Motivation for learning english of english major freshmen at vietnam national university of agriculture

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING ENGLISH OF ENGLISH-MAJOR FRESHMEN AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM STUDENT: DOAN THI PHUONG MAJOR: ENGLISH SUPERVISOR: PHAM HUONG LAN, M.A Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “Motivation for learning English of English-major freshman at Viet Nam 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 Doan Thi Phuong Approved by SUPERVISOR i ABSTRACT The research aimed at investigating the type and level of English language learning motivation (instrumental or integrative ) of English-major freshmen at Viet Nam National University of Agriculture The method used is a survey in which k65’s students were asked to fill out questionnaires adapted from Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) designed by R.C Gardner The questionnaire was distributed to the entire English-majored freshmen The data were analyzed by means of frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean and standard deviation The main findings show that the students are ‘moderately’ motivated and found to be slightly more ‘integratively’ motivated to learn English This reveals that integrative motivation is an important factor in learning English Based on the findings of this study, some suggestions are recommended to improve student’s motivation ii LIST OF TABLES Table Instrumental motivation of first-year students Table Integrative motivation of first-year students Table The Comparation between Intergrative and Instrumental Motivation iii TABLE OF CONTENT PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Aims and objectives of the study Research questions Scope of the study Significance of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Review of the previous studies 1.1.1 Review of the studies in the world 1.1.2 Review of the studies in Vietnam 1.2 Review of theoretical background 1.2.1 Definitions of motivation 1.2.2 Types of motivation 1.2.3 The importance of motivation in second language learning 10 1.2.4 Factors that affect motivation in second language learning 10 1.3 Summary 12 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 13 2.1 Research governing principles 13 2.1.1 Research question(s) 13 2.1.2 Major methods 13 2.2 Research methods 13 2.2.1 Research methodology 13 2.2.2 Research setting/context 14 iv 2.3 Data collection 14 2.3.1 Data collecting instruments 14 2.3.2 Data collecting procedures 15 2.3.3 Data analysis 15 2.4 Summary 16 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17 3.1 The level of motivation of English-majored freshmen 17 3.2 The type of motivation of English-majored freshmen 22 3.3 Summary 23 Part 3: CONCLUSION 24 Recapitulations 24 Conclusions 24 Limitation of the study 25 Recommendations for futher study 25 REFERENCES 27 APPENDIX 29 v PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Motivation is an important factor for explaining the success or failure of any complex task In order to learn English, learners require motivation so that they can be successful in learning the language Therefore, the role of motivation is very crucial during the learning process So far, many reseachers have conducted studied on English language motivation Hedge (2000) conducted a study about the motivation of 20 Japanese students who were studying English Siriluck Wechsumangkalo and Sirithip Prasertrattanadecho (2004) conducted a study which indicated clearly that high English proficiency subjects are more integratively motivated than low English proficiency subjects In Vietnam,there are a lot of researchers have also been interested in the topic of motivation i.e Le Thi Hanh (2011) with her study namely “Influence of teaching method on first year students' English language dynamics in economics at Van Lang university” Another article about motivation was published in 2006, namely “Needs and Motivations in learning Eglish of the first year students at at Vietnam National University, Ha Noi” There are many other scholars who have conducted research about this topic, but not any research of this type has been witnessed at Vietnam National University of Agriculture After studying at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA), for nearly four years, I realized that many English – major freshmen lack motivation to learn English In the hope of finding out the motivation for learning English that they normally get, I decided to conduct a study entitled “Motivation for learning English of English –major freshmen at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA)” as my graduation paper This study tried to investigate the level of motivation among English major freshmen and the most common type of motivation shown by these students Based on the results, some suggestions are given for students of the next course to better motivate themselves in their English learning Aims and objectives of the study This study was carried out to determine the motivational level and type of English-majored freshmen at Viet Nam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) From the result of this study, I intended to make some suggestions to help students improve their motivation towards English learning The study was used survey questionnaires for English-majored freshman at Viet Nam National University of Agriculture to get the following goals: Firstly, the study will be determined if the students’ motivation level is high or low Second, identifying the types of motivation of the student Research questions The research study was conducted to survey the English major freshmen in the second semester, academic year 2021 in particular Its aim was to find the answers to the following questions: What is the level of motivation among English major freshmen at Viet Nam National University of Agriculture towards English language learning? Are they predominantly integratively or instrumentally motivated towards English language learning? Scope of the study The study was participated by English-majored freshmen at Viet Nam National University of Agriculture in the second semester, academic year 20202021 to explore the level of motivation in their English language learning The data of this study were taken through questionnaire administered to the total number of 132 students Significance of the study The result of this study will be expected to inspire the students in their English learning It will be expected that the recommendations can help them in improving their motivation towards English learning The significance of this study should be that the responses lead to a better understanding of their motivation The findings could help the institute in improving their motivations and, alongside, enhancing their language learning achievement at the very earliest stage of their enrollment in the first year Design of the study This study was divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part 1, Introduction, provides brief information about the rationale, the aims & objectives, the research questions, the scope, the significance and the design of the study Part 2, Literature review, presents an overview about some previous studies and some theoretical background to the study Part 3, Methodology, includes the governing research orientation (the major method & the research questions) and the detailed methodology of the study (participants, data collecting instruments, data collecting procedures, data analysis) Part 4, Findings and Discussion, demonstrates the major findings of the study as well as discussion around these findings Part 5, Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations, claims the main points of the study, some limitations of the study and recommendations for further study as well as some suggestions to improve motivation among English-majored students at VNUA PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Review of the previous studies 1.1.1 Review of the studies in the world In 2000, Kassim A.Shaaban and Ghazi carried out a study “Student motivation to learn English as a foreign language” The results of the study underscore the importance of learner characteristics and effective orientation toward program of study in the development of motivation to acquire another language The results suggest that low-proficiency students and females tend to be more willing to exert effort in learning English They also tend to perceive the goals of learning English as more attractive than their male and higherproficiency counterparts From the above studies, it has been shown that motivation for learning English has a tremendous effect on the learners These studies have shown student motivation levels and solution proposals to improve student motivation levels Ratanawalee Wimolmas (Thammasat University, Thailand) carried out the research “A Survey Study of Motivation in English Language Learning of First Year Undergraduate Students at Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT), Thammasat University” The study was conducted among 30 undergraduate students at SIIT, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus in the second semester, academic year 2012 The overall results reveal that the students are highly motivated to learn English This finding answer the research question of what the level of the subjects’ motivation is Based on the comparison and assessment, it is discovered that the students are slightly more strongly instrumentally motivated to learn English which can answer the research question of the motivation found is more integrative or instrumental The students’ related difficulties in the language skills, as communicated in the learning English language itself I am more interested in 3.26 2.827 Moderate 3.48 0.737 Moderate 3.44 0.756 Moderate 3.36 0.753 Moderate 3.33 0.726 Moderate 3.35 0.781 Moderate 3.27 0.997 Moderate furthering my higher education than learning English language itself Learning English is important for travelling abroad Learning English is important for making me a knowledgeable and skillful person Learning English is important for making me an educated person Being proficient in English can lead to more success and achievements in life 10 Being proficient in English makes other people respect me Total 18 Table shows that the respondents had moderate motivation This is evident by the average mean score of 3.27 in the table Statement number (Learning English is important for travelling abroad) has the highest mean (3.48).The statement number (Learning English is important for making me a knowledgeable and skillful person) has an average score of 3.44 And the statement number (Learning English is important for making me an educated person) has an average mean score 3.36 The statement 9(Being proficient in English can lead to more success and achievements in life) has an average mean score 3.33 The lowest mean score of 3.02 is statement number (I simply quote the textbooks and not really communicate myself when speaking or writing in class As the result, the overall average of instrumental motivation is the moderate level of motivation The analysis found that most of the students had self-taught ideas in English Most especially want to learn to understand the culture and improve the individual's knowledge After analysis of the results, most of the students had moderate motivation As in a review of the study, most results were that most students had high levels of motivation The researchers surveyed a limited number of students This study was conducted to identify the level of motivation of all English-major freshmen Learners with an instrumental motivation want to learn a language because of a practical reason such as getting a salary bonus or getting into college Many college language learners have a clear instrumental motivation for language learning: They want to fulfill a college language requirement 19 Table Integrative motivation of first-year students Rating of Integrative Motivation Mean S.D motivational level 11 Studying English enables me 3.51 0.757 Moderate 3.45 0.859 Moderate 3.41 0.847 Moderate 3.33 0.843 Moderate 3.11 0.853 Moderate 3.39 0.696 Moderate to understand English books, movies, pop music etc 12 Studying English enables me to better understand and appreciate the ways of life of native English speakers 13 Studying English enables me to keep in touch with foreign acquaintances 14 Studying English enables me to discuss interesting topics in English with the people from other national backgrounds 15 Studying English enables me to transfer my knowledge to other people e.g giving directions to tourists 16 Studying English enables me 20 to participate freely in academic, social, and professional activities among other cultural groups 17 Studying English enables me 3.18 0.809 Moderate 2.79 1.217 Moderate 3.81 0.496 High 3.68 0.557 High 3.36 0.893 Moderate to behave like native English speakers: e.g accent, using English expressions 18 Studying English enables me to appreciate English arts and literature 19 Studying English helps me to be an open-minded, and sociable person like English speaking people 20 I am determined to study English as best as I can to achieve maximum proficiency Total 21 Table shows the overall moderate degree of integrative motivation of the respondents with a moderate average mean score of 3.36 The statement number 19 (Studying English helps me to be an open-minded, and sociable person like English speaking people) and the statement 20 (I am determined to study English as best as I can to achieve maximum proficiency) are the highest mean score which are 3.81 and 3.68 and considered as high levels of motivation However the statement number 11 (Studying English enables me to understand English books, movies, pop music etc), the statement 12 (Studying English enables me to better understand and appreciate the ways of life of native English speakers) and the statement number 13 (Studying English enables me to keep in touch with foreign acquaintances) show the moderate level of instrumental motivation with the mean scores of 3.51, 3.45, 3.41 respectively The statement number 18 (Studying English enables me to appreciate English arts and literature) has lowest mean score which is 2.79 And through that, you've taken the initiative to use English in the knowledge of society and in the lessons that are contained in books 3.2 The type of motivation of English-majored freshmen This table below aims to identify the types of motivation of English-major freshman at Viet Nam National University of Agriculure Table 3: The Comparison between Integrative and Instrumental Motivation Motivation Mean S.D Meaning Instrumental Motivation 3.27 0.997 Moderate Integrative Motivation 3.36 0.893 Moderate Total 3.15 0.945 Moderate 22 Table presents the comparison between instrumental and integrative motivation It reveals that the mean score of instrumental motivation (3.27) is lower than the mean score of integrative motivation (3.36) However, the overall mean scores of both types of motivation of 3.15 is considered as a moderate degree of motivation This table showed that integrative motivation’s slightly higher than the instrumental motivation The overall results reveal that the students are highly motivated to learn English This finding answer the research question of what the level of the subjects’ motivation is Based on the comparison and assessment, it is discovered that the students are slightly more strongly integrative motivated to learn English which can answer the research question of the motivation found is more integrative or instrumental Integratively motivated learners want to learn the language so that they can better understand and get to know the people who speak that language .All these findings have relevant implications and should therefore lead to recommendations for further training or studies The COVID-19 outbreak, as can be seen, makes exploration difficult It's impossible to connect things like interviews, observation As a result of the request that students fill out the questionnaire directly, there are certain inaccuracies when the student has not read it thoroughly in a short period of time In order to be more objective in the study, several survey methods should be used, such as interviews or observation in the class Given the average level of student motivation, further improvements in teaching and learning are required to increase student interest in learning 3.3 Summary This research is divided into two sections Part shows the results of an analysis of first-year students' motivations Part shows the kind of motivation that students have The results indicated that the student's motivation level was average and found to be slightly more ‘integratively’ motivated to learn Englis 23 PART III: CONCLUSION Recapitulations Overall results show students have moderate English motivations.This findings answer the study question of what the level of motivation the objects are According to the results of the study, it was found that students had a slightly more integrative for learning English which can answer the study question of motivation found is more integrative or instrumental All these findings have relevant implications and should thus lead to recommendations for futher training or research Conclusions The students' bias towards integrative motivation is of great value to the faculty It might contribute to the learners developing the most comprehensive thingking and learning ability At the same time the faculty should also take into account potentials and strategies for the students’ instrumental motivations to learn English and eventually improve their proficiency Based on the findings of this study, the results are: their motivations are moderate in both the instrumental and integrative aspects and even have small dominance in integrative motivation The research was taken from all of the first-year students in the English language within a strict period of time, so the result is highly feasible Since the English learning motivation is one of the most important learning factors, the need to identify the actual motivational situations of any group of students is valuable This is for the benefit of their effectiveness at learning the language and their proficiency In conclusion, this study has been conducted to provide some insights into the level and type of motivation of first-year students at Vietnam National University of Agriculure The study provided useful knowledge and information to the institute to improve their English course 24 Limitation of the study The purpose of study is to identify the level of motivation among English major freshmen and predominantly integratively or instrumentally motivated towards English language learning of English-majored freshmen at Viet Nam National University of Agricuture There are some limitaions in the study: The study only used a data collecting instrument that was questionnaires It's a data collection instrument, so it's not really accurate Because some students will fill it up the questionnaire Normally to produce more accurate results, it often uses at least one more instrument such as observation or interview From there the two instruments cross to analyze the results in be more accurate It must add to the study of language if it is a study But this is survey research, and it's intended to be study, with multiple research routes However, because to a lack of time and the COVID-19 epidemic, participants did not have enough time to complete all of the survey channels It is hoped that further research would improve the situation To assemble additional, more relevant research in order to obtain the most objective results Recommendations for futher study The research was conducted with all English-majored freshmen at Viet Nam National University of Agricuture The results showed that their motivations are moderate in both the instrumental and integrative aspects Therefore, teachers should find out English activity or appropriate teaching methods that can attract interest from students so that they can increase their motivation when learning English Motivation in English language learning of the students can be a great source of knowledge and understanding to implement relevant programs or activities to stimulate the more motivating learning atmosphere Students with adequate motivation will become efficient language learners with ultimate language proficiency It is hoped that more study will be 25 conducted in the future Consider the study “Motivational strategies and student motivation” On the part of student: take greater responsibility for your education Don't limit your studies to the classroom Students should use social networking sites to learn more about the language Each student develops strategies for selfpromotion from inside That will continue to be the case in the long run Besides, Students should make friends together rather than just bolstering the spirit of teamwork so students will push themselves and try harder On the part of the academy: external motivation is aided by policies For example, Olympic events and rhetoric competitions are held on a regular basis To improve one's understanding, such as a student's strengths Furthermore, students are more enthusiastic about studying and actively seek out new information As a result, language learning becomes more important 26 REFERENCES Harmer, J (1991) The practice of English language teaching London: Longman Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and learning in the language classroom Oxford: United Kingdom: Oxford University Press Hoang Van Van (2006) Nhu cầu động học tiếng Anh sinh viên năm thứ nhất, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội Hsuan-Yau Tony (2013) The motivation of Learners of English as a Foreign Language Revisited International Education Studies; Vol 6, No 10; 2013 Jana M Safrankova, Martin Sikyr (2016) The study of university students' motivation International Journal of Teaching and Education, Vol IV(4), pp 48-59 , Krashen, S (1988) Second language acquisition and second language learning London: Prentice Hall International (UK) Le Hong Ngoc (2019) “Nghiên cứu động học tập sinh viên trường đại học Việt Nam” Lucas R I (2010) A Study on Intrinsic Motivation Factors in Second Language Learning among Selected Freshmen Students The Philippine ESL Journal, 4, 6-23 Le Thi Hanh (2011) Ảnh hưởng phương pháp giảng dạy đến động lực học Tiếng Anh sinh viên năm thứ ngành Kinh Tế trường Đại Học Văn Lang 10 Nguyen Thuy Dung, Phan Thi Thuc Anh (2012) Những nhân tố tác động đến động lực học tập sinh viên: Nghiên cứu trường đại học Hà Nội KT&PT, số đặc biệt,tháng 11 năm 2012, trang 24-30 27 11 Nguyen Thi Lan Anh (2016) “Nghiên cứu mối quan hệ động lực kết học tập môn tiếng Anh sinh viên k60 lớp tiên tiến Học Viện Nông Nghệp Việt Nam” 12 Parsons, R., Hinson, S., Brown, D (2001) Educational psychology: practitioner – researcher models of teaching University of Virginia: Wadsworth Thomson Learning 13 Phan Van Hoa and Le Viet Ha (2009) Ngiên cứu động lực học Tiếng Anh học sinh trung học phổ thông Quảng Nam, 5(34) 14 Praveen Shrestha, "Types of Motivation: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation," in Psychestudy, November 17, 2017, 15 Spolsky, B (1990) Conditions for second language learning Hong Kong: Oxford University Press 16 Tercanlioglu L (2001) The Nature of Turkish Students’ Motivation for Reading and Its Relation to Their Reading Frequency The Reading Matrix, 1(2) 28 APPENDIX A survey on motivation for learning English of English-major freshmen at Vietnam National University of Agriculture The questionnaire that follows collects information objectively and takes about five minutes to complete All information gathered from groups is kept entirely private and is only used for research purposes So, hopefully, you will not leave the following questions blank and will respond to them from your own perspective Name:…………………………………… Email:………………………………… Gender: Female Male Choose the number about motivation for learning English on a scale of 0-5 (0 = never , 1= seldom , = sometimes , = often , = always) Question 1 I mainly focus on using English for class assignment and the exams I simply quote the textbooks and not really communicate myself when speaking or writing in class I am interested in reading only English textbooks for my university study, but not other English texts e.g newspapers, magazines I am more interested in earning a university 29 degree and a good job than learning English language itself I am more interested in furthering my higher education than learning English language itself Learning English is important for travelling abroad Learning English is important for making me a knowledgeable and skillful person Learning English is important for making me an educated person Being proficient in English can lead to more success and achievements in life 10 Being proficient in English makes other people respect me 11 Studying English enables me to understand English books, movies, pop music etc 12 Studying English enables me to better understand and appreciate the ways of life of native English speakers 30 13 Studying English enables me to keep in touch with foreign acquaintances 14 Studying English enables me to discuss interesting topics in English with the people from other national backgrounds 15 Studying English enables me to transfer my knowledge to other people e.g giving directions to tourists 16 Studying English enables me to participate freely in academic, social, and professional activities among other cultural groups 17 Studying English enables me to behave like native English speakers: e.g accent, using English expressions 18 Studying English enables me to appreciate English arts and literature 19 Studying English helps me to be an openminded, and sociable person like English speaking people 31 20 I am determined to study English as best as I can to achieve maximum proficiency 32