TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages Sub-cover page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.ii TABLE OF CONTENTS.1 LISTS OF TABLE AND FIGURES. Background of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Outline of the study .11 CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW. Theoretical background of motivation in L2 learning. Definition of motivation.
Types of motivation. Factors affecting students’ motivation in learning foreign language. Learners’ success in language learning. Theoretical background of speaking in L2 learning.
Definition of speaking and speaking skill. The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking. Factors affecting students unwilling to speak in classroom. Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking.
Theoretical background of feedback in L2 learning. Definition of feedback. Components of feedback. Purposes of feedback.
The relationship between teachers’ feedback and students’ motivation. A review of Vietnamese students of English at high school level. Data collection methods. Questionnaires for students.
Data collection procedure .40 CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Teachers’ most common ways of giving feedback to students in English speaking class. The frequency of students making mistake in the speaking lesson. The frequency of teacher’s correction in English speaking class as reported by students.
The frequency of teacher’s assessment expressions in English speaking class as reported by students. Effects of teachers’ feedback on students’ motivation. Effects of teachers’ feedback on students’ desire to learn the language. Effects of teachers’ feedback on students’ motivational intensity.
Students’ attitudes towards teachers’ feedback. Pedagogical suggestions to improve teachers’ feedback to enhance students’ motivation .62 CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND LIMITATIONS. Implications and recommendations. For English teachers.
For English students. For policy makers and administrators. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further research .74 REFERENCES APPENDICES 3 LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES 1.
Lists of tables Table 4.1: Frequency of teachers‟ correction techniques………………………….2: Frequency of teachers‟ common comments……………………………49 Table 4.3: Frequency of students‟ reasons to learn English speaking…………….4: Mean and SD of students motivation intensity…………………………56 Table 4.5: Mean and SD of students attitude……………………………………. Lists of figures Figure 4.1: Percentage of students (N=101) reporting the frequency of students making mistakes in the speaking lesson………………………………………….2: Percentage of students (N=101) reporting the frequency of teachers‟ correction in English speaking class……………………………………………….3: Percentage of students‟ perception about the importance of speaking skill……………………………………………………………………52 Figure 4.4: Percentage of students‟ reported that teachers‟ feedback encourage them to learn English speaking skill………………………………………………….5: Percentage of students perception about the helpfulness of teachers‟ feedback……………………………………………………………….6: Percentage of students‟ satisfaction with teachers‟ feedback…………62 Figure 4.7: Percentage of students‟ preference for teachers‟ feedback ………….8: Percentage of students‟ preference for teachers‟ assessments ……….9: Percentage of students‟ preference for teachers‟ correction ………….67 4 ABSTRACT This research was designed to investigate the effects of teachers‟ feedback on eleventh graders‟ motivation in Dong Ha high school, Quang Tri province. The research was carried out among 120 students and 5 teachers in Dong Ha high school. The data were collected by means of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations.
To be specific, the researcher investigated firstly teachers‟ common ways of giving feedback to their students in speaking class; secondly, the effects of teachers‟ feedback on students‟ motivation to learn speaking skill in terms of three elements: attitudes toward learning speaking English, desires to learn, and motivational intensity; and lastly, students‟ preferences when receiving feedback from their teachers. Based on this information, the researcher would give some suggestions for teachers‟ effective feedback in class. It was firstly unveiled that teachers‟ frequency of giving correction to their students was high, and teachers combined different kinds of correction methods and assessment expressions in their feedback to their students‟ spoken performance. Secondly, in terms of the effects of teachers‟ feedback on students‟ motivation, the results showed that although teachers‟ feedback assert positive effects on students‟ desire to learn spoken English, their motivational intensity is not very high, and their attitudes towards learning spoken English was not significantly affected by teachers‟ feedback either.
Lastly, regarding students‟ preferences when receiving feedback from their teachers, although students seemed to be satisfied with their teachers‟ feedback, they also gave some ideas to make their teachers‟ feedback work become more effective. Basing on the findings, the research offers some suggestions in the hope of making contribution to the improvement of teachers‟ feedback in speaking class and help to enhance students‟ motivation. 5 CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background of the study, aims, research questions, scopes, significances and the outline of the study. Background of the study Since 1986, along with the overall economic reform known as Renovation (Doi moi) which opened the door of Vietnam to the whole world, English has gained its importance and become the main foreign language used and taught in Vietnam.
It was the compulsory subject for both high schools and tertiary institutions. In addition, the adoption of market-oriented economy has helped to attract considerable English – speaking visitors and business people to Vietnam. This social demand has helped English become the language of communication and cooperation in Vietnam. When Vietnam became a member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995 and the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2006, the requirement for staff whose has adequate ability to communicate in English became more urging.
To meet this requirement of the new situation, English is taught for students not just to get good knowledge of grammar but more importantly to enable them to use it as a means to communicate in real life. Many people often say, “First listening and speaking, then reading and writing”. Nunan (1991) suggested that “to most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language” (p. By speaking, students can bring their knowledge into use, get their meaning across and make themselves understood.
However, there was a time when speaking skill was not received proper attention from the educators in Vietnam. Despite the importance of teaching speaking skill, English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues (Kayi, 2006). However, in today‟s context where speaking competence is the matter of concern of the language learners, speaking needs more than just memorization and repetition. 6 Besides understanding what the others say, students have to develop for themselves the ability to think on their feet.
It means that students should know how to respond to questions that they are not prepared for, how to interact in different circumstances. Repetition and memorization of dialogues, on the other hand, only provide learners with fixed pieces of dialogues, give them no room for real interaction. In order to meet the demand of the new period, teaching speaking should improve students‟ communicative skill so that students can express themselves and communicate successfully in specific circumstances. However, teaching and learning spoken English to fulfill that goal is still a problem for both teachers and students and high school students in Quang Tri is not an exception.
Most of the students at Quang Tri province in general and in Dong Ha high school in particular do not seem to be good at speaking although there has been a shift from the traditional teaching method of Grammar Translation to the Communicative language teaching approach. The new textbooks that they are using in high school focus nearly equally on the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, in the reality of teaching and learning English, writing and reading are received more attention as they directly serve the purposes of the national exam. Listening and speaking skill, hence, are not received the right attention.
In his thesis Mai (2007) also reflected the situation of learning English in Quang Tri province “They are passive and not familiar with even afraid of taking part in activities in classrooms, many students often feel shy and ashamed when making errors” although they have been given more chances to practice speaking English. This leads to the low outcome of the majority of students in speaking class in Quang Tri high schools. The reasons for students‟ low outcome in English speaking come both from the teachers and the students. Although the Communicative language teaching approach is the main teaching approach employed in high schools, many teachers keep teaching students in traditional method which focuses mainly on checking the vocabulary and grammar knowledge of students as it can meet the requirement of the exams (informal conversation with English teachers before carrying out the 7 thesis).
Furthermore, the exams do not direct towards speaking skill, most of teachers and students do not put much effort in their teaching and learning spoken English. For the students, a majority of high school students are not really motivated to learn English. They study English because it is one of the compulsory subjects in the exam and they want to pass to move to further study. Besides the exam, there are many other factors that are responsible for students‟ low proficiency in English.
One might be students‟ low motivation in learning a foreign language. Mc Donough (1983, pp.142) stated that “motivation of the students is one of the most important factors influencing their success or failure in learning the language”. Besides motivation, age is another factor affecting students‟ success. Although there have been controversies about the role of learners‟ age in the second language learning acquisition, it is undeniable that age plays an important role.
Collier (1988) even expressed that successful language acquisition depends on the learners‟ age. Personality could also be listed as a major factor in the acquisition of conversational skills Among these factors, motivation seems to be the most important factor and has received a lot of attention of education researchers as well as teachers. According to Brown (2000, p.160) “it is easy in second language learning to claim that a learner will be successful with the proper motivation”. In other words, motivation plays the role of an inner force that will help students to reach the goal in their study.
Students who are really motivated tend to get higher result and remain their desire to follow their long-term goals than students who are not motivated to learn. For students, teachers are the ones that affect their motivation the most in the language class as they direct students in their language learning process. Teachers can positively or negatively affect students‟ motivation, especially when they do the feedback work. Teachers‟ feedback in response to students‟ mistakes and good performance is of significant importance and is considered “an integral part of the lesson” (Nguyen et al.267) emphasized the importance of teacher feedback when writing “to teach is to provide feedback”.
In 8 practice, there is also a tendency that teachers do correct all of students‟ errors when they speak. They could stop their students whenever there is an error and correct it right away. However, as correction is a very sensitive issue, teachers have to make sure that their correction can preserve and moreover, enhance students‟ motivation. Furthermore, if teacher puts more emphasis on the correction work over encouraging students, their students will pay much more attention on speaking correctly than challenging themselves with the new ways to express ideas.
These are reasons why I choose to carry out “An investigation into the effects of teachers‟ feedback on eleventh graders‟ motivation in learning speaking at Dong Ha High school, Quang Tri province”. The study will examine students‟ motivation in speaking classes and how teachers‟ feedback can affect students‟ motivation in their speaking performance as well as give some suggestions for teachers in giving feedback in order to meet students‟ expectations and assert positive effects on students‟ motivation.