factors affecting motivation in learning speaking english of students at nghe an college of culture and arts

This study is an attempt to investigate factors affecting motivation in learning speaking English at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts.. The main purposes of the study are to find out:

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled: “Factors affecting motivation in speaking English of students at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching, Vinh University and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution in any other degree or qualification

Signature Tran Thi Kim Thanh

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, I would like

to grateful and respectfully acknowledge my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong for his support in doing this thesis Without his help, the thesis would have never finished

Additionally, I wish to express my deep gratitude to the teachers in the Foreign Languages Department for advising me a lot of reference books related to my graduation thesis

I am also grateful to my friends and colleagues due to their constructive comments and criticisms Besides, I would like to express my thankfulness to all the students Nghe An college of Culture and Arts for their active participation into my study

Last but not least, I wish to express my special thanks to my parents,

my husband and all the members of my family, who always give me their love, care, support and encouragement

ABSTRACT

It is true that motivation has profound effects on students’ language learning However, students’ motivation in learning English listening is rather low at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts Many students are not interested and do not invest enough time and effort in learning it, also their perceived aptitude to learn and ability to use it in the future are low As a result, they feel bored with speaking lessons and find it hard to learn this skill With the hope that my study will be useful in finding out the way to motivate students as well as improve their speaking learning quality, I have decided to investigate this issue

This study is an attempt to investigate factors affecting motivation in learning speaking English at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts The main purposes of the study are to find out: types of motivation possessed by students at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts; factors affecting students’ motivation in speaking English; activities and techniques applied by teachers and students’ preference and then give them some suggested solutions

3 The scope of the S(udyy S22 3322111221 1321 1151111111115 111 81112 3

A Data collecflon - - c5: 2S 12131112511 55152111 1118111111511 1011 E11 e2 3

5 The organization of the study - - ¿5 22 2 22 3122211235125 czxxx 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW c2 322tr rae 5

2.1.1 Conceptions o0 mofIVafIOI - - - 2 22221222221 1321 3231112111155 xE2 5 2.1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning - 7 2.1.2.1 Integrative motivation and instrumental motivation - 7 2.1.2.2 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motIvafIon 5: +52 + s2 * +2 +2 svsesrsxss 8 2.1.3 Factors that Affect Students” Motivation -:++sccsc>s+sxs+ 9 Phone 9

2.3.1 Defnition of speakKing - - 5 - 22 3222212211122 12511 11111111 rxe 18 2.3.2 Elements of SpeakIng -: + - 2 3321312211152 1251 111111151 ke rye 19 2.3.3 The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking 20

2.3.4 Motivation in speaking 1m cÏassrooim ¿+5 2222222 *2szxs+sz>x 22 2.3.4.1 Motivation In the classroom sefting - + + +52 5+2 s*s+s>>s 22 2.3.4.2 Some condiflons for effecfive mofivation 1n speaking 22

3.4.1 Questionnaires for stud€n(s - c5 2c 3222 E22 SE Srsxssrsxes 28 3.4.2 Questionnaire for teacl€rS - ¿2 2 22 22223252 £szzxcsrxss 28 3.4.3 ÏnE€TVIGWS Q Q21 1 1221112211221 1 1211112111111 11 111111011111 KE g1 xa 3.4.4 Class observation

3.4.5 Data collection proc€dUre - + - 22+ 222 3223122511221 2zxk2 30 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION . 5 5-52 31 4.1 Results from students° pre-task questionnaIre - s+- +5 +++s 31 4.1.1 Students’ motivation and opinions on learning speaking English 31 4.1.2 Students’ opinions on learning speaking English 33 4.1.3 Factors de-motivating students in learning speaking? 36 4.1.4 Students” evaluation towards the textbook +s- c5 s25 s+s + 39 4.2 Results from students’ post-treatment questIonnaIre - 40 4.2.1 The changes of students’ motivation on speaking English 40 4.2.2 Factors de-motivating students in learning speaking 43

Vv

4.2.3 The change of students’ evaluation towards the textbook 45 4.2.4 Factors increase students’ motivation in speaking English 46 4.3 Results from teacher”s survey questionnaIre - ¿+ ++s-ss+ 5z + 52 4.3.1 Teacher’s opinions towards students’ motivation in speaking English 52 4.3.2 Techniques and activities applied by teachers - + 54 4.3.3 Teacher’s evaluation on Life line- Elementary textbook 57 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

5.1.1 Types of motivation possessed by second year non-major English

students at Nghe An college of Culture and Arts - :-: +5: 59 5.1.2 Factors affecting students in learning speaking English 59 5.1.3 Speaking motivational activities and techniques employed by teachers

5.1.4 Factors de-motivating students to speak English - 62 5.1.5 Teachers and students’ comments on speaking activities in Life line —

5.2 ImplicatIOTS .- c 2 2c 2222121112211 1251155115151 1110111151 118111111 63 5.2.1 Teacher”s role in a speaking Ïesson - 555 225222322232 sxx>s+ 63

5.2.3 Course book ImproVem€nI - c + 22 3122313231 1235125 5x12 e+ 64 5.2.4 Reducing de-motivating ÍaCfOTS 2: 2 2223 +22 sex 65 5.3 Limitations of the study c 2 2c 1222122551121 1135111515151 1521152 66 5.4 Recommendations for further research ¿+ s:++ + sxvxss+ 66

3540095101115 67

LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS

1 List of tables

Table 1: Types of motIVafIOI - 2c 222 2222211223 1221 11211111511 1555E52xxx2 31 Table 2: Factors cause difficulties for students in English speaking learning 36

Table 3: factors de-motivating students’ speaking learning 38

Table 4: The changes f students’ perceived importance of English learning 40 Table 5: The changes of students’ interest in learning English 41

Table 6: Changes of students’ frequency of speaking English in class time 42 Table 7: Changes of factors causes difficulties for students in speaking learning Table 8: Changes of factors de-motivating students’ speaking learning 44

Table 9: Changes of students’ evaluation towards the textbook 46

Table 10: Factors encourage students to speak English 47

Table 11: Activities applied by the teachers and students’ preference 49

Table 12: ActivifIes enJoyed most by studenfs - 5 225 +52 s+ 5s s52 51 Table 13: Teachers’ opinions towards students’ motivation in speaking 321 2225 ` 52

Table 14: Teacher’s opinions on students’ motivation of the speaking stages — 53 Table 15: The frequency of teachers’ techniques to motivate students 54

Table 16: Techniques used by teachers to help students to be more active and interested in speaking ÏeSSONS + 2 2 2 223322212223 E225E 1225325 Ezxx2 55 Table 17: The frequency of teachers’ using communicative activities 56

Table 18: Teacher’s evaluation on speaking skill of Life line-Elementary 2 List of charts Chart 1: Students” percerved importance of English - - 33

vii

Chart 2: Students` imnterest in learning speakKing - +5 5< +52 52552 34 Chart 3: Students’ frequency of speaking English In class time 35 Chart 4: Students` opinion on the topics 1n the textbook - 39 Chart 5: Students` results after the treatmenf - - ¿+ 5< s++< + >+s2 47

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In recent decades, English has been more and more important in Vietnam The importance of English is not only in how people speak it but also in what it is used for Most countries in the world use English as medium

of communication in many aspects of life Meanwhile, in Vietnam, English is considered as a foreign language It also has been introduced to educational institutions, which is learnt from Junior High School up to university as a compulsory subject The need to enhance their language skills is becoming a matter of great urgency In order to meet the need of the learners, teachers are constantly challenged by the matter how to make English teaching and learning more communicative and effective

In the context of Nghe An College of Culture and Arts, students are taught English as a compulsory subject The students start learning General English at the beginning of the first two years and then they will start another course in English for specific purposes The short period is mainly aimed at improving reading and translating skills However, in order to communicate well in a foreign language, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them correctly, as well as should know how to use the language appropriately As a teacher of English, from my observation and my own teaching experience, I see that during the speaking lesson classroom interaction is restricted Only some students get involved in the activities conducted by the teacher while others keep silence or do other things In fact, in speaking lessons, students are usually reluctant to take part

in class activities Speaking tasks often take place in silence Some students may be very good at writing or reading English but they fail to speak English fluently and naturally Some students state that they cannot find words to say,

and some fear of making mistakes, however a lot of students frankly admit they are not motivated to speak.Thus, one of the challenges to the teacher is to find out the answer to the question: “Why don’t many students of English get involved actively in speaking lesson?” To find out the answer to this question

it is necessary to investigate what motivates and de-motivates students in learning speaking English

In the process of teaching and learning English, there are many factors affecting the success of language learners such as aptitude, age, personality, motivation and so on, among which motivation is one of the key factors that determine students’ success or failure in language learning Researchers on motivation have pointed out that learners who are highly motivated can learn

a foreign language better than those who are not and vice versa Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals, and there are no appropriate curricula and good teaching to ensure students’ achievement This is true both for children and adult learners

This is the reason why I choose studying on factors affecting motivation in speaking English of students at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts The study is to investigate types of motivation that students have in speaking and point out some factors that motivate and de-motivate student in learning speaking It also investigates the activities and techniques applied by teachers, students’ preference and demands, and some difficulties teachers faced in teaching speaking The researcher hopes that this study will be a help for teachers who want to increase students’ motivation in speaking English learning

1 Aims of the study

My research paper aims:

- to identify types of motivation possessed by the students at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts

- to point out some factors affecting students’ motivation in speaking English

- to examine some activities and techniques applied by teachers and students’ preferences

- to suggest motivational strategies and techniques, which can applied to stimulate learners in teaching speaking skill

(4) What motivational strategies and techniques can be applied to speaking lesson?

3 The scope of the study

The study mainly deals with the factors affecting motivation in speaking English of students at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts, identifies some factors de-motivating students in learning speaking and examine some activities and techniques used by teaches and student’ preference and demand; then suggest some recommendations for teachers to encourage students to speak English and overcome difficulties in teaching speaking

4 Data collection

The questionnaires will be used to collect information from teachers and students The written questionnaires raised will be appropriate for the purpose of the study

Interview is used as an instrument for data collection in this study in order to gather students’ responses flexibly

Added to that, classroom observation will be also employed to support for the study

The documents will be taken from the main book Life Lines — Elementary - Student’s book (2010) Tom Hutchinson Oxford University Press

5 The organization of the study

The study will consist of the following parts:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This part will introduce the rationale, aims, scope, research questions and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review

This chapter presents the background of motivation and speaking teaching And de-motivation in foreign language teaching is also discussed Chapter 3: The study

This part presents the methodology performed in the study The chapter also deals with situation analysis, participants, data collection and data analysis

Chapter 4: Findings and discussions

The part deals with the findings and discussions and offers some recommendations for teacher to motivate students to speak and overcome some difficulties teachers meet in teaching speaking

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Main points and contents of the study will be summarized based on the results of the study The implication of the study and the recommendation for further research will be presented

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical background of motivation

to act or respond According to Webster's Dictionary, motivation is "the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action," and "the reason for the action." Thus, motivation relates to the internal processes that "move, impel, induce, or incite," people to do the things they do It is "the call to action" that stimulates us to initiate behaviors in the world around us "Needs, drives, and desires" are typically cited as internal motives of our behaviors

"Incentives, rewards and reinforcement" are considered motivations derived from external sources One of the earliest theories of motivation was proposed

by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle Aristotle postulated that motivation was the result of an "appetitive" function, which always operated relative to some outcome or end While Dornyei (2001) defined motivation as

a function of a person’s thought and as ‘the dynamically changing cumulative aroused in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates and evaluates the cognitive and the motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritized, operationalized and acted out He also stated that “motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the

activities” (2000:7) According to Woolfolk, motivation is “an internal state that arouses directs and maintains behavior” (Woolfolk, 2001:366) Brown also claimed that “motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something” Burden (1997:119) assumed that “from a cognitive perspective, motivation is concerned with such issues as why people decide to act in certain ways and what factors influence the choice they make It also involves decisions as to the amount of effect people are prepared to expand in attempting to achieve their goals The role of the teacher thus becomes one of helping and enabling learners to make suitable decisions” About this issue, Oxford and Shearin (1996:121-122) also argue: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often students use second language learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned (the target language), how well they do on curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they persevere and maintain second language skills after language study

is over Therefore, motivation is crucial for second language learning, and it is essential to understand what our students’ motivations are” As a result, motivation should be paid attention in teaching and learning second languages

From the above, different researchers have different definitions of motivation However, it can be deduced that motivation combines effort and desire plus favorable and occur as a result of a combination of internal and external influences This research, therefore, will follow the definition of motivation proposed by Garner (1982) that motivation is perceived to be composed of three elements These include effort, desire and affect Effort refers to the time spent studying the language and the drive of the learner

Desire indicates how much the learner wants to become proficient in the language, and affect illustrates the learner’s emotional reactions with regard

to language study

2.1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning

2.1.2.1 Integrative motivation and instrumental motivation

e Integrative motivation

Integrative motivation is characterised by the learner's positive attitudes towards the target language group and the desire to integrate into the target language community Motivation has been identified as the learner's orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second language (Crookes and Schmidt 1991) It is thought that students who are most successful when learning a target language are those who like the people that speak the language, admire the culture and have a desire to become familiar with or even integrate into the society in which the language is used (Falk 1978) This form of motivation is known as integrative motivation When someone becomes a resident in a new community that uses the target language in its social interactions, integrative motivation is a key component in assisting the learner to develop some level of proficiency in the language It becomes a necessity, in order to operate socially in the community and become one of its members It is also theorised that "integrative motivation typically underlies successful acquisition of a wide range of registers and a nativelike pronunciation" (Finegan 1999:568)

e Instrumental motivation

In contrast to integrative motivation is the form of motivation referred

to as instrumental motivation This is generally characterised by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language (Hudson 2000) With instrumental motivation the purpose of language

acquisition is more utilitarian, such as meeting the requirements for school or university graduation, applying for a job, requesting higher pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation work or achieving higher social status Instrumental motivation is often characteristic of second language acquisition, where little or no social integration of the learner into a community using the target language takes place, or in some instances is even desired

e Integrative motivation vs instrumental motivation

Motivation is an important factor in L2 achievement For this reason it

is important to identify both the type and combination of motivation that assists in the successful acquisition of a second language While both integrative and instrumental motivation are essential elements of success, it is integrative motivation which has been found to sustain long-term success when learning a second language (Taylor, Meynard and Rheault 1977; Ellis 1997; Crookes et al 1991) Those who do support an integrative approach to language study are usually more highly motivated and overall more successful

in language learning However, other researchers such as Lukmani (1972) found that an instrumental orientation was more important than an integrative orientation Braj Kachru (1977, cited in Brown 2000) also points out that in India, where English has become an international language, it is not uncommon for second language learners to be successful with instrumental purposes being the underlying reason for study

2.1.2.2 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation

Motivation can be classified in different ways In some studies, motivation is caterogized into two types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Intrinsic motion refers to the fact of doing an activity for itself, pleasure and satisfaction derived from participation (Deci and Ryan, 1985) Contrary to

intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation pertains to a wide variety of behaviors that are engaged in as a means to an end and not for their own sake (Deci and Ryan, 1985)

Extrinsic motivation can be regarded as the opposite of intrinsic motivation The goal connected with intrinsic motivation is a positive learning effect that lasts a long time, but the goal of an extrinsic motivated student is completely different Deci and Ryan state that learners will lose motivation and reason to

do something when rewards are no longer available and that giving external rewards to them previously with intrinsic motivation can harm the good effect

in it However, some researchers show that extrinsic motivation is effective for those with no motivation, and when it is a positive feedback

2.1.3 Factors that Affect Students’ Motivation

Basing on Dornyei’s study, factors affecting students’ motivation can

be classified into learner’s factors, teacher’s factors, environment factors, and teaching and learning conditions

2.1.3.1 Learner’s factors

a Intelligence:

Intelligence is a term referring to performance on certain kinds of test (Lightbown & Spada, 1999:52) Through tests, teachers are able to classify successful or unsuccessful students in the class performance While some studies have reported that there is a link between intelligence measured by IQ tests and second language learning, some students, in fact, whose academic performance is weak, are successful in second language learning

b Aptitude:

Aptitude refers to a special ability involved in second language learning (Douglas et al 1985) Lightbown and Spada also point out that language aptitude is usually described as a combination of four factors: the ability to

identify and memorize new sounds, the ability to understand the function of particular words in sentences, the ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples and the ability to memorize new words (1999)

An important point regarding aptitude and second language learning is that successful learners may not be strong in all the components of aptitude and can still succeed at learning a second language

c Personality

In the eyes of many teachers the personality of the students constitutes

a major factor contributing to success or failure in language learning Ellis(1997) pointed that extroverted learners are advantaged in the development of the kind of language associated with basis interpersonal communication skills and that extroverted learners may also be more likely to participate actively in oral communication(1997) Lightbown and Spada list a number of personality characteristics that have a great influence on the success of second language learners: inhibition, self-esteem, extroversion, empathy, dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness (1999)

d Learner’s age

Children are believed to be better than adults in acquiring L2 in general and in speaking a new language with native-like fluency in particular Some researchers argued that late starters may be able to learn the syntax and the vocabulary of a second language, but that attaining a native-like pronunciation is impossible for them Also, they concluded that younger learners have a greater chance of attaining native-like proficiency in the L2, older learners may show faster progress at the beginning, but are probably surpassed by the young ones in the end

we find that physical, effective, and cognitive domains merge in learning styles Learning style is a consistent way of functioning that reflects underlying causes of behavior” (citied in Ellis)

2.1.3.2 Teacher’s factors

Teacher plays an important role in students’ learning motivation Dornyei (2001) point out some teacher’s factors affecting students’ motivation: appropriate teacher behavior, teacher’s enthusiasm and a good relationship with the students

Appropriate teacher behavior in classroom is very important It is considered a powerful ‘motivation tool’ Alison (1993) stated that teacher’s behavior could ‘persuade’ or ‘attract’ students to engage in on-task behaviors (citied in Dornyei 2001) “The teacher should be patient, encouraging person who supports students’ learning efforts Students should feel comfortable taking intellectual risks because they know that they will not be embarrassed

or criticized if they make a mistake” (Good and Brophy, 1994- citied in Dornyei, 2001:121)

Teacher’s good relationship with the student is a also a key element of motivation is student learning Teacher should have ability to listen and pay attention to students Wlodkowski also stated that listing a person is the single most powerful transaction that occurs between ourselves and another person The teacher should establish the relationship of mutual trust and respect with students

Enthusiasm is teachers’ love; dedication and passion together will commitment toward the subject matter that instills in students a willingness to pursue knowledge Also, teachers should clearly identify their reasons for loving and being interested in the subject matter or second language, and then share these reasons with their students

The last factor is teacher's commitment to the students’ academic progress 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 In order to express commitment towards the students, teachers should offer concrete assistance, offer to meet students individually

to explain things, respond immediately when help is requested, correct tests and papers promptly, send learners copies of relevant interesting articles, arrange extra-curricular instructional programs, encourage extra- assignments and offer to assist with these, show concern when things are not going on and

so on

In short, teacher’s attitudes, behavior as well as the general level of their commitment towards the students, their learning and their subject matter, constitute some of the most prevailing influences on student motivation Dornyei says that ‘teacher are the designated leaders of the class group’ and

therefore, they cannot lack their responsibility for maintaining their own commitment to the teaching process because the lack of this responsibility will cause ‘psychological absence’ from teaching process, which is the fastest way to undermine the motivational base of the learners

2.1.3.3 Teaching and learning condition

Teaching and learning condition involves classroom atmosphere and physical condition A pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere will create motivation, it encourages students to their opinions and thinking It is very important to make students that mistakes are a natural part of learning, and to ensure that they will not be criticized if they make mistakes MacIntyre (1999) and Young (1999) pointed out that students’ anxiety created by a tense classroom climate was one of the most potent factors that undermined learning effectiveness and L2 motivation (citied in Dornyei)

Physical conditions in the classroom refer to the classroom size, chairs, desks, tables, boards and even bulletin boards Physical condition had great impact on students’ learning as well as their attitude towards the subject matter These affect students' motivation either positively or negatively The second language teachers should be reminded that the classroom is not only a psychological but also physical environment The decoration: posters, flowers, funny objects influence strongly the atmosphere More importantly, teachers should create the ownership of the class among students

2.1.4 Charactreristics of motivated learners

Ellies (1985) replicated findings from studies by Rubin (1975) and Naiman et al (1978), and drew on a number of characteristics and the qualities of the good language learners According to them a good language learner would: be able to respond to a group dynamics of the learning situation so as to develop negative anxiety and inhibition; seek out opportunities to use the target language, make maximum use of the

opportunities afforded to him and to others; supplement the learning that derives from the direct contact with speakers of the L2 ; learning derived from the use of study techniques; be an adolescent or an adult; possesses sufficient analytic skills to perceive, categorize, and store the linguistic features of the L2; possesses a strong reason for learning the L2; be prepared

to experiment by taking risks and be capable of adapting to different learning conditions

2.1.5 De-motivation

2.1.5.1 Conceptions of De-motivation

Dornyei (2005 :143) defined de-motivation as “ specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action”

Deci and Ryan (1985) used a similar term “a-motivation”, which means

“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”

2.1.5.2 De-motivating Factors that Affect Motivation in Learning Foreign Language

According to Dornyei, factors de-motivating students’ learning are as follows

1 The teacher (personality, commitment, competence, teaching method);

2 Inadequate school facilities (group is too big or not the right level, frequent change of teachers);

Reduced self-confidence (experience of failure or lack of success); Negative attitude towards the second language;

Compulsory nature of second language study;

Interference of another foreign language being studied;

Negative attitude towards second language community;

a single methodology These approaches parade under the general label

“communicative”, all of which characterize language teaching as the development of communicative skills (Nunan, 1991) CLT sets its goal to teach the learners the communicative competence and this approach does a lot

to expand on the goal of creating communicative competence compared to earlier method that focused on the same objective Teaching students how to use the language can be seen as important as learning the language itself According to Brown “We are exploring pedagogical means for ‘real life’ communication in the classroom” and “We are concerned with how to facilitate lifelong language learning among our students, not just with the immediate classroom task’( 1994: 77)

There are many interpretations of what CLT actually means and involves, however there are still some misconceptions about CLT “Many teachers of English believe that CLT means not teaching grammar, or CLT means teaching only speaking not writing, listening and reading” (Thompson, 1996) As a result, this approach may be applied inappropriately

Although the various definitions of CLT have been offered, all of these also claim that the goal of teaching language is to develop learners’

communicative competence which involves the ability to use the language appropriately to a social context These components can be seen as linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence In order to help readers see what CLT means deeply and completely, some characteristics of CLT would be addressed in the next section

- Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use

- In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts

Sharing the same view, Nunan (1991) also proposed five common characteristics of CLT classrooms:

- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself

- An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

- An attempt to link classroom language learning to language activation outside the classroom

2.2.3 Teacher’s and Learner’s Roles in CLT

a Teacher’s roles

CLT focuses on the important of providing learners with activities which give them the opportunity to use target language for their communicative purpose

The type of classroom activities in CLT, therefore, requires teachers new roles in the classroom Rather than being a model for correct speech, teachers have responsibility to facilitate the communication among learners, they establish the CAs in order to supply their students the chance to share their ideas and opinions on a regular basis In another word, this involves students

Obviously, teachers play many new roles in CLT However, it depends

on the teaching context in which some roles are more prominent than others

a Learner’s roles

A great deal of use of authentic language is implied in CLT CLT employs learner-centered approach in which students are communicators It is supposed that learners now participate in classroom activities that base on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach to learning They should feel comfortable with listening to their peer in pair work or group work tasks Furthermore, Breen and Cardlin (1980) describe learner’s role in CLT

as “negotiator — between the self and learning process, and the object of learning — emerges from and interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group undertakes’

In order to achieve the aim of communication successfully, learners are supposed to work as communicators and negotiators They are also claimed to take on more responsible for their own learning

2.3 Theoretical background of speaking in language learning

2.3.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking can be seen as the key to human communication It is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching There are many definitions of speaking

Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety contexts” (Chaney, 1998) Florez (1999) defined speaking was ‘an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information’ (cited in Balley, 2005) It is ‘often spontaneous, open-ended and evolving’, but is not completely unpredictable In other words, ‘speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meanings’ (Balley, 2005) Sharing this point of view Thornbury (2005) reveals that “speaking can be

typified as an activity involving two or more people in which the participants are both hearers and speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contribution.” The communication purpose can be broken when both participant do not have intention to make their contribution to the conversation

Byrne (1976) describes speaking as “a two-way process between the speaker(s) and the listener(s) involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding.” It can be transferred from his idea that both speaker and listener have the function in the interaction The message has to be encoded by the speaker in order to convey it in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode the message

2.3.2 Elements of Speaking

According to Harmer (2001), in spoken language some elements should

be included: the first one is being connected speech This means that a good speaker should have ability to sound words correctly and connect the sounds

to words to each other The second element is an expressive device We can use pitch change, intonation, and stress to convey different meanings The third is Lexis and grammar This reflects the speaker’s ability of using phrases in appropriate way depending on the language function The last is negotiation language It means that the speaker can make clarification and display good talking structure by creating effective speaking

Brown (2001) also indicates that rhythm and intonation, fluency, and accuracy are three aspects of speaking The speaker’s ability to articulate the words clearly shows his or her fluency while accuracy reflects the speaker’s ability in using the word naturally

Along with Brown, Burkart (1998) mentions three knowledge areas of speaking: mechanics, function, social and cultural rules and norms He

claims that language learners need to recognize these three aspects in speaking

- Mechanics involves pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary which shows the ability of using of right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation

- Functions involves transaction and interaction which shows the ability

of knowing when clarity of message is essential ( transaction/ information exchange) and when precise understanding is not required ( interaction/ relationship building)

- Social and cultural rules and norms involves turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between speakers and relative roles of participants which shows the ability of understanding how to take into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reason Finally, Burkat (1998) states that in the communicative model of teaching speaking, teachers need help their students raise their awareness of this knowledge by providing authentic practice that prepares students for real- life communication situations and help their students develop the ability to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentences that are appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable pronunciation 2.3.3 The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking According to Byrne, D(1986) teaching speaking consists of three stages: the presentation stage, the practice stage and the production one The role of teacher is different in each state At the presentation stage, teacher plays an informant role The teacher introduces something new to be learnt and present

it in such a way that the meaning of new language is as clear and memorable

as possible The students listen and try to understand At this point of lesson,

the teacher is at the center of the stage Therefore, teacher’s time spending should be sensible so that students get enough time to practice themselves

At the practice stage, it is the students’ turn to do most of the talking while teacher’s main task is to devise and provide the maximum amount of practice, which must be the same time be both meaningful and memorable The teacher’s role is completely different from that in the presentation one The teacher is like the skilful conductor of an orchestra, giving each of the performers a chance to participate and monitoring their performance to see that it is satisfactory

At the final stage, the production one, the teacher takes on the role of manager and guide Students are given opportunities to use language freely Sometimes students can make mistakes at this stage, but mistakes are unimportant The more important is that students have chance to use language

as they wish, to try to express their own ideas Furthermore, they become aware that they have learnt something useful for them, and are encouraged to learning However, students will probably seem to the teachers to lurch backwards and forwards rather than make steady progress It will not be so easy for the teacher to measure students’ performance as it was at practice stage So, what is needed is flexibility, tolerance, patience on teacher’s part- and, above all, all understanding of students’ difficulties

In short, teacher through speaking lesson should work as a motivator His/her roles closely relate to three stages of learning Whatever teacher is doing in the classroom, his/her ability to motivate the students, to arouse their interest and involve them in what they are doing, will be crucial Therefore, some key factors of teacher’s role are teacher’s own performance- the mastery

of teaching skills, which depend on teacher’s careful preparation, teacher’s selection, and presentation of topics and activities, and, of course, teacher’s

own personality, which in language teaching, must be flexible enough to allow the teacher to be both authoritative and friendly at the same time

2.3.4 Motivation in speaking in classroom

2.3.4.1 Motivation in the classroom setting

Lightbown and Spada (1999) stated that if the teacher could make classrooms places where students enjoy coming because the content is interesting and relevant to their age and level of ability, where the learning goals was challenging yet manageable and clear, and where the atmosphere was supportive and non-threatening, teachers could make a_ positive contribution to students’ motivation to learn These researchers replicated findings from studies by Graham Crookes and Richard Schmit (1991) and pointed out some pedagogical practices for teachers to motivate students in classroom setting:

e Motivating students into the lesson: At the opening stages of lessons, remark teachers make about forthcoming activities can lead to higher levels of interest on the part of the students

e Redesigning the activities, tasks, and materials: Lessons usually consist

of the same forms, pattern often lead to the boredom Redesigning the activities, tasks, and materials can increase the students’ interest and attract them to pay attention to the lessons

e Using co-operative rather than competitive goals: Co-operative learning activities are those in which students must work together in order to complete a task or solve problem These techniques will increase the self-confidence of students

2.3.4.2 Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking

Nunan (1999) pointed out some preconditions for effective motivation:

e Supportive environment: including orderly classroom, teacher is skilled

in classroom management, students are non-anxious and feel comfortable taking risks, feedback is positive

e Appropriate level of difficulty: tasks are neither too easy nor too difficult, students know what they have to do criteria for success are clear

e Meaningful learning: students know what and why they learn; activities are meaningful The relationship between activities and objectives is clear, tasks are sequenced so that new tasks build on and extend ones that come before.; students are given a reason to be in class

e Strategies: motivational strategy is matched to instructional need, particular strategies are not overused, teacher use a range of strategies; there is a learning —how-to-learn dimension to instruction

e Content: students can relate content to own experience, topics are interesting

(Nunan, D 1999)

2.4 Summary

In summary, the chapter has reviewed different view points on motivation in general and particularly focused on foreign language learning motivation Besides, some different aspects related to speaking were also discussed, especially some aspects related to factors affecting students’ speaking motivation

The following chapter will display the methodology of the study under the light of the above discussed theories

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

On the basis of the theories presented in the Theoretical Background, the investigation into the current situation of learning and teaching speaking skill at Nghe An college of Culture and Arts was carried out The survey was conducted on the students and teachers of Nghe An college of Culture and Arts to find out the factors affecting motivation in learning speaking English

of students Therefore, it required choosing descriptive statistics as the main research method and questionnaires for both teachers and students as the main instruments to collect data In addition, students’ interviews and class observations were used as supporting methods to supply extra information 3.2 Situation analysis

3.2.1 The setting of the study

All of the students at my school come from many districts in Nghe An and Ha Tinh where the learning conditions are very poor and they are deprived of chances to speak English According to the principle of Ministry

of Education and Training, English is one of the main subjects of the college curriculum Students of all departments and sections learn Basic English in four semesters Most of them have already finished four years of learning English in high school However, teaching English speaking for them met some difficulties The first difficulty is that English is not paid attention by most students in school They did not take English as a subject in the entrance examination into the college The second is teachers have to teach the large size class There are usually 50 students for each class Therefore, teaching English speaking is very difficult for teachers Teachers will face with some problems in monitoring work, giving feedback, setting up communicative tasks as well as paying attention to all students during class time The third is

most students are not familiar with teaching in English They say they do not understand if all English lessons are taught in English They also feel quite uncomfortable and stressed when using English to express themselves The last is the lack of materials Materials for reference and self-study are not available There is a library at school but there are not many books for English learning English newspapers and magazine, which are good sources

of current target language, are not available There are no language labs and library Internet for students, too

e Students

Students at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts, both male and female, had similar backgrounds, that is, all of them finished high school with at least three years of learning English

The students under the investigation have just finished the first term of the second school year They all seem have the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary The others such as reading, writing listening and speaking are very bad It cannot deny that most students want to learn English well but their condition, their learning environment and their capacity do not allow them to do so About two third of them are from farmer families so their lives are rather poor Their learning condition, thus, is not equipped enough Moreover, outside class time, most of them have to earn their living by taking part in performances for different events In English lesson, English is only

used by teacher and good students, the others are lazy or reluctant to talk because they have no effort and aim to learn Some are afraid of talking as they fear to make mistakes and lose face, and sometimes they fear to get bad marks and be paid bad attention from teachers By the large, students have few chances to practice English and speak it out As a result, English is very bad, especially their English speaking

e Teachers

Nghe An College of Culture and Arts now has four teachers of English aged from 27 to 38 All of them have been teaching at school for at least two years One teacher has finished M.A degree and the two others are learning for it and one hold a B.A degree in English language teaching They are helpful, friendly, and dedicated teachers Most of them want to devote their whole lives for teaching They all have great desire to acquire knowledge of how to teach English as well as how to widen their English background Also they are always willing to help their students tackle with difficulties in learning

2.2.3 Speaking material

The main material for students in the first two years of learning is Life Lines — Elementary — student’s book (2010) Tom Hutchinson Oxford University Press

The content of the main material is arranged according to themes Each unit mentions one theme relating to everyday life, which is useful and practical However, it makes both students and teachers face with deal of challenges such as inappropriate facilities for teaching and learning, students’ low proficiency, teacher’s passive , which require both teachers and students to

overcome

3.3 Participants

The participants for the survey questionnaires were 125 students and four teachers of English These students have learnt English at least three years in high school When participating in the study they were in the second term of the school year In researcher’s observation, their English proficiency and level of motivation was quite equal Four teachers of the school were selected to get the objective data They have at least five years of teaching The results from these teachers will give objective view on students’ motivation in speaking

All participants took part in the survey by responding to the three kinds

of questionnaires, two for students and one for teachers

3.4 Data collection

The data collected for the study comes from two sources: the second year students and all the teachers of English at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts

The quantitative method with survey questionnaires, two for students (pre- and post-questionnaire) and one for the teachers, were used to gather information and evidence for the study In addition, to make the data collected more reliable and authentic, the qualitative method was applied with class observation All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study were based on the data analysis of the study

According to Gillham (2000), using questionnaires has some advantages: low cost in time and money; easy to get information from a lot of people very quickly; respondents can complete the questionnaire when it suits them; analysis of answers to closed questions is straightforward; less pressure for an immediate response; respondents’ anonymity; lack of interviewer bias:

standardization of questions (but true of structured interview); can provide suggestive data for testing an hypothesis

The questions for students and teachers were designed in both close and open-ended forms Among them, some questions have more than one answer which can be accepted so that respondents can have more freedom to express their own ideas The questions for students were written in Vietnamese to assure that respondents did not have any language problems in understanding the questionnaire items The questions for teachers were prepared in both Vietnamese and English

The detailed questionnaires which were used in the survey for teachers and students are shown in the Appendix part

3.4.1 Questionnaires for students

e Pre-treatment questionnaire

The pre-questions were designed with two main parts:

Part 1 was designed to elicit students’ opinions about their motivation in learning speaking English Part 2 would collect some information relating to factors affecting students’ motivation in learning English

e Post- treatment questionnaire

Post-treatment questionnaire encompassed 12 questions which were divided into two parts Part 1 included 7 questions which would gather information about students’ motivation changed after applying some new teaching techniques in speaking English Part 2 aimed at collecting information about teacher’s applying activities in teaching speaking English and students’ preference

3.4.2 Questionnaire for teachers

The questionnaire was designed with 2 parts:

The first part is designed with 5 questions about things need to be done to motivate students

The second part is to get teacher’s comment on the textbook

3.4.3 Interviews

Despite the above mentioned advantages, questionnaire method also has some unavoidable disadvantages Its reliability and data quality may be low Sometimes, it is impossible to check seriousness or honesty of the answers This is especially true of studies of motivation, which is an abstract, attitudinal concept Therefore, it is advisable to incorporate more than one method in a study That is the reason why the follow-up interviews were also adopted in this study This was semi-structured interview, which aimed to provide an insight into the responses made in the questionnaires

In other words, this interview was intended to gather in-depth information and make the data obtained from the questionnaires more reliable and convincing The participants were invited to answer the questions

In other words, this interview was intended to gather in-depth information and make the data obtained from the questionnaires more reliable and convincing The participants were invited to answer the questions with the researcher explaining the questions and clarifying unclear answers

All the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese, noted-down, and lasted around one hour The data collected from the interview were used for the purpose of analysis

This instrument was very important for teachers to realize their students’ fluctuations in motivation Then there could be prompt action 3.4.5 Data collection procedure

First the pre-treatment questionnaire was delivered to students at the beginning of the second term to measure input motivation After collecting information from the pre-treatment questionnaire, the teacher taught students for two months with applying new techniques, and then post-treatment questionnaire was given to students to gather information of students’ motivation changes, students’ attitudes towards techniques and activities applied by teachers and their preference The questionnaire for teacher was conducted after doing the post treatment to gather information about teacher’s attitudes towards students’ motivation in speaking and the effects of the activities and techniques that they had applied Beside, the class observations were carried out before and during the treatment to check and to get the data for research Finally, the follow-up interview of two participants was carried out in the following week to get further information for the study

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This part of the thesis presents the findings that arise from the specific questions in order to answer the research questions

The findings resulted from the analysis of the three sources of collected data: questionnaires (for both teachers and students), interviews and classroom observations The results were tabulated and converted to percentages for the convenience of analysis

Along with interviews, information gained via the class observations helped to assist interpretation

4.1 Results from students’ pre-task questionnaire

4.1.1 Students’ motivation and opinions on learning speaking English Question 1: Why do you want to learn English speaking?

To get goods mark in the exam 60/125 | 48%

I want to live and study abroad 15/125 12%

To sing and listen to English songs 45/125 | 36%

To study the people, culture of English speaking | 28/125 | 22%

from this college English is necessary when they apply for a job especially for tourism students A compulsory subject in the syllabus was also the thing that most students (72%) concerned About 22% of the respondents answered that they were interested in English especially English people and culture As students in musical faculty and tourism they were much interested in music, 36% of the students want to listen and sing English songs The table also reveals that students were much concerned about marks, 48% of them want to get high marks in English Whereas the others (22%) wanted to learn English because they would like to communicate with foreigners Clearly, most of the students knew the role of English in the modern life when foreign language was considered the main means of communication The lowest percentage of the students affirmed they wanted to live and study abroad in the future though so far they had not known whether they could achieve their wishes or not; and that was the reason they tried to learn English

In short, types of motivation possessed by students were quite varied The highest percentage was the students who possessed instrumental orientation which the reason why they studied English for getting a good job in the future The lower percentage was the respondents with extrinsic motivation with the reason they studied English for the requirements of their teachers because English was one of their subjects at school The last one who some possessed integrative and intrinsic motivation with the underlining reason that they studied English because of their interest in people, culture and English speaking countries, and singing and listening to English songs Among these figures, some students identified as having a combination of both intrinsic and instrumental orientation In general, students who possessed extrinsic motivation often felt unwilling and forced to learn English while students with instrumental and integrative orientation were quite eager to learn English