Changes in Motivation Among Chinese English-Major Students in Different Academic Years and the Relationship Between their Motivations and Strategies

Abstract

The present research aims to investigate changes in Chinese English-major students’ motivation and the correlation between their motivations and strategies. Through a questionnaire survey of 263 BA students in different academic years, it was found that out of seven different motivations, learning situation motivation shows the greatest difference; moreover, students’ motivation increases with the advancement of academic years. In addition, there are significant differences in strategy use by differently motivated students; cognitive strategy is positively and highly correlated with interest motivation while metacognitive strategy is negatively correlated with context motivation.