A Study on the Relationship between Chinese and Western Cultural Identity and English Learning Motivation of Senior High School Students

Abstract

This study was conducted in a high school in Mangshi City, Dehong Prefecture, to explore the relationship between Chinese and Western cultural identity and English learning motivation. Adopting questionnaire and interview methods, the study followed up more than 400 high school students by name within one month. After analyzing 321 valid questionnaires by SPSS 23.0 and interviewing 6 students, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Senior high school students’ cultural identity with traditional Chinese culture was higher than that with Western culture, and most of students had a neutral attitude towards English learning. (2) There was a significantly negative correlation between senior high school students’ traditional Chinese cultural identity and English learning motivation, but there was a significantly positive correlation between western cultural identity and English learning motivation. (3) The differences between Chinese and western cultural identity of senior high school students only occurred in gender, but students’ English learning motivation differed in gender and major. The results of the study will contribute to understanding the current situation of senior high school students’ traditional Chinese and western cultural identity and the relationship between cultural identity and English learning motivation, exerting the educational value of the English subject in the Chinese context, and providing implications for how to cultivate senior high school students’ cultural awareness and enhance their cultural confidence in a multicultural context.