VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES LƯƠNG THỊ THÙY DINH FACTORS CAUSING DEMOTIVATION IN LEARNING ESP: A CASE OF THE CADETS AT THE COLLEGE OF ARTILLERY OFFICERS' TRAINING MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE HANOI, 2021 download by : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Lương Thị Thùy Dinh FACTORS CAUSING DEMOTIVATION IN LEARNING ESP: A CASE OF THE CADETS AT THE COLLEGE OF ARTILLERY OFFICERS' TRAINING Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph. HANOI, 2021 download by : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION BY AUTHOR I hereby certify that the thesis entitled "Factors Causing Demotivation in Learning ESP: A Case of the Cadets at the College of Artillery Officers' Training" is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts in English Language. The substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for any other degrees to any other universities or institutions. Except where reference has been made in the text, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person.
The study reported in this thesis was approved by Graduate Academy of Social Sciences. Author’s Signature Lương Thị Thùy Dinh i download by : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS Without the assistance and love of many people, this thesis would never have been completed. I'd like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to many people who helped make it possible. I would like first and foremost to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to Mr.
Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph., my supervisor, for his invaluable and insightful comments, his deliberate guidance and wholehearted supervision without which the thesis would not have been feasible. My thanks are also offered to all my respected lecturers for their informative and valuable lectures that have enlightened my research path. In particular, millions of my special thanks go to the 150 cadets at the College of Artillery Officers' Training who participated in doing the survey and responding to my interviews. They provided detailed information for the analysis of this study.
Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to my family and friends for their constant source of love, support and encouragement. ii download by : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION BY AUTHOR. vi LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES.
viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Structure of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. The current teaching and learning ESP in Vietnam. The current situation of learning ESP in Vietnamese universities.
Demotivating factors in learning ESP. The lecturer factors. The learner factors. 17 iii download by : skknchat@gmail.
The infrastructure factors. The other factors. Previous studies in the world. Previous studies in Vietnam.
The context of research. Data management and analysis. 32 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The backgrounds of the cadets.
The common characteristics of the cadets. The general English of the cadets. Results and analyses from quantitative data. Demotivating factors from the cadets.
Demotivating factors from the lecturers. Demotivating factors from the infrastructure. Demotivating factors from the college/faculty. Results and analyses from qualitative data.
54 iv download by : skknchat@gmail. The influence of demotivating factors investigated. Limitations and suggestions for further studies. IX v download by : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT English for specific purposes (ESP) has become a popular topic in English language teaching and learning in recent years.
In the context of the College of Artillery Officers' Training, it seems that teaching and learning ESP is not usually efficient. The aim of the study is improving the cadets’ ESP. In order to reach the aim, investigating the factors demotivating the cadets in learning ESP is the objective of the study. A survey questionnaire was carried out by 150 cadets at the College of Artillery Officers' Training.
Furthermore, in order to back up the validity of the collected data from the questionnaire, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 randomly selected cadets who had already completed the survey questionnaire. According to the results of the research, the cadets’ demotivation in learning ESP arises from three main factors relating to the cadets, the school/faculty, and the infrastructure. In particular, the lack of a computer or smartphone and modern devices with a connection to the internet was the most demotivating factor in learning ESP. Thus, some solutions were provided to help the cadets overcome their demotivation in learning ESP.
It is hoped that the results of this study will be helpful in improving ESP teaching and learning at the College of Artillery Officers' Training. vi download by : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 4. Distribution of cadets’ general English knowledge………………. Cadets’ subjective factors.
Influencing factors from infrastructure. The degree of influence of related factors. The other demotivating factors in learning ESP. 58 vii download by : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.
Cadets’ year of birth. Geographical distribution of cadets. Cadets’ entrance exam results. Distribution of cadets’ years of studying English.
Where the cadets learnt English. Cadets’ understanding of ESP. Cadet-related factors that reduce motivation. Factors from the lecturers.
Factors that reduce cadets' ESP motivation from infrastructure. School/faculty’s factors. 52 viii download by : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Nowadays, English is not only seen as an effective medium of international communication, but also has a wide and deep influence on many different fields of life such as science, technology, education, economy, politics, culture, etc.
It plays an important role in the development of society. Millions of people around the world are learning and employing English in their studies or jobs. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are the four language skills that are taught in English classes. Reading is the most crucial of the four macro language skills in English as a second language, according to Carrell (1981).
Eskey (1970) said that the ability to read written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension seemed to be considered more important than oral skills. It has been pointed out that teaching English is to provide the students with the linguistic basis that would enable them to participate in transferring other nations’ scientific and technological advances that can enhance the progress of their nations. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has appeared because of its aim, too. Students with ESP reading are able to read materials and current information in their specific field.
In the context of the College of Artillery Officers' Training, teaching and learning ESP is extremely difficult. The main reason is that the military cadets are not English major learners of different ages, capacities and circumstances. Lecturers seem hard to apply appropriate ways to teach them. Another reason is that the ESP textbook has a lot of military and artillery texts with confusing and misleading terms.
Moreover, the cadets at the College of Artillery Officers' Training are not allowed to use the internet to support them during their studies. They can only grasp the ESP texts through the lessons from the lecturers in classes. It is difficult to maintain motivation to learn about ESP. Having been a teacher of ESP, I've always been interested in how to help my cadets gain the knowledge they need in their specific field of English.
In 1 download by : skknchat@gmail.com order to do that, I have tried my best to study the language and the teaching methods to help the cadets study their specific field in English. That has resulted in my little success in teaching ESP. But in fact, I still have some difficulties with which my colleagues meet, too. To overcome the difficulties, the first step should be to identify what the demotivating factors in learning ESP are.
That is the reason why I decided to conduct a study named "Factors Causing Demotivation in Learning ESP: A Case of the Cadets at the College of Artillery Officers' Training". On the basis of analyzing the actual situation of learning English for specific purposes at the College of Artillery Officers' Training, hopefully, I will be able to propose relevant recommendations for the cadets and lecturers. Aims of the study The aim of the study is to help the cadets get better results in learning ESP (to improve the cadets’ ESP). It, thus, is designed to meet the following objective: to identify factors that demotivate the cadets in learning ESP at the College of Artillery Officers' Training; 1.
Research questions To fully achieve the aim, the study should answer the following question: What factors demotivate the cadets in learning ESP at the College of Artillery Officers' Training? 1. Scope of the study The research is restricted to the area of factors that demotivate the cadets in learning ESP at the College of Artillery Officers' Training. The data for this study only involves the participation of 150 second-year cadets (the sixtieth course) majoring in artillery firing through survey questionnaires and interviews. Significance of the study The findings of this study are expected to provide significant contributions at both theoretical and practical levels.
Theoretically, the proposed study will benefit and partly help future researchers specializing in ESP and demotivation with meaningful insights from 2 download by : skknchat@gmail.com the findings. Moreover, the research will contribute to the literature of demotivation in learning ESP in the context of a military school. It may help reaffirm the fact that demotivation factors can have negative effects on cadets’ learning. Practically, the study is the first investigation of demotivation in learning ESP at the College of Artillery Officers' Training.
The proposed study provides the cadets with the solutions to overcome their demotivation in ESP classes. In addition, the proposed study may help ESP lecturers at the College of Artillery Officers' Training to have a deeper understanding of their cadets in ESP classes. Thus, they will be able to make suitable changes and adjustments in teaching ESP to motivate their cadets to get even better results. Research methods In seeking answers to the research questions, both qualitative and quantitative methods were exploited in this case study.
The data were collected via interviews and survey questionnaires. Structure of the study In addition to the references and appendices, the thesis is composed of five chapters: CHAPTER 1: Introduction CHAPTER 2: Literature Review CHAPTER 3: Methodology CHAPTER 4: Findings and Discussion CHAPTER 5: Conclusion 3 download by : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Demotivation “To demotivate” implies “to make someone less enthusiastic about a job,” according to the Cambridge English Dictionary (2009). They do not wish to complete that activity or seek to execute it without any effort because there are only a few things beneficial or valid in their minds when doing anything.
Demotivation, according to Deci and Ryan (1985), is defined as a lack of motivation produced by the individual's sentiments of incompetence and powerlessness when confronted with the activity. Vallerand (1997) recognized four sources for demotivation, namely: - Learners believe that they lack the merit and ability to accomplish a special activity. - Learners think that the strategies of learning are ineffective. - Learners come to the conclusion that the effort and the energy needed or the intended result is too much.
- Learners start feeling that their attempts are not responding and enough regarding the special task to be accomplished. According to Dörnyei (2001), “demotivation concerns specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action” (p. Thus, demotivation could be regarded as the negative counterpart of motivation. Furthermore, a demotivated learner is someone who has lost his or her interest for some reasons.
The loss of interest can derive from various sources of demotivation. For instance, a lecturer who cannot control the class or a boring textbook can act as a demotivation for a learner.