency through SPSS statistical analysis.Chapter Five summarizes the major findings of the research,providing implications for the EAP teaching and suggestions for further study.The results show that:(1)There is a significant positive correlation between learning motivation and academic English proficiency.And in the learning motivation for EAP,the predictive effect of Cognitive Drive and Ego-enhancement Drive is greater than that of Affiliative Drive.(2)There is also a significant positive correlation between academic English proficiency and learning strategies for EAPR And in the learning strategies of academic English,meta-cognitive strategies and cognitive strategies are relatively strongly correlated to academic English proficiency.Among the six learning strategies,the use of social strategies is the weakest Learners with high academic English proficiency and low academic English proficiency have the most significant difference in emotional strategy using.(3)There is a significant positive correlation between the three factors.However,the explanatory power of learning motivation and learning strategy for academic English proficiency is not as high as expected,and there are other factors that influence the level of academic English waiting for further exploration.Based on this study,teachers should know college English learners’ learning psychology and pay more attention to the cultivation of learning motivation to guide students in the academic English learning,such as strengthening the Ego-enhancement Drive.Only if the learners have correct learning motivation for EAP can they choose better learning strategies.For another thing,teachers should strengthen learners’ the emotional strategy and social strategy training,so as to improve students’academic English level.