A Study of Factors Affecting Foreign Language Learning Motivation in Chinese Higher Education

With the further development of economic globalization, China has built cooperative relationship with other countries around the world. Therefore, foreign language talents in China play an essential role in cultural and trade exchanges. Training language talents to effectively adapt to foreign exchange policy also becomes important to China. Researching motivation change in learning enables the government to scientifically improve teaching quality. It is one of the most efficient and effective methods to cultivate high-quality talents. This study aims to find out the critical factors influencing students' motivational change. Based on Keller's ARCS model of motivation and Dornyei's Three-level motivational theory, we divided influencing factors into 14 elements. After factor analysis, it showed group-specific motivational components, course-specific components and teacher-specific components are the most critical factors affecting motivation level in language learning. In 2018, National Standard for Teaching Quality of Foreign Language and Literature was published, to adjust course setting and strengthen teachers team building to improve teaching quality. However, even after two years of the above modification, the author found out there are still problems in higher education which badly influence student's learning motivation. This study helps improving teaching quality, promoting foreign language learning and cultivating language talents.