Author(s)

Wei Wang

Corresponding Author

Wei Wang

Abstract

This paper analyzes the factors influencing the changes in the motivation of college English learners. Six non-English major students voluntarily participated in one-to-one semi-structured interviews. All the salient topics mentioned by the interviewees concerning changes in learning motivation and the causes were marked and common themes were established. The results of the qualitative study confirm the existence of motivational changes that were suggested in the author’s preview research, and reveals five causes for the motivational changes: the teacher, (unfavorable) humanistic atmosphere, textbooks, exams, interference of other things. Furthermore, the author studied the relationship between different types of motivation and motivational intensity, with the purpose of solving the problem of motivational intensity decline. The analysis of data indicates that intrinsic interest motivation, information medium motivation, personal development motivation, and social responsibility motivation are positively correlated with motivational intensity, while immediate achievement motivation and short-term planning motivation are negatively correlated with intensity.

Keywords

Motivational Change, Demotivation, Motivational Intensity, Types of Motivation.