Research On Strategies To Stimulate English Learning Motivation Of High School Students In Yi

Positive and active learning motivation is essential to promote high school students’ English learning.In view of that,inspiring and maintaining students’ English learning motivation has therefore become an important subject.This is especially important in border areas where ethnic minority students lack English learning environment and the undeveloped economy and poor education have caused many disadvantages for the English learning of ethnic minority students.Through the collation of relevant researches on English learning motivation at home and abroad,it can be found that most of the previous researches have focused on the classification and function of motivation,and the researches on strategies to stimulate students’ English learning motivation have mostly focused on college students and the eastern coastal areas.Few studies have involved in the English learning motivation of ethnic minority students in the southwest frontier high school.The English learning motivation strategies of this group,who first learn the ethnic language,then learn Chinese,and finally learn English,a trilingual phenomenon,are not outstanding enough.Thus,the researcher put forward three questions:(1)What are the main English motivations of Yi students in high school?(2)What problems are reflected from Yi students’ learning motivations,and what are the factors?(3)What are the strategies for cultivating and motivating Yi students’ English learning motivation?In order to solve the three puzzles above,the author chose 6 senior sophomore English teachers(3 from the experimental class and 3 from the ordinary class),4parents of Yi students as well as 312 Yi students from the No.1 Middle School in Shilin Yi Autonomous County,Yunnan Province as the subjects.The literature method,questionnaire survey method and interview method were used for empirical research to investigate the current situation of Yi students’ motivation in learning English andreasons for lack of learning motivation.Then the author,based on the current situation of English teaching in the school where she teaches,combined with the author’s own teaching experience,summed up several practical strategies for motivating high school students in Yi ethnic area.The results of this research show that the English motivations of students in the Yi ethnic area are that the external motivation is stronger than the internal motivation,and the instrumental motivation is more obvious than the integration motivation.At the same time,it shows part of the social responsibility motivation,but it is not very strong.There are three reasons for this type of motivation:the students themselves(concepts,attribution,and foundation);school level(school,teachers)and family level.In response to these three reasons,the author proposed the following strategies to motivate Yi high school students to learn English.Firstly,we must change the concepts of teachers and learners in Yi ethnic areas,and let the teachers re-examine how to teach English under the new curriculum standards,and let Yi students really feel the practicality of learning English,so that they will feel that English is useful and they will study hard to learn English;secondly,the teachers must cultivate interest in English learning,improve the internal motivation of Yi high school students,and guide Yi students to correctly attribute to find more causes from themselves.Furthermore,it is necessary to strengthen the professional training of English teachers,including updating of teachers’ own professional knowledge and teaching concepts as well as teaching models.At the same time,it is necessary to create a good class learning atmosphere,and it is also important to strengthen the school’s English subject.At last,it is vital to attach importance to strengthening the role of the family and school,who should work together to help children grow better.