STATE BANK OF VIETNAM BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ---------- GRADUATION THESIS ENGLISH LEARNERS’ DEMOTIVATION AT APAX LANG HA STUDENT : NGUYEN THI HONG CLASS : K19ATCC ACADEMIC YEAR : 2016-2020 STUDENT’S CODE : 19A7510091 ADVISOR : CAN THUY LIEN Hanoi, May 2020 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis has not been previously submitted elsewhere for a degree nor as a part of requirements for a degree. I also certify that this thesis “English learners’ demotivation at Apax Lang Ha” is the product of my own. To the best of my knowledge and belief, nothing in this thesis violates copyright, trademark or other intellectual property laws. For any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis has been recognized.
Additionally, I certify that all the information resources and literature used are stated in the bibliography. Banking Academy, 13th May, 2020 Signature Nguyen Thi Hong i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I have to thank my teacher, Ms. Can Thuy Lien. Without her assistance and dedicated involvement in every step throughout the process, this paper would have never been accomplished.
Whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing, she consistently instructed and steered me in the right direction. I would like to thank very much for her support and understanding over these past three months. I take this opportunity to express gratitude to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Chuoc.
- the former director of Apax English Lang Ha, for authorizing me to conduct the research more easily and quickly. I also thank all of the Marketing Department staff for their help and support. I would also like to thank the learners and their parents at Apax Lang Ha, who were involved in the validation survey for this research. Finally, I must express my gratitude to my parents and my friends for their encouragement and support through the process of researching and writing this thesis.
This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
v LIST OF TABLES. vi LIST OF FIGURES. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. The rationale of the research.
Objectives of the research. Significance of the research (to all stakeholders). Scope and limitation of the research. 3 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.
Theoretical and Conceptual framework. 6 CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Locale of the study. Data gathering procedure.
Population, Sample and Sampling technique. The extracted elements. 17 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. How intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect students.
The main demotivating factor. Relation between learners in terms of gender, learning program, age and demotivating factors. How intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect students. The main demotivating factor.
Relation between learners in terms of gender, learning program, age and sddemotivating factors. 34 CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION. For the Apax English center. For the parents.
49 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Acronyms Original meaning EL English language L2 The second language learning HPS High proficiency students LPS Lower- proficiency students EU The European Union NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation EFTA The European Free Trade Association EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis v LIST OF TABLES Table 1- Distribution of participants. 13 Table 2- Likert scale of the research. 15 Table 3- Variable coding. 15 Table 4- Descriptive statistics for demotivating factor.
19 Table 5- Descriptive Statistics for Low self-confidence factor. 20 Table 6- Descriptive Statistics for Learning attitude factor. 20 Table 7- Descriptive Statistics for Teacher-related factor. 21 Table 8- Descriptive Statistics for Learning materials factor.
22 Table 9- Descriptive Statistics for Class environment factor. 22 Table 10- Descriptive Statistics for Test score factor. 23 Table 11- Negative observed variables. 23 Table 12- Total Variance Explained.
24 Table 13- Rotated Component Matrixa. 24 Table 14- ANOVA results for Gender. 25 Table 15- ANOVA results for Age. 27 Table 16- ANOVA results for learning program.
29 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1- Theoritical framework of the research. 8 Figure 2- IPO model of the research. 9 Figure 3- The model research of Sakai and Kikuchi (2009). 10 Figure 4- Questionnaire map.
14 vii ABSTRACT Title: English learners’ demotivation at Apax Lang Ha Author: Nguyen Thi Hong, the fourth-year student of The Faculty of Foreign Language, Banking Academy Key words: leaner’s demotivation, demotivating factors, Apax Lang Ha, motivation, English language learning Adviser: Ms. Can Thuy Lien – the Head of the Faculty of Foreign Language, Banking Academy Summary of the thesis: This thesis is specifically concerned with the main source of demotivation among Apax’s learners in learning English. To achieve this purpose, a set of questionnaires adapted from Sakai and Kikuchi’s theoretical framework was conducted by 100 four-to-six-year-old learners at Apax Lang Ha. After the data analyzing process, the findings showed that low self-confidence was the major one that causes demotivation; there was a difference between the two genders in terms of three demotivating elements: low self-confidence, teacher, and learning environment.
Based on the analyzed results, the appropriate solutions were suggested to deal with students’ demotivation at Apax Lang Ha. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. The rationale of the research It is not deniable that English plays an important role in our life. When it comes to English, people immediately think of it as a global language.
One-third of the world's population speaks English as a primary or secondary language. In addition to being widely used, English is the most studied foreign language in the world (Crystal, 2008). According to The History of English, English is the official language of more than 53 countries and territories, the official language of the United Nations, EU, NATO, EFTA, and many other international organizations. For Vietnam, a country standing in front of an era of development, expanding with the door of globalization, we have seen clearly the importance of learning English.
To learners, future generations of the country, learning English becomes even more necessary than ever. The second language learning (L2) is always more difficult than the mother tongue, so English language learning (EL) or any other language learning requires a clear motivation. In fact, learners spend a lot of time, money and effort but still not achieve as expected. Maybe they never seem to be interested in learning English, or if they do, they seem to be losing interest for some reason.
In other words, they are demotivated in both cases. Demotivation is a situation caused a lot of problems in the process of learning a language, and it can affect the learners’ attitudes towards language learning or make people completely refuse to learn. Any elements contributing to reducing the level of motivation of learners are regarded as a demotivator. During my internship at Apax English Center in Lang Ha, I had the opportunity to work and interact with a lot of learners as well as foreign teachers.
The situation of students having difficulties in learning English at the center; feeling distracted or not interested in learning has become quite common. As a result, this has directly affected the learners' learning process at the center, reducing the reputation of the center and leading to a lot of other consequences. Nevertheless, it seems that most of the 1 demotivation studies in language learning have been performed outside Vietnam. It would seem, further investigations are needed based on the fact that there is a lack of studies on the students' demotivation in Vietnamese EL learning contexts at the kindergarten level.
Recognizing the importance of this issue, the topic “English learners’ demotivation at Apax Lang Ha" was chosen as my thesis topic. Objectives of the research Identifying the main factor that causes learners' demotivation. Discovering whether there are differences between male and female learners from different programs regarding demotivation. Proposing some solutions to enhance learning motivation and minimize demotivation among EL learners.
Significance of the research (to all stakeholders) Firstly, for the Apax Leaders, this report can help the center to review and adjust some aspects related to classes, facilities, curriculum, teachers, etc. to help the students overcome some demotivating factors that existed in the classroom. Moreover, the center can affirm its position and reputation, gain the trust of parents, thereby attracting more and more students to Apax. Secondly, for parents and students at Apax, this report can support parents identify the problems that their children encounter when learning English, become a friend to their children and coordinate with the center to help their baby solve it.
Since then, children can also learn and gain better knowledge. Last but not least, for general readers, this report can give some information about students' demotivation when learning English with meaningful insights from the findings and specific solutions. For any student who has a learning problem (not only learning English but also other subjects) or parents who have a child with this problem, it can be applied to some extent. For other researchers, it can not only serve as a basis and premise for future studies, but also help other researchers to learn and enjoy this 2 field.
By checking the cause of the demotivation, it may support in understanding the motivation theory at different educational levels. Scope and limitation of the research The study subject is students aged from 4 to 6 years old, currently studying at Apax Leaders which located at 14 Lang Ha, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. This age group is the youngest one that able to learn at Apax, also the age called the golden period for children's language development. Therefore, it is really necessary to explore the reasons why children lose enthusiasm when learning English.
To make this report more specific, a survey was emailed to about 100 parents whose children were studying at Apax Lang Ha. The questionnaire was given in Vietnamese to be more appropriate, children may have difficulty in understanding the meaning of the question, so parents were asked to support their children to answer. The first limitation of this thesis is that it only surveyed students at Apax Lang Ha (small scope). Consequently, the results of this research cannot be generalized to all those who learn in Apax Leaders.
Next, this study may be limited to credibility because the questionnaire was used as the main tool to collect data. To make the obtained results more reliable, different instruments to collect data should be applied. Moreover, parents may answer all the questions without asking or supporting their children. Therefore, the result of the survey may analyze parents' opinions rather than the target participants.
However, those who care about their children and hope their children learn effectively will devote to completing this survey as honestly as possible. 3 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2. Literature review As mentioned, learning a foreign language is not a easy task, and learners usually feel demotivated during the learning process. It has been discussed in different studies that demotivation is a factor that can affect the learners’ attitudes towards language learning.
Gorham and Christophel (1992) reported that American university students' attribution of demotivating factors mainly related to teachers. About 43% of responses answered that teachers are boring, not knowledgeable, not dynamic, not reliable, not humorous, out of the classroom control, hot-tempered, etc. Nearly 36% of others responded they are affected by the negativity of the physical classroom's atmosphere. There is no relation between text and lectures, too dependent on video, elusive teaching materials.
Students are not satisfied with the scoring and exercises; scoring is too difficult or too easy; instructions are not clear; assignments are not related; substandard performance.
