A Study on English Learning for Middle School Students from the View of Attribution Theory

王思倩

【Abstract】Attribution theory is an important theory in psychology. The attribution ways can have different effects on students emotional reaction， expectation of success and achievement motivation. Based on the analysis of attribution theory and academic situation of learners attribution， the author puts forward the revelation of attribution theory in learning English for middle school students.

【Key words】English Learning； Middle School Students； Attribution Theory

I. The introduction of attribution theory

Attribution refers to the process of analyzing others or what they do by themselves， and explaining and inferring the causes of others or their own actions. Attribution theory is a social psychological theory about the inference and interpretation of others and their reasons （郭振芳， 2007）. Weiners attribution theory has gained great popularity in English learning. It further refines into “three dimensions and six factors”. The three dimensions are control points， stability and controllability；six factors are ability or aptitude， effort， task difficulty， mood， luck， and environment. In school， the evaluation of students learning achievement is mainly through the means of examination. After each exam， students spontaneously attribute to the reasons for their success or failure in their studies.

According to attribution theory， students attribution to their own behavior results will affect their subsequent emotions， expectations and behavioral motivation， thereby affecting their achievement behavior and academic achievement regardless of whether it is correct or not. In addition， teachers have a great influence on the attribution of students. In the process of teaching， because of the special status of teachers， it will affect how students interpret and explain their own success or failure in their learning in the process of teacher-student interaction to a great extent. It requires teachers to guide students to make reasonable and proper attribution of their learning results according to the relevant knowledge of attribution theory， so as to stimulate students learning motivation and improve the persistence of learning behavior （韓仁生， 2004）.

The reasons that people infer behavior is related to the internal and external causes. The internal reasons refer to quality and characteristics in the individuals， including quality， personality， motivation， attitude， emotion， mood， ability， diligence； external reasons refer to the external conditions and effects of event incidents， including various background factors， opportunities， the influence of others， the difficulty of the work， the specificity and other human factors （孙延霞， 2009）.endprint

The study shows that there are mainly two kinds of different types for the students in learning attribution. Some people always attribute to their ability or efforts for the success or failure of learning， which is a positive attribution type. Some other people with the same success or failure is always due to the environment and luck， which is a negative attribution type. The positive attribution will lead to further success. Every time their learning activities would promote the learning ability and confidence to learn in the future to continuously improve academic performance regardless of their success or not. On the contrary， the students attributing to the environment or luck often deem that no one can do anything and the result of their behavior is out of control no matter whether they succeed or fail.

As a result， it causes students depression， activity decline in motivation， and backward academic achievement so as to further promote the negative attribution and result in vicious spiral. Therefore， teachers should try to correct the students negative attribution.

II. The specific guiding significance of attribution theory to English teaching practice

Middle school students are generally weak and lack of confidence in learning English， so the teacher is necessary to guide students to establish correct attribution in teaching， thus enabling students to reshape the correct attribution ways.

1. We should pay attention to the study of students different attribution tendency.

The different attribution tendency of students has a great influence on their interest in learning， expectation of achievement and learning behavior. The attention of these effects will help teachers effectively correct and improve their attribution tendency. Students interest in learning reflects their feelings of learning to some degree. At the time of success， people always feel happy； in contrast， when they fail， they feel unhappy. Whatever the cause of success or failure is， emotional reactions behave like this. In addition， the study also shows that good students tend to internal and stable attribution in the failure. This attribution tendency helps them maintain good learning emotion. In consequence， it is indispensable for us to give emphasis on the attribution tendency of students and take effective psychological strategies to lead students to establish correct attribution mode. It should attempt to make students attribute their academic diligence when they gain success；however， it should be attributed to their insufficient diligence because of their failure.endprint

2. It should objectively recognize the attribution tendency of difficulty in failure attribution.

When students fail to test， they often attribute to the difficulty of task， and external， stable， and uncontrollable factors. There will be two kinds of psychological tendencies：it has no influence on improving English learning because of too difficult test；or it gives too much hope on the teachers explanation （赵春曦， 卢卉艳， 2007）. No matter what kind of psychology will be existed， it eventually leads to more or less possibility to give up subjective efforts. Therefore， teachers should pay attention to the principle from simple to complex， and from easy to difficult. It is significant for students to learn vocabulary at first， sentences and then passages， in order to improve gradually the capacity of them and gain excellent learning achievement. In this way， students gradually learn to experience the joy of success and they do not abandon the accumulation of learning owing to too difficult task.

3. It is vital for us to attribute effort instead of capacity.

It is attributed to effort rather than ability regardless of success or failure of the exam results， which makes students have a stronger inner feeling. When students tend to strive for attribution， success is considered to be their own effort， which will encourage them to continue and expect more success next time； when they encounter failure， they will attribute to insufficient hard work. But if they make efforts to learn， they will achieve great success next time. Therefore， it is of great significance to help students attribute their past failures to their insufficient effort， which will enhance their motivation to learn. When learners attribute their academic success to external， stable， and uncontrollable factors including the easy task， simple questions， teachers score， and learners satisfaction， resulting in the decrease of self-affirmation and self-motivation of learning behavior （李媛， 1997）.

4. The teachers properly use feedback to provide attribution tips， teaching students in accordance with their aptitude

Teachers must realize that students can perceive the success or failure of learning through teachers behavior and attitude， considered to be the basis of success and failure. Therefore， teachers should give proper feedback to students in time and pay attention to teach students according to their aptitude. Whether the teachers feedback is positive or negative not， it will play a fairly important role in the attribution of students. For students whose foundation is weak and who lack of self-confidence， the teachers should give more positive and prompt （praise and encouragement） suggestions；when it comes to those proud students， it timely gives them somewhat difficult tasks and supplies hard enough linguistic cues （guidance or criticism）， so it can objectively evaluate their ability （陳艳， 吴月华， 2009）.endprint

In addition， the successful experience is also important for them， so teachers should consciously put forward questions in the light of different students learning level， in order to enable students to get a different experience of success in various learning stages. When they encounter setbacks and failures， they will consciously inspire academic failure due to lack of effort rather than lack of ability， so that they fully understand the standpoint that they will succeed in learning as long as the effort is made， finally letting each student get the joy of success.

III. Conclusion

Therefore， we can conclude that the correct attribution is very important， in order to improve the learning effect， it will never be able to regard the learning failure as an external， stable， and uncontrollable factors. The application of attribution theory helps learners get rid of disappointment and helpless mood so as to be confident， maintain a positive learning attitude， remain enthusiasm for English learning， enhance learning proficiency and improve the quality of learning English.

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