| According to educational psychology,motivation is the internal force or cause that directly drives a person to engage in activities,while learning motivation refers to the internal force that directly promotes students’ learning.The importance of learning motivation for improving the foreign language proficiency of language learners has been confirmed by many empirical studies at home and abroad.The research on English learning motivation started in the 1950 s,including the definition,classification of English learning motivation and the factors that influence learning motivation and so on.The subjects of the study cover primary and middle school students,college students and post-graduate students.In 2007,the State Council announced to implement the free normal education policy.The six normal universities which are directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education began to recruit free normal students.The purpose of implementing the policy in our country is to cultivate a large number of outstanding students who are willing to be lifelong teachers and to build an atmosphere of respecting teachers and education cause in the whole society.The preferential policies for free normal students include the exemption from their tuition and accommodation,and they can return to their hometown to be formal teachers after graduation.However,it is still uncertain whether these preferential conditions will affect the free normal students’ motivation of English learning,especially the motivation for non-English major students.Thus,the author will do some researches on this issue.In this study,196 sophomores from the Shanxi Normal University are selected as the research subjects,including 101 free normal students and 95 non-free normal students.The data collected from questionnaires and face-to-face interviews try to solve the following threeproblems:(1)What is the current situation of English learning motivation of free normal students and non-free normal students in non-English majors?(2)Which kind of learning motivation is related more closely to the English achievement of free normal students and non-free normal students in non-English majors?(3)What is the difference of English learning motivation between free normal students and non-free normal students in non-English majors?After the data analysis of the questionnaires and interviews,the author draws the following conclusions:(1)Both the English learning motivation of free normal students and non-free normal students in non-English majors lies in a medium level,and their instrumental motivation is higher than integrative motivation;(2)The free normal students’ instrumental motivation has relationship with English achievement,but there is no significant relationship between the integrative motivation and achievement.The situation is same as that of the non-free normal students;(3)The overall motivation level of non-free normal students is higher than that of the free normal students.Specifically,both the instrumental motivation and integrative motivation of non-free normal students are higher than those of free normal students.Hopefully,the study of free normal students’ English learning motivation can provide some enlightenment for improving college English teaching and the implementation of the free normal education policy. |
