THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DU MINH TAM FACTORS AFFECTING GRADE 11 STUDENTS' MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT QUE VO 1 HIGH SCHOOL Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến hứng thú học Tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 11 tại trường THPT Quế Võ số 1 M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DU MINH TAM FACTORS AFFECTING GRADE 11 STUDENTS' MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT QUE VO 1 HIGH SCHOOL Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến hứng thú học Tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 11 tại trường THPT Quế Võ số 1 M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy THAI NGUYEN – 2019 DECLARATION Du Minh Tam, hereby certify that my M.A thesis entitled "Factors affecting Grade 11 Students' Motivation in Learning English at Que Vo 1 High School" is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University. I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree. Thai Nguyen, 2019 Du Minh Tam Xác nhận của GV hướng dẫn TS.
Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, for her invaluable inspiration, assistance, guidance and encouragement during the time I have tried to complete this thesis. She has been willing to give help and advice whenever I expect. I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all lectures and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University for their interesting and helpful lectures and suggestions for the topic of my study.
I am in debt of many authors’ works and ideas, which enhance me to complete my study with convincing evidences. My appreciation and gratitude are also extended for the teachers and students of grade 11 at Que Vo 1 High School, who participated in doing the survey and responding to my interviews. Last but not least, I wish to express special thanks to my beloved ones for their everlasting, care and encouragement. ii ABSTRACT This thesis investigated the role of motivation and factors affecting grade 11 students’ motivation in learning English at Que Vo 1 high school.
Factors related to teachers, parents, classroom features and environment were examined. Additionally, the researcher wanted to gain an understanding of teachers’ viewpoints regarding student motivation and observe motivated students’ behaviors. Participants were 160 students of grade 11 at Que Vo 1 high school. The participants took part in a survey which consisted of several statements related with the mentioned factors.
The theoretical part explains the key terms of motivation and introduces a brief overview of the major motivation theories to provide background information important for understanding the principal concepts of motivation in second language acquisition. The practical part presents the results and explanation of the findings of the questionnaire survey conducted at Que Vo 1 high school. The results of the study indicated that students' motivation is significantly impacted by three factors: parent involvement, teacher involvement and classroom features or learning environment. Having this information is helpful because it will enable school administrators and teachers to develop strategies to aim at the factors that have been found to have the most significant impact on students' motivation in learning English.
If schools combine the strategies used by teachers, focus on increasing parental involvement, and make sure that the learning environment enables students to feel safe, comfortable and stimulated, it is likely that administrators would see increases in student learning motivation. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study.
The research questions. Scope of the study. The significance of this study. Design of the thesis.
4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of Motivation. Sources of Motivation. Internal sources of motivation.
External sources of motivation. Review of previous studies. Motivation in second language acquisition. The importance of motivation in foreign and.
12 second language learning 2. Types of motivation in second language learning. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Integrative and instrumental motivation.
Positive and negative motivation. Factors affecting students’ motivation in learning English. Classroom features or environmental factors. 22 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
The setting of the study. 28 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Research questions revisited. 37 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
Summary of the study. Suggestions for further study. Rationale In the process of the integration and development, Vietnamese education in general and foreign language education in particular are facing with an increasing demand for English-speaking people who are expected to be competent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to access technology. This demand highlights the important role of English in the education and training sector and national development.
English is now not seen as an effective medium of international communication but a golden key to access science, technology and many other sectors as well. Ministry of Education and Training and the Bac Ninh Department of Education and Training have selected "Improving the quality of English teaching at all levels" is one of the nine key tasks in the past years and there have been many advocates to improve the quality of teaching and learning English. Que Vo 1 High School has also made great efforts and results in enhancing the capacity and methodology of teaching English. However, the implementation of innovation in teaching English in schools is not high, the quality of teaching English is limited.
The factors that determine the effectiveness of teaching and learning English are syllabuses, teaching methods, teaching materials, evaluations procedures, teacher training and learner learning. Thus, apart from innovating teaching methods, adapting new textbooks, designing syllabuses, observing classes to share opinions, organizing workshops, etc. the most important thing supporting the improvement of the quality of the teaching and learning English is to motivate learners to learn. Research findings have shown that motivation to learn a language is an important aspect of successful learning and the connection between motivation and learning success is well tested.
If learners are highly motivated, they can be successful in learning, and perceived success in achieving learning goals can help to sustain their existing motivation. 1 The learner-centered paradigm in the teaching and learning English also puts great emphasis on the question of learners’ motivation in terms of enhancing their sense of competence and self-work. If learners are encouraged and given more time to work on their own they will probably feel secured and make progress in learning. Although I feel certain advantage over the teachers of other school subjects as our students are aware of the importance of the language knowledge and English is generally considered one of the most useful courses in our school, I still struggle to motivate my students every day.
I realize that motivation holds an important position in language learning and knowledge, how to motivate learners is crucial for language teachers but to work with motivation is not an easy task. There are many factors that can influence the motivation from within a person and also external forces affecting the individuals’ motivation. I have experienced the teaching career for sixteen years. In the school year 2018-2019 I have taught grade 11 students and I have noticed that they lack much learning motivation.
Therefore I made the decision to explore the factors that determine students' motivation to learn English. Nevertheless, the main aim of my thesis is to identify the most powerful factors influencing the motivation. Furthermore, I have found that there have never been any researches on factors affecting students’ motivation in learning English at the selected school. Aims of the study As mentioned in above, the main objective of this research is to provide an investigation on the factors influencing grade 11 students’ motivation in learning English at Que Vo 1 High School, and based on that, to propose the recommendations for enhancing English-learning motivation of these students.
In order to achieve the above aim, this research needs to fulfill the tasks as followings: - To investigate the current states of grade 11 students’ English-learning motivation in Que Vo 1 High School 2 - To determine the factors and their impacts on grade 11 students’ learning motivation in this school - To provide suggestions and recommendations on improving the English- learning motivation of grade 11 students in Que Vo High School 1. The research questions With the given aims of the study, the study seeks to answer the following research question: - What are the factors that affect grade 11 students’ motivation in learning English at Que Vo 1 High School? 1. Scope of the study Learners’ success or failure in language learning can be affected by many factors which are closely related. Among these factors, motivation seems to be a highly complex one that needs to be systematically studied.
Accordingly, this study focuses on grade 11 students’ motivation in learning English to improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Que Vo 1 High School. In terms of time scope, this research was conducted in the second semester of the school year 2018-2019 and some applications for motivating grade 11 students to learn English are proposed for the next years. In terms of space scope, it was made among the 11 th students at Que Vo 1 High School, which is located in Pho Moi Town, Que Vo District, Bac Ninh Province. According to the principal’s approval, there were four classes selected in this study including 11A1, 11A2, 11A3 and 11A4 with total 160 students.
In terms of content scope, this study was designed to cover the followings: Firstly, grade 11 students’ reasons for learning English Second, grade 11 students’ interests, expectations in learning English and teachers’ teaching methods. And then, this study also moves to make some implications for stimulating grade 11 students to learn English 3 1. The significance of this study The significance of this study is expressed in its contribution to the innovation of teaching methods for the students in grade 11 at Que Vo 1 High School in particular and Vietnam public schools in general. It is also expected that the research findings in this study can help the English teachers as well as the administrators in Que Vo 1 High School in evaluating the students’ motivation in learning English, the factors influencing their learning motivation as well as understanding the students’ perspective on the aspects of the current teaching method.
And based on that, the recommendations given in this study will support for the English teachers in designing their teaching methods and programs, through adding other activities to enhance their students’ English learning motivation and interest. The author also hopes that this paper will serve as a useful source of reference for other researchers and English teachers whose studies relate to the same topic. Design of the thesis The thesis consists of five chapters as follows: Chapter 1 - Introduction provides a general introduction of the study with the specific reference to the rationale, the aims, the objectives, the methods, the significance and the design of the thesis. Chapter 2- Literature review aims to critically examine the theoretical background for the thesis with the focus on the main points: different psychological views on motivation in language learning; an overview of motivation in foreign and second language learning; kinds of motivation and the importance of motivation in foreign and second language learning; factors affecting motivation and characteristics of motivated learners in foreign and second language learning.
Chapter 3 - Methodology presents the methodology underlying the research, including the background information of the subjects of the study, the instruments used to collect data, and the procedures of data collection.