A Study On The Relationship Of Science And Engineering Majors' EFL Learning Motivation And Their Language Proficiency In Jimei University

Motivation is one of the key factors which can determine learners' language proficiency. Therefore, in the last several decades many researchers have mainly examined motivation of its definition, classification and model building. In China, most previous empirical researches have focused on the facilitating effect of motivation on English achievement and the relationship between motivation and other factors influencing English performance. In recent years some scholars have begun to investigate the internal structure of motivation. Much work was also done by sending questionnaires to classify undergraduates' types of motivation, to study the relationship between motivation and English performance, and to examine the main factors influencing Chinese college students' motivation. These efforts have undoubtedly promoted the development of motivation research to a large extent. However, there is still much work to do with learners' motivation. Almost no pragmatic studies have touched only upon the relationship of Science and Engineering majors' EFL learning motivation and their language proficiency so far. What's more, after the reformation of CET 4 & 6, no researchers have focused their effort on the relationship between English learning motivation and the performance of each part of CET 4, which is still a new area needed to be paid attention to.Based on the previous researches, this study intends to achieve the following several purposes: 1) to understand the differences of English learning motivation and CET 4 performances of 257 Science and Engineering major students, 2) to explore principal motivation factors of students' English learning and analyze the correlative relationship between different motivation factors and the performance of each part of CET 4, and 3) to provide the implications for teachers and students based on the . findings of this study. 257 participants in the study were second-year students chosen from six Science and Engineering majors in Jimei University. The questionnaire used in this study consisted of two parts (Appendix I). The first part was concerned with personal information, such as the participant's name, school number, sex and major. The second part of the questionnaire composed of 30 items measured English learning motivation. The second instrument was the scores of CET 4 of 257 students tested in December, 2006. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA test, factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis in SPSS 13.0 for windows were employed to analyze the data of the questionnaire and the scores of CET 4.This research has found that in the Chinese context most second-year Science and Engineering major students show a stronger instrumental motivation than integrative motivation in their English learning process and they are still deeply influenced by examination-oriented educational system like the results of most previous studies. According to the analysis of the mean frequencies of choices 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, students take their English learning seriously. Eight factors: intrinsic interest motivation (F1), going abroad motivation (F2), individual development motivation (F3), learning situation motivation (F4), major or achievement motivation (F5), further education motivation (F6), medium motivation (F7) and requirement motivation (F8) are found about students' English learning motivation and it is the first time to disclose the relationship between English learning motivation and the proficiency of each part of CET 4. Among them, intrinsic interest motivation is found to be the most influential factor on English learning, which is significantly correlative with the scores of every single part of CET 4. However, instrumental motivation consisting of F3, F5, F6 and F8 is found to be not significantly and positively correlative with the performance of CET 4 except F3 which is correlative with the scores of writing part, which shares the same results with Zhou Xuan's study. Going abroad motivation has significant positive relationship with scores of writing and comprehensive test parts of CET 4, while F7 is not significantly correlative with the performance of any part of CET 4. Learning situation motivation is also found to make no significant difference in students' performance of CET 4.Based on the major findings of this study, some implications for English teaching and learning can be obtained. Teachers and students should cultivate integrative motivation, make good use of instrumental motivation and try to create a favorable learning situation.