A Study On Applying Target Model To Stimulate English Learning Motivation Of High School Students

There are many factors that affect students’ learning, such as age, intelligence, motivation, attitude and character etc. As one of the most important factors affecting students’ learning, motivation has already become a hot topic of domestic and overseas educators and also in field of psychological study. With the deepening of reform and opening up and ever-increasing communications among countries, English becomes more important. Therefore, to learn students’ motivational traits and master effective methods and strategies of English learning motivation stimulation has become one crucial question in English teaching.The study of previous researches shows that though there are plenty of studies on English learning motivation and a great number of research approaches and strategies, there are no stimulative steps that are concrete and practical. During the research on motivation, a new teaching model to stimulate learning motivation came into view, that is, Target model. Target model is a classroom teaching model of motivation stimulation put forward by Ames. The six dimensions are task design, authority distribution, recognition practices, grouping arrangements, evaluation practices and time allocation. Through these six dimensions, a kind of classroom atmosphere that is mastery goal orientated is created. This kind of class emphasizes on the mastery of new knowledge and skills and the development of students’ abilities rather than exam scores. Under the guidance of Target model, three research questions were put forward in an attempt to prove the effectiveness of Target model in stimulating students’ learning motivation.Question 1: What are the motivational traits of high school students’ English learning?Question 2: Is Target model effective in stimulating students’ English learning motivation?Question 3: Can Target model help improve students’ academic performance?138 students from two grade one classes of Zhecheng No. 4 senior high school in Henan province were chosen as the study subjects. One class was the experiment class and the other control class. A pre-test was firstly conducted to all the students and then the subjects filled in the questionnaire prepared by the teacher. During the 5 months study, Target model was applied in the English classroom teaching and students of different intelligences were grouped together to encourage group members’ cooperative learning and abate individual competition. Students actively participated in every part of teaching activities and decided learning content and pace on their own, therefore becoming the main body of studying. At the end of the study, the subjects filled in the questionnaire for the second time, received interviews and took part in the final examination. All the data collected were compared and analyzed by SPSS.The results showed that senior high school students’ extrinsic motivation is stronger than intrinsic motivation and most of the students are extrinsically motivated for the functional value of English. Female students possess stronger English learning motivation than male students. In terms of attribution, students tend to attribute to efforts instead of IQ and luck etc. Foundation and teachers are also important factors affecting English learning. Female students are more mature and objective when attributing. In terms of achievement goal orientation, students are more performance goal oriented rather than mastery goal orientated. To compare male students with female students, male students have stronger mastery goal orientation while female students possess stronger performance goal orientation.The results of 5 months research testified the effectiveness of Target model in stimulating student’s English learning motivation, especially students’ intrinsic motivation. Female students’ learning motivation was better stimulated. In the respect of attribution, less students attribute to IQ, luck, foundation and teacher, and more students attribute to their own efforts. The difference between genders was not significant. In the respect of achievement goal orientation, more students are mastery goal oriented after Target model was applied. Comparatively speaking, male students are more mastery goal oriented and female students are more performance goal oriented.The experiment class achieved better results than the control class at the final exam, signifying that Target model can improve students’ academic performance. Teachers can apply Target model to stimulate students’ English learning motivation based on students’ different characteristics.