Research On The Motivation Of Non-English Majors In Learning English

In recent years, with the advances in general linguistics, psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology, the focus of second language learning has shifted from teaching to learning. More consideration has been put on language learners. Motivation has been recognized as one of the most influential affective variables that lead to individual learning differences.There have been considerable researches and investigations on motivation in second language learning. On the basis of theories and researches in the field, an investigation is carried out in order to make some deep study of the college English teaching and learning in China.First, general discussion on second language learning is provided as the background knowledge for the research of motivation. Some fundamental concepts and theories of motivation are simply introduced. Besides, the relationship between motivation and second language learning, that is the importance of motivation in second language learning, is touched upon.Next, a crucial part of the thesis is the discussion about the factors that influence learning motivation. Since we do research on motivation, we intend to find out some ways that can promote language learning. Only when we have ideas about the variables that influence motivation, can we take measures pertinently. Generally, this part views these factors from three dimensions: social factors, educational factors and the learners'internal factors. Each dimension covers several subdivisions and specific analysis.As to the investigation, it aims to explore the Chinese college non-English majors'motivation intensity and the differences between high-achievers and low-achievers in order to find out useful tactics to improve English learning. The subjects are 130 third-year students in Ocean University of China, covering three majors excluding English. A purposefully designed questionnaire is distributed to them, assuring its reliability beforehand. The correlation analysis is adopted to analyze the relationship between the learners'motivation and their performance. On the basis of statistics analysis, three conclusions are educed: (1) most non-English majors have higher instrumental motivation and their intrinsic motivation needs to be stimulated. (2) The degrees of motivation and achievement are not always in direct proportion; there are other factors influencing students'achievement, such as learning strategy. (3) Motivation factors such as interest and effort have great influence on students'performance.In the light of the study, the thesis provides some suggestions for enhancing English language learners'motivation, such as developing cooperative learning, establishing favorable teacher-students relationship and promoting learner autonomy, etc.