The perceptions of teachers and their young learners on motivational strategies in english classrooms a case study at chu van an primary school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY THE PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND THEIR YOUNG LEARNERS ON MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY AT CHU VAN AN PRIMARY SCHOOL Tai Lieu Chat Luong A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL Submitted by: DINH THI CAM LOAN Supervisor: Dr LE HOANG DUNG HO CHI MINH City, October 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY Đinh Thị Cẩm Loan THE PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND THEIR YOUNG LEARNERS ON MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY AT CHU VAN AN PRIMARY SCHOOL Major: TESOL Code: 60140111 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL) Supervised by LE HOANG DUNG, PHD Ho Chi Minh City, 2017 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I declare this thesis entitled “THE PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND THEIR YOUNG LEARNERS ON MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY AT CHU VAN AN PRIMARY SCHOOL” is the result of my own work except as cited in the reference The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and it is not currently submitted in candidature of any other degree Ho Chi Minh City, 2017 Dinh Thi Cam Loan ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Le Hoang Dung I am very grateful for his help, suggestions and advise on various drafts of this thesis Without his patience and valuable help, I would not have finished this thesis on schedule I would like to express my thanks to the principal, all teachers and learners at Chu Van An primary school who participated in my study They facilitated my data collection, so I could successfully collect the data I would also like to express my thanks to my husband for his great support and help Without his encouragement and love, I could not have been able to finish this thesis iii ABSTRACT The vital role of motivation in teaching and learning English is emphasized and has been the subject of many studies for years Several studies have been conducted to find out the most effective motivational strategies in different contexts from primary schools to universities in many countries However, in Vietnam, the studies on students’ motivation and teachers’ motivational strategies mainly focus on the students in high schools or universities, which lacks the concentration on young learners, who are from seven to twelve years old, at primary schools Case study is used to explore both teachers’ perceptions and their young learners’ perceptions on motivational strategies in English classrooms at Chu Van An primary school 212 young learners and their two teachers of English participated in the questionnaires to learners and interview to teachers The study found that the young learners were extrinsically motivated by praise, rewards, grades and celebration of their success and accomplishment While difficult tasks were considered to be obstacles to learners, the learners did not think that For teacher behaviors towards learners, teacher care was the most favorite thing to learners while comparison between learners and their classmates and being put in the spotlight unexpectedly were two unfavorable practices from learners’ perceptions Additionally, the teachers employed a variety of strategies relating to learners’ active participation, attention and self-confidence as well as interaction in learning, pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere and teacher behaviors in order to motivate their young learners However, moving when doing tasks, visual aids, practice of English in real life situations, encouragement to the learners to take risks and be not afraid of making mistakes did not get much attention of the teachers Some suggestions which were based on the findings of this study were made for the teachers to motivate their learners better iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 The context of the study 1.3 The aims of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 The outline of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of terms 2.1.1 Definition of motivation 2.1.2 Definition of motivational strategies 2.2 Motivation in language learning 10 2.3 Sources of motivation of young language learners at primary schools 11 2.4 Motivational strategies in teaching English to young learners at primary schools 14 2.4.1 Stimulating young learners’ active participation 14 2.4.2 Maintaining young learners’ attention 16 2.4.3 Building learners’ self-confidence 18 2.4.4 Integrating interaction into teaching young learners 20 2.4.5 Creating pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere 21 2.4.6 Displaying appropriate teacher behaviors 23 v CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 28 3.1 Research design 28 3.2 Sampling 29 3.2.1 Setting of the study 29 3.2.2 Participants 29 3.2.2.1 Young learner respondents 29 3.2.2.2 Teacher respondents 30 3.3 Research tools 30 3.3.1 Questionnaire to learners 30 3.3.2 Interview to teachers 30 3.4 Data collection procedure 31 3.4.1 Procedure for collecting questionnaires to learner respondents 31 3.4.2 Procedure for interviewing teacher respondents 31 3.5 Data analysis 32 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 34 4.1 Data analysis 34 4.1.1 Results of questionnaire to learners 34 4.1.1.1 Learners’ perceptions on strategies to stimulate their active participation 34 4.1.1.2 Learners’ perceptions on teachers’ practices to maintain learners’ attention 36 4.1.1.3 Learners’ perceptions on their teachers’ strategies to build learners’ self-confidence 37 4.1.1.4 Learners’ perceptions on their teachers’ strategies to integrate interaction into learning English 39 4.1.1.5 Learners’ perceptions on their teachers’ strategies to create pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere 40 4.1.1.6 Learners’ perceptions on their teachers’ behaviors 41 4.1.2 Results of interviews to teachers 44 vi 4.1.2.1 Young learners’ motivation at Chu Van An primary school from their teachers’ perceptions 44 4.1.2.2 Teachers’ strategies to stimulate their learners’ active participation in classroom 45 4.1.2.3 Teachers’ strategies to maintain their learners’ attention 47 4.1.2.4 Teachers’ strategies to build their learners’ self-confidence 48 4.1.2.5 Teachers’ strategies to integrate interaction into their teaching 49 4.1.2.6 Teachers’ strategies to create pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere 50 4.1.2.7 Teachers’ strategies to show their appropriate behaviors towards their learners 51 4.1.2.8 Other teachers’ suggested strategies 53 4.1.2.9 Summary of results of interview for teacher respondents 54 4.2 Discussion of results 56 4.3 Summary of major findings 62 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 65 5.1 Conclusion 65 5.2 Suggestions 67 5.3 Limitation and recommendations 70 5.4 Chapter summary 70 REFERENCES 72 APPENDIX A 79 APPENDIX B 83 APPENDIX C 85 vii LIST OF TABLES Pages Table 2.1 The conceptual framework of this study 26 Table 3.1 Distribution of learner respondents by gender and class 29 Table 4.1 Strategies to stimulate learners’ activeness 35 Table 4.2 Strategies to maintain learners’ attention 36 Table 4.3 Strategies to build learners’ self-confidence 38 Table 4.4 Strategies to integrate interaction into teaching .39 Table 4.5 Strategies to create pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere 40 Table 4.6 Strategies to display appropriate teacher behaviors .42 Table 4.7 Summary of learners’ perceptions on their teachers’ motivational strategies 43 Table 4.8 Results of interview for teacher respondents 56 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background of the study so that the research gap and the need of the study are drawn out Following that is the aims of the research, the research questions, and the significance of the study 1.1 Background of the study Motivation, which is defined as the motives to initiate the learning process and then becomes a sustaining force to maintain learning to get the target, is one of the most crucial factors to the success of L2 learning (Astuti, 2013) The role of motivation has been the subject of research for years It is stated that motivation does have effects on students’ achievement and proficiency when learning a language (Orío, 2013) A study conducted by Bernard in 2010 to explore the relationship between motivation, classroom activities and student outcomes from elementary to intermediate level at Carnegie Mellon University found that motivation had positive effects on students’ learning outcome Other research also emphasized the importance of motivation on students’ achievement, so it is suggested that teachers need to apply strategies to enhance students’ motivation How to motivate students in the language classroom is “the most pressing question related to motivation” (Dornyei, 2001s, p.52) Several studies have been carried out in different contexts to find out strategies which teachers can employ to increase student motivation (Ozturk and Ok, 2014; Ruesch, 2009, Alshehri 2013, Wong 2014, Ruesch et al 2012) However, almost all of them used the questionnaires to examine the perspectives and compare between students’ and teachers’ perspectives to make a conclusion of the effectiveness of motivational strategies, which is assumed to lack empirical evidence In short, the importance of motivation in learning a language is recognized but it is a shortage when studies of this subject just base on the perceptions of students and teachers to withdraw the conclusion of positive impacts of motivational strategies It needs to an empirical 74 Demetriou, R (2014) Task-Based Learning and Motivation of Young Learners in a Cypriot Classroom Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/7966666/TaskBased_Learning_and_Motivation_of_Young_Learners_in_a_Cypriot_Classro om on May 2016 Djigunović, J M (2012) Attitude and 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Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Yunus, M M., Salehi, H & John, D S A (2013) Using visual aids as a motivational tool in enhancing students’ interest in reading literary texts Recent Advances in Educational Technologies, 114-117 Zareian, G & Jodaei, H (2015) Motivation in second language acquisition: a state in the art article International J Soc Sci & Education, 5(2), 295-308 79 APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE TO LEARNERS Dear learners, I am Loan, a student at Ho Chi Minh City Open University I am doing a research on motivational strategies at Chu Van An primary school The purpose of this questionnaire is to get your perceptions on your English teachers’ motivational strategies Basing on your answers, the suitable motivational strategies will be drawn out so that they can help your learning more effectively Thank you very much for joining the survey today Yours sincerely, Dinh Thi Cam Loan HCMC Open University Email: loandinh1001@gmail.com PERSONAL INFORMATION Male □ Female □ Class: 80 This questionnaire is in form of three-point likert scale Please tick on the face that indicates your perceptions on your English teacher’ practices : Like : OK : Don’t like Teachers’ motivational strategies Doing activities in pairs, groups or whole class    Like OK Do NOT like    Competing between pairs and groups    Move your seat when doing learning tasks    Play games when learning    Learning subjects relating to your everyday experience    Doing various kinds of tasks in one period    Doing difficult tasks       Including stories, humor, fantasy element and your interest in task content 81 Doing something different from class routine    10 Having chance to choose the topics, the tasks or the activities    11 Teacher’s encouragement of believing in your strength and abilities    12 Doing tasks which you can successfully complete    13 Display your skill in public    14 Getting tangible and intangible rewards    15 Celebrating your accomplishment    16 Learning with visual aids    17 Seeing and/or touching concrete things relating to the lesson    18 Learning culture of English speaking countries    19 Having opportunities to practice English in real life situations    20 Having humor in classroom    21 Getting positive information feedback on your progress    22 Knowing that making mistake is a part of learning process    23 Having teachers’ encouragement to take risks in learning    82 24 Having teacher care    25 Having rapport with teachers    26 Getting social comparison with other classmates    27 Being put in the spotlight unexpectedly    THANK YOU! 83 APPENDIX B INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO TEACHERS Dear teachers, I am carrying out a research of motivational strategies in English classroom at primary school The research aims to find out young learners’ perceptions on their teachers’ motivational strategies, so the findings can help teachers understand their learners and have the suitable strategies to motivate them Your identity and answers will be strictly kept with high level of confidentiality and are only used for research purpose of this study Thank you very much for your time and effort to participate in this interview Yours sincerely, Dinh Thi Cam Loan Phone number: 0938.645.506 Email: loandinh1001@gmail.com PERSONAL INFORMATION Current class: Number of years of teaching English: _ How can you describe your young learners’ motivation in your English classroom? What strategies you often use to motivate your learners to learn English in class? 84 Could you tell me how you stimulate your learners’ activeness in your class? What strategies you use to maintain your learners’ attention in your class? How you build your learners’ confidence in learning English in your class? What techniques you employ to create pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere? What you to build good relationship with your learners in your English classes? In those motivational strategies, which one you think is the most important to motivate your young learners to learn English? Why? In those motivational strategies, which strategy is the most difficult to employ? Why? 10 What you think of your learners’ motivation after you implement those strategies above? 11 How you know your motivational strategies are effective or not in motivating your learners to learn English in your class? THANK YOU! 85 APPENDIX C QUESTIONNAIRE TO LEARNERS (Vietnamese Version) Các em thân mến, Cô tên Loan, sinh viên sau đại học trường đại học Mở TPHCM Hiện Cô tiến hành nghiên cứu động lực thúc đẩy việc học tiếng Anh em trường tiểu học Chu Văn An Hôm Cô đến để nhờ em giúp Cơ hồn thành bảng khảo sát suy nghĩ em cách Cô giáo / Thầy giáo em làm để tăng thêm động lực cho việc học tiếng Anh Đây kiểm tra nên khơng có ảnh hưởng đến điểm số hay nhận xét cuối tháng em Câu trả lời khơng có sai, em nghĩ khoanh trịn vào đáp án tương ứng Cám ơn em giành thời gian hoàn thành bảng khảo sát Dinh Thi Cam Loan Email: loandinh1001@gmail.com Phone number: 0938.645.506 Trước hết, em điền vào thông tin sau: Nam □ Nữ □ Lớp: 86 Bảng khảo sát bao gồm 27 câu Bên cạnh câu có ba khn mặt Nếu em cảm thấy THÍCH em đánh dấu mặt CƯỜI  Nếu em thấy điều BÌNH THƯỜNG, KHƠNG THÍCH KHƠNG GHÉT, em đánh dấu mặt IM LẶNG  Nếu em cảm thấy KHƠNG THÍCH em đánh dấu MẶT BUỒN  Các cách lược tạo động thúc đẩy việc học tiếng Anh THÍCH    BÌNH KHƠNG THƯỜNG THÍCH Làm việc theo cặp theo nhóm lớp    Có thi cặp hay nhóm làm việc theo cặp hay nhóm    Được di chuyển, chuyển chỗ làm hoạt động Cô cho lớp    Được Cơ giáo tạo trị chơi cho chơi học    Các học có chủ đề liên quan đến việc hàng ngày    Được làm nhiều loại hoạt động tiết học          Được Cơ cho tập khó Được làm hoạt động có liên quan đến sở thích mình, có câu chuyện 87 cổ tích hay câu chuyện cười    10 Có hội chọn lựa chủ đề học, tập hoạt động lớp    11 Được Cơ giáo khuyến khích em phải tin vào khả em    12 Được giao làm tập mà nằm khả em hồn thành    13 Được Cô mời lên trước lớp làm    14 Được Cô giáo tặng quà hay khen thưởng    15 Được Cô tổ chức ăn mừng thành tích em    16 Cô giáo dùng phim, video, nhạc, máy chiếu để dạy    17 Được xem chạm vào vật cụ thể có liên quan đến học    18 Được Cơ dạy văn hóa nước nói tiếng Anh    19 Được thực hành tiếng Anh tình thực tế    20 Cơ giáo có tính hài hước    21 Được Cô giáo nhận xét tiến em việc học    22 Được Cơ cho biết có làm sai điều hiển nhiên học tiếng Anh    Cô giáo cho học cách khác ngày 88 23 Được Cơ giáo khuyến khích em dám mạo hiểm học tiếng Anh    24 Được Cô giáo quan tâm    25 Có mối quan hệ tốt với Cô giáo    26 Bị Cô so sánh với bạn khác lớp    27 Bất ngờ Cô gọi lên trước lớp    CÁM ƠN CÁC EM RẤT NHIỀU!