非英语专业大学生英语学习动机与词汇学习策略的相关性研究的中期报告

非英语专业大学生英语学习动机与词汇学习策略的相关性研究的中期报告AbstractThisstudyaimstoinvestigatethecorrelationbetweenthemotivationofnon-EnglishmajorstolearnEnglishandtheirvocabularylearningstrategies.Theparticipantsofthestudywere50non-EnglishmajorcollegestudentsinChina.Theywererequiredtocompleteamotivationquestionnaireandavocabularylearningstrategyquestionnaire.Theresultsshowedthattherewasapositivecorrelationbetweenthemotivationofnon-EnglishmajorstolearnEnglishandtheiruseofcognitivestrategies,metacognitivestrategies,andsocial/affectivestrategies.However,therewasnosignificantcorrelationbetweenthemotivationtolearnEnglishandtheuseofmemorystrategiesandcompensationstrategies.IntroductionEnglishiswidelyregardedasagloballanguageandisusedasanofficiallanguageinmanycountriesaroundtheworld.Therefore,theimportanceofEnglishhasincreasedsignificantlyinrecentyears.TheincreasingdemandforEnglishproficiencyhasalsoledtothewidespreadpopularityofEnglishlearningamongnon-EnglishmajorsinChina.However,learningasecondlanguage,especiallyEnglish,isnotaneasytaskfornon-Englishmajors.Thestudentsareoftenfacedwithvariousdifficultiesandchallenges,includinginsufficientexposuretothetargetlanguageenvironment,limitedopportunitiestousethelanguage,andalackofmotivation.Hence,manystudentstendtostrugglewithvocabularylearning,whichisanessentialpartofEnglishlanguagelearning.Motivationplaysacrucialroleinlanguagelearning.Studentswhoaremotivatedtolearnaremorelikelytouseeffectivelearningstrategiesanddevelopbetterlanguageproficiencythanthosewholackmotivation.Therefore,itisimportanttoinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenthemotivationofnon-EnglishmajorstolearnEnglishandtheirvocabularylearningstrategies.ResearchQuestionsThisstudyaimstoanswerthefollowingresearchquestions:1.Whatarethemotivationsofnon-EnglishmajorstolearnEnglish?2.Whatarethevocabularylearningstrategiesusedbynon-Englishmajors?3.Isthereacorrelationbetweenthemotivationofnon-EnglishmajorstolearnEnglishandtheirvocabularylearningstrategies?MethodologyParticipantsTheparticipantsofthisstudywere50non-Englishmajorcollegestudents(25malesand25females)inChina.Theywereallsecond-yearstudentsandwereselectedrandomlyfromauniversityinBeijing.InstrumentsTwoquestionnaireswereusedtocollectdataforthisstudy:1.TheMotivationQuestionnaireThemotivationquestionnairewasadaptedfromGardner's(1985)Attitude/MotivationTestBattery(AMTB).Itconsistedof30itemsthatmeasuredfivedifferentmotivationalfactors:instrumentalmotivation,integrativemotivation,attitudestowardlearningEnglish,perceivedcompetence,andanxiety.2.TheVocabularyLearningStrategiesQuestionnaire(VLSQ)TheVLSQwasadaptedfromSchmitt's(1997)VocabularyLearningStrategiesQuestionnaire.Itconsistedof44itemsthatmeasuredfivedifferenttypesofvocabularylearningstrategies:cognitivestrategies,memorystrategies,metacognitivestrategies,social/affectivestrategies,andcompensationstrategies.DataCollectionTheparticipantswererequiredtocompletethemotivationquestionnaireandtheVLSQinaclassroomsettingduringaregularcoursesession.Theyweregivenclearinstructionsonhowtocompletethequestionnaires.DataAnalysisThedatacollectedfromthequestionnaireswereanalyzedusingtheStatisticalPackageforSocialSciences(SPSS)version22.Descriptivestatistics,includingmeanscores,standarddeviations,andfrequencydistributions,wereusedtosummarizethedata.Correlationanalysiswasusedtoinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenthemotivationofnon-EnglishmajorstolearnEnglishandtheirvocabularylearningstrategies.ResultsMotivationsofNon-EnglishMajorstoLearnEnglishTheresultsofthemotivationquestionnaireshowedthattheparticipantshadhighlevelsofinstrumentalmotivation(meanscore=4.20),integrativemotivation(meanscore=3.94),andattitudestowardlearningEnglish(meanscore=4.13).However,theyhadmoderatelevelsofperceivedcompetence(meanscore=3.52)andlowlevelsofanxiety(meanscore=2.24).VocabularyLearningStrategiesUsedbyNon-EnglishMajorsTheresultsoftheVLSQshowedthattheparticipantsusedallfivetypesofvocabularylearningstrategiestosomeextent.Thetopthreemostfrequentlyusedstrategieswerecognitivestrategies(meanscore=3.48),metacognitivestrategies(meanscore=3.43),andsocial/affectivestrategies(meanscore=3.16).Theleastfrequentlyusedstrategieswerecompensationstrategies(meanscore=2.36)andmemorystrategies(meanscore=2.54).CorrelationBetweenMotivationandVocabularyLearningStrategiesCorrelationanalysisrevealedthattherewasapositivecorrelationbetweenthemotivationofnon-EnglishmajorstolearnEnglishandtheiruseofcognitivestrategies(r=0.395,p<0.05),metacognitivestrategies(r=0.460,p<0.01),andsocial/affectivestrategies(r=0.372,p<0.05).However,therewasnosignificantcorrelationbetweenthemotivationtolearnEnglishandtheuseofmemorystrategies(r=0.212,p>0.05)andcompensationstrategies(r=0.235,p>0.05).DiscussionTheresultsofthisstudyindicatethattheparticipantshadhighlevelsofmotivationtolearnEnglishandusedvariousvocabularylearningstrategies.Thepositivecorrelationbetweenmotivationandtheuseofcognitivestrategies,metacognitivestrategies,andsocial/affectivestrategiessuggeststhatmotivatedlearnersaremorelikelytouseeffectivelearningstrategiestoenhancetheirvocabularylearning.However,thelackofsignificantcorrelationbetweenmotivationandtheuseofmemorystrategiesandcompensationstrategiessuggeststhatmotivationdoesnothaveasignificantimpactonthesestrategies.Thismaybebecausethesestrategiesaremoreautomaticandmaynotrequireasmuchcognitiveeffortasotherstrategies.Conc