论文总字数：32143字

摘 要

英语被广泛运用于国际间的各种交流，英语学习受到了越来越多的重视。由于缺乏学习的动力和兴趣，许多学生在英语学习方面存在着问题。如何激发他们的英语学习动机和兴趣值得探究。在新课程改革中，学习动机是教育心理学研究领域的一个重要组成部分，被认为是第二语言习得中最具有影响力的因素之一。拥有适当的英语学习动机有助于培养学生对英语学习的兴趣，可以促进他们积极学习英语。本文介绍了一些相关的学习动机理论，在分析初中生英语学习现状的基础上，提出了一些激发初中生英语学习动机的策略。

关键词：学习动机；初中生；英语学习现状

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Introduction of Learning Motivation 3

3.1 Definition of learning motivation 3

3.2 Classification of learning motivation 3

3.3 Theoretical basis of learning motivation 4

3.4 The roles of learning motivation in English learning 6

4. The Current Situation of Junior Middle School Students" English Learning 7

5. Strategies to Stimulate Students’ English Learning Motivation 8

5.1 Understanding and meeting the students’ needs in order to promote the cultivation of learning motivation 8

5.2 Controlling the difficulty of the task in order to regulate the level of motivation 8

5.3 Improving the contents and methods of teaching in order to arouse students’ interest in English learning 9

5.4 Instructing students to establish correct concepts of attribution 10

5.5 Helping students establish a proper self-concept in order to gain self-efficacy 10

6. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 13

1. Introduction

As science and technology are advancing rapidly and prosperously, contemporary society is in the age of globalization. As the vehicle of human thought, language plays a decisive part in human communication. Among a variety of languages in the world, English is one kind of languages which are widely used. Subsequently, contemporary society proposes a high new requirement for learning ability of English users.

However, in the situation of exam-oriented education, English learning of our students in the basic education stage is limited in the classroom where cookie-cutter curricula request students to sit statue-still or to work in complete silence. This learning pattern lacks English learning atmosphere. Coupled with the deepening of learning content, the difficulty of learning is gradually increasing, and the pressure of learning is aggravating, too. As a consequent, many junior middle school students have a passive attitude towards English learning, which brings about a low learning motivation. Therefore, in the circumstance, the original English learning methods, which are really mechanical, such as rote learning, can no longer meet the learners’ requirements for multiple practical applications of English.

So far, a great many specialists have carried out researches on learning motivation. Learning motivation, as one of the most influential factor in second language acquisition, is closely related to the academic performance of students and the teaching effect of teachers. The cultivation of English learning motivation, one of the emotional objectives of English National Curriculum, has been arranged in the first position. Hence, English learning motivation is especially crucial to basic education in China. In order to effectively develop students" ability to employ language comprehensively, teachers must help students to establish clear English learning awareness and develop correct English learning motivation. If this problem cannot be coped with effectively, it will inevitably bring greater problems in further English teaching and learning.

In terms of the current status quo that the students in our junior middle school are short of motivation for English learning and the current motivation research at home and abroad, it is necessary to carry out a relevant English learning motivation research with junior middle school students as research objects. The article is composed of three parts. Part one introduces learning motivation about its definition, classification, theoretical basis and the role it plays in English learning. Part two focuses on the present status quo of students’ English studying in junior middle school. Part three puts forward five strategies about how to inspire students’ English learning motivation, which are grounded in the theories mentioned in part one.

2. Literature Review

Learning motivation is one of the significant emotional elements that influence the effectiveness of foreign language acquisition. There are a large quantity of domestic and international studies on the motivation in foreign language studying. In the late 1950s, the study of motivations in foreign language studying started. As a pioneer in the study of foreign language learning motivation, Gardner, a famous Canadian applied linguist, published a paper entitled "Motivation Variables in Second Language Acquisition" with his colleague Lambert in 1959(Li Jiongyingamp;Liu Penghui 34). Later, Gardner continued to study foreign language learning motivation. This time, he concentrated his study on the aspect of social psychology. As for our country, the study of learning motivation began in the early 1980s, explaining it mainly from the point of psychology. And the study of motivation in foreign language studying appeared in the mid-1980s. It is generally believed that Gui Shichun first analyzed the motivation of students who majored in English from the perspective of social psychology(Li Jiongyingamp;Liu Penghui 35). Before the 1990s, most researches focused on psycho-social aspects. Whereas, after the 1990s, the direction of motivation research has changed significantly. The researchers not only supplemented the theory of motivation, but also adopted a variety of research methods and obtained many new achievements. The number of foreign language learning motivation research literature changes dynamically every year, and the overall trend is rising, which reflects the academic value of foreign language motivation research. The research covers subjects at different education levels, but the number of researches on foreign language learning motivation of primary and junior middle school students is relatively small. The research on learning motivation of foreign language can contribute to educators understanding the psychological process of studying another language. And to top it off, it is a way and strategy to probe into how to inspire students" learning motivation for foreign language. The middle school period is a crucial moment for English learners. In middle school, students obtain basic knowledge and skills, which will affect their further English learning. Therefore, in this stage, learning motivation plays a crucial role. A felicitous learning motivation that students have will promote individuals’ lifelong English learning. Hence, it is essential to carry out a research on the motivation in students" English studying in junior middle school.

3. Introduction of Learning Motivation

3.1 Definition of learning motivation

Motivation is derived from the word motive, which is considered as a psychological feature that evokes an organism to act towards a desired goal. In Motivating Students to Learn, Jere Brophy defines motivation as something that a person wants to do certain things and form a thinking way in the heart(Brophy 3). Learning motivation, as a special kind of motivation, refers to a psychological tendency or internal motivation that stimulates and maintains an individual"s learning activities and orients learning activities to a certain goal. That is to say, learning motivation is a longing to achieve an aim, in combination with the power to head for that aim. It mainly contains two components: learning needs and learning expectations.

3.2 Classification of learning motivation

In the process of studying learning motivation for foreign language, linguists separate learning motivation into diverse classifications according to different criteria. In general, learning motivation of foreign language can be mainly grouped into the next three categories.

3.2.1 Intrinsic motivation amp; Extrinsic motivation

According to sources of learning motivation, learning motivation is composed of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation(Ryanamp;Deci 55). Intrinsic motivation, caused by an individual’s internal factors, is the self-desire to chase for new things and new challenges, to analyze one"s own capacity, to gain knowledge and to obtain achievements. It is inspired by the mystery or pleasure in an assignment itself, and comes forth within an individual instead of depending on external stresses. For example, the curiosity about what is going to learn belongs to intrinsic motivation. Contrast to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation arises from effects outside of the individual; to put it in another way, in extrinsic motivation, the goal of learning is not to satisfy one’s own interests, but to earn rewards, such as money, prize, grades, and praise of others and so on, or to avoid the punishment following misbehavior. Briefly, Extrinsic motivation is usually used to achieve a certain purpose that an individual failed to get with intrinsic motivation.

• • 1. Short-term motivation amp; Long-term motivation

According to the length of time that learning motivation affects learning activities, the motivation can also be grouped into short-term motivation and long-term motivation. Short-term motivation is a learning motivation related to learning activities and results, such as coping with an exam. It functions only for a short span of time and it is inconstant. It is easy to fade with the change of situation. Long-term motivation, however, is relatively stable. It is a learning motivation associated with a long-term goal, for example, serving the motherland.

• • 1. Instrumental motivation amp; Integrative motivation

From the perspective of sociolinguistics, Gardener and Lambert, leading experts in motivation, distinguished two types of foreign language learning motivation: instrumental motivation and integrative motivation(Jin Haiyun 128). Learners with instrumental motivation think of the acquisition of a second language only as a means to serve his or her purpose, such as getting a good job or getting into a college. The individual himself shows no interest in a foreign language or has no conditions to communicate with native English speakers. In the current English teaching environment, the great majority of our middle school learners have an instrumental motivation for language learning. Nevertheless, integratively motivated learners are quite different. Learners with integrative motivation, when they learn a foreign language, show great interest and immerse themselves in the language itself and want to integrate themselves into the culture of the language they learn. This kind of learners, instead of feeling boring and tedious, can enjoy themselves during the learning process and much easier to master foreign language.

3.3 Theoretical basis of learning motivation

Due to the diversity of learning motivation, the interpretation of the role of learning motivation is also manifold, which leads to a variety of motivational theories, each emphasizing different sides.

• • 1. Yerkes-Dodson Law

Learning motivation does have a critical effect on learning results. However, the relation between learning results and learning motivation is not simply linear. The Yerkes-Dodson Law, originally developed by psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908, indicates that there is an inverted U shape relationship between learning motivation and learning results(Yerkesamp;Dodson 460). Both insufficient motivation and excessive motivation will have a passive influence on learning results. The optimum motivation level varies with the nature of the task. In an easier task, the learning results increase as the motivation increases. As the difficulty of the task increases, the optimum level of motivation gradually declines. Generally speaking, the optimum level of learning motivation occurs when it is in moderate intensity.

• • 1. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow"s theory is one kind of distinguished motivation theory which is discussed by quite a few people. Abraham Maslow argued that individuals possess a constantly growing inner drive which has great potential. He developed the hierarchy of needs consisting of five hierarchic classes: physiology, safety amp; security, love amp; belonging, esteem, self-actualization(Maslow 355). According to Maslow, humans have requirements and longings which can affect their behavior. Only unsatisfied needs influence behavior. And needs are sorted in sequence, on the basis of the significance to life, from the fundamental to the important. At least, only after the lower level demand is marginally met can the person move to a higher level of demand. However, there are exceptions. Some people can also make great achievements which belong to the highest level of demand with lower level demand not being satisfied.

• • 1. Weiner’s attribution theory

Actually, attribution theory was first proposed by Fritz Heider. Nonetheless, the formal attribution theory was developed by Bernard Weiner. Weiner’s theory provides a cornerstone for the scientific explanation of emotion and motivated behavior. He found that people tended to attribute the result of an activity to the following six factors: ability, effort, the difficulty of a task, fortune, physical and mental state and environment(Weiner 5). Meanwhile he considered that those six factors can be grouped into three dimensions: stability, locus of control and controllability. When learners attribute negative outcomes to internal, stable and uncontrolled factors, they will obtain a sense of learned hopeless in which they think no matter what they do, they will make no difference to their life(Weiner 20).

3.3.4 Bandura’s self-efficacy theory

Self-efficacy was first put forward by Albert Bandura, American cognitive psychologist, in 1977, which attempted to provide a unified theory of behavior change. It refers to a cognition that an individual can achieve a certain aim on his or her ability. Bandura defined it as a personal subjunctive judgment of “how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations”(Bandura 125). “Expectations of self-efficacy determine whether an individual will be able to exhibit coping behavior and how long effort will be sustained in the face of obstacles.”(Stajkovicamp;Luthans 244) Self-efficacy is mainly influenced by the next four factors: experience, modeling, social persuasion, physiological factors. Individuals with high self-efficacy will exert sufficient effort which leads to successful outcomes, while others are just the opposite. As is often the case, people are apt to avert assignments where self-efficacy is at a low level, but undertake assignments where self-efficacy is relatively high.

3.4 The roles of learning motivation in English learning

English learning motivation is a kind of the emotional objectives of English National Curriculum. In English National Curriculum, the cultivation of English learning motivation has been placed in the first place of the cultivation of emotional objectives which is an important aspect of basic education reform. As one predominant element in English studying, learning motivation has several effects on how students learn. For instance, directing students’ learning behaviors toward particular goals, resulting in increased effort and energy, enhancing cognitive processing, determining what consequences are reinforcing and leading to improved performance and so on. Students with high learning motivation actively take part in classroom teaching activities. They think actively, answer questions willingly, take notes timely and finish their homework efficiently. Those students tend to have definite goals and strong desires for knowledge. However, when talking about the situation of students whose learning motivation is at a low level, the opposite is the case. Most of them are weary of studying, lacking good study habits and self-control. They are passive in class, not to mention spending time studying after class on their own initiative.

4. The Current Situation of Junior Middle School Students" English Learning

It is well-known that language is the carrier of culture. Therefore, the process of studying a language is actually a process of cultural acquisition, which is subtle and needs long-term accumulation. This process, to be frank, is boring and tedious, especially under today’s exam-oriented education mode. Consequently, English learning requires perseverance and a strong will. At the beginning, due to the low difficulty of learning content, almost all students can actively participate in the class and get good grades. But with the acceleration of teaching progress and the expansion of gradually deepening learning content, the difficulty of English learning is gradually increasing, which eventually leads to polarization. Some students are still self-confident. So that kind of students can actively take part in every class activity and keep pace with the teacher’s teaching speed, while some students will have negative behaviors. They have low interest in English learning and they are always in a passive position, which will result in classroom problem behaviors, such as sleeping, chatting, or even contradicting teachers. Most students have their own learning afflictions when they are studying English. Their difficulties are multi-faceted, to name just a few, they can be listed as following(Zhu Baohua 246).

1. Some students feel it hard to find a balance among different subjects as the number of subjects they study increases year by year.
2. Some students feel the task is increasingly heavy for the reason that the content they learn is more difficult than before, the vocabulary is larger and the difficulty of spelling words is increasing.
3. Some students got ahead in primary school, but they are frustrated by poor academic performance in junior middle school.
4. Some students feel lonely when they are unable to adapt to the new environment and have a difficulty in establishing a deep friendship with their classmates.
5. Some students lack definite goals and believe that the aim of learning is just to fulfill the tasks of teachers and parents or they just consider study as an assignment.

These difficulties mentioned above in English learning have a negative impact on students" learning motivation in a certain way. As a consequent, the phenomenon that English learning motivation diminishes is quite pervasive among students in junior middle school .

1. Strategies to Stimulate Students’ English Learning Motivation

5.1 Understanding and meeting the students’ needs in order to promote the cultivation of learning motivation

Students’ learning motivation is triggered by needs which breeds students" enthusiasm and interest for learning. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, generally speaking, only when students’ basic needs, such as the needs of physiology, the needs of security, the needs of love and so on, are met, will they have a desire to seek further advanced needs—needs of self-actualization, that is to say, needs of developing their full potential in order to come to the top. Although a person can achieve self-worth with his or her basic needs not being satisfied, it won’t be an easy task, which requires an individual to have a strong will and have a firm belief. For junior middle school students whose minds are still immature, that will be quite tough. Therefore, as a teacher, first of all, he or she should understand students’ real needs which they lack at the present stage and then try to help them meet their needs.

5.2 Controlling the difficulty of the task in order to regulate the level of motivation

According to Yerkes-Dodson Law, teachers should appropriately control the level of students" learning motivation on the basis of the different difficulty of learning tasks. When teaching relatively easy and simple content, teachers should make students concentrate so as to achieve an optimum level of motivation — medium-to-high level of motivation. When it comes to more complex and difficult content, teachers should try to create a relaxed and free classroom atmosphere in order to keep the optimum motivation level at a medium-to-low level. When students encounter difficulties or problems, teachers should guide them slowly and calmly, which aims to lower the difficulty of a task, so as to avoid making them excessively nervous and anxious.

5.3 Improving the contents and methods of teaching in order to arouse students’ interest in English learning

A student is a vigorous person, who should be viewed as a creator of knowledge rather than an empty buckets to be filled with facts. Students have their own thoughts. Students of junior middle school, in particular, are lively and are active in thinking. If a teacher is an old-fashioned strict disciplinarian who just repeats what the book says and makes students learn by rote methods, students will find English increasingly boring, which will reduce students’ English learning motivation. Therefore, teachers should ignite the spark of thought and stimulate their interest.

(1) Try to activate the classroom atmosphere,making it vigorous, fascinating and brilliant so as to draw students" attention. A witty teacher is good at taking advantage of lead-in or warming-up to catch students’ eyes and arouse their enthusiasm of English learning. For example, at the beginning of a lesson, teachers can employ vivid pictures, upbeat music, video clips to interest students; teachers can organize games, such as listen and guess, look and guess, bingo and so on to let every student participate in class interaction; teachers can have a free talk so as to close the distance between themselves and students, which can also give students a chance to express themselves and practise oral speaking.

(2) During the teaching procedure, teachers should design different kinds of tasks to help students to learn step by step in order to avoid it that the difficult learning content influences their learning motivation.

(3) Teachers should carry out a variety of teaching activities which are interesting, meaningful and colorful so that students can learn by doing and enjoy the process of learning.

(4) Teachers should adhere to heuristic teaching and situational teaching. Try to create vivid situations in which students can use English in a relaxed, stress-free environment, and guide them to think proactively. In previous English learning, teachers focused on practicing sentence patterns mechanically, and they taught English mainly in translation method, in which case students learned English vaguely and didn’t know how to actually use what they learned.

(5) Teachers should have a sense of self-reflection. The process of improving the contents and methods of teaching is a process of exploration. In this process, teachers will make mistakes or have failures, which is really essential and common. After all, failures breeds successes. After every attempt, teachers should reflect if it can be improved or if there is a better method. And the communication with students is as well important because the contents and methods of teaching are improved for arising their interest in English learning. Only the way they accept is a good way.

5.4 Instructing students to establish correct concepts of attribution

Students’ self-attribution may not be correct, but it is significant. When a student always ascribes his or her low English grades to ability, which is an internal, stable but uncontrolled factor, he or she will get a sense of learned hopeless that will undoubtedly weaken learning motivation for English, because in this predicament he or she thinks that no matter how hard he or she works, further progress is hard to be achieved. However, when a student attributes his or her failure to other proper factors, such as not working hard, the difficulty of the task and so on, he or she may keep trying in the future English learning. Therefore, teachers should change students" negative self-awareness through attribution training so as to cement their learning motivation. When giving rewards, teachers should not only consider the students’ learning outcomes, that is to say, test scores shouldn’t be taken as the sole evaluation criteria. In fact, teachers should take their progress and efforts into consideration, emphasizing internal, stable and controllable factors. Praise students who have low ability but work hard, and give low evaluation to those who have high ability but don’t work hard, for instance.

5.5 Helping students establish a proper self-concept in order to gain self-efficacy

Self-efficacy theory points out that the success or failure that learners experienced has the greatest impact on self-efficacy. Successful experience will enhance students’ self-efficacy, while repeated failures will lessen it. Teachers should guide students to set goals that are specific, feasible, and short-term on basis of their actual situation(Shi Dongpo 214). Inappropriate goals aren’t beneficial to students’ effective learning and the formation of self-efficacy. Meanwhile, teachers should encourage students to find their own merits and help each student discover their own shining points, which can make students become confident. And this positive mood will migrate to English learning so as to facilitate students joining in learning activities actively. Another way to help students gain self-efficacy is praising. Instead of criticizing a student for getting a low grade or behaving badly in class, finding his or her progress and giving him or her a praise is advocated. However, it doesn"t equal to praising unreasonably. Teachers should first affirm where a student does well and then point out where he or she should improve or pay attention to next time. By the way, teachers should consciously exert the layered teaching method. In view of students’ various abilities of English learning, tasks with varying difficulty levels should be assigned to students at different levels. In this way, underachievers won’t take English learning as a mountain which cannot be climbed up. And after they successfully accomplish those tasks, they can build up their confidence, which can facilitate their further English learning.

1. Conclusion

The fact that students in junior middle school lack motivation for English studying is affected by a great many factors. And the success of English learning won’t happen overnight. It requires students’ continuous efforts. Therefore, teachers should attract students attention to English learning and cultivate their interest in English studying from a quantity of aspects. As Diesterweg said: “The art of education is not important to knowledge and skills, but in motivation, awaken and inspire.” And Einstein said: “Interest is the best teacher.” All teaching behavior should be based on interest, and teachers should properly cope with the relationship between the teachers’ leading role and the students’ subjective role. Help students to transform their pleasure in English into learning motivation so that students can have fun in studying and they can be actively involved in the whole teaching activities. Meanwhile, teachers should pay attention to the changes in the students’ minds, create a harmonious English learning environment and offer students timely encouragement and help so as to increase the students’ enthusiasm for English learning.

Works Cited

Bandura, Albert. “Self-efficacy Mechanism in Human Agency.” American Psychologist, 2 (1982): 122-147.

Jere Brophy. Motivating Students to Learn. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2005.

Maslow, A.H. “Motivation and Achievement in High School Science.” Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 4(2003): 347-368.

Ryan, Richard M. and Deci, Edward L. “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions.” Contemporary Educational Psychology, 1(2000): 54–67.

Stajkovic, A.D. and Luthans, F. “Self-efficacy and Work-related performance: A Meta-analysis.” Psychological Bulletin, 2(1998): 240-261.

Weiner, B. “A Theory of Motivation for Some Classroom Experiences.” Journal of Educational Psychology, 2(1979):3-25.

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