| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 英語學系 === 100 === This study investigated junior high school EFL students’ learning motivation (including motivational orientations, attitudes, and effort), English use, willingness to communicate (WTC) in English, and English achievement in their English learning, and examined whether there were any differences in learning motivation, English use, and WTC in English among the students of different grades. In addition, the relationships between variables and the predictive power of the variables on WTC in English were also examined.
Four hundred and seventy-seven junior high school EFL students from a junior high school in northern Taiwan participated in the present study. All the data were collected by a five-point Likert scale questionnaire and analyzed by software package SPSS 17.0 for Windows. The statistical techniques featured descriptive statistical analysis, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
The results of the study indicated that first, junior high school EFL students generally had moderate to high levels of learning motivation (including motivational orientations, attitudes, and effort), English use, and WTC in English in learning English. International Language was the most agreed reason for learning English. School Tests were the students’ high-frequency field to use English. They tended to be more confident to communicate in English with others in listening and reading skills. Second, there were significant differences between junior high school EFL students’ learning motivation, English use, and WTC in English. Grade 7 students tended to possess stronger learning motivation, higher willingness to communicate in English, and more opportunities to use English in learning English than the students from the other grades. Third, significant and positive correlations were found between junior high school EFL students’ learning motivation, English use, WTC in English, and English achievement. Fourth, effort, English use and motivational orientations emerged as three significant predictors of WTC in English for junior high school EFL students. Effort was assumed to be the most influential variable to affect the students’ WTC in English in the current study, English use the second, and motivational orientations the third.
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