A Study Of Directed Motivational Currents In Senior Two Students’ English Writing

As one of the most dynamic individual factors in second language learning,motivation has a direct impact on the effect of language teaching and learning.The study of motivational phenomena in second language learning began as early as the 1950s and has gone through the social psychological period,the cognitive-situated period,the process-oriented period and the social dynamic period,with the research focus shifting from learning in a social setting to learning in a classroom setting,and the research mode changing from a linear pattern to nonlinear.Directed motivational current represents the latest development of dynamic systems theory under the social dynamic period,which refers to a potent motivational surge to trigger and support long-term behaviors,creating momentum to pursue a personally important goal or vision.The theory of directed motivational current provides a new dynamic perspective for studying the continuous and intensive motivation of students during a certain period of language learning.On the basis of the theory of directed motivational current and previous relevant researches,this study aims to compare the differences of English writing directed motivational currents between Senior Two students at different writing levels and explore the triggering factors of English writing directed motivational currents,in order to provide teaching suggestions for English teachers to stimulate and maintain students’ writing motivation systematically and effectively.Questionnaire and focused writing are adopted as the research tools in this study,and a combination of quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods is realized.Two research questions are put forward in this study:(1)What are the differences of Senior Two students’ English writing directed motivational currents between high-achieving group and low-achieving group?(2)What factors can trigger the directed motivational currents in Senior Two students’ English writing?Through the independent sample T-test of the questionnaire data,the diachronic dynamic analysis of the self-assessed motivational trajectories and the open coding,axial coding and selective coding of the focused writing essays,this study has the following major findings:(1)There are significant differences in the four dimensions and diachronic characteristics of English writing directed motivational currents between high-achieving group and low-achieving group;(2)The triggering factors of students’ English writing directed motivational currents can be divided into three categories:student-related factors,teacher-related factors and environment-related factors.This study has some pedagogical implications for improving students’ motivation of English writing.Teachers can adopt the theory of directed motivational current to help stimulate students’ English writing motivation and promote their English writing progress by taking actions in writing goals,visions,involvement,writing methods,positive emotions and other aspects and by considering students’ differences in writing competence.