Stimulating and Developing High School Students’ Motivation in Their English Learning

笈文婷

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Abstract：Stimulating learning motivation refers to transforming potential learning motivation to learning behavior. Motivation is the core of learning process, keeping right and long-lasting power is the premise of English learning. As for present English teaching, teachers often face students lacking learning interests and learning motivation, so how to stimulate and develop these students learning motivation is a universal problem for many teachers, of course it is a difficult problem. The essay aims at analyzing the classifications of English learning motivation, the influential factors of learning motivation and how to improve English learning motivation from many ways.

Key words:learning motivation ; stimulate and develop ; English learning

I. Introduction 

In the development of the human society, people are always trying to search: Why do people study? It is because all the human activities have relations with certain motivation. Comprehensive psychologists introduce motivation theory like that, motivation is psychological source power of human behavior, including human beings different instincts, needs, goals, expectations, values, aims and so on (汪曉琴 38). Learning motivation is an internal motivation which directly gives impetus to，leads to and strengthens students learning activities, and an important variation which affects learning effects. 

II. Concept of Motivation

A. Definition of Motivation

In general, motivation is regarded as a kind of intrinsic power, an emotional effect, a desire to promote human beings to take action (王初明95). Mitchell and Myles thought motivation was a very complex organism, which was composed by three parts: the desire to achieve an aim, the effects to achieve the aim and the satisfaction after achievement (Mitchell, Myles 52).

B. Definition of Learning Motivation and English Learning Motivation

1. Definition of Learning Motivation 

Learning motivation is a kind of motivation, which is an internal power to promote students to learn. Learning motivation is a kind of learning need, the need is a reaction of objective demands influenced by society and education in students minds. It includes learning intention, learning willing, learning interest and so on, which gives stimulation to learning.

2. Definition of English Learning Motivation

English learning motivation is a kind of human behavior motivation, which reacts as a strong willing to learn English and master English. It is a kind of internal power to push English learning forward and a kind of conscious dynamic character and positive mention for English learners in English learning. 

C. Classification of Motivation

1. Instrumental Motivation and Integrative Motivation 

Gardner introduced the notions of instrumental and integrative motivation (Gardner 67). In the context of language learning, instrumental motivation refers to the learners desire to learn a language for utilitarian purposes (such as employment or travel, or to pass the examination), whereas integrative motivation refers to the desire to learn a language to integrative successfully into the target language community. In later research studies, there were four other motivational orientations: ①reason for learning, ②desire to attain the learning goal, ③positive attitude toward the learning motivation, and④effortful behavior.

2. Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation

People also distinguish another two types of motivation: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, considering the source of the drive. Intrinsic motivation refers to the learners own inner drive to the language: I want to learn. Whereas extrinsic motivation refers to external wish or requirement exerted on the learners: I am asked and required to learn. However, the more important influencial factor is intrinsic motivation because that intrinsic motivation lasts longer.

III. The Necessity and Importance of Building English Learning Motivation 

A. The Necessity of Building English Learning Motivation

1. Building English Learning Motivation in Ensuring Right Learning Direction

Learning direction is very important for students in English learning, because the direction is the path for learning as the light is for dark at night. Driven by the inner strength, students will make their aims and directions clear, establish learning aims consciously, develop learning plans, summarize learning methods in their English learning, they always set strict demands on their own with high standards.

2. Building English Learning Motivation in Ensuring Continuous Learning 

English learning is a long process which may be last for ten years in high students learning. Motivation is a mental driving power. Motivation makes students want to learn on their own, nothing can compete with the solution that students are willing to learn. Students with strong learning motivation will show their strong wills and serious attitudes toward learning in English learning process.

B. The Importance of Building English Learning Motivation

The relation between English learning motivation and English learning is typical symbiotic relationship, higher motivation level will certainly lead to getting higher English score, higher English score will in return increase motivation. If students want to promote English learning scores, they should increase English learning motivation level. 

IV. Influential Factors on English Learning Motivation 

A. Influential Factors in Schools

Among the factors influencing the motivation, school factors are more important (王薔 112). School factors, on the other hand, are more specific, dynamic, thus more easily to be manipulated and modified. Therefore studies should be conducted in this area to increase the learners motivation in learning a foreign language. The study of school factors in relation to learners motivation can be made at the following levels, namely: the teacher, material, teaching methods, classroom atmosphere, and examination.

1. On the Part of the Teacher

Most students are highly motivated to learn a course if they like the teacher—an affiliation drive. Teachers personality, attitude toward teaching and students, teaching style, language proficiency, teaching competence, ect. are all related to and, in fact, have great influence on students motivation of learning a foreign language. More than a third of the students who seemed less motivated to learn English attributed it to their teachers. 

2. On the Part of the Materials

“Authenticity” and “interest” are the most important factors of materials in terms of learning motivation (Ellis 421). Research and language teachers experience show that authentic materials increase the learners level of on-task behavior, concentration and involvement in the target activity more than artificial materials. However, authentic materials are not necessarily interesting.

3. On the Part of Teaching Methods

Traditional English teaching method in classroom in China is teacher-centered teaching method. In a teacher-centered classroom, students will be passive and unmotivated in the learning process. As we all know, the English learning process is a long and complicated process, nobody can master a language in a short period of time, which ask the teachers to take different methods in the teaching process.We think it is better to learn a language in practice and activities. Teaching methods play important roles in the process of teaching and learning English. 

4. Classroom Atmosphere

We associate the classroom atmosphere with co-operative or competitive or individualistic learning. Classroom atmosphere is the learning environment, both teachers and students try to make good English classroom atmosphere, which is beneficial for stimulating and developing English learning motivation and promoting English score. 

Especially in traditional English classrooms in China, teachers adore competitive climate where students are believed to be highly motivated to learn since they are motivated to do better than others as a result of peer pressure. However, research has shown that in the peer competitive situation, a student can attain his or her goals only at the expense of others. Only a few, who have strong self-confidence and actually outperform others, are eventually motivated. Most students motivation decreases owing to competition.

5. The Examination 

A lot of students think, their learning aim is nothing but to get a high score in the examination, their motivation is examination, which is absolutely wrong. Achievement is not only the effect but also a cause of motivation. Generally speaking, success in examination enhances a sense of self-confidence which in turn contributes to success. Failure in examination, on the other hand , will either increase or reduce motivation.

Students are usually success-oriented or failure-oriented (易小文，陳杰 215). The former tend to attribute success to internal, stable causes (e.g. ability) and failure to external, unstable causes as well as lack of effort, whose attitude will maximize the experience of positive feelings. In contrast, failure-oriented students are inclined to ascribe failure to external, unstable and uncontrollable causes (luck, easy task), which will maximize negative feelings. 

B. Other Influential Factors on English Learning Motivation 

1. Self Needs

In the process of English learning, due to different students have different lives and experiences, they form their own unique English learning motivation. As college graduates has increased every year, students are having more and more pressure, English plays a very important role in school and entrance exams for postgraduate schools, especially in the process of searching for jobs and stepping into the society, which leads to a large group of “English Learning Army” (劉晶，周亞峰 53).

2. Personal Ambitions

Learning motivation has close relationship with ideal, aspiration and ambition. The level of ideal, aspiration and ambition, which is reflected by students philosophy of life, world view and values, influences the formation of English learning motivation and aim directly.

3. Parents Expectation

Expectations are hopes for the thing and people in the future. Parents proper expectation will bring power to students English learning and produce different influences on students English learning motivation and behaviors, as well as promote their English learning effect. Parents different expectations will affect students, parents with higher motivation will produce high-level motivation, they will get high-level behaviors after their efforts; the students with lower motivation will be opposite (劉潤(rùn)清 412).

V. The Ways to Stimulate and Develop English Learning Motivation

A. Teachers Efforts 

To ensure a high teacher-specific motivation of the students, a teacher should make great efforts in the following aspects:

Be sensitive to students needs and feelings. Teachers should have a non-judgmental positive regard to each student and understand the students as complex human being with both virtues and faults.

Be a facilitator rather than an authority figure. Develop a warm relation with the students to deduce their anxiety. A warm relation between teachers and students is the premise of good learning motivation and high grades. If students like a teacher, they will of course like the teaching of the teacher.

Promote learners autonomy by acknowledging different ways to get goals , attainments and learning styles, minimizing external pressure, fostering an intrinsic motivation and sharing responsibility with the students in the learning process. Students will learn much in a relaxed atmosphere. Learn to get learning motivation is more important than to get high grades.

B. Useful and Helful Materials 

The materials should not as traditional and unpractical as before, this writer believe the materials will not only teach the learners knowledge, but also the skills. Knowledge may be outdated some day, but if English learners get the skills, they will acquire knowledge all the time. In high school, students are relatively young so that they can not concentrate on a lot of theories. Only use the materials which they are interested in, they will promote their English learning motivation and get more knowledge and skills than before.

C. Appropriate Teaching Methods

A very useful and fruitful learning motivation on the teaching methods is task motivation, which is the motive for high score or reward. Success in tasks contributes to ego-enhancement which, in turn, affects the students self-esteem and a strong sense of self-efficacy. When involved in a task, they will concentrate on how to perform the task rather than dwell on their own personal deficiency and the problem they encounter. 

Tasks should be challenging enough to motivate students to make efforts in accomplishing motivation and tasks should be attainable enough to accomplish after the students have worked hard to strengthen their beliefs that they have the ability to learn the target language (孟靜 86).

D. Competitive and Cooperative Classroom Atmosphere

Classroom atmosphere is not easy to achieve and improve, therefore schools, teachers and students are all factors which influent the classroom atmosphere.The best classroom atmosphere for English learning is competitive plus cooperative. In competitive classroom atmosphere, students often try their best to learn better and get higher scores, then they will have more confidence, then they will get much higher scores, then much more confidence. It is a perfect circle.

In the cooperative situation, on the other hand, where a student achieve his or her goals only with mutual cooperation and help from all the members of the group, collaborative group effort serves the need for affiliation, and make it easier for a feeling of achievement to be attained. The more cooperative students attitude are, the more they are intrinsically motivated, the more they tend to ascribe academic success to effort rather than luck, and the more perseverance they will show in pursuing the learning task.

E. Effective Examination

To minimize the negative influence of examination on motivation, teachers should, for example, emphasize task achievement, instead of examination achievement, to increase students self-confidence and higher self-expectancy in future work. Teachers should make students understand their learning aim is not to get high score, but to master the knowledge and skills. Examination is a way to make them know their shortcomings and correct in time.

VI. Conclusion

It is no doubt that learning motivation is very important in English learning, and the motivation is influenced by many factors, such as teachers, materials, teaching methods, classroom atmosphere, examination and so on. The writer also give several methods to stimulate and develop English learning motivation on the same factors, that is to say learning motivation, especially English learning motivation can be stimulated and developed. In the process of learning English, we have a lot of tasks to do, but the best way is to find the source why we can not learn English well and find a shortcut to improve by ourselves under others help.

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