A Study of Demotivating Factors in Wuqi Senior High School Students EFL Learning.docx

A Study of Demotivating Factors in Wuqi Senior High School Students EFL Learning.docx

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AStudyofDemotivatingFactorsinWuqiSeniorHighSchoolStudentsEFLLearning

AStudyofDemotivatingFactorsinWuqiSeniorHighSchoolStudentsEFLLearning

Athesissubmittedinconformitywiththerequirements

ForthedegreeofMasterofArts

InSubjectofStudy

SupervisedbyChenGang

ForeignLanguageSchool

ShaanxiNormalUniversity

June

TableofContents

Acknowledgementsi

Abstractii

摘要iv

Chapter1Introduction1

Chapter2LiteratureReview3

2.1Abriefsurveyofpreviousstudyonmotivation3

2.1.1Definitionofmotivationingeneralsense3

2.1.2DefinitionofmotivationinL2learning5

2.1.3AbriefsurveyofpreviousstudyonL2learningmotivation7

2.2Previousstudyondemotivation9

2.2.1Definitionofdemotivation10

2.2.2Previousstudyondemotivationininstructionalcommunication11

2.2.3PreviousstudyondemotivationinL2learning12

2.3Evaluationsofpreviousresearch17

Chapter3ResearchDesign19

3.1ResearchQuestions19

3.2ResearchMethod20

3.2.1Subjects20

3.2.2DataCollectionInstruments21

3.2.3DataCollectionProcedures23

Chapter4ResearchFindingsandDiscussion25

4.1ResearchFindingsandDiscussionoftheQuestionnaire25

4.1.1Descriptivestatisticsforeachitem25

4.1.2Demotivatingfactorsrelatedtononcommunicativemethods28

4.1.3Demotivatingfactorsrelatedtolearningcontentsandmaterials29

4.1.4Demotivatingfactorsrelatedtoreducedmotivationandinterest30

vi

4.1.5Demotivatingfactorsrelatedtotheteachers31

4.1.6Demotivatingfactorsrelatedtotestscores31

4.1.7Demotivatingfactorsrelatedtoschoolfacilities32

4.2ResearchFindingsanddiscussionoftheinterviews33

4.2.1Findingsanddiscussionofinterviewingthedemotivatedstudents33

4.2.2Findingsanddiscussionofsubjects’suggestion39

4.3Summary41

Chapter5Conclusions43

5.1FindingsofthePresentStudy43

5.2ImplicationsforOvercomingDemotivation44

5.2.1ImplicationsforTeachers44

5.2.2ImplicationsforStudents47

5.3LimitationofthePresentStudy49

5.4SuggestionsfortheFurtherResearch50

References51

Appendix55

AppendixI55

AppendixIIInterviewschedule57

攻读硕士学位期间取得的科研成果58

Abstract

Learningmotivationiscurrentlyreceivinganincreasingamountofattention.Alotofresearchesabroadandathomehaveshownthatmotivationisakeyfactorinsuccessfullanguageleaning,especiallyinsecondlanguagelearning.Studentswithstrongmotivationcanalwaysachievegreatersuccess.However,itiscommontoseethatmanyoftheEnglishlearners’learningmotivationisgraduallydecreasedorevenlostduringtheirlearningprocess.Demotivation,therefore,isworthytobestudied.Despitetheprobableimportanceofdemotivation-solvinginlearninggeneral,andL2andEFLinparticular,notmuchresearchhasbeenconductedonit.ThepresentstudyhasfocusedonwhatthesalientdemotivatingfactorsareinWuqiSeniorHighSchoolEnglishlearnersandthesolutionstostudentdemotivationproblem.

Theresearchquestionsare:

（1）whatarethesalientdemotivatingfactorsinWuqiSeniorHighSchoolEnglishlearners?

（2）WhatshouldteachersandlearnersdotoreducedemotivationinseniorhighschoolEnglishlearning?

Tobasetheresearchonafactualfoundation,aresearchexperiment,includingaquestionnairesurveyandinterviewwasmade.Thesubjectsofthequestionnaireare92seniorthreestudentsfromWuqiSeniorHighSchoolinYan’an,Shaanxiprovince.

34item-close-endedquestionnairewasusedtoexaminethesubjectstogetoverallunderstandingofdemotivationproblemandaninterviewof22demotivatedstudentswasheldtogetmorespecificinformation.Theconclusionshowedthat,onthecontrarytopreviousstudies,teachersrelatedfactorsarenotthemostpowerfuldemotivationfactorcomparedwithnoncommunicativemethodsandlearningcontentsandmaterials.TheresultsofthestudycontributetoanunderstandingofthedemotivatingfactorsinChineseseniorhighschoolEnglishlearnersandhowtoreducedemotivationinseniorhighschoolEnglishlearning.Practicalsuggestionsforpedagogyandfutureresearchwerealsoidentified.

Keywords:

demotivatingfactors;seniorhighschoolstudents;Englishasforeignlanguage

摘要

学习动机目前被受关注。

国内外大量关于二语学习动机的研究证明了学习动机是决定二语学习成败的关键因素。

通常学习动机强烈的学生能够更好地掌握第二外语。

然而，笔者在英语教育实践中发现很多学生在英语学习过程中学习动机逐渐减退甚至完全失去了学习的动机。

然而，现有的动机理论却很难解释这些现象。

由此可见，尽管动机减退已经成为一个重要的问题，但是有关动机减退的研究却并不多见，特别是关于外语学习动机减退方面的研究更是少之又少。

本研究将延安市吴起高级中学高三年级的117名学生作为研究对象，尝试探寻导致高中生英语学习动机减退的因素及克服英语学习动机减退的办法。

研究发现，考试成绩和学习内容及材料是影响高中生学习动机减退的重要原因。

与Dörnyei等学者的研究结果不同的是，影响高中生学习动机减退的最强烈的因素不是与教师直接相关的因素。

本文由五个章节组成：

第一章是引言，介绍了本研究的研究背景、目的和意义。

第二章回顾了动机、二语学习动机以及动机减退等理论，总结了国内外关于动机减退的研究，为本研究提供了理论基础。

第三章是关于本研究的实验方法的设计，介绍了研究问题，实验对象、工具，数据的采集步骤和分析方法。

第四章是对实验所收集的数据的分析和讨论。

最后一章是结论，包括对研究结论的总结、克服英语学习动机减退的办法和对策、本研究的局限性和对今后研究的建议。

关键词：

动机减退因素；高中生;外语学习

Chapter1Introduction

AllChinesestudentshavelearntEnglishasaforeignlanguagefor9yearsiftheygraduatefromseniorthree.ButtheresultsoftheirEnglishlearningarefarfromsatisfactory.Therefore,moreandmoreattentionhasbeenpaidtothecharacteristicsoftheindividuallearnerssuchasage,gender,learningstylesandattitudes,amongwhich,motivationplaysasignificantpart.AsDörnyei,Z.（2012）said“languagelearningisultimatelyahighlyinterpersonalenterprise,involvingrelationshipsbetweenlearnersandteachersaswellasnativeandnon-nativespeakers;therefore,understandingthepsychologyoftheserelationshipsandoftheagentsinvolvedinthemishalfthebattle!

"Motivationplaysacrucialpartinlanguagelearningandithasbeenmanydecadessincethestudyoflanguagelearningmotivationbegan.AccordingtoKoiso（2003,p.96）,“Motivationisconsideredtobeoneofthemaindeterminingfactorsofsuccessindevelopingasecondorforeignlanguage”.Generallyspeaking,motivatedstudentsarewillingtoparticipatevariouslearningactivitiesandaremorelikelytobesuccessfulintheirEnglishlearning.Manyresearcheshavebeendonetofindouthowtomotivatelearners.Indeed,thereareseveralauthoritativetheoriessuchasself-determinationtheory（Deci&Ryan,1985）,goal-settingtheories（Locke&Latham,1990）,self-worththeory（Covington,1992）attributiontheory（Weiner,1992）,andself-efficacytheory（Bandura,1993）.However,asimportantasmotivationis,thereisnodoubtthatitisnottheonlyelementcloselyrelatedtoSLA.Thatistosay,motivationtheoriescannotexplainalltheaspectsofmotivation.TherearesomesituationswhentheL2learnersstillhavelittlemotivationhoweverhardtheteacherstrytomotivatethem.Inaddition,sinceitisbecomingmoreandmoreimportantasaninternationallanguagearoundtheworld,studentsinChinahavetolearnEnglishasacompulsorysubjectfromthethirdyearinprimaryschool.Yet,inspiteofitsapparentutilityasaninternationallanguageandthefactthatstudentsofalmostalllevelshavetopassexaminationstopursuefurthereducation,manystudentsstillcannotlearnitsuccessfully.Atthistime,teachersofEFLmayinquireintowhytheirmotivationdoesnotworkandwhatthepossiblecausesmightbe.JustasDörnyei（2001,p.141）pointedout:

Classroompractitionerscaneasilycalltomindavarietyofeventsthatcanhavedemotivatingeffectsonthestudents,forexamplepublichumiliation,devastatingtestresults,orconflictswithpeers.Ifcarefullythoughtaboutit,‘demotivation’isnotatallinfrequentinlanguageclassesandthedemotivatedL2learnersisnotrare.

SincedemotivationhasbecomeanimportantissueinL2learning,itishightimetotakethefactorsthatdemotivatethelearnersintoconsideration,andtofindawaytosolvetheproblem.However,despitetheprobableimportanceofdemotivation-solvinginlearninggeneral,andL2andEFLinparticular,fewresearcheshavebeenconductedonit.Dörnyei（2001a）hasdefineddemotivationas“specificexternalforcesthatreduceordiminishthemotivationalbasisofabehavioralintentionoranongoingaction”（p.143）.InthecaseofseniorhighschoolEnglishlearners,theymightbedemotivatedduetothedifficultyofthegrammarrulestheyfindintheirstudiesorlowscorestheygetintests.ThisstudyintendstoexplorethedemotivatingfactorsinWuqiseniorhighschoolEFLlearnersandthesolutionstostudents’demotivationproblem.

Thisresearchhasasignificanttheoreticalvalueandpracticalmeaning.Theoretically,boththeresearchersandteacherswillhaveabetterunderstandingofthedemotivationtheoriesandthefactorswhichinfluenceChineseseniorhighschoolEFLlearners.What'smore,examiningthefactorsofdemotivationwilloffersupportinunderstandingtheoriesonmotivation.Inpractice,thisstudywillprovidebeneficialenlightenmenttothefront-lineseniorhighschoolteachersandthestudentsonhowtoavoidthepossiblecausesofdemotivation.Furthermore,understandingthestudents’demotivatingfactorscanalsoofferhelptotheeducationpolicymakersandcurriculumplannerstoimprovethestudents’Englishlearningproficiency.

Chapter2LiteratureReview

Thischapteroffersabriefreviewofthetheoriesandresearchesconductedonthetopicsoflanguagelearningmotivationanddemotivationathomeandabroad.

2.1Abriefsurveyofpreviousstudyonmotivation

2.1.1Definitionofmotivationingeneralsense

Motivationisatheoreticalnotion,usedtoexplainbehavior.Itisthescientificwordappliedtodemonstratethereasonsforouractions,ourdesires,ourneeds,etc.Ithasbeenstudiedbyvariousinvestigationsanddefinedmanytimes,butnoconsensusupondefinitionofithasbeenreached.Differentviewsonmotivationguidelearnersandresearchersthedirectionsofbetterunderstanding.

Inpsy