| Since Gardner and Lambert(1972)put forward "integrative motivation" and"instrumental motivation",motivational researches have occupied a pivotal position in the academic circle.However,with the development of society,this theory is faced with a great challenge.The following opinions are the limitations of the theory:(1)Gardner selected the Canadian students who studied French as research subjects,but he didn’t choose the students who lived in the single context as research subjects.(2)Classrooms are the main situations for second language learners to learn second language,so the classroom environment can cultivate learner’s learning motivation.But Gardner neglected to investigate the classroom environment.(3)Learning motivation is extremely complex and it is influenced by many factors,but Gardner’s research tool is confined to questionnaire.Only adopting more research tools and combining quantitative analysis with qualitative analysis can we know about influencing factors of learning motivation comprehensively.Based on "integrative motivation","imagined community" and "self ’ concept,Dornyei(2005)proposed L2 motivational self system from the perspective of globalization.The theory contains three dimensions:ideal L2 self,ought-to L2 self and L2 learning experience.On the basis of L2 motivational self system,this study has selected non-English majors as research subjects.Compared with the previous researches which analyzed the correlation between learning motivation and English grades,this study is much original and conforms to the developing features of motivational researches.The study came up with four questions:(1)How are the three dimensions in L2MSS of non-English majors distributed?(2)Do gender differences exist in L2MSS?(3)Do the three dimensions in L2MSS have relationship with non-English majors’ English grades?If they do,what kinds of relationship are there?(4)Do significant differences exist between top students and weak students in L2MSS?The author selected 167 juniors and seniors from Wuhan University,Wuhan Institute of Technology and China University of Geosciences.She adopted questionnaire,interview and CET 4 as research tools,and combined quantitative analysis with qualitative analysis.The data were analyzed by using SPSS V 13.0.The following results have been drawn from the study:(1)The mean value of ought-to L2 self is the highest and the mean value of ideal L2 self is the lowest.(2)There exists a significant difference between male students and female students in their L2 learning experience,but there is no significant difference between them in ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self.(3)Ideal L2 self or L2 learning experience correlates with college students’English grades significantly,but ought-to L2 self doesn’t correlate with college students’ English grades.(4)There is no significant difference between top students and weak students in ought-to L2 self,but there exists significant difference between them in ideal L2 self and L2 learning experience.Based on these results,the author provides four pieces of advice to college English teachers:(1)Teachers should teach students in accordance with their abilities and adjust their teaching schedules appropriately.(2)Teachers should help students to formulate "future-self guides" and "ideal L2 self’ by a variety of activities.(3)Teachers should guide students to transform ought-to L2 self into ideal L2 self.(4)Schools or educational departments should train teachers for learning motivations.Then teachers can lead students to find out their real interests,motivations and improve their comprehensive abilities in English learning.Finally,the author summarizes the research limitations and puts forward some corrective actions. |
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