VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT ------------------------------- NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY A SURVEY OF FACTORS THAT DEMOTIVATE FIRST YEAR NON- MAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (KHẢO SÁT CÁC YẾU TỐ GÂY GIẢM HỨNG THÚ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LAO ĐỘNG – XÃ HỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 6014. Nguyễn Đức Hoạt Hanoi, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT ------------------------------- NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY A SURVEY OF FACTORS THAT DEMOTIVATE FIRST YEAR NON- MAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (KHẢO SÁT CÁC YẾU TỐ GÂY GIẢM HỨNG THÚ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LAO ĐỘNG – XÃ HỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111 Hanoi, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, hereby, certify the thesis entitled “A Survey of Factors that Demotivate First-Year Non-Major Students in Learning English at University of Labor and Social Affairs” is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and that this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions. Author’s signature Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis. First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Duc Hoat, for his valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical feedback throughout my research. Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to the staff members in the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies for their useful lessons from which I have benefited a lot for the accomplishment of this study. I am greatly indebted to my students and my colleagues at University of Labor and Social Affairs for their participation and assistance without which this study could not have been successful. Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my loving parents, my love, my dear sister and my close friends who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the factors that demotivate the first – year non- major students in learning English at the University of Labor and Social Affairs (ULSA). In this study, 140 first-year non-major students from different faculties of ULSA were chosen as the subjects. A questionnaire and an interview were used as the data collection instruments. The findings of the study showed that the factors demotivating students in learning English derive from 3 sources: students, learning conditions and teachers.
In details, among the factors, students’ lack of basic knowledge and lack of confidence were the most demotivating then followed by the class atmosphere, inadequate facilities, big size class and the teacher’s lack of commitment. Based on the findings of the study, some discussion and implications were made along with recommended suggestions for further research.At last, it is hoped that the results of this study could be of much benefit for developing teaching and learning English at University of Labor and Social Affairs. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES. vii PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Organization of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definition of motivation. The importance of motivation in foreign or second language learning. Definition of demotivation. Factors that demotivate students in learning.
Teacher-related factors. Learner-related factors. 14 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam.
Demotivation and English learning at ULSA. Participants and setting of the study. Setting of the study. Data collection instruments.
Data collection procedures. 25 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Factors that demotivating students to learn English at ULSA. Student-related factors.
Teacher-related factors. The comparison among factors demotivating students in learning English. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research. 42 APPENDICES v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ULSA: University of Labor and Social Affairs vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Students’ opinions on student-related factors Table 3.2: Students’ opinions on teacher-related factors Table 3.3: Students’ opinions on factors related to learning conditions Table 3.4: Comparison among factors LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Students’ opinions on Student-related factors.2: Students’ opinions on teacher-related factors Figure 3.3: Students’ opinions on factors related to learning conditions Figure 3.4: Comparison among 3 groups of factors Figure 3.5: Comparison among factors vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale English has been more and more important in Vietnam in recent decades. The number of people using it and the purposes they use it for are increasing. English is now widely known as the main language of intercommunication, international commerce and business, science and technology ect. besides the native language used.
Thus, people with good English competence are needed in any fields, consequently, these people may have more opportunities to develop themselves such as have a good job, earn more money, widen knowledge and have a better life. As a result, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across Vietnam. Both children and adults learn English with different purposes. Children learn it as compulsory subject at schools and their parents want that.
Students learn English to pass the exams, to study aboard or to find a good job in the future. Adults learn English in order to communicate with foreigner, do business or just to relax with English music, films and newspapers and books. In general, despite deriving from different purposes, everyone wants to turn English to become their own instrument in their lives. As an English teacher, students’ proficiency and interests in learning English are things that get lots of the teacher’s care and time.
Truly, we, teachers, really want to have an effective and interesting lesson each day. And it is clear that students also hope and like to learn in those lessons like that. However, teachers often say that they can easily recognize students who do things not relevant to the lesson or do not pay attention to the lessons, some even say that because they do not like English. As an English teacher, I am always thinking about this and really want to find the solutions for eliminating factors that demotivate students’ motivation in learning English because the researchers on motivation and demotivation have pointed out that “the strongest influence on motivation was not the presence of motivators in the classroom, but the absence of demotivators” (Christophel &Gorham, 1995).
At the beginning of the semester, the absence of context 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com demotivators and the absence of teacher behavior demotivators positively affect motivation. This is true for both children and adults. This is the reason why I choose studying on factors demotivating students in learning English is the topic for my minor thesis. This study will examine main types of demotivating factors that students meet.
It also investigates the ways students want their teachers do to help them overcome demotivation and it suggests activities and techniques that help both teachers and students increase motivation in learning English. The researcher hopes that this study will figure out a concrete picture of demotivation in learning English of first-year non- major students at University of Labor and Social Affairs (ULSA) and it will be of help for teachers who want to increase students’ motivation in English learning. Aims of the study This survey is conducted in order to investigate demotivating factors to the first year non-major students’ English learning at ULSA. The researcher would expect to reveal the main factors that demotivate students in learning based on the result of research, this study will propose some solutions that can help students overcome demotivation as well as enhance motivation in learning English.
Research Questions In order to reach the research aims, the researcher attempted to answer the following questions: 1. What factors demotivate students in learning English? 2. What factors most frequently demotivate them in learning English? 4. Scope of the study There are various factors affecting students’ learning English.
However, as the title of the study, the present research only focuses on exploring the demotivating factors at ULSA. The reasons why the 1st year students chosen as the subjects of the study will be further discussed in the following chapter. Methods This study which is both quantitative and qualitative consists of two instruments to collect the data. Firstly, the survey questionnaire was conducted 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com with 140 students from 4 classes of four faculties at ULSA, 35 students in each class would be choose according to their even numbers in the name list.
Secondly, semi-structured interview with 20 students, who have done the questionnaire, were carried out. Organization of the study This survey-designed study consists of three parts. Part A deals with the introduction. This chapter provides the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods, and design of the study.
Part B presents the development, which includes three chapters. Chapter 1 deals with theoretical background and academic viewpoints on definition of motivation, the role of motivation, definition of demotivation, and factors that demotivate students in learning and demotivation in learning English, some previous studies related and the case of ULSA. Chapter 2 describes methodology. This chapter is composed of description of methodology of the study, participants and setting of the study, data collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data analysis procedure.
Chapter 3 presents data analysis and discussion. This chapter analyses, discusses the results achieved from the study and offers some implications of the study. Part C is the conclusion that presents the author’s reflection and the outcomes of the study as well as indicates some limitations of the study and finally gives some suggestions for further research. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW In this part, the author would like to give short review of motivation, the importance of motivation in language learning, demotivation, demotivating factors, previous studies and demotivation and ULSA.
Motivation Among various factors that affect teaching and learning a foreign language process of the learners, motivation plays an important role in learning process which is thought to be a crucial reason for different achievement. As Scheidecker and Freeman (1999:116, quoted in Dornyei (2001)) strongly stated that “Motivation is, without question, the most complex and challenging issue today”. Therefore, motivation has widely been studied and researched by teachers and researchers as a determinant factor to success or failure in second/ foreign language learning. Definition of motivation Although motivation has been discussed widely among the teachers and researchers, there are various definitions for motivation.
The current spirit in motivational psychology is characterized by cognitive approach in which individual’s behavior is influenced by one’s conscious attitudes, thoughts, beliefs and interpretation of things or in other words, how mental processes are transformed into action. In his view, the way people do something, which is first determined by their beliefs about the value of what they do and then how to face with challenge together with the support they get from around, i. people or environmental working – is motivation.