(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) Co-relationship between teacher-related factors and student''s motivation in the context of Lomonoxop school, Hanoi

1.3 Scope and objectives of the study The study focus on working out the relationship between teacher factors and student’s motivation so as to help teachers in Lomonoxop school in gene

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

(Minor Programme Thesis)

Field: English Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi, September 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

(Minor Programme Thesis)

Field: English Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: Van Thi Thanh Binh, M.A

Hanoi, September 2010

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

1 Table1: Distribution of teacher’s level of motivation and commitment on student’s motivation

2 Table 2: Distribution of teacher behavior on student’s motivation

3 Table 3: Distribution of teaching method on student’s motivation

4 Table 4 : Distribution of teacher’s diversity on student’s motivation

5 Table 5: Distribution of teacher’s tests on student’s motivation

6 Table 6: Distribution of teacher’s feedback on student’s motivation

7 Table 7: Distribution of classroom rules on student’s motivation

8 Table 8: Degrees of influence that personal characteristics of teachers have on student’s motivation

9 Table 9: Degrees of influence that classroom management factors have on student’s motivation

10 Chart 1: How students like to learn with teacher’s competence

11 Chart 2: How students like to learn with teacher’s empathy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of tables and figures iv

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rational 1

1.2 Method of the study 2

1.3 Scope and objectives of the study 2

1.4 The research questions 2

1.5 Design of the study 2

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Definition of terminology 4

1.1.1 Motivation 4

1.1.2 Demotivation 5

1.2 The role of motivation in foreign language learning 6

1.3 Student’s perception of motivating/ demotivating factors 8

1.3.1 Motivating factors 8

1.3.1.1 Parental influences 8

1.3.1.2 Teachers 8

1.3.1.3 Learner group 9

1.3.1.4 School 9

1.3.2 Demotivating factors 10

1.3.2.1 Demotivating factors identified by Dörnyei 10

1.3.2.2 Demotivating factors identified by Oxford 12

1.4 Teachers as motivating/ demotivating factors 13

1.5 Characteristics of young learners 16

1.5.1 Twelve year old young learners 16

1.5.2 Young learners in Lomonoxop schoo 17

1.6 Summary 17

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 18

2.1 The context 18

2.2 The informants 19

2.3 Methods of data collection 19

2.4 The survey questionnaire 19

2.5 Summary 20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Personal characteristics of teachers 21

3.1.1 Level of motivation and commitment 21

3.1.2 Teacher competence 23

3.1.3 Teacher empathy 24

3.2 Classroom management factors 25

3.2.1 Teacher behavior 25

3.2.2 Teaching method 27

3.2.3 Classroom rules 31

3.3 Major findings and discussions 33

3.3.1 On personal characteristics of teachers 33

3.3.2 On classroom management factors 34

PART 1: CONCLUSIONS 38

1 Summary 38

2 Implication for teaching 38

3 Limitations of the study 40

4 Suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES 41 APPENDIXES I

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

“In an ideal world, all learners are eager to learn because they are driven by their inborn curiosity to explore the world, and the learning experience therefore is a constant source of intrinsic pleasure for them Reality, however, rarely lives up to these ideals.” (Dörnyei, 2001b: 123)

“One who teaches students must understand what motivates his/her students” (Andrews, Houston, & Bryant, 1981)

During the course of my studies for my Masters degree, I have found myself increasingly interested in the psychological basis of language acquisition, and attempts to link the psychological with the linguistic in the second/foreign language learning field As an English teacher working in the Vietnamese secondary and high school, teaching young learners of grade 6, one of my greatest challenges is accommodating the needs of demotivated students and find ways to motivate them in learning In my opinion, there are many things that motivate students to learn such as teachers, parents, friends, learning environment, etc From the experience of being a teacher for five years, I have a feeling that teachers play the most important role in shaping motivation in students Moreover, as a young teacher, I have been making efforts to make students love their learning more and more It is a fact that my efforts

to adapt my teaching to my students have been an ongoing process of experimentation and change Much of this has been guided by the remarks from my colleagues in the English group

at my school and by my student’s different ideas about their teachers Many of their comments and most of my student’s ideas have revolved around how teachers motivate their students to learn According to my colleagues, I need to pay more attention to manage the class, organize the board, speak suitable amount of English in class and choose suitable methodology in teaching Besides, my students also gives me a lot of ideas on how they like their teachers to

be One way in which I feel I have had some success with this issue is by increasing my awareness of, and openness to, student’s opinions about learning English in general and my lessons in particular It is thus professional concern, as well as personal curiosity that has motivated my choice of dissertation topic

1.2 Method of the study

In this research, I employed quantitative methods to analyze the data collected and draw on conclusions and remarks

In order to achieve the purpose of the study, one questionnaire to survey the relationship between teacher factors and student’s motivation was developed and administered Besides, the teacher also conducted informal chats with the students so as to see their views and opinions about the teacher factors that affect their English learning

1.3 Scope and objectives of the study

The study focus on working out the relationship between teacher factors and student’s motivation so as to help teachers in Lomonoxop school in general and myself in particular improve our teaching and better fit the need of the student Pedagogical implications for teaching and limitations of the study were given at the end of the paper

1.4 The research questions

The study was intended to answer the following questions:

What are teacher –related factors that motivate the young learners in Lomonoxop private school, Ha Noi to learn English?

1.5 Design of the study

The study is divided into 3 main parts

Part one is an introduction to the research, where matters such as rationale, methods of study, scope and objectives of the study and the research questions are discussed Part 2 development in cludes three chapters Chapter 1 is an attempt to review the theoretical

background in the light of which the research matters will be discussed Chapter 2 discusses the context of study, data collection methods Chapter 3 analyses the data collected to answer specifically the research questions set forth for the study In Part three Conclusion, findings and discussions as well as a summary of the study are given and some implications for teaching are suggested Suggestions for further study are also provided in this part

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of terminology

1.1.1 What is motivation?

Motivation is central to human activity Anything that drives human beings to act is related to motivation In such fields as economy and law, motivation is defined as internal drives for human behavior These drives in turn originate from needs, but not all needs are drives Only those which are recognized to be realizable in certain circumstances become the motivation to act Because motivation is related to needs, it is internal to human beings

In a larger sense, motivation is related to satisfaction of needs and desire, whether it be internal or external to the person According to Webster’s dictionary (1913), to motivate means to provide with a motive, need or desire that causes a person to act Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary equates “to motivate” with “to be the reason for somebody’s action, to cause someone to want to do something” Theoretically, any conscious action can be explained in view of motivation Broadly speaking, motivation is divided into two types: Intrisic and extrinsic A student learning English because he/ she knows he/ she will be more successful in future career is clarified as an intrinsically motivated student On the other hand, there are extrinsically motivated students who tolerate for the final test

Gardner’s (1985) view of motivation arises from his socio- educational model He states that motivation is concerned with the question “Why does an organism behave as it does” and involves 4 aspects:

1 A goal

2 An effort

3 A desire to attain the goal

4 Favorable attitude toward the activity in question

Motivation then refers to the combination of desire and effort made to achieve a goal

It is considered in the relationship between the individual’s rationale for any activity with range of behaviors and degree of effort made to achieve the goals

It is also worth noting that motivation has close relationship with other affective factors such as self confidence, anxiety and perceived competence All these together work to undermine achievement In section 2.2 of this chapter, we will take a closer look at the role of motivation in foreign language learning

1.1.2 What is demotivation

Traditionally, motivation has been understood and studied as a multifaceted construct consisting of various influences with a positive effect Motivational factors or motives have been considered as kind of inducements with the effect of energizing ongoing action (Dörnyei 2001) However, there is another aspect to motivation that has been left with little attention Just as there are influences that have a positive effect on motivation, there are also those that have a detrimental effect on motivation These influences are called demotivating influences The notion of demotivation is relatively new and has not been fully adopted yet in the field of the second/foreign language learning research However, Dörnyei (2001) has attempted to provide a definition for it Accordingly, demotivation ”concerns specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action” (Dörnyei 2001:143) Thus, demotivation could be regarded as the negative counterpart of motivation Similarly, demotives could be regarded as the negative counterparts of motives Furthermore, a demotivated learner is someone who has lost his or hers interest for some reason The loss of interest can derive from various sources of demotivation For instance, a teacher who cannot control the class or a boring textbook can act as a demotive for a learner However, the notion of demotivation cannot be related to every reluctant learner Dörnyei (2001) has distinguished at least three negative factors that cannot be referred to as demotives Firstly, there are powerful distractions, e.g watching television instead of doing one’s homework These cannot be regarded as demotives because they do not carry negative value Hence, instead of reducing motivation they distract a learner by presenting a more attractive alternative Secondly, gradual loss of interest cannot be regarded as a demotive because demotives are specific factors or incidents that reduce motivation on a single event Thirdly, there are circumstances when a learner recognizes the inconvenience or high costs of pursuing the goal This means, for example, that a learner realizes that classes take place too late in the

evening or that the studying is too time-consuming The reason why this cannot be referred to

as demotivation is that it involves internal processes of deliberation and no external inducements are present The situation would be different if someone else convinced the learner that the costs for pursuing the goal are too high Then, this other person could be regarded as an external factor demotivating the learner

1.2 The role of motivation in foreign language learning

In 1960, Jerome Bruner, a cognitive psychologist, posed a challenge to educators to identify the “optimum conditions” for learning to take place This has generated some of the most exciting developments in both education and psychology over the following decades Later research found out that if such optimum condition were to exist, it was impossible to be

in the absence of the learner’s affective factors, central to which is motivation (Gardner and Lambert, 1972; (Dörnyei,1994)

Meaningful involvement in language learning happens only when learners find their needs to be met Thus it is assumed that motivation is one of the major factors contributing to one’s success in learning a second or foreign language Oxford and Shearin(1994) state that:

“Many researchers consider motivation as one of the main elements that determine success in developing a second or foreign language; it determines the extent of active, personal involvement in language learning.”

Spolky (1997) presents a model of language learning which involves 4 factors According to her, linguistic outcome k is the summary of Kp (Knowledge and skills at the moment), A (a symbol to present various components of ability including physiological, biological, intellectual and cognitive skills), M (a symbol to include various affective factors such as personality, attitude, motivation and anxiety), and O (opportunity for learning a language) Symply stated, future knowledge and skills K= Kp+A+M+O, but if any one part is absent, there can be no learning On the other hand, the greater any one is, the greater amount

of learning, it does represent key components that can contribute to success Unlike factors such as Kp and A, which are hard to be changed, motivation is both social and personal and possesses potential for achievement improvement

Language learning is remarkably different from other kinds of learning because of its social nature The learnt language becomes part of one’s identity Through learning a language, one is contacting and assimilating himself into a new world of knowledge, culture and values As assimilation and internalization in learning takes place, one is changing, too Williams and Burden (1996:115) state that:

“The learning of a foreign language involves far more than simply learning skills, or a system of rules, or a grammar, it involves an alteration in self image, the adoption of new social and cultural behaviors and ways of being, and therefore has a significant impact on the social nature of the learner.”

Because learning a second language is ultimately learning to be another social person (Crookall and Oxford, 1888:136), this process is often long and difficult In order to be successful, language learner needs motivation to continue his/her learning This is especially true in English as a foreign language context like Vietnam where many students after several years learning English at school fail to communicate properly in simple situations

Another role of motivation is to promote the choice of strategies among students learning a second or foreign language Research has shown that the use of specific learning strategies and techniques while studying a second or foreign language leads to success “The conscious, tailored use of such strategies is related to language achievement and proficiency” (Oxford,1994) Strategies are the tools for active, self-directed involvement needed for developing the second/foreign language learning communicative ability She further states that:

“More motivated students tend to use more strategies than less motivated students, hence, they tend to be more successful.”

Researchers also study ways to promote learning, helping learners become more effective, independent learners Some of these ways are teaching learners how to learn, boosting their confidence and motivation, enhancing self esteem and organizing an appropriate learning environment Background to these studies is learner difference and human multiple intelligences As long as a learner realizes his/her potentials and makes use of them in learning He or she will be more interested in learning activity

1.3 Student’s perception of motivating/ demotivating factors

1.3.1 Motivating factors

The study of student motivation is a particularly fertile ground for analyzing social motivation, because for average school pupils, “school” represents primarily a social arena and not the scene of academic work They are there because they have to be there rather than because they want to perform tasks, and they are often more interested in issues such as love, personal image or social standing than the mastery of school subjects Students motivation therefore lends itself to analysis from multiple perspectives with a strong social emphasis and this social reliance was well demonstrated in one of the largest-scale empirical research projects on the socio cultural component of student motivation to date, conducted by McInerney and his colleges involving over 2,800 participants in five different cultural groups The researchers administered a detailed questionnaire, and by using a variety of statistical procedures they distilled a final set of ten motivational factors representing a very good fit Among them emerge the four most important factors in the learning environment: the student’s parents, teachers, peer group and school

1.3.1.1 Parental influences

Educational psychologists have long recognized that various family characteristics and practices are linked with school achievement, and one of the central mediators between family and school is generally thought to be motivation (Gottfried et al., 1994) As Eccles et al (1998) summarize, four parenting factors have been traditionally identified as significantly shaping student motivation:

• developmentally appropriate timing of achievement demands/ pressure

• high confidence in one’s children’s abilities

• a supportive family climate

• highly motivated role models

1.3.1.2 Teachers

The motivational influence of the teachers is manifold, ranging from the effects of their personality and competence to their active socializing practices Indeed, Clark and Trafford (1995) found that teachers and students both regard the teacher-pupil relationship as the most

significant variable affecting pupils’ attitudes towards the second/foreign language learning learning In their position of group leaders, teachers are also largely responsible for the development of group characteristics in the class, which in turn affect student motivation

1.3.1.3 Learner group

In a classroom investigation, Clement et al.(1994) found that perceived group cohesiveness substantially contributed to learners’ overall motivation construct and correlated significantly with various language criterion measures Further support for the influence of group characteristics on the learners’ motivational basis was provided by:

• Hotho-jackson (1995), who examined the role of the group context in the learners’tendency to give up their language s studies

• Dörnyei (1997), who analyzed the motivational basis of cooperative learning and Julkunen (1989), who obtained empirical confirmation about the superiority of cooperative language learning over competitive or individualistic goal structures

• Dörnyei and Kormos (2000), who identified a positive relationship between the second/foreign language learning learners’ willingness to engage in communicative tasks and the speakers’ social status and the quality of social relationship between the speaker and the interlocutor

1.3.1.4 School

There has been a recent recognition that there is an additional psychological environmental level between the learner in a class group and the school as a whole Maher and Midgley (1991) have argued that schools vary in their general climate and policies such as school level authority and management structures, the teacher’s sense of efficacy, grouping practices, evaluation practices…This variation influences the motivation of both teachers and students in a fundamental way Pintrich and Schunk(1996:370) talked about school motivation as followed “A focus on schools as the unit of analysis has not been adopted by many psychologists interested in motivation, but there are a few exceptions Psychologists, given their disciplinary traditions, have tended to focus on individuals and have been concerned with how individual’s motivational beliefs, perceptions, needs, goals and so on can

influence motivation and behavior…At the same time, many of the psychological ideas regarding individual motivation are relevant to a school-level analysis Nevertheless a move to

a discussion of school influences involves a shift from a more psychological perspective to a more sociological and cultural perspective”

1.3.2 Demotivating factors

1.3.2.1 Demotivating factors identified by Dörnyei

Dörnyei (originally 1998b but based on 2001) conducted a study on demotivation, aiming to find out the variety of demotivating factors The study was prompted to a great extent by the concluding findings of Chambers (1993) and Oxford (1998), who both emphasized the importance of communication and cooperation with the students with respect

to (de)motivational matters Hence, Dörnyei’s (originally 1998b but based on 2001) study of demotivation was conducted in close cooperation with his students, who were participants of

an MA course on ’Demotivation in Second Language Learning’ Dörnyei’s study differed from those by Chambers (1993), Oxford (1998) and Ushioda (1996a) in that it focused specifically on learners who had been identified as being demotivated, whereas the three previous studies reported so far had been carried out by taking a cross-section of students and asking them about not so good learning experiences Dörnyei’s (originally 1998b but based on 2001) study was qualitative The subjects were 50 secondary school pupils in various schools

in Budapest They were studying either English or German as a foreign language and had been identified as being particularly demotivated by their teachers or peers The data were collected

by structured interviews that ranged from 10 to 30 minutes A list of core questions was used

in the interviews: the subjects were asked to answer these questions at some point during the interview but no rigid structure was set and the subjects were allowed to speak freely The recorded interviews were analyzed in three steps to find out the variety of demotivating factors First, all the salient demotivating topics mentioned by the students were marked and common themes established Then, the most important demotivating factors were identified for each student After the primary factors had been identified, they were tabulated according

to the main categories established earlier Only primary demotivating factors were included in the tabulation because it was assumed that some of the other factors mentioned were only

English as a foreign language actions of already existing demotivation caused by the primary factors This was based on the assumption that once a student had lost interest in learning the the second/foreign language learning, everything related to it felt slightly negative Nine categories emerged from the data The teacher was the most frequent source of demotivation The demotivating aspects about the teacher were related to his or her personality, commitment

to teaching and attention paid to students In addition, his or her competence, teaching methods, style and rapport with students were considered demotivating It was reported, among other things, that the teacher shouted all the time and that he or she always concentrated on his or her favorite students Furthermore, the teacher did not show up in the classes whenever ”it was raining or cold or windy, or if the roads were icy” (Dörnyei 2001:152) Also, the teacher had expressed lack of commitment by letting students know in the very first class that he or she would not be putting much effort into lessons because there was “no point in learning English for just two lessons a week” (Dörnyei 2001:152) Reduced self-confidence was the second frequent source of demotivation On one hand, reduced self-confidence derived from experience of failure or lack of success On the other hand, reduced self-confidence was also indirectly related to the teacher, meaning that reduced self-confidence was partly due to some classroom events that were within the teacher’s control, e.g marking For instance, one student reported that he or she received only average grades in English despite the hard effort and this had reduced his or her confidence He or she also felt that it was impossible for him or her to get better grades because the teacher had ”picked on” (Dörnyei 2001:152) him or her Inadequate school facilities was as frequent as the second category, reduced self-confidence Inadequate school facilities meant the group being too big

or not beingon the right level, or teachers changing too frequently It was reported that what had supposed to be a beginners’ group had turned out to include students who already knew English and this had placed the beginners in a disadvantaged position Another thing reported was that in ten years there had been 11 different teachers who all had “tried out new methods, demanded different things and considered different thingsimportant” (Dörnyei 2001:152) Negative attitude towards the the second/foreign language learning was the fourth source of demotivation For example, German language was considered incomprehensible because of its

structure, grammar and the way it sounds The compulsory nature of the the second/foreign language learning study was the fifth source of demotivation This meant, for instance, feeling compelled to choose German over another language because of its utility Interference of another foreign language being studied came sixth This could be seen in mixing up the two languages It was mentioned that German and English are so similar that they get mixed up easily Secondly, it was reported that learning the the second/foreign language learning interfered with another language studied Hence, the the second/foreign language learning was seen as a threat to the mastery of this other language, which was considered easier and more useful in any case

Negative attitude towards the the second/foreign language learningcommunity was the seventh source of demotivation For instance, American culture with its best known aspects, such as McDonalds and films, was considered unattractive by some students Attitudes of group members came eight For one student this meant always feeling embarrassed because he or she felt that the other group members laughed at him or her because of his or her poor English skills

The course book was the ninth source of demotivation It was simply disliked and described in such words as “the worst course book in the world” and “incredibly bad”(Dörnyei 2001:153) The teacher was the most frequent demotivating factor with the frequency of 40% of all the factors The teacher could be considered even more predominant when the other teacher-related category, reduced self-confidence, was taken into account Together these two categories made up more than half of all demotivating factors Two other factors with significant proportions (more than 10%) were inadequate school facilities and negative attitude towards the the second/foreign language learning

1.3.2.2 Demotivating factors identified by Oxford

Oxford (1998, as quoted in Dörnyei 2001) conducted a qualitative study on demotivation, which focused on a teacher’s influence on (de)motivation The data were collected by essays Approximately 250 students, both in high schools and universities, were asked to write about their experiences over a period of five years The students were given a few prompts, such as, ’Describe a situation in which you experienced a conflict with a teacher’

and ’Talk about a classroom in which you felt uncomfortable’ The data were analyzed by conducting content analysis Four broad themes emerged from the data The teacher’s personal relationship with the students was the first theme and it included issues such as, the teacher showing lack of caring and general belligerence Furthermore, the teacher was criticized for being hypercritical and for patronizing or favoring a student The teacher’s attitude towards the course or material was the second theme and it referred to his or her lack of enthusiasm, sloppy management and close-mindedness Style conflicts between teachers and students was the third theme This theme included issues such as, multiple style conflicts and conflicts about the amount of structure and or detail Also, there were conflicts about the degree of closure or seriousness of the class The nature of classroom activities was the fourth theme It included aspects such as, irrelevance overload and repetitiveness

1.4 Teachers as motivating/ demotivating factors

The teacher’s role in shaping student motivation is rather complex This is so because teachers also act as key figures or authorities, who affect the motivational quality of the learning process by providing mentoring, guidance, nurturance, support and limit setting The focus in research on the motivational impact of teachers has traditionally been on trying to distil the unique characteristics or traits that distinguished successful practitioners from unsuccessful ones These “trait approaches” have by and large proved inconclusive because motivational effectiveness appears to be determined by an interplay of several broad factors, whose various combinations can be equally effective However, one thing with which everybody would agree is that teachers are powerful motivational socialisers Being the officially designated leaders within the classroom, they embody group conscience, symbolize the group’s unity and identity and serve as a model or a reference They also function as an

“emotional amplifier of the group whose appeals and example are critical for mobilizing the group” (Jesuino,1996:115) Simply speaking, to lead means to direct and energize, that is, to motivate

A useful way of organizing the multiple influences teachers have on motivation is by separating four interrelated dimensions:

1 The personal characteristics of teachers such as level of motivation, commitment,

warmth, empathy, trustworthiness, competence, teacher expectations, etc., determining the rapport between teachers and students and largely responsible for affiliative motive, which refers to student’s need to do well in school in order to please the teacher or other superordinate figures (Ausubel et al., 1978) Dörnyei (1992) said that teacher expectation factor has been shown to affect student’s rate of progress, functioning to some extent as a self-fulfilling prophecy, with students living up or down to their teacher’s expectation Moreover, he also emphasized the importance of teacher enthusiasm to learner enthusiasm in learning Csikszentmihalyi (1997) points out that the influential teachers- those who are remembered and who make a real difference in their student’s development are not the ones who have most status and power, and they may not even be the most intelligent or knowledgeable instructors a student has Instead they are usually the ones who love what they are doing, who show by their dedication and their passion that there is nothing else on earth they would rather be doing Effective teachers are not necessarily the ones who are successful

in the business of transferring cognitive information Instead, the positive impact of good teachers is due to the strength of their commitment towards the subject matter which becomes

“infectious”, that is, instills in students similar willingness to pursue knowledge

2 Teacher immediacy, which is one aspect of teacher’s classroom behavior that has

been found by instructional communication researchers to have a considerable effect on student motivation Teacher immediacy behaviors accounted for 34% of the overall motivators listed (Gorham & Christophel, 1992) Immediacy refers to the perceived physical and psychological closeness between people, and cumulative results from several studies indicate that teacher’sverbal and nonverbal immediacy behaviors that reduce the distance between teacher and students (e.g addressing students by name, using humor, moving around in class, including personal topics and examples) may impact levels of learning by modifying classroom motivation

3 Active motivational socializing behavior, accounted for 44% of the overall

motivators (Gorham & Christophel, 1992), by which teachers can exert a direct and systematic

motivational influence by means of actively socializing the learners’motivation through appropriate

• modeling (setting an example both in terms of effort expenditure and orientations of interest in the subject)

• task presentations (calling student’s attention to the purpose of the activity they are going to do, its interest potential and practical value and the strategies that may be useful in achieving the task, thus raising student’s interest in the subject)

• feedback/reward system (which communicates a clear message about their priorities, value preferences and attributional belief)

Through these channels, teachers communicate their beliefs, expectations and attitudes, thereby pressing their adopt similar belief, attitudes, expectations and associated behaviors

4 Classroom management: Teachers are in almost total control of the running of the

classroom, including setting and enforcing rules, establishing procedures and organizing grouping activities These in turn greatly influence the student’s motivation and therefore, the teacher’s classroom management practices constitute a fourth central motivational domain It requires little justification that smoothly running and efficient classroom procedures enhance the learners’ general well being and sense of achievement and thus promote student motivation It was found over 60 years ago in Lewin et al.’s (1939) classic study on leadership styles that a lack of order generates a great deal of stress and undermines student achievement Two aspects of the managerial role are particular important:

• Setting and maintaining group norms Through their position as designated leaders, techers have a special responsibility in setting up and maintaining these rules If the teacher does not pay enough attention to enforcement of the established norms, learners immediately receive a clear message that those rules are not really important, which will result in the rules rapidly being discounted and disobeyed

• The teacher’s type of authority Providing order in itself may not be sufficient to generate motivation because student motivation is also a function of the teacher’s authority type, that is, whether the teacher is autonomy supporting or controlling Sharing responsibility

with students, offering them options and choices, letting them in the decision making process enhance student self- determination and intrinsic motivation (Deci et al., 1991)

1.5 Characteristics of young learners

1.5.1 Twelve year old young learners For the successful teaching of

For the successful of teaching English in secondary school, above all, it is essential for

the teacher to understand the young learners’ characteristics because this will play a crucial

role in how the teacher builds a lesson, how he or she can make sure that the young learners

are fully involved in the learning process and how they respond The term “ a young learner”

covers a wide age range, this can be anybody from the age of three to the age of eighteen

In the study, the focus is on learners of age 12 Therefore, I would like to point out some characteristics of this age

Halliwell states that:

 They are happy when they can play

 They love to share their experiences, they love when people pay attention to them and their talking

 They are able to talk about what they are doing

 They use imagination a lot

 They can think, argue, discuss and they are able to interact with both children and adults They are able to concentrate for certain time

 They understand situations and through situations – they use several senses

 They are able to use language skills not even realizing them

 They do not realize what is fact and what is fiction sometimes

 They want to learn and are happy when they learn something, then they have to share it with somebody and they are proud that they learnt something, they can show off a little bit

 Often they “teach” each other

 They love to be praised for what they have done and learnt, this is very important fact

to keep their motivation

 Very often they pretend they understand everything and they know everything

 Young children are already very good at interpreting meaning without necessarily understanding the individual words already have great skill in using limited language creatively

 Frequently learn indirectly rather than directly

 Take great pleasure in creating fun in what they do

 Their imagination is ready

 “Above all take great delight in talking” (Halliwell, 1992, p 3)

1.5.2 Young learners in Lomonoxop school

My observations are the same as Halliwell for twelve year old young learners at Lomonoxop school However, there are some more characteristics of them that I want to add from my observation as a teacher teaching here and the comments of my colleagues

First of all, young learners in Lomonoxop school were born in the year of the Tiger,

1998 They are claimed by many teachers to be naughty students It is also observed by many teachers that the morality of many students is becoming worse Students seem to have many things to concern beside learning As they come from rich families, they bring with them to school such things as expensive mobile phones or CD players… and spend much time talking about those Many students seem not to pay much attention during lessons but talk to friends instead For subjects in general and English in particular, they are lazy about doing homework and revising their lessons at school Generally speaking, the majority of them are bad at English

1.6 Summary

In this chapter, the definition of motivation and demotivation as well as the role of motivation in foreign language learning have been reviewed Also, student’s perception of motivating/ demotivating factors have been presented Characteristics of young learners in general and those of young learners in Lomonoxop school are discussed in detail

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

This chapter discusses the contextual conditions that determine the study of motivation It is started by describing the situation where the study was conducted and the informants involved in the study Method of data collection is also discussed in details

2.1 The context

Social conditions can determine learning to a large extent According to de Lopez (1994), there are two levels of social environment contributing to the learning of a language The first level is the society as a whole in which the learner lives and works At this macro level, common social values, language opportunity and language tendency are determined Each individual often has little or no control over it The second level is called individual social environment It is related to conditions set by the learning groups and the significant others (teachers, peers, parents…) These two levels will be looked at to define the context of the study

At the society level, English has an overwhelming position as a foreign language in Vietnam International integration and cooperation have let the government to have policies to encourage the use of English such as compulsory English lessons at secondary and tertiary schools There have been several marked improvements such as changes in the curriculum, teaching methods and applications of technology in planning lessons with a view to making lessons more interesting to students

At individual social environment, students in Lomonoxop private school take English

as a compulsory subjects like other ones in a secondary and high school Beside the general textbook that students learn in the morning, they practice more in the afternoon following the advanced program designed by their own teachers with all 4 macro skills However, it is observed that students are not fully and actively involved in the learning process Furthermore, they show more eagerness to the lessons of a certain teacher than of other teachers Therefore, there exists a problem of the role of a teacher and what factors about a teacher motivate

students more than those of other teachers It needs making clear what teacher related factors motivate students to learn in Lomonoxop private school

2.2 The informants

In this study there is one sample of informants: informants for the questionnaire survey (n=140) They are students from grade 6 Most students are 12 years of age They mainly come from Ha Noi, just a few of them come from other provinces Most students have learnt English in primary schools in Vietnam Very few of them come back to Vietnam from English speaking countries like England, Australia and America Their average English study experience is 3-4 years However, as stated in 2.5, they are naughty students and lazy about learning They have low level of English

As a whole, these informants have studied English as a school requirement for two semesters At the time of the study, they are going to take the second term test As discipline was reinforced in the school, class attendance was high and students generally took learning seriously

The researcher is a teacher teaching in 2 per 7 classes

2.3 Method of data collection

The data collection method applied in this study was aimed at collecting quantitative data

to make use of analytical paradigms in applied linguistic (Nunan 1992) The quantitative data were collected from one questionnaire and were analyzed statistically The procedure of data collection was as followed:

- Formal chats with students were carried from the beginning of the second semester

- A questionnaire was given at the end of the second semester to collect student’s ideas

2.4 The survey questionnaire

Questionnaire items were developed on the basis of teacher related motivating/demotivating factors in the literature, the characteristics of a good teacher listed by Breach (2004), and the results of my informal chats with the students All these items cover 2 following sub-themes

1 Personal characteristics of teachers

2 Classroom management factors

The questionnaire took 35 to 40 minutes of class time To make sure of exact understanding on the part of the informants, the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese The researcher explained the items carefully while encouraging the respondents to answer faithfully to themselves

As the questionnaires were handed in, answers were tallied and presented in the percentage tables and charts Although there are usually 5 points for each attitudinal question, the first and the last two points were combined to make one scale for analysis This way is acceptable in that it does not affect study result, and is widely used in other studies (Do Huy Thinh, 1996; Kobayashi, 2002)

2.5 Summary

In this chapter, the setting of the study has been described The choice of research methods as well as the rationale of employing such methods was also discussed The chapter ended with a brief description of the survey questionnaire

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the data collected from the survey questionnaire will be analyzed to figure out the teacher factors that motivate the young learners

3.1 Personal characteristics of teachers

Personal characteristics of teachers are measured with the three components of level

of motivation and commitment, competence and teacher expectation and empathy

3.1.1 Level of motivation and commitment

Teacher’s level of motivation and commitment is measured in such aspects as his or her carefulness in lesson preparing, enthusiasm for teaching, love for students, thorough explanation of language matters to students, willingness to answer student’s questions and quickness in marking and returning student’s work after testing or collecting

As for teacher’s carefulness in lesson preparing, 86% of the informants asked strongly agreed and agreed that they feel motivated to learn if the teacher prepares lessons carefully with illustrating pictures, handouts, games or electronic lessons Only 14 % showed no concern on this matter It is clear that teacher’s investment in the lessons can motivate students extensively in their learning

Teacher’s enthusiasm and his/her love for students also appear to have good effect on student’s motivation to learn Among 140 students asked, 105 of them (82%) said that they like to learn with teachers who teach them with enthusiasm and who never show tiredness with teaching and with students.17 of them (12.% of the sample) said that they are not motivated to learn whether teachers show their enthusiasm in teaching and love for students

or not Another 6% (8 students) had no concern on the matter It can be seen clearly that the majority of students find themselves motivated to learn if the teacher loves his or her teaching and the students he/ she is teaching

Another aspect explored under level of motivation and commitment is teacher’s thorough explanation of language matters to students Once more, 86% of the students asked strongly agreed and agreed that they like to learn with a teacher who explained language matters thoroughly to them Only 7% showed a neutral attitude and 7% disagreed

The last two aspects under level of motivation and commitment of teachers are teacher’s willingness to answer student’s questions and teacher’s quickness in marking and returning student’s work after testing or collecting For these two aspects, the former received 95% of strong agreement or agreement and the latter received 87% of strong agreement or agreement 13% showed neutral attitude towards teacher’s willingness to answer student’s questions and 7% had neutral attitude towards teacher’s quickness in working and returning student’s work

You like to learn with teachers who

Strongly agree or agree

Strongly disagree or disagree

Neutral Total

1 always prepare lessons carefully with

pictures, handouts, games…

3 never show tiredness with lessons and

5 are willing to answer your questions

during learning process

6 always mark and return quickly

student’s work after colleting

3.1.2 Teacher’s competence

Questions from 7 to 10 were designed to see how teacher competence and expectation affect student’s motivation in learning English Teacher competence is measured by the competence in English , competence in general knowledge and competence in conveying knowledge to students

is also one of the factors that the majority of the students cite 89% of them stated that if teachers can explain language matters in an easy to understand way, especially complicated ones, students are more motivated to learn

As Dörnyei states in his book, “Teaching and Researching Motivation”, teacher expectation has a direct impact on student’s motivation and therefore on their achievement at school The 10th question was designed to find out how teacher expectation affects student’s

A Teacher’s clear and understandable Engish

B Teacher’s good knowledge of English and other fields

C Teacher’s ability to make complicated matters more simple

;;motivation to learn This question covers two aspects The first is teacher’s knowing the levels of their students and the second is their knowing how to set up and develop suitable materials (as well as suitable learning methods for their students) The result was not to the researcher’s surprise 86% of the students like to learn with teachers who master both aspects mentioned above

In general, as the data shows, factors belonging to teacher’s competence and expectation including a teacher’s clear and understandable English, good knowledge at English and in other fields, the ability to convey knowledge and understanding of student’s level have positive impact in forming students motivation to learn

3.1.3 Teacher’s empathy

Teacher’s empathy in the study is measured with questions 11, 12 and 13, which refer respectively to his or her care, sympathy and encouragement when students have difficulties, patience with student’s mistakes and continual encouragement during student’s learning process

The chart shows that 86% of the students showed motivation to learn with teachers who care for them, sympathize and encourage them to overcome difficulties In addition, when teachers are patient and not angry with student’s mistakes, 89% of the informants find they are

A Teacher’s care, sympathy and encouragement when students have difficulties

B Teacher’s patience with student’s mistakes

C Teacher’s continual encouragement during the learning process

more motivated to learn Moreover, teachers who keep encouraging students to improve their result motivate students most 94% of the students strongly agreed or agreed The data suggests that young learners in Lomonoxop school like to receive encouragement from their teachers and they are highly motivated to learn with teachers who are empathetic with them

3.2 Classroom management factors

Classroom management factors are connected with all the things that teachers show in class In this study, classroom management factors are seen from three dimensions The first one is teacher’s behavior, the second one is teaching method and the last one is classroom rules

3.2.1 Teacher’s behavior

Questions from 14 to 19 were designed to find out how teacher’s behaviors affect

student’s motivation to learn The sub themes explored under teacher’s behavior include teacher’s board organizing; carefulness in marking and correcting student’s work; closeness to students; way of dressing; attitudes towards students in class and respect for student’s ideas

Question fourteen was designed to collect student’s ideas on whether they like to learn with teachers who organize the board clearly and understandably For this question, 55% strongly agreed or agreed that they are motivated to learn with such teachers, 21% showed a neutral attitude and 24% strongly disagreed or disagreed It is obvious that a little more than half of the students found teacher’s clearness in board organizing important and motivating However, nearly half of them considered it unimportant

As for teacher’s carefulness in marking and correcting student’s work, 51% of the students asked strongly agreed or agreed , 21% showed a neutral attitude and 28% strongly disagreed or disagreed It seems that students don’t care much about the importance of carefulness in correcting exercises

The data is similar for question 16, talking about the effect on motivation when teachers are able to create good rapport with students, but are still strict in class and have student’s respect 64% find themselves motivated to learn with those teachers 28% had no idea and 8% strongly disagreed or disagreed It can be seen from the data that the number of students having neutral attitudes is rather high

Teacher’s way of dressing is one aspect that is expected to have great effect on student’s motivation to learn When asked about how they are motivated with teachers who dress appropriately and beautifully to class, it is counted that 72% strongly agreed or agreed, 20% were indifferent and 8% disagreed This data infers that students like to learn with teachers who have appropriate appearance

Fair treatment by teachers towards every student in class is also a matter of concern For this question, 81% like to learn with teachers who consider every student equally and treat them fairly 19% of them said that they disagreed This data shows that the majority of students do not like to have favoritism in class However, there are still a number of students

in class like their teachers to favor certain students

The last question under the theme of teacher’s behavior talks about a teacher’s respect for student’s ideas This question was designed to see how students are motivated to learn when their teachers respect their ideas Surprisingly this question received 100% of strong agreement or agreement This clearly showed that every student likes to be respected and treated like an adult

Students like to learn with teachers who

Strongly agree or agree

Strongly disagree or disagree

Neutral Total

14 organize the board clearly and

understandably

15 are always careful in marking and

correcting your exercises

16 are close to students but strict during

lessons

Table 2: Distribution of teacher behavior on student’s motivation