An Exploration on Motivation of Non―English Majors in Polytechnics

【Abstract】This study， undertaken 100 students majoring in electronics in a polytechnic in TianJin， examines the characteristics of learning motivations in students： intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Analysis of data acquired from a questionnaire suggests that the majority of polytechnic students are driven by extrinsic motivation.

【Key words】motivation； English learning

1. Introduction

The reason for success or failure in the performance of challenging tasks is generally attributed to the quality of the motivation that fuels the effort， and indeed， it is hard to argue with the premise that， to a large extent， therefore， motivation has great significance in English learning. As for the students in Electronics that the author chooses， therefore， the paper doses the research to study what exactly the motivation of learning is in polytechnics， and what teaching strategies should be conducted to satisfy the students’ motivation.

2. Learning Motivation Majoring in Electronics

A brief questionnaire was used to ascertain motivating factors that influenced students

2.1 Participants

All 100 subjects are second-year English learners majoring in electronics. This study uses the questionnaires to get the students to self-report their learning motivations.

Table shows that most of the students choose Item3： “I study English for the purpose of passing the final exam and obtaining the certificate.” and Item 4： “I need to pass the CET-4 and CET-6.” and Item16： “I am forced to learn English from school requests，” all of which characterize extrinsic motivation. On the other hand， only 6 students choose Item11 “Learning English can be important for me because I will need it for my future career”， and Item 10 “I learn English so as to do business with native English in the future.” both of which is typically intrinsic motivations.

3. Discussion

The study indicates that extrinsic motivation plays a major role in most polytechnic students. Intrinsic motivation is not as strong as the extrinsic motivation. This conclusion begs the question， how can teachers and school administrators improve the results of unmotivated learners？ What kind of teaching strategies are suggested？

3.1 Stimulating students’ Interest in Learning

The study shows that only a few students are interested in English learning. How do the teachers stimulate the interest of students？ When learners’ curiosity and interests are stimulated， internal motivation will definitely grows.（Dornyei， 1998） When education contexts are challenging， stimulating and promoting learner autonomy， the learners’ activeness flows like a stream（Hua， 1998：45）. With the development of the use of multimedia in teaching， teaching education can be described as “edutainment” （education+entertainment） （Wen， 1996）. 4.2 Building up a Supportive Learning Environment

3.2 Bring the Teachers into Full Play in Encouraging students’ Intrinsic Motivation

In William and Burden’s view （1997）， teachers are a significant external factor and can affect learning far beyond the transmission of knowledge. With motivation being an important factor in the learning process， it is the teacher who ought to take it upon himself to promote students’ intrinsic motivation and the teachers’ skills in motivating learners should be seen as central to teaching effectiveness. Dornyei and Csizer（1998） presented a revised list of guidelines for motivating learners，

4. Conclusion

The result of this study shows that the learners in electronics has the extrinsic motivation to learn English， but they lack the strong enough intrinsic motivation. Therefore， students do not grasp what they have been taught in English class. As a teacher， he should give them more external motivation and on the other hand stimulate their internal motivation as much as possible. The more motivation a learners has， the more time he or she will spend learning an aspect of a second language （Spolsky， 2000）.

References：

[1]Dornyei，Z & Csizer，K.Ten Commandments for motivating language learners：Results of an empirical study[J].Language Teaching Research，1998：203-229.

[2]Spolsky，B Conditions for Second Language Learning[M].Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2000.

[3]Wen，Q.F.On English Learning Strategies[M].Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，1996.