A study of how to motivate second-year English majors at the Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education

A study of how to motivate second-year English majors at the Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education Trần Ngọc Giang Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Assoc.Prof. Dr. Trần Xuân Điệp Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Kỹ năng nghe; Phương pháp dạy học Content: PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale. In the field of teaching and learning foreign languages in general and the English language in particular, motivation has always been playing an essential role to achieve success and improvement. In many cases, students are still unsuccessful just because they lack motivation to learn. That is why many researchers and educationalists have been sharing the same idea that the best method of teaching is to improve their motivation in the learning process. Being an English teacher at a university for nearly three years, the author has always tried best to facilitate the students’ study of English. Through teaching experiences and everyday observation, the author notices that when studying English at university, the author’s students normally encounter many difficulties in listening skill. Moreover, their lack of motivation in learning and practicing this skill has been recognized. All of these have inspired the author to make an attempt to carry out this research in order to find out the way to motivate the students in their listening classes. Another reason for conducting this research study is the appropriateness of its type, which is action research, in the present situation of the author. Being a teacher teaching English at a university, the author has to fulfill the tasks of teaching and doing research at the same time. Clearly, carrying out action research to find out the answers to the problems emerging in classrooms can help the author successfully accomplish these challenging tasks. Furthermore, an earlier research study was conducted in Beijing and achieved many encouraging results. However, the context of Chinese students is clearly different from that of Vietnamese students. Besides, the research done in Beijing did have some limitations in the data collection process. These did give an account for the author’s wish of carrying out this research study to gain more reliable findings in the context of these Vietnamese students. 2. Research hypothesis This study was designed to verify the following hypothesis: The way applied by the research author in listening classes can enhance the FOE, HNUE second- year English majors’ motivation in studying the skill of listening. 3. Aims of the study The ultimate purpose of the research is to investigate the effectiveness of several changes made during the listening course in terms of boosting the motivation of second-year English majors at FOE, HNUE in acquiring listening skill. It specifically aims at:  Looking at the students’ motivation and the present situation of teaching and training the listening skill to second-year English majors at FOE, HNUE  Investigating changes in the students’ motivation during and after the application of some changes made in the listening course  Examining the students’ attitudes towards the changes made during the course  Giving some recommendations for improving the students’ motivation in learning the skill of listening and other macro skills 4. Significance of the study 4.1. Theoretical significance Through this study, theories of motivation are revisited. Main definitions together with leading concepts and notions about motivation are represented with details. Moreover, common strategies to improve and sustain students’ motivation in classroom are also reintroduced. Besides, the study also reconfirms the importance of motivation in education and in language learning. 4.2. Practical significance The study is expected to facilitate better understanding of motivation in foreign language learning in general and in EFL in particular. Practically and pedagogically, the findings of the study are strongly believed to help English teachers see more clearly the essential roles of motivation in the teaching of English and to supply them with some basic ideas of how to find suitable ways of motivating their students in learning English, especially listening skill. In addition, the author expects that this research study can provide other teachers and those who may be concerned with ideas and fundamental grounds to conduct further research studies in the field of boosting students’ motivation in EFL. 5. Scope of the study An infinite variety of ways can be used to motivate students in learning English. However, due to the limit of time and capacity, the researcher only focuses on exploiting the effectiveness of three changes made during the listening course at FOE, HNUE in enhancing the second-year English majors’ motivation in learning and practicing this challenging skill. What was changed during the course is the way to start it, the way in which each lesson is conducted and managed, and the way to assess the students. 6. Methods of the study This study was designed in the form of an action research. According to Gina (2001), action research is the type of research we carry out with our students in order to try out an idea or innovation, or to test a hypothesis about the students’ learning and see what would happen. Besides, Michael (1998) also points out that action research involves the collection and the analysis of data related to certain aspects of our professional practice. In this study, the researcher applied a number of different methods, based on both qualitative and quantitative approaches: classroom observations, students’ writing journal, interviews, and questionnaires. First and foremost, a pre-treatment questionnaire was employed to reveal some information about the students’ motivation and the work of teaching and learning the skill of listening they had been receiving so far. Bearing in mind the hypothesis that some changes made to the course can improve students’ motivation, the researcher carried out these modifications on the students during the semester. In order to investigate the motivational effectiveness of these changes, classroom observation, students’ journal, and informal interviews together with a post-treatment questionnaire were used to get necessary data. In the final stage the data collected were analyzed to verify the hypothesis. 7. Design of the study The study report is divided into three main parts. Part one is the Introduction featuring the rationale for the study as well as the objectives, the significance and the methods employed in the research. In addition, it also briefly introduces the scope of the study together with the overall design of the research report. Part two is the Development consisting of three chapters: o Chapter 1, Theoretical background, covers main issues and concepts related to motivation and teaching listening skill. Different strategies to boost and maintain motivation in language learning and teaching are also included in this chapter. o Chapter 2, Methodology, is devoted to describing elaborately the research methodology which comprises the information of the research subjects, settings, and data collection instruments and procedures. o Chapter 3, Data analysis, Findings, and Discussions, presents the results from the detailed analysis of collected data and provides several discussions related to them. 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