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Teachers and researchers focus on different factors such like personality, language learning aptitude, language learning strategy and language learning motivation and cognitive style that may affect learners’ learning behavior.
As the junior middle school English new curriculum standard specified, the task of basic education stage English course is: to inspire and cultivate students’ interest in learning English, make students build self-confidence, develop good study habits and form effective learning strategies. “Interest is the best teacher, and students learn with a certain interest and motivation as soon as they come into English class” (Shu Dingfang, 2006:21-20). The students’ English learning motivation has been regarded as one of the most important factors of success in learning English, especially students in junior middle school, their English learning motivation often influences whether they can keep the interest and enthusiasm to learn English. Hence, students’ English learning motivation not only concerns whether the students can pass the exam but also concerns the long-term development and competitiveness in English.
In this research, the research mainly focuses on language learning motivations. Because most people agree that learning is most likely to occur when people are motivated to learn (Williams & Burden, 1997). So it is a big challenge and great duty for teachers to improve and maintain their students’ learning motivation. There should be more attention paid to learners’ learning motivation, nevertheless, just as Chomsky (Jane Arnold, 2000:13) once said: “The truth of matter is that about 99 percent of teaching is making the students feel interested in the material.” Motivation is deemed to be one of the main decisive factors in success in learning a second language. (Oxford and Shearin, 1994).
1.2 Significance and aim of the study
As for the theoretical significance, “Foreign language learning motivation refers to the foreign language learners are learning with a desire and impulse. It is a psychological state that inpiduals start and maintain the actions” (Jia Guanjie, 2007:18).
Learning motivation plays an important role in studying. It can stimulate students to do study activities conscientiously and actively which help achieve the goal. It can help students do the study activities selectively for specific study target. It can help students to keep the good study habits, keep the good study state, improve ability to overcome the difficulties and get satisfying results under the competition.
Motivation is the prerequisite of study, investigations show that students who have strong motivation always have excellent study attitude and study perseverance. Hence, teachers should pay much attention to students’ study motivation which can improve the teaching effectiveness in order to achieve the teaching purpose.
As for the practical significance, students in junior middle school today are born after 2000, most of them are the only child in the family. They grow up under so much love and care from every family member which to some extent make them not strong and persistent enough. Some of them don’t have specific goal of life, where to aim and the study motivation. What’s more, they are at puberty, a critical period of transition, if they lost motivation of study, it will cause bad effect to them.
This research is undertaken for several purposes: first, to learn the in-depth information about the current English learning motivation situation in junior middle school and provide the authentic data and foundation for better English teaching practice in junior middle school; secondly, to raise teachers who teach English in junior middle school in china be aware of the importance of motivation; thirdly, to provide useful suggestions on how to motivate junior middle school students based on the findings of the study.