A Study Of Demotivating Factors In English Majors’ English Learning

Learning motivation is one of the decisive factors influencing the effect of foreign language learning,which directly determines learners’ initiative and persistence in the process of English learning.Therefore,it has drawn the attention of many scholars both at home and abroad.The research on learning motivation started from its positive side,so there has been abundant research on how to enhance learners’ motivation to learn a foreign language at home and abroad.In contrast,the research on the negative side of learning motivation,that is,demotivation,started later.It started even much later in China and the subjects of the domestic research on demotivation are mainly concentrated on non-English majors and middle school students.It is generally believed that English majors have strong English learning motivation and are unlikely to experience demotivation in English learning so that there is obviously less research with English majors as subjects.The primary aim of this research is to identify the possible demotivating factors in English majors’ English learning and to examine how the identified demotivating factors influence English majors of different gender,motivation intensity and English proficiency.More specifically,attempts were made to tackle the following four research questions:(1)What are the main factors demotivating Chinese English majors’ English learning?(2)Are there any gender differences in the identified demotivating factors among English majors? If yes,how?(3)Are there any differences in the identified demotivating factors between more motivated English majors and less motivated English majors? If yes,how?(4)Are there any differences in the identified demotivating factors between high-proficiency English majors and low-proficiency English majors? If yes,how?To answer the research questions,a questionnaire investigation was conducted.The subjects were 70 first-year English majors from a college in Xi’an,Shaanxi.The questionnaire employed in this study was adapted from Sakai and Kikuchi(2009).SPSS 26.0 and independent sample t-tests were conducted to analyze the collected data.The results of this study are as follows:(1)The demotivating factors in English majors’ English learning are teachers,class characteristics,failure experiences,learning environment,class materials and lack of interest,among which class characteristics and failure experiences are the main demotivating factors in English majors’ English learning.What should be emphasized here is that the factor of teachers is not one of the main demotivating factors,which is different from the results of many previous studies.(2)Among the demotivating factors,teachers,failure experiences and lack of interest have significant gender differences.(3)There is significant difference in the demotivating factor of lack of interest between more motivated English majors and less motivated English majors.(4)There are significant differences in the demotivating factors of class characteristics and lack of interest between high-proficiency English majors and low-proficiency English majors.Based on the above research results,this thesis finally discusses the implications for teachers and students,the main participants in the process of English teaching and learning,so as to weaken the adverse effect caused by the demotivating factors in English majors’ English leaning.