An exploratory study of ethnic minority students' motivation in studying English speaking skills at Sam Son ethnic pre-university school = Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu đ

Therefore, with the desire to help these students, the study is carried out in the context of S2EPS in order to explore ethnic minority students‟ motivation in learning English speaking

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

SƠN ETHNIC PRE-UNIVERSITY SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu động cơ học kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh của học sinh dân tộc

thiểu số trường Dự bị Đại học Dân tộc Sầm Sơn

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

SƠN ETHNIC PRE-UNIVERSITY SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu động cơ học kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh của học sinh dân tộc

thiểu số trường Dự bị Đại học Dân tộc Sầm Sơn

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ MINH TÂM, PhD

Hanoi, 2014

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “An exploratory study of ethnic minority students’ motivation in studying English speaking skills at Sầm Sơn Ethnic Pre-university School” is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Arts

at University of Languages and International Studies - VNU, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or tertiary institution

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm, PhD., for her wholehearted guidance, invaluable advice, instructions, suggestions, and especially constructive criticism as well as her encouragement in the completion of my research work

Next, I am especially grateful to all the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies - VNU, for their useful lectures, materials, as well as guidance and enthusiasm which are of great value not only to me but also to all my class - K21 TH

Post-I also wish to give my sincere thanks to all my colleagues and students at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School who provided me with inspiration for the research topic and helped me with the research data Without them, I could not have finished my thesis Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and dear friends, especially my husband and my son who are always beside me with their love and understanding, encouragement and spiritual support throughout this thesis

ABSTRACT

During the seven-year teaching period at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School (S2EPS), the researcher has realized that the students at S2EPS lack adequate English speaking skill to further their study at university and their future job as well It is also realized that motivation is one of the major factors affecting the success or failure of students in learning a second/foreign language (L2) in general, and particularly learning the speaking skill Therefore, with the desire to help these students, the study is carried out

in the context of S2EPS in order to explore ethnic minority students‟ motivation in learning English speaking skills

The study was conducted with 100 students of S2EPS by completing a set of survey questionnaire and with 6 students among whom by attending a focused group interview On the basis of data analysis, the findings, first of all, showed two kinds of motivation possessed by the ethnic students which are the instrumental and integrative Secondly, some factors affecting their motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill were found from the data, which are student factors, teacher factors as well as classroom factors and the textbook The extent to which these factors affect students‟ motivation are then discussed Finally, some strategies and techniques to motivate ethnic students at Pre-university schools in general and at S2EPS in particular to speak English more effectively were suggested and recommended

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

ELT: English Language Teaching

ESL: English as a Second Language

FLL: Foreign Language Learning

L2: Second/ Foreign Language

SLA: Second Language Acquisition

SLL: Second Language Learning

S2EPS: Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 1: How learners‟ motivation can possibly be affected in speaking classes

Table 2: Students‟ reasons for learning English speaking skills

Table 3: Students‟ interest in speaking activities used in the class

Table 4: Students‟ opinion on factors affecting the learning process of the speaking skill Table 5: Students‟ opinion on strategies and techniques teachers should to use to motivate

them in learning English speaking skills

Chart 1: Students‟ attitude towards the importance of the speaking skill

Chart 2: Students‟ attitude towards speaking English

Chart 3: Students‟ level of participation in speaking activities

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate‟s statement………

Acknowledgement………

Abstract………

i ii iii List of abbreviations ……… ………

List of tables and charts………

Table of contents ……… …….………

iv v vi PART A INTRODUCTION……….……… 01

1 Rationale ……… ……… 01

2 Aim of the study ……… 02

3 Scope of the study……… 02

4 Research questions……… ……… 02

5 Methods of the study……….………

6 Organization of the study………

02 03 PART B DEVELOPMENT……… 04

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW……… 04

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation……….……… 04

1.1.1 Motivation in foreign language learning ……… 04

1.1.2 Classification of motivation in foreign language learning.……… 05

1.1.3 Characteristics of a motivated learner……… 06

1.2 Theoretical background of teaching the speaking skill ……… …… 07

1.2.1 The notion of the speaking skill ……… 07

1.2.2 Teaching the speaking skill in Communicative Language Teaching approach……….……… 08

1.3 Factors affecting learners‟ motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill……… 09

1.3.1 Learner factors……… 09

1.3.2 Teacher factors………….……… 11

1.3.3 Classroom factors.………

1.4 Previous studies on the topic………

13

16

1.5 Summary of the chapter… ……….……… 17

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY……… 18

2.1 Research setting… ……… ……… 18

2.1.1 An overview of Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School………… 18

2.1.2 The teachers of English ….………

2.1.3 The students………

2.1.4 The textbook………

2.1.5 The teaching and learning conditions………

18 18 19 19 2.2 The study………

2.2.1 Research questions restated………

2.2.2 Data collecting instruments, participants and procedures ……

2.2.2.1 Survey questionnaire… ……… …… ……

 Purpose

 Structure

 Participants

 Data collecting procedure and presentation of data

2.2.2.2 Focused group interview……… ………

 Purpose

 Structure

 Participants

 Data collecting procedure and presentation of data

20 20 20 20 20 20 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 2.3 Summary of the chapter……… …

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS…………

3.1 Research question 1: To what extent are students at S2EPS motivated in studying English speaking skills? ………

3.1.1 To what extent are students at S2EPS motivated in general?

3.1.2 To what extent does each factor affect students‟ motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill? ……….………

3.2 Research question 2: What motivated strategies and techniques can be applied to teaching English speaking skills at S2EPS? ………

3.3 Recommendations to English teaching and leaning practice in S2EPS

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33

3.3.1 For the teachers………

3.3.2 For the students………

3.3.3 For the management board………

3.4 Summary of the chapter………

33 36 37 37 PART C CONCLUSION………

1 Recapitulation………….…….………

2 Pedagogical implications of the study………

3 Limitations of the study ……… ………

4 Suggestions for further study… ………

REFERENCES ………

APPENDICES………

Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for students (English version) …………

Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version)……

Appendix 3: Focused group interview questions (English version)………

Appendix 4: Focused group interview questions (Vietnamese version)……

Appendix 5: Focused group interview transcripts……… ……

Appendix 6: Summary of statistic data collected from survey questionnaire Appendix 7: A lesson plan for an English speaking learning class………

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I

I

V

IX

X

XI XVI

XX

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Widely regarded as the world's lingua franca, English, particularly English communication has long since become the most effective tool to involve Vietnam as well as other countries in the process of globalization Being aware of the importance along with the tremendous impact of English on the rapid growth of the society, as well as the State; like all universities and colleges in the whole country,

in the last three years, academic training curricular in S2EPS have made English a compulsory subject Especially, teachers of English in S2EPS are paying more and more attention to developing students‟ English speaking skills

S2EPS specializes in training ethnic students, providing them with supplementary courses so that they can become eligible for university admission Targeted students here must be ethnic people who live in remote areas such as the mountainous areas, high zones, and who attended the university entrance exam but failed to be accepted S2EPS enrolls students at a certain score range and prepare them for university study Therefore, all the students here are ethnic minority people coming from 7 provinces in the north of the middle area in Vietnam: Ninth Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue

As an English teacher, with a seven-year teaching period at S2EPS, I have recognized that the majority of the students here are not good at English; they show their lack of motivation in learning English, especially the speaking skill Many students are not interested and do not invest enough time and efforts to learn and practice this skill Such a fact urges me to carry out a study with a desire to explore ethnic students‟ motivation in learning English speaking skills, and to find out factors affecting the teaching and learning process of this skill Furthermore, based

on the study, some motivational strategies and techniques to improve the students‟ English proficiency in general and involvement in oral activities in particular will

be drawn out

2 Aim of the study

The aim of this study is to explore motivation possessed by ethnic minority students at S2EPS in studying English speaking skills Accordingly, two objectives are set by the researcher when conducting this study as follows: to find out factors affecting the learning process of the speaking skill, to discover what motivational strategies and techniques can be applied to teaching English speaking skills

3 Scope of the study

This study is limited to ethnic minority students‟ motivation in learning the speaking skill at S2EPS Therefore, the investigation of the issue on other skills will not be included in the study Furthermore, it should be taken into consideration that the subjects of the study are the students at S2EPS who are being taught the speaking skill in the light of the communicative approach

4 Research questions

To reach such an aim as mentioned , the study attempts to find out the answers

to the two following questions:

Research question 1: To what extent are students at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university

School motivated in studying English speaking skills?

Research question 2: What motivational strategies and techniques can be applied to

teaching English speaking skills at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School?

5 Methods of the study

To achieve the aim and objectives mentioned in this study, the researcher mainly used the qualitative method with the assistance of a quantitative instrument which is a set of survey questionnaire for students to get information and evidence for the study A focused group interview was conducted with the purpose of examining the data collected from the above survey questionnaire, and seeking for explanations and suggestions from students about why and how they want to be

motivated in speaking classes All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusions provided in the thesis were based on the data analysis

6 Organization of the study

The study is organized into three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part A - Introduction provides an overview of the study including the rationale, the aim, the scope, the method, the research questions and the structure of the study Part B - Development is a major part of the thesis is divided into 3 chapters

Chapter 1 reviews the theoretical background of the research Additionally, the previous studies on this topic are presented in this chapter

Chapter 2 gives the brief description of the research setting and introduces the procedure of the study

Chapter 3 includes the findings and recommendations

Part C - Conclusion presents the recapitulation and implications of the study as well

as the limitations and the suggestions for further study

PART B DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation

1.1.1 Motivation in foreign language learning (FLL)

The word motivation appears to be simple and easy but it has been seemed

impossible for theorists to reach a consensus on the exact definition For this, Dörnyei, (1998: 117) comments: “Although motivation is a term frequently used in both educational and research contexts, it is rather surprising how little agreement there is in the literature with regard to the exact meaning of this concept” However, this has not prevented them from trying it Below are a few definitions of motivation which were found during the research process:

First of all, motivation is derived from a Latin word „„emovere‟‟ that means to move or to do an action Next, Ames & Ames (1989) defines motivation as the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal seeking acts Also, Oxford & Shearin (1994) state that motivation is a desire to achieve a goal combined with the energy to work toward that goal Similarly, Johnstone (1999: 146) considers motivation as a stimulant for achieving a specific target Additionally, Gardner (1985) states that motivation involves four aspects: a goal, an effort, a desire to attain the goal, a favorable attitude toward the activity

From the above overviews, it can be concluded that motivation is a process of initiating, guiding and maintaining goal-oriented behaviors Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive

forces that activate behavior The term motivation can simply be understood as the reason why a person does something

In foreign language teaching, motivation has been widely accepted by both teachers and researchers as one of the main determinants to the rate of success in

second language learning (SLL) Indeed, it is really difficult for low motivated students to learn English as a second language (ESL) since without motivation means that learners lack “the primary impetus to initiate learning L2 and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process” (Dörnyei, 1998: 117) Interestingly, Gardner (1985: 10) defines L2 motivation as “the extent to which an individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do

so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity” Furthermore, Lightbrown & Spada (2001) identify motivation in second language acquisition (SLA) as “a complex phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors: learners‟ communicative needs and their attitudes towards the L2 community”

In brief, L2 motivation is a combination of inner desire plus physical

orientation toward the target language as well as favorable attitudes plus sustained effort in order to gain the achievement in this language

1.1.2 Classification of motivation in foreign language learning

Up to now, various ways to classify motivation have been presented In their research, Lightbrown & Spada (2001) confirm that the success or failure in SLL

depends very much on 2 kinds of motivation: the integrative and the instrumental

Integrative motivation reflects “a high level of drive on the part of the individual to

acquire the language of a valued L2 community in order to facilitate communication

with that group” This motive is clearly distinct from a second drive, instrumental

motivation, where the learner‟s interest in learning the L2 is associated with the

pragmatic, utilitarian benefits of language proficiency, such as a better job or a

higher salary These types of motivation can affect and control the procedure and

outcome of learning Comparing these 2 types of motivation with each other, Ellis (1994) believes that the best and the perfect motivation is the integrative since it is more competent and well-organized Students who do not have these types of

motivation will face problems and difficulties to learn and gain knowledge of a L2

There is also another way in classifying motivation which is introduced by

Ryan & Deci (2000) in Self-Determination Theory: the intrinsic and the extrinsic

Intrinsic motivation is the desire to engage in an activity for its inherent satisfaction

rather than for some separable consequences (Ryan & Deci, 2000) Extrinsic

motivation, on the other hand, is the propensity to take part in activities because of

the reasons which do not link to the activity These reasons can be the anticipation

of reward or punishment, like being successful in the exam or getting a good mark (Vansteenkiste, Lens, & Deci, 2006) Therefore, it comes out clearly that the greater the value the individuals attach to the accomplishment of an activity, the more highly motivated they will be to engage in it and later to put sustained effort until they achieve their goal

1.1.3 Characteristics of a motivated learner

Educators often show deep concern about learners‟ lack of motivation to learn and attribute Failure is partly due to low motivation In school, failure is mainly due to low-motivated students Most educators agree that motivating students towards academic is one of the crucial and critical tasks of teaching According to MacIntyre et al (2002), L2 communication is “heavily determined by fundamental characteristics of the learner‟ Therefore, the studies on characteristics of a motivated student have been carried out during the past decades

Naiman et al (1978), one of the authors of a classic study of successful language learning, has come to the conclusion that the most successful learners to whom a language come very easily display certain typical characteristics which are clearly associated with motivation such as positive task orientation, ego-involvement, need for achievement, high aspirations, goal orientation, perseverance, tolerance of ambiguity Similarly, Rubin (1975) summarized the findings of some researchers on the main traits of successful learners as follows: (i) find their own learning way, (ii) organize language information, (iii) develop a “feel” for the language by experimenting with its grammar and words, (iv) make their own opportunities for practicing the language inside and outside the classroom, (v) learn

to live with uncertainty, (vi) use mnemonics and memory strategies, (vii) make errors work for them, not against them, (viii) use linguistic knowledge including

knowledge of 1st and 2nd language, (ix) use contextual cues in comprehension, (x) learn to make intelligent guesses, (xi) learn language chunks as wholes and formalized routines to perform “beyond their competence”, (xii) learn certain tricks

to keep conversations going, (xiii) learn certain production strategies to fill in gaps in their own competence, (xiv) learn different styles of speech and writing and learn to vary their language according to the formality of situation

In sum, there are many different traits to evaluate students as motivated learners They, generally, must have excellent skills to overcome many learning problems but they need to learn how to do it and to understand why to do it

1.2 Theoretical background of teaching the speaking skill

1.2.1 The notion of the speaking skill

Speaking is one of four macro-skills of teaching and learning a L2 based on the purpose of analysis and instruction To reflect the nature of speaking, Brown & Yule (1983) discussed spoken language in comparison with written language As for them, written language is characterized by well-formed sentences and integrated into structured paragraph; spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterances

in a range of pronunciations There is often a great deal of repetition and overlap between a speaker and another, speakers frequently use nonspecific references

In the past decades, many theorists have studied and presented their viewpoints on speaking According to Brown (1994), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information For Chaney (1998: 13), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” Additionally, Byrne (1986) classifies, “speaking is a two-way process between the speaker and the listener involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding”

In sum, it can be concluded from the above definitions that speaking is the productive skill used to convey meaning Therefore, speaking plays a crucial part of L2 learning and teaching

Indeed, of the four language skills mentioned above, the speaking skill plays the most important role since it is fundamental to human communication (Ur, 1996: 120) When talking about the role of speaking, Bygate (1987: 7) claims: “It is the vehicle of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business” In language teaching and learning, speaking is a medium through which much language is learnt, and which is particularly useful for learning The ability to communicate in a L2 clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learners in school and success later in every phase of life (Kayi, 2006) Interestingly, Nunan (1991: 39) states that in social contexts, speaking is particularly useful since it is the key to communication Moreover, in the international relationship, English speaking ability is obviously crucial to be able to participate in the wider world of work

In conclusion, because of the importance of oral skills in language teaching and learning, it is really essential that language teachers should pay great attention

to teaching the speaking skill

1.2.2 Teaching the speaking skill in Communicative Language Teaching approach (CLT)

It can not be denied that teaching the speaking skill is a vital part of L2 learning and teaching Despite its importance, for many years, teaching this skill has been undervalued and English teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking has changed Now many linguists and ESL teachers agree that students learn to speak in L2 by interacting CLT serves best for this aim CLT is based on real-life situations that require communication By using this method in ESL classes, students will have chance to communicate with each other in the target language In brief, ESL teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real-life communication, authentic activities and meaningful tasks to promote oral language

As regards CLT, Brindley (1986: 11) pointed out that “The 1970‟s and 1980‟s could be regarded as the era of CLT” CLT also marks the beginning of a major innovation within language teaching, because of its superior principles which are

widely accepted nowadays Nunan (1989: 194) states “CLT views language as a

system for the expression of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners; they include functional skills

as well as linguistic objectives The learner’s role is as a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is as a facilitator of the communication process Materials promote communicative language use; they are task-based and authentic”

From the above statement, it can be seen CLT emphasizes communication in a L2, improves learners‟ competence via communicative activities CLT also shows language is used as a means of communication In other words, CLT is characterized with communicative competence, learner‟s-centeredness and four skills integration These characteristics will be the principles for teachers to choose appropriate techniques, activities to improve students‟ communicative competence

1.3 Factors affecting learners’ motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill

In order to achieve success in learning to speak a language, learners need to have communicative competence However, this is affected by a variety of factors such as: the teacher, inadequate school facilities, reduced self-confidence, negative attitude towards the L2, compulsory nature of L2 study, interference of another foreign language being studied, negative attitude towards L2 community, attitudes

of groups members, and course book (Dörnyei, 1998) Additionally, Kikuchi & Sakai (2009), listed 5 demotivating factors: learning contents & materials, teachers' teaching styles, inadequate school facilities, lack of intrinsic motivation, test scores From the above overviews, various factors affecting the learning process of the speaking skill can be classified by the researcher as below:

1.3.1 Learner factors

 Learning styles

Learning style is “cognitive, affective and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment” (Keefe, 1979) Also, Davis (1993: 185) defines it as “an individual‟s preferred way of gathering, interpreting, organizing, and thinking about information” Although we share similar learning patterns, preferences, even approaches, everyone learns and processes information in various ways

Ellis (1994: 507-522) indicates a number of learning styles including concrete learning style, analytical learning style, communicative learning style and authority-orientated learning style (based on Willing, 1987) He eventually concludes that

“Learners manifest different learning styles but it is not yet clear whether some

styles result in faster and more learning than others”

In short, learning style of learners is one of factors influencing quality of oral lessons since not all students join actively in oral activities It is also really difficult for teachers to know exactly about differences among students The more teachers know about students‟ learning styles, the more able they are in motivating them

 Second language levels

Regarding the reluctance of students‟ participation in oral activities, Tsui (1996) states five crucial factors including students‟ perceived low proficiency in English, students‟ fear of mistakes and derision, teacher‟s intolerance of silence, en allocation of turns, and comprehensible input (cited in Nunan 1999: 234)

This reluctance in participating oral activities is actually a common problem for Vietnamese students in general and students in ethnic minority areas in particular Owing to their low English ability, limited background knowledge, and being afraid of making mistakes, many students just sit in silence They can not be confident enough to participate in the classroom speaking activities

To sum up, the limitations in students‟ L2 levels can directly affect their willingness to participate no matter how much they like the activities

 Beliefs and attitudes

Richards & Lockhart (1994) put forward that learners‟ belief can influence their willingness to participate, their expectations about language learning, their perceptions about what is easy or difficult about a language and finally their learning strategies Interestingly, Lightbrown & Spada (1999) assume that the beliefs of learners are usually based on previous learning experiences and assumptions that a particular type of instruction is the best way for them to learn Collins Cobuild Student's Dictionary explains that: "Your attitude to something is the way you think and feel about it" Attitude decides the progress and commitment of learners, as well as the participation in the class

From all above, it can be understandable that beliefs and attitudes deeply affect the whole educational process in general and success in learning the speaking skill in particular Additionally, having belief means having a positive attitude

Although confidence and anxiety are simply kinds of feeling in the mind, they have a profound impact on SLA generally and on learners‟ participation in speaking activities particularly Indeed, anxiety and speaking performance are closely related

If the students are afraid of losing face as making mistakes or being laughed at by other students, they are certain to keep quiet and wait until they are required to speak in oral English lessons Zhang Xiuqin (2006) states that anxiety is the main negative factor preventing students participating in oral activities High anxiety learners tend to withdraw from voluntary participation and reluctant to take risks

In sum, learners‟ levels of participating in oral lessons can vary very much according to their confidence and anxiety they have towards their ability to learn that language It is the fact that the learners with language anxiety find it more difficult to give their own opinions than the self-confident ones The more anxious

learners are, the worse they perform in speaking

1.3.2 Teacher factors

 Teacher’s roles

Since teachers are keys of the teaching and learning process, they have great

impact on deciding rates of classroom speaking performance Thus, evaluating and implementing teachers‟ appropriate roles in oral classrooms is really important and meaningful towards learners‟ communicative success With an increasing concern about the CLT approach in L2 teaching and learning, roles of a teacher are different from those in the other different teaching methods Harmer (1983) lists roles of a teacher as follows: controller, organizer, assessor, prompter, participant, resource, tutor, and observer On the other hand, Byrne (1986: 2) states roles of a teacher according to the stages of teaching speaking: the presentation, the practice and the production stage At the first stage, the teacher acts as an informant At the practice stage, it is time for students to do most of the talking and the teacher provides the maximum amount of practice Teacher‟s role is like the skilful conductor of an orchestra, giving each performer a chance to participate and monitoring the performance, and the teacher takes on the role of manager and guide at the last one

In sum, it is concluded the important role of a teacher through stages of oral lesson is a motivator Whatever the teacher is doing in the class, his/ her ability to motivate students, to arouse their interest, to involve what they are doing is crucial

 Teacher’s characteristics

Teaching profession demands teachers to have some certain typical qualities One of their most important qualities is the ability to motivate their students to participate in classroom activities therefore the teacher firstly should be one that students respect and lay their trust on Teacher‟s prestige will make students feel safe in lessons and willing to participate in activities According to Barry (1993), some characteristics of a teacher include being natural, being warm, being pleasant, being approachable, and being tolerant Indeed, to establish a good relationship, it is vital for teachers to be cordial, acceptant and tolerant However, in fact, not every teacher can have all the above characteristics, but one of them is a positive factor to help improve a good relationship between teacher and students

In short, it can be concluded that the teacher‟s attitude and style are majors factors affecting directly the relationship with students, and partly the effect of oral

lessons Therefore, in order to create a positive environment for SLL and enhance students‟ participation in speaking activities, it is necessary for teachers to maintain such a good interaction during the lesson

 Teacher’s methodology

The teacher‟s methodology refers to the approach or method and the teaching techniques he/she uses in the classroom Through the history we have experienced the existence and development of many teaching methods that can be divided into two types: teacher-centered and learner-centered methods Traditional methods such

as the Grammar translation Method, the Direct Method and Audio-lingualism are teacher-centered ones which mostly focus on grammatical and phonological accuracy These techniques are choral repetition, drilling substitution, content explanation and narrative presentation seem so mechanical and simple that they will result in learners‟ passiveness and limit their participation in learning In recent years, in the light of CLT, teachers‟ teaching techniques are changed from teacher-centered approach into learner-centered approach which is characterized by some main activities in classroom to improve students‟ communicative competence such

as role-play, games, pair work, group work, interview, discussion and so on However, no teaching method is the best one since each one has its own advantages and disadvantages In order to apply a suitable teaching method, teacher should take some of factors into consideration including learners‟ level, interests and purposes

In sum, teacher‟s methodology is also one of factors affecting positively or negatively learning the speaking skill For this reason, teachers should be flexible in applying methods to enhance students‟ performance in oral activities

1.3.3 Classroom factors

Language learning environment concerns both physical conditions and

classroom atmosphere Indeed, all the factors affect directly students‟ involvement

in oral activities The former refers to desks, chairs, boards, as well as modern teaching facilities Harmer (1983) confirms that such conditions had great impact on

students‟ learning as well as their attitudes toward the subject matter These conditions, therefore, affected students‟ motivation either positively or negatively The other factor related to learning environment is a pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom as Lightbrown & Spada (1999) claim “the supportive and non-threatening atmosphere makes a contribution to learner‟s motivation”

In sum, classroom environment does influence on students‟ motivation in studying the speaking skill Therefore, both teachers and students have to together establish a purposeful and happy atmosphere in class Additionally, educational managers need create a good and facilitated teaching and learning environment

 Classroom size

It is the fact that class size has great effects on teaching and learning English language, especially English speaking skills Hoffman (1980), defines class size as the number of students per teacher in a class In his work “Problems, solutions, and advantages of large classes” (2002), Lê Phước Kỳ states that in a language class in which students‟ participation contributes greatly to the success of the lesson, the number of students should be kept small so that interaction between teachers and students and between one student and another can be maximized On the contrary, the lesson would never be finished and uninvolved students would get bored and

start to do the other things

In brief, oversized class can affect students‟ motivation in oral lessons Therefore, helping all students have equal chance to speak in large classes is always great challenge for teachers to achieve success in teaching the speaking skill

Textbook is “the visible heart of any English language teaching (ELT) program” (Seldom, 1988: 237) In English as a L2 context, it may even constitute source of language input that learners receive and the basis for language practice that occurs both inside and outside the class However, there still remain some limitations about textbook The 1st problem is that textbooks are often implicitly

prescriptive, might control the methods, processes, and procedures of classroom practice and “deskill” teachers (Allwright, 1982) The 2nd

problem is that since textbooks are often written for global markets, they might not suit all classrooms so

it might require adaptation to better meet students‟ true needs (Richards, 2005)

In brief, to explore the extent to which learners‟ motivation is influenced, three factors should be considered including learner factors, teacher factor and classroom factor, which are summarized in the table below:

Learner

factors

Learning Styles

Learner‟s learning style is one of factors influencing the quality of oral lessons since not all learners join actively

in speaking activities

L2 levels

The limitations in students‟ L2 levels can directly affect their willingness to participate no matter how much they like the activities

Beliefs &

attitudes

Beliefs and attitudes deeply influence the whole educational process in general as well as success in learning the speaking skill in particular

Confidence &

Anxiety

The learners with language anxiety find it more difficult

to give their own opinions than the self-confident ones

Teacher

factors

Teacher’s roles The most important role of a teacher through stages of

speaking lesson is a motivator

Teacher’s characteristics

Teacher‟s attitude and style are majors factors affecting directly the relationship with students, and partly the effect of oral lessons

Teacher’s methodology

Teacher‟s methodology is one of factors affecting learning the speaking skill For this reason, teachers should be flexible in applying methods

Learning Classroom environment does influence on students‟

Classroom

factors

environment learning motivation in studying the speaking skill

Classroom size Oversized class can affect students‟ motivation in oral

lessons

Textbook

Textbook is the visible heart of any ELT program, it might control methods, processes, procedures of classroom practice and “deskill” teachers

Table 1: How learners’ motivation can possibly be affected in speaking classes

1.4 Previous studies on the topic

In the past decades, the most concerned studies on learners‟ motivation have been discussed In general, the researchers have mentioned nature and origin as well

as conceptions and roles of motivation In the other studies, discussions on types of motivation and factors affecting motivation in SLA have been presented

In the context of Vietnam, a lot of studies have been carried out to explore students‟ motivation in studying the speaking skill at different levels of education First of all, Đinh Thùy Linh (2011) conducted a study to improve 11th grade students‟ motivation in speaking lessons at Vietnam - Poland high school by using communicative activities The study focused on 3 main points: increasing students‟ motivation in oral lessons, examining students‟ level of motivation for learning English speaking, exploring factors affecting their motivation Specially, the study was conducted in the form of an action research, with 2 instruments which is questionnaire for students and class observation in 3 experimental oral lessons The results showed that all the lessons have succeeded in motivating students in using English to achieve communicative goals in activities It is hoped that the findings of the study could be much of benefit for teaching and leaning English in the school Next, Nguyễn Thị Ánh Dương (2011) explored factors affecting motivation for 10th graders' engagement in English speaking classes at Sa Pa high school, Lao Cai In order to reach the aim, she used 3 instruments which is questionnaire, interview and classroom observation From the data analysis, it can be concluded

that the majority of students possess instrumental and extrinsic motivation; some of them get integrative and intrinsic motivation It is also indicated that the demotivation factors come from students, teachers and classroom learning environment Additionally, the activities and techniques which were applied by teachers have the great influence on students‟ engagement

Mai Thị Lan (2013) studied ways to motivate the 10th grade students in learning the speaking skill at Hoa Lu A high school, Ninh Binh The study aimed to explore the reasons why students are not interested in and do not invest enough time in practicing this skill, the author conducted a case study with an informal interview and 2 sets of questionnaire to 120 students and 5 teachers currently teaching 10thgrade here The results indicated that most respondents possess instrumental motivation, they feel reluctant to take part in oral activities because of their shyness, lack of vocabulary and ideas, bad at grammar and pronunciation Moreover, basing

on the findings collected the researcher proposed some useful and practical recommendations for teachers to motivate students to speak at high schools generally and at Hoa Lu A high school particularly

As mentioned above, many studies have been carried out in this field; however, they are mainly conducted at high school level; none of them has been implemented with ethnic students at any pre-university school This fact establishes

a research gap for my present study which desires to explore and identify motivation in learning English speaking skills of ethnic students at S2EPS

1.5 Summary of the chapter

This chapter conceptualizes the discussion of issues and aspects concerning the topic of the study including theoretical background of motivation as well as the teaching process of the speaking skill Especially, factors affecting the learning process of the speaking skill including learner factors, teacher factors and classroom factors have been presented here The literature reviewed above grounds the base for conducting this research The following chapter will present the methodology

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research setting

2.1.1 An overview of Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School

S2EPS, the research site, is situated in Sam Son town, which is 16 kilometers from Thanh Hoa city The school was founded in July, 2003 With 11 years of establishment and development, S2EPS is becoming a common house for ethnic students coming from remote areas of 7 provinces in the north of the middle area in Viet Nam In the school year 2013-2014, the school has 23 classes with nearly 850 students assigned into 4 groups: A, B, C and D Beside the basic subjects in their curriculum, the students here have to learn informatics and English For English, it

is taught 3 periods per week for the students of groups A, B, C and 9 periods per week for the students of group D The teaching staff consists of over 100 teachers,

of whom three fourth are young and creative whereas the others are experienced and enthusiastic

2.1.2 The teachers of English

The English teaching staff at S2EPS consists of 12 tenure teachers (11 females and 1 male) at the age from 22 to 40 They graduated from different universities in Vietnam One of them got the Master Degree and the rest got the Bachelor Degrees Their experience in teaching English varies from 2 to 10 years They are helpful, enthusiastic and willing to make some renovations in teaching methodology However, the age of the teachers also reveals that they are young, have little experience of teaching and usually face up with many difficulties in teaching process, especially, in a special school like S2EPS

2.1.3 The students

All the students at S2EPS come from remote areas so they live in the hostel of the school Their English proficiency is low and of mixed levels Most of them started learning English at secondary or high schools, but some have never learnt

English before (they learned French or Russian) Especially, the students of the Muong, Thai, Katu, Tho, Dao ethnic groups, etc usually use their 1st languages to communicate and exchange their ideas in English classes They also have to use Vietnamese in classes or at public places so they obviously have to learn two languages at the same time, and even their Vietnamese is not very good That is the reason why most of the students are not good at English, and all of them find it difficult to learn it, so many of them choose to neglect English For them, English is simply an obligatory subject They learn it in a test-oriented way They are tested about grammar so English communication skills are neglected by the majority of students Therefore, they are likely to be passive in learning and have low motivation to study English, especially in the speaking skill

2.1.4 The textbook

The textbook used to teach at S2EPS is KnowHow by Therese Naber - Angela Blackwell with Michelle Johnstone, published by Oxford University Press, 2003 The book was designed in communicative approach It consists of 16 units with different topics relating to real life such as travel, health, neighborhood, fun and games, etc Each unit is divided into many sections providing students with grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and four communicative skills There is a revision unit after every four units This helps students to review theories and practice more exercises For teaching the speaking skill, the objective is to develop students‟ competence and ability to exchange information at a simple level about the situations relating to the topics they have learnt The textbook, in general, has proved to be relevant and appropriate to the current context of teaching and learning English at S2EPS However, the textbook in many cases can pose big challenges for both the teachers and the students because of students‟ low English proficiency and teachers‟ lack of experience in teaching English

2.1.5 The teaching and learning conditions

Teaching facilities also play an important part in teaching English and may affect the learning process positively or negatively Beside that, English is also

considered to be one of the main subjects at S2EPS but the conditions for English teaching and learning here are not very good The main teaching aids used are boards and textbooks The whole English group is provided with three cassette-players The teachers here have to use their own computers since there are only two rooms equipped with projectors in the poor condition There is neither a library with English books, magazines, newspapers nor an English laboratory for the students to make use of Moreover, the classrooms are physically crowded, with limited space for activity setting up It is obviously that the teaching and learning conditions are poorly equipped This certainly has considerable negative effects on English teaching and learning process in general, and particularly on teaching and learning process of the speaking skill

2.2 The study

2.2.1 Research questions restated

The aim of the study is to explore ethnic students‟ motivation in learning English speaking skills at S2EPS so it is implemented to answer 2 questions below:

Research question 1: To what extent are students at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university

School motivated in studying English speaking skills?

Research question 2: What motivational strategies and techniques can be applied to

teaching English speaking skills at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School?

2.2.2 Data collecting instruments, participants and procedures

In this study, the researcher employed two main instruments as below:

2.2.2.1 Survey questionnaire

 Purpose

In this study, the researcher used a set of survey questionnaires consisting of open-ended questions, checklist and scaled questions aimed to explore 3 main points as follows: (i) the extent to which students are motivated in learning the speaking skill, (ii) the extent to which the three mentioned factors influence students‟ motivation, and (iii) students‟ expectation in speaking lessons

 Structure

To ensure the reliability of the questionnaires for the respondents, the researcher conducted the survey questionnaire in Vietnamese The content of the questionnaire includes 7 questions to explore students‟ perception towards the importance of the speaking skill (questions 1), students‟ assessment of their speaking ability (question 2), students‟ reasons for learning English speaking skills (questions 3), students‟ level of participation in oral activities (question 4), students‟ interest in oral activities used by teachers (question 5), students‟ opinion on factors affecting English speaking learning (question 6), and students‟ expectation in speaking lessons

(question 7) (See appendix 1 & 2)

 Participants

The participants of this study were 100 students including both male and female aged from 18 to 20 They were selected randomly from 3 classes of groups

A, B, and C They are representative of the target population of students consisted

of 760 students of groups A, B, C The reason for the researcher‟s option is that the number of 3 groups A, B, C accounts for 91% of the total students of the school, and the training quality of these students is always of great concern to both the authority and teachers at S2EPS so the researcher hoped that the findings concluded from this study will provide useful information for both the teachers and the students at S2EPS to improve teaching and leaning English speaking skills and hence contribute to enhance the overall training quality of these students Meanwhile, the number of group D is 74 students (approximately 0,9%) For these students, the teachers are asked to consolidate them grammar instead of practicing and developing some certain language skills such as: listening and speaking Therefore, the researcher did not include group D in this study

Factually, a school year at S2EPS, lasts only 8 months, beginning from October, 2013 and finishing at the end of May, 2014, so the procedure of data collection happened in the 6th month of the school year when the students completed three fourth of the school year 2013-2014

First of all, the researcher delivered 100 questionnaires for the students Moreover, the participants were told the purposes and guided how to complete the questionnaires Namely, to complete this set of questionnaire, the respondents must choose only one answer for questions 1, 2, 4, while they can tick more than one option for the questions 3, 5, 6, and 7 Especially, in the last 3 questions, the respondents can express their own opinions according to the raking scales given in

each question by ticking scales from very much to not at all in question 5, or from

strong agree to strong disagree in question 7, etc Additionally, the participants are

not identified when participating in this study, thus they were also willing to share and write down what they really thought

In order to ensure that they would have enough time to give accurate information, the participants were asked to return the questionnaires two days later Lucky, all 100 responses were then gathered

All the quantitative data gathered from the responses of the students‟ questionnaires was converted into percentages and illustrated in the form of charts

and tables according to each question (See appendix 6)

2.2.2.2 Focused group interview

 Purpose

In this study, a focused group interview with the student informants was conducted after the survey information had been obtained for data triangulation and supplement with the students‟ explanation about the extent to which they are motivated in speaking lessons The interview also seeks more information about why and how three types of factors as listed in section 1.3 affect students‟ motivation in English speaking learning

questionnaire‟s responses and aimed at exploring the context of teaching and learning the speaking skill (question 1, 2, 3, 4), how 3 mentioned factors affecting the students‟ motivation (question 5, 6), and their expectation as well as interests in

oral lessons (question 7, 8) (See appendix 3 & 4)

The reason for choosing a focused group interview instead of individual interviews of the researcher is that a focused group interview can not only generate

a wider range of responses than individual interviews, but also bring together people with varied opinions, or as representatives of different collectivities Besides, the practical and organizational advantages are additional reasons

 Participants

Six students of 3 classes: K11A1, K11B5, and K11C4 were asked directly to become interviewees with the clear consent form clearly stating the reasons and purposes of the interview, and that all their personal information related to the interview will be kept as confidential The student interviewees were then coded as

S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6 (See appendix 5)

The researcher gave respectively the questions prepared for 6 participants to discuss All the arguments, explanation, ideas of the interviewees were recorded and then transcribed fully The information related to students‟ motivation as well as factors affecting their motivation and their explanation of these influences and the description of the teaching and learning context of English speaking skills at S2EPS

were filtered out (See appendix 5) Some informative chunks were highlighted to

be quoted as supportive evidence in chapter 3: findings and recommendations

2.3 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 2 presents the context of the study including the school, the English teachers, the students, the textbook, and the teaching and learning conditions as well Especially, data collecting instruments, participants and procedures are described in details In the next chapter, the researcher will focus on discussing the findings and recommendations for motivating students in speaking classes

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 Research question 1: To what extent are students at S2EPS motivated in

studying English speaking skills?

3.1.1 To what extent are students at S2EPS motivated in general?

First of all, according to the statistics in chart 1, the majority of students (58%)

considered the speaking skill important, even very important (21%) To be more

specific, in the interview, S1 said: “English is an international language today It is

used as an official language by 45 countries in the world and spoken by one third of

the world’s population”, or “English is a crucial key to a guarantee of a successful

career If I speak English fluently, I will have a good job It also means that I will

have a good future with many chances to be successful”, S3 added

Furthermore, the figures in chart 2 indicated the students‟ low communicative

proficiency Factually, 88% confessed they encountered difficulties in learning

communication skills, only 4% considered this easy When being asked to talk more

clearly about these difficulties, S4 shared: “I don’t understand the lessons, can’t

hear and can’t understand whatever the teacher and our classmates speak.”

Basing on the above results, it can be concluded that the majority of students

at S2EPS highly appreciated the importance of the speaking skill, but most also felt

it very difficult From this finding, it can be optimistic to hope that the students‟

positive perception is supposed to create motivation for them to join in oral

activities However, the figures showing their weak English speaking ability also foresaw the difficulties that teachers may encounter in teaching process of this skill

Secondly, as regards the reasons for learning English speaking of the students

at S2EPS It can be seen from table 2 that the students had various reasons to learn the speaking skill, mainly for passing the exams (89%), being a compulsory subject

in curriculum (55%), getting a good job in the future (48%) Meanwhile, very small percentages were spent on their own objectives such as entertaining (9%), communicating with foreigners (6%), and studying the people as well as culture of English speaking countries (4%) When contrasting these percentages to the statistics of their attitudes towards the importance of the speaking skill in chart 1, it

is easy to see that these figures sounded conflicted This fact made the researcher confused and the question for the reason why posed for the interviewees In general,

the collected ideas were unified as S2 said: “I have to learn it not only to pass the

exams but also to have high marks in these exams because these marks affect directly to the result of classification into universities, colleges” However, these

figures were apparently logical with the low level of their participation in oral activities in chart 3 (only 6% usually actively involved in oral activities, the rest

never spoke English or only when requested by their teacher)

All above revealed the main types of motivation possessed by the students at S2EPS in learning English speaking are integrative and instrumental motivation

However, there was no equality between these two types In other words, their integrative motivation is too low while the instrumental is too high Of course, this may be a demotivating factor for the students in learning the speaking skill

Thirdly, the current situation of teaching English speaking skills in S2EPS is

up to the expectation of the researcher Many communicative activities were often held by the teachers in speaking lessons This fact is proved by ticking at “Usage”

column of all the students Indeed, in the interview, S1 also said: “My teacher often

asks us to discuss in groups or pairs She sometimes gives us a game I like playing games most since my partners join actively and there are gifts for winners.”

Moreover, the results in table 3 also showed the various levels which the students were interested in these activities Remarkably, 95% enjoy playing games in speaking lessons, followed by pair work and group work (65%), role play (62%) In addition, the statistics of interview, oral report, telephoning, etc accounted for approximately one-fifths of the total However, the percentages admitted that the activities used by the teachers did not make them interested were very various

In brief, it comes out clearly that the teachers at S2EPS are dynamic and active They employed a wide range of communicative activities to motivate their students such as games, role play, group work or pair work, guided dialogues, story telling and so on thus the students had a lot of chances to join and express themselves in these activities The results also revealed that most of them prefer games most and after that pair work, group work, role play However, it is easy to

realized from this present situation that the quality as well as effects of organizing games by the teachers are not really high Most activities are boring and repetitive Therefore, to motivate the students joining in oral activities, it is actually necessary and also responsible for the teachers to diversify kinds of oral activities so that they can match with the students‟ various interests and levels

3.1.2 To what extent does each factor affect students’ motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill?

The findings showed that the factors included student factors and teacher

factors as well as classroom factors, and the textbook

 Student factors

According to the questionnaire data shown in table 4, it can be seen that the biggest problem preventing 90% of the students participating in oral activities was their lack of vocabulary and grammatical structures The second, two third of them (82%) agreed that they were demotivated in speaking lessons since they are always afraid of making mistakes and losing their faces Remarkably, 95% affirmed that they coped up