The Correlation between Motivation, Academic Performance, Socio-economic Status and the English Academic Performance of EFL College Students from Urban and Non-urban Areas in China

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to examine the correlation of influential English learning factors and English academic performance of EFL college students from urban and non-urban areas. Three possible influential factors examined were student’s motivation, academic performance and socio-economic status. The subjects were 126 students from Nanning labeled as UAS (Urban Area Students) and 136 students from non-urban areas labeled as NUS (Non-Urban Students) respectively. A questionnaire was used to investigate the subject’s motivation and their parents’ socio-economic status. The main result of the study was that both English academic performance of UAS and that of NUS were more related to motivation than other factors. The correlation between factors was further analyzed. The results of socio-economic status were divided into two main groups: economic and cultural socio-economic status. Both groups were directly proportional to the English academic performance of UAS and that of NUS. The result showed that the English performance of UAS was more related to economic socio-economic status; however, that of NUS was more related to cultural socio-economic status. On the basis of the results, among all factors, motivation is the most influential for students’ English achievement. The influences of motivation on English learning are significantly different in both groups. Socio-economic status is highly correlated to students’ English achievement in China. The results also show socio-economic and cultural advantages for students are highly significant for English learning. Thus, teachers should provide more socially and culturally advantageous environment for students from low socio-economic status families. The result that urban and non-urban students’ English academic performance correlated to different types of status may imply that parents in urban and non-urban area may hold different beliefs toward English learning. Further study could be done to explore such differences.