Abstract: It is said by a famous educational expert that successful education is not to compel students to 1earn but to stimulate their interest. Interest is the basis of learning. Successful teaching methods and ideas should focus on how to foster the students’ learning interest．Interest acts an important role in English learning．It involves the whole process of English learning, and it determines whether students can achieve the final goal or not．

   The New English Curriculum Standard has raised a higher requirement on emotional attitude, besides acquisition of linguistic knowledge. It aims at fostering positive affective attitude resulting in high motivation and interest. At the beginning, English learning interest is systematically elaborated combining with relevant theories concerning affection，motivation, etc．Simultaneously, the important role that interest plays in English learning and English teaching is advanced．

    Finally, the author makes suggestions on how to improve English learning interest of high school students based on the existing problems, so as to help learners, English teachers and relevant social parties find an effective solution to this problem. As long as positive attitude towards English is formed and interest in learning the foreign language is motivated，the English teaching process could be smoothly implemented，and the learning level of the learners could be improved as well．

    Keywords: English learning interest; current situation; Suggestions

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter.1 Introduction-6

    1.1 The Necessity of Cultivating Students’ Interest in English Learning-6

1.2 The Significance of Cultivating Students’ Interest in English Learning-6

1.2.1 Academic Value-6

1.2.2 Applied Value-7

Chapter 2 Interest-8

2.1 The Definition of Interest-8

2.1.1 The Meaning of Interest-8

2.1.2 The Meaning of Interest in Learning English-8

2.2 The Classification and Characteristics of Interest-8

2.2.1 The Classification of Interest in Learning-8

2.2.3 The Characteristics of Interest in Learning-9

Chapter 3 The Main Factors of Affecting High School Students’ Interest in Learning English-10

3.1 Students’ Factors-10

3.1.4 Attitude towards Learning-11

3.2 Teachers’ Factors-11

3.2.1 Teachers' Roles-11

3.2.2 Teaching Methods-12

3.4 External Environment Factors-13

3.4.1 Social Linguistic Environment-13

3.4.3 The Evaluation Mechanism-14

Chapter 4 Ways of Solution-15

4.1 Highlight the Dominant Position of Students-15

4.2 Selecting Extra-curricular Materials-15

4.3 The Use of Effective Teaching Methods-15

4.4 Organizing a Variety of Extracurricular Activities-16

Conclusion-17

References-19

Acknowledgements-20