An Empirical Study On Investigating Junior Middle School Students’ English Learning Interest

As we all know,interest plays a fundamental role in learning and it thoroughly differs from diligence.Furthermore,learning interest is inevitable,and it is one of the most stable but durable driving forces during the entire course of English learning（Dewey 1913）.This thesis investigates the overall situation of junior middle school students’English learning interest in current education context.Three questions need to be answered in the thesis,which are described as follows.1.Do junior middle school students have interest in English learning or not?2.Whether junior middle school students do have interest or not,what kind of interest（individual interest or situational interest）plays a dominant role in their English learning?3.Why this kind of interest plays a dominant role in their English learning?A quantitative approach,questionnaire survey is used to examine the general situation of junior middle school students’interest in English learning.A total of223 students from Grade 7^th and 8^th participate in the questionnaire survey study.The confirmative factor analysis reveals that junior middle school students’English learning interest mainly manifested in two dimensions:situational interest and personal interest,whose mean values are respectively 4.3681,3.5629.The correlation coefficient between situational interest and personal interest is 0.35.Moreover,another qualitative approach,interview is employed to gain more detailed and personal opinions about English study.The number of students taking part in the interview is nine.Both thematic analysis and quantification of the categories are used to analyze the interview data.The interview results show that five out of nine believe that individual interest plays a more influential role in the long journey of English study than temporary or transitory situational interest.Interview results also indicate that students’personal interest and situational interest in English learning could be gradually cultivated by means of different kinds of activities.So,English teachers need to creatively design diverse and attractive classes to develop students’interest in daily English teaching.It could be better if more opportunities are given to students to get in touch with the culture and custom behind the language,English.Nowadays,it is the highly priority for English teachers to pay more attention to the class design and activities design,because the formation of interest in English study is a long-term and dynamic process.