A study on factors demotivating students to learn english speaking and suggested solutions for the 11th grade students at nguyen dang dao high school

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY === === TRAN NHAT ANH A STUDY ON FACTORS DEMOTIVATING STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH SPEAKING AND SUGGESTED AT NGUYEN DANG DAO

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

=== ===

TRAN NHAT ANH

A STUDY ON FACTORS DEMOTIVATING STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH SPEAKING AND SUGGESTED

AT NGUYEN DANG DAO HIGH SCHOOL

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH)

Hanoi, May 2016

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

=== ===

TRAN NHAT ANH

A STUDY ON FACTORS DEMOTIVATING STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH SPEAKING AND SUGGESTED

AT NGUYEN DANG DAO HIGH SCHOOL

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI THU THUY, M.A

Hanoi, May 2016

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: A Study on Factors Demotivating Students to Learn English Speaking and Suggested Solutions for the 11 th Grade Students at Nguyen Dang Dao High School

I certify that no part of this report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person’s work without the proper acknowledgements and that the report is originally written

by me under strict guidance from my supervisors

Date submitted: May 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thesis is finished thank to the help of many people

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thank to Mrs Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, M.A., for her valuable and enthusiastic help in giving me useful ideas, materials and support to finish my thesis

Secondly, I would like to express my particular thanks to all the lectures of Foreign Languages Faculty of HPU N0.2 whose lectures have enriched my academic knowledge of English in the past

Thirdly, I also would like to express my sincere thanks to ninety-eight students of classes 11A1 and 11A3 at Nguyen Dang Dao high school in the academic year of 2015-2016 for their contribution in my study

Last but not least is the sincere support from my beloved family members and friends in the process of finishing the thesis

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to identify factors that demotivate high school students to learn English speaking A survey questionnaire with 29 questions was completed by 98 students The study identified four groups of factors negatively affecting students' motivation: Student-related factors, Teacher-related factors, Curriculum-related factors, Teaching and learning condition-related factors The analysis of the gathered data revealed that the insufficient time

to practice speaking, teachers' method, teachers' attitude, lack of positive feedbacks, lack of active activities & games, topics in textbook, lack of self-confidence and classroom atmosphere are the most influential factors Accordingly, the writer suggested some solutions

to help students overcome their demotivation in speaking classes In addition, implications and suggestions for the further research are made with the hope for better methods to help teachers reduce negative factors affecting students’ motivation during the process of learning speaking English

LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 1 Percentage of Types of Activities Enjoyed by Students 31

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ Profiles (Total number of students: 98) 18

Table 2: Result From Question 4 20

Table 3: Result From Question 5 20

Table 4: Student-related Factors 21

Table 5: Teacher’s Method 23

Table 6: Teacher’s Attitude & Teaching Style 25

Table 7: Curriculum-related Factors 27

Table 8: Teaching and Learning Condition-related Factors 29

Table 9 Factors Motivating Students to Speak 30

Table 10 What Teachers Do to Motivate Students to Take Part in Speaking Activities 32

Table 11: Students’ Attitude after 2 Lessons 32

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OR ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF GRAPHS v

LIST OF TABLES v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

PART ONE INTRODUCTION I Rationale 1

II Aims of the study 2

III Significance of the study 2

IV Methods of the study 2

V Scope of the study 2

VI Design of the study 3

PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1 Motivation 4

I.1.1 Definitions of Motivation 4

I.1.2 Types of Motivation 4

I.1.3 Characteristics of Motivated Students 5

I.2 Demotivation 6

I.2.1 Definitions of Demotivation 6

I.2.2 Factors Demotivating Students in Foreign Language Teaching-Learning 6

I.3 An overview of Speaking Skills 8

I.3.1 Definitions of Speaking 8

I.3.2 Types of Classroom Speaking Performance 9

I.3.3 Characteristics of Good Speaking Activities 10

I.3.4 Motivation and Speaking Ability 11

I.4 Previous Studies on Demotivation 11

I.5 Summary 13

CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY II.1 Research Questions 14

II.2 Data Collecting Techniques 14

II.2.1 Survey Questionnaire (Appendix A and Appendix B) 14

II.2.1.1 Rationale Behind the Use of Survey Questionnaire 14

II.2.1.2 Construction of the Survey 15

II.2.1.2.1 Construction of the Pre-survey 15

II.2.1.2.2 Construction of the Post-survey 15

II.2.1.3 Aim of this Technique 15

II.2.1.4 Administration of the Try-out 16

II.2.1.4.1 Preparation of the Try-out 16

II.2.1.4.2 Try-out 16

II.2.1.4.2.1 Pre-survey Questionnaire 16

II.2.1.6.2 Post-survey questionnaire 16

II.2.2 Interview 16

II.2.2.1 Rationale behind the Use of Interview 16

II.2.2.2 Construction of the Interview 17

II.2.2.3 Aim of this Technique 17

II.2.2.4 Try-out 17

II.3 Situation Analysis 17

II.3.1 The Setting of the Study 17

II.3.2 Subjects of the Study 18

II.4 Data Analysis 18

CHAPTER THREE THE RESULTS AND DISCUSSION III.1 Reality of the 11 th Grade Students’ Motivation 20

III.2 Factors Demotivating Students to Learn English Speaking 20

III.2.1 Student-related Factors 20

III.2.2 Teacher-related Factors 22

III.2.3 Curriculum-related Factors 27

III.2.4 Teaching and Learning Condition-related Factors 28

III.2.5 Students’ Preferences 30

III.3 The Students’ Attitude Toward Activities and Techniques Applied in 2 Lessons 32

III.4 Solutions 33

PART THREE CONCLUSION 1 Conclusion 35

2 Limitations and Suggestions For Further Study 35

REFERENCES 37

APPENDIX A: Pre- Survey Questionnaire 40

APPENDIX B: Questions for Interviewing Students 44

APPENDIX C: Post-survey questionnaire 46

APPENDIX D: Speaking lesson plan – Unit 12: The Asian Games 47

APPENDIX E: Speaking lesson plan – Unit 13: Hobbies 50

PART ONE INTRODUCTION

Chapter One introduce the rationale, aims of the study, methods of the study, scope of the study and the design of the study

I Rationale

English is the main language in 30 countries, and there are about 375 million people who speak it is as their first language Moreover, it is used as an official language in many countries English is an international language, which is used in science, technology, economy, culture, medicine, education and many other fields In Vietnam, the country attaches great importance to the industrialization, modernization and globalization of education, English becomes more and more important That is the reason why English is the first foreign language introduced in primary schools and one of compulsory subjects taught in the majority of high schools in Vietnam

Of four main skills of English including listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking ability seems to be the most important (Donald, 2010) The website

www.usingenglish.com has a poll: “Which language skill is the most important?” with the

total votes of 612.438 and comments of 4.607 The result shown that 38.90% people thought that all of the four skills are equally important, 35.81% voted for speaking, 13.73% voted for listening, 7.44% for reading and only 4.12% voted for writing (date: 03.11.2015) From the above figures, many learners agree that speaking is the most important

Actually, there are several factors that affect our English speaking skills such as listening comprehension, grammatical accuracy, pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, motivation, enthusiasm, self-confident, etc Motivation is proved to have an important role in developing students’ speaking ability According to Harmer (1991) “Motivation is energy of students which come from inside or outside encouraging themselves to do something” Motivation can push someone to complete a course of work Motivation is also a passion to

do something It will give strength to student to speak up Success or failure in language learning seems largely dependent on students’ motivation

The 11th grade students at Nguyen Dang Dao high school have to learn English as a compulsory subject The fact is that many students can write English very well but they are afraid of speaking English After two weeks of observing, the writer found that 97% of the students in class 11A1 and 11A3 at Nguyen Dang Dao high school felt demotivated in learning English, especially in speaking classes Only some students get involved in activities conducted by the teacher while others keep silent or do other things Many studies shown that

students who have low motivation in speaking will rarely practice and train themselves to speak fluently and accurately Therefore, their speaking ability may stay the same or even get worse All in all, the above reasons have encouraged the writer to carry out the study entitled:

“A Study on Factors Demotivating Students to Learn English Speaking and Suggested Solutions for the 11 th Grade Students at Nguyen Dang Dao High School”

II Aims of the study

This study aims to find the factors that make the negative impact on the 11th grade students’ motivation in learning speaking Based on the results obtained, the writer would like

to suggest some solutions to help students overcome demotivation in speaking lessons

To achieve the aims which are mentioned above, the following research questions were raised:

1 What are the factors demotivating students to learn English speaking?

2 What are the solutions to help students overcome their demotivation in speaking classes?

III Significance of the study

The study is the first investigation into demotivation in learning English speaking at Nguyen Dang Dao high school The proposed study is expected to provide teachers in general and teachers in Nguyen Dang Dao high school in particular some possible solutions to help their students overcome their demotivation in speaking classes In addition, the study will help teachers at Nguyen Dang Dao high school have a deeper understanding of their students' problems in speaking classes They then can find out appropriate methods to improve their students’ motivation in learning English of their students as well as to reduce as many negative effects of demotivating factors as possible

The proposed study will benefit and help future researchers specializing in demotivating factors with meaningful insights from the findings

IV Methods of the study

To achieve the objectives of the study, the following research techniques were applied for data collection:

1 Survey questionnaire

2 Interview

V Scope of the study

The study is restricted to find factors that demotivate the 11th-students in speaking

grade students (forty five students in class 11A1 and fifty three students in class 11A3) at Nguyen Dang Dao high school

Within the scope of the thesis and the writer's power, some solutions are suggested to help students overcome their demotivation in learning speaking English The writer only can interfere in teachers' teaching method-related factors Two suggested activities including discussion activity and brainstorming activity were applied in speaking classes Students' responses toward two lessons were quite positive

VI Design of the study

This minor thesis consists of three parts:

Part one, INTRODUCTION, present the rationale, aims of the study, significance of the study, methods of the study, scope of the study and design of the study

Part two, DEVELOPMENT which is divided into 3 chapters:

Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND presents the background on students’ motivation, factors causing demotivation, motivation and speaking ability and previous studies

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY presents the methods used in the study

Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION shows the results and analysis on the data collected from survey questionnaire and interview

Part three, CONCLUSION, concludes the study, points out the limitations and provides some suggestions for further study

PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This chapter involves the discussion of different theories of motivation, types of motivation, demotivation, factors causing demotivation, motivation and speaking ability, and brief review of previous studies on demotivation

I.1 Motivation

I.1.1 Definitions of Motivation

Motivation was an indispensable element in any task Brown (1994, p.152) shown that motivation is a term that is used to define the success or the failure of any complex task

“Student motivation naturally has to do with students' desire to participate in the learning process but it also concerns the reasons or goals that underlie their involvement of non involvement in academic activities” (Lumsden, 1994) Motivation has great influence on learning attitude Moreover, it helps to determine whether students actively participate in learning activities or not

According to Kendra (2010), motivation is defined as “the process that initiates, guides, and maintains 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” Motivation inspires us to act, and it maintains our attitude throughout the course of action to achieve the goal (whether it is a big or small target)

Besides, motivation is defined as "some kind of internal drive which pushes someone

to do things in order to achieve something" by Harmer (2001, p.51) This definition shows that the motivation is derived from the internal factors of the subject

I.1.2 Types of Motivation

Most of the studies have shown that motivation is divided into two categories which are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation

According to Lumsden (1994), intrinsic motivation is energy coming from inside of the student This type of motivation exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure (Things you do because they bring you joy and happiness)

In contrast, extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the individual An extrinsically motivated student studies and learns for other reasons Such a student performs in order to receive a reward, like graduating or passing a test or getting a new shirt from mom, or to avoid a penalty like a failing grade (Lumsden, 1994)

Besides, for the further explanation about extrinsic motivation, according to Gardner

& Lambert’s research (1972), there are two main types of extrinsic motivation: they are integrative motivation and instrumental motivation

1) Integrative motivation

In the integrative motivation, students need to be attracted by the culture of the target language community It involves students’ reasons for learning the language To strengthen this motivation, students wish to integrate themselves into that culture and learn hard to master the language A weaker form of this motivation would be the desire to know as much as possible about the culture of the target language community (English)

2) Instrumental motivation

This motivation describes a situation in which students believe that mastery of the target language will

be instrumental in getting them a better job, position, or status The language is an instrument in their attainment of such a goal

Many people question that “Which is best, intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation?” The answer for this question is that the role of them is equal As you have seen, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation are both important ways of driving behaviors Some people respond best to intrinsic which means "from within" and they are willing to do any tasks within their passion When they action based on intrinsic motivation, they are doing something because it is fun, they enjoy it, or they find it pleasurable Quite the reverse, others will respond better to extrinsic motivation Instead of doing something because it is fun, people who are extrinsically motivated action based on what they receive as a reward or a result

I.1.3 Characteristics of Motivated Students

The characteristics of motivated students according to Ur (1996, p.275) are:

a Positive task orientation: the student is willing to do tasks and challenges, and has confidence in his

I.2 Demotivation

I.2.1 Definitions of Demotivation

Is demotivation the opposite of motivation? Demotivation is seen as the “dark side” of motivation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p.138) Dörnyei (2001) attempted to provide a definition for demotivation “concerns specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action” (p.138-139) Thus, demotivation could be regarded as the negative counterpart of motivation

Cambride Dictionaries Online defines demotivation as the “lack of interest in and enthusiasm about your work” The definition indicates that with a loss of motivation, your attitude towards work is seriously affected It may get worse when you want to quit your work

Besides, Sulsu (2006) states that people with low motivation or call "unmotivated people", who have lost impetus and inspiration to act They lack of energy and activeness to complete the tasks

Motivation has been demonstrated to play a special role in the learning process It is worse when students lose motivation Trang and Baldauf (2007) declare that demotivation had

a negative impact on students, preventing them from gaining expected learning outcomes (p 100)

In summary, demotivation describes the psychological state of a student who was previously motivated to learn and successfully reach set goals, but he is now affected by internal and/or external factors that restrict his full progress

I.2.2 Factors Demotivating Students in Foreign Language Teaching-Learning

There are many factors that negatively impact learners’ motivation They are called demotivating factors

Dörnyei (originally 1998b but based on 2001) conducted a study on demotivation, aiming at finding the variety of demotivating factors There are nine categories emerged from the data

1) The teacher was the most frequent source of demotivation The demotivating aspects about the teacher were related to his or her personality, commitment to teaching and attention paid to students In addition, his or her competence, teaching methods, style and rapport with students were involved in demotivating

2) Reduced self-confidence was the second frequent source of demotivation On one hand, reduced self-confidence derived from experience of failure or lack of success

On the other hand, reduced self-confidence was also indirectly related to the teacher, meaning that reduced self-confidence was partly due to some classroom events that were within the teacher’s control

3) Inadequate school facilities was the third frequent source of demotivation

4) Negative attitude towards the L2 was the fourth source of demotivation

5) The compulsory nature of the L2 study was the fifth source of demotivation

6) Interference of another foreign language being studied came sixth

7) Negative attitude towards the L2 community was the seventh source of demotivation

8) Attitudes of group members came eight For one student this meant always feeling embarrassed because he or she felt that the other group members laughed at him or her because of his or her poor English skills

9) The course book was the ninth source of demotivation

Oxford (1998, as quoted in Dörnyei 2001) conducted a qualitative study on demotivation, which focused on a teacher’s influence on (de)motivation Four broad themes emerged from the data

1) The teacher’s personal relationship with the students was the first theme and it included issues such as, the teacher showing lack of caring and enthusiasm Furthermore, the teacher was criticized for being hypercritical and for patronizing or favoring a student

2) The teacher’s attitude towards the course or material was the second theme and it referred to his or her lack of enthusiasm, sloppy management and close mindedness 3) Style conflicts between teachers and students was the third theme This theme included issues such as, multiple style conflicts and conflicts about the amount of structure and or detail Also, there were conflicts about the degree of closure or seriousness of the class

4) The nature of classroom activities was the fourth theme It included aspects such

as, irrelevance overload and repetitiveness

Ushioda (1998) interviewed 20 Irish learners of French and questioned them to identify what they found to be demotivating factors in their L2-related learning experiences without specifying any prompts Her findings were not unlike the conclusions in previous

studies In other words, the demotives were related to negative aspects of the institutional

learning context such as teaching methods and learning tasks

Chang & Hwang (2004) had an interview with high school students, and the result

showed that the students blamed their demotivation mostly on their teachers’ teaching style,

particularly the focus on grammar, reading, and exams The second demotivating factor was the lack of chances to communicate in English, followed by the compulsory nature of learning

English in Korea

Sakai & Kikuchi (2009) concluded that many Japanese high school students

considered the focus on grammar, textbooks with long or difficult passages, and low test

scores the strong demotivating factors On the other hand, teachers’ competence and teaching

styles and inadequate school facilities were not considered to be strong causes of demotivation

In summary, regarding the classroom context, students can be demotivated by many factors which may come from student, teacher, book, classroom environment and scores

I.3 An overview of Speaking Skills

I.3.1 Definitions of Speaking

Speaking is one of language skill which is very important to be mastered by students

in order to be good communicator Speaking is the verbal use of language to communicate with others by Fulcher (2003, p.23)

According to Chaney (1998, p.13), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (as cited

in Kayi, 2006) Speaking is not a sudden speech Speakers have to consider using the suitable verbal or non-verbal symbols to create the valuable utterances It is not easy for hearers to understand speakers’ implication if speakers do not put their utterances into the concrete contexts

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their experiences, the environment, and the purposes for speaking

According to Fowler & Thompson (2000), speaking is “the action of conveying information or expressing one’s thoughts and feelings in spoken language” In some cases, the message is given will be influenced by emotion, the attitude of the speaker

Another expert, Theodore Huebner (1960) says “Language is essentially speech, and speech is basically communication by sounds” According to him, speaking is a skill used by everybody in daily life communication The skill is acquired by much repetition, it primarily a neuromuscular and not an intellectual process Speaking consists of competence in sending and receiving messages

From the above definitions, it can be concluded that speaking is expressing ideas,

opinions, or feelings to others by using words or sounds of articulation in order to inform, exchange and persuade Speaking skill can be learnt and improved by using some teaching- learning methodologies

I.3.2 Types of Classroom Speaking Performance

There are six types of speaking performance that students are expected to carry out in the classroom (Brown, 2001, p.271) The six types of speaking performances in the classroom are presented as follows:

a Imitative

In this type of performance, students are asked to repeat or imitate the teacher’s speech

or tape recorder Imitation of this kind is carried out not for the purpose of meaningful interactive but for focusing on some particular elements of language form In other words, this activity focuses more on form rather than on meaning Such activity is also called “drilling” Drills offer students opportunity to listen and to orally repeat certain strings of language that may pose some linguistic difficulties-either phonological or grammatical They offer limited practice through repetition Furthermore, Brown (2001, p.272) indicated that drills could help establish certain psychomotor patterns (to

“loosen the tongue”) and to associate selected grammatical forms with their appropriate context

From the statements above, it can be interpreted that drilling is still important for teaching speaking, mainly pronunciation and intonation as long as it is not overused and students know why they are doing it

b Intensive

The second type of speaking performance, intensive speaking, it means that students deal with their linguistic difficulties-either phonological or grammatical aspect of language Brown (2001, p.273) stated that intensive speaking went one step beyond imitative to include any speaking performance that is designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of language Intensive speaking can be self-initiated or it can even form part of some pair work activity, where learners are “going over” certain forms of language

c Responsive

Next, responsive performance is understood as short replies to the teacher’s or students’ questions or comments For example, students’ responses “Pretty good, thanks, and you?” to the teacher’s question “How are you today?” According to Brown (1994, p.267) these replies are usually sufficient and do not extend to dialogues, so they can be meaningful and authentic

d Transactional (dialogue)

The fourth type, transactional (dialogue), is an extended form of responsive language This activity is carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information In this case, Brown (2001, p.273) said that transactional language is an extended form of responsive language It may have more a negotiate nature than merely responsive speech

e Interpersonal (dialogue)

The next type, interpersonal speaking performance, is the other form of conversation This type of activity is carried out more for purpose of maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of fact and information Related to this, Klippel (1994, p.4) suggested that since foreign language teaching should help students achieve some kind

of communicative skill in the foreign language, all situations in which real communication occurs naturally have to be taken advantage of and many more suitable ones have to be created

f Extensive (monologue)

The final speaking performance, extensive (monologue) is for learners at intermediate

to advanced levels They are required to give extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries or short speeches, which can be planned or delivered without preparation

I.3.3 Characteristics of Good Speaking Activities

According to Ur (1996, p.120), there are many characteristics of good speaking activities which are as followed:

a Learners talk a lot

As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is occupied by learner talk

b Participant is even

All of students get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed, so, classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participations

c Motivation is high

Leaner are eager to speak because they are interested to the topic and have something new to say about

it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective

d Language is of an acceptable level

Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of

an acceptable level of language accuracy

Motivation is an essential element in the teaching and learning process In speaking classes, motivation encourages students to express their thoughts, opinions and ideas

Students are inspired, so they are willing to express themselves Besides, motivated students are oriented to achieve the learning objectives

I.3.4 Motivation and Speaking Ability

Motivation is a factor pushing students to do something It does not come from only inside but also outside of them In contrast, demotivation can lead to students’ failure in the learning process by stealing interest and sowing depression Many lowly-motivated students say that they hate being called because their friends will laugh at them if they make mistakes

Motivated students will not face the problem above One characteristic of motivated students is high persistence and effort in learning Students with high motivation will study hard and attempt to achieve learning objectives

I.4 Previous Studies on Demotivation

Demotivation is a wide spread phenomenon in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, but the subject of demotivation for research is considered to be fairly new (Kim, 2009) Student demotivation is an area that has not been extensively researched and no specific framework has emerged from the studies done In the previous decade, there were a few researches with surveys and interviews with students in several countries Some

researchers can be listed as: Gohram & Christophel (1992), Champers (1993), Dörnyei

(1998), Oxford (1998), Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) and so on

Gohram & Christophel’s study (1992) was an attempt to determine demotives from students' point of views The data obtained from the research revealed 3 main categories of demotives, context demotives (factors likely to be regarded as antecedent to the teacher’s influence), structure/ format of influence over them and the third category is teacher’s

behaviors The second and third category, i.e teacher related factors, accounted for 79% of

behaviors and attitudes and consider them as the main factors

Dörnyei (1998) worked out the nine demotivating categories in the order of frequency:

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 group members, and

coursebook Dörnyei’s demotivating factors have been considered a standard and have

become the guideline in developing questionnaires and interviews in conducting researches on demotivation (Chang & Hwang, 2004; Dörnyei, 2001a; Falout & Maruyama, 2004; Kikuchi, 2009; Kim, 2009; Sakai & Kikuchi, 2009)

Besides, Oxford (1998) inDemotivation in foreign language learning, he conducted a

qualitative study on demotivation, which focused on a teacher’s influence on (de)motivation The data was analyzed by conducting content analysis Four broad themes emerged from the

data (1) The teacher’s personal relationship with the students was the first theme, (2) the

teacher’s attitude towards the course or material was the second theme, (3) style conflicts between teachers and students was the third theme, (4) the nature of classroom activities was the fourth theme

Additionally, Chang and Hwang (2004) used Dörnyei’s nine demotivating factors to interview 70 Korean high school students, and the result showed that the students attributed

their demotivation mostly to their teachers’ teaching style, particularly the focus on grammar, reading, and exams The second demotivating factor was the lack of chances to communicate

in English, followed by the compulsory nature of learning English in Korea

The next research was done by Trang & Baldouf (2007) is Demotivation:

Understanding Resistance to English Language Learning – The Case of Vietnamese Students

They pointed out the factors that actually demotivated students included teaching method,

teacher class room behavior, background knowledge and curriculum

Falout, Elwood & Hood (2009) investigated the demotivating factors involved in EFL learning and the relationship between the past demotivating experiences and the present

proficiencies In their study, demotivating factors felt into three categories: external

conditions of the learning environment, internal conditions of the learner, and reactive behaviors to demotivating experiences Internal and reactive factors were shown to correlate

with long-term EFL learning outcomes

Moreover, according to Sakai and Kikuchi (2009), many Japanese high school

students consider the learning contents and materials and test scores to be the most demotivating factors For the participants in Sakai and Kikuhi’s (2009) study, the focus on

grammar, textbooks with long or difficult passages, and low test scores were strong

demotivating factors In contrast, teachers’ competence and teaching styles and inadequate school facilities were not considered to be strong causes of demotivation However, Kikuchi (2009)’s study on university students using questionnaires and interview indicated that the

prominent demotivating factors consisted of the teacher behavior in classroom, the teachers’

grammar-translation approach, test and university entrance exams, vocabulary

memorization, and textbooks and reference books Among the demotivating factors identified,

two were teacher-related

Additionally, Kaivanpanah & Ghasemi (2011) described such general factors that

made learner lose their motivation in speaking class as learning contents, materials, and

facilities

Huyen (2012) found out five demotivating factors: (1) lack of intrinsic motivation; (2)

lack of self-confidence; (3) learning environment; (4) teachers’ competence, behaviors and teaching methods; and (5) textbook and time for speaking skills

According to Zahia (2015) demotivating factors were considered in students’ and

teachers’ perspectives From the teachers’ perspective, insufficient time to practise, teachers’

teaching methods, personality, competence, lack of modern teaching materials, lesson content, reduced self-confidence, peers’ influence, lack of relaxed classroom environment, and assessment are the major demotivating factors While students think that time devoted to speaking, teachers’ competence and feedback, lack of modern teaching materials, lesson content, lack of relaxed classroom environment, reduced self-confidence and assessment are

the most demotivating factors among them

I.5 Summary

In summary, the chapter has reviewed different viewpoints on motivation in foreign language learning and particularly focused on factors negatively affecting students’ motivation in learning English Besides, the conceptions of speaking, the correlation between motivation and speaking ability are also presented

Status of students with low motivation in learning speaking English at Nguyen Dang Dao high school is a big problem None of previous studies investigated the factors negatively influencing students’ motivation in speaking classes at this school The mentioned reasons have urged the writer to conduct the study

The following chapter presents the methodology of the study on the 11th grade students’ demotivation to learn English speaking at Nguyen Dang Dao high school

CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the study aims to answer the research questions proposed in the first part of the study The research methods are described It falls into four sections The first section presents the methods used in this thesis The pre-survey questionnaire and the interview were designed to find out the factors having negative effects on the 11th grade students’ motivation at Nguyen Dang Dao high school in learning speaking Besides, the post-survey questionnaire was used to measure the effectiveness of suggested activities to minimize the problem from students’ perspectives The second section introduces the context and subjects of this thesis The data analysis is presented in the last section

II.1 Research Questions

To seek for the demotivating factors in speaking classes, and suggest some solutions

to this problem, the following research questions were raised:

1 What are the factors demotivating students to learn English speaking?

2 What are the solutions to help students overcome their demotivation in speaking

classes?

II.2 Data Collecting Techniques

II.2.1 Survey Questionnaire (Appendix A and Appendix B)

As mentioned in chapter one, the study is about the factors demotivating students in learning speaking skill Due to the frame work of the study, the thesis only focused on the students’ opinions about the factors that make them lose motivation To investigate the demotivating factors, a pre-survey questionnaire (See Appedix A) was conducted

The post-survey questionnaire (See Appendix B) was used after two speaking lessons with suggested activities had been carried out This technique reflects students’ opinion on their motivation in speaking sessions

II.2.1.1 Rationale behind the Use of Survey Questionnaire

The survey questionnaire is one of the most effective instruments for collecting data in social science Advantages of using questionnaire which Gillham (2000) highlights are: less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of interview bias and analysis of answer is straightforward Firstly, we choose this technique for the following reasons Unlike interviews, students do not need to face directly to the questioner, so they have plenty of time

to think about the questions and give their answers Moreover, learners are not required to write their name or personal information when they answer the questions in the survey This

helps them to feel comfortable, no pressure Therefore, they will answer honestly Another advantage of survey questionnaire is that with the obvious questions and short answers, the synthesis and analysis of data will be easier than other methods

As in the case, a set of questionnaires was designed to investigate the 11th grade students’ opinions about the factors making them demotivated in learning speaking at Nguyen Dang Dao high school in the school year 2015-2016

II.2.1.2 Construction of the Survey

II.2.1.2.1 Construction of the Pre-survey

The materials used to design the questionnaire were taken from the books concerned with the speaking skill and motivation in education

The pre-survey questionnaire (Appendix A) for students is divided into three parts with 26 questions

Part 1: Personal information & Self-assessment: There are some questions to seek out the general information about the participants and their perception of learning English speaking (Question 1-5)

Part 2: Demotivating factors – There are 21 questions designed to measure four factors derived from previous studies: Student-related factors (statement 7, 13, 15, 21, 26), Teacher-related factors (statement 6, 8, 10, 11, 16, 20, 22, 23, 24 25,) Curriculum-related factors (statement 7, 9, 12), Teaching and learning condition-related factors (statement 4, 13, 15)

For questions 6-26, participants were required to tick the column that represents their best answer: Strongly agree/ Agree/ Undecided/ Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

Part 3: Motivating factors – There are 4 questions (statements 27-29) designed to find factors that students think they can help with their demotivation in learning English speaking

II.2.1.2.2 Construction of the Post-survey

The post survey questionnaire (Appendix B) included 6 questions These questions serve to find out students’ attitude towards activities and techniques applied by teacher

For questions 1-6, participants were required to tick the box that represents their answer: Yes/No

II.2.1.3 Aim of this Technique

This technique is used before and after the action stage With survey questionnaire, the writer can find out what factors generates negative effects and makes students feel less motivated in learning speaking English Besides, factors increasing students’ motivation in learning speaking are recorded This is really necessary for teacher to improve the quality of lessons in the future

II.2.1.4 Administration of the Try-out

II.2.1.4.1 Preparation of the Try-out

The teacher in charge of two classes 11A1 and 11A3 which were intended to do the survey questionnaire were asked for permission before the try-out was carried out

II.2.1.4.2 Try-out

II.2.1.4.2.1 Pre-survey Questionnaire

The try-out was conducted on February 2nd, 2016 The students of the two classes 11A1 and 11A3 were asked to do the questionnaire as well as possible in compliance with their own ability They were instructed carefully before answering the questionnaire Importantly, they were reminded that the result of questionnaire was to serve the research and

it had no influence on their study result Hence, they made their real effort to do the questionnaire without copying from the others The allocated time for twenty-nine questions was thirty minutes

II.2.1.6.2 Post-survey questionnaire

The try-out was conducted on April 5th, 2016 The students of the two classes 11A1 and 11A3 were asked to do the post-survey questionnaires after attending two lessons with discussion and brainstorming activities They were instructed carefully before completing the post-survey The allocated time for four questions was ten minutes

II.2.2 Interview

II.2.2.1 Rationale behind the Use of Interview

Interview is a useful technique to investigate issues in an in depth way It can discover how individuals think and feel about a classroom activity and why they hold certain opinions Moreover, interviewers are not influenced by the others in the group This technique requires the participants to answer face-to-face so the writers can collect the honest answers During the interview, the writer asked some questions and responders’ own words are recorded Recorded interviews, if possible help to allow greater interaction between the interviewer and the respondent

The questions were based on the questions in the questionnaire, but were extended to get more thorough understanding of the matter The data (in Vietnamese) were recorded, transcribed for the analysis purpose, and then translated into English for writing up by the researcher, then checked for correction by an experienced translator

As in the case, an interview was designed to investigate the 11th grade students’ opinions about the factors negatively affecting their motivation in speaking classes at Nguyen Dang Dao high school

II.2.2.2 Construction of the Interview

The interview questionnaire (Appendix C) for students is divided into three parts Part one (Lead-in) has 3 questions about personal information and students’ attitude about learning speaking English Part two (Testing and exploring ideas) including 3 questions designed to discover the factors demotivating students to learn English speaking The final part is Conclusion with 3 questions about the future activities based on students’ preference Once again, all the students’ answers would be summarized

II.2.2.3 Aim of this Technique

This technique is done with 10 students randomly selected from the two classes in the last week of February The interview helps students to talk about their personal opinions about the reasons for their demotivation in speaking classes at Nguyen Dang Dao high school Finally, students give their desired activities in speaking classes in the future

II.2.2.4 Try-out

Interviews were conducted in the first week of the writer’s training time (from February 22nd to February 27th, 2016) Students are explained carefully to the questions in the interview Time interview for each student is 10 minutes

II.3 Situation Analysis

II.3.1 The Setting of the Study

The study was conducted at Nguyen Dang Dao high school, a school in the rural area

of Bac Ninh province The school has 30 classes with 83 teachers of different subjects Currently, there are ten teachers of English and over 1500 students ranged from grade 10 to grade 12 Most of students come from the villages of Lim town in Tien Du district

Like other high schools in Vietnam, English is taught as a compulsory subject at Nguyen Dang Dao high school However, the teaching of English, especially teaching English speaking for Grade 11 has faced up with some difficulties The first difficulty is that English

is not paid much attention by most of students at school Only students from the high quality class who wish to take the university entrance exam in English have real interest in learning English The second problem is that the teachers have to teach the large classes There are at least 45 students in each class Therefore, managing English speaking class is not easy for teachers The third is that most of the students are not familiar with teaching in English They said that they did not understand if all English lessons were taught in English They also feel quite uncomfortable and pressured when using English to express themselves The last is the lack of materials Materials for references and self- study are not available There is a small

library at school but there are not many English books English newspapers and magazines, which are good sources of current target language, are only available with limited quantity

Normally, there are only three periods (135 minutes) of studying English every week

It is not enough for the students to enrich their background knowledge as well as practice and develop skills Moreover, English is hardly used outside class As a result, these factors may affect students’ motivation in learning English, especially in learning English speaking Therefore, it is recommended for the teachers of English to provide various techniques to arouse students’ interest in learning English speaking This may be an indirect way to improve their speaking skill and other language skills

II.3.2 Subjects of the Study

Table 1: Students’ Profiles (Total number of students: 98)

The total number of the students in the study is 98 They are all 17 years-old All of them have been learning English for at least 7 years or even more than 7 years 72 students are female and 26 are male students

Class 11A1 has 53 students including 28 girls and 25 boys 11A3 has 45 students including 44 girls and only one boy student The gender differences also affect the classroom atmosphere The fact that the classroom with equal number of male and female learners seem

to be more regularly active and interactive in speaking classes than a mainly female class

The textbook for all the 11th grade students is English 11 (basic type) There are three English lessons a week Through the initial survey, 90% of students self-evaluate that they have average English level

II.4 Data Analysis

In this study, the collected data was both qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed but mainly qualitatively Participants’ responses were analyzed descriptively by calculating percentage in order to determine what figure in the data suggested about the demotivating

factors in speaking classes, students’ preference and students’ attitude toward lessons with suggested activities

CHAPTER THREE THE RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

III.1 Reality of the 11 th Grade Students’ Motivation

speaking classes?

Table 2: Result From Question 4

demotivated?

Table 3: Result From Question 5

As can be seen from table 2, a very large majority of students (96.9%) stated that they had ever felt demotivated in speaking classes Only 3% of students did not feel demotivated These numbers are obvious evidences for students’ demotivation at Nguyen Dang Dao highschool The fact is more strongly supported by 70.5% of students who said that they often experienced this negative feeling It can be said that demotivation exists in learning English speaking at Nguyen Dang Dao high school as a serious problem and the causes of the problem need to be explicitly addressed

III.2 Factors Demotivating Students to Learn English Speaking

III.2.1 Student-related Factors

Statements 7, 13, 15, 21, 26 in the questionnaire are used to ask about the related factors demotivating them to learn speaking English

Strongly Agree

understand the lessons I

think I have lost the

26 I don’t know how to

construct learning goals

Table 4: Student-related Factors

According to the results from statement 7, we can see the views of students on English pronunciation There are many students finding it difficult to pronounce English Indeed, 14.3% of these students strongly agree and up to 72.4% agree Only 11.2% of them disagree and nobody chose strongly disagree answer to this statement It can be seen that English pronunciation is challenging to them In spite of the fact that students can acquire a word, they cannot pronounce it correctly yet This case can also be explained by the learners’ traditional study habits As said by many students, they pay more attention to grammar and vocabulary to pass the grammar based-tests than that to pronunciation

Responses to statement 13 show that most of the students (78.5% including 35.7% strongly agree and 42.8% agree) feel very nervous when they had to speak English in class Only 16.3% disagree and 2% strongly disagree with this When being interviewed, S5 said that:

“My classmates can speak English quite well However, I just focused on practice speaking English a short time ago, therefore, I have difficulties in communicating in English

I am afraid of making mistakes, losing my face I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at

me Thus, I’m always nervous when I have to speak English in class.” (S5)

It is the fact that Vietnamese learners are usually not self-confident, afraid of making mistakes especially when they have to do something new by themselves