How to motivate the first year students at haiphong polytechnics college in speaking activities m a thesis linguistics 60 140 111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES  *** *** ĐỖ HỮU TRƯỜNG HOW TO MOTIVATE THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT HAIPHONG POLYTECHNICS COLLEGE IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES (Phương pháp khuyến khích sinh viên năm thứ trường Cao đẳng nghề Bách Nghệ Hải Phịng hoạt động nói) M.A MINOR PROGAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 Hanoi – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES  *** *** ĐỖ HỮU TRƯỜNG HOW TO MOTIVATE THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT HAIPHONG POLYTECHNICS COLLEGE IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES (Phương pháp khuyến khích sinh viên năm thứ trường cao đẳng nghề Bách Nghệ Hải Phịng hoạt động nói) M.A MINOR PROGAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Thu Hiền Hanoi – 2014 DECLARATION To the best of my knowledge and belief, this minor thesis contains no material which has previously been submitted and accepted for any other degree in any university The thesis is my own work and based on my own research It involves no material previously published or written by any other person, except where due reference is acknowledged in the paper Hanoi, 2014 Đỗ Hữu Trường i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien for her valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical feedback throughout the research I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lecturers in the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, VNU for their useful lessons from which I have benefited a lot for the accomplishment of this study I am greatly indebted to my students at marine engine and navigation departments and my colleagues at HPC 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 family and my close friends who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study ii ABSTRACT This minor thesis is carried out to investigate what kinds of speaking activities are currently used in the speaking lessons for first-year students at HPC and some suggestions are given to motivate students in these activities The study has collected data from two survey questionnaires to find out the fact of the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill for and of the first-year students at HPC The results from these two survey questionnaires have revealed some aspects of teaching and learning speaking skill at the college From these results, some suggestions have been proposed to teachers, students and college rector in order to motivate students in leaning speaking and to improve the quality of teaching and learning speaking skill iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HPC: Haiphong Polytechnics College ESP: English for Specific Purposes CLT: Communicative Language Teaching L2: Second Language LIST OF THE TABLES Table 1: Types of motivation………………………………………………………… Table 2: Students’ main demotivating factors in a speaking lesson Table 3: Teachers’ activities and students’ preferences ……………………… Table 4: Students’ expectation on teachers’ teaching ………………………… Table 5: Teacher’s opinions on teaching English speaking and students’ motivation in speaking English……………………………………………… Table 6: Teachers’ current teaching method …………………………………… 26 Table 7: Difficulties teachers often faced Table 8: Techniques applied by teachers iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION……………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………… iv LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………… vii TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………… vii PART A: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………… 1 Rationale…………………………………………………………………… Aims of the study …………………………………………………………… Research questions……………………………………………………… Scope of the study…………………………………………………………… Methods of the study ……………………………………………………… Significance of the study…………………………………………………… Design of the study……………………………………………………… … PART B: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………… CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………… 1.1 Motivation in foreign language learning……………………………… 1.1.1 Definitions of motivation………………………………………… 1.1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning……………… 1.1.3 Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking…………… 1.2 Demotivation in foreign language learning…………………………… 1.2.1 Definitions of demotivation………………………… 1.2.2 Demotivating factors in foreign language learning……………… 1.3 Teaching speaking skill in foreign language …………………………… 1.3.1 Definitions of speaking………………………………………… 1.3.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking………………………… 1.3.3 The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking v CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………… 2.1 Context of the study……………………………………………………… 2.2 The research approach………………………………………………… Questionnaire for the students……………………………………… 18 Questionnaire for the teachers……………………………………….18 Observation………………………………………………………… 19 2.3 Participants……………………………………………………………… 2.4 Data collection procedures……………………………………………… CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS………………… 3.1 Results from students’ questionnaire…………………………………… 3.1.1 Students‟ personal information………………………………… 3.1.2 Types of motivation……………………………………………… 3.1.3 Demotivating factors in a speaking lesson……………………… 3.1.4 Activities used by teachers and students‟ preferences…………… 3.1.5 Students‟ expectation on teachers‟ teaching…………………… 3.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire…………………………………… 3.2.1 Teachers‟ personal information………………………………… 3.2.2 Teacher‟s opinions towards teaching English speaking and students‟ motivation in speaking English……………………………… 3.2.3 Current teaching method ………………………………………… 3.2.4 Difficulties in teaching English speaking……………………… 3.2.5 Techniques and activities applied by teachers…………………… 3.3 Findings and discussions………………………………………………… 3.3.1 The current situation of learning speaking of first-year students at Haiphong Polytechnics College…………………………… 29 3.3.2 The current situation of teaching speaking for first-year students at Haiphong Polytechnics College…………………………… vi 3.4 Suggested techniques for motivating students in speaking activities… 3.4.1 Suggestions for the teachers……………………………………… 3.4.2 Suggestions for the students……………………………………… 3.4.3 Suggestions for the college rector and academic department…… PART C: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………… 37 Conclusions………………………………………………… 37 Limitations of the study…………………………………………………… 38 Suggestions for further study……………………………………………… 38 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIX 1………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIX 2………………………………………………………………… IV APPENDIX 3………………………………………………………………… VII vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale It can not be denied that English is very important nowadays It is considered to be a very significant and necessary tool used in many fields such as science, technology, diplomacy and so on It is seen as a means to bridge the gap and promote mutual understanding and cooperation among countries in the world In Vietnam, at present, the role of English has been more and more increasingly crucial because of the fact that Vietnam has succeeded in becoming an official member of WTO since 2006 Being aware of the great significance of English, more and more people desire to master it in hope of making English an useful means to serve their own purposes However, how to teach and learn English in general and English speaking skill in particular effectively is a matter of controversy Speaking skill should be kept in mind to be the most popular and effective way of communication At Haiphong Polytechnics College (HPC), English is considered to be an important factor for students‟ success in future career Therefore, learning English, especially learning speaking is necessary for students when they finish their study and work on international ships However, there is a fact that during speaking lessons, students are often inactive and passive in participating speaking activities The interaction between teachers and students is ineffective and restricted As a result, after the English course, students‟ competence of English is not much improved for working on board ships For this reason, I would like to make a study on “How to motivate the first-year students at Haiphong Polytechnics College in speaking activities” Hopefully, this minor thesis will help motivate first-years students in English speaking lessons at PART C: CONCLUSION In this part, conclusions of the study, then its limitations and suggestions for further study will be discussed Conclusions Teaching speaking is always a great concern of all teachers at HPC There have been issues arising in the process of teaching and learning speaking skill, one of which is how to motivate students in speaking activities and help them improve speaking capability Therefore, the study was set out to answer two questions: What is the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill for and of first-year students at HPC? What are possible methods to motivate students in speaking activities? To investigate the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill for and of first-year students at HPC, the researcher carried out two survey questionnaires with English teachers and students at Navigation and Marine engine department The data collected from these two survey questionnaires revealed some facts about teaching and learning English for and of first year student at HPC From the findings, the following conclusions can be drawn out:  The type of motivation that first-year students are possessing is instrumental motivation They consider learning English as an instrument for their future career  Students are dealing with some factors preventing them from participating in speaking activities These factors come from students themselves, teachers and learning condition  The teachers‟ current teaching method is communicative language teaching and they are dealing with some difficulties in teaching speaking to first-year students Although teachers have applied various activities and techniques in order to motivate students in speaking lessons, students‟ feedback is out of their expectation 37 Basing on these conclusions, the researcher has offered some suggestions for teachers, students and college rector These suggestions aim to enhance the cooperation from all three sides in teaching and learning speaking They encourage self study and activeness in learning speaking from students; promote creation, flexibility and enthusiasm in teaching from teachers and call for support in renovating training program and teaching materials from the college rector It is hoped that this study will be one of useful teaching material recourses in teaching speaking skill to non-major students at vocational colleges in general and at HPC in particular Limitations of the study A considerable effort has been made to investigate motivation in speaking English of the first-year students at HPC However, due to limited time and ability, there are a number of related areas which the researcher cannot cover in the study Firstly, subjects of the study are only the first-year students of two departments, not all the students in the college Secondly, the researcher purely concentrates on studying students‟ motivation in speaking skill; does not focus on some related skills such as listening, reading, and writing Third, the time for study is limited which is not enough to apply the new teaching methods to students and evaluate their effectiveness in teaching and learning speaking skill Therefore, the researcher just stops at offering suggestions for teachers, students and the college rector Finally, the study has not evaluated the effect of the current textbook in teaching speaking for first-year students These shortcomings somehow make the reliability of the study reduced Suggestions for further study With above limitations, the following suggestions are proposed to make the research more reliable and applicable for college training program: 38  Students of all levels in the college should be included  New teaching methods should be carried out and their effectiveness in teaching and learning skill should be also evaluated  The effect of speaking motivation on other skills such as listening, reading and writing should be considered as a focus of the study  Textbook evaluation should be carried out to improve the effectiveness of the textbook in teaching speaking for first-year students 39 REFERENCES Alison, J (1993) Not Bothered? Motivating Reluctant Language Learners in Key Stage London: CILT Ames, C., & Ames, R (1989) Research in motivation in education San Diego: Academic Press Bailey, K.M (2005) Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking McGraw- Hill, Inc Bo W (2009) Motivation and Language Learning Asian Social Science – Vol 5, No Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by principles :An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy New Jersy: Prentics Hall Regents th Bygate, M (1997) Speaking (6 ed.) Oxford University Press Byrne, D (1986) Teaching Oral English Longman Crookes G & Schmidt R.W (1991) Motivation: Reopening the research agenda Language learning, 41 (4), 469-512 Csikszentmihalyi, M (1997) Intrinsic motivation and effective teaching: A flow analysis In J L Bess (Ed.) Teaching Well and Liking It: Motivating Faculty to Teach Effectively Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 7289 10 Deci, E L & Ryan, R M (1985) Intrinsic motivation and self- determination in human behaviour Plenum, New York 11 Dornyei, Z (1998) De-motivation on foreign language learning Pape presented at the TESOL‟98 Congress, Seattle,WA, March 12 Dornyei, Z (2001a) Motivational strategies in the Language Classroom Cambridge University Press 13 Dornyei, Z (2001b) Teaching and researching motivation Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited 14 Doryei, Z (2003) Questionnaires in Second Language Research Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc 40 15 Ellis, R (1990) Instructed Second Language Acquisition Learning in the Classroom Oxford, Cambridge 16 Ellis, R (1997) Second Language Acquisition Oxford University Press 17 Florez, M A (1999) Improving Adult English Language Learners’ Speaking Skills ERIC Digest (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED: 435204) 18 Gardner, R.C & Lambert, W.E (1972) Attitudes and motivation: Second language learning Newbury House 19 Gardner, RC (1985) Social Psychology and second language learning: The roles of attitudes and motivation London: Edward Arnold 20 Good, T.L & Brophy J.E (1994) Looking in Classrooms (6th Ed.) NewYork: Harper Collins 21 Gillham, B (2000) Developing Questionnaire Continuum, London and New York 22 Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman 23 Hermann, G (1990) Attitudes and success in children’s learning of English as a second language: The motivational versus the resultative hypothesis English Language Teaching Journal, 34, 247-254 24 Hoang Duc Doan (2006) Motivation in learning English speaking of the second year tourism major students at Tourism and foreign language Department, Sao Do College of Industry, VNU-ULIS, Unpublished M.A Thesis 25 Keefe, J.W (1979) Learning Style: An Overview In NASSP’s Student Learning Styles: Diagnosing and Prescribing Programs Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1\u201317 26 Kumar, R (1996) Research Methodology London: Longman 27 Lightbown, M.P., Spada, N (1999) How Language are learned Oxford University Press 41 28 Little, D., Singleton, D & Silvius, W (1984) Learning second languages in Ireland: Experience, attitudes and needs Dublin Trinity College, Centre for Language and Communication Studies 29 Luu Thi Lan (2008) Factors affecting motivation in learning speaking English of grade 10 students at Yen Dinh high school VNU-ULIS, Unpublished M.A Thesis 30 MacIntyre, P D (1999) Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers In D.J Young (Ed.) Affect in Foreign Language and Second Language Learning Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 24-45 31 Mackey W F (1965) Language Teaching Analysis Longmans 32 Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning Heinle& Heinle 33 Nunan, D (2003) Listen In Second Edition Boston: Thomson Learning /Heinle 34 Oxford & Rebecca, L (1998) The unraveling tapestry: Teacher and course characteristics associated with demotivation in the language classroom Demotivation in foreign language learning Paper presented at the TESOL ‟98 Congress, Seattle, WA 35 Pintrich, P R., & Schunk, D H (2002) Motivation in education: Theory, research, and applications (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall 36 Richards, J C & Rodgers, T (1986) Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis Cambridge University Press 37 Schulz, R (1991) Bridging the Gap between Teaching and Learning Sally Magnan Boston: Heinle and Heinle 38 Tsui, A.B.M., (1996) Reticence and anxiety in second language learning In: K Bailey, D Nunan, (Eds.) Voices from the language classroom (pp 145167) Cambridge University Press 39 Williams, M & Burden, R (1997) Psychology of language teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 42 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES (FOR STUDENTS) This survey questionnaire is designed for the research into how to motivate st the -year students in speaking activities Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, not for sharing or revealed for any other purposes Thank you very much for your cooperation! _ I Personal information Your age Your hometown ……………………………………………………… How long have you been learning English? year(s) II Current situation of learning speaking at Haiphong Polytechnics College What is/are your purpose(s) of learning English a To communicate to foreigners b To know about English-speaking countries c To prepare for survival in English speaking countries d To entertain e To fulfill the college requirements f To get good results at the exams g To prepare for the future job h Other (please specify): I What are your main demotivating factors in a speaking lesson? a Unthusiastic teachers b Stressful classroom atmosphere c Crowded class d Unsuitable speaking topics e Boring speaking actitivities f Unsuitable textbook content g Low language proficiency h Attitudes of group members i Lack of confidence j Teacher‟s inference in your speaking k Mother-tongued inference l Other (Please specify): What activities below does your teacher use to motivate you in a speaking lesson? What activities you like? Activites a Role play b Discussion (in pair, in group…) c Providing useful language for the speaking tasks d English and Vietnames speaking alternatively II e Games (at warm-up stage, …) f Compliment g Teaching aid application: projectors, video players… h Authentic situations i Post activities (questionning, interviewing, practicing ) j Other (Please specify): What you expect your teachers to to motivate you to speak in English speaking lessons? a Let you choose topics to discuss b Give you more time to work in pair or in group c Let you choose partners who share the same opinion with you d Give you speaking tasks suitable to your ability e Vary speaking activities flexibly f Other (please specify): ……………………………………………………………………………………… III APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES (FOR TEACHERS) This survey questionnaire is designed for the research into how to motivate st the -year students in speaking activities Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, not for sharing or revealed for any other purposes Thank you very much for your cooperation! _ I Personal information Your gender Your age How long have you been teaching English? How long have you been teaching speaking skill? II Current situation of teaching speaking at Haiphong Polytechnics College Which stage of a speaking lesson you think necessary to motivate students? a The warm-up stage b Pre-speaking stage c While-speaking stage d Post-speaking stage IV e All the above mentioned stages f Other (please specify): Which teaching methods you currently apply to teaching English now? a Communicative language teaching b Audio-lingual c Grammar translation d Combination (Please specify……………………………………………………) st What are your difficulties in teaching English speaking for year students? a The students‟ lack of motivation in learning speaking skill b The students‟ laziness in pair work and group work c The students‟ low English proficiency d The students‟ unequal participation e Crowed class f Multi-level class g Unsuitable class hour h Lack of teaching aids i Other (Please specify): V Which of the following techniques you use to motivate students to speak English? a Creating a co-operative atmosphere b Creating a natural speaking environment c Using supplementary materials d Giving feedback regularly e Giving rewards f Providing students with interesting topics g Providing students with useful language for the speaking tasks h Designing appropriate speaking tasks to the students‟ abilities i Letting students talk freely j Varying communicative activities flexibly k Applying visual and audio teaching aids l Other (Please specify): VI APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET (Adapted from Brown, 1994) Unit: ……………………………………… Class: …………………………………… Name of the teacher: …………………… Number of students: ……………………… Observation time: …………………………… Date: ……………………………………… Categories Criteria I Preparation Well-prepared, well-organized in class Appropriately prepared objectives of the class II Presentation Clear and concise instruction language Authentic materials are added The lesson is smooth Material is presented at the students‟ level of comprehension VII The teacher show interest and enthusiasm III Methods Teacher moves round class, use eye contact There are balance and variety of activities 10 Examples and illustrations used effectively 11 Instructional aids and resource material used effectively 12 Drills are used 13 Teacher explores genuine situations in the class 14 Structures are taken out of artificial drill contexts and applied to the real contexts of the students‟ culture and personal experiences IV Personal characteristics 15.Patience in eliciting responses 16 Clarity, tone, and audibility of voice 17 Pronunciation, intonation, fluency are appropriate and acceptable use of language V Teacher/student interaction 18 Teacher is a fascinator 19 Teacher encourages students 20 Teacher organizes effectively individual, pair and group work 21 Teacher controls and directs the class VIII 22 Students are communicators 23 The students are attentive 24 The students are active and involved 25 The students are encouraged to ask questions, to disagree, or to express their own ideas Note: A: applicable NA: not applicable IX ... The grammar- translation method In the Grammar- translation method, students are taught to analyze grammar and to translate from one language to another The Grammar translation method, therefore,... teaching method a Communicative language teaching b Audio-lingual c Grammar-translation d Combination: Communicative language teaching & Grammar-translation As clearly stated from table 7, the teaching... the combination of communicative language teaching and grammar-translation Only one teacher (10%) applies grammar-translation as her main teaching method The result states clearly that teaching