BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM àFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHERS’ MOTIVATION: A CASE STUDY AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN HANOI Student: Lê Quang Trung Student ID: 23A7510147 Class: K23ATCB Supervisor: Dr. Cấn Thúy Liên Hanoi, May, 2024 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Finishing this thesis, both physically and mentally, has pushed me to my very last limits which I never knew I had within me. In the end, I made it, but not without the help of many people for whom I will always be grateful. I really want to send my grateful thanks and respect to Ms.
Can Thuy Lien for always scheduling her busy timetable and giving me the exceeding guidance and assistance. If it hadn’t been for her, I would never have been able to finish my thesis. I also want to express my appreciation and gratitude to Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Nga and Ms.
Duong Thi Thanh Hoa, for always giving me the encouragement when I needed the most. Also, I want to send my sincere gratitude to my senior, my friend - Hoang Quan, for sharing his experiences, giving me the help and guidance to the extent that no one could have expected. Most importantly, I want to thank my family for always being there for me, believing in me with no doubt. I would never have been able to come this far without their love, trust and presence.
i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that this graduation thesis is my own work. It has not been used for any other extent or purposes. All the resources that I used or consulted have been cited below. Lê Quang Trung ii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY.
ii LIST OF FIGURES.v LIST OF TABLES .vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background of the study. Objectives of the study. Significance of the study.
Scope and limitation of the study. Definition of terms .8 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Theoretical and conceptual framework. Locale of the study.
Population and Sample description. Data gathering procedures. Statistical treatment of data. Reliability and validity .24 iii CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient. The teachers’ motivation level affected by motivational factors. Motivational factors indicated by the teachers to be strongly motivating. Motivational factors indicated by the teachers to be strongly motivating.
One-way ANOVA analysis. Robust Tests of Equality of Means .53 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION. Summary of findings. 65 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 2.1: Theoretical framework 13 Figure 2.2: Conceptual framework 14 Figure 3.1: Data gathering procedures 21 Figure 4.1: Motivation Levels by "Interaction with students": Teachers Responses 29 Figure 4.2: Motivation Levels by "Recognition": Teachers Responses 30 Figure 4.3: Motivation Levels by "Responsibility": Teachers Responses 32 Figure 4.4: Motivation Levels by "Teaching’s impacts on personal life": Teachers 33 Responses Figure 4.5: Motivation Levels by "Sense of achievement": Teachers Responses 34 Figure 4.6: Motivation Levels by "Working conditions": Teachers Responses 35 Figure 4.7: Motivation Levels by "Salary": Teachers Responses 36 Figure 4.8: Motivation Levels by "Potential for professional growth": Teachers 37 Responses Figure 4.9: Motivation Levels by "Teacher evaluation": Teachers Responses 38 Figure 4.10: Motivation Levels by "The work itself": Teachers Responses 39 Figure 4.11: Motivation Levels by "Potential for advancement": Teachers Responses 40 Figure 4.12: Motivation Levels by "Job security and stability": Teachers Responses 41 Figure 4.13: Motivation Levels by "Interaction with administrators": Teachers 42 Responses Figure 4.14: Motivation Levels by "Interaction with other teachers": Teachers 43 Responses Figure 4.15: Motivation Levels by "Supervision by supervisors": Teachers 44 Responses Figure 4.16: Motivation Levels by "Policies": Teachers Responses 45 Figure 4.17: Motivation Levels by "Status": Teachers Responses 46 Figure 4.18: One-way ANOVA result reading procedure 48 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 3.1: Description of the participants 17 Table 3.2: Interpretation of mean values 20 Table 4.1: Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient 25 Table 4.2: Teacher motivation based on motivational factors and factor rankings 27 Table 4.3: Test of Homogeneity of Variances (Levene statistic) 49 Table 4.4: Robust Tests of Equality of Means (Welch’s t-test) 50 Table 4.5: ANOVA results 51 vi ABSTRACT Factors affecting teachers’ motivation: A case study at an English center in Hanoi Author: Le Quang Trung (ID: 23A7510147) Advisor: Dr.
Can Thuy Lien Keywords: Factors affecting teachers’ motivation In the context of education, teachers have always been considered to hold an important role in creating the quality of education. Not many would debate against the view that the more motivation the teachers have, the better their performance will be. At the surveyed English center in Hanoi, the center’s management always recognized their teachers as one of the main recourses for the center’s growth. For that reason, the aim of this study is to examine the motivation level affected by common motivational factors of the English teachers at the center.
Following that, the questionnaire was sent to the teachers. The findings propose that teachers’ motivation level at this center is generally high. The top factors that strongly motivates teachers include “interaction with students”, “recognition”, “responsibility”, “teaching’s impacts on personal life”, “sense of achievement”, “working conditions”, “salary” and “potential for professional development”. As a result, after the study, the center’s management can have suggestions on what they should do to properly motivate their teachers to work efficiency and effectively.
vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction Nelson Mandela once expressed his point of view on the importance of education as follows: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. In a different speech, he also specified further his statement: “Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education…The collapse of education is the collapse of the Nation”.
The significance of education for any countries at any scope has never been doubted or underrated. And of course, for developing countries including Vietnam, the education system requires a serious, continuous, and careful attention. Education is so important that it is not an exaggeration to say if Vietnam wants to keep up with international superpowers, the education system plays one of the most vital roles. Looking at the long history of Vietnamese learning traditions and the characteristics of Vietnamese people, teachers are the ones who ensure the quality of knowledge provided to students or learners.
It can be said that teachers are the ones who have the most direct influence on the quality of education, positively or negatively, since they are responsible for the knowledge conveyance. As a result, the teachers should always be motivated in order for the educational institutions, in particular, and Vietnam education system, in general, to operate effectively. However, it is not difficult to see that the teachers’ motivation has been a matter of concern in Vietnam throughout recent times. The Minister of Education and Training, Mr.
Nguyen Kim Son (2023), in an interview with Tien Phong newspaper before the new school year, stated that during the 3-year period from August 2020 to August 2023, the total number of school teachers resigning or leaving their jobs reached over the number of 40,000 teachers. This is a very alarming situation for the Vietnamese education system. The teachers’ motivation is a great matter since it can be the decisive factor leading to high-quality outcomes for the students. Background of the study Learning English has become a common practice in Vietnam, especially among students.
The reality has shown that many parents tend to send their children to extra English classes before and during school time. This is due to the fact that English skills have been considered as a valuable asset to have in an integrating and competitive world. Furthermore, English certificates, namely IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL, are now widely accepted and required by many secondary schools, high schools and even universities to be the testament to the students' English proficiency. The ability to become proficient in English and obtain English certificates can provide students with numerous open opportunities, including admission to their desired schools or universities, studying abroad, and having more diverse jobs options.
In Vietnam, the teachers generally play one of the vital roles in ensuring the quality of the learners’ knowledge. It is rather undeniable that the more motivated the English teachers are, the better the transmission of the English knowledge to students is. The lack of motivation among teachers may not only severely and negatively affect the students but also the centers or the schools where these unmotivated teachers are working at. To be specific, the quality of English knowledge transmitted to students will be seriously affected, consequently, the reputation of the English centers or schools will be negatively impacted.
Therefore, the schools’ principals and the English centers’ administrators should pay attention to ensuring the motivation among teachers. Undoubtedly, having motivated teachers can be regarded as one of the primary factors contributing to the success and development of an educational institution. The schools or the educational center can maintain their teachers’ motivation by understanding what factors have positive impact on the teachers and providing them with appropriate support and resources related to those factors. Several international studies on the effect of motivational factors on the teachers’ motivation have been conducted before.
However, in Vietnam there has been a limited number of studies on this topic in the context of schools or educational centers. 2 Therefore, the thesis “Factors affecting teachers’ motivation: A case study at an English center in Hanoi” is conducted with the purpose of examining the motivation level affected by common motivational factors of the English teachers at the surveyed English center in Hanoi. Afterward, appropriate recommendations can be proposed to the center’s administrators on what their teachers should be provided with to be more stimulated to work and teach. Objectives of the study This study aims to examine the common motivational factors that affect the teachers’ motivation among the English teachers at the surveyed English center in Hanoi.
Additionally, it seeks to propose suggestions to the center’s management on what they should do and provide to their teacher staff to ensure their enthusiasm. The specific objectives of the thesis consist of: - Stating the motivation level of teachers affected by the 17 common motivational factors (including “responsibility”, “salary”, “sense of achievement”, “potential for professional growth”, “job security and stability”, “working conditions”, “interaction with students”, “status”, “recognition”, “potential for advancement”, “interaction with administrators”, “policies”, “the work itself”, “interaction with other teachers”, “teacher evaluation”, “supervision by supervisors” and “teaching’s impacts on personal life”). - Identifying the differences, if there are, between the answers of teachers with different gender. - Proposing suggestions to the center’s administrators on what they should do and provide to their teachers to ensure their motivation properly.
Significance of the study This study is based on the viewpoints of the teachers working at the surveyed English center in Hanoi to examine the teachers’ motivation level affected by motivational factors. For that reason, the English center will be the primary beneficiary. From the 3 outcomes, the center’s administrators can use the findings and the proposed suggestions to improve their teachers’ motivation properly. This thesis will not only provide the center’s management with a general understanding of the factors that affect the motivation of their teachers but also present detailed insights into the level of motivation for each factors.
In addition, the administrators can make full use of the suggested proposals to motivate their teachers to work more effectively, which may promisingly enhance the center’s growth. Furthermore, the prospective beneficiaries also consist of the teachers of the center and the researchers who want to examine the motivational factors affecting teachers or employees in different contexts. By taking part in the survey of this thesis, the teachers of the center are given an opportunity to express their needs to the administrators. To be specific, they are unable to directly convey their needs to the administrators through the survey.