First year english major students motivation in reading english texts a quantitative study in efl contexts at vietnam national university of agriculture

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN READING ENGLISH TEXTS: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY IN EFL CONTEXTS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE ĐỘNG LỰC CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGỮ NĂM NHẤT KHI ĐỌC VĂN BẢN TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỊNH LƯỢNG TRONG BỐI CẢNH EFL TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : VU HONG NGOC Student code : 621252 Major : ENGLISH Supervisor : PHAM THI HANH, M.A Hanoi – 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN READING ENGLISH TEXTS: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY IN EFL CONTEXTS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE ĐỘNG LỰC CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGỮ NĂM NHẤT KHI ĐỌC VĂN BẢN TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỊNH LƯỢNG TRONG BỐI CẢNH EFL TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : VU HONG NGOC Student code : 621252 Major : ENGLISH Supervisor : PHAM THI HANH, M.A Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “First-year English major students’motivation in reading English texts: A quantitative study in EFL contexts at Vietnam National University of Agriculture” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Vu Hong Ngoc Approved by SUPERVISOR Pham Thi Hanh, M.A Date: 01/07/2021 i ABSTRACT Reading is a very important skill in English However, first-year English major students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) still need many motivation to read English texts In order to have an overview onto this problem, the researcher decided to a study on “first-year English major students in reading English texts: A quantitative study in EFL contexts at VNUA” With a wide variety of Internet, EFL learners at VNUA like reading English texts by online materials They can approach extensively and easily reading English texts to support for their subjects and work In this study, 115 participants was collected and analyzed This study is to investigate first–year English major students’ motivation in reading English texts at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) This study answers two questions: What types of motivation first-year English major students have in reading English texts? And what are the main factors affecting students’motivation in reading English texts? The main purposes of the study are to examine types of motivation possessed by first-year English major students at VNUA and to identify the main factors affecting first-year English major students learning to read English texts at VNUA The results of the study reveal that these percentages of first-year English major students’ motivation in reading English texts and factors affecting the students’ motivation at Vietnam National University of Agriculture The ultimate of the study is to investigate into VNUA first-year English major students’ motivation in reading English texts in order to help them to be more motivated in reading English texts ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to acknowledge my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Pham Thi Hanh, M.A for her valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical comments throughout research, without which my research could not been completed I would like to send my sincere thanks to the lecturers in the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages at VNUA for their useful advice on this study Finally, I wish to send my sincere thanks to all first-year English major students at VNUA for their participation and assistance, without which this study could not have been successful iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vi LIST OF TABLES: vi LIST OF CHARTS: vi LIST OF ABBREVIATION vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE 1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME AND ABROAD) 1.1.1 Related research 1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.2.1 Overview of motivation 1.2.2 Overview of reading: 10 1.2.2.2 Reasons for reading: 11 1.2.2.3 Types of reading: 12 1.2.3 Overview of reading English texts: 15 1.3 SUMMARY 17 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 18 iv 2.1 RESEARCH GOVERING PRINCIPLES 18 2.1.1 Research questions revisited 18 2.2 RESEARCH METHODS 18 2.2.1 Research methodology 18 2.3 PARTICIPANTS 20 2.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT 20 2.5 DATA COLLECTION 21 2.6 DATA ANALYSIS 21 2.7 SUMMARY 22 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23 3.1 THE IDENTIFICATION OF STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION 23 3.1.1 Types of students’ motivation in reading English texts 23 3.2 FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN READING ENGLISH TEXTS 34 3.2.1 The factors related to reading materials (topics, level of challenges) 34 3.2.2 The factors related to teacher (Enthusiasm, reward, request) 34 3.2.3 The factor related to family and friends 35 3.3.4 The factor related to students’ working 36 3.3 SUMMARY 37 PART 3: CONCLUSION 38 RECAPITULATION 38 CONCLUSION REMARKS 38 LIMITATION OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH 39 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX 44 APPENDIX 47 v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS  LIST OF TABLES: Table 1.1: Students’ intrinsic motivation in reading English texts 23 Table 1.2: The average scores of students’ intrinsic motivation in reading English texts 25 Table 2.1: Students’ extrinsic motivation in reading English texts 27 Table 2.2: The average scores of students’ extrinsic motivation in reading English texts 31 Table 3.1: Factors related to reading materials 34 Table 3.2 The factors related to teacher 35 Table 3.3 The factor related to family anf friends 35 Table 3.4 The factor related to students’ working 36  LIST OF CHARTS: Chart 1.1: The average scores of students’ intrinsic motivation in reading English texts (S: Statements) 26 Chart 2.1: The average scores of students’ extrinsic motivation in reading English texts (S-Statement) 32 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATION A : Agree D : Disagree DK : Do not know EFL : English foreign language SA : Strongly agree SD : Strongly disagree VNUA : Vietnam National University of Agriculture vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION This part shows the rationale of the study, aim and objectives of the study, research questions, scope of the study, the significance of the study and design of the study to help readers have a general view of this research 1.1.RATIONALE Nowadays, English is known as a global language We use English to communicate with people from all over the world People widely believe that English is one of the most important things in our life A clear example is found to prove is that many parents sendd their children to English classes due to the fact that they think that English can create for children the opportunities to get a good job in the future and develop their career In Vietnam, English has been taught as a foreign language (EFL) in schools from primary schools to universities EFL in schools has numerous advantages Many studies have emphasized the effectiveness and benefits of reading English texts in EFL contexts Generally, researchers agree that reading English texts in EFL contexts have positive changes in motivation It is undeniable that reading is one of the four important language skills for academic success and professional development There is no doubt that reading is crucial for learning new information, explaining, interpreting and combining between old information and expectations On the other hand, there are many factors affecting students’ motivation in reading English texts when students study at schools, such as: achievement motivation, incentive motivation, competence motivation and creative motivation Therefore, motivation is a key factor in learning to read English texts for students At Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) contemporary, English major students have to read English texts a lot to serve the subjects, such as: Reading, English Literature, etc…, but they also have a lot of difficulty in reading English texts A clear example being found to prove is that there are many factors affecting their motivation on reading English text in their major 3.2 FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN READING ENGLISH TEXTS Research question 2: What are the main factors affecting students’motivation in reading English texts? 3.2.1 The factors related to reading materials (topics, level of challenges) Table 3.1: Factors related to reading materials Descriptive Statistics Statements S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 N 115 115 115 115 115 Minimum 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Maximum 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 Mean 4.209 3.861 4.061 3.565 3.565 Std Deviation 0.9128 1.1614 1.0620 1.2434 1.2004 S1: I like reading English texts S2: I read English texts for daily news S3: I read English texts on my favorite S4: I love reading English texts topics because it gives me the feeling of conquering difficult texts S5: I read English texts to get ideas for articles or speeches According to table 3.1, the statement got the highest score in statements related to reading materials factors, with mean=4.209 Based on the tables, with mean from 3.4 to 4.2, the level of agreement is high for S2, S3, S4 and S5 It can be understood that the factors related to reading materials are very important factors affecting motivation’s students in reading English texts 3.2.2 The factors related to teacher (Enthusiasm, reward, request) 34 Table 3.2 The factors related to teachers Statements S6 S7 S8 S9 N 115 115 115 115 Minimum 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Maximum 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 Mean 3.078 3.243 3.217 3.148 Std Deviation 1.3122 1.2325 1.2124 1.2790 S6: I read English texts due to the S7: I like to be praised by teachers teacher's request when I correctly answer questions related to what I have read S8: I read English texts because I want S9: : I read English texts because my a reward from my teacher teacher is an example of reading With mean from 2.6 to 3.4, the level of agreement is the average for statements related to teacher’s factors Only a small number of students selected the factor affecting their motivation is teacher These figures recorded to be 3.087, 3.243, 3.21 and 3.148 3.2.3 The factor related to family and friends Table 3.3 The factors related to family and friends Statements S10 S11 S12 S13 N 115 115 115 115 Minimum 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 S10: I read English texts that also read Maximum 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 Mean 3.157 3.261 3.313 3.226 Std Deviation 1.2396 1.2289 1.1800 1.3249 S11: I like talking to my friends about 35 by my classmates a book I am reading S12: I like talking to my friends about S13: My best friend and I have reading a book I am reading challenges together With mean from 2.6 to 3.4, the level of agreement is the average for statements related to family and friend’s factors It can be inferred that the factors related to family and friends not affect much students’ motivation in reading English texts Actually, statement 10, S11, S12, and S13 achieve the average scores with mean= 3.157, mean=3.2, mean=3.3 and mean=3.22, respectively 3.3.4 The factor related to students’ working Table 3.4 The factors related to students’ working Statements N Minimum Maximum Mean Std Deviation S14 115 1.0 5.0 4.200 0.8706 S15 115 1.0 5.0 3.470 1.1647 S14: I read English texts because I find them helpful in my work later S15: I read English documents for my current part-time job With mean from 3.4 to 4.2, the level of agreement is high for statements related to work’s factor of students As can be seen from the table3.4 and figures above, statement 14 and S15 also received a relatively high scores, with mean=4.2 and mean=3.47 It is believed that working is one of the most important factors affecting students’ motivation in reading English texts 36 In short, students’ motivation in reading English text was affected by main factors such as reading materials and work By the high agreement, respondents demonstrated that reading materials and their work would give them much motivation in reading English texts By contrast, the three mentioned factors related to family and friends and teachers received the average scores from participants 3.3 SUMMARY In summary, this chapter has revealed the data analysis to find out the answers to the research questions All the data were obtained from the survey questionnaire for students Then it has discussed the findings in terms of types of motivation among the students, main factors affecting student’s motivation in reading English texts 37 PART 3: CONCLUSION In this part, conclusions on the research questions set forth in part 1: Introduction will be provided Limitations and suggestions for further study will be shown RECAPITULATION This study aims to find VNUA first-year English major students’ motivation in reading English texts to help them be more motivated in reading English texts Including two main objectives are to examine types of motivation possessed by first-year English major students at VNUA and to identify the main factors affecting first-year English major students learning to read English texts at VNUA The researcher has reviewed relevant literature on motivation, reading and English texts theories of many different authors in chapter The literature review provides theoretical backgrounds for the study It consists of introducing important relevant concepts, discussions of issues and ideas on theories for motivation, reading and English texts In the second chapter, the researcher has shown the methodology used in this study with the hypothesis, participants of the study, data collection instrument, data collection and data analysis procedures Finally, chapter revealed the results with a comprehensive analysis of the data collected from the survey questionnaire The main types of motivaiton and factors affecting students’ motivation have been discussed in detail in chapter CONCLUSION REMARKS The major issues represented in this study are summarized in the following answers to two research questions: What types of motivation first-year English major students have in reading English texts? 38 What are the main factors affecting students’ motivation in reading English texts? Firstly, the researcher indicated two types of motivation (Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) for students in this study According to students’ intrinsic motivation, the researcher revealed that students read English texts so as liking reading English texts, reading English texts on their favorite topics Furthermore, students chose to read English texts even when it is not the teacher’s request and love talking to their friends about a book they are reading About the students’ extrinsic motivation, the researcher indicated that students read English texts to help them in their work later, to find necessary for their English learning, to get ideas for articles or speeches They also want to get good grades in reading and learn more about the lifestyle and culture of Englishspeaking countries Besides, a large number of respondents demonstrated that they read English texts out of fear of failing the exams and want a reward from their teacher Therefore, it could be confirmed that the main types of students’ motivation possessed in reading English texts are deductive and instrumental one Secondly, students’ motivation in reading English texts was affected by many different factors in which the main ones called work, the teacher (enthusiasm, reward, etc), family, friends, and reading materials (topics, challenge) Among these factors, work and reading materials had the majority effect on their students’ motivation in reading English texts LIMITATION OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH Due to the limitations of time, conditions and experiences, this study just aims to find VNUA first-year English major students’ motivation in reading English texts in order to help them to be more motivated in reading English 39 texts Including two main objectives are to examine types of motivation possessed by first-year English major students at VNUA and to identify the main factors affecting first-year English major students learning to read English texts at VNUA It is predicted that further studies will be conducted to find another type of students’ motivation in reading English texts Many factors affecting students’ motivation need to be demonstrated to improve students’ motivation in reading English texts in the university SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH The followings are suggested to be taken into consideration in further research: Future research should study non-English major students’ motivation in reading English texts at VNUA Future researches should concentrate on the role of English textbooks and topics in students’ motivation in reading English texts at VNUA 40 REFERENCES Chambers, G N (1999) Talking the “de” out of de-motivation Language Learning Journal, 7, 13-16 Crookes, G, and Schmidt, R, (1991) Motivationl Reopening the Research Agenda, Language Learning , 41(4), 469-512 Brown, H D (1990) Principles of Teaching and Learning Prentice Hall Regents, New Jersey Brown, H D (2000) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall Douglas Brown, H, (2001) Strategies For Success: A Practical Guide To Learning English (Student Book), Longman Doff, A (1988) Teach English : A Training Course for Teachers Cambridge: CUP Dornyei, Z (2001) Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Goodman, K, S, (1971) Reading a psycholinguistics guessing game International Reading Association Grellet, F (1981) Developing Reading Skills Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Garder, R.C and Lambert, W.E (1972) Attitudes and Motivations in Second Language Learning, New York: Newbury House Guthrie, J T., Bennett, L., McGough, K.(Winter, 1994) Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction: An Integrated Curriculum to Develop Motivations and Strategies for Reading Reading Research Report No 10 National Reading Research Center University of Georgia and University of Maryland 41 Hoàng, T.H (2011) A Study On Students’ Motivation In Reading Skills At Quang Dinh Secondary School Harmer, J (1991) The Pratice Of English Language Teaching, London: Longman Hafiz, F and Tudor, I 1989 Extensive Reading and The Development of Language Skills English Language Teaching Journal 43 4-13 Lewis, M & Hill, J (1985) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching Cambridge University Press Lục, T.M.B (2011) Developing Motivation in Learning English Reading Skill of Students at Thieu Hoa High School, Thanh Hoa Province Lightbown, P.M., & Spada, N (1999) How Languages Are Learned Oxford: Oxford University Moore, K D (1992) Classroom Teaching Reading Skills Megraw-Hill, Inc Pretorius, E (2000) What They Can’t Read Will Hurt Them: Reading and Academic Achievement INOVATION No21 Parsons, R., Hinson, S., Brown, D (2001) Educational Psychology : Practitioner – Researcher Models of Teaching University of Virginia: Wadsworth Thomson Learning Paul, R Pintrich & Dale H Schunk (2002) Motivation Education Richard & Thomas (1987) Being An Effective Reading Teacher, Harper And Row Publishers Saniago Dakhi and Ira Soraya Damanik (2018) Students’ Motivation in Reading English Text: A Qualitative Study in EFL Context 42 Wallace, C (1992) Reading Oxford: Oxford University Press William, E (1984) Reading in the Language Classroom, London and Basingstoke macmillan publishers Ltd Williams, M, B, Robert, (1997) Psychology for Language Teachers: A Social Constructivist View: New York: Cambridge Nguyễn Văn Phi (2020), Văn gì?, ngày 31/12/2020 https://luathoangphi.vn/van-ban-la-gi/ Minh Lan (2019), Phương pháp nghiên cứu khoa học, tổ hợp giáo dục Topica, theo kinh tế tiêu dùng, ngày 16/10/2019, ngày truy cập 25/6/2021.https://123docz.net//document/3545979-24-cau-phuong-phapnghien-cuu-khoa-hoc-cao-hoc.htm Question Pro, https://www.questionpro.com/blog/quantitative-research/ Raimo Streefkerk, Qualitative vs Quantitative research, from Scibbr, https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/qualitative-quantitative-research/ 43 APPENDIX Khảo sát động lực sinh viên chuyên ngữ năm đọc văn tiếng anh: Nghiên cứu định lượng bối cảnh EFL Học viện Nông nghiệp Việt Nam Mục đích khảo sát để tìm loại động lực xác định yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến động lực đọc văn tiếng Anh sinh viên chuyên ngữ năm Học viện Nông nghiệp Việt Nam Câu trả lời bạn nghiên cứu nguồn đóng góp có giá trị giúp tơi hồn thiện đề tài tốt nghiệp Chân thành cảm ơn giúp đỡ bạn! Vũ Hồng Ngọc Sinh viên lớp K62ENGC I II Thông tin cá nhân Lớp:…………………… Giới tính: Nam Nữ Câu hỏi khảo sát SD, Rất khơng đồng ý D, Không đồng ý đồng ý DK, Không biết A, Đồng ý SA, Hoàn toàn The item SD D DK A SA Tơi u thích việc đọc văn tiếng Anh Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh nhận thấy cần thiết với việc học tiếng Anh tơi Tơi đọc văn tiếng Anh để lấy thông tin hàng ngày Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh để tìm hiểu thêm phong cách sống văn hóa nước nói Tiếng Anh Tơi đọc văn tiếng Anh chủ đề yêu thích 44 Tơi đọc văn tiếng Anh khơng phải u cầu giáo viên Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh tơi thấy chúng giúp ích cho cơng việc tơi sau Tơi u thích việc đọc tiếng Anh tạo cho tơi cảm giác chinh phục văn khó Tơi thích cảm giác hồn thành việc đọc văn hay 10.Tơi đọc văn tiếng Anh yêu cầu giáo viên 11.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh lo sợ bị trượt kỳ thi 12.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh để lấy ý tưởng cho viết nói 13.Tơi đọc văn tiếng Anh để điểm cao môn đọc 14.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh kỹ đọc kỹ dễ kỹ khác (Nghe, Nói, Viết) 15.Tơi thích thầy khen ngợi trả lời câu hỏi liên quan đến nội dung đọc 16.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh muốn phần thưởng từ thầy cô 17.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh bạn lớp tơi đọc 18.Tơi thích nói chuyện với bạn bè sách mà đọc 45 19.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh muốn chia sẻ thành tích đọc tơi mạng xã hội 20.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh giáo viên gương việc đọc 21.Tôi đọc văn tiếng Anh phục vụ cho công việc làm thêm 22.Tôi tạo động lực đọc từ gia đình 23.Tơi bạn thân có thử thách đọc sách 46 APPENDIX The item SD D DK A SA I like reading English texts I read English texts because I find them necessary for my English learning I read English texts for daily news I read English texts to learn more about the lifestyle and culture of English-speaking countries I read English texts on my favorite topics I read English texts even when it is not the teacher’s request I read English texts because I find them helpful in my work later I love reading English texts because it gives me the feeling of conquering difficult texts I love the feeling of finishing reading a good text 10 I read English texts due to the teacher's request 11 I read English texts out of fear of failing the exams 12 I read English texts to get ideas for articles or speeches 13 I read English texts to get good grades in reading 14 I read English texts because reading is easier than other skills (Listening, Speaking, Writing) 15 I like to be praised by teachers when I correctly answer questions related to what I have read 16 I read English texts because I want a reward from 47 my teacher 17.I read English texts that also read by my classmates 18 I like talking to my friends about a book I am reading 19 I read English texts and would like to share my reading achievements on social media 20 I read English texts because my teacher is an example of reading 21 I read English documents for my current part-time job 22 I am motivated to read from my family 23 My best friend and I have reading challenges together 48