VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************** NGÔ THỊ HUỆ PARENTS’ ROLES IN MOTIVATING PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH VAI TRÒ CỦA PHỤ HUYNH TRONG VIỆC TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.11 Hanoi - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************** NGÔ THỊ HUỆ PARENTS’ ROLES IN MOTIVATING PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH VAI TRÒ CỦA PHỤ HUYNH TRONG VIỆC TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.11 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Ph.D Hanoi - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby state that I, Ngô Thị Huệ, being a candidate for the Degree of Master of Arts, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and use of M. Thesis deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature: Date: July 21st, 2014 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa for her valuable advice, constructive comments, patient support and encouragement in the completion of this M. I would like to send my sincere thanks to my informants in this study, who have provided useful and valuable information for this research. Without their enthusiastic contribution and cooperation, this research would certainly not have been completed.
In the thesis, it is inevitable that the ideas of many other writers in this field are reflected and developed. Their ideas have stimulated my thinking on doing this paper. My debt to the authors listed in the references is equally great. To all these scholars, I offer my sincere thanks.
Finally, I am greatly thankful to my family and friends, who are forever a great source of support and encouragement. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study attempted to find out the roles of parents towards their children in learning English at home. Specifically, it sought the anwers to the following questions: 1.What are parents‟ attitude about their children‟s English learning at primary school? 2.What do parents often do to encourage their children to learn English? 3.What are parents‟ role in motivating primary students in learning English at home? 4.What are the common barriers for parents to get involved in children‟s learning English at home?. The participants of this study were all parents of third graders in Ngoc Xuyen Primary School, Do Son District.
The data was collected from the questionnaires and interviews. The analysis of the data showed that parents not only had positive attitude towards their children‟s English learning but also expressed strong willingness to be involved in children‟s English learning process. Results from the study show that besides school instruction, parents reported various strategies and activities that they used at home to encourage their children to learn English. It was revealed that there were four types of roles that parents played in motivating their children to learn English : an advocate, a supervisor, a facilitator and a guider.
The parents involved in the study also reported that they faced some difficulties when helping their children in English learning, the most significant of which are the lack of English knowledge and financial condition. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv PART A : INTRODUCTION.
Aims of the research. Significance of the research. Scope of the research. Design of the research.
5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVEW .Definition of terms. An overview of motivation in language learning. Definition of language learning motivation. Classification of motivation in language learning.
The importance of motivation in language learning. Parental factor and language learning motivation. Characteristics of motivated children. An overview of primary school students.
Faculty of memory. The importance of home learning. 15 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Barriers for parents‟ involvement.
16 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. The context of the study. The data collection instruments. Data Collection Procedures.
23 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND MAJOR FINDINGS. Parents‟ attitudes towards their children‟s English learning at primary school. Parents‟ interests in involvement in the children‟ English learning. Ways and types of parental behaviors.
Barriers for parents‟ involvement. Major findings and conclusions .XI v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A : INTRODUCTION This part states the rationale of the study, together with the aims, the significance and the scope of the research. Above all, it is this part that the research questions are formulated to work as clear guideline for the whole research. Rationale Because of the globalization, English has become an international language.
In many countries, English is the primary language or official language; whereas in non- speaking countries, it is often taught as a foreign language and has referred to as an international language. Hence, it is widely taught at all stages of education system in Vietnam. According to the Decision No 1400-QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, English is introduced into the primary education curriculum starting from grade 3 in Vietnam. As English education is largely promoted in recent years, it has encouraged and influenced many Vietnamese parents‟ decision to place English as an educational priority for their children.
They are beginning their children‟s English learning at the earlier age than were common in the past and send them to English language learning center. In Do Son, a small district of Haiphong city, there are no such centers. English is taught in a classroom context where teachers follow the syllabus and learners have a few hours of English instruction a week. In this type of environment, students have little opportunity to articulate English structure that are presented to them.
When complicated grammatical structures are taught without the opportunity to learn by trial and errors, learners may lose interest in learning English, particularly if their cognition is not mature enough to make sense of these grammatical structure. According to my observation, there are too many students in one class, nearly about 40 students. Moreover, the number of English periods per week is only 4 periods. In such condition, it is difficult for third grade students to be able acquire English well immediately at school.
They must learn and practise their English a lot at home with the support from parents. Different practices of families in motivating children‟s language learning might exist. On the other hand, children with good attitudes may be more likely to be persistent in the 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com learning of English if they can develop strategies based on their individual characteristics and aptitudes, supported by family, school and other environments. Motivation is very important to the learning process.
If children are not motivated, they will not learn. Children must see and feel the need for learning. Unless they see a need for and have an interest in learning, there is little incentive for them to learn. There are internal and external factors or psychological factors that affect language learning.
Ellis (1990) states that internal factors are related to individual themselves. The other category is the influence from outside or external factors. Two of the important external factors are the parents‟ attitude towards second language learning and parent involvement in that process. A lot of parents believe that education is the mere responsibility of school.
Because of this wrong perception, they tend to ignore the needs of their children‟s education at home. Good quality home learning contributes more to children‟s learning than parental occupation, education and income. Many researchers have been asserted the influence that parents can have on individual‟s motivation to learn a second language. Furthermore, many recent research projects on language learning motivation have included this factor in their studies (Atay and Kurt (2010), Henkel (2009), Ryan (2009)).
They have indicated that parents play an important role in maintaining their children ability as well as in participating for the success of learning. The influence the parents on the child can be active supporters of their children‟s foreign language learning without themselves having skill in the foreign language. Although parents play an active role in children‟s learning, there is little research on parents‟ roles in education in general and in language learning in particular in Vietnam. However, despite growing documents of factors instrumental to children‟s English learning motivation and achievement, empirical attention focuses on individual characteristics of students, language learning strategies and teachers‟ contributions while neglecting the role of parents that can be shown through their attitudes towards English learning and the way they involve in the learning process.
All of these reasons did give an account for the researcher‟s wish 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com of carrying out the study “parents‟ roles in motivating primary students to learn English at home” to investigate parents attitudes towards English learning and the way they act to promote their children to learn English. Aims of the research This study aims to find out parents‟ role in motivating primary students to learn English. To be more specific, the objectives of this study are: - To find out parents‟ attitudes towards their children‟s learning English at primary schools. - To find out what parents do to encourage their children to learn English - To find out parents‟ roles in motivating children to learn English - To find out the common barriers for parents to get involved in children‟s learning English at home? These aims are formulated into four following research questions: 1.
What are parents‟ attitudes towards their children‟s English learning at primary school? 2. What do parents often do to encourage their children to learn English? 3. What are parents‟ roles in motivating primary students in learning English at home? 4. What are the common barriers for parents to get involved in children‟s learning English at home? 3.
Significance of the research. Through this study, theories of motivation are revisited. Main definition together with the classification of motivation and the importance of motivation in language learning are represented. Besides, an overview of primary students‟ characteristics and their English learning are provided.
Moreover, the common barriers affecting parents‟ participation in children‟s learning English at home are covered. This study is expected to find out the parents‟ roles in motivating their children in learning English. Through the result, it is expected that it can give benefit for 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com parents to know the necessary information about their roles and help them in encouraging their children to learn English more. Scope of the research.
Parents play an important role in primary students‟ English learning. Their roles can be shown by their involvement in school and at home. Due to time constraints, the length of the thesis and the research‟s knowledge, this study only focus on find out what roles can parents play in motivating their children in learning English at home. Methodology This study uses survey method which is based on both qualitative and quantitative data collected from parents of all the third grade students at Ngoc Xuyen Primary School in Do Son District by Questionnaire and Interviews.
Design of the research The study report is divided into three main parts Part one is the Introduction featuring the rationale for the study as well as the aims, the significance and the methods employed in the research.