The relationship between language learning motivation and language learning strategy use of Vietnamese employees at Honda company, Vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* HOÀNG THỊ HOA THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANG

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

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

HOÀNG THỊ HOA

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE LEARNING MOTIVATION AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGY USE OF VIETNAMESE EMPLOYEES

AT HONDA COMPANY, VIETNAM

MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN THUẬT HỌC NGÔN NGỮ CỦA NHÂN VIÊN NGƯỜI VIỆT

CÔNG TY HONDA, VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

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

HOÀNG THỊ HOA

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE LEARNING MOTIVATION AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGY USE OF VIETNAMESE EMPLOYEES

AT HONDA COMPANY, VIETNAM

MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN THUẬT HỌC NGÔN NGỮ CỦA NHÂN VIÊN NGƯỜI VIỆT

CÔNG TY HONDA, VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Tô Thị Thu Hương, PhD

HANOI - 2016

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that my thesis submitted for the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, apart from the help recognized, is my own work Also, this paper has not been submitted to any other formal course of study

Hanoi, 2016

Ho ng Thi Hoa

Second, I also wish to thank all the doctors and lecturers of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable lectures, which are partly applied in this study

Next, I would like to send my deep sense of thanks to Vietnamese employees

at Honda Co., Vietnam for their cooperation and the valuable information they provided in my research field

Furthermore, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my family and friends, especially my boyfriend, Thanh Nguyen, and my best friend, Sao Bui, who have always been helpful to me throughout the research

Last but not least, I thank almighty the graders and readers for their interests, evaluation and feedback on this thesis

ABSTRACT

This research aims to investigate the correlation between language learning motivation and language learning strategy use by Vietnamese employees at Honda company

To seek answers for the issue, a questionnaire was conducted to collect the answers from 120 Vietnamese employees at Honda company The first section of the questionnaire was about how often the students used instructed strategies in learning English and found out whether these students use any other strategies than instructed ones, and the second section was created to collect information about the participants‟ motivation level The data were then analyzed and presented in the forms of frequency, percentage and charts and tables The results indicated that all the instructed strategies were used by the majority of the respondents and the participants also applied some other strategies that could be considered belonging to memory and social groups in their English learning, and among the four types of motivation, their reported instrumental motivation was of the highest level Importantly, the study found a significant, positive, and moderate correlation between motivation and language learning strategy use Moreover, different types of motivation are shown to have different correlations with strategy use Finally, the significant contributions of integrative and intrinsic motivation to strategy use were revealed, which went beyond the correlational analysis for the relationship as often observed in other studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 The statement of problem and rationale for the study 1

1.2 Significance of the study 3

1.3 Objectives of the study and research questions 4

1.4 Method of the study 5

1.5 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Language learning strategies 6

2.1.1 Definitions and characteristics of language learning strategies 6

2.1.2 Classification of learning strategies 7

2.1.3 The role of language learning strategies in language learning and teaching 12

2.2 Motivation in language learning 13

2.2.1 Definitions of motivation 13

2.2.2 Types of motivation in language learning 14

2.3 Language learning strategies and motivation in language learning 17

3.3.1 Data collection instrument 22

3.4 Data analysis procedure 26

4.1 The range of language learning strategies used by Vietnamese employees at Honda Company, Vietnam 29

4.1.1 Memory strategies 29

4.1.2 Cognitive strategies 31

4.1.3 Compensation strategies 32

4.1.4 Metacognitive strategies 34

4.1.5 Affective strategies 36

4.1.6 Social strategies 37 4.2 The Vietnamese employees‟ dominant types of motivation for English language

4.2.1 Integrative motivation 42

4.2.2 Instrumental motivation 43

4.2.3 Resultative motivation 45

4.2.4 Intrinsic motivation 47

4.3 The correlation between students‟ use of LLSs and their types of motivation in English learning 48

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 52 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I

LLS: language learning strategy

LLSs: language learning strategies

MA: Master of Arts

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Frequency of using memory strategies 29

Figure 2: Frequency of using cognitive strategies 31

Figure 3: Frequency of using compensation strategies 33

Figure 4: Requency of using metacognitive strategies 35

Figure 5: Frequency of using affective strategies 37

Figure 6: Frequency of using social strategies 38

Figure 7: The percentage of regular use of the most and the least popular strategies ………39

Figure 8: The students' integrative motivation 42

Figure 9: The students' instrumental motivation 44

Figure 10: The students' resultative motivation 45

Figure 11: The students' intrinsic motivation 48

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1.The statement of problem and rationale for the study

That well-paid attention to the second language learners and their learning instead of teachers and teaching methods in the recent decades by researches has been an indispensable and meaningful educational renovation that provides more comprehensive perception on second language education for both teachers and learners The studies of second language learning and their effectiveness that started

to be focused prominently since the second half of the twentieth century (Ellis, 2003) This is well-known when various researches have been launched and they concentrated on how learners deal with their own learning and what makes good language learners The prominent contributions to this field can be known as the studies by Stern in 1975, Oxford in 1990, and Griffiths in 2003 These researchers made it clearer that a lot of responsibility for the second language learning‟s effectiveness and success is on students themselves with their ability to take advantage of opportunities for learning

Moreover, the strategies and techniques that language learners exploit to acquire the language and solve challenges in their language learning have been a thriving area of research, especially in L2.Since Rubin and Stern (1970) revealed in their works that the use of language learning strategies (LLSs) was beneficial for second language learning Bialystok (1978, p 71) also agreed that learning strategies

were the “optimal means for exploiting available information to improve competence

in a second language” Later, in 1990, in her work, Oxford found that students can

self-study effectively if using LLSs In addition, the use of language learning strategies leads to better proficiency or achievement in mastering the target language (Lee, 2003; O‟Malley and Chamot, 1990; Rahimi et at., 2008; Griffiths, 2003; Hong, 2006; Oxford, 1993)

Besides, the variables affecting language learning strategy use were also taken into consideration by several scholars Those factors might consist of degree of

awareness, age, sex, nationality, learning style, personality traits, motivation, learning context, language teaching method and language proficiency (Zare & Nooreen, 2011; Khamkhien, 2010; Rahimi, et al 2008; Chemot, 2004; Griffiths, 2003; Hong-Nam and Leavell, 2007; Green and Oxford, 1995; Ehrman and Oxford, 1989).Concerning

this field, Taguchi (2002) found that “the most influential factors were gender,

English proficiency and motivation” among a number of learner and social factors in

both Japan and Australia contexts In another work by Khamkhien (2010) which studied three factors affecting students‟ choice of LLS, motivation is the most significant (followed by experience in studying English and gender) In additions, the number of studies on the relationship between motivation and LLS use was modest What is more, the approaches to motivation were not consistent and comprehensive in these studies despite the development of research on motivation field Most of the previous studies emphasized on the relationship between motivation level and LLS use without paying attention to motivation types In addition, one can notice that although the correlation between motivation and the use

of LLSs were discussed to some extent (Al-Qahtani, 2013; Khamkhien, 2010; Lau & Chan, 2003; Liu et al., 2014; Mochizuki, 1999; Oxford & Nyikos, 1989), little was known about the predictive power of motivation in explaining LLS use of EFL learners

At Honda company context, there has never had any researches of language learning carried out Moreover, since 2015, Honda Motor Co announced widely that they are to make English the official language by around 2020, which means if any employees who cannot use English will be fired Simultaneously, all Honda staff members will be helped to take part in free English classes at the company in order to enhance their English skills These mean the learning and teaching context of the company staff members have undergone some changes Due to the above reasons, this paper would take a deeper look at the relationship between motivation and the use of LLSs, and the researcher decided to work with the case of Vietnamese employees at Honda company in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, who are having extra classes

of English skills at their company which may lead to students‟ clearer motivation for learning English

In additions, in the context of Honda, the researcher did not choose to investigate the relationship between gender and LLSs because the majority of Vietnamese employees at Honda are male, so it may meet difficulties in collecting respondents in proportion Besides, almost all Vietnamese staffs at Honda graduated from universities of technical fields, or economic, and law, etc As a result, their proficiency of English is quite the same at elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate levels, which may give unvalued results if investigating the correlation between English proficiency and the use of LLSs Thus, this study was conducted with an aim at expanding the understandings about the relationship between motivation and LLSs use, especially on the role of motivation types in explaining and predicting the L2 learners‟ LLS use

In short, being aware of the rather new teaching and learning situation, the gap in research and the possibility of Vietnamese employees' increasing motivation

at Honda to learning English, the researcher designed this study to investigate the

relationship between the use of language learning strategy and their motivation for learning English of Vietnamese employees at Honda company, Vietnam 1.2 Significance of the study

As a study on the relationship between LLS use and motivation for learning English of Vietnamese employees at Honda Vietnam for learning English, this work would be of benefit for the target population, their English teacher and other researchers interested in the field

In the first place, this study is conducted with a hope to provide Vietnamese employees at Honda Vietnam, to some extent, with knowledge of LLSs and encourage them to use these LLS in appropriate ways to enhance their language learning effect In additions, the research results would allow participants to know more their current use of LLS, their motivation in their learning English at present and importantly, the correlation between these two elements is expected to be

concerned by learners and taken into their consideration Then, students may have some changes in their choice of LLSs that are useful to their language learning and adjust their attitudes to their study actively and positively, so that their learning is more interesting and effective

As for their English teachers, they could base on the results of this work to further understand their students‟ use of LLS and their motivation After that, teachers can encourage and guide students to use LLS more effectively Furthermore, they can even change the way of teaching or giving tasks, so that it is more compatible and constructive for their students‟ motivation The adjustments in course content or orientation could also be made for betterment

Last but not least, regarding the researchers who are interested in the same or related field, the researcher hope this paper could work as a reliable source of reference and a basis for them to develop their works from

1.3 Objectives of the study and research questions

This study was conducted with an aim of exploring the relationship between motivation and instructed LLSs use by Vietnamese employees at Honda co, Vietnam, especially the role of motivation types in explaining and predicting the L2 learners‟ LLS use To fulfil this aim, firstly, this study focused on identifying the extent of the use of trained LLSs of Vietnamese employees at Honda Vietnam in learning English Secondly, motivation types of respondents towards learning English were investigated After that, this paper explored the relationship between

respondents‟ use of LLS and their motivation for English learning

In a nut shell, the study reported in this the thesis aims at answering three questions below:

1 What is the range of instructed language learning strategies used by Vietnamese employees at Honda Vietnam?

2 What are Vietnamese employees‟ dominant types of motivation for English language learning?

3 In what way does Vietnamese employees‟ use of language learning strategies correlate with their types of motivation for learning English?

1.4 Method of the study

The methods employed in this study to find out the answers to the proposed research questions are both qualitative and quantitative analyses

Quantitative analysis used in the process of data collection and analysis, which was conducted at Honda Company, Vietnam The instrument was a questionnaire that includes fifty-statements of LLSs developed from the fifty-statement strategy inventory version 7.0 by Oxford (1989) and an adapted list of nineteen items related to motivation types Following the phase of data collection is data analysis to give the results for each research question and the topic of the study

Besides, with an aim at providing an understanding of the field for readers and a philosophy for the study, the researcher carried out to review, compare and evaluate a large amount of literature on LLSs and motivation by experts worldwide These materials were then applied to construct the instrument and compare the findings with the results of previous studies

Hopefully, this study could release meaningful and beneficial findings on the relationship between learners‟ use of language learning strategies and their motivation, so that certain contribution to Vietnamese employees‟ English learning

at Honda Vietnam could be made

1.5 Organization of the study

The study consists of 5 chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction of the research

Chapter 2: Literature review (Other researches on this topic are discussed)

Chapter 3: Methodology (the way the researcher collected the data as well as analysis them is showed)

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion (features in learners‟ use)

Chapter 5: Conclusion

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Language learning strategies

2.1.1 Definitions and characteristics of language learning strategies

To be considered as one of the most vital elements contributing to learners‟ success in language acquisition, language learning strategies defined and characterized by a variety of scholars in the related field Early on, according to Tarone (1983), LLS as “an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language – to incorporate these into one‟s inter-language competence” (p.67).Rubin (1987) later wrote that LLS “are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learners construct and affect learning directly” (p.22) The learning strategies also have been defined

by O‟Malley and Chamot (1990:1) as “special ways of processing information that

enhance comprehension, learning, or retention of information” In line with

them, Scarcella & Oxford (1992) mentioned LLS as “specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques – such as seeking out conversation partners, or giving oneself encouragement to tackle a difficult language task- used by students to enhance their own learning” Obviously, a change of what is emphasized in these definitions can

be clearly seen that it shifts from finding out what they learn to how and why

learners learn (Wenden 1991:11) Also, it is vital to note that although there is a notorious relationship between leaner‟s language learning style and his or her preferred LLS, LLS are distinct from learning styles, which refer to learner‟s

“natural, habitual, and preferred ways of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills” (Reid, 1995, p.viii) Ellis (1994, p 532-533) affirmed that

“[s]trategies refer to both general approaches and specific actions or techniques used to learn an L2”, and strategy use can be behavioral or mental, visible or

invisible This definition was consistent with the ideas of many other scholars in the field, especially those of O‟Malley and Chamot (1990) and Oxford (1989, 2001) Concerning whether strategy use necessitates consciousness or not, Ellis (1994), Oxford (2001), and Grabe (2009) agreed that learners make use of learning strategies

intentionally until they can implement them skillfully and automatically Above all, there was a consensus among these researchers that strategies affect directly and indirectly on learning process, exerting positive influence on students‟ task solving, language skill development, language proficiency, communicative competence, learning autonomy, self-confidence, and aiming at making the process of learning easier and more feasible (Al-Qahtani, 2013; Dreyer & Oxford, 1996; “Author 2”, 2005; Ellis, 1994; Matsumoto, Hiromori, & Nakayama, 2013; Moya, 2014; Nisbet, Tindal, & Arroyo, 2005; O‟Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990; Oxford, 2001; Oxford & Scarcella, 1992)

Regarding the LLS literature, this study now mentions a number of basic characteristics of language learning strategies that published in 2005 by Jacet (cited

in Kitakawa, 2008, p.151) First of all, LLS help learners to study language easier and contribute language acquisition (competence and performance) Secondly, LLS are “what learners can use consciously according to need and then allow them to become more responsible and self-directed Some LLS are behavioral (and, therefore, observable) while other are mental (and, therefore, not observable) Also, some LLS contribute directly while other contributes indirectly on inter-language development The fifth is LLS are not distinguished by being good or not and just have effectual way and non-effectual way LLS allow students to properly use the strategies with appropriate guidance Finally, LLS use varies as a result of learner‟s internal factors (sex, age, belief, aptitude, purpose, learning stage, cultural background, intelligence) and external factors (target language, task, environment, etc)”

2.1.2 Classification of learning strategies

Through the years, a number of researchers released the systems of language learning strategies in their own way LLS are defined and classified in different way from each other Therefore, this field of LLS is controversial (Oxford, 1990) The researchers on this field have not been shared the same view As a result, the quantity and classification of LLS are “inevitable” (Oxford, 1990)

In 1971, Rubin investigated the strategies used by “good language learners” when learning a second language with an aim to apply this to “poor language learner” Naiman et al (1976) agreed with researchers earlier on the significance of learners‟ strategies to their learning process A new point is they identify “good” and “poor” language learners and they found out that “poor” language learners appeared to use a smaller number and range of strategies than “good” learners It

was believed that good language learners are “willing and accurate guessers; have

a strong drive to communicate; are often uninhibited; are willing to make mistakes; focus on form by looking for patterns and analyzing; take advantage of all practice opportunities; monitor their speech as well as that of others; and pay attention to meaning”, and the students‟ process was under direct or indirect influence of LSs

(Rubin, 1975).The female expert came to her latest classification in 1987 with three main groups of strategies that make a direct or indirect contribution to students‟

language learning: „learning strategies‟ (with „metacognitive strategies‟ and

„cognitive strategies‟ as subclasses), „communication strategies‟, and „social strategies‟ Among strategies included in the system, only cognitive ones directly

affect learning, while the rest indirectly However, Ellis (1986) argued that successful use of communication strategies may prevent language learning, for example, being excel at guessing meaning may prevent the desire for learning

Another prominent way of categorizing LLS belonged to O‟Malley and

Chamot (1990) with three main types, namely cognitive (applying a particular

technique to a specific task, for example repeating, summarizing, note-taking,

reasoning and analyzing), meta-cognitive (related to the learning process, for example organizing, evaluating, planning and monitoring) and socio- affective

(involving oneself and others, for example co-operating with peers and seeking clarification) O‟Malley and Chamot (1990) emphasized the cognitive strategy is the best one “repetition as the most frequently used strategy” and gave those classed as meta-cognitive a special consideration, maintaining that “students without meta-cognitive approaches are essentially learners without direction or opportunity to

plan their learning, monitor their progress, or review their accomplishments and future learning directions” It can be seen that the meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies correspond roughly with Rubin‟s However, there was an addition of the

social ones, which essentially acknowledged the importance of interactional

strategies in language learning (Griffiths, 2004)

Basing on the predecessors‟ works, Oxford tried to develop a taxonomy that discussed before in other researches in more detail, which was considered "the most comprehensive classification of learning strategies to date” (Ellis, 1994) She divided these strategies into two main classes, direct and indirect, which are further

subdivided into six categories (cognitive strategy that allows learners to understand and produce the target language in different means, memory strategy that helps learners to store and retrieve new information later, and compensation that

provides learners the means to communicate although their knowledge is limited (Oxford, 1990) under the direct class; meta-cognitive, affective, and social under

the indirect class).Meta-cognitive strategies allow students to control their cognition and their own learning, affective strategies relates to regulate learners‟ emotion, motivation, and behaviors, and social strategies that permit learners study

through interaction with others

Following is the table contains detail information of specific strategies of each group

Table 1: Oxford‟s (1990) language learning strategy taxonomy

A Creating mental linkages

B Applying images and sounds

C Reviewing well

D Employing action

II Cognitive (entail conscious ways of handling the target language)

A Practicing

B Receiving and sending messages

C Analyzing and reasoning

D Creating structure for input and output

III Compensation (enable learners to communicate despite knowledge limits)

A Guessing intelligently

B Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing

A Lowering anxiety

B Encouraging oneself

C Taking emotional temperature

III Social (improve social interaction with other people)

A Asking question

B Cooperating with others

C Empathizing with others

It is observable that Oxford‟s (1990) system was more specific than previous ones in terms of primary strategies and more general in terms of secondary ones Especially, a difference from earlier inventories is that Oxford emphasis on affective and social strategies This seems to match with her assertion when mentioning to six

fundamental strategies in language learning as “tools for active, self-directed

involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence”

Although there are differences of approaches and emphases, the strategies that are discussed and classified by researchers are similar to some extent Particularly, three types of cognitive, memory and compensation given by Oxford correspond to that

by O‟Malley‟s cognitive group These strategies are mental and physical actions affecting their learning input directly Also, O‟Malley and Oxford have the same kind of meta-cognitive strategies as mentioned earlier Finally, social-affective strategies by O‟Malley seem to almost cover two groups of affective and social strategies of Oxford The advantage of Oxford‟s classification in comparison with others is that the list could cover all other particular actions or activities in language learning; therefore, the system has been considered a very comprehensive, detailed and systematic taxonomy of strategies (Brown, 2007; Ellis, 1994) More importantly, based on this taxonomy, Oxford (1989) created the Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL), which is a questionnaire on how students use the LLSs in their language learning The version for speakers of other languages learning English of the SILL (Oxford, 1989) has been widely employed by researchers in the field, and it served as the instrument of this study as well

Concerning previous studies, several have investigated the frequency of using LLS by L2 learners, but the findings were different across studies For example, metacognitive and cognitive strategies were revealed to be the most frequently used

in Al-Hebaishi (2012), Al-Qahtani (2013), and Chand (2014) In the meantime, Hayati (2015) found the students made use of metacognitive and memory strategies the most Differently, in Mochizuki (1999), Oxford and Ehrman (1995), compensation group was used the most often by L2 students However, the inconclusive findings were understandable because the participant samples had different characteristics (different study levels, different learning settings, to name but

a few), and it has been acknowledged that learning strategies were likely to be affected by many factors, which would be discussed later in this paper

2.1.3 The role of language learning strategies in language learning and

teaching

Obviously, the definitions and classifications mentioned above revealed some roles of LLS LLS facilitate positively the language learning process as they are used to “enhance comprehension, learning, or retention of information” (O‟Malley and Chamot (1990:1) Sharing the same view, Oxford (2001) claims the role of LLS that is to “aid acquisition”, “make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation”

In addition, the positive impacts of LLS is also pointed out in the relationship between learners‟ language proficiency and language strategy use that proved in the findings of Nisbet et al (2005) and Oxford‟s report on South Africa learners in

1996

Considering communicative approaches, Oxford (1990) claimed the role of LLS in help “communicative competence” to be improved, LLS as “tools for active, self-directed involvement which is essential for developing communicative competence” (1990, p.1)

LLS also plays a significant role on enhancing language skill (Fedderholddt, 1997) Each type of strategies helps to improve certain skills such as monitoring and regulating their own learning (meta-cognitive), learning and exploiting materials (cognitive) and asking other speakers to correct mistakes (social/ effective) Obviously, these skills are of necessary to the growth of learners‟ independence and autonomy (Fedderholdt, 1997) and thanks to them, students also have able to become better language learners (Lessard-Clouston,1997)

In addition, the suitable use of LLS could lead to students‟ “greater confidence” in classrooms, self-study and real-life communication (Oxford & Scarcella, 1992, p.63)

self-Moreover, LLS are considered as valuable clues that provide language teachers a general picture of how their students handle, evaluate the situation, plan,

choose appropriate skills with an aim to understand, and digest language input presented in the classroom As a result, teachers have plan to train and adjust their students in order that they can learn more effectively

Generally, LLS become a significant part in students‟ language proficiency, skills, achievement, communicative competence, learning autonomy and confidence Besides, these strategies also help language teaching to be more effective Indeed, LLS have overwhelming power to language learning and teaching

2.2 Motivation in language learning

2.2.1 Definitions of motivation

Unlike the exploration of LLS, motivation is put into research with a stable base right from the start thanks to careful and thorough studies of influential authors

such as Gardner and his colleagues such as Lambert Nevertheless, the

controversy of conceptualizing motivation can be still not evaded

Being one of the pioneering researchers in this field, Gardner (1985) proposed neatly three constituents of motivation namely „effort‟, „desire‟, and „attitudes‟ to

learning activity By ‘effort’, the scholar meant time for language learning and the drive of the learner Next, by ‘desire’, the students‟ degree of the want to improve their language proficiency was referred to Finally, ‘attitudes’ showed the learners‟ emotional behaviors or reactions in their process of learning Meanwhile, Brown-

the behaviorist (2000) later claims that motivation simply is “the anticipation of reward”; it concerns mainly learners‟ effort and decisions According to Ahåt (2013), Deci and Ryan (1985), Dörnyei and Skehan (2003), Gardner and Lambert (1972), Gardner and Masgoret (2003), Hashemian and Soureshijani (2011), Khodadady and Khajavy (2013), Wigfield (2000), and Yu (2013), motivation plays a prominent role

in L2 learning and achievement; more specifically, the motivated students could recognize their goals, exert more effort to handle the tasks, have more aspiration and

less anxiety, enjoy learning activities, draw lessons from success and failure, exploit

LLSs as an effective tool to reach the goals, and are likely to achieve higher foreign

language proficiency than the unmotivated

Considering the definition of motivation, Harmer (1991,p.3) proposes it is regarded as “internal drive” that forces learners to do something Sharing the same perspective, Brown (2000, p.160) also claims the “internal drive” pushing people to

do to gain Similarly, Atkinson (cited in Arnorld, 2000, p.13) considered motivation

“a cluster of factors that “energize” the behaviors and give it “direction””

Later on, in 2003, Dornyei- a famous figure in the field, defined motivation

as a process of “the dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person” that concerns the reasons that promote someone‟s action, how long they will keep that action, and how they are willing to make effort in order to pursue it Dornyei‟s concept of motivation also matches with his construct of three phases of motivation, that are choice motivation (pre-actional stage), executive motivation (actional stage) and motivational retrospection (post-actional stage where learners analyze actional phase) (2003) Dornyei‟s mindset have some similarities to Wlodwoski‟s although the latter‟s view dated back to 1985

In his research, in 1994, Ellis also confirmed that motivation has a significant influence on the degree to which language learners last their learning, the types of behavior they apply, and their actual achievement This was reemphasized with his idea in 2003: “motivation involves the attitudes and affective states that influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn an L2” (p.75)

In general, although there is a variety of different definition of motivation, the authors‟ conceptualization mentioned earlier shared the same view, that motivation makes learners‟ spirit stronger and direct their action and carry out their goal in learning language

2.2.2 Types of motivation in language learning

Defining motivation types also garnered a lot of attention Gardner (1983), Gardner and Lambert (1972) posited that there were two types of motivation in

language learning: integrative versus instrumental motivation The former refers to

the reasons mainly related to the learners‟ identification with the society (Gardner, 1983) or their desires and willingness to explore more about the culture of the region using the target language, to connect more with the community and people speaking that target language or to be a member of that society (Gardner and Lambert, 1972, Saville-Troike, 2006) Similarly, Wilkins (1972) suggested that an integratively motivated language learner wants to “know more of the culture and values of the foreign language group…to make contact with the speakers of the languages…to live in the country concerned” (p 184) A typical illustration is the act of learning French of many English speaking Canadians (Ellis, 2003) In contrast, the latter is derived purely from practical reasons or non-interpersonal purposes such as admission requirements, business opportunity or job promotion (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Saville-Trike, 2006).For example, when a leaner study to “pass an examination to use it in one's job, to use it in holiday in the country, as a change from watching television, because the educational system requires it”, (s)he is instrumentally motivated (Wilkins, 1972, p.184)

While both motivation types were theorized to be essential elements of success, Csizer and Dörnyei (2005), Yu (2013) found integrative motivation the more powerful contributor to success in L2 learning Nonetheless, Dörnyei (1990), Gupta and Woldemariam (2011), Lukmani (1972), Rehman et al (2014), Warden and Lin (2000), Yu (2014) showed that in EFL contexts where learners have few opportunities to using the foreign language or interact with foreigners, instrumental motivation was more important and students were motivated more strongly by instrumental reasons than integrative one Thus, it is understandable when a learner with an instrumental reason such as a need to get promotion, read document of related-field in target language or necessary qualifications is more interested in learning English in some contexts like Vietnam

Other researchers, later on, raised another well-known categorization which differentiated between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Specifically, according to Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), learning motivation‟s types are

categorized “based on the different reasons or goals that give rise to an action” that

are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Whilst intrinsic motivation means “doing

something because it is inherently interesting or enjoyable‟, extrinsic motivation refers to “doing something because it leads to a separable outcome” such as having good grades, or receiving compliments from others (Deci & Ryan, 1985, p 55)

Sharing the same view to Deci & Ryan, Harmer (1994) defines intrinsic motivation in related to elements appeared within a class, while extrinsic motivation includes affected factors exterior of class such as a need to pass the examinations, hope to get reward, or able to get a vacation in the future In addition, intrinsic motivation refers to learners‟ attitude, belief, needs and personal elements In this case, the students will still learn willingly and voluntarily what they consider as worth and essential (Arnold, 2000) On the contrary, extrinsic motivation derives from each individual and involved in external forces or outcome such as grade or teacher that help to shape learner‟s behaviors and push the learner to engage in learning activity In general, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are not mutually exclusive, but mutualize each other In reality, almost people study English because

of both types of motivation As for Harmer (1991, p.4), he saw both integrative and instrumental motivations as extrinsic motivation

In Deci and Ryan‟s opinion (1985), being extrinsically motivated could do some harm to learning That is, when the rewards or even the punishment disappear, there is a high chance of losing motivation in students However, some researchers indicated that extrinsic motivation is effective for those with little motivation Concerning intrinsic type, Lightbown and Spada (1999) agreed that it brings no harmful effects because the needs derive from inside This motivation type was also considered the underlying factor in L2 learning success (Baleghizadeh & Rahimi, 2011; Grabe, 2009; Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000; Liu et al., 2014)

Another type was discussed by Ellis (2003, p 75): „resultative motivation’

All above sorts of motivation have been identified based on the assumption that motivation stimulates language learning and contributes to achievement; however, in

many cases, motivation could result from learning (Ellis, 2003) This scholar reasoned that success and sense of achievement in language learning could sustain existing level of motivation or may cause more or, in some context, even less motivation

Besides, Ellis (2003) seems to imply that integrative, instrumental and resultative categories all belong to extrinsic motivation because in Ellis‟s classification there are four types: integrative, instrumental, resultative, and intrinsic categories In this research, Ellis‟s system of motivation was applied due to the fact that it covered all main types of motivation discovered previously

2.3 Language learning strategies and motivation in language learning

The factors affecting L2 learners‟ strategy use have been investigated by a variety of increasing researchers Although discussed in just a few studies, the strong relationship between L2 learning strategy use and motivation was recorded In a research of foreign language learners in Midwestern America, Oxford and Nyikos

(1989) stated that among many factors, motivation was the most influential and “the

degree of expressed motivation was the single most powerful influence on the choice of language learning strategies” More particularly, the level of motivation

has a positive correlation with the number and the frequency of strategies students apply The superiority of motivation over study experience, gender, study major, English proficiency, enjoyment, etc., in correlating with and affecting LLS choice and use was supported in Khamkhien (2010), Lau and Chan (2003), and Mochizuki (1999) Besides, significant correlation between LLS use and motivation was also reported in Al-Qahtani (2013), Baleghizadeh and Rahimi (2011), Gupta and Woldemariam (2011), Liu et al (2014), Matsumoto, Hiromori, and Nakayama (2013), and Xu (2011)

Moreover, this relationship between LLS use and motivation was found to be mediated by different strategies and motivation types Schmidt and Watanabe‟s (2001) results showed that cognitive and metacognitive were correlated most strongly with motivation In Oxford and Nyikos (1989), it was reported that the students‟

instrumental desire was not interrelated with communication strategies However, the opposite was found in Ehrman (1990) In the meantime, Al-Qahtani (2013) suggested that both integrative and instrumental strategies significantly correlated with LLS use, but the former possessed the higher correlation For intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, Vandergrift (2005), Baleghizadeh and Rahimi (2011) showed that both were significantly correlated with strategies

The above listed studies had some undeniable strengths For example, Oxford and Nyikos (1989), Schmidt and Watanabe‟s (2001) recruited a huge number of participants (1200 and 2089 respectively), and in Oxford and Nyikos (1989) there was a large amount of evidence for the SILL‟s reliability and validity However, there existed some gaps and limitations In Gupta and Woldemariam (2011), Lau and Chan (2003), Matsumoto, Hiromori, and Nakayama (2013), Vandergrift (2005), the focal attention of their research was the strategies for only one in four English skills (writing, strategies, reading strategies, and listening strategies), which cannot cover all the range of LLSs Similarly, Baleghizadeh and Rahimi‟s (2011) research was confined to only metacognitive strategies For some other studies, the measurement

of motivation was not so well-developed In Khamkhien (2010), Mochizuki (1999), Oxford and Nyikos (1989), the number of items pertaining to motivation was relatively small (thirteen, one, and six respectively) What is more, Khamkhien (2010), Oxford and Nyikos (1989) only employed the two-point scale questions in the motivation questionnaires (strongly agree/moderately agree and yes/no respectively), which might not reflect exactly the students‟ opinion and their level of motivation In addition, many of the studies investigating LLS use and motivation relationship only scrutinized one or two types of motivation or did not clarify the motivation types investigated Several did not report the results for each motivation types as well Besides, some scholar noted that motivation is not stable in many cases (Dörnyei & Skehan, 2003) and often changes as a function of study results, social and classroom setting, beliefs, and feelings (Grabe, 2009; Mazumder, 2014; Waninge, Bot, & Dörnyei, 2014; Xu & Case, 2015) Aside from this, different motivation types could

be beneficial in different contexts as argued by Brown (2007) Therefore, the results

of previous investigations are not always applicable to a certain place of another context On top of that, the majority of previous studies in the field merely conducted correlation analysis while the causality in the LLS use and motivation relationship is worth investigating Conspicuously, further researches are necessary, especially in L2 context where the shortage of research exactly addressing the relationship between LLS use and motivation types into consideration exists

To sum up, it would appear that there exists a relationship between motivation and which LLSs the learners use and how often these strategies were utilized Nevertheless, the effects of different strategy groups and motivation types on the relationship have not been clarified well enough in the past Thus, along with the room for improvement in previous research, became the rationale behind the present study

Summary: In this chapter, two main aspects of the research that are LLS and

motivation mentioned by providing some scholars‟ viewpoints In other words, their concepts, classification are listed, analyzed, compared with each other Finally, the relationship between how learners‟ use of LLS and their motivation are handled as the last part These contents are pointed out with an aim as a base to build up the questions in the questionnaire and the determination of the research design, both of which are presented in the following chapter

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research questions

This study examines 3 research questions:

1 What is the range of instructed language learning strategies used by Vietnamese employees at Honda Company?

2 What are Vietnamese employees‟ dominant types of motivation for English language learning?

3 In what way does Vietnamese employees‟ use of instructed language leaning strategies correlate with their types of motivation for learning English?

3.2 Participants

150 in a total of 1500 Vietnamese employees at Honda co in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam were selected on the basis of their voluntary participation to be the sample for this study and helped to find answers to three above questions

Participants were chosen from all three English classes at Honda Co There are two semesters for learning English at Honda Co every year Basing on the results of their placement test at the beginning of each semester, employees were distributed into suitable English classes at three levels: Elementary, intermediate and advanced Nevertheless, there were a small number of employees engaged in classes of elementary level and advanced level every semester; therefore, this study could be said to be solely focused on the intermediate level participants

The course session lasted 32 lessons and the course book used through the

course entitled New English File at intermediate level, which develops four all

students‟ language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing In a short time, the English classes aim at encouraging and helping employees in learning English

as much effective as possible with an aim at satisfying conditions as the company‟s

policy publicized in 2015; therefore, English teachers cooperated with each other to make a list of language learning strategies must be used and included for teaching them in curriculum That is, in addition to training students four English skills based

on knowledge arranged in course book, students were learned about language learning strategies to develop their vocabulary, grammar, and their ability of communication There were some typical examples that teachers usually made use

of to teach language learning strategies as followed: Firstly, for improving the

participants‟ new words, students were required to make some sentences used that

word Besides, teachers often encourage students to think of situations (make a mental picture) that the new words could be used In some other cases, teachers

used synonym words or called some students stood in front of the class to act out the new words, the rest of students guessed what it is Secondly, to develop students‟ communication ability, English was the only language used in the classes,

so students are encouraged to ask their teacher or pairs to say it again or slow down

if they misunderstood Also, teachers created a friendly study environment to deal with cases of shy students Moreover, students were free to make gestures or used known words or phrases to express the unknown words Finally, for strategies of enhancing the fluency of English grammar, teachers often provided students with short sample emails or letters at the end of each lesson, and required them to read, find out the patterns of each sentence and write respective answer emails or letters

at home and then, submitted those for correction in the following lesson

The researcher came to all three classes explaining about the research, and asking for students‟ voluntary participation Then, the questionnaires were provided

to all students who agreed to participate in these classes After excluding some questionnaires which were not filled in completely, 120 questionnaires were used as data for the study

The samples have some basic features such as: they are all Vietnamese employees at Honda Company, 32 are female and 88 are male The period of time that they have worked at Honda is from one to ten years Their major is not English

and their first language is Vietnamese Besides, their range of age is from 23 to 35

years old They studied the same English curriculum and course book entitled New

English File mostly at intermediate level Moreover, reformed project of English

throughout the company publicized in 2015 and applied since 2020 would decide job opportunity of existing workers and caused great effect on their English learning Therefore, this is a chance for them to improve English skills; and the researcher think this may lead to employees‟ better motivation for learning English Thus, exploring employees‟ type of motivation and their use of language learning strategies is the focus of the study

3.3 Data collection methods

3.3.1 Data collection instrument

This study uses the data collection instrument that is a questionnaire consisting of two major sections: one pertained to the participants‟ use of LLSs, and the other was about their motivation to learn English (See Appendix 1)

The first section in this study was to find out LLSs used by Vietnamese employees at Honda Company, i.e answering research question number one The researcher adapted Oxford‟s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) version 7.0 Oxford (1989) invented the SILL, based on her taxonomy, and the version 7.0 is designed for speakers of other languages learning English as a second

or foreign language Oxford‟s instrument consisted of a background questionnaire and a list of LLSs Nevertheless, the part of background questionnaire by Oxford was excluded in this paper because two studies‟ objectives are different from each other In her research, Oxford worked on variables influence on choice of LLSs by university student; therefore, she included background questionnaire that she mentioned some other elements such as mother tongue or English proficiency Meanwhile, this study concentrated on the relationship between the use of instructed LLSs and motivation for learning English, which was a smaller area compared with Oxford‟s As a result, some questions were not related to the situation of this study Besides, considering questions that concerning motivation in

Oxford‟s instrument only covered two motivation types and was not enough for a thesis focusing more on motivation Consequently, this paper included four types of motivation in the second section Apart from the background questionnaire, this study adopted the list of LLSs designed by Oxford as the main instrumentation that systematically covered four English skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing and were completely concluded from her taxonomy of LLSs For ages, a variety of scholars have demonstrated the efficiency of this strategy questionnaire

In Oxford‟s point of view, answering a strategy questionnaire like the SILL may even help participants understand themselves more because they can self-score and have feedback right after completing (1992, p.33) Additionally, in his work, Ellis

(1994) claimed that this Oxford‟s piece of research is “perhaps the most

comprehensive classification of learning strategies to date” Moreover, through a

number of tests, researches, and reviews, this Oxford‟s product has been proven to

be high in reliability and validity (Oxford & Nyikos, 1989) Because the participants are in non-English major and workers, the researcher of this study translated the SILL into Vietnamese with an aim to help participants can fully understand every word in the SILL To make sure, the author also piloted the questionnaire with some students who are now workers at Honda company The result was that no unsuitability was found Students in the pilot study also did not meet any difficulty in choosing the answers under the scale of five points As a result, this study used Oxford‟s instrument for LLSs for the first section without any changes

The first section of the questionnaire adopted fifty closed-ended questions, or more exactly, fifty statements used in the forms of rating scales in the SILL by Oxford (1989) with a role of measuring students‟ level of employing English LSs There were six parts A, B, C, D, E and F corresponding to Oxford‟s six types of

LLSs: memory cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social

strategies respectively, and they contained respectively nine, fourteen, six, nine, six,

and six items Each group was composed of the statements mentioning strategies used

by language learners, for example, “I review English lessons often, I read English

without looking up every new word” Particularly, for this section, the participants

were required to rate how true these statements were for themselves on the scale of

five options: (1) never or almost never true of me, (2) usually not true of me, (3)

somewhat true of me, (4) usually true of me, (5) always or almost true of me The

respondent never uses that strategy if he or she chooses level 1, and it is the other way round for the selection of level 5 Oxford (1989) also suggested the way to interpret the mean scores of the students‟ self-ratings If the means are equal 4.5 or above (out of 5), the strategies are always or almost always used; if from 3.5 to less than 4.5, the strategies are usually used; if from 2.5 to less than 3.5, the frequency is medium, and the strategies are sometimes used; if from 1.5 to less than 2.5, the strategies generally are not used; if the mean is less than 1.5, the strategies are never

or almost never used This scale was applied to interpret the results in this study as well In additions, the author included an open-ended question as the question number 51 of language learning strategies that respondents use but this study failed

to list (if any)

The second section of the questionnaire included 19 statements as to the students‟ motivation types These statements were divided into four parts of

integrative, instrumental, resultative, and intrinsic motivation In the first two

parts, the items were adapted from Gardner (1985) and Hernandez (2006) The four items in the integrative motivation part mentioned learners‟ desires to know the language, the English culture and the people especially who come from English speaking regions Conversely, the eight items of the instrumental motivation part were about practical reasons to learn English, for example, the helpfulness of English

in traveling and working in oversea environment, in getting better jobs, qualifications Next, adjusted from the investigation of Madrid and Pérez (2001), three items of the third part were designed to have information about learners‟ resultative motivation Particularly, these items helped to identify if the study results affect negatively or positively students‟ motivation and how strong the influences are Finally, intrinsic

type was discussed in the last part with three items asking about learners‟ love and enjoyment for learning English itself These items were from Tsai and Chang‟s (2013) questionnaire

Besides, this section of the questionnaire also applied the 5-point Likert ranging from

(1) strongly disagree to (2) disagree, (3) neither, (4) agree and (5) strongly agree

Moreover, the way to interpret the mean scores into the degree to which the students were motivated to learn English was made compatible with the system used for the frequency of LLS use presented above That is, if the mean scores were equal 4.5/5 or higher, the students‟ motivation was considered extremely high; if from 3.5 to less than 4.5, their motivation was high, if from 2.5 to less than 3.5, it was at medium level; if from 1.5 to less than 2.5, their motivation was low; if less than 1.5, the students were not motivated at all, or extremely low

Data and results from all statements in two sections of the questionnaire are used to find the answers for the research question three, that is the correlation (if any) between learners‟ use of instructed LLSs and their motivation in English learning

3.3.2 Data collection procedure

The researcher conducted a pilot study with a group of ten Vietnamese employees at Honda Vietnam with an aim to discuss with this group and find out and correct any mistakes, ambiguity and misunderstanding, so that these could be avoided in the full scale study Then, thanks to the research expert‟s opinion, the researcher finalized the questionnaire and administered it to the respondents

When delivering, the author helped the respondents to understand the topic and objective of the questionnaire Moreover, in order that participants could be fully aware of what systems of options were used in the questionnaire, what they had to read and decide on, where they could put the ticks and write their basic information to complete the questionnaire, the overall guide was given in Vietnamese orally The researcher directly observed the respondents‟ process of filling the form and welcomed them to raise their voice if they did not understand anything or wanted to

give any suggestions The author was always ready to explain everything to the participants

The researcher also met some difficulties in distributing questionnaires A few employees were not confident to fill in the questionnaire because they were not good

at English, and afraid that their responses would negatively affect the results of the research Others seemed to just put ticks to finish without having a look at the statements To deal with this problem, the researcher had to emphasize what the author needs are reliable results that did not concern respondents‟ English proficiency and explained in person but briefly to them the importance of their answers to the study and said “thank you” in advance

Finally, the uncompleted answers or those with seemingly random ticks were excluded, and only the completed questionnaires were collected and counted These answers were used for data analysis

3.4 Data analysis procedure

After collecting questionnaire, the researcher carried out to analyze data in some steps Firstly, items were categorized according to related research question Then, the data was converted into numerical form using the SPSS program version 16.0 in which all the variables (questions in the questionnaires) are ordinal

The range of language strategies used by the participants and their types of motivation were investigated in the rating scales so that results collected could answer the first two research questions The frequency of each option was calculated and displayed in percentage terms Data were illustrated by means of tables and stacked bar charts

The last research question is about the correlation between respondents‟ use

of LLS and their motivation To see the relationship between the frequency of using LLS and their motivation, a Spearman-rho test, which is a test to find out the correlation of ordinal variables, was employed Spearman‟s correlation is a statistical measure of the strength of a monotonic relationship between paired data

(which are LLS frequency and motivation level in this study) and it is denoted by r

of which the value is such that -1 < r < +1 The closer r is to +1 or -1, the stronger the monotonic relationship While positive values indicate a relationship such that

as values for one increase, values for the other also increase, negative values indicate a relationship such that as values for one increase, values for the other decrease Ratner (2004) provided guidelines for interpreting the strength of correlation:

r = 0 indicates no linear relationship or no correlation, i.e there is no tendency for one variable to either increase or decrease when the other increases

r values from more than 0 to less than +0.3 (from more than -0.3 to less than 0) indicate a weak correlation

r values from 0.3 to less than 0.7 (from more than -0.7 to -0.3) indicate a moderate correlation

r values from 0.7 to less than 1.0 (from more than -1.0 to -0.7) indicate a strong correlation

r = +1 or -1 indicates a perfect linear relationship: as one variable increases (decreases) in its values, the other variable also increases (decreases) via an exact linear rule

Furthermore, Spearman-rho test in SPSS also provided p-value along with the r value This p-value was to decide whether there is any evidence to suggest that monotonic correlation is absent in the population It is believed that a small p (traditionally less than 0.05) gives strong evidence against the null hypothesis – the absence of correlation, and the null hypothesis could be rejected (Rumsey, 2011) A correlation with p value less than 0.05 is statistically significant In this thesis, a small p value approved the likelihood of a monotonic correlation between LLS use and the population‟s motivation for learning English and that correlation were statistically significant

Finally, the data which were converted and presented in the previous step would be interpreted By analyzing, the choice of groups of instructed LLSs and the

frequency and popularity of the use by Vietnamese employees at Honda Co came out Apart from that, which reasons for learning English and indications of motivation are agreed by the biggest number of participant were also found out and dominant motivation types or the types with the highest reported level of motivation were revealed As for the third research question, the values of r and p describe how the respondents‟ use of LLS and their motivation level related to each other It means that whether the two related significantly or strongly to each other or not were found The relation may be between a group of LLSs and a type of motivation Moreover, a comparison was made to find statistically significant and strongest relations Eventually, conclusions were drawn for each question in the questionnaire and each research question

Summary: This chapter has showed the methodology applied in this research by

means of a questionnaire with elaborating questions for 120 Vietnamese employees

at Honda co In the chapter, the process from collecting data to analyzing them is emphasized on: voluntary sampling was used at first, then questionnaires were distributed to the sample All participants‟ confusions were clarified and their suggestion was also taken into consideration to make an amendment to the questionnaire The questionnaire‟s format and content were explained carefully in this chapter The results collected were then transferred into numerical forms and presented in charts and graphs This presentation of the methodology would help make the easier way for studying the next chapter