1、Motivation Is more Powerful than Interest in Learning EnglishCheng+Songmei【Abstract】Manypeoplesayinterestistheteacherinlearning.Infact，interestisaveryimportantfactorindoingthings.Ifonehasinterestinsomething，he/shewillhasthefeelingthathe/shewantstoknoworlearnmoreaboutit.Inotherwords，interestisrelated

2、toonespreference.Therefore，inteachingpractice，teachersusuallystresstheimportanceofarousingstudentsinterestbecausestudentswithinterestwillfeelcuriousandknowhowtosatisfytheircuriosityandwillattainobjectivesoftheircuriosity.Onthecontrary，motivationistheinnerdesireanddrivetoachievesomething，whichisrelat

3、edtothepersonalgoals.Therefore，motivationcansustainthroughoutthewholeprocessoflearningactivities.Interestandmotivationarebothworthputtingintouseinteaching，butIthinkmotivationismorepowerfulthaninterest.【Keywords】interest；motivation；relation；learningperformanceinstiagatemotivationInterestwontlastlongS

4、inceinterestisapersonspreference，onewillgetboredifhe/shedoesonethingoverandoveragain.Ioncemetwithsuchastudentacleverboy，whowasaddictedtoplayingcomputerssomuchthathehadnothinginmindbutplayingvideogames.Manyatime，IfoundhimnotinthedormitoryatnightwhenIwenttocheckthenumberofstudents.Hisfatheroftencaught

5、himplayingvideogamesintheInternetbars.HisparentsandIadoptedthemethodofgettingtheboytoknowtheterribleeffectsofplayingcomputergamesonhim，whichdidntwork.Hisfatherdeterminedtohelphissontoquittheaddictionanddiscussedthesituationwithme.Eventually，IaskedthefathertotakehissontoanInternetbarandlethimplaygame

6、scontinuously，accompaniedbyhisfather，withoutbeingscolded.Whenhewashungry，hisfatherboughtinstantnoodlesforhim.Afterawholedayofplayinggamesinthebar，hetoldhisfatherhedidntwanttoplayanymorebecausehewastiredandbored.Sincethen，heneverstoleoutofschooltoplayvideogamesduringschooldaysandconcentratedonhisstud

7、iesandgotexcellentgrades.Later，Iaskedtheboywhyhechangedsomuchaftertheevent.Hetoldmethatheenjoyedplayingvideogames，butplayingittoolongmadehimsoboredastovomitwhenthinkingofit.Theboyisnotalone.Thereasonisthatinterestdoesntlastlongbecauseonegetsborednaturallyifdoingthesamethingrepeatedly.Interestisrelat

8、edtoapersonspreferenceandcuriosity.Ifonehascuriosityaboutsomething，he/shewilltrytofindwaystosatisfyhis/hercuriosity.Letstakeplayingbuildingblocksforexample.Achildwillthinksitfunwhenwatchingotherchildrencreatingdifferentshapeswithbuildingblocks.Thechildbeginstoshowinterestinthegame.Thenhe/shewilltryt

9、opersuadehis/herparentstobuyhim/herasetofbuildingblocks.oncethechildhasaset，he/shewillplaywithitpassionately.Oneortwoweekslater，wewillseethesetofbuildingblockslyingwithothertoys.Thefactisthatthechildscuriosityhasbeenmetandhis/herinterestfadesaway.MotivationcanmaintaineffortsthroughtheprocessMotivati

10、onistheprocesswherbygoal-directedactivityisinstigatedandsustainedfromMotivationandEducation.First，motivationisaprocessratherthanaproduct.Asaprocess，wedonotobserveitdirectlybutratherweinferitfromactions.Then，motivationinvolvesgoalsthatprovidesencouragementtoaction.Goalsmaychangewithexperience，butthep

11、ointisthatpeopleareconsciousofsomethingthattheyaretryingtoattain.Next，motivationrequiresactivityphysicalandmental.Physicalactivityentailseffort，persistenceandotherevidentactions.Finally，theactivityofmotivationisinstigatedandsustained.Startingtowardagoalisimportantandoftendifficultbecauseitinvolvesma

12、kingacommitmentandtakingthefirststep.Butmotivationalprocessesarecriticallyimportanttosustainaction.Manymajorgoalsarelongterm，suchasearningacollegedegree，obtainingagoodjobandsoon.Muchofwhatweknowaboutmotivationcomesfromdetermininghowtorespondtothedifficulties，problems，failures，andsetbackstheyencounte

13、rastheypursuelong-termgoals.Suchmotivationalprocessesasexpectations，emotionshelppeopledealwithdifficultiesandsustainmotivation.RelationofmotivationtolearningandperformanceInmyteachingexperience，Ioftenusesuchastrategytoexperimentonhowwellstudentscompletetheirtasks.InoneclassIoftenteachtwoclassesIanno

14、uncetothestudentsinthelastperiodoftheschooldaythattheycanleaveschoolearlieraslongastheyhaverecitedtheassignedreadingpassage.Sincestudentsvalueafter-schooltime，theywillconcentrateonthetask.Asaresult，mostofthestudentsintheclasscompletethetaskaheadoftimeandleaveschoolearlier.IntheotherclassIonlyaskthes

15、tudentstorecitethesamepassageinthelastperiodoftheday.However，attheendoftheclass，Ifindnomorethanhalfofthemcanrecitethepassage.ItisworthwhiletonoticethisphenomenonMotivationinfluenceslearningprocessandperformance.Thestudentsinthefirstclasswouldliketohavemorefreeafter-schooltime，whichisthekeytoboosting

16、theirmotivationtocompletethetask.Motivationhasastrongeffectonstudentsperformance，inwhichstudentswillbeenthusiasticabouttheassignment.Ifindthatstudentswithmotivationareintrinsicallymotivatedtocontinuetheirlearning.Motivationcaninfluencewhat，when，andhowwelearnbySchunk，1995.Incontrast，studentsunmotivat

17、edtolearnarenotapttobeattentivetolearningduringthelessonandwontmakeeveryefforttocompletetheassignment.Aswecanseefromtheabove，motivationinfluencesstudentslearningandlearningperformancesgreatly.Therefore，toinstigatestudentsmotivationinlearningiswhatweteacherstryhardtodo.Howtoinstigatestudentsmotivatio

18、noflearningWecanadoptthefollowingstepstobooststudentsmotivationtoarousestudentsinterest，tostimulatestudentscuriosity，togivestudentsencouragementandtohelpstudentssetgoals.Interestisstillafactorofmotivation，whichcanbeusedasagatewaytomotivation.Ifastudentgetstotakeinterestinsomething，he/shewillshoweage

19、rnesstolearnmoreaboutitwithoutbeingforcedto.Inotherwords，he/shewantstolearnit.Whenwetalkaboutmotivation，wecantignoreanotherfactorassociatedwithitcuriosity.Curiosityisapersonspsychologicaltendencytowardsnewthingsaroundhim/her.Suchatendencyisrelatedtoattentionto，questioningandwantingtodothem.Thecurios

20、ityisespeciallystrongamongjuniorstudents，whowillworkattentivelyandconsciouslyiftheyarecuriousaboutthings.Then，wecanalsouseencouragementtomotivestudentstoworkharderbecauseencouragementcanbuildupstudentsself-confidencetogoon.Whenapersonsworkiswellrecognizedbyothers，he/shewillhaveasenseofachievementandhis/hermotivationwillbegreatlyenhanced.Mostimportantly，weshouldhelpstudentstosetachievablegoals.Asthesayinggoes，apersonwithoutanygoalswillnotbeabletos