Demotivational factors among beginning efl teachers at the university of languages and international studies

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER DEMOTIVATIONAL FACTORS AMONG BEGINNING EFL TEACHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Thu Lệ Hằng Student: Trần Khánh Linh Course: QH2016.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2020 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NHỮNG YẾU TỐ LÀM GIẢM ĐỘNG LỰC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH CĨ THÂM NIÊN ÍT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ Giáo viên hướng dẫn: TS Nguyễn Thu Lệ Hằng Sinh viên: Trần Khánh Linh Khóa: QH2016.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2020 I hereby state that I, Tran Khanh Linh, from class 16E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (programme) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date: 10/06/2020 Acknowledgements Foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Nguyen Thu Le Hang, my research supervisor, for her patient guidance, heart-warming encouragement and valuable critiques during the course of this research work and my learning process in general Special thanks should be given to Le Huong Giang, my best friend, for her unwavering faith and relentless support for me, even in our darkest times My heartfelt thanks also go to the beginning teachers at FELTE who spend their time and efforts participating in my study, especially amid the Covid19 pandemic social distancing Finally, I wish to thank my parents for their support and encouragement throughout my study i Abstract High teacher turnover rate is a severe issue with detrimental consequences in many countries, including Vietnam, and especially among beginning teachers One of the common reasons for young teachers’ turnover is demotivation The present research explores the common and strong demotivational factors among EFL teachers who have less than three years of experience in the University of Languages and International Studies and how they manage to remotivate themselves This study adapts mixed method with online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with five participants The findings reveal eight common to very common demotivational factors including workload, stress, salary, students’ lack of interest students’ low English proficiency, lack of knowledge about methodology, physical infrastructure, and research quota The factors that have the strongest impacts on the teachers’ motivation include problems related to students, workload, curriculum, stress, teaching methodology and research quota There are two main kinds of remotivational solutions, which are action and mental solutions Regarding action solution, teachers deal with methodology-related factors by class observation and joining communities, while student-related factors are tackled by student’s feedback, student’s profiles and teacher’s self-adjustment Regarding stress-related factors, some suggested action plans that teachers would enjoy are participating in benevolent activities and having consultancy from colleagues The mental solutions including focusing on the positives, practicing meditation, ranting with a closed one, having a healthier lifestyle and temporary activities, are mostly effective for teachers dealing with stress from work or heavy workload It is suggested that further study collects data on a larger scope, with different tools and should focus on the effects of the factors and sub-factors found in the current study on the level of demotivation ii Table of contents Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Table of contents iii List of tables, figures, and abbreviations v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Research aims and research questions Scope of the study Contributions of the research CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Definition of key concepts 1.1 Motivation 1.2 Demotivation Review of related studies 2.1 Demotivational factors among teachers 2.2 Strategies for teacher motivation 11 2.3 Beginning teachers 12 Relevant theories and frameworks 12 3.1 Some motivation theories 12 3.2 Directed Motivational Currents (DMC) 13 Research gap 14 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 15 Research participants and sampling 15 Data collection procedure and methods 16 2.1 Data collection instruments 16 2.2 Data collection procedure 17 Data analysis procedure and methods 18 3.1 Data from survey analysis 18 3.2 Qualitative data analysis 18 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19 Research Question 1: 19 Research Sub- Question 1: 23 iii 2.1 Quantitative data 23 2.2 Qualitative Data 25 Research Question 2: 33 3.1 Action solutions 33 3.2 Mental solutions 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 46 Major findings 46 Implications 46 Limitations and suggestions for further research 47 References 49 Appendices I Appendix 1: Questionnaire I Appendix 2: Interview question IX iv List of tables, figures, and abbreviations Table 1: List of common to very common demotivational factors 39 Table 2: Uncommon demotivational factors 42 Chart 1: Level of popularity of demotivational factors 41 Chart 2: Impacts of factors on teacher’s motivation 44 EFL: English as a Foreign Language ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies FELTE: Faculty of English Language and Teacher Education DMC: Directed Motivational Currents v Han, T., & Mahzoun, Z (2018) Demotivating factors of EFL teachers: A case study of a private school in Turkey Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 12, 116–128 Hettiarachchi, S (2013) English language teacher motivation in Sri Lankan public schools Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 4(1), 1-11 Hofer, B., K (2006) Motivation in the college classroom 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Teachers and Teaching, 23(2), 127–140 doi: 10.1080/13540602.2016.12 55 Appendices Appendix 1: Questionnaire Demotivational factors among beginning EFL teachers in the FELTE, ULIS Start of Block: Year(s) of experience Q1 How many year(s) have you worked at FELTE? o Less than one year (1) o One year (2) o Two years (3) o Three years (4) o More than three years (5) End of Block: Year(s) of experience Start of Block: Common factors Q2 How common are these demotivational factors facing the beginning EFL teachers? Click hereto have detailed descriptions of the listed factors I Never experience (1) The attitude from the society (toward your profession) (1) Salary (2) Students’ parents intervention (3) Students’ lack of interest (4) Students’ low English proficiency (5) Students’ negative attitude (6) Curriculum implementation (7) Lack of quality teaching/ supporting materials (8) Lack of knowledge about methodology (9) Failure in methodology implementation (10) Lack of teacher autonomy (11) Insufficient self-efficacy (12) Administration systems (13) Workload (14) The relationship between colleagues and principal (15) Class-size (16) Physical infrastructure (17) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Uncommon Common (2) (3) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o II o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Very common (4) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Opportunities for professional development (18) Secondary traumatic stress (19) Stress (20) Research quota (21) Research fund (22) Other(s) (23) Other(s) (24) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o End of Block: Common factors Start of Block: Salient factors Carry Forward Selected Choices from "How common are these demotivational factors facing the beginning EFL teachers? Click here to have detailed descriptions of the listed factors" Q3 Please rate the effect that the very common demotivational factors have on teachers' motivation III None (1) The attitude from the society (toward your profession) (x1) Slight (2) Strong (3) o o o Students’ lack of interest (x4) o o o o o o o o o Students’ low English proficiency (x5) o o o Curriculum implementation (x7) o o o o o o Lack of quality teaching/ supporting materials (x8) o o o Lack of knowledge about methodology (x9) o o o Failure in methodology implementation (x10) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Salary (x2) Students’ parents intervention (x3) Students’ negative attitude (x6) Lack of teacher autonomy (x11) Insufficient selfefficacy (x12) Administration systems (x13) Workload (x14) The relationship between colleagues and principal (x15) IV Physical infrastructure (x17) o o o o o o Opportunities for professional development (x18) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Class-size (x16) Secondary traumatic stress (x19) Stress (x20) Research quota (x21) Research fund (x22) Other(s) (x23) Other(s) (x24) Carry Forward Selected Choices from "How common are these demotivational factors facing the beginning EFL teachers? Click here to have detailed descriptions of the listed factors" Q4 Please rate the effect that the common demotivational factors have on teachers' motivation V None (1) The attitude from the society (toward your profession) (x1) Slight (2) Strong (3) o o o Students’ lack of interest (x4) o o o o o o o o o Students’ low English proficiency (x5) o o o Curriculum implementation (x7) o o o o o o Lack of quality teaching/ supporting materials (x8) o o o Lack of knowledge about methodology (x9) o o o Failure in methodology implementation (x10) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Salary (x2) Students’ parents intervention (x3) Students’ negative attitude (x6) Lack of teacher autonomy (x11) Insufficient selfefficacy (x12) Administration systems (x13) Workload (x14) The relationship between colleagues and principal (x15) VI Physical infrastructure (x17) o o o o o o Opportunities for professional development (x18) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Class-size (x16) Secondary traumatic stress (x19) Stress (x20) Research quota (x21) Research fund (x22) Other(s) (x23) Other(s) (x24) End of Block: Salient factors Start of Block: Your action/ Your solution Q5 What have you done to mitigate the demotivational factors? (if you haven’t done anything, move to question 7) VII Q6 Was it effective/successful? If yes, to what extent? Please elaborate on this Q7 What are you planning to to mitigate the demotivational factors? End of Block: Your action/ Your solution VIII Appendix 2: Interview question Warm-up Do you remember any specific situation of _ that demotivated you or your colleagues? (based on their survey results to fill in the blank)  Yes: Event description + Feelings + Specific consequence  No: Is that a series of repeated events that demotivated you? + How many times did that happened before you realize it strongly demotivated you? + Feelings + Specific consequence Note: This form of question could be repeated as many as the number of strong demotivational factors of the participants’ survey result Main For participants who have done some action, continue to question 2, the others move to question For gaining motivation, you , right? (restate the survey result) Do you want to add anything? Could you describe your actions with more details? - When (at what period of your career and after how many times you encountered the demotivating events) - Does it take steps to accomplish or it is one shot at a time? -> Detailed description - How effective are your actions? Do you feel better/ more motivated? Did they improve the situation? - Have you ever take any temporary solutions to mitigate these factors (e.g physical activities, hobbies…)? Was it effective? For future actions, you , right? (restate the survey result) Do you want to add anything? Could you describe your actions with more details? - When you intend to start your plan? - Will you build a detailed plan for what you do? -> Detailed description - How effective you expect the actions to be? - Have you ever think of taking any temporary solutions? Is there any demotivational factors remain unsolved? (when the participants don’t even have a future action plan) - Why? - Is there anything that the other parties could the mitigate the problems? (schools? Administrative systems? Students? Colleagues? etc.) Reflect on the solutions: - What are your favorite solutions? / What solutions you find the most effective? - What are the advantages/ downsides of the solutions? Would you recommend these to another beginning teacher? Wrap- up Do you want to add anything? Thank you for your participation IX ... research on the demotivational factors among beginning EFL teachers at ULIS and what they could to alleviate the problems Therefore, the main research hypothesis is: Beginning EFL teachers in... identified as one of the demotivational factors among EFL teachers The concept of teacher autonomy briefly refers to the authority and freedom of teachers in the planning and implementation of the instructional... understanding of some motivation theories might provide us with the theoretical justifications for the motivational and demotivational factors later in the discussion There are numerous theories of