| The development of higher education in China offers more opportunities for people toattend college. Students show great diversity in their English levels and individual difference.Therefore, college English teaching, one of the public compulsory courses, has been facing abig challenge. The effectiveness and quality of college English teaching is a hotly debatedissue in the teaching reform. College English Curriculum Requirements (2007:1) states that“teaching of College English should follow the principle of providing different guidance fordifferent groups of students and instructing them in accordance with their aptitude so as tomeet the specific needs of individualized teaching”. Level-based English Teaching has thenbeen carried out in mangy universities and colleges, for it embodies the human-centeredphilosophy of education taking into consideration the actual English level of the students.Besides, students’ individual differences are fully respected and their motivation for learninga foreign language is stimulated.Motivation is one of the most influential individual factors in SLA, affecting languagelearning outcomes and wide attention is paid to it by many researchers and educators. Asearly as the1950s, Gardner and Lambert in Canada began L2motivation research and builtthe classical model under a social psychological approach. Currently, motivation research isconducted in a school and classroom environment, combined with a particular educationcontext. Gao Yihong et al (2003) examine Chinese college undergraduates’ English learningmotivation types and the relationship between motivation types and motivational intensitywith a quantitative investigation. The results show that Chinese EFL learners do have seventypes of motivation:1) intrinsic interest;2) immediate achievement;3) learning situation;4)going abroad;5) social responsibility;6) individual development;7) information medium. Inaddition, college major and English proficiency have significant effects on motivation. Theirstudy also finds that students’ motivational intensity (learning effort) they invest in Englishare different due to the different motivation types.A wealth of studies on L2/EFL motivation and Level-based English Teaching have beenmade in light of both theories and empirical evidences, but the studies are always conductedseparately. The present study, therefore, attempts to combine the studies of two issues, toinvestigate college students’ English learning motivation types and their motivationalintensity under Level-based English Teaching, and to explore individual differences invarious levels of English learners, hoping that strategies can be suggested to stimulatestudents’ English learning motivation and improve the effectiveness in Level-based EnglishTeaching. Following this, three research questions are raised:(1) Do the students from ClassA, B and C show any difference in types of motivation?(2) Do the students from Class A, B and C show any difference in motivational intensity?(3) Do the students from Class A, B andC show any difference concerning the relationship between motivation types and motivationalintensity?517non-English majors from three different levels of Class A, Class B and Class C inGrade One in Lanzhou Jiaotong University are chosen as subjects of this study. Thequestionnaire and interview are used as the research instrument. Descriptive statistics,one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis have been employed as the data analysismethodologies after the data collection.After a careful analysis of the data, the present study has obtained the following findings:(1) Individual development, immediate achievement and information medium are consideredthe top motivation types among the subjects in Class A, B and C; and the significantdifferences in individual development and information medium in the three classes are foundexcept immediate achievement. Besides, although intrinsic interest and going abroad are thebottom motivation types among the subjects in all the three classes, the significant differencesin them still exist. These significant differences are due mainly to students’ different Englishproficiency.(2) The motivational intensity of the subjects of Class A is the highest, andsubjects’ motivational intensity between Class B and Class C has no significant difference.(3)Intrinsic interest is the only factor that has significantly positive correlation to the subjects’motivational intensity in all classes. Immediate achievement and learning situation in Class Aare negatively correlated to motivational intensity. Moreover, immediate achievement isnegatively correlated to motivational intensity in both Class B and Class C.The findings from the study offer practical implications to optimize Level-based EnglishTeaching and motivate students. In English teaching, the instructors should foster students’internal motivation, help students establish the reasonable language learning goals, guidestudents’ correct attribution, and in particular arouse their interest. For students, in theirlearning process, they need to change attitudes and set realistic goals for their study at eachstage. |
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