高中生英语学习动机的激发

沈泗珍

【摘要】有的高中生能努力學习英语并有毅力，是因为有较强的学习动机。本文从心理学、教育学和语言学等角度分析了学习动机在高中学生在英语学习过程中的作用，并就如何激发高中各个年段学生的学习动机进行了有益的探讨。

【关键词】高中学生 英语学习 学习动机

【Abstract】The reason why some senior high school students are working hard with perseverance is that they have high learning motivation. This paper from the angle of psychology， education and linguistics， analyze the part that learning motivation plays in the process of learning English for senior high school students. Meanwhile， discuss some useful strategies of stimulating students learning motivation.

【Key words】senior high school students； English learning； learning motivation

I. The essence of motivation

Motivation is a natural tendency of an intrinsic volume of learning. It can be explained as interactions among behavior， the environment， cognitions， and personal factors. It can only be stimulated but not set up. Obviously， human beings are born with motivation. It is a psychological tendency or competence which is shown when students are in a positive state and in a good support-providing atmosphere. Therefore， for those students who are tied of learning， afraid of learning and even get away from learning， if they are instructed correctly， they also can pick up such innate competence， that is， motivation， and make progress in a positive direction. English teachers are organizers or leaders in teaching.

II. The importance of motivation in learning English

Learning motivation is no doubt a most important factor in leaning . It is the same with native language learning. When dealing with English， they are in need of motivation. Otherwise， they will have no intention to learn it. What is worse， they may well hate learning it. From the mentioned above， we can safely draw a conclusion that the function of motivation in English learning it is extremely important. English teachers are supposed to take into consideration the factor of learning motivation so as to accomplish better results in English language teaching.

III. The approaches to stimulate the motivation of senior high school students

As the saying goes， “You can lead a horse to water， but you cant make him drink.” Motivating students is a little like that. The teacher must make them thirsty for knowledge and understanding of English. English learning has its own characteristics. Students needs to develop roundly in four skills of listening， speaking， reading and writing by remembering plenty of vocabulary， sentences and grammar， which includes practising and speaking more in class. The following can be taken as examples of encouraging students to keep their enthusiasm.

（1）Attach importance to emotional factor and build a new teacher-and-student relationship

A good relationship between the teachers and students is important because it creates an environment that encourages achievement as well as motivation （Raviv， Ravivi， & Reisel， 1990， p457）.

Thus， in order to encourage students learning motivation， the most important thing for the teachers to do is to change their role as teachers. The approaches are various. The teachers and the students can be friends， which will contribute to the affective interaction. In English learning， students need a great deal of practice to speak in class. Moreover， teachers should allow students to discuss broadly without the fear of expressing their own thoughts which are different from others. When students make some mistakes， teachers are supposed to describe them as opportunities for improvement with warm comments. With more smiles and encourages， teachers can have more interactions and stand closer to students.

（2）Adopt flexible and effective techniques

Another approach to stimulate students learning motivation is to adopt flexible and effective techniques， such as CALL （computer assisted language learning）， multimedia， using Internet and educational software. With colorful pictures， vivid voices， plentiful information and effective interaction， the methods are innovative， interesting， practical and effective that can arouse students curiosity and interest as well as promote their intrinsic motivation.

Cooperative activity is of course another good choice， which is at optimal level to keep students feel safe and can stimulate their arousal. Thus， rather than competition， more and more teachers use cooperative activities in English teaching which is also relatively effective. In cooperative activities， students can decrease fear of failure while communicate and exchange information effectively and involve with high emotion and efforts to solve problems. In this case， students who are unwilling and fearful to perform are drawn to participate to share their ideas.

IV. Conclusion

In conclusion， learning motivation and achievement affect each other， high learning motivation is beneficial for achieving success， in turn， the success will strengthen the learning motivation. As a consequence， as English teachers， the most important thing for us to do is to stimulate students learning motivation. The ways mentioned above are relatively effective to motivate and sustain students in English learning.