A Survey On English Learning Motivation In Senior High School

Motivation is one of the most importantly influential factors in foreign language learning. It is not only the original source but also the continual driving force for foreign language learning. In a way, motivation is the precondition of any other factor which influences the process of the foreign language acquisition. Lacking motivation, even those learners who have a talent for the language and teachers who have great ability to teach by using the best materials can not reach their predetermined destination. In contrast, sufficient motivation can make up the shortage of learning aptitude. Gardner and Lambert stress that although there are some differences on language competence among the language learners, while compared to the language competence, learning motivation works more effectively on learners during the process of their language learning.Senior high school study is an important stage for teenagers and an important stage for language learning. Senior high school students are in the prophase of psychological development during this stage. Their logical thinking becomes mature and emotional stability increases step by step, but they also have to face the overwhelming pressure from the college entrance examination. Learning English is just forced by the pressure of college entrance examination, students usually act as passive recipient and can not gain positive learning results, and some students may lose their interest in English learning or even give up learning it. Thus senior high school teachers may often meet students who lack interest or are unmotivated in learning English. It is a very common phenomenon in our country. A common problem that teachers have to face is how to stimulate students’English learning motivation. Therefore, it is very necessary to explore students’English learning motivations and its underlying influential factors in this special stage.This survey takes Xiong Yue Senior High School in Liaoning Province as an example to explore senior high school students’ English learning motivation and discusses the strategies about how to improve students’English learning motivation. The research takes Gardner and Lambert’s classification of motivation which divided motivation into integrative motivation and instrumental motivation and Gao Yihong’s seven-dimension motivation theories as the theoretical base, aiming at answering three research questions:(1)What motivations do the senior high school students have?(2)What are the factors that influence their English learning motivation?(3)What should we do to improve senior high school students’ English learning motivation so as to promote their English learning?In order to ensure the reliability and validity of the data in this survey, the questionnaire used in this survey is adapted from Gao Yihong’s questionnaire.The author makes some necessary changes to the questionnaire according to the purpose of this survey and the actual situation of the students in this senior high school. In addition, there is also a semi-structured interview with the students in order to gather more data. From the data analysis, the author found that all the seven dimensions of Gao Yihong’s classification of motivation have appeared in this senior high school students’English learning process, and the instrumental motivation plays an important role among these dimensions. At the same time, the author also found that the extrinsic factors make great proportion among the various influential factors which impact their English learning motivation. Based on the survey, the author puts forward some motivation-stimulating strategies to enhance senior high school students’English learning motivation in order to promote their English learning effectiveness and seek out the general rules of senior high school students’learning motivation for the purpose of this survey.