A Study Of Demotivation In English Learning Among Junior High School Students In Urban And Rural Areas

There are not only positive factors influencing students' English learning,but also negative factors,which can be generally termed as demotivation.At present,many students are likely to be bored with English when they enter junior middle school,which in result leads to the decline of students' motivation for English learning.As for Chinese students,demotivation is prevalent in the process of English learning,and it has many negative effects on their English learning.Research on demotivation is a trending topic.However,few previous studies have focused on the differences of demotivation between urban and rural students.Therefore,the current study investigated the general situation of demotivation,the differences of demotivation between urban and rural middle school students in English learning,the factors contributing to demotivation,and the relationship between the demotivation factors and English proficiency.This study adopted questionnaires and interviews to investigate 49 second-grade students in Nanchang No.14 middle school(Urban)and 50 second-grade students in Xintian middle school(Rural)to examine the following questions:(1)What is the current situation of demotivation in English learning among junior high school students in urban and rural areas?(2)Are there differences of demotivation in English learning between the junior students in urban and those in rural areas?(3)Are there differences of demotivation factors between urban and rural students?(4)What is the relationship between the demotivation factors and students' English proficiency?SPSS Statistics data analyses showed that:(1)Demotivation is a very common phenomenon in junior high school.(2)There are significant differences between urban and rural junior high school students.(3)There are significant differences of the demotivation factors between urban and rural students in teacher-related and course-related factor,but no differences instudent-related and learning environment-related factor.And student-related factor is the most significant one among all.(4)There are negative correlations between the demotivation factors and students' English proficiency.The current study showed that demotivation played an important role in shaping students' English learning process.Implications are discussed,and future studies are encouraged to further explore dynamic change of demotivation in relation to language improvement.