weiyi97Research-on-Non-English-Majors’-Current-Motivation-in-English-Learning--英语(师范类)本科毕业.doc

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Research on Non-English Majors’ Current Motivation in English Learning

Contents
Abstract 2
Introduction 3
I. Introduction to Motivation 4
A. Research Background 4
B. Research Issues 6
II. Research Methodology 6
A. Sampling 6
B. Instrument 6
C. Data Collection and Analysis 7
III. The Results and Discussion of the Survey 7
A. The Analysis of English Learning Interest 7
B. The Analysis of the Main Purposes of English Learning 7
C. The Analysis of Influencing Factors of English Learning Motivation 8
IV. Summary and Inspiration of the Survey 10
A. Major Findings 10
B. The Inspiration of Non-English Majors’ English Teaching 11
1. Cultivating Students’ Interest in Learning English 11
2. Remodeling Students’ English Learning Motivation 11
3. Focusing on the Role of Internal and External Factors in Learning Motivation 12
Conclusion 13
Notes 15
Bibliography 16
Acknowledgments 17

20

Abstract: With the deepening of foreign language teaching researches at home and abroad, an increasing number of attention has been paid to the study of English learning motivation. So far, oceans of scholars have paid more attention to the study of college students’ English learning motivation in Sci-Tech Universities. However, based on the sampling survey of non-English junior majors’ English learning motivation in Neijiang Normal University, this paper analyzes the motivation of non-English majors in the normal university, the interest in English learning, the main purposes of English learning, the factors that influence English learning motivation and the inspiration for non-English majors’ English teaching. It is designed to stimulate non-English majors’ English learning motivation and improve the quality of English teaching.
Key Words: motivation; English learning; non-English majors

摘要：随着国内外外语教学研究的不断深入，英语学习动机的研究越来越受到重视。目前，学者们侧重对理工科非英语专业大学生英语学习动机的研究。然而，基于内江师范学院非英语专业大三学生英语学习动机的抽样调查，本文分析了师范类高校非英语专业的大学生英语学习的兴趣、英语学习的主要目的、影响英语学习动机的因素以及对非英语专业大学英语教学的启示，旨在激发非英语专业大学生的英语学习动机，提高英语教学质量。
关键词：动机; 英语学习; 非英语专业大学生

Research on Non-English Majors’ Current Motivation in
English Learning
Introduction
With the development of the society, English is increasingly becoming a global language, mainly due to globalization. As the backbone of promoting social development, college students are supposed to be proficient in using English, which is their essential basic skill. Therefore, how to effectively stimulate college students’ interest in learning English and develop their activeness have been received the widespread attention by domestic and foreign scholars. Actually speaking, the motivation of English learning is the most dynamic factor of learners’ individual factors, and it has become a hot spot in the past half century. It is said that whoever you are, English majors or non-English majors, learning English well is a significant way to live better. Thus it is indispensable for researchers to study the current motivation in English learning. Up to now, although there are a great number of researches about college students’ motivation, the research objects need to be classified more and more specifically. Therefore, this paper will dig into the English learning motivation of non-English majors in the normal university on the basis of the research of non-English junior majors’ English learning motivation in Neijiang Normal University.
First of all, the general knowledge of motivation should be focused, such as the definitions of learning motivation, the types of learning motivation and the influencing factors of learning motivation. What’s more, after the research issues have been stated clearly, the paper introduces the research methodology, such as the sampling, instrument and data collection and analysis. After that, the paper is concerned about the results and discussion of the research, including the analysis of English learning interest, the analysis of the main purposes of English learning and the analysis of influencing factors of English learning motivation. Finally, some major findings are summarized and quite a few inspirations of non-English majors’ English teaching are suggested according to the results and analysis of the research.
It is reported that the motivation will influence students’ English learning, especially for the non-English majors, so motivation has played a significant role when students learn English. Nowadays, the linguistic competence about English of non-English majors is becoming more and more important. Consequently, the research on non-English majors’ current motivation in English learning is quite necessary. This paper is designed to discover the non-English majors’ current motivation in English learning, analyze the results of the research, offer some suggestions to the non-English majors’ English teaching to stimulate their English learning motivation and improve the quality of English teaching and learning.
I. Introduction to Motivation
A. Research Background
As everyone knows, motivation is one of the most important factors that will influence students’ English achievements. It has a close relationship with students’ success or failure in English teaching in college. Therefore, teachers must pay more attention to this aspect. As for motivation, its definitions, classifications and influencing factors should be known.
Firstly, motivation is a term which usually appears in researches of the second rather than the first language learning, and different definitions of leaning motivation are given by different researchers from different angles. Gardner and Macintyre argue “the learning motivation is composed of three components: the desire to achieve the goal, the effort to achieve the goal, and the satisfaction of accomplishing the task;” 1 Williams suggests that learning motivation that enables learners to put in efforts for a period of time to achieve the established goals, is a state of emotional and cognitive awakening; and Wen Qiufang points out that English motivation can be simply interpreted to the reasons and purposes of English learning. Generally speaking, motivation has different definitions from various aspects, but the majority of people accept this opinion that motivation includes the goal, effort and sustenance.
Secondly, as people continue to deepen the study of foreign language teaching, investigations of the connotations of learning motivation are also more abundant. There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. In accordance with different standards, there are different classifications of learning motivation. Consequently, there is no correct classification, but it is necessary to know their standards. Although some ideas are good or some views are bad, they are accepted. At least, it is worthwhile to acquire their opinions from different aspects. In the classification of motivation, Gardner and Lambert assert that learning motivation is divided into instrumental learning motivation and integrated learning motivation, from the perspective of language learning in social psychology. Instrumental learning motivation is not out of inner love but for a particular purpose to learn a language, such as passing an examination, obtaining a certificate, finding a good job, looking up a document and so on. Integrated learning motivation means a learner acquires a language from the heart, has a strong interest in the target language, or even wants to become one of the members of the target language community. Another more classical classification is divided into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation by Deci and other researchers from the cognitive psychology point of view. Intrinsic motivation is out of interest, curiosity and other intrinsic factors to learn a language. While extrinsic motivation refers to external factors such as rewards, employment to learn a language.
In the study of the types of English learning motivation in Chinese native environment, Gao Yihong and his colleagues summed up seven common types of motivation, including intrinsic interest, immediate achievement, learning situation, going abroad, social responsibility, individual development and information media, which can be further generalized as instrumental, cultural and situational motivations. Wen Qiufang also from a psychological point of view, divided the interest into direct interest and indirect interest, and thus divided the motivation into surface motivation and deep motivation. As far as she is concerned, surface motivation and deep motivation, are based on whether they have direct interest in what they learned to distinguish. According to the theory, interest can be cultivated and changed. Therefore, the two motivations can be transformed into each other.
    Thirdly, it is generally known that there are so many factors which will influence the motivation, such as, teaching material, teaching methods, classroom atmosphere, self-anxiety, self-confidence. On the one hand, “Dornyei analyzes learning motivation from three aspects: language, learner and learning situation. He suggests that curriculum, teachers and teaching environment will affect the learning motivation.” 2 On the other hand, Williams & Burden also put forward their own motivation model. They claim that there are two kinds of factors that affect the motivation, that is, internal factors and external factors. Internal factors are most likely to include learners’ interest, learning attitude, their expectations and so on, while external factors consist of teachers, teaching materials, learning environment and other factors.
Learning motivation has been always considered as a key factor in second language acquisition, which is one of the main variables that restrict students’ foreign language learning achievement. Thus learning motivation plays a crucial role for English learners in English learning. When it is suitable for the actual situation of learners, even to a certain extent, it can make up learners’ urgent-needed language skills and language conditions. Therefore, a growing number of education workers study learning factors which includes learning motivation, and the progress in theory or application has an important guide in teaching.
B. Research Issues
This study attempts to explore non-English majors’ current motivation in English learning. Specific research questions are as follows:
1. Are non-English majors interested in learning English?
2. What are the main purposes of non-English majors’ English learning?
3. What are the influencing factors of English learning motivation of non-English majors?
II. Research Methodology
A. Sampling
This study adopted the method of sampling—specifically 130 juniors were randomly selected from 14 secondary schools (except foreign languages school) of Neijiang Normal University. Taken bedroom as a unit, a student was randomly selected. That’s to say, the 130 junior students came from different bedrooms. Among them, 58 participants were boys and 72 were girls. These secondary schools include the College of Arts, the College of Chemical Engineering, the College of Music, the College of Physical Education and so on. As juniors, after the first two years of basic English learning, they have a more in-depth and stable understanding. However, in the previous studies on English learning motivation, few of researchers regarded the non-English junior majors in the normal universities as the research subjects. Therefore, there is still an army of research space for this kind of study. As a matter of fact, 130 questionnaires were actually issued and 130 valid questionnaires were collected. The effective rate was 100%.
B. Instrument
The measuring tool used in this study is the questionnaire. The questionnaire refers to Wang Zhimin’s “Investigation of College Students’ Motivation in English Learning”. Surely, the necessary modifications on the basis of the actual situation were made. The questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part is the subject’s personal information (secondary school, gender, major, grade and the level of English); the second part involves 30 questions, including the interest of English learning (Items 1-5), a total of 5; the main purposes of English learning (Items 6-12), a total of 7; the influencing factors of learning motivation (Items 13- 30), a total of 18. All of these questions in this section are measured with three scales, “disagreement”, “uncertainty” and “consistent”. What is supposed to highlight here is that the questionnaire is filled in an anonymous manner, and subjects are asked to fill out the questionnaire truthfully. Hence it won’t trigger any trouble to the subjects. (Reference to the appendix)
C. Data Collection and Analysis
Above all, the investigators checked the number and validity of the collected questionnaires; for instance, whether the corresponding option is omitted or not. After that, using computer to count the data was required. In order to ensure the accuracy of the data, a review is conducted.
III. The Results and Discussion of the Survey
A. The Analysis of English Learning Interest
Table 1 The Interest of English Learning %
Items
Disagreement
Uncertainty
Consistent
1. I like English.
53.8
25.4
20.8
2. I think learning English is very important.
16.2
18.5
65.3
3. I am interested in English and its culture.
46.9
23.8
29.3
4. I find English boring and dull.
33.8
23.8
42.4
5. After I get credits, I won’t learn English.
31.5
20.8
47.7
Table 1 demonstrates that 53.8% of non-English majors do not like English; only 29.3% of students are interested in English and its culture; 42.4% of them think English is so boring and dull; 47.7% of them no longer plan to continue to learn English after they get credits but 65.3% of them agree that learning English is very important. It can be seen, although most of non-English majors know that learning English is quite necessary for them, more than 50% of the students are lack of interest in learning English. That’s to say, every secondary school has offered English courses, while most of the non-English majors do not like learning English.
What are the reasons of this phenomenon? Faced with this kind of situation, people should consider it twice. It is said that interest is the best teacher. According to the results, non-English majors are lack of interest in English learning, which is bad for them to learn English well. Therefore, how to develop students’ interest in English learning is an urgent task for researchers, even for teachers.
B. The Analysis of the Main Purposes of English Learning
Table 2 The Main Purposes of English Learning %
Items
Disagreement
Uncertainty
Consistent
6. To pass the final exam.
19.2
10.8
70.0
7. To get the scholarshi