Factors demotivating students to participate in english speaking lessons at viet hung industrial university istic

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG FACTORS DEMOTIVATING STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT VIET-HUNG INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY (Những nhân tố làm sinh viên giảm hứng thú tham gia vào học nói Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Công nghiệp Việt – Hung) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field of study: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi – 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG FACTORS DEMOTIVATING STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT VIET-HUNG INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY (Những nhân tố làm sinh viên giảm hứng thú tham gia vào học nói Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Cơng nghiệp Việt – Hung) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field of study: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Phùng Thị Kim Dung, M.A Hanoi – 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF CHARTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi TABLE OF CONTENTS vii PART ONE – INTRODUCTION 1 Rationales Objectives of the study Scope of the study Methods Design of the study PART TWO – DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER – LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of speaking skill 1.1.1 Characteristics of speaking skill 1.1.2 The roles of speaking in ELT 1.2 Theoretical background of demotivation 1.2.1 Conception of demotivation 1.2.2 The concept of demotivation as identified in previous studies 1.2.2.1 Demotivating factors identified by Dörnyei 1.2.2.2 Demotivating factors identified by Oxford 11 CHAPTER – METHODOLOGY 13 2.1 Research questions 13 2.2 Data collection and analysis 13 vii 2.2.1 Data collection 13 2.2.2 Data analysis 13 2.3 Subjects 13 2.4 Instruments 14 2.5 The research context 15 CHAPTER – DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 18 3.1 Data analysis of students’ response 18 3.2 Data analysis of teachers’ responses 27 3.3 Findings and recommendations 36 3.3.1 Summary of the findings 36 3.3.2 Recommendations 38 PART THREE – CONCLUSION 41 Summary of the study 41 Limitations of the study 41 Suggestions for further studies 42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I Appendix I Appendix VI Appendix XII Appendix XVII viii PART ONE - INTRODUCTION This chapter works as the guideline for readers to understand what will be discussed in the whole research It means that this part will give the rationales, the significance and purposes, the scope, the method and the design of the rest of the study Rationales It cannot be denied that English has become more and more important in every part of the world As a result, the need of having good ability of English also increases People want to communicate in English fluently, so they spend money and time attempting to learn it In Vietnam, English language’s role has gotten bigger and become a compulsory subject at every level of education (school, college and university) Realizing the necessity of English in the development of the society in general and of each individual in particular, every learner wants to be competent in English and uses it to communicate with foreigners That’s why most schools now focus on developing students’ ability of speaking English Indeed, different skills (Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing) have certain roles in English language learning, but the final aim of learners is to use spoken language to communicate with other people Communication is a basic and necessary demand for everyone and people have to learn how to speak Moreover, speaking is considered having more important place than other skills Mastering speaking skill can reinforce learners to gain better achievement in other skills such as Listening, Reading, and Writing Because of vital position of speaking, learners of English should have motivation and positive attitude to learning English speaking But contrary to popular belief, in the process of teaching and learning to speak English, students have to deal with a number of difficulties including the factors demotivating students to speak In Viet-Hung University, speaking skill is also a focus However, a lot of them confide that they are not willing to take part in speaking lessons Obviously, there may exist certain factors that deter students from participating in speaking classes In an attempt to find out the causes of the situation, the author had decided to attend some English speaking sessions She discovered that the students, most of the time, just like to listen and kept silent when being required to say something Even when the teachers tried to organize activities to stir up the atmosphere, no big changes ever happened Thus, it is a real challenge for them to get students to be involved teaching The idea of working out the factors that demotivate students to learn speaking skills has urged the author to embark on the study entitled “Factors demotivating students to participate in English speaking lessons at Viet – Hung Industrial University” This study is valuable not only for teachers of English but also for the learners who learn English Being aware of the factors that make learners less interested in speaking English, teachers can work out the way to encourage learners to enjoy learning The author hopes that with the results of this study, Viet-Hung University students will find English speaking lessons exciting and are willing to take part in Objectives of the study The study is conducted to achieve three main objectives: + to investigate Viet-Hung University students’ attitudes to learning English speaking skills + to explore the factors that demotivate students of Viet-Hung University to get involved in the English speaking lessons + to recommend some solutions to remove these demotivating factors from English speaking sessions Scope of the study Speaking skill is a large topic that consists of many aspects However, in this study, the author only focuses on the factors that make students of Viet-Hung University uninterested in participating in English speaking lessons In addition, Viet-Hung Industrial University is a big university, so this minor thesis cannot get all students involved Instead, the author decides to randomly choose the secondyear students of Banking and Financing Faculty as participants In addition, the University offers both English for General Purposes (EGP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses, but the characteristics of English in two courses are different and the demotivating factors may not be similar As a result, this research only focuses on the factors appearing in EGP She hopes that other aspects of speaking would be conducted on other groups of students by other researchers Methods To reach the aims of the study, quantitative and qualitative methods have been used Firstly, quantitative approach is used to classify features, count them, and construct statistical models In this research, the quantitative data are gained form the two sets of questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for students of Viet-Hung Industrial University The second method of analyzing the data is qualitative method According to Miles and Huberman (1994), qualitative approach is the one in which the researcher study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them Data for qualitative analysis is in the form of words, pictures or objects and instruments are often participant observation and in-depth interviews In this research, in order to obtain qualitative information conducts some short interviews with six teachers of English of the University for further information to support the thesis Design of the study This minor thesis consists of three parts:  The first part presents the factors such as the rationale, objectives, scope, methods and design of the study  The second part is the body of the study, in which a theoretical background, research methodology and results and discussions were presented  The final part gives the summary of the study, the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further research related to English speaking skill and demotivation PART TWO - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER – LITERATURE REVIEW In this part, the author would like to give short theoretical background of motivation, demotivation and some information related to speaking skill and speaking lessons 1.1 Theoretical background of speaking skill In language teaching and learning, we often talk about the four language skills (Listening, Writing, Reading, and Speaking) in terms of their direction and modality Speaking is regarded as the way of measuring the language competence of a language user Thus, the ability of speaking fluently is more important than being good at reading, or writing As a result, the main aim of every system of education is to develop speaking skill among learners In this part, the author will present what speaking skill is, the nature of language skills, characteristics of speaking skill, and some theoretical information about speaking lessons 1.1.1 Characteristics of speaking skill Speaking has the characteristics which are as follows: To begin with, its form and meaning depend on the context in which it occurs The context consists of the participants and their experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking In other words, spoken language is context bound The interlocutors share the immediate within which the dialogue takes place; hence much information is implicit and assumed (McCathy, 1998) The second characteristic is that speaking relies on the speakers’ understanding of common conventional expressions for communicating specific meanings, particularly on the language environment apart from such aspects as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary That speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions is the third characteristic It means that skills, structures and conventions of speech are different from the written language In his book, Bygate (1987) said that “The words are being spoken as they are being decided and as they are being understood.” The fact that the words are spoken and decided at the same time has big effect on the speaker’s ability to plan and organize the message and to control the language being used Indeed, the length and complexity of spoken sentences cannot be the same as the ones in written ones because the speakers not have as much time to plan and prepare as the writers Moreover, speakers often make more mistakes in their utterances than the writers in terms of both the message and the words We may forget what we intend to say and repeat what we have already mentioned The words are also being spoken as they are being understood When the sentences are uttered, they go immediately They cannot be reread like in writing, which can lead to misunderstanding when the listeners miss some part of what the speakers have said because of the noise, or a moment’s distraction The last characteristic is that speaking is considered an undervalued skill in many ways (Bygate 1987) The reason is that almost all people can speak and try to speak He also states that speaking should get as much attention as literacy skills Learners often need to be able to speak with confidence in order to carry out the basic transactions Moreover, in most speaking, the person to whom we are speaking is in front of us and be able to put us right if we make mistakes He is the speaker’s listener who generally shows agreement and understanding, or incomprehension Thus, speakers need to have patience and imagination, too He has to take notice of the way the listeners feel and behave by giving them chance to speak At the same time they can play the role of the listeners and the speaker By this way a listener can help the speaker be more improved and competent because a listener can give learners models to utilize when acting a speaker In addition, being a hearer first helps the learner appreciate the difficulties inherent in the task It is clear that giving a speaker experience in a hearer’s role is more helpful than simple practice in tasks in which a speaker is having real difficulties in appreciating what a particular task requires b English is not very important for my future career, so it is unworthy wasting so much time on learning it Teaching and learning materials a The oral tasks, all of which are taken from the course book, are often so difficult and are not suitable with our ability b Most of the speaking topics are not of our interest c The speaking tasks not help us much for our future job Question 5: Please tick in the column you choose To what degree these factors demotivate you in speaking English in class? A Little B Not much C Much D Very much Your opinion Questions A a We are often interrupted by the teacher when presenting if we makes mistakes, even the minor ones b Teacher does not allow the listeners to ask questions after each presentation The teacher c Teacher is usually at his/her seat, so it is not convenient for us to ask for help from him/her d Teacher does not often give clear enough explanation and instruction before each task, so we frequently not know what to e Teacher sometimes speaks very fast, so we can not understand him/her much f Teacher’s language competence is not good III B C D enough, so sometimes he/she can not help students with difficult grammatical items or new vocabulary g Teacher is so yielding that he/she can not maintain discipline in class h Teacher is not friendly, so teacher and students’ relationship is not good i Teacher does not care whether we work or not because he/she is often busy to his/her own work j Teacher often criticizes us when we say something wrong a The class is not equipped with necessary Classroom facilities such as computers and projector b The class is so large, so teacher can not pay equal attention to all students Students’ selfconfidence a We often feel embarrassed when speaking because my pronunciation is not good and maybe my classmates not understand me b We seldom get good grades for speaking test a When we listen to my classmates’ presentation, Students’ language competence we don’t understand because our listening is not very good b Our ability of speaking English is not good because we didn’t practice much at High School Students’ attitudes towards a English is not my favorite L2 language I would like to learn other languages (such as Japanese, Chinese…) IV English b English is not very important for my future career, so it is unworthy wasting so much time on learning it a The oral tasks, all of which are taken from the course book, are often so difficult and are not Teaching suitable with our ability and learning b Most of the speaking topics are not of our materials interest c The speaking tasks not help us much for our future job Question 6: Please circle your choice What you expect your teacher to to reduce your demotivation? a Give clearexplanation and instructions to tasks b Go around and offer help c Control the speed of their speech d Give students both praise and criticisms e Use modern technology such as computer, projector f Organize more pair-work and group-work g Choose topics and tasks more relevant to student’s ability and of students’ interest h Be stricter to lazy students i Organize games and activities to get students to learn speaking through playing j Encourage students to listen to English songs and watch films to get more input to speak k Ask students to read more to improve their background knowledge Good Luck! V Appendix Survey questionnaire in Vietnamese PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA Mục đích phiếu điều tra nhằm tìm hiểu nhân tố khiến sinh viên Trường Đại học công nghiệp Việt-Hung hứng thú tham gia vào buổi học nói Tiếng Anh Trước tiên, xin cảm ơn tất bạn đồng ý tham gia làm phiếu điều tra Tôi xin đảm bảo thông tin cá nhân bạn giữ kín Phần thơng tin cá nhân: - Giới tính: Nam Nữ - Tuổi: ………………………………… - Số năm học Tiếng Anh: …………… Phần câu hỏi: Câu hỏi 1: Khoanh tròn câu trả lời: Bạn có nghĩ nói Tiếng Anh quan trọng với khơng? A Có B Khơng Câu hỏi 2: Khoanh trịn câu trả lời: Nếu có, kỹ lại quan trọng với bạn? A Để đạt điểm cao B Để giao tiếp với người nước C Để hoàn thành yêu cầu nhà trường đặt D Để tìm cơng việc tốt tương lai E Để thầy cô bạn bè ngưỡng mộ Câu hỏi 3: Khoanh trịn câu trả lời: Bạn có thích học nói Tiếng Anh khơng? A Có B Khơng Câu hỏi 4: Khoanh trịn câu trả lời: Nếu khơng, nhân tố sau nhân tố làm bạn giảm hứng thú nói Tiếng Anh lớp? VI Giáo viên a Giáo viên thường ngắt lời chúng tơi chúng tơi mắc lỗi thuyết trình, chí lỗi nhỏ b Giáo viên không cho phép người nghe hỏi câu hỏi người nói vào cuối thuyết trình c Giáo viên thường ngồi bàn giáo viên nên thấy không thuận tiện cần thầy/cô giúp đỡ d Giáo viên thường khơng giải thích hay hướng dẫn kỹ trước nên chúng tơi thường khơng rõ phải làm nói e Giọng nói Tiếng Anh giáo viên nhanh nên khơng hiểu hết thầy/cơ nói f Khả ngôn ngữ giáo viên không tốt nên thầy/cô giúp hiểu số phần ngữ pháp khó hay từ vựng g Giáo viên q dễ tính nên sinh viên thường khơng tôn trọng quy định lớp học h Giáo viên không thân thiện với nên mối quan hệ giáo viên không tốt i Giáo viên khơng quan tâm liệu chúng tơi có làm việc hay khơng họ thường bận giải việc riêng j Giáo viên thường phê bình chúng tơi nói sai Lớp học a Lớp học khơng có trang thiết bị cần thiết máy tính máy chiếu b Lớp học q đơng nên giáo viên quan tâm ý tới lớp Sự tự tin sinh viên a Tơi cảm thấy xấu hổ nói tơi phát âm khơng chuẩn bạn khác lớp không hiểu ý b Tôi thường bị điểm mơn nói Khả ngơn ngữ sinh viên a Khi nghe bạn lớp thuyết trình, chúng tơi khơng hiểu khả nghe hiểu khơng tốt VII b Khả nói Tiếng Anh chúng tơi khơng tốt học Trường Phổ thông không thực hành nói nhiều Thái độ sinh viên việc học nói a Tiếng Anh khơng phải ngoại ngữ mà tơi thích Thơi thích học ngoại ngữ khác Tiếng Nhật Bản, Tiếng Trung… b Tiếng Anh không quan trọng cho công việc tương lai nên khơng nên phí thời gian học Tài liệu dạy học a Tất tập nói lấy từ sách giáo khoa thường khó, khơng phù hợp với khả ngơn ngữ b Phần lớn tập nói khơng thuộc chủ đề mà chúng tơi thích c Các tập nói khơng hỗ trợ nhiều cho công việc tương lai Câu hỏi 5: Khoanh tròn câu trả lời: Những nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến hứng thú nói Tiếng Anh lớp bạn mức độ nào? A Ít B Khơng nhiều C Nhiều D Rất nhiều Ý kiến bạn Câu hỏi A a Giáo viên thường ngắt lời mắc lỗi thuyết trình, chí lỗi nhỏ Giáo viên b Giáo viên không cho phép người nghe hỏi câu hỏi người nói vào cuối thuyết trình c Giáo viên thường ngồi bàn giáo viên nên thấy không thuận tiện cần thầy/cô VIII B C D giúp đỡ d Giáo viên thường khơng giải thích hay hướng dẫn kỹ trước nên chúng tơi thường khơng rõ phải làm nói e Giọng nói Tiếng Anh giáo viên nhanh nên không hiểu hết thầy/cơ nói f Khả ngơn ngữ giáo viên không tốt nên thầy/cô giúp hiểu số phần ngữ pháp khó hay từ vựng g Giáo viên q dễ tính nên số sinh viên thường khơng tôn trọng quy định lớp học h Giáo viên không thân thiện với nên mối quan hệ giáo viên không tốt i Giáo viên khơng quan tâm liệu chúng tơi có làm việc hay khơng họ thường bận giải việc riêng j Giáo viên thưịng phê bình chúng tơi nói sai a Lớp học khơng có trang thiết bị cần thiết Lớp học máy tính máy chiếu b Lớp học q đơng nên giáo viên quan tâm ý tới lớp Sự tự tin sinh viên a Tơi cảm thấy xấu hổ nói tơi phát âm khơng chuẩn bạn khác lớp không hiểu ý b Tôi thường bị điểm mơn nói IX a Khi nghe bạn lớp thuyết trình, chúng Khả tơi khơng hiểu khả nghe hiểu khơng ngơn ngữ tốt sinh viên b Khả nói Tiếng Anh chúng tơi khơng tốt học Trường Phổ thông không thực hành nói nhiều a Tiếng Anh khơng phải ngoại ngữ mà Thái độ sinh viên việc học nói thích Thơi thích học ngoại ngữ khác Tiếng Nhật Bản , Tiếng Trung… b Tiếng Anh không quan trọng cho công việc tương lai nên khơng nên phí thời gian học a Tất tập nói lấy từ sách giáo khoa thường khó, khơng phù hợp với khả Tài liệu ngôn ngữ dạy học b Phần lớn tập nói khơng thuộc chủ đề mà chúng tơi thích c Các tập nói khơng hỗ trợ nhiều cho công việc tương lai Câu 6: Theo bạn giáo viên áp dụng biện pháp sau để giảm yếu tố làm giảm hứng thú này? a Giải thích yêu cầu rõ ràng b Đi quanh lớp giúp đỡ cần thiết c Nói chậm để sinh viên hiểu d Sử dụng kết hợp khen chê nhận xét e Thường xuyên sử dụng trang thiết bị đại (máy tính, máy chiếu…) f Yêu cầu sinh viên làm việc theo nhóm theo cặp nhiều X g Lựa chọn chủ đề nói phù hợp với khả sở thích sinh viên h Nghiêm khắc với sinh viên i Tổ chức trò chơi hoạt động cho phép sinh viên học nói kết hợp với hành động j Tạo điều kiện cho sinh viên nghe nhạc xem phim có phụ đề để có thêm nhiều thơng tin cho hoạt động nói k u cầu sinh viên đọc sách báo nhiều để cải thiện kiến thức XI Appendix SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHER The purpose of designing this survey is to find out the factors that make students of Viet – Hung University de-motivated to speak English Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated Please be sure that the data collected are used in the research paper only and that you are not identified Thank you for your help Part - Background information: - Gender: Male Female - Age:…………………………………… - Years of teaching English: …………… Part - Main part: Question Please circle your choice Do you think English speaking is important to students? A Yes B No Question Please circle your choice Why is this skill important to your students? A To get good grades B To communicate with foreigners C To fulfill the requirements of the University D To get good job in the future E To be admired and respected by friends and teachers Question Please circle your choice Do you think that your students like learning to speak English? A Yes B No Question Please circle your choice Which of the following factors you think demotivate them in speaking English in class? The teacher XII a Teacher often interrupts students when they make mistakes, which makes them unconfident b Teacher does not allow the listeners to ask questions after each presentation c Teacher does not go around working with students frequently, so it is not convenient for them to ask for help when they have difficulties d Teacher often does not give clear enough explanation and instruction before each task, so students frequently not know what to e Teacher speaks fast, so students have difficulty understanding f Teacher’s language competence is not good g Teacher is so yielding that he or she can not maintain discipline in class h Teacher and students’ relationship is not good i Teachers are not enthusiastic enough j Teacher criticizes students when they say anything wrong Classroom a The classrooms are not equipped with modern teaching and learning facilities like projectors, computers… to assist students when speaking b The class is so large, so teacher can not pay equal attention to all students Students’ self-confidence a Students often feel embarrassed when making mistakes b Students seldom get good grades for speaking test Students’ language competence a When students listen to their classmates’ presentation, they don’t understand because of their bad listening ability b Students’ ability of speaking English is not good Students’ attitudes towards English a English is not their favorite L2 b English is not very important for my future career, so it is unworthy wasting so much time on learning it Teaching and learning materials XIII a The oral tasks, all of which are taken from the course book, are often so difficult and are not suitable with students’ ability b Most of the speaking topics are not of students’ interest Question Please tick in the column you choose To what degree you think these factors demotivate your students to speak in class? A Little B Not much C Much D Very much Your opinion Questions A a Teacher often interrupts students when they make mistakes, which makes them unconfident b Teacher does not allow the listeners to ask questions after each presentation c Teacher does not go around working with students frequently, so it is not convenient for them to ask for help when they have difficulties d Teacher does not often give clear enough The teacher explanation and instruction before each task, so students frequently not know what to e Teacher speaks fast, so students have difficulty understanding f Teacher’s language competence is not good g Teacher is so yielding that he/she can not maintain discipline in class h Teacher and students’ relationship is not good i Teacher is not enthusiastic enough XIV B C D j Teacher criticizes students when they say anything wrong a The class is not equipped with necessary Classroom facilities such as computers and projector b The class is so large, so teacher can not pay equal attention to all students Students’ selfconfidence a Students often feel embarrassed when making mistakes b Students seldom get good grades for speaking test a When students listen to their classmates’ Students’ language competence presentation, they don’t understand because of their bad listening ability b Students’ ability of speaking English is not good Students’ a English is not their favorite L2 attitudes b English is not very important for students’ future towards career, so it is unworthy wasting so much time on English learning it a The oral tasks are often so difficult and are not Teaching suitable with students’ ability and learning b Most of the speaking topics are not of students’ materials interest c The speaking tasks not help students much for their future job Question 6: Please circle your choice What can be done to reduce students’ demotivation? ……………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much! XV Appendix Questions for the teacher interview Interviewee's name: Age: Q1 How long have you taught English? Q2 Are your students good at speaking English? A Yes B No Q3 Do they like learning to speak English? A Yes B No Q4 Can you tell me some factors de-motivating them to participate in your speaking lessons? Q5 What have you done to encourage your students to participate in your speaking lessons? Q6 Do you think that your solutions are effective? A Yes B No XVI Appendix Questions for the teacher interview Interviewee's name: Age: Q1 How long have you taught English? Q2 How large is your class? Q3 Do you think that this number of students is suitable for a speaking class? A Yes B No Q4 Are your students good at speaking English? A Yes B No Q5 Do they like speaking English? A Yes B No Q6 Can you tell me some factors demotivating them to participate in your speaking lessons? Q7 What have you done to encourage your students to participate in your speaking lessons? Q8 Do you think that your solutions are effective? A Yes B No XVII ... to investigate Viet- Hung University students? ?? attitudes to learning English speaking skills + to explore the factors that demotivate students of Viet- Hung University to get involved in the English. .. aims at answering the following questions: What is students? ?? attitude toward learning to speak English in class? What factors demotivate students at Viet- Hung Industrial University to participate. .. However, in this study, the author only focuses on the factors that make students of Viet- Hung University uninterested in participating in English speaking lessons In addition, Viet- Hung Industrial University