CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that this thesis entitled: “FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT MOTIVATION: A CASE STUDY OF STUDENTS OF THE JOINT USSH-LTU 2+2 PROGRAM” and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution. Ho Chi Minh City, November 27th, 2005 LÖU THÒ XUAÂN TIEÂN i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, LÖU THÒ XUAÂN TIEÂN, being a candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses.
Ho Chi Minh City, November 27th, 2005 LÖU THÒ XUAÂN TIEÂN ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to show my deep gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Vu Thi Phuong Anh, for her zealous, wholehearted and invaluable assistance given to me over the long period of researching and writing of this thesis. Without her encouragement and guidance, I could not have finished this thesis. She always listened to my ideas, straightforwardly commented on them, gave me her valuable instructions, proof-read my papers and chapters several times, and asked me good questions to guide me in the proper way to fulfill this thesis.
I specially thank the organizers and all my professors of this master course for their enthusiastic teaching for the last three years. I gratefully thank Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thu, Mr. Vo Ngoc Chau and Mr.
Nguyen Quang Tien for their enthusiastic and wholehearted encouragement, guidance, and assistance. Special thanks to Ms. Tu Thi Thanh Thuy (Administrator of the 2+2 program, Office of International Relations & Research Affairs, USSH, Vietnam) and Ms. Bui Thi Nhu Huyen (AEC manager, Australian Educational, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) for their help with the data collection for the study and for their ever-ready assistance whenever need arises.
Thanks to the two students – Luu Minh Diem and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hien – who took the time to participate in the research for their very enthusiastic cooperation. Thanks to all my colleagues and my friends for their unfailing support. Last, but not least, I would wish to thank my parents and all my sisters and brother for their unceasing help and spiritual and financial support, which offer me good opportunities to complete my thesis. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of originality.
i Retention and use of the thesis. iii Table of contents. iv List of tables. ix List of figures.
xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.1 English in Vietnam .2 Some reasons inspiring Vietnamese English students to study in Australia.3 Some characteristics of the Joint USSH-LTU 2+2 Program.4 Some characteristics of the students of the Joint USSH-LTU 2+2 Program.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY .4 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .7 OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS .12 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW .1 DEFINITIONS OF MOTIVATION, STUDENT MOTIVATION, ADVANTAGES OF BEING MOTIVATED, AND DISADVANTAGES OF BEING UNMOTIVATED .1 Definitions of motivation .2 Definitions of student motivation .3 Advantages of being motivated .4 Disadvantages of being unmotivated .2 MAIN KINDS OF MOTIVATION .3 Intrinsic motivation vs.3 FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT MOTIVATION .4 Peers and social environment.5 Self-esteem and self-image.7 Personal experiences and achievements .29 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .2 Interviews and direct observations .3 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE .4 FRAMEWORK FOR DATA ANALYSIS.40 CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS .1 THE TWO SUBJECTS’ PERSONAL BACKGROUNDS AND MOTIVATIONS FOR ATTENDING THE 2+2 PROGRAM .1 The two subjects’ personal backgrounds .2 The two subjects’ motivations for attending the 2+2 program .2 VARIATIONS OF THE TWO SUBJECTS’ MOTIVATIONS AFTER THE FIRST SEMESTER .1 Factors positively affecting A’s and B’s student motivation .2 Peers and social environment .3 Personal interests and experiences.2 Factors negatively affecting A’s and B’s student motivation.3 VARIATIONS OF THE TWO SUBJECTS’ MOTIVATIONS AFTER THE SECOND SEMESTER vi 4.1 Self-image and self-esteem.2 Peers and social environment.3 Personal experiences and achievements .4 VARIATIONS OF PARTICIPANT A’S MOTIVATIONS FIVE MONTHS LATER .2 Peers and self-esteem.3 Personal experiences and achievements .76 CHAPTER V IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS.1 IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .1 Organizers and administrators of the 2+2 program .A8 APPENDIX 3 Questionnaires (in Vietnamese) and the two participants’ responses .A15 vii APPENDIX 4 Interview transcripts. Interviews with the administrator of the 2+2 program. Interviews with participant A. Interviews with participant B.A49 APPENDIX 5 Information about the Joint USSH-LTU 2+2 Program.A61 APPENDIX 6 Name list and intake scores of the students in course 2.A69 APPENDIX 7 Two participants’ IELTS test report forms and TOEFL score records .A70 viii LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER IV Page Table 4.1 A’s and B’s personal backgrounds .2 A’s and B’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for attending the 2+2 program .3 A’s and B’s satisfaction and dissatisfaction towards the 2+2 program.60 ix LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER II Page Figure 2.1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs .2: Upward and downward spirals in the motivation – ability relationship .28 x ABBREVIATIONS AEI : Australian Education International AQF : Australian Qualifications Framework CUP : Cambridge University Press DELL : The Department of English Linguistics and Literature EFL : English as a Foreign Language HCMC NU : Ho Chi Minh City National University IELTS : International English Language Testing System IT skills : Informatics Technology skills LTU : La Trobe University OUP : Oxford University Press QPT : Quick Placement Test TOEFL : Test of English as a Foreign Language USSH : The University of Social Sciences and Humanities xi ABSTRACT This thesis reports research into contextual influences on student motivation during the first year of university.
An exploratory study conducted in a naturalistic setting, the research used primarily qualitative techniques for data collection and analysis and focused on the cases of two students, two subjects, through the first year of their university experience. They were Vietnamese freshmen of the Joint USSH-LTU 2+2 Program, Course Two, who majored in English as a foreign language in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Using theories on student motivation, the study set out to investigate how contextual factors affected the student motivation of the two students, who pursued over the course of an academic year. The research involved direct weekly observation of 2+2 program classroom, interviews with the two students and the administrator of the 2+2 program over one year of carrying out the study.
Central findings revealed that student motivation was not stable and was inevitably strongly affected by several factors during their English-learning process. The most important factors among these were parents’ involvement, teachers, learning environment, peers and social environment, self-esteem and self-image, personal interest, experiences and achievements. These factors weighed heavily on the student motivation and made it change and develop very complicatedly and uncontrollably. Moreover, these factors mainly helped to create lifelong learners.
Based on these findings, implications for teaching practices and future researches, especially the ones for the domain of student motivation, are drawn. This thesis discusses the findings and explores implications for teaching and learning. xii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION The study reported in this thesis examines student motivation of freshmen attending the Joint USSH-LTU 2+2 Program in the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City and some main factors affecting student motivation – parents’ involvement, teachers, learning environment, peers and social environment, self-esteem and self-image, personal interests, experiences and achievements in order to determine the effects of these factors on student motivation during the English-learning process. This introductory chapter presents the background of the study, the problem the thesis attempts to solve and provides the rationale for the chosen area of investigation.
In addition, the purpose of the study will be presented together with the scope and limitation of the study. The significance of the study will also be briefly discussed, followed by the overview of the thesis.8 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1.1 English in Vietnam As we know, English is the language of international communication. It is spoken all over the world. It is the official language on one-fifth of the land area of the world.
It is spoken as the native language in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In South Africa and India, it is one of the official languages. It is also widely used in the remaining parts of the world. English is the language of international business, research and science.
More than 75% of the world’s mail is in English, 60% of the world’s radio xiii stations broadcast in English and more than half of the scientific and research journals are in English. Today, English has played an important part in Vietnam’s educational system. It is taught in various schools, from elementary to university and post- graduate level, and widely used in business (Nguyen & Tran, 2004). It is considered a key to success as well as a means to improve people’s knowledge in many aspects of our society.
All over Vietnam, the number of English learners increases more and more every year. In short, English has become an important tool for international integration in Vietnam. How to help English learners study the language effectively is still every English teacher’s main concern that needs to be solved soon.2 Some reasons inspiring Vietnamese English students to study in Australia Australia is one of the world’s leading international education service providers, offering a quality education experience that is different, challenging, exciting, and rewarding. In 2003, about 275,000 international students were studying onshore and 65,000 offshore for an Australian qualification.
This number is growing every year as more and more people seek the life-long advantages of an international education (Study in Australia Booklet, 2004). The number of Vietnamese students going to Australia for their studies is growing every year, too. The number was 981 students from July 2002 to June 2003. It increased into 1378 students from July 2003 to June 2004.
It means that there was an increase of 40% compared to the same period the year before. Now the number of Vietnamese students studying in Australia is growing more and xiv more. Vietnamese students choose to study in Australia for several reasons (AEI- Vietnam, 2004). Firstly, Australia offers qualifications that are part of a national qualifications framework.
While primarily developed for Australian students, the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) also benefits international students. As a national system, AQF simplifies international comparison and recognition and makes a major contribution to the high level of quality assurance. Moreover, Australia has been recognized as a country of leading international education with advanced teaching and learning methods (Australian Qualifications Booklet, 2004). Secondly, school fees and living expenditures in Australia are relatively lower than those in such countries that shared the equivalent education quality as the U.
These fees and expenditures may suit Vietnamese students’ financial conditions (Australian Qualifications Booklet, 2004). Thirdly, Australian qualifications are recognized not only in Vietnam but also in the world. Vietnamese students will have more chances to get a better job thanks to their qualifications awarded by Australian universities (Australian Qualifications Booklet, 2004). Fourthly, Vietnamese students have a golden chance to improve their English in Australia, which is not very far from Vietnam, so they can come back to their home country when they want with not very high airfares (Study in Australia Booklet, 2004).
Finally, Vietnamese students will be supported by the large Vietnamese communities all over Australia. They will feel less homesick when getting help xv from their fellow-countrymen in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and in other cities (Study in Australia Booklet, 2004). It is these reasons that have inspired more and more Vietnamese English students to study in Australia.