The Investigation and Analysis of Learning Motivation in English—Education Majors

LUO Lan

【Abstract】Learning motivation is regarded as the critical fact of affecting the learners learning. This article focuses on the local normal colleges， which offer the abundant resource of teachers； guarantee the education rights of students. This article is based on the related literature and the statistics offered by questionnaires and surveys. The participants were 80 English-education majors from a local normal university in Beijing and the surveys choose randomly 6 of them to get the answer. Through these two ways， weve found that the main motivation type for English-education majors is instrumental motivation. Family background， society and teaching model may lead to this phenomenon. The findings suggest that teachers should guide students to utilize their learnt knowledge into use and opening a book saloon to increase their interest and understanding of teaching might be a good way to improve students integrative motivation.

【Key words】Learning motivation； English-education majors； Instrumental motivation； Effect on teaching

Chapter 1 Introduction

Foreign language learners differ from each other. Some were more successful， some were not. Factors， like language aptitude， personality， age， motivation and learning styles are considered to affect language learning （Atkinson， 1964）. Among these factors， motivation is one of the most critical keys （Dornyei， 1998）. According to the historical literature， the classification is varied. However， the psychological method is the most significant one， and in this thesis， it is mainly used， i.e. the integrative motivation and instrumental motivation （Ellis， 1994； Gardner， 1983）.

In the related literatures， we can see that currently the study of the foreign language learning motivation consists two parts. One is from the static perspective to investigate the type of learning motivation among a certain group of learners （e.g. Shi， 2002）. The other one is from dynamic perspective to find the effect of motivation to learning process and the inner correlation between motivation and other manageable factors （e.g. Xiao， 2003）. However， these documents mainly concentrate on the English learning among non-English majors， although in the recent three years， some scholars have had some researches for English majors. Searching the documents in CNKI about learning motivation of English-education majors， researches all focus on English-education majors in six “211 project” free normal universities. This article mainly concentrates on the non- “211 project” local normal colleges and schools. These normal colleges offer the abundant resource of teachers； guarantee the education rights of students. So this thesis aim is to investigate the motivation of their English-education majors and analyze the causes.

Chapter 2 Findings

The findings of the research show that English-education major students have both motivations. However， the instrumental motivation is roughly 4 times than integrative motivation.

There are many causes which would give rise to this phenomenon Here， we discuss three palpable possible causes from different perspectives—family background， society and teaching model.

First， according to the collected data from questionnaire， the numbers of the students from 8 districts of Beijing is 30， rural area of Beijing is 41 and other provinces is 9. From the data， we can see that more than half of the students from rural area， not including those who have similar situation from other provinces. Considering the relatively small income their families have， their choice of studying English-education major is obvious， having a major which does not charge tuition fee and quite on the contrary， they could receive pension every month， finding a steady job in the future in a way to find another way comparing to his/her former family and meanwhile to have a good life.

Second， in China， children are required to study English for a good university or for a good job， which is also suitable for English-education major students. The compliments from teachers， parents and classmates for “good scores or good job” largely motivated them to study hard. From the questionnaire， we acquire that the woman and man ratio is dramatically high， reaching 12：1， there being 74 girls while only 6 boys in this major. We all know that the society have different expectation on men and women. For men， they need to be a breadwinner， to have broad aspirations and to withstand the pressure of life. For women， on the other hand， they should know how to be a homemaker， how to raise children and there is no need for them to make a big fortune. Although attitudes of people have had changed a lot during the recent decades， the basic idea seems no essential change. So to be a teacher is a good way for females. During my 6 interviews to my subjects， they all expressed their idea of “Whats the most significant reason that you think you should study English-education major？” and it is because “I like to be a teacher of its quality. It avails me two holidays， offers me a sound income and good respect. Besides， I would have more opportunities to visit abroad.” Thus， we can see that most of them choose English not because of its beauty， not because of the interests of English， not because of its opportunity to introduce China to the world， but because of the job itself. Above is another interpretation of why the instrumental motivation is much more than the integrative motivation.

Third， for a long period， the teaching model is “teacher-centered”， rather than “student-centered”. From the interviews， we can see that most of English-education major students regarded courses as boring. There are only a few courses， in their mind， interesting. In the class， teachers instill the information into students mind， while students passively receive this information and there is a little percentage of them has ever answered the question in the class. This type of teaching cannot promote students integrative motivation to enrich their knowledge and then to improve their English professional skills. Besides， the teaching method is unattractive and tedious. Our interviewees mentioned several times during the interview that teachers mainly teach from the text and they have not created their own understanding of arts， beliefs， traditions， religions etc. whats more， this major， like other majors， havent had much opportunity to communicate with speakers from other countries， especially from western countries. Although English-education majors can learn cultures from texts or other publications， they cannot truly understand what the culture of American or Britain is. Under the influence of these facts， the integrative motivation of theirs cannot be very distinct.

Except the above explanations， it is well-known that the evaluation of students achievement relies basically on tests and scores， which ignores some certain success during learning procedure. On this occasion， most of our English-education major students have to regard English as a tool to obtain a good score or get a decent job， rather than see it as a way to get known other countries custom， history and people.

Chapter 3 Pedagogic Implications

Some suggestions are given here for teaching， based on the findings of this research. First， teachers should guide students to utilize their learnt knowledge into use. This duty cannot be put only to students. It is also responsible for teachers to direct students how to apply the knowledge outside class. For instance， ask them to watch videos of excellent teaching， to analyze why this class is unique from others and existed weaknesses， then to conclude their own teaching style. If college professors or tutors can extend their teaching to the level of consideration to the future， students would feel more interested and involved into the class. During the procedure of teaching， teachers should constantly have this sort of extension， making sure that students learn knowledge to have better foundation for their future job. Thus to reinforce their expression of learning is using， rather than learn passively till they really have a job.

Besides， the department could ask students to read their interested treatises which are related to the field of teaching and hand in one or two book reviews every month. A bigger idea， open a book saloon， so that peers can share and discuss their opinions and ideas. This could， to a large extent， increase their interest and understanding of teaching， which is also a way to boost their integrative motivation. Under the big context of China， this is really valuable and also of benefit to students themselves. Because it is known that with integrative motivation students would stick to a goal longer and would not easily give up or be interrupted by other objects. To extend， it would even influence their future students when they teach， which is an upward spiral to the field of education in China.

References：

[1]Atkinson，John W.1964.An Introduction to Motivation.New York：D.Van Nostrand Company.

[2]Dornyei，Z.1994.Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language Classroom.The Modern Language Journal，78（3）：273- 84.

[3]Ellis，R.1994.The Study of Second Language Acquisition.New York：Oxford University Press.

[4]Gardner，R，C.1983.Integrative Motivation，Induced Anxiety，and Language Learning in a Controlled Environment.Studies in Second Language Acquisition，92（14）：197-242.

[5]石永珍.大学生英语学习动机调查报告[J].国外外语教学， 2002.

[6]肖肃.外语专业学生的学习动机与学业成就相关性研究[J].外语界，2003.

作者介绍：罗兰（1989-），女，四川乐山人，西南财经大学天府学院国际部，讲师，主要从事应用语言学研究。