THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ENGLISH LEARNING MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN THREE CHINESE JUNIOR MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Motivation is identified as the learner’s desire and effort to achieve the goal of learning a foreign language. Based on Gardner’s classification of motivations, integrative and instrumental motivation respectively, this pilot study constructs a scale of English learning motivation in the context of three Chinese junior middle schools and explores the relationship between students’ English achievement and types and intensity of their English learning motivation. Subjects are three classes of students selected from Grade One junior middle school of three places, namely Shanghai (tier one city), Xiamen (tier two city) and Jining (tier three city). Data are drawn from the motivation questionnaires administered to students and also the interviews with their English teachers to collect their average English grade, which indicates their English achievement. Correlation analysis was performed to explore the correlation between achievement and intensity of each type of motivation. A lateral comparison was conducted among three cities so as to comprehensively reflect English learning motivation in Chinese junior middle schools .

The results prove that although English language achievement is positively correlated with English learning motivation for the students who were studied, the correlation between motivation and achievement is also situation specific. China is a diverse country and the English language functions as a tool; the less open and advanced the city, the more integrative factors influence English learning. This suggests that teaching strategies in the various urban cities of China could be modified to enhance students’ motivation.

There is little systematic research about learning motivation of primary and middle school students in China (Qiu, 2005). Therefore this study will shed light on China’s EFL classroom in junior middle school with regard to English learning motivation.