Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS the relationship among learning motivation, learning effort and toeic test performance the case of english learners at tienganh 123 english center

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN LÊ THU PHƯƠNG THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG LEA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

NGUYỄN LÊ THU PHƯƠNG

THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG LEARNING MOTIVATION, LEARNING EFFORT AND TOEIC TEST PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF ENGLISH LEARNERS AT TIENGANH123 ENGLISH

CENTER

(MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC TẬP, NỖ LỰC HỌC TẬP

VÀ KẾT QUẢ BÀI THI TOEIC: TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA NGƯỜI HỌC

TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRUNG TÂM TIẾNG ANH 123)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi - 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-

NGUYỄN LÊ THU PHƯƠNG

THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG LEARNING MOTIVATION, LEARNING EFFORT AND TOEIC TEST PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF ENGLISH LEARNERS AT TIENGANH123 ENGLISH

CENTER

(MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC TẬP, NỖ LỰC HỌC TẬP VÀ KẾT QUẢ BÀI THI TOEIC: TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA NGƯỜI HỌC TIẾNG ANH

TẠI TRUNG TÂM TIẾNG ANH 123)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Tran Thanh Nhan

Hanoi - 2017

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “The relationship among learning

motivation, learning effort and TOEIC test performance: The case of English learners at TiengAnh123 English Center” is my own study in the fulfillment of

the requirement for the Degree of Master of Art at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi This paper has also not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified

Hanoi, 2017

Nguyễn Lê Thu Phương

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to send my thanks to many individuals for their invaluable help during the conduct of the research Without their help, the completion of this research project would not have been possible

I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Dr Tran Thanh Nhan for her restless and sympathetic encouragement, valuable advice and patient guidance until the completion of this study

My sincere thanks also go to my dear colleagues at TiengAnh123 English Center and friends for all their invaluable help, support and encouragement when I encountered difficulties during the conduct of the study

I wish to acknowledge my thankfulness to the TOEIC learners at TOEIC preparation classes for their enthusiastic participation in the project

Finally, I am deeply indebted to my beloved mother for her sacrifice, encouragement and care

ABSTRACT

In recent time, there has been an increasing number of those who want to sit

a TOEIC test to get a desirable score for their own purposes Many of them find themselves a popular and appropriate English Center and attend the TOEIC instruction courses there with the hope to prepare the best for the TOEIC test Some centers have been found to have effective TOEIC preparation courses in the improvements in learners’ TOEIC score; however, the roles of the learners themselves in achieving their target in the TOEIC test has not been explored so far

The purpose of this study is to explore TOEIC learners’ academic performance in relation with (1) their learning motivation and (2) their learning effort

The participants selected for the study included 12 learners from the TOEIC classes at TiengAnh123 English Center in Hanoi Through the instruments of pre-test and post-test, attendance checklists, and interviews with learners, the study discovered that after taking part in a 22-lesson TOEIC class, on average, learners have made an increase of approximately 138 points in their test scores In addition, the motivational factor that was mentioned most by the learners to explain the reason why they want to sit the TOEIC test was their job application Furthermore, class attendances, self-study time and time urgency have positive relationship with learners’ TOEIC score changes

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 3

3 Research methodology 3

4 Scope of the study 4

5 Significance of the study 4

6 Organization of the study 5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

I.Theoretical background of motivation 6

1 Definitions of motivation 6

2 Types of motivation 7

3 The role of motivation in second language learning 9

II.Theoretical background of effort 9

1 The importance of effort 9

2 The importance of effort in language learning 10

III Previous studies on relationship among learning motivation,learning effort and academic performance 11

1 Relationship between learning motivation and academic performance 11

2 Relationship between learning effort and academic performance 12

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14

1 Context of the study 14

2 Methodology 14

2.1 Research questions 14

2.2 Participants 15

2.3 Instruments 15

2.4 Procedures of data collection 18

2.5 Procedures of data analysis 19

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 21

1 Learners’ improvement on TOEIC score 21

2 Motivational factors affecting the learner’s study 23

3 Indicators of effort affecting learner’s study 26

3.1 Classroom attendance 26

3.2 Self-study time 28

PART C: CONCLUSION 34

1 Conclusion 34

2 Implications of the study 35

3 Limitations of the study 36

4 Suggestions for further study 36

REFERENCES 37 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 IV APPENDIX 3 VI APPENDIX 4 VIII APPENDIX 5 X APPENDIX 6 XII APPENDIX 7 XIII

LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1: Interview schedule 19

Table 1.1: Learners’ improvement 21

Table 1.2: TOEIC pre- and post-test minimum, maximum, 22

mean score and standard deviation 22

Table 2.2: Learners’ specific motivational factors 24

Table 3.1: Raw data of TOEIC learners’ missed lessons 27

Table 3.2: Relationship between academic improvements and classroom attendances 27

Table 3.3: Raw data of TOEIC learners’ self-study time 28

Table 3.4: Relationship between academic improvements and learners’ self-study time 29

Table 3.5 Raw data of learners’ pressure on time urgency 32

Table 3.6 Relationship between improvements and time urgency 32

Figure 2.1: Learners’ motivation 23

PART A: INTRODUCTION

In this part, the researcher would present the rationale and the importance of the study A clear research methodology to achieve the aims and the organization of the study are also described legibly in order that the readers can understand how the study is carried out

1 Rationale for the study

Learning and teaching English has gained its popularity in recent years English is one of the keys to open the door into the rapidly changing and competitive world

Users of English worldwide in general and in Vietnam in particular have had growing demand for mastering this international language There are many reliable assessment tools used by schools and employers to evaluate the English ability of learners and employees and the TOEIC is among those popular tests (Tokunaga,

2008, etsglobal.org)

Trew (2008) points out that the Test of English for International Communication, or TOEIC is used as a way of measuring the communicative proficiency of business people It covers the English language used internationally in business, commerce and industry but not specialized knowledge in specialized vocabulary for business

The typical test is composed of two papers, i.e the Listening and Reading Test, and the Speaking and Writing Test Due to its popularity in Vietnam (ef.com), this study focuses on the Listening and Reading Test only The TOEIC Listening and Reading test is a paper-and-pencil, multiple-choice assessment There are two timed sections

of 100 questions each Test takers listen and read in English and give their responses to the questions

The TOEIC has been used in many educational institutions worldwide (Trew, 2008, hau.gr) and in Vietnam such as Hanoi University of Science and Technology (cfl.edu.vn), Vietnam Maritime University (iigvietnam.com), and University of Finance Marketing (pdt.ufm.edu.vn), etc., to measure progress within a curriculum,

or to screen candidates for their graduate programs, especially in the fields of business or international studies Additionally, TOEIC is also used by many companies such as NEC Logistics, Vietnam, Vietnam Airlines, LG Electronics Vietnam, Sacombank (dantri.com.vn), for the purposes of hiring new employees, and for promotion to higher positions

The urge for a satisfactory score makes the TOEIC candidates put a great deal of effort in preparing for the test In Vietnam, some of them like self-studies while many others attend TOEIC preparation courses in centers of English Those centers have different courses with varied length and syllabi for different proficiency levels and educational goals but they all aims to provide learners with both linguistic skills and test-taking skills to achieve their desired scores TiengAnh123 English center, Hanoi is one of such places

TiengAnh123 English center is located at No.15, 259/9 alley, Vong Street, Hai Ba Trung District where there are many universities and colleges around such as National University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, National Economics University, and Hanoi University of Business and Technology From its establishment in 2008 to the moment, the center has given many courses of English in grammar, pronunciation, communicative English and TOEIC preparation Tienganh123 English center is to provide learners with knowledge of theory, instructions to improve language skills, and practice opportunities to achieve their academic target in English learning Especially, an investigation into the improvement in test scores of learners studying TOEIC preparation classes at TiengAnh123 English center conducted by Nguyen (2014) showed that test preparation courses have a significant contribution to test scores and learners’ improved test-taking strategies have resulted in their improved test scores In other words, the center has been found to have effective syllabi and training programs that yield the improvements in learners’ TOEIC scores However, the study focuses only the role and the effectiveness of the skills provided by the

center in helping learners to improve their TOEIC scores, the role of the learners themselves in achieving their target or high scores in the TOEIC test has not been explored so far The importance of the factors coming from the learners has not been investigated Whereas, prior research has indicated that multiple factors contribute to academic performance, such as learners’ motivation levels (Fraser &

Killen, 2005; Fraser & Nieman, 1995), students’ ability (Meltzer et al., 2001;

Nicholls, 1978), lecturers’ teaching competence (Fraser & Killen, 2005), students’

effort (Fraser & Killen, 2005; Nicholls, 1978), and lecture attendance (Thatcher, 2007)

The aforementioned rationale has given the researcher chances to carry out a

research project entitled The relationship among learning motivation, learning

effort and TOEIC test performance: The case of English learners at TiengAnh123 English center

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The research project is aimed at investigating the relationship among the learning motivation, learning effort and TOEIC test performance of learners studying TOEIC preparation course a TiengAnh123 English center The specific objectives of the study are to identify whether there is a relationship between types of learning motivation and learning effort, and how learning motivation and learning effort affect TOEIC test performance

3 To what extent does learners’ learning effort influence their TOEIC score?

To fulfill the research aims and objectives and answer the three research questions, both qualitative methodology and quantitative methodology were employed Specifically, the results from the pre-tests and the post-tests taken by these learners were compared and contrasted Then interviews on TOEIC learners were conducted The detail of the methodology applied in the study is discussed in Chapter 2 of Part B

4 Scope of the study

At the time of the research, TiengAnh123 was offering two TOEIC preparation courses, TOEIC A to help learners achieve at least 400 points in the post test and TOEIC B for the target of at least 550 points However, this study only aims at the latter kind of preparation course because the number of learners attending this course is larger due to the fact that the TOEIC score range from 450 to 650 points is

a popular requirement for graduation given by many universities in Vietnam, and for job application by many companies as well

5 Significance of the study

The study is hoped to offer the researcher an insightful understanding of the role of learning motivation and learning effort of learners at TOEIC preparation classes at TiengAnh123 English center in helping the learners to achieve a high TOEIC score The findings of the study are expected to help the researcher identify what type(s) of motivation affect(s) learners’ test performance, and how learning effort affects learners’ test performance Accordingly, the study wishes to add the body of knowledge on motivation, effort and test performance, with specific reference to the TOEIC test in the world in general and at Tienganh123 English Center in particular

6 Organization of the study

The study consists of three parts which discuss the following matters

Part A: Introduction presents a brief introduction of the rationale, the aims and

objectives, scope, significance, methods and organization of the study

Part B: Development is composed of three chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: Literature Review provides the theoretical basis and results from the

recent studies for the issues relevant to the field under investigation

Chapter 2: Methodology describes the processes of sampling, designing research

instruments, collecting and analyzing data employed in the study

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion presents the discussion of the findings of the

study

Part C: Conclusion summarizes the main findings, presents the limitations of the

study, and suggestions for further studies

In addition, the study also includes the sections of References which displays the sources of referenced information and Appendices which presents the survey

questionnaire, and the pre- and post-test papers

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

I Theoretical background of motivation

1 Definitions of motivation

1.1 What is motivation?

Motivation is one of the main determining factors in success in learning in general and in language learning in particular Various definitions of motivations have been proposed by researchers and language specialists

Kleinginna (1981:6) defined motivation as “a desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior” Brown (2000:160) also shared the same point He suggests that “motivation is some kinds of internal drive which pushes someone to

do things in order to achieve something” Additionally, motivation is stated as “an internal state that arouses directs and maintains behavior” (Woolfolk, 2001:366)

Similarly, Wlodwoski explained motivation as “the processes that can arouse and instigate behavior, give direction or purpose to behavior, continue to allow behavior

to persist, and lead to choosing or preferring a particular behavior” (1985:2)

Furthermore, Williams and Burden (1997) pointed out "Motivation is concerned with such issues as why people decide to act in certain ways and what factors influence the choices they make It also involves decisions as to the amount of effort people are prepared to expand in attempting to achieve their goals." (1997: 119)

1.2 Motivation in second language learning Motivation in second language learning is defined by Gardner (1985:10) as “the extent to which an individual works or strikes to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity”

Ellis (1994), in an overview of research on motivation, simply asserted that motivation affects the extent to which language learners persevere in learning, what kinds of behavior they exert, and their actual achievement

2 Types of motivation

Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972) and Gardner (1985) mentioned integrative and

instrumental as two types of motivation Furthermore, researchers have added some

other kinds such as resultative, intrinsic, extrinsic, global, situational and task

motivation

* Integrative motivation It is thought that the most successful students in learning a

target language are those who like the people speaking the language, admire learners admire the culture and have a desire to become familiar with the society in which the language is used (Falk, 1978) This type of motivation is known as integrative motivation Integrative motivation is a key component in assisting learner to develop some level of proficiency in the language It is found to sustain long-term success when learning a second language (Taylor, Meynard and Rheault, 1977; Ellis, 1997; Crookes et al., 1991) Learners who have an integrative approach

to study a language are often more highly motivated and overall more successful in language learning

* Instrumental motivation This type of motivation is characterized by the desire to

obtain something practical from the study of L2 (Hudson, 2000) Instrumental motivation occurs where little or even no social integration of the learner into a

community using the target language takes place Ellis (1994:75) states "some

functional reasons such as to pass an examination, to get a better job or to get a university place motivate learners to learn an L2 because it opens up educational and economic opportunities for them."

* Resultative motivation Motivation is not only the cause of achievement; it is also

the result of learning process Learning success may encourage learners to learn better Ellis (1994:515) points out that the relationship between motivation and

achievement is an interactive one and "a high level of motivation does stimulate

learning, but perceived success in achieving l2 goals can help to maintain existing motivation and even create new ones."

* Global motivation Brown (1994) defines global motivation as a general

orientation to the goal of an L2 learning which may be affected by such factors as previous education, social factors as well as the teacher's attitudes

* Situational motivation refers to the learning context: classroom, total environment

assumed to be influenced by teacher action Brown (1994) distinguishes the difference in situational motivation according to the situation in which learning takes place

* Task motivation This motivation occurs when learners are performing some

particular tasks in learning performance An attractive task designed by the teacher

in class may encourage learners to invest their effort and energy in

*Intrinsic motivation Paul & Dale (2013) defined intrinsic motivation as

motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake For many learners, the reason

for learning an L2 is the "interest in the culture and the target language group" or the "positive attitudes towards the target language group" while for some others it

is the interest in learning tasks Teaching methods and learning activities may attract them, arouse and maintain their interest in doing the tasks Intrinsic motivation

"involves the arousal and maintenance of curiosity and can ebb and flow as a result

of such factors as learners' particular interests and the extent to which they fell personality involved in learning activities" (Ellis, 1994:76) Intrinsic motivation is

viewed as the pleasure someone gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task (Carol, 2013) According to James (1998), intrinsic motivation is choosing to do an activity for no compelling reasons beyond the satisfaction derived from the activity itself – it is what motivates

us to do something when we don’t have to do anything Deci and Richard (1985) state that intrinsic motivation is the motivation that source originates from inside of

an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards or punishments

*Extrinsic motivation Deci (1975) defined extrinsic motivation as, “it pertains to a wide variety of behaviors that are engaged in as a means to an end and not for their

own sake” This type of motivation derives from tangible rewards such as salary and

fringe benefits, promotion, the influence of some kinds of external incentives, including the influence of the teacher, the learner's desire to please significant people or their wish to succeed in an external exam, or peer group influence, which are different from the wish to learn for its own sake or interest in learning tasks

Among the motivation mentioned above, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations play important roles in classroom motivation

3 The role of motivation in second language learning

Motivation is a key factor in successful language learning Research suggests that motivation can influence language learning outcomes independently from language aptitude (Gardner, 1972; Wigfield & Wentzel, 2007) Oxford and Shearin (1996:

121-122) stated that: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often students use second language strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned, how well they do on curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain second language skills after language study is over.”

II Theoretical background of effort

1 The importance of effort

Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines effort as “the physical or mental energy that you need to do something; something takes a lot of energy.”

A comparison of mothers’ beliefs in Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S were reported by Steven, Lee, & Stigler (1986) that Japanese mothers ranked effort as the most important cause of success in school and ability received considerably less weight than effort; whereas, mothers in the U.S thought effort and ability were of equal importance 72% of the respondents in a survey of youth and adults believed success stems from effort or endurance (Lebra, 1976) Students who expend effort

and persist in a task are more likely to attain higher level than those who do not (Pintrich and Schrauben, 1992; Schunk, 1991)

Hau and Salili (1996) noted that students at secondary school in Hong Kong considered that their academic success was because of the following factors, in order of importance, effort, interest in study, study skill, mood and finally ability

Children in China are brought up in an environment where effort, endurance and hard work are emphasized (Yang, 1986) “If one keeps on grinding one can turn an iron pillar into a needle” is one of the Chinese proverbs that illustrates the benefits

of hard work (Chen et al., 1996) Chinese parents stress to their children that hard

work will result in the development of interest and study skills Chinese students are taught that laziness results in failure and hard work leads to success (Hau and Salili, 1996)

Relatively good measures of student effort appear to be the amount of time that is spent on studying and completion of assignments outside classroom (out-of-class effort) and lecture attendance (in-class effort) (Natriello & McDill, 1986) The amount of time spent on homework and class attendance was found to have a positive effect on student learning and academic performance (Natriello & McDill, 1986; Stanca, 2006)

2 The importance of effort in language learning

The importance of effort was highlighted by Dörnyei (2001) on the part of the language learners that all learners in the classroom have an equal chance to succeed

in learning language and those who are successful expend effort in doing it

The importance of effort in achieving success in language learning was also proved

by Hufton et al (2002) Their study was carried out in St Petersburg, Russia, Kentucky, USA and Sunderland, UK by interviewing 15-year-old students The study revealed that English and American students attributed academic success in language learning more to hard work or effort than innate ability whilst Russian students took hard work or effort for granted; therefore, differences in achievements

were more likely to be attributed to ability In other words, Russian students expended a lot of effort in their learning and innate ability was the factor which differentiated the very top students from their peers

III Previous studies on relationship among learning motivation, learning effort and academic performance

1 Relationship between learning motivation and academic performance

In the current study, achievement motivation is the factor representing intrinsic motivation (Sturman, 1999) McCelland’s (1995) theory of achievement motivation shows that intrinsically motivated people are generally more productive and perform well Task mastery tends to satisfy the individual and his/her intrinsic need

to achieve as it fosters a perception of a challenge, which encourages task involvement and generates excitement (McClelland, 1965) In order to be intrinsically motivated, a person must experience interest and enjoyment in his/her task, along with feelings of competency and self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985) People with a high achievement motivation explore their environment, take calculated risks, and look for concrete measures of their progress (Elliot &

Harackiewicz, 1996; McClelland, 1965) Highly motivated students try to achieve academic success through attending classes regularly and participating in class discussions, which results in their getting higher marks in tests and examinations (Sikhwari, 2007)

Extrinsic motivation also plays an important role in academic performance Moneta and Spada (2009) suggested that individuals who are extrinsically motivated by an expected reward increase their effort to complete the task and earn an incentive

Muller and Louw (2004) asserted that extrinsic factors, such as a supportive social environment can foster intrinsic motivation Intrinsic and extrinsic variables are likely to interact to strengthen the overall motivational profile of an individual in reaching their desired performance target (Davis et al., 2006; Muller & Louw,

2004) McClelland’s (1955) theory asserts that intrinsic motivators are more important than extrinsic motivators, such as material or financial rewards

Of the greatest relevance to this study is the one carried out by Goodman et al

(2011) which investigated the relationship between students’ motivation and academic performance as mediated by effort The study was carried out with specific reference to tertiary level institutions in the South African context The data were collected through an online questionnaire from a convenience sample of 254 commerce faculty students within a university in the Western Cape, ranging from the first year to fifth year of study The online questionnaire consisted of two subscales: demographic information about the participants, and 15 items that related

to the three constructs under investigation: intrinsic motivation (5 items), extrinsic motivation (5 items) and effort (5 items) Four additional questions were constructed by the researchers and the responses were measured along a five-point Likert-scale Academic performance was measured by the cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average) score of each participant Evidence was further found that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are positively and significantly associated with students’ academic performance as measured by GPA and students’ intrinsic motivation is the strongest predictor of academic performance, followed by effort

In the regression model, extrinsic motivation could not explain unique variance in academic performance

2 Relationship between learning effort and academic performance

Several recent studies have found effort to be a mediator between motivation and academic performance (Atkinson, as cited in Tella, 2007; Schwinger, Steinmayr, &

Spinath, 2009; Stanca, 2006) Mediation refers to an internal response in an individual to a stimulus that leads one to perform in a certain way (Woodworth, as cited in Baron & Kenny, 1986) A certain amount of effort has to be exerted to reach the desired performance level (Atkin-son, as cited in Tella, 2007; Elliot et al., 1999; Grabe, 1979)

A study conducted at two South African universities (University of South Africa and University of Pretoria) indicated that students who lack motivation put in less effort, which subsequently leads to poor academic performance (Fraser & Killen, 2005) Additional studies further substantiate this assertion by finding that students who are highly motivated apply extra effort and exhibit high academic performance (Elliot et al., 1999; Schwinger et al., 2009)

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the context of the study and the research methodology

of the study

1 Context of the study

The study was conducted at TiengAnh 123 English center which offers training in a variety of English courses The researcher surveyed learners who had attended TOEIC B classes which require participants to gain scores of 350 points at least in the 990-point scale of TOEIC in the placement test or the pre-test The learners are mainly university students along with some employees in several companies in Hanoi They voluntarily pay tuition fee to take the course Most of them are very studious and purposeful in studying the TOEIC course because they want to meet the graduation requirement set by their educational institutions or the application requirement set by their potential future employers

Each TOEIC B course lasts about two months, with three 90-minute lessons every week and twenty-two lessons in total Like any other preparation programs, these learners receive tuition in the format of the TOEIC test, and frequent practice

of the relevant skills to be tested The courses employ a number of commercial TOEIC test preparation books by well-known publishers such as Oxford, Longman, and Cambridge Apart from the preparation activities in class, the learners are required to complete a huge amount of practice exercises at home The courses guarantee a post test score of at least 550 points to each learner, if not, they will be offered another similar course free of charge if they wish to

2 Methodology

2.1 Research questions

The study is to find answers to the following research questions:

1 To what extent do the learners’ TOEIC scores improve after the TOEIC course?

2 Which aspects predominantly motivate learners to study TOEIC preparation course?

3 To what extent does learners’ learning effort influence their TOEIC score?

To fulfill the research aims and objectives, sample TOEIC pre and post tests and learners’ interviews are respectively carried out during and after the TOEIC preparation courses Following is the detailed procedure of collecting data through

these research instruments

2.2 Participants

The subject of this study involved 12 learners from three TOEIC B classes

They come from different parts of the country and are at the age of between 18 and

26 Most of them are studying at college/university while the rest is working or looking for a job Those 12 learners were selected because they attended both pre-test and post-test, and thus, met the requirements of having pre-test and post-test scores to support the study analysis

2.3 Instruments

In this study, the scores of the pre-tests and post-tests were used as they provided a quick and easy way of looking at the improvements made by TOEIC learners In addition, qualitative data was collected with the use of learners’

interviews for it provides space for respondents’ thoughts, and approaches

The TOEIC pre-test and post test

To find the answer for the research question 1 on the learners’ TOEIC scores, the researcher collected data from the TOEIC pre-test and post-test The aim

of the pre-test is to identify learners’ level of English before they were enrolled in the course The post test is to decide how much the learners have improved their TOEIC scores after a direct preparation program To ensure the reliability of the tests in particular and the whole courses in general, two practice tests from Tactics for TOEIC - Listening and Reading Test pack were used as pre-test and post-test

Tactics for TOEIC - Listening and Reading Test pack is written and published by

Oxford University Press and is authorized by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the makers of the TOEIC test, and contains official TOEIC test items And the two complete practice tests with tape scripts and explanatory key are provided by ETS

The format and level of difficulty of these two practice tests are closely similar to those of an official TOEIC test These two tests are enclosed in Appendix A and Appendix B respectively

The attendance checklist

The aim of attendance checklist is to examine the learners’ effort in attending in-class lessons This checklist helps to study the relationship among the learning motivation, learning effort and academic performance The attendance checklist was used at the beginning of each lesson throughout the course

The interviews with learners

The aim of interviews is to explore the TOEIC learners’ motivations and efforts in their learning and the relationship among learning motivation, learning effort and academic performance

The interview is a method of collecting data in which quantitative or qualitative questions can be asked to elicit information Quantitative questions are closed, whereas qualitative questions are open-ended, with participants responding

in their own words The interview has been called the primary method used in qualitative research (Griffee, 2005; Doody & Noonan, 2013), and “the most direct, research-focused interaction between researcher and participant” (Kazmer & Xie,

2008, p.258) Over the last few decades, the technological changes in growth of the Internet have developed the experience of online interviewing in qualitative inquiry and have reduced the problems related to face-to-face interviews (Hooley, Wellens

& Marriott, 2012) Internet based methods of communication are becoming increasingly important and influencing researchers' options Synchronous approaches focus on text-based chat rooms, instant messenger protocols, and videoconferencing (Stewart & Williams, 2005; Stieger & Gortiz, 2006)

Investigators’ interest in using an interactive synchronous method has encouraged them to apply online communication services (Fielding, 2010; Sullivan, 2012)

In this study, Skype is one in two online communication service used Skype encourages interviewees who have time and place limitations for face-to-face interviews to participate in research Consequently, the interviews occur in more convenient conditions for participants Interviews may be easier to be rescheduled

In order to achieve the research aims and objectives of the study, structured interviews are employed Semi-structured interviews are those in which respondents have a list of questions, but they are free to ask further, differentiated questions based on the responses given The most common type of interviews used

semi-in qualitative research are semi-structured semi-interviews (Holloway and Wheeler, 2010) and involve the use of predetermined questions, where the researcher is free

to seek clarification The interview can be flexible, with open-ended questions and the chance to explore issues that arise spontaneously (Berg, 2009; Ryan et al., 2009) The researcher is free to vary the order and wording of the questions (Power

et al., 2010), depending on the direction of the interview, and to ask additional questions (Corbetta, 2003)

In this study, the semi-structured interviews are administered after the learners got their post test scores at the end of the course The interview question guide on the relationship among learning motivation, learning effort and TOEIC test performance is as follow:

Motivational factors - What were your purposes of taking the TOEIC

preparation course?

Time urgency - At the beginning of the TOEIC course, how long after

the course did you intend to take the TOEIC test?

Aspect Questions

- How long after the course did you take the TOEIC test?

Self-study - During the course, did you always complete all your

homework before going to class?

- Did you spend time preparing for the new lessons in advance

- How much time did you spend studying at home after each lesson at the center? Did you study on other days

of the weeks as well?

- Did you find other books or sources to learn by yourself besides the course book and the materials given

in class?

- How did you deal with difficult exercises?

- Did you find the course effective and useful for you?

To enhance participant ease, the researcher gave the respondents the assurance of the complete confidentiality of their responses by using pseudonyms

2.4 Procedures of data collection

The interviews were conducted by the researcher herself During the procedure of data collection, 12 interviews were carried out with the cooperation of learners of three TOEIC B classes at TiengAnh123 All interviews were done after the learners had finished their TOEIC courses The researcher called the learners to arrange the interview schedule according to the learners’ convenience and asked for their favorite means of interviewing The two means of interviewing were Skype and Facebook The interviews were all held in Vietnamese to avoid any hindrances

to the learners caused by their incompetence in reading and writing English The use of Vietnamese helped learners understand the questions properly, or to ensure

no questions are confusing or are being misinterpreted by learners, and gave them the chances to express all their experiences, opinions and thoughts easily and completely The researcher should first explain the type of interview to be conducted, its nature and the general format the interview will take He or she should state that there are no right or wrong answers and that the aim of the interview is to hear the participant’s experiences The researcher may identify his or her role in the interview, and the participants should be informed that they can take their time in thinking and talking throughout the interview (Smith et al., 2009)

The data collection of this study was conducted as the following interview schedule:

Table 1: Interview schedule

2.5 Procedures of data analysis

The researcher conducted 12 interviews with 12 participants All of the participants took the pre-tests before the TOEIC courses and completed the post-tests 12 interviews were analyzed in the following procedure

Stage 1: The researcher collected and analyzed the learners’ pre- and scores

post-Stage 2: The researcher collected and analyzed the learners’ attendances

Stage 3: The researcher gathered and analyzed the learners’ responses to the interview questions regarding learning motivations and learning efforts

The data were analyzed by using the Pearson correlation coefficients

These kinds of data are outlined and discussed in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter presents the results and the interpretation of the data collected from the pre-test and the post-test, the attendance check list, and the interviews

Specifically, the presentation will analyze learners’ improvement in their academic performance in relation with their motivation and effort

1 Learners’ improvement on TOEIC score

As mentioned in chapter 2 – Methodology, learners were given a sample TOEIC test at the beginning of the course (pre-test) and another one at the end (post-test) These test papers were marked by the teachers, and then the scores were informed to the learners The learners, then, reported their received scores in the interviews As such, the raw score data for each learner in the study is displayed in the following table:

No Learner Pre-test Post-test Improvement

Table 1.1: Learners’ improvement

The first and the second columns from the left in Table 1.1 respectively display the orders and the pseudonyms of TOEIC learners who participated in the

research project The third and the forth columns thereafter indicate the TOEIC scores gained by each learner from the pre-test to the post-test, which indicates their improvement after the TOEIC course

In order to discover the gain achieved by each learner during their course of instruction, it is necessary to find out the minimum, maximum and mean score of each component in each test This kind of information is shown in table 1.2

TOEIC Score Pre-test Post-test Improvement

Table 1.2: TOEIC pre- and post-test minimum, maximum,

mean score and standard deviation

It can be seen that there has been a considerable change between the pre-test and post-test scores On average, a TOEIC learner scored 501.67 points in the pre-test and 639.17 points in the post-test, which made a mean score change or an improvement of 137.50 points Besides, the standard deviation in the pre-test score

is 79.67 while that in the post-test score is 108.27 This indicates that the post-test has high dispersion In other words, the post-test proves useful in dispersing learners according to their English competence

In brief, all the learners have improved their scores between the pre-test and the post-test However, the extent of the improvement varies substantially among them These variations can be attributed to many factors including the learners’

behavior on the test date However, within the scope of this study, three factors under investigation are the learners’ motivation, their class attendance and the amount and quality of practice outside the class

2 Motivational factors affecting the learners’ study

As can be seen in figure 2.1, learners attend the TOEIC courses with 8 different motivations, among which, there are 5 extrinsic motivations (M1-M5) and

3 intrinsic motivations (M6-M8) To find out which motivational factor was mentioned mostly by the learners when attending the TOEIC instruction course, the researcher listed and calculated all motivational factors given by the learners, then calculated the percentage of each motivational factor in the total of those factors

Figure 2.1 indicates that among all of those motivations, to apply for a job is the motivation with the highest percentage 39.13% of learners attend the TOEIC courses with the hope to prepare the best for the real TOEIC test and then to get a high TOEIC score so that they can apply for a good job It can be said that to apply for a job predominantly motivate learners to study TOEIC To graduate is also an important motivation that makes learners attend the TOEIC courses This

M4: Job application M5: Salary rise

M6: Eagerness to communicate with foreigners

M7: Academic reasons M8: Assessment of self- competence