A Correlational Study On Junior High School Students’ English Motivational Regulation Strategies And English Achievement

Learning motivation is considered to be the key factor that affects the process and result of foreign language learning.However,learning motivation is not static and unchangeable,but dynamic and changing.There’s no royal road to learning.As a special language subject,English learning process is full of challenges.Influenced by the characteristic of English subject and the feature of physical and mental development,the problem of motivation fluctuation and decline in junior high school students’ English learning is inevitable and noticeable.Therefore,students need to adopt a series of methods and behaviors to maintain or enhance their motivation.Junior high school students master and use motivational regulation strategies to adjust their learning motivation,which is of great influence to their English achievement.This study attempts to explore the use of motivational regulation strategies and its relationship with English achievement of junior high school students.This study mainly researches the following questions:(1)what is the use of motivational regulation strategies in junior high school students’ English learning?(2)what are the differences of using motivational regulation strategies among students with different English achievement?(3)what is the correlation between motivational regulation strategies and English achievement of junior high school students ?By using questionnaire and interview,249 seventh grade students have been investigated.It is found that: firstly,junior high school students use nine motivational regulation strategies to help them maintain or enhance their learning motivation in English learning.They are cross-cultural communication strategy,achievement self-talk strategy,metacognitive control strategy,self-rewarding strategy,mastery self-talk strategy,interest enhancement strategy,performance self-talk strategy,self-efficacy enhancement strategy and self-attribution control strategy.The use ofmotivational regulation strategies of junior high school students is at a middle level.Among them,achievement self-talk strategy and mastery self-talk strategy are most used,while cross-cultural communication strategy and self-rewarding strategy are less used.Secondly,junior high school students with better English achievement have higher motivation regulation ability than those with lower English achievement.Moreover,students with good English achievement tend to adopt various motivational regulation strategies to help them maintain their motivation.However,students with poor English achievement usually adopt single motivational regulation strategy.Finally,there is a strong correlation between junior high school students’ motivation regulation and English achievement,and motivation regulation can predict students’ English achievement.All nine motivational regulation strategies are positively correlated with English achievement.In addition,cross-cultural communication strategy,achievement self-talk strategy and metacognitive control strategy have significant predictive power on English achievement.