A Study Of The Correlation Between College English Learning Motivation And Lexical Breadth, Depth In Independent College

Independent college students, an important part of college students in China, sharing many similarities with other college students, demonstrate some special features. The author of the present thesis, a teacher of English in an independent college, has noticed most of such students’ reluctance in learning English and their frequent complaint of the difficulty in learning English vocabulary. Do students’ low motivation affects their vocabulary learning or vice versa? Though some scholars have studied the correlation between English learning motivation and vocabulary learning of college students, there is no pertinent research with independent college students as subjects. This thesis intends to investigate non-English majors’ English learning motivation in independent college and test their lexical breadth and depth, and further tries to explore whether there is correlation between their English learning motivation and lexical breadth and depth.The subjects of the present study are 82 non-English majors from an independent college: China University of Geosciences Great Wall College. A questionnaire related to English learning motivation and tests of vocabulary breadth and depth are conducted. The data are collected and analyzed with SPSS18.0 software.The study finds that the overall English learning motivation of non-English majors in independent college is not strong. The order of seven types of English learning motivation from strong to weak is individual development, immediate achievement, social responsibility, intrinsic interest, information media, learning situation and going abroad. The order of seven motivations of Science students is different from Arts students. The intensity of female students’ overall motivation is higher than that of males. The results of the lexical breadth and depth of independent college non- English major students are not ideal and are much lower than those in non-independent college students. Obvious difference is not found in vocabulary learning between Science students and Arts students. Female students’ vocabulary level is generally higher than that of males. In three motivations(instrumental motivation, cultural motivation and situational motivation), there is an obviously positive correlation between cultural motivation and lexical breadth and depth. In addition, there is also an obviously positive correlation between individual development motivation in instrumental motivation and lexical breadth and depth.Based on the research results, the author of the present thesis brings up some suggestions to stimulate independent college students’ English learning motivation and to improve their efficiency of learning vocabulary.