MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ TON NU THI AI QUYEN A STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN PRACTISING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT COLLEGE OF URBAN WORKS CONSTRUCTION MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ TON NU THI AI QUYEN A STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST- YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN PRACTISING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT COLLEGE OF URBAN WORKS CONSTRUCTION MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. LUU QUY KHUONG HUE, 2017 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ TÔN NỮ THỊ ÁI QUYÊN NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN ĐỘNG CƠ LUYỆN NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KỸ THUẬT NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG XÂY DỰNG CÔNG TRÌNH ĐÔ THỊ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. LƯU QUÝ KHƯƠNG HUẾ, 2017 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself./ 2017 Ton Nu Thi Ai Quyen i ABSTRACT Speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of effective communication.
However, many students do not have enough motivation to practise speaking English though motivation is one of the vital factors determining the success or failure of language learning. This paper aims to investigate first-year engineering students’perception of the vital role of English speaking skills (ESSs) and discuss factors affecting their motivation in practising ESSs at College of Urban Works Construction (CUWC). The participants were 90 first-year engineering students and 8 English teachers. The findings showed that there were four groups of factors that affect students’ motivation: (1) Students’ factors; (2) Teachers’ factors; (3) Classroom factors; (4) Objective factors.
Besides, some suggestions on how to promote the motivation in practising ESSs for engineering students of CUWC were given. Key words: motivation; speaking; factors; practice; engineering students ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT First of all, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Luu Quy Khuong who has given me precious suggestions and valuable advices. He provided me with ample knowledge in conducting the research.
Whenever I got any obstacles, he was ready to give constant help with the whole-hearted guidance and constructive comments during the research process. This thesis paper would not have been completed without him. It is my great pleasure to owe special thanks to all teachers of English Department at Hue University of Foreign Languages for providing useful knowledge and giving me the chances to do this research in the best condition. I am also grateful to first-year engineering students and their English teachers at College of Urban Works Construction for all their positive cooperation during the data collection process of this study.
Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to my family and close friends who have shared their love, care, moral support as well as financial ones during the course. They have been always with me, being the biggest encouragement made me devoted my efforts to the study. iii TABLES OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT. iii TABLES OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES .1 Rationale of the Study.2 Aims of the Study .4 Scope of the Study .5 Significance of the study.6 Organization of the Study .2 The Importance of English Speaking Skills for Engineering Students .3 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) .3 Students’Motivation in Practising Speaking Skills .2 Types of Motivation .4 Factors Affecting Students’ Motivation in Practising English Speaking Skills .1 Students Related Factors .2 Teacher Related Factors .5 Previous Studies Related to the Study .6 Gaps in the Literature .5 Data Collection Instruments .9 Reliability and Validity. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .2 Results from the Students’ Data .1 Students’ Perception toward the Practice of ESSs .2 Students’ Motivation in Practising ESSs .3 Factors Affect Students’ Motivation in Practising ESSs .4 Teachers’ Activities for Motivating Students in Speaking Classes .3 Results from Teachers’ Data.1 Teachers’ Perception of Practising ESSs for Engineering Students .2 Teachers’ Problems in Teaching ESSs at CUWC .3 Factors Affect Students’ Motivation in Practising ESSs .4 Suggestions for Promoting Students’ Motivation toward the Practice of ESSs .2 The Teachers’ Behaviours .3 A Pleasant Learning Environment for Practising ESSs. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION .2 Summary of the Key Findings .1 Students’ Perception of Practising Speaking English .2 Factors Affecting Students’ Motivation in Practising Speaking English .3 Teachers and Students’ Suggestions for Promoting Students’ Motivation toward the Practice of English Speaking Skills .1 For English Teachers.2 For First-year Engineering Students .5 Recommendations for Further Research.
81 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN Economic Community AEC College of Urban Works Construction CUWC Common European Framework for Reference CEFR Communicative Language Teaching CLT English Speaking Skills ESSs Information and Communication Technologies ICT vii LIST OF TABLES Table 3. Summary of participants Table 4. Students’ Purposes for Learning to Speak English Table 4. Students’ Difficulties in Practising English Speaking Skills Table 4.
Teachers’ Behaviours for Motivating Students to Speak English LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4. Students' Perception of the Importance of Practising Speaking English Figure 4. Students' Interest in Practising Speaking English Figure 4. Students' Effort in English Speaking Class Figure 4.
The Frequency of Students’ Practice of English Speaking Skills Figure 4. Factors Affecting Students' Motivation in Practising English Speaking Skills Figure 4. Teachers' Frequency of Motivating Students in Speaking Classes Figure 4. Teacher's Acitivities for Motivating Students in Speaking Classes viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study With the expansion of science, technology in the 1950s and 1960s and the increasing growth of many countries in the world, English has become a global language not only for scientific discourse but also for communication.
It led to a large number of people wanting to learn English. In fact, English teaching and learning have become a big concern in Vietnam. These days, Vietnam is in the integration with international labour market when considerably participated in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) as well as more foreign investors focus on this potential market. This has created more and more job opportunities for graduates, especially engineering graduates.
It is obvious that apart from having specialized knowledge of a field, engineering students need to be proficient in a foreign language, especially English. They are required not only to have good knowledge of vocabulary and eligible grammar but also the four language skills, particular in the speaking skill. Learning English speaking seems to be the prerequisite for the students who want to communicate with different people in the world and apply for a job in a foreign company. However, many economic experts stress that poor foreign language competence is the big challenge to us in the deeper integration into world economy (Luong, 2006).
Besides, when interviewed of soft skills for students, Mr Tran Thanh Liem, General Director of Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation emphasizes that engineering students are excellent at knowledge, but they are not able to hear, write and speak an issue in English when going to abroad conferences. This is also a big concern of most English teachers as well as the question from many employers. It can be said that one of the main factors determines the failure or success of learners in language learning; especially in practising speaking skills is motivation. Motivation is considered as a psychological trait which helps people have positive behaviors to achieve their goals.
It can be the motor of human’s behavior coming from inside the individual. As in Woolfolk (2001, p.366), he defines 1 motivation as “an internal state that arouses, directs and maintains behavior”. The internal state can be influenced by certain needs which create the positive attitudes and interest towards a goal. Sharing his view, Harmer (2001, p.51) affirms “motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something”.
It seems to be the whole energy of an individual to create activation and intention to a job. Obviously, once we have our own goals which are really attractive and important to us, we will try and find the best way to reach them. Also, a foreign language learner who is satisfied with their needs/goals intrinsically or extrinsically will be motivated to learn. As Mayer (2003) affirms “When students are motivated to learn, they try harder to understand the material and thereby learn more deeply, resulting in better ability to transfer what they have learned to new situations” (Mayer, 2003, p.459, cited in Liu, 2010).
Therefore, with sufficient motivation, students would like to explore their language skills and become more excited to participate in speaking activities actively to practise their speaking skills. In reality, many engineering students at College of Urban Works Construction (CUWC) lack motivation and show negative attitudes towards learning English speaking. As a result, they are at a low level of English and become lazy to practise speaking skills. It is undeniable that motivation directly impacts on students’ language learning as many researchers on motivation have stated that learners who are highly motivated can learn a foreign language better than those who are not or vice versa.
In a study of EFL learners’ speaking motivation, Kim (2014) concludes that using English for instruction in an EFL context influences Korean students’ motivation and their speaking achievement. The study reveals that students have higher extrinsic motivation than intrinsic one because the role of contextual factors is considered as motivational subscale affect the learning achievement. Souriyavongsa et al (2013) find out factors cause students’ poor English performance in the National University of Laos. Main factors are first, the teachers’ use of Lao language when teaching; second, students’ lack of English background knowledge and confidence; third, inappropriate curriculum and fourth, the environment for practicing speaking English.
Talking about students’ speaking performance problem in Le Thanh Hien high school, Vietnam, Nguyen & Tran (2015) show that students are afraid of losing face, 2 are not well-motivated to express themselves, speak unnaturally because of the shortage of grammar and vocabulary, especially they often use Vietnamese while speaking. The study also explored a lot of factors affecting the students’ speaking performance such as topical knowledge, listening ability, motivation, feedbacks during activities. Though many studies have focused on developing learning and teaching speaking English in high schools and universities, they do not concern much about English learning for engineering students, particular in Thua Thien Hue province. If engineering students are approached to appropriate English speaking teaching methods and their motivation is highly appreciated, they can enhance their own speaking skills.
This helps me decide to carry out a survey on factors affecting first-year engineering students’ motivation in learning English speaking skills at CUWC. First of all, the majority of engineering students at this college are not interested in speaking classes and do not actively contribute to speaking activities. They often keep silence, take note passively and even use Vietnamese in English class. Moreover, their major is in engineering fields and they have a tendency to be more excited about their own majors such as electronics, civil engineering and water supply, whereas, English has not been paid much attention to although it is considered as a compulsory subject.
In other words, the engineering students usually focus more on learning grammar items than learning speaking, which makes the teachers feel quite hard to engage them in speaking activities.