The Influence of Motivation on English Learning Initiative of Undergraduate Art and Sports Students

Abstract

This article adopts a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis, in order to explore the relationship between motivation and learning initiative of art and sports students. The respondent of the study is the undergraduate art and sports student from several comprehensive universities in China. The analysis establishes the connection between different types of motivation and learning initiative. Learning motivation is divided into six categories: intrinsic interest, learning context, stage achievement, future development, social expectation, and intermediary tools. Data is collected through questionnaires and is analyzed with the help of SPSS software. The results indicate that the English learning initiative of art and sports students shows a decreasing trend after college entrance examination. In terms of motivation, intrinsic motivation is low, while the extrinsic and instrumental motivation are relatively high. It presents a characteristic of ought-to L2 self. The higher the proportion of instrumental motivation accounts the total motivation, the lower the initiative for English learning. English learning initiative is also influenced by the degree of dispersion of motivation proportion.The more average the motivation types, the higher the initiative. Both educators and art and sports students need to work together to enhance students ideal L2 self motivation for English learning, and thus raise their initiative for English learning.