Luận văn thạc sĩ a study on the motivation in learning english of gifted students at high school for gifted students, hanoi national university of education m a thesis linguist

VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN HOÀI LINH A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF GIFTED STUDENTS AT H[.]

VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - TRẦN HOÀI LINH A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF GIFTED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH CHUYÊN, TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN, ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2014 z VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - TRẦN HOÀI LINH A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF GIFTED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH CHUYÊN, TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN, ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân HANOI – 2014 z DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “A Study on the Motivation in Learning English of Gifted Students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education” is the result of my own work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi The research has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly and partially Hanoi, 2014 Trần Hoài Linh i z ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof Dr Hoang Van Van, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to my students, without whom it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last by not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii z ABSTRACT This study was intended to investigate the motivation of English gifted students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) More specifically, the researcher attempted to offer several common definitions and perceptions of motivation and identify the categories of motivation, perceived by different theories by reviewing several models of language learning motivation up to now More importantly, the study aims to investigate the type of motivations that exist among English gifted students at High School for Gifted Students, HNUE and examine whether gifted students of grades 10, 11 and 12 have the same or different types of English learning motivation In the study, 158 students participated in completing the questionnaire reflecting the learning motivation The results of the study reveal that the student surveyed had high motivation of learning English, and the types of motivation that prevails among those students were intrinsic, extrinsic, instrumental and integrative motivation Moreover, it was also found that students of grade 11 were more integrative and intrinsic oriented than those in grade 10 and grade 12 Finally, based on the findings, some suggestions for teachers of these classes are offered iii z LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Socioeducational Model Figure 2: General Model of Goal Setting Theory 10 Table 1: Information on the Number of Students Surveyed 16 Table 2: Percentage of Reasons for Choosing English as a Specialized Subject 20 Figure 3: Students’ Reasons for Choosing English Specialized Subject 20 Table 3: Students’ Main Goal of Learning 21 Figure 4: Students’ Main Goal of Learning 22 Figure 5: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 10 Students 22 Figure 6: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 11 Students 23 Figure 7: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 12 Students 23 Table 4: Mean Value of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation 23 Figure 8: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 10 Students 24 Figure 9: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 11 Students 25 Figure 10: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 12 Students 25 Table 5: Mean Comparison among Three Grades 25 Figure 11: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 10 Students 26 Figure 12: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 11 Students 26 Figure 13: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 12 Students 27 Table 6: Comparison of Amotivation Pattern among Three Grades 27 Table 7: Attitude Towards Learning Activities 28 Table 8: Students’ Interest and Desire to Learn English 28 Figure 14: Students’ Motivation to Learn English to Communicate 29 Abbreviations LLM: Language Learning Motivation HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education L2: second language AMBT: Attitude / Motivation Test Battery iv z TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION I ABSTRACT III PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY AIMS OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH RESEARCH QUESTIONS SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical Background 1.1.1 Definition of Motivation 1.1.2 Language Learning Motivation 1.1.2.1 Socioeducational Model 1.1.2.2 Cognitive Revolution 1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis 13 1.3 Summary 15 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 Research Setting 16 2.2 Subjects 16 2.3 Research Types 17 2.4 Data Collection Instruments 17 2.5 Data Collection Procedures 18 2.6 Data Analysis 19 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 20 3.1 Students’ Main Goal of Learning 20 3.2 Main Goal of Learning 21 3.3 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation 22 v z 3.4 Instrumental and Integrative Motivation 24 3.5 Amotivation 26 CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION 28 4.1 Research Question 28 3.2.2 Research Question 30 3.2.3 Additional Findings 30 PART C: CONCLUSION 32 RECAPITULATION 32 CONCLUSION 32 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 33 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 34 REFERENCES 36 APPENDIX I APPENDIX V vi z PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the Study In an article entitled “How motivation affects learning and behavior”, Ormrod (2014), it claims that the motivation exists in most students, in one way or another One may be engrossed in a certain subject, play an active role in classroom activities, and obtain high scores at school, while one may be more attentive to the social activities in the society including communicative events and similar occasions It is undeniable that the motivation has a strong impact on the learning and behaviour of students Specifically, it affects students’ choice, their goals in learning It also determines students’ effort and energy as well as the initiation and persistence spent on learning: once they feel motivated they will devote to the study According to Hussin, Nooreiny, and D'Cruz (2001), a persistent issue claimed by many English teachers is the effort to maintain the students’ interest in learning English Teachers have to well balance the preparation for the exam and the lifelong language skills Since most researchers and teachers are aware of the importance of motivation in learning, they have been attempting to figure out ways to increase the students’ motivation by carrying out studies of motivation among students Numerous studies about motivation dated back from the 1960s and have still been one of the favored themes for researchers worldwide As and old saying “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink”, implying that you can lead your students to the treasure of erudition but you cannot reinforce them to “swallow” the knowledge, instead you can let them acquire the knowledge themselves by providing them with learning motivation I am myself a teacher and I know how crucial the motivation is for teaching and learning Hence a teacher’s goal is to show his or her students an interesting way to the water by making him a motivated student To work out the proper way, teachers are supposed to be conscious of students’ own desire as well as their purpose of learning, or to be more specifically, what can motivate and demotivate them in learning A student who is oriented to pursue natural sciences and does not care much about English would wish to experience a different way of learning and teaching in comparison z with the one who is totally devoted to English and studies this subject as his major or passion This is also the reason I would like to conduct a study on the motivation of students of levels: grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12, who are specialized in English at High School for Gifted Student, Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) Aims of the Research The study aims at investigating the types of motivations of students majoring in English at High School for Gifted Students, HNUE and whether there are any differences among the motivation surveyed among students in grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12 The results can be a useful source of reference information for teachers of the classes surveyed as well as the classes to come to work out the proper way to improvise the teaching methods and make their students more strongly motivated Objectives of the Research The study is originally conducted to identiy the change in motivation among gifted students in terms of time As stated by Ryan (2000), intrinsic motivation fades out with “each advancing grade” It was also assumed that students were not much as integratively as well as intrinsically motivated as instrumentally and extrinsically motivated Thus, to find out whether these hypotheses are true among gifted students at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE), the objectives are determined as below:  To identify what types of motivation exist among students at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE) and which types of motivation prevail among students  To find out if students of different grades have different types of motivation Research Questions In this investigation, the following research questions were addressed: What types of motivation exist among students at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE)? And which types of motivation prevail? Do gifted students of English in grades 10, 11 and 12 differ in their motivation to learn English, and what are the differences? z ... his study, Gardner mentioned two types of motivation: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation Accordingly, learners with integrative motivation have an aspiration of learning a foreign... Motivation to Learn English to Communicate 29 Abbreviations LLM: Language Learning Motivation HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education L2: second language AMBT: Attitude / Motivation Test... al (1991) (cited in Ahmadi’s study) Gardner and Lambert themselves also put more emphasis on integrative motivation than instrumental motivation in a formal learning environment Socioeducational