The Influence Of Demotivation On English Autonomous Learning Ability Of Non-English Majors

Demotivation is the specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action (Dornyei, 2001b:143). It can negatively influence the learners attitudes and behaviors, decrease classroom group dynamics and teachers' motivation, and result in long-term and widespread negative learning outcomes (Sharififal & Akbarzadeh 2011:28). In the field of language learning, the phenomenon of demotivation has been widely studied by scholars abroad, while its study is relatively new in China, and most scholars mainly focus on studying the internal or external demotivative factors yet rarely discuss the strategies to deal with demotivation. Taking the coping ways to the demotivation as the starting point, this study analyzes the demotivation of non-English majors and aims to discuss the influence of the demotivation on English autonomous learning ability.Taking 762 Non-English college students from Changsha Science and Technology University as research subjects, the writer uses"A 35-item Questionnaire of Demotivation" by Sakai and Kikuchi (2008); "the Questionnaire of College Students English Autonomous Learning Ability" by Guo XianFang and the self-made questionnaires:"the Coping Ways to Demotivation" as investigation tools to investigate the situation of demotivation. By adopting quantitative research methods and using the social science statistical package (SPSS17.0) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS21.0), the writer collects the data and makes a systematic correlation analysis to discuss the influence of demotivation on English autonomous learning ability.The main findings of this research are as follows:(1)The non-English major college students are experiencing serious demotivation during the process of English learning. The non-demotivated students only account 14.4%. And there are significantly influential discrepancies in the degree of the demotivation in different groups and grades.(2)As to the factor of students, of teachers, of facilities, there are significant differences in the degree of intensity among different groups and grades. As to the positive, the moderate and the negative coping ways, there are significant difference in different groups and grades.(3)The English autonomous learning ability is not high enough to be satisfied and it is impending to improve the English autonomous learning ability of the students. There are significant differences between grades and in different groups.(4)The degree of the demotivation is significantly related to the factors of demotivation, coping ways and the ability of English autonomy. Among the variables, the coping ways are the partial mediators of the degree of demotivation, the demotivative factors and the ability of English autonomy.