RESEARCH ON STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS Nghiên cứu động lực học tiếng Anh của sinh viên trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế đối ngoại

Instrumental motivation refers to a learner‘s desire to acquire a new language for utilitarian reasons and to reflect the practical value and advantages of learning a target language Ga

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

TRẦN TUẤN CƯỜNG

RESEARCH ON STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Nghiên cứu động lực học tiếng Anh của sinh viên trường

Cao đẳng Kinh tế đối ngoại

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

HoChiMinh, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

TRẦN TUẤN CƯỜNG

RESEARCH ON STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Nghiên cứu động lực học tiếng Anh của sinh viên trường

Cao đẳng Kinh tế đối ngoại

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: VŨ THỊ PHƯƠNG ANH, PhD

HoChiMinh, 2014

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that the research report I am submitting is entirely my own original work except where otherwise indicated I am aware of the University's regulations concerning plagiarism, including those regulations concerning disciplinary actions that may result from plagiarism Any use of the works of any other author, in any form, is properly acknowledged at their point of use

Student's signature: _ Name (in capitals): _ Date of submission:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express many thanks to University of Language and Foreign Studies – VNU and the Faculty of Post Graduate that offer me a chance to do the thesis

My deepest gratitude is sent to Ms Vu Thi Phuong Anh who conveyed all her enthusiasm in instructing me and giving me vital help in all the time of carrying out the research

I would like to show my most sincere thanks to the Faculty of Foreign Languages at College of Foreign Economic Relations for accepting my research and assisting me

I am deeply indebted to Ms Tong Thi Thu Dung who helped me carry out the survey in her classes She also provided me with all necessary information about the students and the course

This thesis would not have been possible unless I had not received sincere cooperation of the whole classes KT17A and KT17B who provided main source of data for the thesis as well as had memorable time with me

I engrave in my mind my beloved family‘s continuous encouragement which brings up my motivation to overcome difficulties in my life and to reach to the peak of success

complete his teaching job better

Key words: motivation, acquisition, instrumental, integrative, achievement

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

DEFINITION OF TERMS vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1

2 Aim of the study 1

3 Research questions 1

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Motivation 4

1.2 Language learning motivation 5

1.2.1 Gardner‘s socioeducational model 5

1.2.2 Deci‘s self determination theory 7

1.3 Correlation between LLM and learning achievement 8

1.4 Previous studies about LLM and the correlation between LLM and learning achievement 10

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 Participants and setting of the study 14

2.1.1 Participants 14

2.1.2 Setting of the study 14

2.2 Data collection 15

2.2.1 Data Collection instruments 15

2.2.2 Data collection procedures 15

2.2.3 Data analysis procedures 16

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 18

3.1 COFER students‘ attitudes toward learning English 18

3.2 COFER students‘ motivation in learning English 18

3.2.1 Integrative motivation 21

3.2.1 Instrumental motivation 22

3.3 Correlation between the students‘ motivation and their learning achievement 23

3.3.1 The correlation in comparisons of motivated students and low-motivated students 23

3.3.2 The correlation in comparisons of instrumentally-motivated students and integratively-motivated ones 24

3.4 Pedagogical implication 24

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Conclusions of the study 26

2 Limitations of the study 26

3 Suggestions of the study 26

REFERENCES 28

APPENDIX A 32

DEFINITION OF TERMS Attitude refers to an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object,

inferred on the basis of an individual‘s beliefs or opinions about the referent (Gardner, 1985)

Motivation means the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of

learning the language which leads to a conscious decision to act, and which gives rise

to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort in order to attain previous set goals In this study, motivation is classified into two types: Instrumental and integrative motivation (Gardner & Lambert, 1972)

Instrumental motivation refers to a learner‘s desire to acquire a new language

for utilitarian reasons and to reflect the practical value and advantages of learning a target language (Gardner & Lambert, 1959; Hudson, 2000)

Integrative motivation refers to a learner‘s desire to learn more about the

cultural community of the target language or to assimilate in the target community

(Gardner & Lambert, 1959; Norris-Holt, 2001)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AMTB: Attitude/motivation test battery

COFER: College of Foreign Economic Relations

ELT: English language teaching

EFL: English as foreign language

IM: Intrinsic motivation

MS: Motivation Survey

L2: Second language

LLM: Language learning motivation

SLA: Second language acquisition

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: A simple representation of the socioeducational model 6

Figure 2: The students‘ integrative motivation components 21

Figure 3: The students‘ instrumental motivation components 22

Table 1: The students‘ attitudes toward learning English 18

Table 2: The students‘ motivation in learning English 19

Table 3: Student groups arranged by motivation type 20

Table 4: The comparison of the learning achievement of motivated students and low-motivated students 23

Table 5: The comparison of the learning achievement of instrumentally-motivated students and integratively-motivated students 24

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed to figure out the students‘ attitudes to learning English as a part of motivation with the reference to the Gardner‘s theories (1985)

The researcher also aims to study the student‘s level of motivation in learning English and their preferred motivation type

The study is carried out in the hope of caculate the correlation between motivation in general and the students‘ achievement and the correlation between specific motivation types and the achievement

3 Research Questions

The researcher investigates the issue through three research questions

3.1 What are COFER students‘ attitudes toward learning English?

3.2 What are the students‘ levels of motivation in learning English?

3.3 Is the students‘ motivation positively correlated with their learning achievement?

4 Scope of the study

The study is carried out with the participation of students at COFER who started learning English at the college The study does not investigate teachers‘ perception of students‘ motivation and attitudes as well as methods to influence on the two constructs

of the study

5 Methods

First, the study uses quantitative method with survey techniques to investigate students‘ motivation in learning English The questionnaire is adapted from previous studies (Ahmet, 2008; Liu, 2007; Gardner, 1985; Clement et al 1994) Then, the writer bases on the findings from questionnaires and the final results of the subject English 1 and figure out the correlation of the students‘ motivation and their learning achievement

6 Design of the study

The research report will be organized in three parts as follows:

Part A – INTRODUCTION – includes rationale, aims of the study, research questions, scope of the study, methods, and design of the study

Part B – DEVELOPMENT – consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1 entitled LITERATURE REVIEW introduces theoretical background of the study with the clarification of the constructs via relevant theories This chapter also reviews previous studies related to this research

Chapter 2 named METHODOLOGY gives the information of participants, setting of the study, and data collection and analysis tasks

Chapter 3 – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION – interprets the statistics from data collected and figure out the hindering of the data to answer the research questions

Part C – CONCLUSION – summarizes the findings, states limitations of the study and makes pedagogical recommendations to improve the situation after the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Motivation

No researchers deny the role of motivation in language, but they do not agree on the exact definition of motivation (Oxford & Shearin, 1994 12) Researchers still do not agree on its components and the different roles that these components play—individual differences, situational differences, social and cultural factors, and cognition (Renchler, 1992 15; Belmechri & Hummel, 1998)

At its beginnings the concept was examined and understood within a behavioural framework in which behaviorists tried to understand ‗what moved a resting organism into a state of activity‘, with heavy reliance on concepts such as instinct, drive, need, energisation, and homeostasis (Weiner, 1990) It was considered too complex to investigate directly, and many experimental researches conducted on animals were applied to humans It was clearly realized that the understanding of the concept was not relevant to the education context

Behavioral mechanical approaches to motivation became weak when the cognitive revolution started in the sixties In the period, Piaget laid down the cognitive developmental theory in which motivation is perceived as ‗a built-in unconscious striving towards more complex and differentiated development of the individual‘s mental structures‘ (Oxford & Shearin, 1994 23) With the advance of the cognitive approaches the field became more relevant to educational psychologists and the cognitive shift led to concentration on the individual‘s role in his or her own behaviour (Weiner, 1990) In other words, there has been a shift toward focusing on

why students choose to engage in academic tasks instead of focusing on what they do

and the time they spend doing so as has been the case with the behaviourist approach (Rueda & Dembo, 1995) Concepts such as goal and level of aspiration, as well be discussed below, replaced the unconscious concepts of drive, instinct and the like Individual differences were more highlighted with the introduction of

psychological concepts like anxiety, achievement needs and focus of control More

cognitive concepts were developed during the seventies and eighties like self-efficacy, learning helplessness and causal attributions

1.2 Language learning motivation (LLM)

1.2.1 Gardner’s socioeducational model

The most influential model of LLM in the early sixties through the eighties of the previous century was Socioeducational Model (Gardner, 1985) It was developed

by Gardner and following studies were carried out by him and associates Gardner defined motivation as a ‗combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable attitudes towards learning the language‘ (Gardner, 1985 10) In his model, Gardner talked about two kinds of motivation, the

integrative and the instrumental, with much emphasis on the former The integrative

motivation refers to learners‘ desire to at least communicate or at most integrate (or

even assimilate) with the members of the target language The instrumental

motivation refers to more functional reasons for learning the language such as getting

a better job, a higher salary or passing an examination (Gardner, 1985)

Of the two kinds of motivation, the integrative one was the core of Gardner‘s model (Figure 1) The role of attitudes towards the learned language, its speakers and the learning situation are all considered parts of the integrative motivation In fact, the

integrative aspect of the model appears in three different components: integrative

orientation, integrativeness, and integrative motivation According to Gardner (2001 10) orientations refers to the set of reasons for which an individual studies the

language; whereas, motivation refers to the driving force which involves expending effort, expressing desire and feeling enjoyment Besides, other understandings of the concept of orientation have been suggested For example, according to the understanding of Belmsihri & Hammel (1998), and others in the field, orientations are long-range goals, which, along with attitudes, sustain student‘s motivation

Figure 1: A simple representation of the socioeducational model Adopted from

Gardner (2001 12) The dotted square represents the borders of the integrative

motivation

1.2.2 Deci’s self determination theory

The self-determination theory is one of the most influential theories in motivational psychology (Dornyei, 2003) According to the theory developed by Deci and his associates, ‗to be self-determining means to experience a sense of choice in initiating and regulating one's own actions‘ (Deci et al 1991 330) This is referred to as

autonomy The theory distinguishes between two kinds of motivations: intrinsic and extrinsic The first refers to an individual‘s motivation to perform a particular activity

because of internal rewards such as joy, pleasure and satisfaction of curiosity Meanwhile, in extrinsic motivation the individual expects an extrinsic reward such as

good grades or praise from others With the notion of autonomy and intrinsic motivation, the self-determination theory offers a very interesting look at motivation

by setting a different agenda for language teachers The theory laid its focus on how people can create the conditions within which others can motivate themselves more than on how people (e.g teachers in the classroom) can motivate others

Noels (2001), referring to Vallerand (as cited in Noels, 2001) and later works by Vallerand and colleagues, classify the two types of motivations, within education, into different categories The intrinsic motivation (IM) could be one of three kinds: IM-Knowledge (the pleasure of knowing new things), IM- Accomplishment (the pleasure

of accomplishing goals), and IM-Stimulation (the pleasure sensed when doing the task) The extrinsic motivation has also been classified along a continuum of three categories: external regulation, introjected regulation, and identified regulation (Deci &

Ryan, 2000 236) External regulation refers to actions that individuals pursue and that

are determined by sources that are external to the individual, such as tangible benefits and costs If learning the language is made for such an external incentive and this incentive is removed, the activity of learning will halt The second, less external

regulation, is introjected regulation, which refers to activities performed due to some

external pressure An example is a person who learns the language in order not to feel

ashamed if he does not know it Finally, individuals who possess identified regulation

are driven by personally relevant reasons, such as that the activity is important for achieving a valued goal Individuals who learn an L2 because they think it is important for their educational development, for example, all fall within this category Another concept that is fundamental to the self-determination theory is the concept of

amotivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000 237) Amotivation, or learned helplessness, is the

situation in which people lack the intention to behave They see no relation between the efforts they make and the outcomes they get This happens when they lack self efficacy

or a sense of control on the desired outcome In this case, the learner has no goal and thus possesses neither intrinsic nor extrinsic motivation to perform the activity (Noels, 2001)

1.3 Correlation between LLM and learning achievement

This research is based on Gardner‘s model (1985); therefore, the review of the correlation focuses on the correlation of motivation types categorized by Gardner and learning achievement

As mentioned in the review of Gardner‘s socioeductional model, Gardner introduced his motivation theory with the integrative motivation and instrumental motivation Of the two, integrative motivation is highly correlated with achievement,

so it has usually been held as superior (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991) This is not necessarily Gardner‘s position since he states the social context might make an instrumental orientation better in some situations and an integrative orientation better

in others (Williams, 1997) Au (cited in Crookes, & Schmidt, 1991 473) notes that the theories related to integrative motivation, most of which imply its superiority, can be summarized as five hypotheses:

1 The integrative motive hypothesis: an integrative motive will be positively

associated with SL achievement

2 The cultural belief hypothesis: cultural beliefs influence the development

of the integrative motive and the degree to which integrativeness and achievement are related

3 The active learner hypothesis: integratively motivated learners are

successful because they are active learners

4 The causality hypothesis: integrative motivation is a cause; SL

achievement, the effect

5 The two-process hypothesis: aptitude and integrative motivation are

independent factors in second language learning

‗Gardner‘s theories have influenced virtually all SL-related research in this area‘ (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991 471), but have also been criticized, especially in regard to the integrative motive hypothesis and the causality hypothesis Interpretation

of the empirical data from research to validate these theories is controversial, since various studies have produced different results Clearly, other factors impinge Some factors, such as age, can be controlled for, but others, such as cultural values, cannot Gardner‘s chief critic, Oller, suggests that the relationship between affective factors and language learning may be an ‗unstable non-linear function of high variability‘ (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991 48)

In his 1988 defense of the theory, Gardner indicated that across a large number of studies, there have been significant correlations between integrative attitudes and language proficiency, and in his own later study (Gardner, 2001), he found a strong correlation with the learning of vocabulary items Integrative motivation has been also correlated with persistence; Ramage (1991) conducted a study to find what relationship exists between various motivations and the likelihood of a student to continue in a program She found that an interest in the foreign culture and in learning the language, but not for instrumental reasons, thoroughly distinguished those students who would continue in a program from those who would not

The strong correlation between integrative motivation and achievement implies causality, but, as in all correlations, making such an assumption is speculative Integrativeness and achievement might both be products of another, not yet identified cause Savignon and Strong (cited in Crookes & Schmidt, 1991 474), have even proposed that the causality might work in reverse as well Rather than a positive attitude towards the target language leading to proficiency, proficiency and success in the second language might cause a positive attitude, while failure produces a negative attitude (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991)

Gardner has recently attempted to expand upon the original theory to include other factors His socio-educational model is ―operationally defined in terms of a composite of variables including measures of integrativeness, attitudes towards the learning situation, and motivation‖ (Gardner et al., 1992 198) but most scholars still associate his name with the original dichotomy Others, such as Clément, Dörnyei, and Noels (1994), have concluded that integrative and instrumental orientations are entwined rather than separate, and that to attempt to pose them as antithetical is fruitless Whatever the case, there is still a widespread agreement that integrativeness

is one of a number of factors closely tied to achievement and proficiency (Benson, 1991; Clément et al., 1994; Crookes & Schmidt, 1991; Gardner et al., 1992; Ramage, 1991; Skehan, 1991; Spolsky, 1988) Even in a context where foreign language learning is largely an academic matter, student motivation remains socially grounded.‖ (Clément et al., 1994 421)

1.4 Previous studies about LLM and the correlation between LLM and learning achievement

Researches in this section supported the correlation between motivation and success of language learner in second language acquisition (SLA) Krashen (2002) hypothesizes the ‗affective filter‘ that consists of various psychological factors, such as

anxiety, motivation, and self-confidence, which can strongly enhance or inhibit second language acquisition An input rich environment is required where the learners can be relaxed, motivated and self confident in acquiring the second language successfully Krashen (2002) contends that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are well equipped for success in second language acquisition The correlation is slight in some studies and strong in others

Masgoret and Gardner (2003) carried out a research to estimate the magnitude of the contributions that motivation and attitudes make in the second language Integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation were two correlated variables that supported the individual's motivation to learn a second language, but that motivation was responsible for achievement in the second language This conceptualization implied that integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation were related to achievement in the second language, but that their effect was indirect, acting through motivation

Liu (2007) investigated Chinese university students‘ attitudes towards and motivation to learn English and the correlations of the said variables with the students‘ English proficiency He modified the 44-item survey adapted from the Gardner‘s study

in the role of attitudes in 1985 and Clėment‘s study in motivation, self-confidence, and group cohesion in the foreign language in 1994 202 third-year non-English majors in six classes of Xia‘men University in China participated in Liu‘s investigation The study revealed three findings First, the students had positive attitudes and high motivation in learning English Second, the students were more instrumentally than integratively motivated to learn English Finally, the students‘ attitudes and motivation were positively correlated with their English proficiency

Humphreys and Spratt (2008) investigated Hong Kong tertiary students‘ motivation towards learning English, Putonghua and an elected language The results revealed that students learned Putonghua with more instrumental motivation However,

English and the chosen language were more related to integrative motivation One important finding was that the students were aware of the instrumental value of English, but the motive to learn English was not instrumental The researchers emphasized on integrative motivation as the key for teachers in Hong Kong to address their students in learning English

Hsu (2009) made a survey of business English learning motivation and effort on proficiency among junior college students and found that ―the attitude, motivation and effort in combination account for 19.5% of the variance of proficiency.‖ He concluded that the most effective method to obtain higher proficiency in business English learning

is to increase students‘ motivation

Wright and McGrory (2005) carried out a research on the motivational factor causing the participants to enroll in an Irish class They found that their participants were integratively motivated, and their instrumental motivation for finding jobs was not higher than their integrative motivation They liked the sound of the language in their daily lives Peng‘s (2007) study on the relationship between willingness to communicate in second language and integrative motivation showed that integrative motivation was responsible for only a small proportion of variation in willingness to communicate

Phan and Le (2009) conducted an investigation into English learning motivation

of upper secondary school students in Quang Nam province, Vietnam This study investigated English learning goals and motivation and some factors influencing the motivation of upper secondary students in Quang Nam A modified 8-item survey adapted from Gardener‘s AMTB and a 15 -possible demotivating factor survey were administered to 100 upper secondary EFL students in four upper secondary schools in Quang Nam The study revealed that the students had positive attitudes toward learning English and were highly motivated to study it, and that they were more instrumentally than integratively motivated Moreover, the students‘ motivation was more