Rationale
English has been more and more important in Vietnam in recent decades
The number of people using it and the purposes they use it for are increasing
English is now widely known as the main language of intercommunication, international commerce and business, science and technology ect besides the native language used Thus, people with good English competence are needed in any fields, consequently, these people may have more opportunities to develop themselves such as have a good job, earn more money, widen knowledge and have a better life As a result, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across Vietnam Both children and adults learn English with different purposes Children learn it as compulsory subject at schools and their parents want that Students learn English to pass the exams, to study aboard or to find a good job in the future Adults learn English in order to communicate with foreigner, do business or just to relax with English music, films and newspapers and books In general, despite deriving from different purposes, everyone wants to turn English to become their own instrument in their lives
As an English teacher, students’ proficiency and interests in learning English are things that get lots of the teacher’s care and time Truly, we, teachers, really want to have an effective and interesting lesson each day And it is clear that students also hope and like to learn in those lessons like that However, teachers often say that they can easily recognize students who do things not relevant to the lesson or do not pay attention to the lessons, some even say that because they do not like English As an English teacher, I am always thinking about this and really want to find the solutions for eliminating factors that demotivate students’ motivation in learning English because the researchers on motivation and demotivation have pointed out that “the strongest influence on motivation was not the presence of motivators in the classroom, but the absence of demotivators” (Christophel
&Gorham, 1995) At the beginning of the semester, the absence of context demotivators and the absence of teacher behavior demotivators positively affect motivation This is true for both children and adults
This is the reason why I choose studying on factors demotivating students in learning English is the topic for my minor thesis This study will examine main types of demotivating factors that students meet It also investigates the ways students want their teachers do to help them overcome demotivation and it suggests activities and techniques that help both teachers and students increase motivation in learning English The researcher hopes that this study will figure out a concrete picture of demotivation in learning English of first-year non- major students at University of Labor and Social Affairs (ULSA) and it will be of help for teachers who want to increase students’ motivation in English learning.
Aims of the study
This survey is conducted in order to investigate demotivating factors to the first year non-major students’ English learning at ULSA The researcher would expect to reveal the main factors that demotivate students in learning based on the result of research, this study will propose some solutions that can help students overcome demotivation as well as enhance motivation in learning English.
Research Questions
In order to reach the research aims, the researcher attempted to answer the following questions:
1 What factors demotivate students in learning English?
2 What factors most frequently demotivate them in learning English?
Scope of the study
There are various factors affecting students’ learning English However, as the title of the study, the present research only focuses on exploring the demotivating factors at ULSA The reasons why the 1 st year students chosen as the subjects of the study will be further discussed in the following chapter.
Methods
This study which is both quantitative and qualitative consists of two instruments to collect the data Firstly, the survey questionnaire was conducted with 140 students from 4 classes of four faculties at ULSA, 35 students in each class would be choose according to their even numbers in the name list Secondly, semi-structured interview with 20 students, who have done the questionnaire, were carried out.
Organization of the study
This survey-designed study consists of three parts
Part A deals with the introduction This chapter provides the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods, and design of the study
Part B presents the development, which includes three chapters
Chapter 1 deals with theoretical background and academic viewpoints on definition of motivation, the role of motivation, definition of demotivation, and factors that demotivate students in learning and demotivation in learning English, some previous studies related and the case of ULSA
Chapter 2 describes methodology This chapter is composed of description of methodology of the study, participants and setting of the study, data collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data analysis procedure
Chapter 3 presents data analysis and discussion This chapter analyses, discusses the results achieved from the study and offers some implications of the study
Part C is the conclusion that presents the author’s reflection and the outcomes of the study as well as indicates some limitations of the study and finally gives some suggestions for further research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Motivation
Among various factors that affect teaching and learning a foreign language process of the learners, motivation plays an important role in learning process which is thought to be a crucial reason for different achievement As Scheidecker and Freeman (1999:116, quoted in Dornyei (2001)) strongly stated that “Motivation is, without question, the most complex and challenging issue today” Therefore, motivation has widely been studied and researched by teachers and researchers as a determinant factor to success or failure in second/ foreign language learning
Although motivation has been discussed widely among the teachers and researchers, there are various definitions for motivation
The current spirit in motivational psychology is characterized by cognitive approach in which individual’s behavior is influenced by one’s conscious attitudes, thoughts, beliefs and interpretation of things or in other words, how mental processes are transformed into action (Dornyei, 2001) In his view, the way people do something, which is first determined by their beliefs about the value of what they do and then how to face with challenge together with the support they get from around, i.e people or environmental working – is motivation “[Motivation] is an abstract, hypothetical concept that we use to explain why people think and behave as they do” (Dornyei, 2001) However, this opinion is not fulfilled because in some cases, there is no motivation Later, his definition was clearer when he suggested three dimensions responsible for motivation: “the choice of particular action”, “the effort expended on it” and “the persistence with it”
One popular definition for motivation proposed by Gardner in his study of social psychology and second language learning (1985), which regards motivation as “the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitude toward learning the language” In his view, motivation is the combination of effort, desire and favorable attitude that belong to the interior dimension of learners It is detectable that he neglected other aspects of motivation such as learners’ stimulation linked to parents, schools, finance, peers, and contents for instance
Dornyei and Otto (1988) concluded that motivation is a “dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person that initiate, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritized, operationalised and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out” In their view, motivation is a complex phenomenon of arousal which can change when a person works out and is an influential factor throughout an action or a process
In short, motivation seems to be considered a highly complex issue which is easier to describe than to define Different researchers have different ways of defining motivation since they study motivation in different contexts: different languages, with different subjects and different teaching -learning conditions In this study, the researcher understand motivation under three important factors of motivation found by prior researchers: (1) the determination to the goal of learning a language, (2) the effort to achieve that goal, (3) the maintenance of that goal or effort and one thing should be remember about motivation is that it is not stable all the time, motivation can change or be changed, increase or decrease over periods
1.1.2 The importance of motivation in foreign or second language learning
Many researchers have shown that motivation plays an important role in determining the result of foreign/ second language learning process According to Brown (2007), “motivation is one of the most important factors that will influence students’ English achievement or performance It has a close relationship with students’ success or failure in English teaching in college Therefore teacher must pay more attention to this aspect” Motivated students are likely to learn more and learn more quickly than students who are less motivated They also participate willingly, actively and pay more attention to a certain learning task or activity and gain more success and high marks
Gardner (1985) stated that positive attitude and motivation are related to success in learning a second/ foreign language A highly motivated individual will want to learn the language, enjoy learning the language, and strive to learn the language
According to Naiman et al (1978), the most successful students display certain typical characteristics which are clearly associated with motivation as follow Students really want to solve the tasks and challenges, and they are confident in their success They think that success in learning is important to display their own self-imagine They have a need to attain and overcome difficulties and get the goals that they set out to do before These students go for demanding challenges and top grades, high proficiency They are aware of the goals of learning and direct them to get them They consistently spend high level of effort in learning and are not encouraged by setback or apparent lack of progress They are not disturbed or frustrated by situations involving a temporary lack of understanding or confusion
They are patient to be confident that understanding will come later
All researchers agreed that motivation is a determinant to learning success
Motivation helps to form good habits of learning (pay more attention,), right behavior (aware of the goals, want to attain language, go for demanding challenges) and all successful students show motivation as evidence contributing to their success
Moreover, motivation not only has positive effects on motivated students but also influence others’ motivation It can be spread among students Motivated students can be sources to engage or stimulate others to learn when they interact or work in groups during tasks or activities because in the light of psychology people tend to be affected unconsciously
In short, it is clearly that motivation is the essence of language learning because it affects directly to students’ behaviors, habits, and it determines the success or failure in foreign language learning.
Demotivation
Demotivation is a relatively new issue in the field of second/foreign language learning Christophel and Gorham (1995) believed that “the strongest influence on motivation was not the presence of motivativators in the classroom, but the absence of demotivators” It has been regarded as “another side of motivation”(e.g Dornyei &
Ushioda, 2011; Falout & Maruyama, 2004; Sakai & Kikuchi, 2009) or in other words, the negative of motivation which “has a negative impact on students, preventing them from gaining expected learning outcomes” (Trang & Baldauf, 2007)
According to Oxford Advance dictionary, “demotivate” means “to make somebody feel that it is not worth making an effort” Because there is something that raises meaninglessness or worthlessness in their mind when doing anything, they do not want to pursue the task as well as try to perform it without any effort
According to Zhang (2007), demotivation can be defined as “the force that decrease students’ energy to learn and/or the absence of the force that stimulates students to learn”
According to Dorneyi (2001), demotivation refers to “external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action” However, not all the researchers agreed with this definition Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) stated that “Dorneyi limited the original definition of demotivation to only external factors” and they also pointed out that in fact, Dorneyi (2001) himself considered self-confident reduction and negative attitude as demotivating factors in learning process Then they felt the need to expand Dorneyi’s definition of demotivation, concluding both external and internal factors which reduce or diminish motivation during the process of learning The loss of interest can originate from many sources of demotivation, such as a teacher who cannot control the class or a boring text book can be a demotive for learners or learners feel demotivated because of experiences of failure
Moreover, as mentioned above, motivation consists of 2 types: intrinsic and extrinsic, for example, someone learns English intrinsically because he/she finds a sense of pleasure when doing a task whereas extrinsically motivated learners learn English due to the rewards, high marks or job promotion These two types can be independent or relevant to each other in contributing to learners’ motivation For example, extrinsic motivation can change into intrinsic when rewards of learning English enhance learners’ confidence and love to the language
From the sources of motivation, researchers agree that motivation can be affected internally (inside the learners) or externally (outside the learners) Thus, the other side of motivation, demotivation, also refers to both internal and external forces which decrease interest and motivation in language learning process
Demotivation is different from the total loss of learner’s motivation According to Dorneyi (2001), amotivation refers to lack of motivation resulting from realizing that there is no point Amotivation was introduced by Deci and Ryan (1985) as a constituent of their self-determination theory and they (1985, as explained by Dornyei 2001a: 144) define it as “the relative absence of motivation that is not caused by a lack of initial interest but rather by the individual’s experiencing feelings of incompetence and helplessness when faced with the activity”
In fact, the positive influences that come from motivational basis can still be there and positive motives may still be active in a learners’ learning process together with negative influences However, through time, demotivation can develop into amotivation (Dornyei, 2001), that is, gradually demotivating experiences can lead to the total loss of motivation, i.e amotivation Dornyei and Ushioda (2011) have argured that “Some demotives can lead to general amotivation regarding the particular activity (e.g a series of horrendous classroom experiences can reduce the learner’s self-efficacy)”
In this study, demotivation is understood as a process of reducing or diminishing learners’ interest and motivation which concerns both external and internal factors
1.2.2 Factors that demotivate students in learning
Because of its strong impacts in learning, researchers have tried to investigate factors that demotivate students to learn The studies discussed in the following illustrate that demotivation is a matter of concern worldwilde
According to Chambers (1993), the underlying causes of student demotivation perceived were quite different by the teachers and the students While teachers perceived them to be related to psychological, attitudinal, social, historical and geographical reasons The students perceived the causes of demotivation were various, i.e, teacher’ behaviours, class size, ect However, Chambers did not try to determine what demotivating factors were or to look at them critically, he just listed the students’ points of view
Oxford (1998) conducted a qualitative study on demotivation, which focused on a teacher’s influence on both motivation and demotivation The finding from her study revealed four broads sources of demotivation:
1 The teacher’s personal relationship with students
2 The teacher’s attitude towards the course and materials
3 Style conflicts between teachers and students
4 The nature of classroom activities
In his study, the prompts specifically referred to the teacher’s responsibility as a source of demotivation, participants in the study might not provide other potential sources
According Dornyei’s study (originally in 1998 but based on 2001), there are
9 categories of factors that demotivate students in foreign language learning as follows:
3 Reduction of self-confidence due to the experience of failure or success
4 Negative attitude toward the foreign language study
5 Compulsory nature of the foreign language study
6 Interference of another foreign language that pupils are studying
7 Negative attitude toward the community of the foreign language spoken
9 Coursebooks Among 9 factors, the teacher factor ranks first Teachers’ personality, commitment to teaching, attention paid to the student, competence, teaching method, style and rapport with students can have a direct impact on students demotivation
Students also blame teachers’ indirect negative influence such as rigid classroom management for their lack of confidence Therefore, it is important to analyze the teacher factors on order to ascertain possible solution to demotivation
Based on the theoretical basis mentioned above, factors demotivating students in foreign language learning can be classified into 3 large groups: teacher- related factors, learner-related factors, teaching and learning conditions
According to Dornyei (2001), demotivating factors related to teacher sources consist of teachers’ personalities, commitment, competence and teaching methods
“The personality is the totality of character and behavioral traits to an individual No two persons are alike in this respect, not even identical twins”
(Cruickshank, Jenkins, and Metcalf, 2003) Teachers with a good personality promote students’ motivation In fact, many students are excited, passionate and fun to learn with a teacher because of the personality of the teacher is good and interesting But on the contrary there are also some students who feel discouraged, demotivated, lazy, indifferent, sleepy and noisy because the teacher’s personality is not good and not interesting Thus, teacher’s negative attitudes have a strong impact on students’ motivation Teacher’s love and caring seem to be the most important characteristics for a teacher to exhibit Hunsaker (1988) claimed that “the main value of humor in the classroom lies in its use to stimulate, illustrate, motivate and ease tensions” In Weaver and Cotrell’s study (1987), one student said “it’s not so much sense of humor; they need to show students that they are human” Weaver and Cotrell (1987) established 10 steps for teachers to become more comfortable and humorous in the classroom:
2 Be spontaneous/ natural (Relax control a little/ break the routine occasionally; Be willing to laugh at yourself/ don’t take yourself so seriously)
3 Foster an informal climate/ be conversational and loose
4 Begin class with a thought for the day, a poem, a short anecdote, or a humorous example
5 Use stories and experiences that emerge from the subject matter Use personal experiences
6 Relate things to the everyday life of students
7 Plan lectures/ presentations in short segments with humor injected Plan a commercial break Use a slide or overhead
8 Encourage a give-and-take climate between yourself and students Play off their comments Learn their names
9 Ask students to supply you with some of their jokes, stories, or anecdotes
10 Tell a joke or two Do outrageous things Admit you are no good at it
• Teacher’s commitment to the students’ progress
Besides, teachers’ commitment strongly affects to students’ motivation as many researchers have believed that the teacher’s commitment is the significant predictor of student effectiveness This is based on arguments claiming that student achievement is intertwined with teacher’s commitment to their works, their school and their students (Firestone and Rosenblum, 1988) According to Dorneyi (2001), teachers should show commitment towards their students’ learning and progress, at the same time they should care for what their students have learnt and succeeded For example, teachers should offer concrete assistance; offer to meet students individually to explain things; or allow students to call at home when they have a problem
Many researchers have agreed that the most demotivating factor is teacher’s incompetence, which can be defined as a cluster of behavior that reflect teachers’ indifference to the students and/or the course such as confusing and/or boring lectures, unfair testing and information overload A few studies by Fergusson
Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam
Dorneyi’s study (originally in 1998 but based on 2001) was qualitative The Subjects consist of 50 pupils in various secondary schools in Budapest, Hungary who were studying either German or English as a foreign language and they had been considered as being particularly demotivated by their teachers or peers He collected the data by using structured interviews from 10 to 30 minutes The subjects were asked to answer a list of questions but they were allowed to speak freely
From the data, nine categories of demotivating factors were the teacher, self- confident reduction, inadequate school facilities, negative attitude toward L2, the compulsory nature of the L2 learning, interference of another foreign language, negative attitude toward the L2 community, attitude of group member and course book
The teacher-related factors accounted more than half of all demotivating factors Two factors with significant proportions (more than 10%) were inadequate school facilities and negative attitude toward the L2 The strength of Dorneyi’s study laid in his focused approach to study demotivation In detail, he focused students who were identified as demotivated one, which offered details and comprehensive insights into the sources of demotivation However, the source of demotivating factors might be wider if the study consists of students who are not specifically demotivated because in fact, every leaner has some experience of being demotivated at some time and different levels during the process of L2 learning
Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) investigated 6 factors from reviewing previous studies of demotivation in learning, concluding teachers, characteristics of classes, experiences of failure, class environment, class materials, and lack of interest They administrated a 35-item questionaired to 656 Japanese high school students and identified the following sources of demotivation: 1) Learning contents and materials, 2) Teachers’ competence and teaching style, 3) Inadequate school facilities, 4) Lack of intrinsic motivation, and 5) Test scores In contrast to both previous studies, teacher-related factors were not the most demotivating factors, that learning contents and materials and test scores are the prominent demotivating factors for various students
Kikuchi (2011) conducted a research among 1334 Japanese senior high school students at 7 high schools The questionnaire was used as the data instrument The demotivation was found from these sources: students’ difficult experience or loss of interest in leanring In addition, influence from teachers also causes demotivation and material focusing on difficult reading passage and/or vocabulary causes the strongest sense of demotivation Kikuchi’s study also reviews on demotivation and demotivators of previous study in detail The questionnaires he used depend on analysis of other study and chose the most effective points such as from Dornyei, Oxford and Gardner His study is one part of the background for this study However, only questionnaire was used If there were interviews with students, the deeper information could be collected from students
In case of Vietnamese students, Trang & Baldauf (2007) conducted a research on demotivation from 100 university students in learning English The students were asked to write an essay of factors that demotivate them on learning a foreign language Trang & Baldauf (2007) found out that: Students found demotivation to be an unavoidable phenomenon in English learning in Vietnam and they offered a framework of demotivation Students mentioned demotivation coming from internal attributions such as attitude toward English, experiences of failure or lack of success, or self-esteem Students also mentioned the sources of demotivation as external attributions such as from teachers (behavior, competence, methods etc.), from learning environment (classroom atmosphere, opportunities to use English, learning conditions, text books ect.) And other demotivating factors such as obligation (compulsory nature of English, parents’ interference) or negative changes (teacher replacements, learning environmental changes)
Trang and Baldauf’s (2007) study revealed that demotivation existing in EFL learning in Vietnam is serious phenomenon The findings of their study seem to be similar to the previous study when it stated that the biggest source of demotivation is relevant to the teachers Among the four categories related to teachers, teaching methods were considered to be the largest source of students’ demotivation Second, teachers’ inappropriate behavior in classroom was also a major demotivating factor because it hurt students’ feeling and left them with negative attitude toward English
Among the internal factors, students’ experiences of failure or lack of success are the highest Another important finding in their study was that many students felt demotivated because their background knowledge of English was not adequate The study also mentioned that university syllabus usually set progressive standards for students which they were asked to meet Therefore, students who failed in previous classes find themselves lack of knowledge and were incapable of dealing with current lessons, and felt demotivated This study is very helpful to the researcher’s understanding because it was conducted with Vietnamese students and revealed various demotivating factors that students were influenced However, I think if they used questionnaires, the results would be more specific because students might not aware of all factors that demotivate them
Xuyen (2010), conducted a research to find out demotivating factors to the second –year students in learning English in faculty of Banking and Finance at Hanoi University of Business and Technology In the study, two survey questionnaires were delivered to 269 students and 8 teachers Besides, the semi- structured interview was conducted with 20 students to identify their perception of demotivators in English class The study shows that of all demotivators were found, subject-related factors were the most frequent, followed by learning-environment- related factors and teacher-related factors, and student-related factors came last The researcher found this research was very scientific and believable in the way she collected data All the survey questions were delivered by email, thus, it gave flexible time for students to think and answer the questions It also opened the researcher’s perception of demotivating factors that the researcher’s student might have because there is the similarity between the contexts of Xuyen’s study and the researcher’s, all are related to social and economic subjects
In short, each study reflects different points in investigating demotivating factors just because the researchers used different ways to collect data in different contexts In addition, the subjects and the learning conditions are not the same
However, from these studies above, it can be concluded that, demotivation varies from many sources, such as teachers, students, learning conditions etc.
Demotivation and English learning at ULSA
Demotivation can be at any context and level of language teaching and learning, with nearly 4 years of teaching English at ULSA, the researcher have recognized the exit and effect of this phenomenon In lots of talks in breaks or meetings, the first year students often receive a lot of attention, especially at the beginning of the school year because they are new students Many teachers have often claimed that students have not paid attention to the lessons and have actively not taken part in the activities They also said that although students at least had learnt English at high school, they seem to be beginners in learning English at university In addition, many teachers have claimed students’ inconfidence when answering teachers’ questions The teachers also claimed about the big class size, form 65 to 80, it is hard for the teachers to conduct a lesson and keep the class discipline About students, through many times attending other classes and my class, many students have shown their uninterest and inactiveness in learning They just keep silent until their teacher calls or only take part in some activities or do their private things As mentioned before, decreasing in motivation has strong impact on the quality of teaching and learning There open a big gap that need to fulfill – what are the causes of these phenomenon and how to sort out these problems? From the interesting theories and the factual context of teaching and learning English at ULSA, the researcher finds the need to conduct a study on demotivating factors to the first-year non-major students in learning English
In conclusion, this chapter has reviewed some of the most popular theories on motivation, effects of motivation, demotivation, and factors that demotivate students in learning foreign/ second language After considering some previous pieces of research on these matters, the researchers realized that the more important role motivation is believed to play in EFL learning, the more common and serious problem demotivation is in many EFL learning environment in Vietnam in general and in the researcher’s university, ULSA in particular However, demotivation has not been paid more attention from Vietnamese teachers and researchers From the factual contexts that the researcher works in and finds the matter interesting and necessary, this study aims to measure the factors that demotivate first- year non- major students at ULSA in learning English Among the factors identified by previous researchers and depending on the context of teaching and learning English at ULSA, the researcher wants to put emphasis on the following factors: (1) the teacher-related factors (2) the student-related factors; and (3) learning conditions.
METHODOLOGY
Participants and setting of the study
This survey was carried out with 140first -year non-major students from 4 faculties of ULSA Of the 140 participants, 35 students came from the Accounting Department, 35 participants were the students of the Labor Management Department, 35 cases belonged to the Insurance Department and the remaining 35 students studied in the Social Work Department All of them compulsorily studied English for General Purpose as a foreign language in their first school year like other universities in Vietnam Their age ranged from 18 to 20 There were 140 participants for the study of which 129 were females and 11 were males Most of them came from countryside and mountainous areas ( 84 students) and towns (29students) while 27 students were from cities like Hanoi, Haiphong or Nam Dinh
Their different places of domicile somehow led to a greatly various experience in their learning the English language
Most of them started learning English before attending the university The length of time they spent on English ranged from 0 to 12 years Among 140 students, 53.6% (75 students) had spent from 7-8 years studying this language;
20.7% (29 students) had learnt English for 3-4 years while 8.5% (12 students) had learnt English for 9-10 years while 9.3% (13 students) have had 5-6 years to learn English and 0.5 % (7students ) have been learning English for 11-12 years
Especially, 2.9% (4 students) have never learnt English before None of them had learnt English aboard
To pass the entrance exams to be students at ULSA, among them, 42 students had English as one of the main subjects
When this research was carried out in May 2013, the participants were in their second term of the first school year Up to the time of the study, they had been studying English at ULSA for the first term and 7 weeks (6 periods per week), 87 periods in total and took one end-of-term examinations of English The second semester was chosen to the time for this survey because at that time, students were familiar with the students’ life as well as gained some experiences of English learning and did exams at university
To some extent, some students especially who come from Hanoi and some cities are good at English knowledge and skills The others are evaluated as in the low level in English Consequently, there are only a small number of students who actually have positive motivation in learning; the rest have strong pressure to pass exams
This study was conducted at ULSA, a university in Hanoi, where English has been teaching as a compulsory subject like many other universities in Vietnams
The book used for the first year students at ULSA is Lifeline – Elementary by Tom Hutchinson, published by Oxford University Press The course book at it consists of
14 units with 14 different topics relating to our life such as entertainment, survivors, travel, fashion, health, experiences and so on Each unit is divided into 5 sections: grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing, listening and speaking, and pronunciation Especially, the book supports students with some supplementary such as grammar reference, functional language, tape script, work book and key
At University of Labor and Social Affairs, 9 teachers take charge of teaching Basic English Among them, 4 have MA Degree and the rest hold a bachelor degree in English Language Teaching Five of them have more than 5 years teaching experience
To become students at ULSA, they have to pass the entrance exam in different groups such as A, A1, C or D At the university, there are approximately
65 -80 students with different levels of English were put to study in the same class and same textbook It is easy to see that the number of students in a class at ULSA is very large; from experiences of more than 3 years of teaching, it is still a big barrier to my teaching
Although most students attended every lesson, many of them showed their uninterest in learning English in class Therefore they did not want to learn Many commented that they came to classes because teachers marked their attendance and if they were off more than 20% of the total lessons, they could not attend the final exam
Therefore, this survey was conducted to investigate factors demotivating students in English learning and to suggest some resolutions.
Data collection
To fit the purpose of the study, the instruments used to collect data are the questionnaire and informal interview for students
Questionnaire was used to collect the data because according to Nunan (1992), it is relatively popular means of collecting data of its advantages Moreover, questionnaires are considered an effective way of collecting data quickly in term of affective dimension of teaching and learning as beliefs, attitudes, motivation and references (Richard and Lockhart, 1994) Questionnaire for this research is composed of 2 parts The first part aims to collect information of respondents including gender, age, and length of English learning The next part was used to elicit students’ opinion about demotivating factors in their learning Here, a Likert scale is used in the closed questions in order that the responses could readily be quantified and analyzed The participants are required to rate each item on a 4-point scale by circling the response
(1, 2, 3, or 4) which coded for different levels of agreement or other categories The survey questions for the questionnaires were adapted from Kikuchi’s study (2011) (See Appendix) Because in his study, Kikuchi mentioned various previous studies to analyze and test out theories and point out which factors have strong effects on demotivation persuasively All the factors for his survey and questionnaires were taken under consideration and deep analysis In this study, the questionnaires (part 2) were adapted from Kikuchi (2011), Learners Perceptions of Demotivators in Japanese High School English Classroom
Structure of the demotivation questionnaire Part 1: Gender, hometown, the length of learning English Part 2: Demotivating factors
The questionnaire for students consists of 26 questions (see Appendix) For every question, informants are asked to tick their view
Twenty-six questions of the surveys for students are grouped into 3 parts as follows:
A Students’ opinions on demotivating factors relating to themselves
- A1 Lack of basic knowledge ( Question 10)
B Students’ opinions on demotivating factors relating to teachers
C Students’ opinions on demotivating factors relating to tlearning conditions
(Questions 25, 26) All questions were in Vietnamese to ensure full understanding of all students
Questionnaires were used as the main instrument in this study However, using of questionnaires also has some disadvantages, such as the answers may be simple and superficial, the respondents are unreliable and motivated, and may face with literacy problems, the researchers may have little or no opportunity to correct the respondents’ mistakes and hallo effect (which concerns the human tendency to over generalize) (Dornyei, 2005) Therefore, after conducting the questionnaires, the interviews were carried out with 20 students to get better insights into the research questions and to discuss for further information about the items raised in the questionnaires The participants were invited to answer the questions with the researcher’s explanation of the questions and clarifying unclear answers, each interview lasted about 15 to 20 minutes The informal talks were sometimes done between the researcher and students at English lesson breaks
The purpose of interview is to investigate:
- Students’ ideas about English language and English learning
- Factors demotivate them to learn English (teacher-related factors, student- related factors, learning condition)
The answer from interviews with students were named S1 –S20 All the answers then were mentioned in the following part
All the interviews were carried out in Vietnamese in the form of an informal conversation between the researcher and the students The data collected from interview were recorded and then translated into English words for the purposes of the study
The data collection procedures were conducted one week before the ending of the second semester in May 2013
Before giving questionnaires, the researcher explained the purpose of the study and instructed students to finish all questions depending on their case in 20 or
25 minutes They were also informed that all their information was kept in secret and for researching purpose only so that they could willingly answer all their questions Fortunately 160 questionnaires were collected
After that, deep-information about demotivating factors was gained by interviews After the research analyzed the questionnaires, 20 students were chosen to participate in the interview.
All collected data were firstly read through to obtain a sense of the overall data and the interview transcriptions were jotted down Then, the findings were written in forms of reflective notes and summaries of field notes for the researcher easy to follow before the information was displayed in forms of tables and figures
All collected data were analyzed by researcher alone to avoid inconsistency or possible biases.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Findings
To answer the two research questions, the questionnaire was used The data will be counted and put in the tables and figures as follows
3.1.1 Factors that demotivating students to learn English at ULSA
This part aims to answer the question:
(1) What factors demotivate students in learning English?
The first source of demotivation, students, will be analyzed according to the table of data In the table, only the % of participants agreeing and strongly agreeing are mentioned for the purposes of finding out the demotivation factors
Group Items Questions % of participants agreeing and strongly agreeing
Group Items Questions % of participants agreeing and strongly agreeing
Table 3.1: Students’ opinions on student-related factors
( A =Group of Student – related factors, A1-A4 = Factors; Q1–Q10: Questions from 1-10 about student-related factors)
Figure 3.1: Students’ opinion on Student-related factors
(A1= Lack of basic knowledge, A2= Student’s personality, A3=Lack of confidence, A4 =Student’s belief)
As can be seen from the table 3.1 and figure 3.1, a large number of students agreed that they lacked of basic knowledge (75.7%) and confidence (75,4% ) in learning English while most of them said that they found English and learning English is very important (85%) and English at university is not impractical The researcher found the most common and significant answers in the interview as follow:
“Today English is very important because it is an international language
People use it in all fields and aspects of life If any wants to find a good job after graduating, he should have to learn English well” (S1)
“English is useful I want to learn English to read books and newspapers in English and to communicate with foreigners” (S5)
However, among 20 interviewers, more than two third of them said that, English is important because it is their subject and they have to learn to pass the exams as one said “If you don’t learn English, you can never pass the exams to leave this university” (S10)
It seems that many students lack intrinsic motivation to learn English at ULSA, they just learn because of exams or as a condition to leave the university
In addition, many of them reported that English is a difficult language for them to learn (75%) and half of them (50%) admitted that they lost interest in learning English at the university due to the reasons above Besides, students thought they are able to learn English (55%) and their personality is not the strong reason to demotivated them in learning
In the interview, students revealed many parts of English difficult such as grammar, pronunciation or skills As one student claimed in the interview that:
For me, English pronunciation and stress is the most difficult, I cannot imitate the way my teacher makes model the sound like Vietnamese rather English and I never remember where the word tress is (S3)
Some others found difficulties in listening and speaking skills:
“I find listening is the most difficult skill I can understand my teacher in class but I cannot understand what is said in the tape.” (S4, S7, S11)
“Although I have learnt English for nearly 10 years, I often feel nervous and confused when speaking English and I can express my ideas clearly as well as speak fluently and naturally” (S8)
“For me, all parts are difficult because I lack basic knowledge of the language when I was at high school.” (S19)
In the interviews, the students also strongly agreed that, lack of basic knowledge lets them find a lot of difficulty in learning and demotivate them
Fifteen students said that they have lost basic knowledge of English since they were at high school; thus, when they studied at university, they could not catch up with their classmates, as well as followed teachers’ lessons As one student said:
“When I was at high school, I did not focus on English because all of my time and energy was spent on my main subjects, math – physics – chemistry to pass the entrance exam to university Now at university, I cannot follow my teachers and catch up with my classmates although how hard I have tried I feel disappointed and do not want to learn English.” (S13)
Especially, some students have never learnt English before, so learning English at university is their great challenges
“This is the first time I have known English; my high school did not teach it
It is very strange and difficult for me to learn from the beginning while my friends are good at it I feel bored with learning.” (S14)
In the interview, students said that they often feel unconfident in their English Their knowledge of the language and the skills are not good are the causes for this As one student said
“Whenever I speak in class I am often afraid of my classmates laughing at me.”
“My knowledge is not very good makes me feel unsafe and demotivated in language learning.” (S6)
“My friends are much better at English than me I often feel unconfident about that ” (S15)
It can be concluded that lack of basic knowledge and lack of self-confidence strongly demotivate first-year non-major students at ULSA in learning English
There is a truth that some students are really hard-working but their results are often not good
The second group is the teacher-related factors The data was put in the Table and Figure Only the percentage of participants agreeing and strongly agreeing is mentioned
Group Items Questions % of participants agreeing and strongly agreeing
Table 3.2: Students’ opinions on teacher-related factors
(B =Group of Teacher– related factors, B1-B4 = Factors; Q11–Q16: Questions from 11-16 about teacher-related factors)
Figure 3.2: Students’ opinion on teacher-related factors
(B1=Teacher’s personality, B2= Teacher’s commitment, B3= Teacher’s incompetence, B4= the teaching methods)
As can be seen from the table 3.2 and the figure 3.2, although half of the students felt demotivated because they found that teachers usually did not care whether they understand their lessons and instructions or not and seemed not to be enthusiastic, most of them stated that their teachers’ competence and personality are quite acceptable This makes the relationships between teachers and students are tense and unfriendly as in the interview, they said that:
“My teacher only focused on her lectures, not her students She has never asked whether we understood the lectures or we needed further explanation ”(S1)
“My teacher is very strict and she always gives me low marks She seems not to know my effort and I feel that my teacher doesn’t like me at all.”(S9)
But one student said “I love my English teacher, she gives the lectures carefully and often asks “Are you clear about that or do you have any questions?
She is also friendly, too” (S7)
In addition, more than two third of them said that the teaching methods demotiavted them to learn (40.6%), in which 62.1% of the students found the way teachers give lessons boring “all the lessons are the same” (S15, 2, 18, 7) (from the interview) and 47.1% of the participants stated that the speed of teaching is not appropriate, “the teaching is so fast” (S17, 18) but they did not agree that their teachers use too much Vietnamese as one student said “I think my teacher uses English more” Thus it cannot be concluded that the teaching methods is the main source of demotivation to the students
In short, the way teachers conducting lessons remarkably affect students’ motivation Any student becomes demotivated with uncreative and boring lessons
In addition, when students cannot catch their teachers’ commitment, they also feel demotivated
Besides factors related to students and teachers, insufficient learning conditions also demotivate students as the table below reveals:
% of participants agreeing and strongly agreeing
Table 3.3: Students’ opinions on factors related to learning conditions
(C =Group of Factors relating to learning conditions, C1- C4 = Factors; Q20–
Q26: Questions from 20-26 about learning conditions)
Figure 3.3: Students’ opinions on factors related to learning conditions
(C1=Big size class, C2= Inadequate facilities, C3= Boring atmosphere, C4=
As can be seen from the table 3.3 and figure 3.3, among factors related to learning condition, more than 60% of the students agreed that the English class atmosphere is the most demotivating factor while the big class size is found second demotivating factor with 57.9% of the students agreed
“The atmosphere in class directly affects us We will feel more interested in the lessons if the class is interesting and lively However, my English class is so quiet and boring Many friends do not pay attention to the lessons, but they just write, listen and look at the board as machines’ ”(S13 and same ideas with S16,
“The lessons do not attract us, so we don’t want to speak or answer when the teacher calls Besides, so many students are lazy and they do want to learn.” (S20)
“My friends don’t want to learn so when the teachers ask us to work in pairs or groups, I often feel uncomfortable” (S5)
It seems that their partners’ attitude has strong effects on their motivation to learn 52.9% of the students agreed that their partners are not active learners and 60.7 % agreed that they are noisy and inattentative learners
At ULSA, there are often 65 to 80 students in an English class The class size demotivated students a lot on their learning as some students said:
“Too many students in a class, my class have 67 I think it is not suitable for a language class, we have no chance to talk to the teacher.” (S7 And same ideas from many students)
“My class? 71students It is hard for me to concentrate on lessons in a crowd like that.”
The table 3.3 and figure 3.3 also reveal that, inadequate facilities in learning as well as teaching make them demotivated in learning English (55.7%)
Discussions
From the data above, it can be concluded that demotivation did exit in learning English to the first-year non-major student at ULSA Demotivating factors relate to students, teachers and learning conditions However, unlike previous researches, in this study, student-related factors are the most influenced not the teacher-related factors (as in Dornyei’s study, 2001 or Trang and Baldauf’s study, 2007)
Among them, student-related factors were considered having the most effect on student demotivation to learn English The study also reveals that the two mains factors are lack of basic knowledge in English and lack of confidence Every year, a large number of students come to the university of Labor and Social Affairs to study various fields and most of them (60%) come from the countryside or mountainous areas where they could not find good conditions for studying English or have never learnt English before Another reason is that the students’ goal of learning to pass the entrance exams to university If English is not in their 3 main subjects, they have tend to neglect it At ULSA, only a small number of students studies in group D or A1 It can infer that the rest learns English little or has no basic knowledge of English before studying at ULSA Lack of basic knowledge in English demotivated them to learn because , basic knowledge or prior knowledge of students at lower levels such as primary or secondary is very important because this knowledge will affect how the learner perceives new information, how a student organizes new information and how easily students make connections for new information (Marilla Svinicki) (http://teaching.uchicago.edu/oldsite/pod/93-94/dontknow.htm)
Besides, students’ confidence is also a big problem when 75.4% of them admitted that they often felt shy or afraid of making mistakes in class due to their lack of confidence This is not true for the students at ULSA but also seems to be true with Vietnamese students in general This becomes the hard barrier for them to take part actively in the lessons
From the discussion above, enhancing students’ knowledge of English and help them increasing their confidence are challenges in learning English for teachers Teachers should create safe and friendly environment to increase students’ confidence as well as give clear instructions and tasks or requirements suitable for them Besides, students should be instructed and shared the effective strategies to learn English from their peers and their teachers at the beginning of the course
In addition, to some extent, students’ personality and belief have demotivated them in learning English for example, if students think English at university is impractical, they will feel it is not worth to learn
The second source of demotivation to the students at ULSA is related to learning conditions, in which boring atmosphere and big class size were the most demotivating Most of them agreed that they felt boring in English lessons and their friends do not often learn seriously and do not take part in the lessons actively In addition, inadequate facilities are also a reason for boring lessons and demotivated students
The last source of demotivation, the teacher, among various factors in the survey, most of students agreed that their teachers are not uninteresting people, their language competence is sufficient enough to teach but teachers’ commitment and the teaching methods, to some extent, demotivate them to learn English It can be inferred that among many factors the relationships influenced by teachers’ personality such as enthusiasm, and teachers’ commitment between students and teachers strongly affect student’s motivation Therefore in order to develop a mutual relationship with their learners, teachers need to have insight into students’ backgrounds, interests, future goals, aims for English learning, and most importantly, different personalities Once they establish good relationship, teachers can apply specific teaching strategies and each teacher must care about their teaching methods which should be interesting, creative to inspire and involve students in the lessons
As one student reported “If my English teacher is friendlier and more enthusiastic, I will want to study more” and “the teachers should take care of us more”
In addition, 62.1% students agreed that the teaching is boring and demotivate them to learn English
Besides, big class size due to many reasons from university’s staff and leaders also lead to students’ demotivation Big class size eliminates student’s chances to communicate with teachers and it is also hard for the teachers to conduct lessons or keep the class disciplines Fortunately, the textbook seems not to be a big problem to student’s demotivation
In short, among factors demotivate students in learning English, in detail, they rank: (1) Student- related factors (students’ lack of basic knowledge of English and lack of confidence); (2) learning conditions (class atmosphere, inadequate facilities and big class size); (3) teacher-related factors (teachers’ lack of commitment.)
This chapter deals with the conclusions of the present study Following the conclusion are the implications The limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further study are presented in the final session of this chapter.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the aim of this study was to investigate the factors demotivating students in learning English among the first-year non-major students at ULSA There are three categories of factors that affect students’ motivation in English lessons, namely the students, the learning conditions and the teachers
Furthermore, among these categories, the results of the questionnaires along with the interviews provided show 2 main variables from students demotivating themselves such as lack of basic knowledge and lack of confidence In addition, the study shows that the large class size and boring atmosphere are the next demotivators Concerning with teachers, teachers’ commitment and the teaching methods, to some extent, were demotivated students in learning English.
Pedagogical implications
Drawing on the data analysis in the previous chapter, this section will discuss the issues concerned with the implications of the study for overcoming demotivation
The following should be considered to motivate students in English lessons:
First of all, confidence is an important predictor correlating to students’ motivation; therefore, reducing anxiety is in need Teachers should create a supportive and accepting learning environment in the English speaking classroom in which teachers and students have a close relationship This will facilitate students to express their opinions, develop their strength, reduce their weakness and make them not feel embarrassed when they make mistakes Students without being anxious in English class will be actively engaged in English tasks (Hughes, 2009)
Additionally, when students make mistakes, teachers shouldn’t treat it negatively
The support and encouragement from teacher are believed to release students’ anxiety and positively strengthen their motivation
Secondly, students’ basic knowledge plays an importance role in their learning at present and in the future Teachers should known their students’ levels and help them to increase their basic knowledge by giving them extra lessons, or guides to help them self-study
Thirdly, many students indicated that teachers play an important role in students’ performance It is effective for English teachers to apply various and interesting activities with moderate challenge to attract students to arouse their curiosity in English learning Therefore, well-chosen games are invaluable in promoting students’ interests, involvement and intrinsic motivation in learning English Some activities such as guessing game, gap filling, and chain story games are practical and interesting that teachers can use in English teaching In addition, role play, songs and summer English camping trips are effective to enhance students’ motivation Some real situation, discussion and creative activities such as create an advertisement should also be included in English class These methods are innovative, practical and effective with colorful pictures, plentiful information and effective interaction that arouse students’ curiosity and interest as well as promote their intrinsic motivation
Moreover, the class size should be limited at the number of 30 to 35 students so that the teacher can take care of all students and the students have chances to interact with their teachers.
Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research
Firstly, the study only uses survey questionnaires and interviews for the investigation into demotivating factors in learning English of the first-year non major students at ULSA, so to some extent, the finding may not be generalized to all the students of the university
Secondly, the demotivating factors found are in general for all English lessons, so further studies should focus on each skill of English language, or how students overcome demotivated after the researcher investigates demotivating factors to them and applies some suggestions
Thirdly, the study is mainly based on information obtained from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, therefore it should be supplemental by actual observations of students’ behaviors and teachers’ practices which is beyond the scope of the study
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Phiếu điều tra này nhằm mục đích xác định các yếu tố gây mất hứng thú học tiếng Anh của các em sinh viên không chuyên năm nhất tại trường Đại học Lao động –
Xã hội Những ý kiến của các em rất quan trọng với nghiên cứu này Các dữ liệu điều tra sẽ chỉ được phục vụ cho mục đích nghiên cứu
Xin chân thành cảm ơn sự cộng tác của các em!
Phần 1 Thông tin cá nhân của em
- Em đến từ đâu ? Nông thôn / Miền núi / Thị trấn / Thành phố
- Tính đến khi vào năm nhất đại học, em đã học tiếng Anh được bao lâu ? năm
- Em đã vào trường ĐH LD –XH theo khối thi nào? A A1 C D
Phần 2: Những nhân tố dưới đây đã gây giảm hứng thú học tiếng Anh của em ở mức độ thế nào
Em hãy đánh dấu tick () vào các ô ứng với ý kiến của mình
(1) Hoàn toàn đồng ý; (2) Đồng ý; (3) Không đồng ý; (4) Rất không đồng ý
A Các nhân tố liên quan đến sinh viên
1 Học tiếng Anh không phải là quan trọng với tôi
2 Tôi không hứng thú với việc học tiếng Anh
3 Tiếng Anh là một ngoại ngữ khó
4 Tôi thấy mình không có khả năng học tiếng Anh
5 Tiếng Anh tại trường đại học là không mang tính áp dụng thực tế
6 Tôi cảm thấy không tự tin về trình độ tiếng Anh của mình
7 Tôi không tham gia tích cực vào bài học
8 Tôi sợ mắc lỗi trước giáo viên và bạn học cùng lớp
B Các nhân tố liên quan đến giáo viên
C Các nhân tố liên quan đến điều kiện học tập
Cảm ơn rất nhiều vì sự hợp tác của em!
9 Tôi thường cảm thấy xấu hổ hay lo lắng khi nói Tiếng Anh hoặc trả lời câu hỏi trong lớp học
10 Tôi thiếu kiến thức tiếng Anh cơ bản trong thời gian học ở cấp III
11 Giáo viên thường la mắng và hay tức giận trên lớp
12 Giáo viên của tôi là một người nhàm chán
13 Cách giảng dạy của giáo viên nhàm chán
14 Giáo viên giảng bài quá nhanh
15 Giáo viên của tôi không có các hoạt động ngôn ngữ thú vị trên lớp
16 Giáo viên nói quá nhiều tiếng Việt
17 Phát âm tiếng Anh của giáo viên là chưa chuẩn
18 Giáo viên giải thích nội dung bài học không rõ ràng
19 Giáo viên thường không quan tâm sinh viên có hiểu bài học hay không cũng như không hướng dẫn sinh viên và dường như không nhiệt tình trong giảng dạy
20 Số lượng sinh viên trong một lớp là quá đông để học tiếng Anh
21 Trang thiết bị phục vụ cho dạy-học không đầy đủ như thiếu máy chiếu, micro, sách tham khảo,
22 Không khí trong các lớp học tiếng Anh tẻ nhạt
23 Bạn cùng lớp của tôi không chủ động tham gia bài học
24 Bạn cùng lớp của tôi là ồn ào, thiếu tập trung
25 Giáo trình LIFE – LINE không thú vị
26 Giáo trình khó với trình độ của sinh viên
This survey questionnaire is designed with the hope of identifying the factors that demotivate the first year non-major students in learning English at University of Labor and Social Affairs Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated Data collected will remain confidential and be used for the study purpose only
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
- Where are you from? The countryside / The mountainous area / Town / City
- How long have you been learning English? year(s)
- Which group did you choose to have the entrance examination to the university?
Part 2: Demotivating factors How do you agree with these statements?
(Please put a tick () in the appropriate column)
15 Teachers often shout or get angry
18 The pace of teaching is not appropriate
19 Teachers don’t give interesting language activities in class
20 Teachers speak too much Vietnamese
21 Teacher’s English pronunciation is not good
23 Teachers usually do not care whether we understand their lessons and instructions or not and seem not to be enthusiastic
1 Learning English is not important to me
2 I lost interest in learning English
3 English is not an easy language
4 I am unable to learn English
5 English at university is impractical
6 I did not understand even if I study hard
7 It is not easy for me to understand the lessons
8 I am unable to memorize English grammar, new words or sounds
9 I feel unconfident about my English
10 I cannot catch up with my friends
11 I do not participate actively into lessons
12 I’m afraid of making mistakes in front of my teachers and classmates
13 I often feel shy or nervous when speaking or answering questions in class
14 I lack basic knowledge of English during my high school time
24 The class size is too large for learning English
25 Resources are not enough for learning English such as lack of projector, micro, reference books
26 The English class is uninteresting
27 My partners are not active learners
28 My classmates are noisy, inattentative
29 The textbook LIFE-LINE is uninteresting
30 The textbook is difficult for me
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!
1 Bạn có nghĩ rằng học tiếng Anh là quan trọng không? Vì sao?
2 Mục đích của việc học tiếng Anh là gì?
3 Theo ý kiến của bạn , học tiếng Anh dễ hay khó ? Vì sao?
4 Bạn đã bao giờ mất hứng thú trong việc học tiếng Anh ? Nếu có, những yếu tố nào làm cho bạn cảm thấy mất hứng thú ?
5 Bạn nghĩ gì về tính cách của giáo viên , năng lực và phương pháp giảng dạy ?
6 Bạn có cảm thấy tự tin về tiếng Anh của bạn ? Vì sao?
7 Bạn cảm nhận thế nào về không khí lớp học tiếng Anh của bạn ? Tại sao?
8 Bao nhiêu học sinh trong lớp học của bạn ? Làm số lượng sinh viên ảnh hưởng đến việc học tiếng Anh của bạn?
9 Bạn có thích sách giáo trình LIFE –LINE không ? Tại sao?
1 Do you think learning English is important? Why?
2 What are your purposes of learning English?
3 In your opinion, is it easy or difficult to learn English? Why?
4 Have you ever been demotivated in learning English? If yes, what factors make you feel demotivated?
5 What do you think about your teachers’ personality, competence and teaching method?
6 Do you feel confident about your English? Why?
7 How do you feel about your class atmosphere? Why?
8 How many students in your class? Do the number of students affect to your English learning?
9 Do you like the textbook LIFE-LINE ? Why?
Result of demotivating factors questionnaire
1 Learning English is not important to me 0 21 70 49
2 I lost interest in learning English
3 English is not an easy language
4 I am unable to learn English
5 English at university is impractical
6 I feel unconfident about my English
7 I do not participate actively into lessons 7 31 84 17
8 I’m afraid of making mistakes in front of my teachers and classmates 4 95 34 7
9 I often feel shy or nervous when speaking or answering questions in class 10 88 21 21
10 I lack basic knowledge of English during my high school time 15 91 17 17
11.Teachers often shout or get angry 17 17 64 42
12.Teachers are an uninteresting person
14.The pace of teaching is not appropriate
15.Teachers don’t give interesting activities
16.Teachers speak too much Vietnamese
17.Teachers’ English pronunciation is not good
19 Teachers usually do not care whether we understand their lessons and instructions or not and seem not to be enthusiastic
20.The class size is too large for learning English 22 51 52 15
21.Resources are not enough for learning English such as lack of projector, micro
22 The English class is uninteresting 25 71 34 10
23 My partners are not active learners when working in groups or pairs 14 60 39 27
24 My classmates are noisy, inattentative 4 81 38 17
25 The textbook LIFE-LINE is uninteresting 14 25 70 31
26 The textbook is difficult for me 4 45 70 21
Result of demotivating factors questionnaire (%)
1 Learning English is not important to me 0 15 50 35
2 I lost interest in learning English 5 45 35 15
3 English is not an easy language 30 45 20 5
4 I am unable to learn English 5 40 42.9 12.1
5 English at university is impractical 0 22.9 52.9 24.2
6 I feel unconfident about my English 20 60 12.9 7.1
7 I do not participate actively into lessons 5 22.1 60 12.1
8 I’m afraid of making mistakes in front of my teachers and classmates 2.9 67.9 24.3 5
9 I often feel shy or nervous when speaking or answering questions in class 7.1 62.9 15 15
10 I lack basic knowledge of English during my high school time 10.7 65 12.1 12.1
11 Teachers often shout or get angry 12.1 12.1 45.8 30
14 The pace of teaching is not appropriate 12.1 35 35 17.9
15 Teachers don’t give interesting activities 10 32.9 40 17.1
17 Teachers’ pronunciation is not good 7.1 12.1 62.9 17.9
19 Teachers usually do not care whether we understand their lessons and instructions or not and seem not to be enthusiastic