A Study Of High School English Teachers’ Perception And Application Of Motivational Strategies

Motivation has been one of the main influential factors for achievement in learning a second or foreign language. With the educational development, it becomes quite indispensible for researchers and teachers to further explore and apply more effective motivational strategies.Due to the important role senior middle school English teachers act in motivating their students, in recent years much research has been done on teachers’ motivational strategies. However, few empirical studies have been undertaken to look into the senior middle school English class. To fill in the gap, the study in this thesis was to investigate the perception and application of Chinese senior middle school English teacher on motivational strategies.Based on Dornyei and Otto’s(1998) process-oriented model and four main frameworks for motivational strategies(Dornyei, 2001) this thesis attempts to answer four questions. The participants of the questionnaire survey in this study consisted of 108 English teachers, who were randomly selected from 8 high middle schools in Hebei Province.The data from 108 usable questionnaires were coded into a computer and processed. The conclusions are as follows:Firstly, in present empirical study, Chinese senior middle school English teachers as subjects almost perceive all the motivational macrostrategies to be important in teaching process. Secondly, in the survey more than half motivational scales are of high frequency applied in class. Thirdly, between teachers’ perception and application of motivational strategies, there are over half of motivational strategies with significant difference. This study verified the senior middle school English teachers’ high attention and use to the motivational strategies. The analysis of the relationship between teachers’ perceptions and applications, as well as affecting factors, provides further improving direction in the process of teaching. The last, the factors of gender, teaching experiences and educational background, all make some differences in senior middle school English teachers’ perceptions and applications of motivational strategies.