An Investigation On Students’ Motivation Of English Learning In Senior High School

Learning motivation is a need as well as an aspiration for learners,which plays an important role in learning activities by activating,orienting,maintaining and regulating learning activities.It has been widely concerned by the second language acquisition researchers both at home and abroad.However,most of the scholars study college students’ motivations in foreign language learning,in comparison,there are fewer studies on English learning motivations among senior high school students.The Ordinary High School English Curriculum Standard(Ministry of Education,2017)explicitly requires senior high school students to have interest and desire to learn English in the three-level goals of learning ability as key competencies for English subjects.This shows the importance of English learning motivation for English learning.Therefore,it is of great benefit to study the English learning motivations among senior high school students to improve students’ English learning performance,key competencies and improve the effectiveness of classroom teaching.175 sophomores from Liaocheng No.2 Middle School were selected as the research subjects.Questionnaire and interviews were used to investigate English learning motivations among senior high school students.And this research aimed to answer the following four questions: What is the current situation of English learning motivations among senior high school students? What are the differences in English learning motivations between senior high school students of different genders? What are the differences in English learning motivations among senior high school students with different levels of achievement? What are the main factors affecting the English learning motivations among senior high school students? The questionnaire was designed on the basis of a questionnaire of the English learning motivation designed by Gao Yihong(Gao Yihong,2003),and the data of the questionnaire were analyzed by Excel and SPSS22.0.Afterwards,interviews were conducted as an auxiliary survey tool to interview 2 English teachers and 9 students on the factors affecting English learning motivations.The findings of the investigation indicates that English learning motivation among senior high school students is at a medium level and instrumental motivation is the main motivation type;There were obvious significant differences between boys and girls on motivation of going aboard and achievement motivation;There were obvious and significant differences in English learning motivations among senior high school students with different achievement levels,and the differences were mainly reflected in their interest motivation,responsibility motivation,situation motivation and achievement motivation;Achievement(scores)and interest are the main factors affecting senior high school students’ English learning motivation;And the sense of self-efficacy,teacher-student relationship and learning strategies also have a great influence on the English learning motivations among senior high school students.Then some suggestions on how to train English learning motivations among senior high school students are put forward,including cultivating students’ interests in English learning and motivating their English learning motivations;Cultivating students’ self-confidence in English learning and improving their sense of achievement;Helping students to form good English learning habits and master appropriate learning strategies;Using a variety of teaching methods and enriching teaching contents;Attaching importance to students’ individual differences and adopting multiple evaluation methods;Improving teachers own charm and creating a positive relationship between teachers and students.At the end of the thesis,some limitations of this investigation were summarized,and the further researches were also discussed.