论文总字数：31356字

摘 要

当前，国内对学习动机的研究已有成果，而对负动机的研究仍在发展阶段。对比城市学生，农村学生学习英语的负动机表现更为明显。经调查研究发现，农村学生的负动机来自三个不同的层面，有学生主观因素、教师主观因素及环境客观因素。针对学生的负动机因素，农村教师可以根据负动机相关研究减弱其在学生英语学习中的消极影响，和学生构建和谐的师生关系，提升学生信心，进而提高农村学生的英语成绩。该研究尝试通过问卷调差、访谈和课堂观察来分析影响学生学习英语的负动机因素，在研究结果基础上提出减少学生英语学习负动机的对策。

关键词：农村中学；英语教学；负动机

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 The definition of learning demotivation 2

2.2 Previous studies 2

3. Research Methodology 3

3.1 The aim of the research 3

3.2 The subjects and instruments of the research 3

3.3 Research procedure 4

3.4 Data collection and analysis 4

3.5 Findings and discussion 7

4. Countermeasures to Reduce Students’ English Learning Demotivation 8

4.1 Effective teaching methods 8

4.2 Favorable learning environment 10

4.3 Harmonious relationship with students 11

4.4 English learning methods 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

Appendix 17

1. Introduction

Domestic and foreign scholars have done a lot of theoretical researches in the field of motivation. However, most of these studies are confined to the positive side of motivation. Only a few studies pay attention to the negative side. In recent years, more and more scholars are concerned with the phenomenon of learning demotivation. Learning demotivation is something that can cause decline of students’ learning motivation in learning. It is common that middle school students have learning demotivation. If we can find its main factors and be able to put forward practical countermeasures to reduce students’ learning demotivation, learning will be easier and funnier for learners. In China, the researches on demotivation of English learning mainly focus on college students, and only a few on middle school students. However, there are obvious differences between college students and middle school students in personality development, knowledge background and so on. In addition, few studies on learning demotivation of middle school students are basically conducted in rural areas though it is obvious that demotivation of students in countryside is much higher than that of students in cities. Under this circumstance, this thesis is mainly to investigate the factors of learning demotivation on junior high school students in rural areas and hoping to give some effective inspirations to teachers in these rural schools.

This thesis consists of five parts. The first part is to introduce my research’s background. The second part is scholars’ definitions about demotivation and previous studies about learning demotivation. Then it is followed by the research methodology adopted in my research. According to the analysis of the research, the countermeasures are given in the fourth part. The last part is the conclusion of the thesis.

2. Literature Review

2.1 The definition of learning demotivation

Motivation refers to a tendency of inspiring and keeping an action. And some scholars define “learning motivation” as “an inner start-up mechanism that to inspire individual to study, to keep the inspired study and to make the individual study aim to a certain learning objective” (Feng amp; Wu 217). And Dörnyei claims that “demotivation is an external force to reduce or deprive a person’s inclination to some behavior” (Dörnyei 143). But it neglects the influence of students’ internal factors. The better definition is that learning demotivation is the result of both internal and external factors which cause students’ motivation to decline or disappear (Li 13).

2.2 Previous studies

Since 1970s, many scholars concentrated on learning motivation and have formed a mature system. They find that students’ leaning motivation is most affected by teachers, including teachers’ teaching standard and style, professional knowledge, teaching methods and character. Besides, students’ interest, confidence and methods in learning English have a great impact on learning motivation. In addition, learning environment is also of importance in students’ learning motivation. With the rapid development of motivation, more and more western scholars pay attention to demotivation. Dornyei finds Hungarian Middle School Students’ negative attitude towards target-language country increased their learning demotivation (Dornyei 114). Kikuchi and Sakai discover that teachers’ standard, textbook and classroom are of importance to demotivation (Kikuchi amp; Sakai 202). Dornyei and Hamada agree that teachers’ personality, teaching ability and teaching methods can also influence learners’ leaning demotivation (Li 14).

While domestic researches have not gotten abundant achievements. In their researches, teacher, students’ interest and learning environment are also the main factors of students’ learning demotivation. But in Hu research, the importance of students’ learning ability is even higher than the factor of teachers’ teaching (Hu 143). There exists great difference in the ability of English learning between developed areas students and rural school students, but there are few researches paying attention to the gap of demotivation between urban schools and suburban schools. Thus the author did the research on rural school students to summarize the factors of rural school students’ English learning demotivation and list corresponding countermeasures for rural school teachers so as to enrich current studies.

3. Research Methodology

3.1 The aim of the research

The main purpose of this survey is to analyze the factors of learning demotivation of junior high school students in Peiwei Middle School and give some practical and effective measures to teachers in rural schools.

3.2 The subjects and instruments of the research

Subjects of this survey are grade 9 students of Peiwei Junior High School, a rural junior high school in Siyang County, Jiangsu Province. Taking the whole Suqian’s English education into consideration, their performance of English as well as the other subjects is at lower level. School facilities, teaching level and students’ examination results can be regarded as the representative of rural teaching in Suqian area. There are 25 classes in Peiwei Junior High School, including 1385 students, of which 498 are grade 9 students. The enrollment scope of the whole school is five townships in Peiwei Town. There are no large factories and enterprises. The rural population is the main population. In this survey, about 95 students from Class 3 and Class 8 students in grade 9 were investigated. Reference scores are from the city’s unified English examination, and the results are real and effective. The ratio of boys to girls is moderate, ranging in age from 15 to 17. The difference of family conditions among these students is very small, which mostly represents the reality of rural families.

This study was conducted with a questionnaire, interview and class observation as instruments. There are 25 questions in this questionnaire. It uses Li Chili’s questionnaire in his An Empirical Research on Demotivators in Senior High School Students’ English Learning for reference, and has made some adjustments and changes. The author also interviewed two teachers and eight students to verify the authenticity of the answers to my questionnaire. Through the class observation, the author found out some problems of rural junior high school teaching.

3.3 Research procedure

In April 2019, I distributed the questionnaires to two classes’ students, giving them enough time to answer. I promised to keep personal information confidential. After receiving the questionnaires, I carried on the statistical analysis on the data to explore the main factors leading to the English learning demotivation of rural junior high school students.

To get a more comprehensive understanding of middle school students’ English learning demotivation, two teachers and eight students were interviewed.

What’s more, to verify the results of interviews and questionnaires, I earnestly requested to attend to two English lessons to observe students’ performance in English class.

3.4 Data collection and analysis

According to the results of questionnaires, interviews and class observation, it can be found that students’ English learning demotivation mainly comes from three aspects: student-related factors, school-related factors and teacher-related factors. As we can see from the following tables, teacher is the dominant factor in all factors of students’ learning demotivation. Then it is followed by the learning environment and students’ inner factors.

The data in Table 1 indicate that the factor of English teachers’ teaching method is in the leading role of all the five teacher-related factors. The approval rate of it is as high as 86%, which tells us the lacking of various teaching methods in rural high schools. In this table, it is clear that the factors related to teachers’ personality is also significant.

Table 1 The Teacher-related Factors

In Table 2, the data shows that about 78% learners think highly of school’s teaching facility. And most of learners support the opinion that the problems of school environment can also cause their learning demotivation.

Table 2 The School-related Factors

According to Table 3, the students’ learning ability is of the most significance to their English learning demotivation, which is almost as important as teachers’ teaching method. As the approval rate of interest is just 63%, it can be concluded that in rural middle school, teachers should pay more attention to more effective ways to stimulate students’ interest.

Table 3 The Student-related Factors

3.5 Findings and discussion

According to the result of the survey, there are three main categories of factors: the school-related factors and the student-related factors. Teachers’ teaching method and personality might result in students’ learning demotivation. In terms of school-related factors, teaching facility also matters. As for the student-related factors, their learning ability, confidence and interest do matter.

3.5.1 The teacher-related factors

The main task of a teacher is to try his best to make students achieve knowledge. And the efficiency of his lesson depends on effective teaching method. If a teacher’s teaching method is not so stylish as other teachers’, his students might feel bored in his class. While generally speaking, rural schools teachers’ quality can’t compete with that of teachers in developed areas.

Classroom atmosphere can also affect students’ English learning. A good learning atmosphere stimulates students’ positive attitude towards learning. And it is often under teachers’ guidance.

What’s more, teachers’ characteristics are also the factors that might cause students’ demotivation in learning English. If a teacher is not tolerant and easily get angry, his students will dislike him and his lessons; if a teacher can’t treat his students equally, his students will not respect him; if a teacher can’t speak English well, his students will not trust him and follow his way.

3.5.2 The school-related factors

It’s normal that rural schools lack modern teaching facilities, so teachers may have less opportunities to use multimedia to play video or audio for students. If the teacher doesn’t realize the importance of this problem, it is likely that students may feel his class boring.

Sometimes, poor hygiene, crowding and hot weather can also cause students’ learning demotivation.

3.5.3 The student-related factors

It is believed that vocabulary and grammar are the main parts of learning English. However, many students have difficulty in remembering words and grammar, which increases their fear in learning English.

When students are confronted with complex sentences or too many unfamiliar words, they tend to lose their interest and confidence. And some students are afraid of overcoming difficulty and have no confidence in learning English well.

To some students, learning English can’t make them feel happy, so it becomes their burden. At the same time, as English is students’ obligatory course, teachers and parents always urge students to spend more time in learning English, whose result may turn out to be the opposite of their wish.

4. Countermeasures to Reduce Students’ English Learning Demotivation

According to this survey, teacher is the main factor of demotivation. Therefore, students’ English learning demotivation can be reduced as long as teachers take effective measures. Based on the analysis, the author attempts to propose some measures. First of all, teachers should keep learning to enrich their knowledge and make use of different teaching methods. Then, teachers need to create better English learning environment for students to practice what they have just learned. In addition, teachers ought to be concerned with self-cultivation and be strict with themselves but be tolerant with students. What’s more, it’s of great significance to teach students how to learn. Good learning method is the premise of learning English well.

4.1 Effective teaching methods

The new curriculum requires higher standard of teachers. Above all, English teachers should grasp systematic knowledge of their major: they must not only be good at listening, speaking, reading and writing, but also own the knowledge of phonetics, semantics and pragmatics. Because most of students start with knowing nothing, and they lack the real language environment. They learn English mainly from their class. Therefore, English teachers are of great importance under this circumstance. Besides, teachers should be qualified enough to instruct and help students. They should understand psychology, education and English teaching method and be able to make use of the thesis and knowledge to carry on teaching.

When teaching English, teachers need to adopt various teaching methods in accordance with students’ learning pattern to stimulate students’ interest and curiosity, get and keep students’ attention to lessons. Then English teachers should make full use of textbooks and increase the novelty and attractiveness of teaching content to attract students’ attention. In addition, teachers can adopt interesting activities connecting teaching and life to offer students the chance to communicate in English, cultivate their desire to chat with each other in English and help them achieve the experience of success in communicating in English.

Students usually feel happy when they learn on their own. When they learn passively, they tend to be impatient and upset. The initiative of students’ learning is always from putting forward a question, thinking about it and performing in various activities. Therefore, teachers should design their teaching activities according to students’ regular learning pattern. After all, students’ personality characteristics are changing while growing up. But for junior high school students, they have the desire to perform, so teachers can adopt activities like competition to encourage students to show their performance. Through these kind of activities, students may achieve the joy of learning. Teachers can also try their best to conduct after-school activities to create English learning environment and atmosphere for students, such as teaching students to sing beautiful songs, letting students watch English movies and encourage them to give free talks after watching, making competitions of reading, setting up English corner and so on. With those activities, students will be willing to practice their spoken English and learn English actively.

Teaching facilities owned by schools in less developed areas are less than those of schools in big cities. Thus it is teachers’ duty to make full use of modern teaching methods and combine those advanced teaching methods with the equipment they have to teach. For example, teachers can connect watching with listening, speaking with pictures, thus leading in a dynamic lesson. If English teachers do so, they may achieve better result.

Through the observation with junior high students, the author found that English teachers’ feedback on student learning results can influence students’ learning demotivation. If teachers can give effective feedback, students’ learning results would be better. With timely feedback on their performance, students can not only see their progress and keep their learning enthusiasm, but also discover problems in their learning and correct them in time to improve their learning. Feedback should be timely. This behavior can stimulate students’ desire for further study. Secondly, feedback should be specific, targeted and inspiring, so that students can know their progress and their weakness in English learning and guarantee their foundation for further learning.

Last but not least, when it comes to feedback on students’ learning outcomes, it often involves praise and criticism, thus it is necessary for teachers to grasp the art of praise and criticism to improve and keep students’ English learning enthusiasm. Teachers should accept difference among students. And learn to appreciate students and give them appropriate praise to enhance their confidence and eliminate their inferiority complex. And they should also try to avoid criticism to hurt students’ esteem and enthusiasm.

4.2 Favorable learning environment

The time of junior high school students living in school is much longer than that at home. From this point of view, the impact of school environment is greater for students. A graceful school with perfect environment and management system can promote students’ language learning. Language learning, in essence, needs a beautiful environment to better complete the project. Learning in beautiful environment, students not only learn knowledge, but also cultivate sentiments. While feeling the beauty of the language, they are also getting enlightenment. Perfect management system is the guarantee for students to study with all their heart and soul and is the bedrock of students’ healthy growth.

Language learning has its particularities, especially when it comes to the influence of language environment. School is students’ main learning environment, in which teachers can create a suitable English learning environment for English learning, which is a key point in the current English teaching reform. Rural junior high school students have less access to English learning environment: no foreign teachers; no original English movies and TV; no original English masterpieces. As a result, the biggest defect of rural junior high school students English learning is dumb English. Apart from one or two English sentences when the teacher reads the text and recites words in class, students cannot speak English at all at other times. Under such a circumstance, how could we expect them to have a good command of English learning? We should realize the necessity of striving to create better and larger English learning environment for students in rural school through the joint efforts of schools, teachers, students and parents. It is an important strategy for present rural junior high schools’ English teaching to create a “simulation” English language environment for rural junior high school students through multimedia teaching, extra-curricular English dialogue learning, and providing a large number of original English movies and TV programs

4.3 Harmonious relationship with students

Students are the main body of study. To some degree, the extent of students’ class participation determines the efficiency of their learning activities. Therefore, only when teachers manage to stimulate student’s initiative and enthusiasm of learning will students cooperate with teachers to make an excellent lesson. The harmonious relationship between them will cause their love of their English teacher to extend to their love of English.

In order to get a harmonious relationship with students, English teachers ought to know the influence of affective communication during teaching English, and treat students with love, sincerity, patience, tolerance and empathy. What’s more, teachers should treat students fairly, regardless of students’ marks, and often communicate with students to help them with the problems in both study and life. When a teacher treats his students with a heart full of love, his students will pay back his love with much more enthusiasm in learning English. Try to reduce students’ anxiety in learning English. teachers should trust students and be generous with praise. Even small progress made by students is worth praising and can help enhance students’ confidence in learning English. Teachers should listen to students carefully when students answer questions. After that, teachers need to give feedback appropriately and timely.

Meanwhile, teachers should learn the art of praise. Keep it in mind that the praise will give students a sense of achievement in English learning, which can improve students’ interest in learning and decline students’ learning demotivation. Besides, the manner of humor does better than criticism.

Psychological research proves that if a teacher forms a certain expectation based on the ability of leaning of a student, it will make the student’s learning behavior meets with the teacher’s expectation. It is a phenomenon known as “Pygmalion effect”. If English teachers can start with different expectations of different students in actual teaching, it can also decrease students’ demotivation to learn and encourage them to work hard to narrow the distance between your expectation and their actual learning situation. Then they will gain the experience of success and be more confident, thus leading to a high level of learning motivation.

4.4 English learning methods

Monotonous learning methods will decline students’ learning enthusiasm. On the contrary, flexible English learning methods can stimulate students’ interest in learning and enhance their self-confidence. English learning methods need diversity, flexibility and interaction. Teachers should attach importance to students’ subjectivity in methods to avoid inculcating learning. Let students learn actively and get rid of demotivation in learning methods.

Many rural middle school students can’t get a sense of achievement when confronted with their performance on examinations. So teachers should help students develop other learning methods to maintain their enthusiasm and confidence. For example, students can strengthen what they have learned by writing English diary, and teachers can give extra rewards for good writing. Students can also take part in situational dialogue conducted by teachers to practice listening and speaking, thus increasing interest and confidence. After class, teachers can recommend to students some classic English movies as well. In this way, students can improve their learning ability in the process of relaxation, which can also increase their interest in listening and decrease their learning demotivation.

5. Conclusion

Through the research, the author finds that in rural junior high schools, teachers’ teaching method, students’ learning method, teachers’ personality and teaching facility are the main factors contributing to students’ learning demotivation. Of which, the teaching method takes the leading role. Therefore, some countermeasures for rural school teachers and students should be taken to solve these problems. On the one hand, teachers should not only enrich their knowledge but also learn and adopt a variety of teaching methods on English teaching. Teachers should make changes accordingly to improve English teaching standards and quality to keep pace with educational principles and policies. As rural school teaching facility can’t meet students’ needs, teachers also need to make full use of textbooks and existing facility to organize more efficient teaching activities. On the other hand, students should cherish the opportunity of interaction with teachers and ask others especially teachers for advice of learning method. Only by their joint efforts can the learning demotivation on rural high school students might gradually decrease their learning demotivation.

Despite the author’s efforts on the research of English learning demotivation, there are still many limitations. The selection of the sample is not very strict, and the differences of demotivation between boys and girls are neglected. Because of the limited level, the measures to decrease students’ learning demotivation may not so illuminating. More scientific and effective studies should be done to enhance rural high school English teaching.

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[Feng Zhongliang, Wu Xinchun. “Educational Psychology.” Beijing: The People’s Education Publishing Company, 2000.]

胡艳：《二语课堂学生英语学习负动机研究及对策》，《长沙大学学报》. 6（2015）：142-145.

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