Abstract

This paper mainly focused on the discussion of the relation between motivation of learning English as a foreign language and English autonomous learning. It aimed at exploring effective methods of stimulating students’ learning motivation to promote their English autonomous learning, since motivation was routinely regarded as a key factor in second/foreign language learning. A total of 30 college students who major in English responded to a questionnaire concerning the current situation of English autonomous learning in China’s college education. The findings of this study indicated that lacking effective learning motivation is quite harmful, and comparatively speaking, integrative motivation rather than instrumental motivation facilitate English autonomous learning better. Finally, suggestions for effective methods of the cultivation and stimulation of students’ English autonomous learning were put forward.

Key words: English autonomous learning, learning motivation, college education, integrative motivation

摘     要

本文主要简单探讨了英语学习动机与英语自主学习两者之间的关系。在第二语言习得过程中，学习动机一直被认为是最重要的影响因素之一，因此本文旨在寻求有效的方法激发学生的学习动机来促进其英语自主学习的开展。共计30名英语专业的高校学生参与了此项问卷调查，问卷调查主要涉及目前中国大学教育中英语自主学习的开展情况等问题。调查结果显示，缺乏有效的学习动机不利于学生英语自主学习的开展。此外，相对而言，融机型的外语学习动机比工具型的外语学习动机更能促进学生英语自主学习的进行。针对上述发现，本文同时提出了一些激发学生英语学习动机来促进英语自主学习的方法和建议。

关键词：英语自主学习，学习动机，大学教育，融机型动机

ⅠIntroduction
English as an international language has been widely used in business, literature, international exchange and many other areas. According to the statistics from Wikipedia, “approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language” and the number of people who speak English as a second language far exceeds 470 million (“English Language”). In China, as a compulsory course, English learning is of prime importance in college education most of the time. However, because of the expansion of university enrolment in recent years, there is an obvious lack of English teaching resources. Therefore, experts suggest that English autonomous learning should be promoted to ensure a high-quality college English education. Admittedly, English autonomous learning, as it is, is affected by a great many factors, among which learning motivation is a crucial one. Then, how does motivation of learning English as a foreign language affect English autonomous learning? How shall we take full advantage of motivation of learning a foreign language to promote English autonomous learning? This paper is going to deal with those issues in detail.