| Summary: | 碩士 === 高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 98 === ABSTRACT
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the effects of an English Village (EV) classroom environment on motivation and anxiety among junior high school students. It also examines which aspects of the EV program have the greatest influence on student motivation. In addition, the study compares the differences in motivation and anxiety levels between high and low proficiency students.
The subjects were 89 Grade Seven and Grade Eight students from St Paul’s Junior High School, Kaohsiung. All the students took part in a six week English language program at the school’s EV clinic and café classrooms. The program focused mainly on speaking activities including role-play, dialogue practice and drama. Students were required to role-play authentic tasks such as making an appointment at a clinic, having a consultation with a doctor, making a reservation at a restaurant, and ordering a meal.
After the program, students completed Likert scaled questionnaires on motivation and anxiety and provided written answers to seven questions in a qualitative questionnaire on motivation and anxiety. In addition, statistical measures and qualitative analysis were employed to investigate the variables of motivation and language anxiety among high proficiency and low proficiency students.
The major findings of this study are summarized as follows:
1. More than 75% of the students reported that they felt more motivated to study English following the EV program. Statistical analysis demonstrated that of the five motivational components examined in the study, the most significant was integrative motivation. Therefore, it is suggested there is a correlation between lessons in an environment with a foreign cultural theme and an increased desire to belong to the social community of the target language. Furthermore, it was found that the single greatest motivational item following the EV program was the instrumental desire to learn English because it was important for travel abroad.
2. More than 65% of students reported they felt less anxiety speaking in the EV than in their normal classroom. However, around 10% of students, most of them of low proficiency, found the EV more stressful than their normal classroom.
3. The majority of students (77.5%) had a favorable attitude towards classes in an EV. Most said they enjoyed learning English in an EV because it was fun, more relaxed and they could learn more about foreign culture.
4. According to a qualitative analysis of student responses, one of the most motivating aspects of the EV program was role-play. Students commented that practicing conversations which could be used in real-life increased their desire to learn English.
5. Independent Samples t-tests found that high proficiency students had higher levels of motivation in almost all the items measured and that differences in instrumental motivation and desire to learn were statistically significant. As for the effects of the EV on anxiety, the study demonstrated that low proficiency students had higher levels of anxiety in almost every item measured.
To summarize, it is suggested that the benefits to students in terms of increased motivation and reduced anxiety are sufficient to justify schools making greater use of existing EV environments or indeed, developing their own EV classrooms. By making learning English more fun and interactive it will stimulate interest in learning and enhance students’ integrative and instrumental motivation which might prevent so many students stopping learning English once they leave high school.
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