刘宏刚 Honggang Liu 天津外国语学院英语学院天津 300204

The Fifth International Conference on ELT in ChinaThe First Chinese Congress of Applied Linguistics-- Language, Education and Society in the Digital Age --（May 16-21, 2007, Beijing） EFL Motivations and Autonomy in English Learning ：An Investigation among Chinese Non-English Majors 刘宏刚 Honggang Liu 天津外国语学院英语学院天津 300204 School of English Studies Tianjin Foreign Studies University 300204 Email:honggangliu@126.com Blog:http://flrt.blog.sohu.com

Framework • Rationales for the Study • Major Findings of this Study • Implications • Limitations and Recommendations

Rationales for the Study 1. Few specific studies are conducted on the relationship between motivation and LA. 2. Perspectives of the studies on motivation and LA are narrow. 3. No quantitative studies pay special attention to the relationship between motivations and LA. 4. There is no such a study in China.

New Perspectives of this Study • Avoiding the dispute on the directional relationship between motivation and LA and just discussing how motivation, as a variable, influences LA ; • Adopting quantitative method with complement of the qualitative one; • Selecting the Chinese non-English majors as subjects.

Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, Language Teaching, System, TESOL, • Key journals in Chinese (www.cnki.net.cn) from 1994-2006 . • two articles (Dickinson, L. 1995; Spratt, M., G. Humphreys, and V. Chan. 2003) and one monograph (Ushioda. E, 1996).

Two Voices of the Relationships between Motivation and LA • Motivation leads to LA • Spratt and Chan (2002) • Cotterall (1999) • Littlewood (1996) • Ushioda (1996) • LA precedes motivation • Deci and Ryan (1985) • Dickinson (1995), • Dörnyei and Csizér (1998)

Samples This study involved 471 second-year non-English majors from Shenyang Institute of Aeronautical Engineering (SIAE) and Southwest Petroleum University (SWPU).

Objectives 1. Are there any correlations between non-English majors’ EFL motivations and their autonomy in English learning (AEL)? 2. If yes, • How much and to what degree motivations correlate with AEL in general? Why? • How much and to what degree the sub-motivations correlate with AEL respectively? Why?

Questionnaire of Likert-5-point scale; • Adapted Questionnaire on LA based on Xu etal (2004) • Adapted Questionnaire on motivation types based on Gao etal (2003) • High reliability and validity • Solid theoretical bases • Interview • Software to process data: • SPSS 11.5 • Pearson correlation was made.

Chinese undergraduates’ motivation types(Gao etal 2003) M1 Motivation of learning situation M2 Instrumental motivation M3 Cultural motivation M4 Motivation of intrinsic interest M5 Motivation of social responsibility M6 Motivation of going abroad M7 Motivation of individual development M8 Motivation of immediate achievement M9 Motivation of information medium

Working Definition of LA Autonomy in English Learning (AEL) is proposed as the working definition of LA in this thesis. It refers to the ability possessed by learners that takes control of English learning consciously. Autonomous learners with AEL should consciously: • formulate their own learning goals and plan their English learning; • make use of effective English learning strategies; • monitor and evaluate their own learning process.

Reliability of the Questionnaire • pilot study: αAEL =.8851; αmotivation=.8390 Formal study: αAEL =.8792; αmotivation=.8489

Major Findings • Positive correlations at significant level of .000 between (A) motivation and AEL in general (B) sub-motivations (except M1) and AEL ; 2. No significant correlation between motivation of learning situation (M1) and AEL (r=.054) ; 3. Coefficient of correlations are not high (the highest one is .513**). 4. Correlation between motivation of intrinsic interest (M4) and AEL is the strongest.

Table 1 Pearson Correlations: Positive correlations between motivations (M, M1, M2, M3)and AEL respectively Note 1: M=motivation M1=motivation of learning situation M2=instrumental motivation M3=cultural motivation Note 2: **<.01

Table 2 Pearson Correlations: Positive correlations between sub-motivations (M4, M5, M6, M7, M8, M9)and AEL respectively Note 1: M4=motivation of intrinsic interest M5=motivation of social responsibility M6=motivation of going abroad M7=motivation of individual development M8=motivation of immediate achievement M9=motivation of information medium Note 2: *<.05 **<.01

Implications • Stimulating students’ motivation of intrinsic interest to enhance their AEL; • Facilitating the transfer from the instrumental motivation to the motivation of intrinsic interest; • Creating supportive environments to stimulate learners’ motivations of learning situation for the further promotion of their AEL;

Limitations and Recommendations • Scope of sampling to be enlarged; • Numbers of students interviewed to be increased; • Instruments, especially, questionnaire to be perfected.

Acknowledgements • This paper is based my MA thesis completed in Southwest Petroleum University (SWPU), 2005. Sincerest thanks will be firstly given to my supervisor, Prof. Zhuo Xinxian. The same appreciations will be extended to the following scholars: Prof. Xu Jinfen from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Prof. Gao Yihong, from Peking University, for their unselfish presents: the questionnaires on learner autonomy and on motivation types; Dr. Ema Ushioda, from the University of Warwick; Prof. Virginia Yip from Chinese University of Hong Kong; Dr. Bian Yongwei from University of International Relations; Dr. Gao Xuesong from the University of Hong Kong; Prof. Huang Yueyuan from the Baptist University of Hong Kong for their timely sending me the materials on LA and motivation; Prof. Qin Xiaoqing from Huazhong University of Science and Technology for his helps on data processing; Dr. Cao Rongping and Mr. Gao Yue for their constant care and helps on my academic studies. • In the end, I will give my thanks to teachers and students from SIAE and SWPU for their cooperations of the investigation.

Thanks for your attention!

刘宏刚 Honggang Liu 天津外国语学院英语学院天津 300204