A Longitudinal Comparative Study on the Changes of Motivational Constructs and English Proficiency between Engineering Majoring Grade 10-12 Students and High School Students

本研究以49个项目的问卷调查结果为基础，考察了一组工科专业10-12年级学生的动机结构及其随时间的变化。它通过使用一个开放式问题进一步探索了去动机的根源。研究结果表明：(1)高中生英语学习动机在高一至高二期间显著下降；(2)高中生对英语的需求意识、学习兴趣和积极的英语学习态度之间呈现负交互作用；(3)缺乏成功的学习经验与英语学习兴趣/积极态度的下降有很强的相关性；(4)缺乏成功的学习经历是最令人泄气的因素。

This longitudinal study investigated the motivational constructs of a group of engineering majoring Grade 10-12 students (EMSs) and their motivational changes over time, based on the result of a 49-item questionnaire survey. It further explored the source of demotivation by using an open-ended question. The findings are: (1) the motivation declined more significantly than high school students between the 1st year and the 2nd year for the EMSs; (2) their awareness of the need for English, interests, and positive attitudes towards learning English showed negative interactions with each other; (3) a strong correlation was observed between lack of successful learning experiences and decline in interests/positive attitudes; (4) lack of successful learning experiences turned out to be the most demotivating factor.It is suggested that an instructional intervention be implemented to ensure that the students have opportunities to see themselves advance in an unthreatened learning environment.