Khóa luận tốt nghiệp Ngoại ngữ: An investigation on the willingness to communicate in English of English-majored students at Banking Academy

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I declare that the graduation thesis entitled “An investigation on the willingness to communicate in English of English-majored students at Banking Academy” is

BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

- -

GRADUATION THESIS

AN INVESTIGATION ON THE WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH OF ENGLISH-MAJORED

STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY

Academic Year : 2020-2024 Student ID : 23A7510127

Hanoi, May 2024

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I declare that the graduation thesis entitled “An investigation on the willingness to communicate in English of English-majored students at Banking Academy” is the work conducted by me under the guidance of Dr Hoang Quoc Thinh

The results from the work belong to my research The contributing information derived from other sources is entirely cited and mentioned in the thesis reference Signature

Tho

Hanoi, May 2024

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

At the moment I write this part, I have finished my last, thus, important journey at Banking Academy, which is filled with new exciting experience and also hardships

To be frank, I could not end up where I currently am without the unstinting support

of many kind and excellent individuals

From the bottom of my heart, I want to send my sincere thanks to my respectable supervisor, Dr Hoang Quoc Thinh It is fair to say that he plays the most important role in my success to complete the thesis because I definitely could not have gone this far but for his detailed guidance, constructive comments, and, especially, great patience for my shortcomings as I had absolutely no clues about what I should do at the beginning

Besides, I would like to show my deep appreciation to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Foreign Languages for all the knowledge I have learned from them during my four years at university

I would like to express my great gratitude to my parents It is impossible to repay all the sacrifices and efforts they have made for me to be able to be here

It is impossible to not extend my special thanks to all my beloved friends as they have created a lot of unforgettable memories and made my youth meaningful

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

ABSTRACT 1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

1 The definition of WTC 3

2 WTC in Second language (L2) 3

3 Factors Affecting Students’ Willingness to Communicate 3

3.1 Individuals Variables: 3

3.2 Situational Variables 4

4 Studies on WTC in EFL context conducted in Asia countries 5

5 Studies on WTC in EFL context conducted in Vietnam 6

6 Theoretical Framework 7

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 9

1 Locale of the study 9

2 Research Design 9

3 Data gathering procedure 9

4 Population and Sample description 9

5 Research Instrument 10

6 Statistical Treatment 11

7 Reliability and Validity 15

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 16

I FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION OF WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE 16

1 Findings of WTC – In Class 16

2 Findings of WTC – Outside Classroom 18

3 Findings of WTC – Digital Settings 19

II FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION OF FACTORS AFFECTING ATC

STUDENTS’ WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE 21

1 Findings and discussion of students’ Communication Anxiety 21

2 Perceived Communication Competence 23

3 Motivation to learn English 25

4 Learners’ Belief 27

III THE IMPACT OF TESTED FACTORS ON THE WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH OF ATC STUDENTS 28

1 Willingness to communicate during class 28

2 Willingness to communicate outside classroom 29

3 Willingness to communicate on digital settings 30

IV Pedagogical Implications 31

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 35

REFERENCES 38

APPENDICES 43

FLCA Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety SPCC Self-perceived Communication Competence

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Construction of the questionnaire 11

Table 2 Data From The Questionnaire Coding Frame 12

Table 3 The Reliability Scale of WTC - Inside classroom 16

Table 4 Students' WTC Inside the Classroom 16

Table 5 The Reliability Scale of WTC - Outside Classroom 18

Table 6 Students' WTC Outside the Classroom 18

Table 7 The Reliability Scale of WTC - Digital Settings 19

Table 8 Students' WTC in Digital Settings 20

Table 9 The Reliability Scale of Communication Anxiety 21

Table 10 Students' Perspective on Communication Anxiety 22

Table 11 The Reliability Scale of Perceived Communication Competence 23

Table 12 Students' Perspective on Perceived Communication Competence 24

Table 13 The Reliability Scale of Motivation to Learn English 25

Table 14 Students' Perspective on Motivation to Learn English 26

Table 15 The Reliability Scale of Learners' Beliefs 27

Table 16 Students' Perspective on Learners' Beliefs 27

Table 17 The Correlation between WTC-IC and Individual Variables 29

Table 18 The Correlation between WTC-OC and Individual Variables 29

Table 19 The Correlation between WTC-DS and Individual Variables 30

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Individual Variables affect WTC of English-majored students at Banking Academy 7 Figure 2 L2 WTC model in Chinsese EFL classroom 8 Figure 3 Questionnaire 45

ABSTRACT Title: The willingness to communicate in English of ATC students, the influencing

factors, and proposed strategies to improve the level of WTC

Author: Nguyen Xuan Tho

Keywords: Banking Academy of Vietnam, Faculty of Foreign Languages, English

as a Foreign Language, Willingness to Communicate, EFL

Adviser: Dr Hoang Quoc Thinh

Summary of the thesis:

Willingness to Communicate has long been an vital topic in second language (L2) acquisition as a numerous number of studies on WTC have been conducted around the globe ever since the invention of this term However, there is a modest amount

of studies investigating this aspect in Vietnam The present study was conducted at Banking Academy in Hanoi, Vietnam The study aims to find out the frequency to use English to communicate of English-majored students and the extent of influence that established individual factors have on the WTC level in order to propose some possible strategies that can be applied to encourage ATC students to use more English to communicate There are 115 ATC students participating in this study Questionnaire surveys was the data collection method The findings revealed that ATC students have an average frequency to communicate in English In addition, students’ WTC was affected by three out of four tested individual factors and communication anxiety has the greatest impact on ATC students’ willingness Finally, several solutions were suggested based on the findings to help students tackle some issues at hand to improve their WTC and, ultimately, English proficiency

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the reason why the topic of Willingness to Communicate is studied, the aim of the research, the research questions, the scope, the significance and the structure of the study

1 Rationale of the study

In the context of globalisation, English, the main lingua franca, has been gaining more and more non-native users Therefore, the increased use of English have improve the English proficiency significantly, especially in Vietnam According to the English Proficiency Index in 2023 (EF), Vietnam ranking globally and in Asia is

58 and 7, respectively However, many Vietnamese who possess advance English proficiency having difficulty trying to make it count in practical situations such as daily conversations In other words, a high level of proficiency in English does not ensure that learners will perform well or communicate frequently in the target language Taking the fact that English is the most used foreign language in Vietnam into account, there should be an urgent need to address this issue and further utilize Vietnamese excellence in gasping English and the authorities have been working on that through the Nation Foreign Language Project in 2020, the Ministry of Education promoted the importance of communication in studying languages

Willingness to communicate in L2 has long been proven as a decisive factor that determines the success of L2 acquisition This importance has attracted many researchers to conduct deeper investigation into this field in order to gain more knowledge on what variables affect individuals and develop more effective language learning methods Despite this worldwide popularity, very few researches have been conducted in Vietnam concerning the willingness to communicate of Vietnamese EFL students, which makes Vietnamese miss out the chance to improve the communication proficiency in English and the following numerous benefits The necessity for studies on Willingness to Communicate in Vietnam is even more urgent as the witnessed frequency of using English to communicate of Vietnamese

is not high enough compared to other countries, especially in the environment where English is expected and should be the main mean of communication such as university campus and EFL classes

In the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy, English is the main

languages used as the major subjects studied by ATC students through 4 years of university are in English In every EFL classes, English is and should be used for the majority of the time in order to create an English-like environment which encourages the genuine use of what they have learnt

However, the students seem to underutilize this environment to practice their speaking

as most of them use English mostly to study while when they chatting with their friend during or after the class, they prefer to use their mother tongue Therefore, this study is

an attempt to explore and explain the reason behind the lack of English communication

of ATC students

2 Research Aim

The study’s ultimate aim is exploring the Willingness to Communicate in English of English-majored students at Banking Academy and the influence of psychological elements on this

3 Research Question

This study attempts to answer two main questions:

3.1 To what extent are English-majored students at Banking Academy willing to use English to communicate?

3.2 To what extent do the four main individual variables affect ATC students’

Willingness to Communicate?

4 Significant of the Study

Investing the Willingness to Communicate of students is vital to promote more use of English in daily communication Many scholars agree that communication is the key attribution of the language acquisition process Therefore, this study is conducted with the intention to benefit all the stakeholders First, students may understand the

importance of using English to communicate in a daily basis, what obstacles prevent them from using English more often, and how to overcome these This may lead to a significant improvement of English proficiency Second, teachers could also be

advantageous as the lessons will be more successful and effective with the increasing engagements of students Moreover, the institutional bodies could find the findings helpful for the development of educational programme Last but not least, this study

might contribute to the general study on Willingness to Communicate in Vietnam, which is underdeveloped So, the findings might be valuable for further studies in this field

5 The scope of the Study

This study mainly focuses on measuring the level of Willingness to Communicate of English-majored students at Banking Academy The participants are current ATC students The study was conducted within a period of one and a half months, from April 20, 2024 to May 3, 2024

6 The structure of the Study

This study includes five chapters

6.1 Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter explains the rationale for undertaking this research, the research question, the aim, the scope and significant of the study 6.2 Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter presents an overview of theories and prior studies on the Willingness to Communicate

6.3 Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter provides information about participants, the research methods, the data collection instruments, and the data analysis 6.4 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion This chapter exhibits the results and discuss the findings

6.5 Chapter 5: Conclusion, Implication and Recommendation

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents some relevant literature on Willingness to Communicate, followed

by the theoretical framework which guides the present study

1 The definition of WTC

In 1985, McCroskey and Baer, based on the early work on unwillingness to communicate of Burgoon (1976), tried to explain why some people talk more than others proposed the concept of willingness to communicate as a stable predisposition toward communication when free to choose to do so After that, several studies had been conducted to investigate the factors responsible for the variation of WTC among individuals

2 WTC in Second language (L2)

In the early 1990s, researches started to apply the findings gained from the development of research on WTC in first language (L1) to the area of second language (L2) acquisition MacIntyre and Charos were the pioneers of this field as they created the very first model focused on WTC in L2 In 1994, they found that language learning motivation, perceived L2 communicative competence, and the opportunity for contact with L2 speakers significantly affect the frequency of communication Introduced into second language, WTC was defined as the tendency to join a conversation at a certain time in a dyad or a group of people using a L2 Two years later, they discovered the relation between communicating in second language and willingness, motivation, opportunity and perceived competence

3 Factors Affecting Students’ Willingness to Communicate

There are two types of variables identified by researchers to have impact on students’ willingness to communicate The first type is individual variables including communication anxiety, perceived communicative competence, motivation to learn the second language, and learner beliefs Another type is situational variables including task types, roles and attitudes of instructors, discussed topics, classroom atmosphere, and interlocutors

3.1 Individuals Variables:

Perceived Communication Competence: McCroskey developed the SPCC scale

to obtain information concerning how competent people feel they are in different contexts and situations In terms of definition, perceived communication

competence can be considered as their perception toward the ability to speak second language with other second language users (MacIntyre et al., 1998) Students’ perceived communication competence is directly related to WTC as the level of WTC positively correlated with self-perceived communication competence

Communication Anxiety: Horwitz et al (1986) invented the term Foreign

Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) to depict the concerns of students while using second language This includes three parts: communication anxiety, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation The impact of FLCA can be witnessed more clearly during speaking activities than any other activities in the classroom Second language anxiety is the feeling of worry which surges while learning or using a second language (MacIntyre, 1999, p 27) Communication anxiety is the specific anxiety aroused during students’ communication Most studies have found that it negatively correlated to willingness to communicate in L2

Students’ Motivation: Motivation is the extent to which students are eager to

acquire the language because of the desire to do so and the satisfaction derived from

it (Gardner, 1985) In contrast to Communication Anxiety, most studies confirmed that students’ motivation correlates positively to the willingness to communicate in second language

Learner Beliefs: Beliefs are social concepts, ideas, and opinions of learners about

language learning (Kalaja et al., 2017) Learner beliefs could be positive or negative According to Peng and Woodrow (2010), learner belief are what students believe about the value of English learning Positive learner beliefs are found to indirectly influence the willingness to communicate through its predictors which are motivation and confidence (Jackson, 2002; Peng & Woodrow, 2010)

3.2 Situational Variables

Effect of Task Types: Tasks are the learning activities organized in a class targeted

at either structural knowledge or communicative ability (Peng, 2014) Task types are considered as main factors influencing students’ degree of WTC The nature of the task, level of difficulty and the time allowed for completing the task could change the students’ WTC (Pattapong, 2010)

Effect of Topics: Familiar topics might encourage students to take part in

discussion with their peer Topic familiarity, topic interest, and topic preparation are the necessary features that can improve students’ linguistic self-confidence, and ultimately students’ WTC (MacIntyre et al., 1998) On the contrary, lacking knowledge about a topic result in the avoidance of communication of students

Teacher role: Many studies have proved that several factors controlled by teachers

such as classroom procedures, teaching styles, verbal and non-verbal behaviour can strongly affect students’ perceived competence, anxiety, motivation and WTC in the L2 classroom (Pattapong, 2010; MacIntyre et al., 2011; Peng, 2014)

Classroom atmosphere: The classroom atmosphere is the character, mood, or

feeling created in the classroom, which can facilitate or hinder the students’ participation According to researchers (Pattapong, 2010; Peng, 2014; Suksawas, 2011), students studying in a friendly classroom atmosphere have a higher tendency

to verbalise using second language than in a silent and boring one Students’ L2 WTC are more likely to be higher in an environment promoting cooperation in which all students participate equally and share their ideas in learning activities (Suksawas, 2011)

4 Review of prior studies on WTC in EFL context

Matsuoka (2006) conducted a study to test how well two existing models (MacIntyre et al.,1998; Wen & Clément, 2003) can be applied in the Japanese EFL context She witnessed the relation between individual variables such as integrativeness, communication apprehension, perceived competence, introversion, motivation, attitudes and other-directedness and L2 willingness to communicate By analysing the data obtained from 180 Japanese college students, the finding revealed that there are four individual variables contributing to the prediction of L2 WTC Specifically, SPCC was the strongest influential factor contributed to the prediction of L2 WTC (22%)

In a Korean setting, Kim (2004) investigated the nature of MacIntyre et al.’s (1998)

in a study with 191 Korean university students took part in She discovered significant positive correlations between motivation to learn English, attitude toward learning English and students’ WTC Kim’s results also indicated that there was a direct relation between students’ WTC and their confidence in English

communication In term of the students’ attitudes and motivation, they indirectly influence the degree of WTC through confidence in English communication

Kang (2005) carried out study in an attempt to gain a deeper insight on Korean EFL students’ WTC to provide pedagogical implications She examined how the situational variables affect WTC in L2 in a communication situation, and witnessed how the WTC in L2 changes over the course of communication The gathered data showed that WTC did not fixed but dynamically changed according to the situational variables during communication Kang conclude that situational WTC is

a complex and dynamic construct that could continuously fluctuate depending on the context

In Thailand, a study was conducted by Rotjanawongchai (2023) to investigate situational factors affecting willingness to communicate inside and outside the classroom, in which 46 first-year English majors (38 female, 8 male) who enrolled

in a speaking course were the participants The findings indicated that students were less willing to speak inside the classroom than outside the classroom In addition, interlocutors always had significant influence on the WTC regardless the situations The study also pointed out the common problem in the EFL context which is the lack of English-speaking environments outside classroom

A study in Jordan focusing on the specific influence of anxiety on willingness to communicate (Al-Saidat & Buragohain, 2023) The analysed interview data confirmed the prediction of the researchers Moreover, several factors such as fear

of negative feedbacks from teachers, fear of committing errors, fear of judgments increased the students’ level of communication anxiety which in turn decrease their readiness to talk There were also some solutions recommended to create an anxiety-free learning atmosphere

Jin and Lee (2022) adopted the meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) to study the relationships between Willingness to Communicate and its individual variables It was found that perceived communication competence influenced WTC the most

One study which targeted Asian EFL learners was conducted in 2020 (Yashima) attempted to examines the theoretical models of willingness to communicate developed by MacIntyre to find out the impact of psychological and situated

variables on momentary WTC

A different perspective of WTC was suggested by Zhang, Beckmanns (2018) as it is dynamic instead of stable The deeper understanding between WTC and the learning situations had proved the validity of this point of view as the study’s framework encourage researchers to be aware of the role of learning situations

5 Studies on WTC in EFL context conducted in Vietnam

In 2018, Duong and Bui from Nong Lam University in Vietnam conducted a study

to investigate the human and non-human factors affecting the willingness to communicate of students The findings indicated that students are hinder by their personal factors both inside and outside the classroom and also pointed out some external factors such as the traditional class settings prevent students from getting the most out of the learning activities In addition to the obstacle, positive attitude of students towards WTC was witnessed as they felt motivated to use English with the support of several intriguing activities like role-play, or debate The role of teacher

on creating an comfortable atmosphere for students was also emphasized

Le (2019) conducted a study in a private university in Ho Chi Minh City with three aims: examining the students’ WTC in EFL speaking classes; discovering factors that influence their WTC; and proposing strategies to motivate them to communicate in speaking classes There are 195 first-year English-majored students and 5 native teachers taking part in this study The following results revealed that a large number of PU (Private university) students were hesitant to communicate in English and this is influenced by both individual and situational factors Several strategies were proposed based on the findings of this study to help improve the students’ WTC

In 2020, Bui, Hoang and Nguyen conducted a study which had the same focus as the above one but this time the participants were teachers 30 Vietnamese EFL university teachers were interviewed to collect data Results suggested that all the teachers believed there was influence of students’ L2 WTC inside the classroom on second language acquisition, and they were aware of their role in encouraging WTC As the result, it might be necessary for Vietnamese EFL teachers to update teaching strategies to encourage more use of English to communicate inside the classroom

Another study focused on Vietnamese EFL Students’ Willingness to Communicate

in EFL Classes was conducted by Duyen in 2023 in which non-English majored students at a university in Can Tho were investigated The research targets were similar to other studies of this field which were the extent of willingness to speak in EFL classes and the factors affecting their WTC Two findings gained from this study were the medium level of students’ WTC and the strong influence of both individual and situational factors on their WTC

6 Theoretical Framework

6.1 MacIntyre’s pyramid model on Willingness to Communicate

Many different models have been developed to illustrate the link between WTC and its variables One of the earliest and most noticeable is that of MacIntyre and his colleague (1998)

Figure 1 MacIntyre et als (1998) Pyramid model

This model consists of two main types of influences The first one is the situational variables which affect Willingness to Communicate at a certain point of time This is represented by the first three layers (I, II, &III) The remain variables in the last three layers (IV, V, &VI) represent more stable and enduring influences throughout the time

Layer I: Communication Behaviour

Communication behviour is not limited to talking like speak up in class but also includes such activities as reading second language newspapers, watching second language program on the television, or applying the second language to works Therefore, the ultimate objective for second language education is to facilitate students

to seek out communication opportunities in second language

Layer II: Willingness to Communicate

This is defined as a willingness to join in a conversation using second language at a certain time in a dyad or group By that mean, one student is willing to communicate

as long as they have the intention and it is not necessary for them to actually speak out For example, students raise their hands before answering questions posed by the teacher This nonverbal communicative event is explained in the model Apparently, they must feel confident about their answer and want to express their idea with everyone In order to do it, they have to understand the question and create an answer, which requires a certain extent of self-confidence with the language Motivation from the interpersonal situation such as pleasing the teacher, getting good grades, or intergroup situation like learning the language also makes them to do so The self-confidence, which is combined by a lack of anxiety and a sufficient level of communication competence, is gained from what the students have learned ever since they started acquiring the language Finally, the students’ characteristic may decide their attitudes toward language learning

Layer III: Situated Antecedents of Communication

There are two tendencies proposed in the model The first one is the desire to communicate with a certain individual, which derives from interpersonal and intergroup motivations (Layer IV) These two motives facilitate willing to talk but unequally throughout the process When people contact with someone they often talk

to, someone attractive, or someone share some common features with them, they are more willing to talk (Lippa, 1994) Moreover, if two people coming from different cultures which have different mother tongues encounter, the one with higher self-confidence is more likely to initiate the conversation

In a conversation in which the purpose is promoting control like asking for support, cooperation or services, if the interlocutors are good enough to sufficiently utilize the language to achieve their goals, they are more motivated to use the second language

In term of self-confidence, a combination of two key variables which are perceived competence and lack of anxiety, varies across different situations Self-perceived competence refers to the feeling that one can use the language to communicate effectively in certain situations They may feel better about themselves in a situation that they had been in before Otherwise, they will be uncertain in unprecedented situations Communication anxiety is a state of mind when people feel tension which

expressed not only by psychological denotations but also physical denotations This feeling stem from many factors such as uncomfortable previous experiences, peer pressure, or fear of publicity

Layer IV: Motivational Propensities

Interpersonal motivation varies across different individual with different relationship

to their partner’s second language ability rather than the language itself Control and affiliation motives are vital on deciding the person that individual choose to talk to

Layer V: The Affective and Cognitive Context

This layer consists of enduring individual factors that influence the Willingness to Communicate These factors are more stable than situational variables but still change over time

In term of intergroup attitudes, two variables are integrativeness and fear of assimilation The former refers to a learner’s interest and positive attitudes toward the target language community while the latter involves the concerns about losing one’s cultural identity when learning a new language which negatively impact the willingness to communicate in second language

Social situation including environmental context (cultural norms, social expectations) and situational factors (the presence of familiar people, the topic of conversation, and the formality of the situation), can impact the willing to engage in communication held

in second language

Layer VI: Societal and Individual Contexts

These are the most fundamental and broad influences on the willingness to communicate

The first group of variables is about intergroup climate Societal norms and values is the prevailing attitudes and values within a society regarding language use, multilingualism, and cultural diversity Societies that value and promote these are more likely to promote a higher willingness to communicate among the people Language policies regarding language education, use, and preservation proposed by governments can encourage individuals to learn and use additional languages Intergroup relations refers to the nature of relationship between different language and cultural groups within a society, which can also enhance willingness to communicate

by reducing prejudice and promote mutual respect

The next group of variables is about personality Introversion/extraversion are the personality traits significantly affect WTC Extrovert individuals tend to have a higher WTC than the introvert individuals In addition, people with high self-esteem are generally more confident and willing to engage in communicate Communication Apprehension is a trait reflecting an individual’s general level of anxiety or fear about communication that negatively affects the WTC

6.2 Theoretical framework of the present study

The present study is guided by the following framework

Figure 1 Individual Variables affect WTC of English-majored students at

Banking Academy

The present study model is adopted from the one of Peng and Woodrow (2010) which designed to investigated the speaking aspect of WTC in their research in China The Chinese model integrated five variables: WTC in English, communication confidence in English (which was the combination of communication apprehension and self-perceived communicative competence), motivation to learn English, learner beliefs, and classroom environment To build this model, Peng and Woodrow followed the theoretical consideration that promoted the close relation between learner beliefs and motivation (Graham, 2006; Richards

& Lockhart, 1994) Specifically, learners who have positive beliefs towards learning and communication confidence were expected to be more motivated Therefore, there were links between motivation and communication confidence and another one from confidence to WTC as they were predicted based on prior empirical evidence (Yashima, 2002; Yashima et al, 2004)

Figure 2 L2 WTC model in Chinsese EFL classroom

In this study, the model was modified to align with the aims The classroom environment variable was removed as the study explored the Willingness to Communicate in different contexts In addition, both Communication Anxiety and Perceived Communication Competence were considered as independent variables Also, the learner beliefs were not positive anymore as a possible relation between it and communication anxiety was expected

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, details are given of the research methods and the rationale of using a quantitative method The sample and sample characteristics are reviewed, followed by the details on the research instruments, date collection and procedure The strategies used to analyse the different date sets are explaned

3.1 Locale of the study

The study was carried out at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Banking Academy

3.2 Research Method and Design

To investigate the willingness to communicate in English of ATC student at Banking Academy, the quantitative method was employed In particular, a Likert-scale questionnaire was used to gather data There are many reasons behind the selection of this tool The Likert-scale is easy to understand as it allows participants

to simple sort their preference so the tendency to rush through surveys is decreased Moreover, this type of scale is widely employed for research evaluating attitudes, opinions and perceptions

3.3 Data gathering procedure

Once the participants were identified, the survey was launched at the beginning of April It was created and distributed online through various social platforms, including Facebook and Zalo Data collection and analysis were performed using Google Forms, resulting in the generation of charts, graphs, and tables

3.4 Population and Sample description

The population targeted in this study included all current students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the Banking Academy in Hanoi, Vietnam, totaling around

600 students The sample size for the study was calculated using Slovin’s formula (1960), which is particularly useful for determining sample sizes with a high level

of precision when the population is known but no specific information about the behavior of the population is available (Ellen, 2012)

e is the tolerance margin of error decided by the researcher (Ellen, 2012) According

to the Eberly College of Science, the typical values which most researchers set for e are: 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1 (equivalent to 1%, 5% and 10%) In this study, e = 0.01, was

selected to guarantee the number of participants is not less than the sample size

Table 1 Construction of the questionnaire

questions

Part I: Willingness To Communicate 11

Part II: Communication Anxiety 5

Part III: Perceived Communication

Part IV: Motivation to learn English 5

Part V: Learner Beliefs 4

The questions were provided in both English and Vietnamese, allowing respondents

to choose the language they preferred and felt most comfortable with In SPSS statistical software, Cronbach’s Alpha was used to measure the reliability of the components in each factor of the Likert scale surveys Any components that did not meet the acceptable reliability threshold for Cronbach’s Alpha were removed from the survey before analysis

3.6 Statistical Treatment

Regarding the results obtained from the questionnaire, the raw data were generated using Google Forms and presented in charts, graphs, and tables Before analyzing the data with SPSS software, the variables in the questionnaire were coded

Table 2 Data From The Questionnaire Coding Frame

Part I: Willingness to Communicate

1 I am willing to answer the instructors in English during

2 I am willing to ask for clarification in English when I am

confused about the task I must complete IC2

3 I am willing to chat with friends in English during break IC3

4 I am willing to chat with teacher in English during break IC4

5 I am willing to talk in English with a stranger outside the

6 I am willing to talk in English with a group of strangers

7 I am willing to talk in English with a friend outside the

8 I am willing to talk in English with a group of friend

9 I am willing to talk in English when I attend online

courses/conferences/workshops DS1

10 I am willing to talk in English when I make a video call to

11 I am willing to talk in English when I talk to foreigners

Part II: Communication Anxiety

12 I never feel quite sure of myself while I am speaking

13 I feel nervous when I am going to be called on to speak

14 I keep thinking that other students are better at speaking

15 I panic when I have to speak English without preparation CA4

16 I am afraid that other students will judge me while I am

Part III: Perceived Communication Competence

17 I am able to give an oral presentation in English in front of

18 I am ready to raise questions in English when I want to

19 I am ready to response a questions in English PC3

20 I am able to present a talk in English to a group of

21 I am able to give a short self-introduction without notes in

22 I am sure I can manage to make myself understood in

Part IV: Motivation to learn English

23 I feel satisfied when I surpass myself in my English

24 I feel satisfied when I grasp a difficult construct in

25 I learn English to have a better career later on M3

26 I learn English to pass examinations M4

27 I enjoy acquiring knowledge about the English-speaking

community and their way of life M5

Part V: Learner Beliefs

28 The student who always speak English in class is showing

off his/her English proficiency LB1

29 Students should not speak up without being invited by the

The response were quantified as follow

Table 1 Levels of Agreement or Disagreement's Values

Level of Agreement or Disagreement Value

3.7 Reliability and Validity

Cronbach's Alpha is a vital measure used to evaluate the reliability and validity of Likert scales by assessing the correlation among variables within the same

overarching factor (Tho, 2013) Therefore, to ensure the reliability and validity of variables in this study, Cronbach’s Alpha was employed According to Hoang and Chu (2008), the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating greater scale reliability Typically, if the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient is 0.6 or higher, the reliability of variables within the same factor meets the desired standard (Nunally, 1978; Peterson, 1994) However, excessively high Cronbach's Alpha coefficients (around 0.95 or higher) suggest that the variables within each factor are too similar, leading to their removal from the questionnaire to ensure consistency Additionally, if a variable has a Corrected Item - Total Correlation coefficient below 0.3, or if the value of a variable in the "Cronbach’s Alpha if Item Deleted" column exceeds the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, the variable will also be excluded from the scale (Nunnally, 1978)