A survey of factors that demotivate first year non major students in learning english at university of labor and social affairs 001

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT - NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY A SURVEY OF FACTORS THAT DEMOTIVATE FIRST YEAR NONMAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (KHẢO SÁT CÁC YẾU TỐ GÂY GIẢM HỨNG THÚ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LAO ĐỘNG – XÃ HỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111 Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Đức Hoạt Hanoi, 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT - NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY A SURVEY OF FACTORS THAT DEMOTIVATE FIRST YEAR NONMAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (KHẢO SÁT CÁC YẾU TỐ GÂY GIẢM HỨNG THÚ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LAO ĐỘNG – XÃ HỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111 Hanoi, 2013 DECLARATION I, hereby, certify the thesis entitled “A Survey of Factors that Demotivate First-Year Non-Major Students in Learning English at University of Labor and Social Affairs” is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and that this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions Author’s signature Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Duc Hoat, for his valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical feedback throughout my research Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to the staff members in the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies for their useful lessons from which I have benefited a lot for the accomplishment of this study I am greatly indebted to my students and my colleagues at University of Labor and Social Affairs for their participation and assistance without which this study could not have been successful Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my loving parents, my love, my dear sister and my close friends who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study ii ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the factors that demotivate the first – year nonmajor students in learning English at the University of Labor and Social Affairs (ULSA) In this study, 140 first-year non-major students from different faculties of ULSA were chosen as the subjects A questionnaire and an interview were used as the data collection instruments The findings of the study showed that the factors demotivating students in learning English derive from sources: students, learning conditions and teachers In details, among the factors, students’ lack of basic knowledge and lack of confidence were the most demotivating then followed by the class atmosphere, inadequate facilities, big size class and the teacher’s lack of commitment Based on the findings of the study, some discussion and implications were made along with recommended suggestions for further research.At last, it is hoped that the results of this study could be of much benefit for developing teaching and learning English at University of Labor and Social Affairs iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research Questions Scope of the study Methods Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Motivation 1.1.1 Definition of motivation 1.1.2 The importance of motivation in foreign or second language learning 1.2 Demotivation 1.2.1 Definition of demotivation 1.2.2 Factors that demotivate students in learning 1.2.2.1 Teacher-related factors 10 1.2.2.2 Learner-related factors 12 1.2.2.3 Learning conditions 14 iv 1.3 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam 15 1.4 Demotivation and English learning at ULSA 18 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21 2.1 Participants and setting of the study 21 2.1.1 Participants 21 2.1.2 Setting of the study 22 2.2 Data collection 23 2.2.1 Data collection instruments 23 2.2.2 Data collection procedures 25 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 26 3.1 Findings 26 3.1.1 Factors that demotivating students to learn English at ULSA .26 3.1.1.1 Student-related factors 26 3.1.1.2 Teacher-related factors 30 3.1.1.3 Learning conditions 32 3.1.2 The comparison among factors demotivating students in learning English 34 3.2 Discussions 34 PART C CONCLUSION 40 Conclusions 40 Pedagogical implications 40 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research .41 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ULSA: University of Labor and Social Affairs vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Students’ opinions on student-related factors Table 3.2: Students’ opinions on teacher-related factors Table 3.3: Students’ opinions on factors related to learning conditions Table 3.4: Comparison among factors LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Students’ opinions on Student-related factors Figure 3.2: Students’ opinions on teacher-related factors Figure 3.3: Students’ opinions on factors related to learning conditions Figure 3.4: Comparison among groups of factors Figure 3.5: Comparison among factors vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale English has been more and more important in Vietnam in recent decades The number of people using it and the purposes they use it for are increasing English is now widely known as the main language of intercommunication, international commerce and business, science and technology ect besides the native language used Thus, people with good English competence are needed in any fields, consequently, these people may have more opportunities to develop themselves such as have a good job, earn more money, widen knowledge and have a better life As a result, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across Vietnam Both children and adults learn English with different purposes Children learn it as compulsory subject at schools and their parents want that Students learn English to pass the exams, to study aboard or to find a good job in the future Adults learn English in order to communicate with foreigner, business or just to relax with English music, films and newspapers and books In general, despite deriving from different purposes, everyone wants to turn English to become their own instrument in their lives As an English teacher, students’ proficiency and interests in learning English are things that get lots of the teacher’s care and time Truly, we, teachers, really want to have an effective and interesting lesson each day And it is clear that students also hope and like to learn in those lessons like that However, teachers often say that they can easily recognize students who things not relevant to the lesson or not pay attention to the lessons, some even say that because they not like English As an English teacher, I am always thinking about this and really want to find the solutions for eliminating factors that demotivate students’ motivation in learning English because the researchers on motivation and demotivation have pointed out that “the strongest influence on motivation was not the presence of motivators in the classroom, but the absence of demotivators” (Christophel &Gorham, 1995) At the beginning of the semester, the absence of context A Student-related factors Items Learning English is not important to me I lost interest in learning English English is not an easy language I am unable to learn English English at university is impractical I did not understand even if I study hard It is not easy for me to understand the lessons I am unable to memorize English grammar, new words or sounds I feel unconfident about my English 10 I cannot catch up with my friends 11 I not participate actively into lessons 12 I’m afraid of making mistakes in front of my teachers and classmates 13 I often feel shy or nervous when speaking or answering questions in class 14 I lack basic knowledge of English during my high school time B Teacher-related factors Items 15 Teachers often shout or get angry 16 Teachers are uninteresting people 17 The teaching is boring 18 The pace of teaching is not appropriate 19 Teachers don’t give interesting language activities in class 20 Teachers speak too much Vietnamese 21 Teacher’s English pronunciation is not good 22 Teacher’s explanations are unclear 23 Teachers usually not care whether we understand their lessons and instructions or not and seem not to be enthusiastic IV C Learning conditions Items 24.The class size is too large for learning English 25.Resources are not enough for learning English such as lack of projector, micro, reference books 26.The English class is uninteresting 27.My partners are not active learners 28.My classmates are noisy, inattentative 29.The textbook LIFE-LINE is uninteresting 30.The textbook is difficult for me THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! V Appendix CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN Bạn có nghĩ học tiếng Anh quan trọng khơng? Vì sao? Mục đích việc học tiếng Anh gì? Theo ý kiến bạn , học tiếng Anh dễ hay khó ? Vì sao? Bạn hứng thú việc học tiếng Anh ? Nếu có, yếu tố làm cho bạn cảm thấy hứng thú ? Bạn nghĩ tính cách giáo viên , lực phương pháp giảng dạy ? Bạn có cảm thấy tự tin tiếng Anh bạn ? Vì sao? Bạn cảm nhận khơng khí lớp học tiếng Anh bạn ? Tại sao? Bao nhiêu học sinh lớp học bạn ? Làm số lượng sinh viên ảnh hưởng đến việc học tiếng Anh bạn? Bạn có thích sách giáo trình LIFE –LINE khơng ? Tại sao? VI Appendix QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW Do you think learning English is important? Why? What are your purposes of learning English? In your opinion, is it easy or difficult to learn English? Why? Have you ever been demotivated in learning English? If yes, what factors make you feel demotivated? What you think about your teachers’ personality, competence and teaching method? Do you feel confident about your English? Why? How you feel about your class atmosphere? Why? How many students in your class? Do the number of students affect to your English learning? Do you like the textbook LIFE-LINE ? Why? VII Appendix Result of demotivating factors questionnaire (The number of students) (1) Strongly Agree (2) Agree (3) Disagree (4) Strongly Disagree A Student-related factors Items Learning English is not important to me I lost interest in learning English English is not an easy language I am unable to learn English English at university is impractical I feel unconfident about my English lessons I not participate actively into I’m afraid of making mistakes in front of my teachers and classmates I often feel shy or nervous when speaking or answering questions in class 10 I lack basic knowledge of English during my high school time VIII B Teacher-related factors 11.Teachers often shout or get angry 12.Teachers person 13.The teaching is boring 14.The pace of teaching is not appropriate 15.Teachers don’t give interesting activities 16.Teachers Vietnamese 17.Teachers’ English pronunciation is not good 18 Teachers’ explanations are unclear 19 Teachers whether we understand their lessons and instructions or not and seem not to be enthusiastic IX C Learning conditions Items 20.The class size is learning English 21.Resources are not enough for learning English such as lack projector, micro 22 The English class is uninteresting 23 when working in groups or pairs 24 My inattentative 25 uninteresting 26 The textbook classmates X Appendix Result of demotivating factors questionnaire (%) (1) Strongly Agree (2) Agree (3) Disagree (4) Strongly Disagree A Student-related factors Items Learning English is not important to me I lost interest in learning English English is not an easy language I am unable to learn English English at university is impractical I feel unconfident about my English I not participate actively into lessons I’m afraid of making mistakes in front of my teachers and classmates I often feel shy or nervous when speaking or answering questions in class 10 I lack basic knowledge of during my high school time XI B Teacher-related factors 11 Teachers often shout or get angry 12 Teachers are uninteresting people 13 The teaching is boring 14 The pace appropriate 15 Teachers activities 16 Teachers Vietnamese 17 Teachers’ pronunciation is not good 18 Teachers’ explanation is unclear 19 whether we understand their lessons and instructions or not and seem not to be enthusiastic XII C Learning conditions 20 learning English 21 learning English such as lack of projector, micro 22 23 learners 24 inattentative 25 uninteresting 26 XIII ... motivation in language learning, demotivation, demotivating factors, previous studies and demotivation and ULSA 1.1 Motivation Among various factors that affect teaching and learning a foreign language... Demotivation and English learning at ULSA Demotivation can be at any context and level of language teaching and learning, with nearly years of teaching English at ULSA, the researcher have recognized... background and academic viewpoints on definition of motivation, the role of motivation, definition of demotivation, and factors that demotivate students in learning and demotivation in learning