Abstract:Middle school is the most important period for Chinese students to learn a foreign language. The newest English curriculum standard of full-time compulsory revised in 2011 pointed out that the English teaching objectives include language knowledge, language skill, affective, learning strategy and cultural awareness. While the middle school students are not mature enough and some lack initiative，so learning motivation plays an important role in English study. A good English learning motivation can usually improve their English learning effect. Meanwhile, our researches about learning motivation kept an eye on college students in the past years. We can not find many about middle school students. And in these studies, the author found that the middle school students’ English learning motivation lies on the middle examination. We all noticed that our economy has developed a lot and the education condition has changed, which made many children start to learn English at very young age even when they were fetuses, so we may doubt whether their English motivation is just for the middle test now. Based on these changes and questions, this paper made a summary of the middle school students’ English learning motivation in the past few years and also finished a questionnaire for the eighth graders in a typical middle school in Chengdu and found that the middle school students’ intrinsic motivation was stronger than their extrinsic learning motivation. And their desire for the English speaking countries’ culture is the foremost motivation. The students pay more attention to the utility of English than the middle examination.

Key words: middle school students    English learning    motivation

Content

摘要：

Abstract:

1 Introduction-4

1.1 Reason of the Study-4

1.2 Study Contents-5

2 Literature Review-6

2.1 Studies of English Learning Motivation Abroad-6

2.2 Studies of English Learning Motivation at Home-7

2.3 Classifications of Foreign Language Learning Motivation-10

3 Designing of this Research-13

3.1 Research Purpose-13

3.2 Research Subjects-13

3.3 Research Instruments-13

3.4 Research Procedures-14

3.5 Data Collection and Analysis-14

4 Results of the Research-15

4.1 The Present Situation of the Middle School Students’ Intrinsic Motivation-15

4.2 The Present Situation of the Middle School Students’ Extrinsic Motivation-17

4.3The Main Factors of the Middle School Students’ English Learning Motivation-19

4.4 Suggestions to the English Teachers-20

5 Conclusion-21

Appendix-22

Bibliography-24

Acknowledgments-26