The psychological and cognitive factors causing college students’ demotivation to learn English in China

Ren, Xiaobin; Abhakorn, Jirapa

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.890459

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…For example, weak ability (sometimes this factor was named as weak competence, lack of confidence, etc.) was often found to be a factor for students’ demotivation to learn English (e.g., Ghadirzadeh et al, 2012 ; Ren and Abhakorn, 2022 ) and teachers’ demotivation to teach English (e.g., Chireshe and Shumba, 2011 ; Nagamine, 2018 ). These similar findings supported Bandura (1977) ’s self-efficacy theory that people’s subjective evaluation of their abilities could influence their motivation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, when encountered with unmasterable situations, people would suffer from helplessness, depression, listlessness, and self-disparagement, which would lead to the decrease of motivation. Compared with amotivation, demotivation was more frequently used by researchers in second language acquisition (SLA) field ( Ren, 2022 ). Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011 , p. 139) once defined demotivation as “specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action.” They compared the two terms of amotivation and demotivation, and thought amotivation is related to some unrealistic expectations, while demotivation is linked with specific external reasons.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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College EFL teachers’ demotivation to conduct research: A dynamic and ecological view

Ren

Zhou

2023

Front. Psychol.

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Competences for conducting research is vitally important for college EFL teachers’ career development, but many college English teachers are demotivated in academic research. To investigate teachers’ motivation on academic activities, this study firstly explored motivational changes of college EFL teachers (mean age 37.39, SD 9.77) for conducting research in their teaching career, and then delved into the factors underlying their demotivation by sending questionnaires. In the end, several English teachers and officers managing research projects were interviewed to elicit solutions to overcome EFL teachers’ demotivation to conduct research. This study found that college EFL teachers had large possibilities to suffer from demotivation to conduct research. Exploratory factor analysis indicated five factors causing their demotivation, including weak research ability, negative emotions and attitudes, poor research surroundings, research management problems and insufficient resources. Thematic analysis demonstrated that ecological solutions should be taken by different stakeholders in EFL teachers’ working ecology, including universities, research communities, government, and publishers. This study problematized the static view on teachers’ demotivation to conduct research and provided some insights and implications for reasons and solutions for demotivation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

College EFL teachers’ demotivation to conduct research: A dynamic and ecological view

Ren

Zhou

2023

Front. Psychol.

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Paper assessment or online assessment: exploring the impact of assessment modes on EFL students’ language learning outcomes and personal development

Abdullaeva,

Çakmak,

Abdullaev

2024

Lang Test Asia

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The impact of teacher attitude and teaching approaches on student demotivation: Disappointment as a mediator

Tang

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Student demotivation with English as a medium of instruction has attracted increased attention of scholars, particularly in those countries where it is taught as a second or foreign language. While there is a consensus that proficiency in English brings several benefits, it is found that students are demotivated to learn in English. As a result, many studies have tried to investigate the factors that reduce the motivation to learn in English. Drawing on disappointment theory, this study aims to investigate why and how the discouraging attitude of a teacher and discouraging teaching approaches create negative emotions (i.e., disappointment with English as a medium of instruction), which in turn demotivates Chinese students with English as a medium of instruction. This study has adopted a cross-sectional research design. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey from Chinese students (n = 428) studying in different universities in China. The hypothesized relationships were tested through PLS-based SEM by using Warp-PLS 7.0 software. The findings show that teachers' discouraging attitudes and discouraging teaching approaches are important determinants of student demotivation with English as a medium of instruction. The results also confirm that student disappointment is an important underlying mechanism in the relationship between exogenous and endogenous variables. This study contributes to the literature on student demotivation with English as a medium of instruction by superficially identifying teacher-related factors in China, which were previously overlooked. The implications of this study are that the university administration should monitor the attitude of the teachers toward English, as well as their teaching approaches, in order to curb any potential threat to student motivation. The administration should train the teachers on how to show a positive attitude and follow encouraging teaching approaches. In this way, students' disappointment with the English language and teaching methodology can also be overcome, which will ultimately increase their motivation with English as a medium of instruction in universities.

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The psychological and cognitive factors causing college students’ demotivation to learn English in China

Cited by 3 publications

References 32 publications

College EFL teachers’ demotivation to conduct research: A dynamic and ecological view

College EFL teachers’ demotivation to conduct research: A dynamic and ecological view

Paper assessment or online assessment: exploring the impact of assessment modes on EFL students’ language learning outcomes and personal development

The impact of teacher attitude and teaching approaches on student demotivation: Disappointment as a mediator

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