The subjects of the study included 120 first year non-English major students and 8 teachers of English at HDC.
The target population of students consisted of 856 first year economics majors. The reason for the researcher’s option is that economics majors form the large majority (approximately 90%) of the first year students. They are using Market Leader – Elementary by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, Pearson 2004 as the main textbook. These students, aged from 18 to 22, were assigned in different classes according to their different majors. They have been learning English at both secondary and upper secondary school for 7 years. In order to save time, the researcher decided to randomly choose three classes to be the sample of the study. The classes selected were Accounting 1B, Accounting 1C and Finance & Banking 1A. Altogether, there were 125 students in these three classes.
Among 125 delivered questionnaire copies, the researcher received 120 responses.
Eight teachers who are currently teaching English for the first year non- English majors at HDC were selected to be the subjects of the second questionnaire.
Their age range is from 26 to 38. All of them were trained in English Language Methodology at College of Foreign Languages and they have been teaching English for at least three years. These teachers are believed to be dedicated and receptive in the teaching career.
2.2.2. Data collection instruments
Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed in order to reduce potential limitations of relying on a single approach and enhance confidence in the collected data as recommended by Nunan (1992). In this study, the quantitative data were collected from two questionnaires and were analyzed statistically. An interview was followed to deepen understanding and interpretation of the results.
2.2.2.1. Survey questionnaire
Questionnaire for the students
The first questionnaire adapted from Trang & Baldauf (2007), Demotivation:
Understanding Resistance to English Language Learning – The Case of Vietnamese Students, consists of 8 questions. The questionnaire was conducted in Vietnamese to ensure the reliability of the questionnaire for the respondents. The purpose of this questionnaire was to elicit:
(1) Students’ attitudes towards the learning of speaking skills (Questions 1 to 5) (2) Students’ opinions on demotivating factors in learning speaking English (Question 6)
(3) Students’ interest and expectations (Questions 7, 8)
The respondents must choose only one answer for questions 1 to 7 while they can choose more than one option for the last question.
Questionnaire for the teachers
The second questionnaire consisting of 5 questions was administered to 8 teachers of English with the aim to identify:
(1) Teachers’ perceptions of students’ attitudes towards the learning of speaking skills (Questions 1, 2)
(2) Teachers’ ideas about students’ demotivation in learning to speak English (Question 3)
(3) Teachers’ current teaching techniques and activities employed in speaking lessons (Question 4)
(4) Teachers’ opinions on factors motivating students in learning speaking English (Question 5)
For questions 1, 2 and 4, the respondents must choose only one answer while they can choose more than one option for two questions 3 and 5.
2.2.2.2. Interview with the students
Apart from two questionnaires, an interview was also conducted with a group of 10 students randomly selected from the three classes. The interview was structured with a list of 10 open-ended questions. These questions were based on the survey questionnaires in order to get a better understanding of the subject matter.
2.2.3. Data collection procedure
Data collection was conducted via the questionnaires for both the teachers and the students. First, the two sets of questionnaires – one for students and one for teachers - were developed on the criteria which are the most appropriate to the study. Then, these were administered to 125 students and 8 teachers of English at HDC after they had been told the purposes and guided how to complete the questionnaire carefully. In order to ensure that they would have enough time to give accurate information, the participants were asked to return the questionnaires a week later. There were totally 128 responses gathered, of which 120 came from the students and 8 came from the teachers.
Besides, ten students from those three classes were randomly chosen for the interview to yield more interesting points. Structured interviews of fifteen to twenty minutes were administered in Vietnamese with each participant in an informal atmosphere to minimize their anxiety. While asking a series of questions prepared beforehand, the researcher recorded the students’ answers by tape recordings. And note-taking was also applied to get more reliable information.
2.2.4. Data analysis procedure
Data gathered from the responses of the teachers and the students were sorted and analyzed to get the answers for the research questions. The quantitative data collected from the questionnaires were converted into percentages and illustrated in the form of charts and tables. As for student interviews, the recordings
were transcribed, translated into English, and presented by citing relevant responses.
After that, a descriptive and interpretive analysis was applied to synthesize those data.
2.3. Summary of the chapter
This chapter has identified the setting, participants, instruments, and procedure of the study. The next chapter will present the figures and data collected from survey questionnaires and student interviews, from which some initial conclusions about the questioned issues of the study start to take shape.