A Study Of Chinese EFL Learners’ Motivation In Project-based Learning

Motivation is widely believed to be beneficial to students’ learning and achievement.Motivated students are more likely to devote more time and energy to their courses and study.PBL,as a teaching method embodying the claims of constructivism,has attracted more and more attention in China’s higher education.Among many advantages,PBL is assumed to stimulate students’ motivation.Compared with the traditional class,PBL focuses more on training students as autonomous learners.Several scholars have done some research on the impact of PBL on students’ motivation.In these studies,some have demonstrated that PBL enhances students’ motivational aspects,such as self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation.However,other studies show that PBL and non-PBL students have no difference in motivation outcomes.Besides,according to Wang(2013),although there are lots of studies related to motivation,few are focused on the key features of PBL(student-centered learning,collaboration,authenticity,network environment,teachers’ guidance,and multiple forms of assessment)and students’ English learning motivation.The domestic research on this aspect is almost blank.Therefore,based on the disputes and limitations of previous research,the author tries to explore students’ L2 learning motivation from the perspective of the key features of PBL.Firstly,the present study is aimed to investigate the effects of PBL on college students’ English learning motivation.Secondly,this study tries to examine to what extent the key features of PBL could affect students’ learning motivation.Thirdly,this research aimed to examine the gender difference in students’ English learning motivation after the implementation of PBL.To what extent does gender affect the relationship between the key features of PBL and students’ English learning motivation.This study was conducted in a mixed-method design combined with questionnaires and interviews.150 college students in the second year from Southeast University took part in this study.The project-based learning was carried out among these students from August to September in the short term of 2019.Firstly,these students completed a questionnaire that serves as a pretest on students’ learning motivation before the implementation of PBL.Then they were invited to complete the questionnaire again at the end of PBL learning in order to investigate if PBL could have a difference in students’ motivation.After the completion of the first set of questionnaires,the second set of questionnaires was carried out to explore to what extent the key features of PBL could affect students’ learning motivation and gender difference.To explore the results to a further extent,an interview was conducted as a qualitative follow-up.The quantitative data were under the analysis of SPSS 23.Findings of the study show as follows: firstly,PBL has affected college students’ learning motivation(expectancy-value,attribution,self-efficacy,anxiety,goals,and self-determination).Students scored higher on the six motivational aspects after the implementation of PBL,which indicates that students’ overall motivation level especially intrinsic motivation has improved.Although there was no significant difference between some motivational constructs,all the six key features of PBL had some effect on students’ learning motivation.Secondly,the six PBL features were related to college students’ English learning motivation.All Pearson correlation coefficients were greater than 0.6.Motivational factors with the Pearson correlation coefficients greater than 0.8 included student-centered(0.818),cooperation(0.865),and multiple forms of assessment(0.818).The motivation factors with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 included authenticity(0.785),the network environment(0.680),and teachers’ guidance(0.757).If a certain PBL feature does not play its role well,it may also be converted into demotivating aspects,especially in the process of implementing PBL in the classroom.Thirdly,there was no significant difference between genders in motivation affected by PBL.However,there were some differences in the six key features that have affected their motivation for learning English.For male students,the top three motivational factors of PBL were student-centered learning,collaboration,and multiple forms of assessment.While for female students,tutors’ guidance,collaboration,and multiple forms of assessment were in the top three.Based on these findings,the author puts forward some strategies for implementing PBL in improving college students’ learning motivation from the perspective of teaching and learning.Although the study has its limitations,such as small sample size,lack of control groups and short research time,the author hopes to provide college students and English teachers with some instructional implications to arouse students’ English learning motivation.