Demotivation in China’s College English Language Classrooms

◆徐 洁

(温州大学城市学院)

Demotivation in China’s College English Language Classrooms

◆徐 洁

(温州大学城市学院)

Demotivation in second or foreign language learning is the dark side of motivation.It concerns specific external forces that negatively affect the language learners’motivational basis to learn the language(Dörnyei,2001).Much research has been carried out in studyingmotivation both in general field and L2(second language)field.In contrast,little research has been conducted on demotivation among language learners.This study inquires intowhich demotivational factor affected college students negativelymost;and how did demotivation affect them and their English learning.

Motivation demotivation amotivation self-motivating strategies

Ⅰ Introduction

In SLA field,motivation has been regarded as a key factor in L2 learning. However,mostof themotivation researches in the past have typically conceptualized‘motivation’as a kind of‘inducement’,that is,as a force whose strength ranges on a continuum from zero to strong,withoutmuch being said about negative’motives which also exert its influence on ongoing student behaviors (Dörnyei,2001).The students and teachers’classroom experiences suggest that the motivational influence that has demotivating effects on the students is rather common,such as public humiliation,devastating test results and conflicts with peers(Dörnyei,2001).Therefore,demotivation’is a frequent phenomenon in the L2 classroom and this negative side ofmotivation deserves careful study.

Ⅱ Research on demotivation

Researchers(Gardner,1985;Skehan,1991)in the field of language learningmotivation have stressed the effects of educational context in affecting learners’motivation.Those studies show that factors related to the learning situation(e.g.teacher’s personality,teaching method and competence;the coursebook;teaching and learning equipment;and learning group)are significantly accounted for learners’demotives(Dörnyei,1998;Inbar,Donitsa-Schmidt& Shohamy,2001).

The general findingof Gorham&Cristophel’s(1992)study that teacher behaviours largely contributed students’demotivation is consistent with the results generated in the L2 field,in addition,this finding was further confirmed by a replicated study conducted by Gorham&Cristophel in 1995.

Aiming at using exploratory analysis,Dörnyei’s(1998b)study focused specifically on learners who had already been identified as being demotivated by their language teachers or peers,using a qualitative approach by conducting structured long interviewswith 50 secondary school pupils in various schools in Budapest.Nine categories of demotivating factorswere identified,in which only the primary demotives mentioned by the participants were included.The nine categories of demotivating factorswere as follows:

1.the teacher(e.g.the teacher’s personality,commitment to teaching, competence,teachingmethod,teaching style,attention paid to the students,and rapportwith students)

2.inadequate school facilities(e.g.group is not the right levelor too bigor too s mall;frequent change of teachers;using inferior teaching or learning equipments;seating arrangements;and classroom decoration)

3.reduced self-confidence(e.g.perception of too strict marking;previous experience of failure or lack of success in language learning)

4.the negative attitude towards theL2(e.g.dislike of theway the language sounds,the grammar,the vocabulary,the whole structure of the language)

5.the compulsory nature ofL2 study

6.the interference of another foreign language being studied(e.g.studying two similar languages at the same time)

7.the negative attitude towardsL2 community(e.g.dislike of the people, the culture ofL2 community)

8.the attitudes of other group members(e.g.dislike of group members)

9.the coursebook used in the language classes(e.g.coursebook is boring, useless,old-fashioned)

Although demotivation is a salientphenomenon inL2 field,yet notmuch research has been carried outon it.The little available research,conducted byOxford(1998),Ushioda(1998),Chambers(1993)and Dörnyei(1998b)do generates a number of consistent results,that is teachers have a considerable responsibility in accounting for students’demotivation,and teachers’perception of demotivating sources differs from students’perception of demotivating sources.

Ⅲ Background of the study

1.Whether Chinese college students have the experience of being demotivated?

2.What arethe perceived demotivating factors from Chinese college students’points of view?

3.How demotivating are those factors from Chinese college students’pointsof view?

Participants in this studywere studentsof Class2006,Class2007 and Class 2008 ofWenzhou City College,majoring in accounting,business administration and computing.In total,200 questionnaires were distributed,and 110 completed oneswere finally received.The proportions of male participants and female participantswere as follows:58.2 percent males and 41.8 percent females respectively(64 males and 46 females).

Questionnaires used in this study consisted mainly of scales derived from main demotivating factors identified byDörnyei(1998b),which were the teacher,inadequate school facilities,reduced self-confidence,negative attitude towards the L2 and L2 community,attitudes of group members and coursebook. The questionnaire was composed of two sections.The first part of the first section comprised 4 scales 16 items(item1-item16,each scale contains four items, each item has two questions),asking students aboutwhether you have this kind of experience’in order to investigate the frequency of those experience.The scaleswere as follows:the teacher(teacher’s personality,commitment,teaching method):item 7,10,11,14;inadequate school facilities(frequent change of teachers,group is not the right level or too big,inferior teaching and learning equipments):item 1,2,6,15;reduced self-confidence(lack of success,encouragement or praise,unrealistic goals):item 4,5,9,13;attitude towards group members:item 3,8,12,16.

Each question was followed by how demotivating you think it is if you have this kind of experience’.Only the participantswho had the stated experiencewere asked to answer the second question of each item.The second part of the first section(item 17-24)aimed at investigating students’attitude towards the coursebook(item 18,19,22,23),L2 and L2 community(item 17,20,21, 24),and how demotivating those factorswere if theywere perceived negatively. Six points likert-type scales were used,ranking from very often’(1 point)to never’(6 point),and very demotivating’(1 point)to not at all’(6 point).Following these questions,demographic information on the sex of the participants was requested.

Ⅳ Results and discussion

On the whole,the resultsof the data gave rise to three categories that affected students negativelymost:(1)factors related to coursebook;(2)factors related to reduced self-confidence;(3)factors related to teacher,which lend support to the results reported byUshioda(1998)and Dörnyei(2001).

The coursebook:

It comes asmuch surprise that coursebook top the listof demotivating factors that affected students negativelymost,second in frequency and first in salience. The reasons for this are not clear. It could due to several facts.First,work in China’sL2 classrooms ismostly coursebook-based.Second,usually coursebook is the only teaching and learningmaterial used in the classroom.Third,the writers of cousebook put too much emphasis upon grammar and vocabulary,giving little consideration to the actual needs of the students.Fourth,teachers have no right to decide on which coursebook to use.

There were significant positive correlations between the salience of coursebook related factors and the salience of the factors related to the attitude towards group members(r=.358,p〈.01),the salience of factors related to coursebook and the salience of teacher related factors(r=.307,p〈.01).Notable difference between the two groups(females and males)can be seen in the frequency of coursebook related factors(3.4564 vs.3.9063),p=.043.

Reduced self-confidence:

Reduced self-confidence was second on the list of demotivating factors that affected students negatively most,first in frequency and second in salience. It comes as little surprise that the item concerning students’poor performance in exams came as the second both the in frequency list of all of the items,mean=3. 45,and the intensity listof allof the items,mean=3.56.As in Chinese education system,the instruction ismostly test-driven.Test is the onlymethod used to measure students’academic achievement.The consequences of failing tests could be quite harmful,leading to frustration and demotivation.

Significantpositive correlationswere also found between the frequencyof the factors related to reduced self-confidence and the frequency of teacher related factors(r=.382,p〈.01);the frequency of the factors related to reduced self -confidence and the frequency of the factors related to the attitude towards L2 and L2 community(r=.411,p〈.01);the frequency of factors related to reduced self-confidence and the frequencyof factors related to the attitude towards group members(r=.412,p〈.01);the salience of the factors related to reduced self-confidence and the salience of the factors related to the attitude towards group members(r=.501,p〈.01).

The teacher:

The teacher was third on the list of demotivating factors that affected students negativelymost,fifth in frequency and third in salience.This result is fully consistent with the reported results by Ushioda (1998) and Dörnyei (2001).On the list of the frequency of all of the items,the item regarding teacher’s boring teaching method was third in frequency,mean=3.47.This could be the case that studentswere no longer satisfied with the traditional grammar-translation teaching approach.This is imaginable,given the fact that China’s classrooms are normally teacher-centered.

There were significant positive correlations between the frequency of teacher related factors and factors related to the attitude towards group members(r=. 493,p〈.01);the frequency of teacher related factors and factors related to the attitude towardsL2 and L2 community(r=.403,p〈.01);the salience of teacher related factors and the salience of the attitude towards group members(r =.425,p〈.01).

Attitude towards group members:

Attitude towards group memberswas fourth on the listof demotivating factors that affected students negativelymost,fourth in frequency and fourth in salience. The result of independent t-test revealed that attitude towards group members was a more common source of demotivation among female students than male students(p=.022).This could be the case that as female students caremore about their study,usually they are more focused on their study and more disciplined than male students.W ith more students with discipline problems,more students tend to have problemswith the unpleasant learning environment,which may become a serious source of frustration and demotivation.

Attitude towardsL2 and L2 community:

The fifth on the list of demotivating factors that affected students negatively most was the attitude towardsL2 andL2 community,fourth in frequency and first in salience.The reasons for this are quite straightfor ward.Dörnyei(1994a)argues that integrating cultural elements of the target language could have a great significance in creating interest and motivation toward learning the L2.Contrarily,if the learners view the speakers,the culture and thewaysof beingof the language being studied negatively,then they are more likely to be demotivated.

Many Chinese students find certain difficulties in learning grammar patterns and vocabulary items.Those difficulties they encounter in their learning could have a serious impacton theirmotivational state,leading to demotivation.As vocabulary and grammar knowledge is highly related to the four basic language skills(writing,listening,reading and speaking),limited vocabulary and poor grammar could result in bad perfor mance in writing,listening,reading and speaking,which then may arouse the feeling of failure and frustration.

Inadequate school facilities:

On the bottom of the list of demotivating factors that affected students negativelymostwas the scale of inadequate school facilities,sixth in frequency and third in salience.Asmentioned above,normally Chinese class is a big one with 30-60 students,both teachers and students find certain difficulties in coping with this situation. It was reasonable that the participants were quite satisfied with the learning and teaching equipments in their schools,considering the fact thatmost colleges in Wenzhou have language labs,computers and projector for every class.

Ⅴ Conclusion

The current study aims at finding the demotivational factors that affect students negativelymost,how would demotivation affect students’English learning and what have they done to help their English learningwhen theywere demotivated.The results of the study suggest that contextual factors like the teacher and the coursebook affected students negatively most when they were perceived negatively.In order to minimize the negative effect of demotivation,some changes need to be introduced into China’s language classrooms.

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little attention in China’sL2 classrooms and the large number of demotivated L2 learners after I took aMA module on motivation in L2 classrooms,I took an interest in investigating the following research questions: