An investigation into the relationship between motivations and language learning strategies of first year students at faculty of electrical engineering technology, hanoi university of industry

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** QUÁCH THU HƯƠNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELAT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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

QUÁCH THU HƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTIVATIONS AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES OF FIRST- YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

Nghiên cứu về mối quan hệ giữa động lực học và chiến lược học ngôn ngữ của sinh viên năm nhất khoa Điện, trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi - 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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

QUÁCH THU HƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTIVATIONS AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES OF FIRST- YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

Nghiên cứu về mối quan hệ giữa động lực học và chiến lược học ngôn ngữ của sinh viên năm nhất khoa Điện, trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr ĐỖ MINH HOÀNG

Hanoi - 2017

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “An investigation into the relationship between motivations and language learning strategies of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry” is

the result of my own research for the Degree of Master at the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), Viet Nam National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees I also accept all the requirements of ULIS

relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesis deposited in the library

Hanoi, 2017

Quách Thu Hương

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Đỗ Minh Hoàng for helping me complete this study This paper would not be finished without his support and guidance His useful suggestions and valuable critical feedback encouraged me during the process of conducting this study

I would also like to give my warmest thanks to the students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry who helped me a lot and showed their great willingness to take part in my survey and interview

My special thanks also go to my lecturers, my friends, my classmates for valuable comments and criticism, their interest and encouragement

Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents and my brother for their love, care and encouragement

In terms of learning strategy, participants used social and cognitive strategies most frequently; on the other hand, the use of compensation strategies gained the least attention Moreover, there were significant correlations among types of motivation and learning strategies which were consistent to previous studies From the findings and discussion based on data collection, some pedagogical implications, limitations and recommendations for further studies were included in this research

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS iv

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS v

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study 1

2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Organization of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 The overview of motivation in second language learning 5

1.2 The overview of language learning strategies 9

1.3 Related previous studies on the relationship between motivations and language learning strategies 11

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 The context of the study and the research participants 14

2.2 Research method 15

2.3 Data collection instruments 15

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 25

3.1 Data analysis 25

3.2 Discussion 38

PART C: CONCLUSION 42

1 Concluding remarks 42

2 Pedagogical implications 43

3 Limitations and suggestions for further research 44

REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: Questionnaire: The language learning questionnaire (English version) I Appendix 2: Questionnaire: The language learning questionnaire (Vietnamese

version) V Appendix 3: Interview Scripts in English (Summary) IX

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 1: Gardner’s Socio-Educational Model of Motivation 6

Figure 2: Theoretical Framework for L2 Learning Motivation Scale 17

Table 1: Theoretical Framework for L2 Learning Strategy Use Scale 18

Table 2: Scale showing level of (dis)agreement 22

Table 3: Oxford’s scale showing the frequencies of strategy use 23

Table 4: Summary of Descriptive Statistic for Language Learning Motivation 25

Chart 1: The overall mean of six motivational types 26

Table 5: Descriptive Statistic for Each Motivational Item 27

Table 6: Summary of Descriptive Statistic for Language Learning Strategy Use30 Chart 2: The overall mean for six types of language strategy use 31

Table 7: Descriptive Statistic for Each Language Strategy Use Item 32

Table 8: Correlations of motivational and strategy use components 35

Table 9: Correlation Coefficients between overall motivation and learning

strategies 37

PART A: INTRODUCTION

In this part, the researcher will present the rationale of the study, the objectives, the scope, the methods, the significance, and the organization of the study

1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study

With educational innovation in recent years, it seems that research trend in English Language Teaching is shifted from language teaching methodology to language learning When teacher centeredness has been substituted by learner centeredness, teaching method does not play the most important role in leading to success or failure

of teaching and learning second language any more Besides, other factors such as learners’ autonomy, learning strategies, learners’ beliefs and attitudes may have decisive effects on second language acquisition According to Ellis (1985), language learning strategies and motivation are considered to be two key components to make differences in individual language learners In other words, learners’ motivation and learning strategies are crucial elements involved in achievement of second language learning Hence, it is necessary for both teachers and learners to find out factors which motivate students to learn English and general strategies used in learning process

It is the fact that a close relationship between motivations and language learning strategies has been proved in some research (Ellis, 1994; Wen, 2004) However, it is hard to find the research which directly shows how much motivations have great influence on learners’ strategies and what aspects clearly reflect the relationship between them That is the reason why more studies should be conducted to investigate students’ motivations and their learning strategies to learn English in other countries in general as well as in Vietnam in particular

From the fact presented above, the researcher can assert that finding “the relationship between motivations and language learning strategies” is very necessary for students to develop their English It is the reason that motivated the researcher to conduct a study

on “the relationship between motivations and language learning strategies in the context of learning English as a second language of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry”

2 Objectives of the study

The purposes of the study are to explore types of students’ motivational orientations as well as learning strategy uses and to examine whether there are any significant links between language learning motivations and the choice of language learning strategies Moreover, the research aims to identify how motivations are related to learning strategies of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry Therefore, three research questions are raised as follows:

 What are language learning motivations of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry?

 What are language learning strategies of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry?

 To what extent is motivation correlated with strategy use for learning English of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry?

3 Scope of the study

Within the limit of personal ability and reference materials, the study focuses on the relationship between motivations and language learning strategies in the context of learning English as a second language of freshmen at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry

4 Methods of the study

The survey research was selected to investigate the relationship between language learning strategies and motivation The research instruments were questionnaires and

interviews The participants were 100 first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry who come from four classes Data collection was conducted at regular English classes during the first semester of academic school year 2016 – 2017

5 Significance of the study

The study presents a broad quantitative sketch of motivational orientations and learning strategy preferences of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry By analyzing these variables and links between them, the research provides teachers an overall view of students’ developmental trends in language learning styles to choose and apply teaching techniques more effectively in order to assist their students achieve better results in learning From perspectives of learners, furthermore, findings revealed may help learners hold positive attitudes toward learning English as well as make suitable short-term and long-term goals to quickly reach their aims

6 Organization of the study

The study consists of three main parts:

Part I: Introduction, presents the rationale of the study, the objectives, the scope, the method, the significance and the organization of the study

Part II: Development, includes three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature Review, reviews the theories on motivation, second language learning strategies and related previous studies on relationship between motivation and learning strategies

Chapter 2: Methodology, describes the setting of the study, the participants and the research method Moreover, this chapter shows how the researcher applied the data collection instruments and the procedure of conducting the study

Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion, analyzes the figure and information collected, followed by discussion of findings

Part III: Conclusion, gives concluding remarks, pedagogical implications, its limitations and suggestions for further studies

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is divided into three major sections The first section sheds some light on theoretical background to motivation in second language learning The second section shows an overview of language learning strategies The third section focuses on related previous studies on relationships between motivation and language learning strategies

1.1 The overview of motivation in second language learning

1.1.1 Definition of motivation in second language learning

There are many different ways to define motivation Bandura (1986) defines motivation as a goal-directed behaviour begun and reinforced by expectations concerning the anticipated results or effects of actions and effectiveness for performing those actions Myron (2004: 10) shared the same opinion that “motivation is the internal processes that give behaviour its energy and direction including goals, beliefs, perceptions and expectations”

According to Pintrich (2003), the key construct “motivation” comes from the Latin verb “movere”, which means to “move” In terms of second language learning, Dörnyei (2005, p.65) explains that motivation is a “dynamic, ever-changing process” which provides “the primary impetus to initiate L2 learning and later the driving force

to sustain the long and often tedious learning process”

Although these opinions are not exactly the same, they all show that motivation refers

to the strong and powerful reason which involves demanding effort, arousing desire and raising expectations to promote learning process

1.1.2 Related studies on motivation in second language learning

The history of research on motivation in second language learning was divided into three main periods by Dörnyei (2005): the social psychological stage (1959–1990), the cognitive-situated phase (during the 1990s), and the process-oriented period (since 2000)

In the first period, Gardner (1985) introduces his social psychological model which distinguishes between two motivational orientations: instrumental versus integrative motivation Instrumental motivation relates to a desire to learn a second language for practical reasons such as passing an exam, getting a better job or travelling abroad Integrative motivation reflects a desire to learn a second language to interact and identify with the target language community In the socio-educational model, integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation (Gardner, 1985; Masgoret and Gardner, 2003) are considered two main variables which had an influence on learner motivation Integrativeness is assessed by attitudes toward the target language group, interest in foreign languages, and integrative orientation Attitudes toward the learning situation are measured by attitudes toward both the language course and the language teacher

During the cognitive-situated period, various models were made to define motivation

in terms of different components For example, the well-recognized expectancy-value model was developed by Eccles, Wigfield, and their colleagues (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000; Wigfield, Eccles, & Rodriguez, 1998) This model considers expectations of success and subjective task value to be direct determinants of achievement-related choices One of the dominant language learning motivation studies is the self-determination theory which was designed by Deci and Ryan (1985) In this theory, motivation is classified into two main categories: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Extrinsic motivation refers to a desire to get a reward and avoid punishment It emphasizes “external need to persuade the learner to take part in learning activity such

as homework, grade, or doing something to please teachers” (Arnold, 2000, p 14) Intrinsic motivation refers to “learning itself having its own reward” (Arnold,

2000, p 14) It means that the need comes from inside; therefore, the learners are willingly try to learn what they think it is worth or important for them without rewards Crookes and Schmidt (1991) broadens Gardner’s model by including four motivation constituents: interest, relevance, expectancy, and reward or punishment

According to a process-oriented model proposed by Dörnyei (2005), the motivational process can be separated into three phases: pre-actional stage (choice motivation), action stage (executive motivation), and post-actional stage (motivational retrospection) Considerably, Schmidt and Watanabe (2001) identify thirteen motivational factors The definitions of the thirteen major categories of motivation in this study are as follows (Schmidt and Watanabe, 2001, p.316-317):

 Intrinsic motivation, statements expressing enjoyment of language learning

 Instrumental orientation, statements concerning the financial, social, or other benefits of learning a language

 Integrative orientation, statements about being able to interact with members of another cultural group

 Heritage language orientation, statements concerning the students’ attachment to the language as part of their own identity and cultural heritage

 Interest in foreign languages and cultures, in general (not a specific language)

 Task value, that is, the value of the language course

 Expectancy, statements concerning a student’s belief that s/he will do well and receive a good grade in the course

 Anxiety, statements concerning test and speaking anxiety

 Language aptitude, the student’s own perception of her/his aptitude for grammar, pronunciation

 Competitiveness, statements about doing better than other students and getting good grades

 Cooperativeness, statements concerning relationships with other students and the teacher and learning in a cooperative environment

 Motivational strength, statements concerning one’s intention to put one’s best effort into learning the language, keep up with the course, etc

In short, it is obvious that no model can cover exactly all the features of language learning motivation However, what the mentioned- above authors offer is to aim at finding out the nature of motivation and types of motivation in L2 learning Significantly, four types of motivation are frequently used in studies on L2 acquisition, namely instrumental motivation, integrative motivation, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation Furthermore, the motivational scale developed by Schmidt and Watanabe (2001) with thirteen motivational factors is also considered a popular instrument to measure motivation in language learning

1.2 The overview of language learning strategies

1.2.1 Definition of learning strategies

Chamot (1987, p.71) gives a definition of language learning strategies as “techniques, approaches or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning and recall of both linguistic and content area information” She proposes that some language learning strategies are observable, but some may not be observable Oxford (1990, p.1) claims “learning strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning” She proposed a more specific definition of learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford, 1990, p.8)

In cognitive perspective, O’Malley and Chamot (1990, p.1) view language learning strategies as “the special thoughts behaviors of processing information that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information” Ellis (1994) defines learning strategies by listing the main characteristics of learning strategies According

to Cross and Steadman (1996), learning strategies are methods of learning that help learners acquire information Moreover, Cohen (1998, p.4) proposes the term of learning strategies as “those processes which are consciously selected by learners and which may result in action taken to enhance the learning or use of a second or foreign language, through the storage, retention, recall, and application of information about that language”

In conclusion, from above researchers’ definition, language learning strategies can be viewed as special techniques or methods that individuals use to facilitate their L2 learning and enhance learning achievement

1.2.2 Related studies on language learning strategies

Language learning strategy has been categorized in diverse ways The search for learning strategies was initiated by Rubin (1975) and Stern (1975), when attention was

drawn to what makes a person a good language learner Other studies conducted by Naiman, Frohlich, Stern, and Todesco (1978), Rubin (1981), O’Malley, Chamot, Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper and Russo (1985) identified language learning strategy

as an extremely sharp tool of language learning Rubin (1975) defines good language learner as the one who grabs every chances to practice language skills and communicate with other people without hesitation In addition, Oxford regards good language learners as those who use more and better learning strategies than bad language learners do

Oxford (1990) defines Language learning strategies (LLS) as specific methods or techniques employed by individual learners to facilitate their comprehension, retention, retrieval and application of information in a second or foreign language Learning strategies are divided into two types: direct and indirect learning by Rubin (1981) Six direct strategies are: clarification/verification; monitoring; memorization; guessing/inductive inference; deductive reasoning; and practice Two indirect strategies include: creating opportunities for practice; and production tricks

Oxford (1990) organized a questionnaire with 50 items known as the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), a research instrument used to assess the degree to which learners use various strategies when studying a language The definitions of the six major categories of L2 learning strategies in SILL are as follows (Oxford, 1990, p 18–21; 2001, p 167–168):

 Cognitive strategies: processing information and structuring it, for example, reasoning, analyzing, summarizing (14 items)

 Memory strategies: remembering information by making connections, for example, grouping, using keywords, imagery, rhyming and structured reviewing (9 items)

 Metacognitive strategies: managing the learning process and dealing with the task, for example, paying attention, planning for language tasks, consciously searching

for practice chances, identifying/ selecting resources; self-evaluating one’s progress and monitoring errors (9 items)

 Compensation strategies: compensating for knowledge gaps, such as guessing meanings from the context in reading and listening, using synonyms/ gestures to convey meaning (6 items)

 Affective strategies: identifying one’s affective traits and knowing how to manage them, such as anxiety reduction, self-encouragement and self-reward (6 items)

 Social strategies: learning from and/or with others, such as asking for cooperation, working in pairs/ groups, cooperating with native speakers of the language and becoming culturally aware (6 items)

Oxford’s SILL has been widely used by researchers from different EFL contexts and become a standardized instrument with different versions for language learners of a variety of languages Therefore, later studies conducted by Park (1995), Liao (2000),

Li (2010), Griffiths & Parr (2001), Khamkhien (2006) and Zhao (2009) applied this instrument to investigate learners’ strategy use

To sum up, six main categories of L2 learning strategies in Oxford’s SILL (1990): memory, cognitive, metacognitive, compensation, affective and social strategies have been applied for many studies as the theoretical framework to find out what strategies learners often use in studying English

1.3 Related previous studies on the relationship between motivations and language learning strategies

Ellis (1994, p.529) states that “individual learner differences (beliefs, affective strategies, general factors and previous learning experiences) together with various situational factors (the target language being studied, whether the setting is formal or informal, the nature of the instruction, and the specific tasks learner are asked to perform) determine the learner’ choice of learning strategies” This explanation

emphasizes on variables that influence to choose suitable learning strategies One of the strongest factors affecting learners’ strategy use is motivation (Oxford & Nyikos, 1989)

The significant link between language learning motivation and strategy use was explored by many studies such as Oxford & Nyikos, 1989; Oxford, Oh, Ito, & Sumrall, 1993; Schmidt & Watanabe, 2001 Motivation is the most significant factor influencing language learning strategy use in a study of 1200 university students (Oxford and Nykios, 1989), and is also strongly related to learning strategy use among 107 high school students of Japanese (Oxford, Park-Oh, Ito and Sumrall, 1993) Ehrman and Oxford (1995) also find that motivation factors have strong correlation with language learning strategies The results from this study revealed that SILL mean correlated positively and significantly with many aspects of motivations, for example, total motivation (r=0.44, p<0.05), intrinsic motivation (r=0.33, p<0.01) and desire to use the language outside class (r= 0.31, p<0.05) Therefore, the overall use of language learning strategies was linked with motivation and desire to use the language outside of class This study also reveals in that it signified that “users of cognitive strategies for language learning are a confident, positive, highly motivated lot who exhibit strong arousal (Oxford & Ehrman, 1995, p.377) The same study demonstrates that the use of metacognitive strategies was positively correlated with intrinsic motivation (r= 0.46, p<0.01) To put it differently, users of metacognitive strategies tend to be internally motivated, self-confident and emotionally energized

A study on high school students’ strategy use in learning Japanese as a foreign language by Oxford, Park-Oh, Ito and Sumrall (1993) reveals that strategy use was strongly correlated with instrumental motivation and integrative motivation An analysis from an exploratory study of Japanese and Spanish language learners indicates

significant correlations existing between motivation and L2 strategies in both groups of language learners by Okada et al (1996)

Schmidt and Watanabe (2001) carried out a survey research which mentioned motivation, strategy use and pedagogical preferences of 2089 students of five different foreign languages at the University of Hawai’i They identified the following six factors: value; expectancy; motivation strength, competitiveness, heritage and cooperativeness with four strategy factors: study skills strategies, cognitive strategies, coping strategies and social strategies in strong correlations with each other The results indicated that the overall strategy use was significantly correlated with the overall motivation Motivational strength was the strongest predictor of strategy use, followed by value, and cooperativeness

In conclusion, motivation is one of the most important factors affecting in second language learning strategies The results of the studies indicated that the motivation and English learning strategies were significantly and positively correlated with each other

It is obvious from Ehrman and Oxford (1995) that learners who have intrinsic motivation are likely to use a wide range of learning strategies and achieve more than those who do not Besides, other types of motivation such as instrumental orientations, integrative orientations and motivational strength have strong effect on learners’ choice

of strategies

It can be said that many researchers took Gardner and Lambert’s theory of attitudes and motivation (1972) as the light for the framework of their studies; however, based

on each circumstance, they should use these terms interchangeably Therefore, it would

be better if further studies might focus on practical aspects of motivation and learning strategies in application into language teaching and learning This might be due to the fact that the students who often got a high grade average in English courses tended to

be interested in English learning and get effective strategy uses

2.1 The context of the study and the research participants

This study was conducted at Hanoi University of Industry in Tu Liem district, Hanoi city, Vietnam It is under the Ministry of Industry and Trade with the aim of training multiple levels of qualification to meet the needs of labor market At Hanoi University

of Industry, English is considered an extremely important subject to all students because it directly connects to the general entrance requirements for each student level The students, hence, have to study English during three years before taking the Graduation examination by the end of the fourth year

100 first-year students in the standard program coming from four classes at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry were chosen to be the research participants The first year is an important stage for students because they must have changes to adapt to new environment – university, not high school Thus, the information collected and the recommendations from this study would be valuable

to assist them in their learning Among the 100 returned questionnaires, 4 questionnaires were discarded as invalid because these questionnaires were not completed fully or did not follow the given answering instructions Hence, a total of 96 responses (96% of 100 participants) were used for the statistical analysis

Although all the students learned English from seven to ten years at primary school, secondary school and high school, their proficiency level of English ranged from elementary to pre-intermediate At the time this research was conducted, they were in the first semester of the academic year and learned 90 periods of English in 15 weeks, which covered the first 7 units of the textbook “New Headway – Elementary the third edition”

2.2 Research method

The quantitative approach was applied in the present study The study’s quantitative feature allowed the researcher to obtain the information about learners’ language learning motivational orientations and general strategies use Furthermore, qualitative data from interviews gave the researcher a chance to investigate more how these two factors manifest in the EFL context at Hanoi University of Industry and how they are developed in this context

2.3 Data collection instruments

Two types of instruments, a questionnaire and interviews, were administered in this study

2.3.1 Questionnaire

In order to collect data in learners’ motivations and language learning strategies, questionnaires were used in the study Survey questionnaires were used because of some following reasons First, employing questionnaires is a quick and efficient way to obtain information from a large number of people After administering questionnaire to

a sample, it is easier to gather a huge amount of data in a short time, which other methods (interview, observation) cannot help much Besides, it seems that a questionnaire is not difficult to analyze The questionnaire included mainly items using

a Likert scale, thus the answers were limited and standardized in the certain form The

respondents just need to put a tick on their answers Then, the responses are easier to collect and analyze

Face-to-face questionnaire was applied as an instrument to help the researcher collect the data During this process, the selected participants had a direct meeting with the researcher and were distributed the questionnaire At the same time, the researcher also observed them complete the questionnaire Face-to-face questionnaire was a simple and useful way to get information because face-to-face questionnaire ensured the responses for the research For example, the questionnaire was delivered to respondents

at the beginning lesson and after that all the answers could be collected during 10 or 15 minutes On the other hand, mail or online questionnaires would take the researcher a longer time (some days or some weeks) to get all the responses Another reason for using face-to-face questionnaires was that if the respondents did not clearly understand any part in the questionnaire, the researcher could directly explain to them This made the collected results more precise and useful

In this study, the questionnaire was divided into two parts The first part (part A) collects the information about language learning motivation The second part (part B) collects the data with regard to language learning strategy use

A questionnaire on motivation was adapted from one of the three scales in the questionnaire of Schmidt & Watanabe (2001) that was used to investigate the relationship among motivation, strategy use and pedagogical preferences among 2,089 learners of five foreign languages at the University of Hawai’i The original motivation scale contained 47 items that were divided into13 sub-groups: intrinsic motivation, language requirement, instrumental orientation, heritage language, integrative orientation, interest in foreign language and cultures, task value, expectancy, anxiety, language aptitude, competitiveness, cooperativeness and motivational strength Coefficient alpha for these sub-groups ranged from 92 to 88 (Schmidt & Watanabe,

2001) The theoretical framework for the questionnaire on motivation of this study is shown in Figure 2

Figure 2: Theoretical Framework for L2 Learning Motivation Scale

(Adapted from the Schmidt and Watanabe (2001) study)

However, the objective of this study aimed at investigating motivation in second language learning of first-year students so that some questions were omitted to make the questionnaire relevant and appropriate for participants Special attention was paid

to using Vietnamese for the questionnaire (Appendix 2); hence, it would not be misunderstood by the students Furthermore, some questions in the original version express the same thing; therefore, they were not employed from the adaptation version

to avoid repetition In conclusion, 12 items were remained to match with the scope and size of the research The motivational questionnaire for this study focuses on six

Motivational scale

1 Intrinsic motivation: enjoyment

of learning (Item 1,2,3)

2 Instrumental orientation:

4 Competitiveness:

- getting good grades (item 7)

- doing better than other students (item 8)

5 Motivational strength:

intention to

- put one’s best effort into

learning the language (item

variables: intrinsic motivation (items 1, 2, 3), instrumental orientation (items 4, 5), integrative orientation (items 6), competitiveness (items 7, 8), motivational strength (items 9, 10), anxiety (items 11, 12) This resulted in a total of 12 items in the Part A: Language Learning Motivation Scale (Appendix 1) The instrument used a 5-point Likert scale ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) as follows: 1 – Strongly disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 – Neutral or no opinion, 4 – Agree, 5 – Strongly agree

To measure learner strategy use, a questionnaire on language learning strategies called Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), version 7.0 developed by Oxford in

1990 with 50 items - a version designed for learners of English as a second or foreign language, was adapted in the study The SILL used in Oxford’s study consists of 50 items which have been classified into six categories: (a) memory strategy items (items

1 to 9); (b) cognitive strategy items (items 10 to 23); (c) compensation strategy items (items 24 to 29); (d) metacognitive strategy items (items 30 to 38); (e) affective strategy items (items 39 to 44); and (f) social strategy items (items 45 to 50) However, the scope of this research was not as broad as the original study conducted by Oxford; therefore, only 12 items grouped into 6 categories were reused The theoretical framework for the questionnaire on LLSs of this study is shown in Table 3

Table 1: Theoretical Framework for L2 Learning Strategy Use Scale

(Adapted from the SILL version 7.0, Oxford (1990))

- Creating structures of input

Metacognitive strategies - Centering the learning

- Arrange and planning the learning 7,8

Affective strategies - Lowering anxiety

- Taking emotional temperature 9,10

Social strategies - Asking questions

- Cooperating with others 11,12 The 50 statements in the inventory follow the general format and students responded based on 5 point Likert scale ranging from 1 “Never or almost never true of me” to 5

“Always or almost always true of me” However, for 12 remaining items in this study, participants were asked to indicate their degree of use on a five point scale (1 = I never

do this, 2 = I seldom do this, 3 = I sometimes do this, 4 = I usually do this, 5 = I always

do this) The questionnaire items appear in the Part B: Language Learning Strategy Use Scale (Appendix 1)

2.3.2 Interviews

Semi-structured interviews were conducted after analyzing questionnaires to clarify some notable features or trends and deeply investigate these trends It can be found that interviewing is a way to collect data as well as to gain knowledge from individuals Interviews enable face-to-face discussion with human subjects To get more details regarding why students learn English and how they use learning strategies to get better results, 10 randomly selected students were interviewed All interviews were taken notes and translated by the researcher The translation was crosschecked by one of the

researcher’s colleague to ensure the accuracy of interview scripts in English (Appendix 3)

2.4 Data collection procedure

After selecting 100 students as the sample from the whole population, questionnaires were used as a tool to collect the information Therefore, the data collection process of the research were carried out in 3 steps, namely preparation of data collection instruments, revising the questionnaires and selecting participants, administering the questionnaires

Step 1: Preparation of data collection instruments

During this period, the survey questionnaire were designed based on the conceptual framework established in the Literature Review Thanks to this step, the layout of the whole questionnaire and the wording of several questions had been considerably improved to avoid possible ambiguity and misunderstandings of respondents

In addition, to examine the reliability and validity of the instruments and to find out possible obstacles or unsuitable points, a pilot study was undertaken Ten students were asked to fulfill the questionnaires in class during the first semester All the participants were chosen randomly so that the results would be more reliable After collecting the data, the feedback from students for the content of questionnaires was also gathered In other words, the pilot survey highlighted the need to establish strict supervision and consistent understanding of terms to participants to ensure the reliability and validity of data collection

Step 2: Revising the questionnaires and selecting participants

After piloting the questionnaires with ten first-year students, the researchers made some changes to the wording of some questions to avoid misunderstanding of the

participants At the same time, the researchers noted down the schedule of the first-year classes and selected the suitable time to deliver the questionnaires

Step 3: Administering the questionnaires

After participants were selected, it took the researcher much time to arrange appropriate and place to carry out the survey The delivery of the questionnaires to each class was always preceded by the researcher’ asking for permission of the students at the administering time In each group, students will complete all parts of questionnaires during their breaks On average, it took 15 to 20 minutes to administer the questionnaires

The introduction about the study, instructions and definitions of key terms were given clearly and the researcher was ready to answer any questions that arise in order to guarantee the quality of the information The researcher also reminded all the participants of the keeping confidentiality of their profile All students were also noticed that this survey was not to evaluate or mark them, but to investigate their opinion in order to find the relationship between motivations and second language learning strategies Furthermore, to boost the students’ enthusiasm, the researcher asserted the reliability and validity of the study and promised to return their results if the participants require

Then the process of collection data from the questionnaires was finished Finally, the researchers did not forget to ask these participants to permit the researchers to contact them again if necessity and give thanks to them After all the questionnaires were returned, the researcher checked, sorted, and numbered

The interviews with students were carried out after the questionnaire All of the ten interviews were conducted in Vietnamese to make sure that they are fully understand the purpose of the interviewer and not influenced by the answers of other informants All the content of the interviews were typed and only the particularly interesting and

useful responses were translated into English On average, each interview took 15 to 20 minutes to address the questions

2.5 Data analysis procedure

2.5.1 Analysis of questionnaires

With collected data, the research used “quantitative analysis strategies” method with instrument as statistical analysis This method was considered because questionnaires were the way to collect data and all instruments related to number Moreover all questionnaires were Likert-scale questions therefore responses from these questions could readily be quantified and analyzed This method helped to find out descriptive statistics including means, frequency and percentage to summarize the result of students’ responses to the questionnaire

Step 1: Count and calculate

The data obtained from the questionnaires were analysed following a five-point Likert scale to measure the level and type of subjects’ learning motivation Therefore, from the data which was collected above the researcher counted how many points students ranked for each factors and classify the level of the (dis)agreement based on the following criteria in Table 1:

Table 2: Scale showing level of (dis)agreement Mean range Interpretation

3.68 – 5.00 High degree of motivation 2.34 – 3.67 Moderate degree of motivation 1.00 – 2.33 Low degree of motivation The average of each strategy in the six categories was calculated to find out frequency

of using strategies Then the averages of all the strategies in each category were

averaged, followed by calculating the overall average of all categories The average for each group was classified based on the scale developed by Oxford (1990) in Table 2

Table 3: Oxford’s scale showing the frequencies of strategy use

4.5 to 5.0

3.5 to 4.4

Always Often

Low

Step 2: Analysis

The items were codified and entered into SPSS program for windows, version 20 A correlational analysis was used to determine whether there was a meaningful relationship between types of motivation and categories of language learning strategies Descriptive statistic was used to determine the mean in both parts of the questionnaire After calculating, the researchers analyzed and gave meaning from this statistics Then, correlation analysis from SPSS was adopted to compute the correlation between the two variables: language learning motivation and learning strategies

Step 3: Visualization

The final step was to transfer the result the researcher have from step 2 into some kinds

of chart like tables and bar graphs

2.5.2 Analysis of interviews

Interviews were conducted to gain a more in depth understanding of the quantitative data; therefore, they were analyzed simultaneously with the quantitative data The first step taken to handle the interview data was transcription in English At the same time, the amount of information needed to include was decided Based on research questions,

the interview data was sorted and inserted into the data collect from questionnaire to analyze as well as generate rich information

In order to explore the meanings of data, the next chapter will interpret and further discuss

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter focuses on two functions: giving the findings from the relevant results of the survey questionnaire and the interview; making an interpretation based on the data

It presents the answers to the following questions:

RQ 1: What are language learning motivations of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry?

RQ 2: What are language learning strategies of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry?

RQ 3: To what extent is motivation correlated with strategy use for learning English of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University

of Industry?

All of charts and tables below are based on data gained from questions in “Research questionnaire” (Appendix 1)

3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Students’ motivations of language learning (Research Question 1)

The first twelve items in Part A were designed to find out language learning motivations of first-year students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry

The motivation questionnaire was composed of six types of motivation: intrinsic motivation, instrumental orientation, integrative orientation, competitiveness, motivational strength and anxiety The means, the frequency and the percentage for each types of motivation were summarized in Table 4

Table 4: Summary of Descriptive Statistic for Language Learning Motivation

Types of motivation M

1 ~ 2.33 2.34 ~ 3.67 3.68 ~ 5

Freq

Percent (%)

Freq

Percent (%)

Freq

Percent (%)

Intrinsic motivation 3.64 2 2.1 60 62.5 34 35.4 Instrumental

Integrative orientation 4.04 8 8.3 17 17.7 81 74 Competitive-ness 3.84 9 9.4 26 27.1 61 63.5 Motivational Strength 3.05 29 30.2 41 42.7 26 27.1

Chart 1: The overall mean of six motivational types

Table 4 and chart 1 indicate the means, frequency and percentage for six types of motivation with three remarkable features First and foremost, the participants respond with a high degree of motivation in learning English (the mean of overall motivation = 3.73) Second, it is clear that among six types of motivations, most participants have strong instrumental motivation with the highest mean of 4.46 As is shown by table 4, approximately 3.1 % (n=3) of subjects is in a low degree of instrumental orientation, 10.4 % (n=10) of subjects is in medium degree and 86.5% (n=83) of subjects were in high degree of motivation Third, compared with the instrumental motivation in the chart, motivational strength gets the lowest mean score (mean = 3.06) The majority of the students (42.7%) rank this factor in medium range, 30.2 % in low range and 27.1% for high range The means for each motivational item were synthesized in Table 5

Table 5: Descriptive Statistic for Each Motivational Item

required

4.07

whenever I have a chance

will have financial benefits for me

4.63

films, videos or music

4.3

Integrative orientation 4.04

communicate with friends who speak it

4.04

important thing for me right now

up or only study the easy parts

3.08

speaking in front of this class

3.23

correct every mistake I make

3.49

Table 5 represents the means for each motivational item The means of 3 items (25% of the overall items) are in the middle range (mean 2.34 – 3.67), while 9 items (75% of the overall items) fit in the high range (mean 3.68 – 5) There is no item is in the low degree of motivation (mean 1 – 2.33) Considerably, with regard to 12 sub-types of motivations, the mean score of item 4 (having financial benefits) is the highest (mean = 4.63) while that of item 3 (satisfying mainly the university language requirement is the lowest (mean= 2.78) Moreover, the table 4 reveals that the students highly accept items 4 and 5 as being fundamental reasons to their desire to learn English It means

that they have a strong agreement that studying English can allow them to understand films, videos or music and communicate with friends who speak it

In regard to the interview results concerning the participants’ motivation, there are four noticeable points raised

Firstly, half of interviewees, in terms of intrinsic motivation, mentioned that they enjoy

learning English for their inside interest For example, one student stated: “Learning English is one of my hobbies.” (S5)

Secondly, concerning instrumental orientations, most of interviewees implied that they like studying English for various practical reasons such as getting a good job, improving future career, getting financial benefits, passing the exam, completing

required subjects, travelling abroad or further education, for instance, “I think I can find a good job position with better salary Moreover, I don’t have to pay for studying English again because at my university, if I fail the exam, I will learn the second time

or even the third time with a huge amount of money.” (S3)

Thirdly, half of respondents mentioned they study English because they had a desire to

integrate with the English speaking people to make friends, “learning English well brings me a lot of chances to communicate and make friends” (S4); build relationships and broaden their knowledge about English people or culture, “English helps me connect to the other side of knowledge” (S9)

The last main point is that some students mentioned the importance of studying English

as it is the most dominant international language and it enables them to access to the

technology more effectively This statement is cited from Student 3’s speech, “I dream

of being an engineer so I learn English to catch up with new technology innovations and developments.” is one of examples Another example is that student 10 revealed

“English is an international and popular language so learning English helps me to be