Demotivating factors in speaking lessons of the non english major students at hanoi pedagogical university 2 and possible solutions

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ HƯƠNG DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN SPEAKING LESSONS OF THE NO

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐỖ THỊ HƯƠNG

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN SPEAKING LESSONS OF THE NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI

PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

YẾU TỒ GÂY MẤT HỨNG THÚ TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI

CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI 2 VÀ HƯỚNG KHẮC PHỤC

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐỖ THỊ HƯƠNG

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN SPEAKING LESSONS OF THE NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI

PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

YẾU TỒ GÂY MẤT HỨNG THÚ TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI

CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI 2 VÀ HƯỚNG KHẮC PHỤC

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Kiều Thị Thu Hương

Hanoi, 2017

AUTHORSHIP DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no material previously been submitted and accepted for any degree in any university or other publishing purposes The thesis is my own work and based on my own research

Hanoi, December 2017

Signature

Đỗ Thị Hương

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Associate Professor Kieu Thi Thu Huong for her excellent supervision and careful guidance in the completion of this thesis She has provided me with valuable experience and comments, which I always highly appreciate

My sincere thanks also go to my colleagues for their support, and students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 for their cooperation in completing my survey questionnaire as well as attending the interview needed for this thesis paper

Last but not least, my gratitude is extended to all members of my family for their love and continuant encouragement during the time I carried out this study

ABSTRACT

This minor thesis aims at investigating some demotivating factors that English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 have encountered in speaking lessons The study involved 150 non-English major students from different faculties except for the ones whose major is English For more accurate results, the researcher has also invited three English teachers to attend an interview Through the use of quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) methods as research instruments and the implementation of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, the study has collected valuable data and drawn reliable conclusions There are six main demotivating factors facing non-English major students at HPU2 in their speaking classes namely: students’ negative attitude toward language learning and speaking, teacher-related factors, facility-related factors, teaching materials, unfavorable classroom climate, and insufficient opportunities for speaking practice Several pedagogical strategies of these findings have been offered to assist instructors in helping learners

non-be aware of and successfully cope with these demotivating factors

CONTENTS

AUTHORSHIP DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

Contents iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

PART A 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Significance of the study 2

3 Aims and objectives of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Scope of the study 2

6 Methods of the study 2

7 Design of the study 3

PART B 4

THE STUDY 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Notions of speaking and teaching speaking skills 4

1.1.1 Speaking skills 4

1.1.2 Theories of teaching speaking skills 4

1.1.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity 6

1.1.4 Problems with teaching speaking 6

1.2 Motivation and demotivation 7

1.2.1 Motivation 7

1.2.2 Demotivation 8

1.3 Factors affecting students’ demotivation in learning speaking skills 8

1.3.1 Factors related to learning attitudes 8

1.3.2 Factors related to teacher’s competence and performances 9

1.3.3 Factors related to facilities 10

1.3.4 Factors related to teaching materials 10

1.3.5 Factors related to classroom climate 11

1.3.6 Factors related to speaking practice opportunities 11

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13

2.1 Context of the study 13

2.1.1 An overview of the research site 13

2.1.2 Description of the participants 13

2.2 Research method 14

2.2.1 Quantitative research approach 14

2.2.2 Qualitative research approach 15

2.2.3 Research instruments 15

2.3 Data analysis 16

2.3.1 Quantitative data analysis 16

2.3.2 Qualitative data analysis 16

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17

3.1 Quantitative results 17

3.1.1 Demographic Information 17

3.1.2 Demotivating factors in speaking lessons of non-English majors at HPU2 17

3.1.3 Possible solutions 22

3.2 Qualitative results 24

3.2.1 Semi-structured interviews with students 24

3.2.2 Semi-structured interviews with teachers 28

3.3 Discussion 32

3.3.1 Students’ negative attitude toward language learning and speaking 32

3.3.2 Teacher-related factors 32

3.3.3 Facility-related factors 32

3.3.4 Teaching materials 33

3.3.5 Unfavorable classroom climate 33

3.3.6 Insufficient opportunities for speaking practice 34

PART C: CONCLUSION 35

1 Summary of the study 35

2 Suggested solutions 35

2.1 Students’ positive attitudes toward speaking 36

2.2 Various teaching methods 36

2.3 Sufficient teaching facilities 36

2.4 Good teaching materials 37

2.5 Warm classroom climate 37

2.6 Speaking opportunities 38

3 Limitations of the study 38

4 Suggestions for further study 39

REFERENCES 40 APPENDIX A I APPENDIX B IV APPENDIX C VII APPENDIX D VIII APPENDIX D IX

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1.Demographic Information: Gender 17

Table 3.2:Demographic Information: Years of studying English 17

Figure 1: Factors related to negative attitudes toward language learning and speaking 18

Figure 2: Factors related to teachers’ competence and performances 19

Figure 3: Factors related to facilities 20

Figure 4: Factors related to teaching materials 21

Figure 5: Factors related to classroom climate 21

Figure 6: Factors related to speaking practice opportunities 22

Figure 7: Possible solutions 24

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

The use of English is growing country-by-country internally and for international communication As stated by John, Helen, and Paul (2015), five per cent of the world’s population speak English as their first language; but about one billion people (one in every seven people in the world) learn and use English as the second language In a fully Integrated Age, a working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of occupations and professions such as medicine, finance, entertainment, computing and education, etc As a result, the ability to communicate in the world most popular second language has become the key to everyone’s success in their career Most people learn English for practical rather than ideological reasons Accordingly, teaching English speaking skills is one

of the most important tasks assigned to educators and learning speaking skills efficiently is becoming so demanding to students today

However, as written examinations are much more commonly found and oral examinations are rarely required to non-English majors, we have long been focusing

on grammar in teaching pupils at schools Learners are gradually hesitant to and anxious about speaking English even when they are not so bad at the written one

As a result, the goal of improving students’ proficiency in using English communicatively has not been fully achieved at lower levels, which puts up great barrier against effective teaching and learning spoken English language at universities and colleges

In this complicated situation, the question of how to make it easier and possible for HPU2 non-English majors to master the vital skills of speaking is what

my teaching now concerns Identifying what are the major causes stands in need of accomplishing this task This study, therefore, tries to figure out what are demotivating factors in speaking lessons of the non-English majors at HPU 2 and

possible solutions

2 Significance of the study

The study is conducted under the circumstance that non-English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 has been experiencing difficulties in learning English speaking skills However, no previous study has been done to figure out what the causes and solutions are Hence, It is of the vital importance that this study is done

3 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims at finding out demotivating factors in speaking lessons of the non-English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 (HPU2) and providing some possible solutions

Following are the objectives of the study:

 To find out what demotivate non-English majors in learning English speaking skills at HPU2

 To suggest necessary changes that should be made to avoid demotivation

of the students in English speaking classes

4 Research questions

There are some questions risen in this research:

 What are the demotivations facing non-English majors in learning English speaking skills at HPU2

What changes should be made to seek to avoid demotivation of the students

in English speaking classes

5 Scope of the study

This study only focuses on speaking skills in concerning factors that demotivate students’ participation in English speaking lessons, which involves 150 HPU2 non-English majors in their first academic year of 2016-2017

6 Methods of the study

In this study, the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods is employed The former one is used with a survey questionnaire distributed to

students The latter one is used with a semi-structured interview with teachers and students

7 Design of the study

There are three parts included in this paper, namely, the introduction, the study and the conclusion

Part A is the the introduction presents the ratinale, aims and objectives,

significance, research questions, scope and design of the study

Part B is the study which consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1 is the literature review which is an evaluative brief report of

information found in the literature related to demotivations in teaching speaking skills

Chapter 2 provides data collection and data analysis is the part in which

description of the samples and physical setting is shown More importantly, it also demonstrates data analysis and the statistical results

Chapter 3 is the findings which addresses itself to demotivating factors facing

non-Enlish major students at HPU2 in learing speaking skills and satisfactory answers to the questions risen in conducting this study

Part C is the conclusion which gives the gist of the study’s important issues and

mentions some limitations as well as suggestions for further study

PART B THE STUDY CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Baker and Watsrup (2003), speaking skills is the use of language to serve communicational purposes Chaney (1998) defines speaking skills

as the process of building and communicating meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, under a variety of circumstances In the whole, speaking is commonly to express our thoughts and feelings orally Speaking skills can be seen

as meaning-conveying techniques both verbally and non-verbally, which makes a contribution to successful communication

Nunan (1991, p 39) states that the mastery of speaking skill is “the single most important aspect of learning a second language or foreign language, and success is measured in terms of ability to carry out a conversation in the language.”

1.1.2 Theories of teaching speaking skills

Hughes makes an interesting methodological point that when discussing teaching speaking skills, it is necessary that one bare in mind the difference between teaching the spoken form of a language and teaching a language through speaking

She also stresses the fact that unfortunately, when compared to writing, the spoken form is under-researched and that this may be one of the causes of the hesitation of using the target language orally in a language learning class Meanwhile, teachers are likely to show the preference for using stable written forms and genres in their lessons (Hughes 2011)

There are four things that students need to do when they learn a foreign language: be exposed to it, understand its meaning, understand its form (how it is constructed) and practice it (Harmer, 1998) In the classroom, giving students maximum exposure to the new language is a major part of the teacher’s job so that they can use it later Foreign language learners need opportunities to advance the skills especially speaking ones, by being exposed to situations where the emphasis

is on using the language for communicating meanings as efficiently and economically as possible

In concerning language teaching pedagogy in general and teaching speaking

in particular, Li (2012) argues that there are several fundamental speaking-teaching principles to which teachers should drawn their attention They are about the curriculum used at schools and strategies teachers may implement in class

The 1st principle is implementing challenging curriculum, which means the content taught in class should be inspiring enough to caught students’ interest The

2nd principle deals with the design and easy availability of the content The 3rdprinciple takes into consideration explicit and relevant instruction The next principle focuses on the significance of appropriate learning strategies introduced

by teachers Proper use of the first language in class is also highly evaluated in the

5th principle Teaching vocabulary within multiple contexts, building reading comprehension ability, providing strong oral models for students to follow, and integrating the four basic skills of reading, listening, writing, and speaking are stressed in the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th principle respectively

1.1.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

Thornbury (2007, p.70-116) asserts that there are three stages in the process

of developing speaking skills:

• Awareness - learners are made aware of features of target language knowledge Activities in class should better be designed to serve the purpose

of introducing and making clear what are the distinctive characteristics of the target language and students’ mother tongue

• Appropriation - Their existing knowledge should be taken into consideration when it comes to language teaching and learning How much they have known and how much they can acquire under a unit, etc

• Autonomy - Learners develop the capacity to mobilize these features under real-time conditions without assistance It has long been obvious that the more active we are in doing something, the better the results we can get Therefore, language-teaching activities should focus much on increasing leaners’ autonomy

At elementary level, it is properly true that students need a range of speaking tasks that encourage a considerable degree of autonomy, awareness, interest in studying by bringing into focus interesting oral practice (treated as a source of meaningful input and feedback) mainly in the form of student-student interactions The speaking activities namely making conversations, simple example-based interviews, discussions, enjoyment-oriented presentations, role-play, home-making videos, etc take into account the above assumptions

1.1.4 Problems with teaching speaking

After carrying out a research, Zhengdong Gan (2012, p.181-187) finds that there are a number of obstacles in teaching and learning speaking skills The first and foremost problem facing both teachers and learners is leaners’ lack of adequate vocabulary People say that vocabulary accounts for 70% percent of how successful you are in using and mastering a language At university, most students have learned English for about 7 years including 4 years of secondary education and 3 years of high school education and they are supposed to acquire up to 1000

common words However, if they do not, the task of teaching them speaking skills become the very tough and challenging one

Zhengdong Gan (2012) also mentions inadequate opportunities for students

to speak in class as one of the difficulties the job of teaching has to deal with This may derive from the fact that language-learning classes at educational institutions are often the large-sized ones and the number of students does not support teachers

in the attempt to involve all students in speaking activities

1.2 Motivation and demotivation

1.2.1 Motivation

Concerning about foreign language teaching and learning, a number of researchers have drawn attention to language motivation in foreign language contexts Dornyei (1998) claims that motivation refers to the dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person that initiates, directs, and coordinates the perceptive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritized, operationalized, and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out

When intrinsically motivated, people become involved in activities to which they find appealing, and they do so with a full sense of volition and without the necessity of material rewards or constraints (Deci & Ryan, 1985) Intrinsically motivated behaviors represent the prototype of self-determination, which makes people to behave in effective and healthy ways If one is into leaning speaking naturally, he has the tendency of enthusiastically devoting much time and effort to the task of fulfilling his ambition to be good at speaking

Extrinsically motivated behaviors, on the other hand, are instrumental in nature Extrinsic motivation is generated when we are motivated take part in an activity aiming at earning a reward or avoiding punishment Examples of behaviors that are the result of extrinsic motivation include:

 Studying because of your parents’ wishes

 Participating in a sport to win awards

 Competing in a contest to win a scholarship

 Learning English because it helps you find jobs easier in the future

As stated by Deci (1985), these activities are performed not necessarily out

of interest but because they are believed to be instrumental to some separable consequence In early research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the two forms

of motivation appeared to be antagonistic, and thus extrinsically motivated behaviors were assumed not to be self-determined

1.2.2 Demotivation

As important as motivation for doing something, demotivation also plays a crucial role in deciding the outcomes of activities Demonstrably, the subject of demotivation has long been a matter of concern to scholars and researchers who aim

to boost students’ performance in learning speaking English For instance, Lens and Decruyenaere (1991) investigate the motivation and demotivation characteristics of secondary students In an intensive study, Kikuchi and Sakai (2009, p.57-69) also point out five demotivating factors in high school EFL learners: (a) course content and material, (b) teacher competence and teaching style, (c) inadequate school facilities, (d) lack of intrinsic motivation, and (e) test scores

Besides, Falout, Elwood and Hood (2009), who carry out a research into the demotivating factors involved in EFL learning and the relationship between the past demotivating experiences and the present proficiencies, come to the conclusion that learners’ proficiency and their ability to cope with obstacles follow the same trend

1.3 Factors affecting students’ demotivation in learning speaking skills

1.3.1 Factors related to learning attitudes

Al-Saidat, Emad M (2009, p.155-167) in the study English in Jordan:

Attitudes and Prestige about Jordanian university students' attitude towards English

as a foreign language mention some common opinions found among the college students as following:

 Students are interested in learning English (intrinsic motivation) but they

do not expect much about their speaking competence

 They consider English as a very necessary tool, which enables them to achieve success in the future but their first language is more crucial to their

development Besides, English has not been regarded as an integrative need among these young learners

They highly evaluate English and refer to it as an international language for major fields such as science, technology, and communication As a result, those who are good at English are always respected

These findings support the conclusion that college students especially ones in Asia countries like Viet Nam hold various believes about the functions of English in their life Consequently, learners learn English for different reasons and motives Positive school of thoughts helps students acquire knowledge much faster and more effortlessly On the contrary, negative attitude like learning speaking because it is a compulsory subject at school may ruin your chances of being successful learners

1.3.2 Factors related to teacher’s competence and performances

Scholars have long been familiar with the two well-known names Gorham and Christophel who are the leading researchers in the field of demotivation in instructional communication Gorham and Christophel (1992) try to determine what factors are judged as demotives by college students while they took introductory communication classes The findings show that teacher-related factors accounted

for seventy-nine percent of all the responses

In order to figure out reliable results of what are the major demotives among students in learning a new language communicatively, Christophel and Gorham (1995) distribute the same questionnaire to another group of college students The new results and the previous ones were homogeneous Gorham and Millette (1997) administer a further investigation based on Gorham’s previous research Their findings show that teachers are more likely to attribute students’ demotivaiton to performance-related factors while students attributed more of their demotivation to teachers’ behaviors, such as poor presentational skills

Hoang Duc Doan (2011) concludes that the way the teachers use their first language (Vietnamese) in the lesson also demotivates students in their trying to use the target languge (English) in class

The above evidence makes it plain to see that teachers have great impact on how much students are motivated or demotivated in a language-learning class and that it is crucial to investigate the consequences as well as solutions to this properly

1.3.3 Factors related to facilities

Afrough, Rahimi, and Zarafshan (2013) in their study of Foreign Language

Learning Demotivation: A Construct Validation Study assert that lack of

technological facilities in classroom make students less eager to work or study It is obviously that students of all ages find learning in a poor condition rather uninterested and the poorer the condition is, the more demotivated the learners are

The hindering compounding factor that negatively affects the process of teaching and learning English at schools is the unavailability and inadequate diverse, selective, and appropriate teaching resources including wall charts, flash cards, posters, audio and visual aids, language software, e-learning resources, a well-equipped language computer laboratory, and other facilities (Shehdeh, 2010) When equipment employed in classes are not matched with the intended context, the students may feel they are going nowhere and are wasting their time

Meshkat and Hassani (2012) claim that inadequate school facilities seem to scale down students’ motivation in fully achieve their goal of studying in class Students are normally interested in lessons, which make use of visual aids like posters or videos Vice versa, they tend to show their boredom and are less likely to

be involved in lessons without technological supports (modern facilities)

1.3.4 Factors related to teaching materials

As claimed by Al-Seghyer (2014), the type of English textbooks used at educational institutions decides much of what the students can learn If textbooks are designed in the way that learners have little exposure to communicative situations or communication functions in life like situations; it is outside the bounds

of possibility that students can learn spoken English effectively Realizing the unsatisfactory outcome, students may loose their interest in speaking lessons and demotivation is generated

Al-Seghyer also calls his attention to the unavailability and inadequate diverse, selective, and appropriate teaching resources The unavailability of such adequate teaching resources results in the failure to capture students’ full attention and latter on such an ineffective practice fails to engage and facilitate students’ motivation To put it into perspective, teaching materials has been seen regarded as one of the demotives

1.3.5 Factors related to classroom climate

Chaudhry Zahid Javid, Muhammad Umar Farooq, Malik Ajmal Gulzar

(2012) in their study Saudi English-Major Undergraduates and English Teachers’

Perceptions Regarding Effective ELT in the KSA: a Comparative Study conclude

that classroom climate should be more interactive Interaction and collaboration, which are students’ willingness to participate in class activities and practice with friends among students, can truly become a decisive factor in either improving their motivation or generating demotivation

Aydin (2012) in his case study about factors causing demotivation in EFL teaching process reports that problems relating to the classroom (physical) conditions, such as bad school climate create demotivation among students and teachers as well Studying in a class where other students appear unwilling to talk, students gradually form the culture of being silent and the habit of ignoring answering questions like their classmates

1.3.6 Factors related to speaking practice opportunities

There are some controversy with regard to the effect of class size and how frequent the opportunities of speaking in class is given to students on students’ demotivation and consequently on their learning

In opposition to the findings of other related studies which state that vocabulary, structures and spelling are ranked in the first place in terms of learning English demotivating factors; Khazaei, Moinzadeh & Ketabi (2012) in their study

Willingness to Communicate in Iranian EFL Learners: The Effect of Class Size

indicate that the number of students or class size determines how much motivation

the students have for engaging in speaking activities in class Students are found to

be more willing to communicate in small classes where they have more opportunities to practice oral skills and communicate; conversely, they tend to show great hesitancy about expressing their thought if they are in large-sized classes

According to Soureshjani and Riahipour (2012), teachers in small classes pay greater attention to individual pupil and pupils’ chance of being involved in the lessons is maximized On this account, students in these classes experience continuing pressure to participate in learning activities and become better, more enthusiastic students On the contrary, the absence of good opportunities can diminish one’s intention to fully engage in learning tasks and result in their demotivation

Conclusion

There is a general agreement that when students’ obstacles in learning are well studied and understood, both learners and educators can make better the process of learning and guiding respectively Consequently, researchers and scholars have long been placed their prior notice to speaking and the task of successfully teaching and learning speaking skills

With the objective of better understanding major elements that interfere students’ learning process, this chapter has provided readers with a review of literature in this field More importantly, factors negatively affecting students’ learning of speaking skills have also been identified and classified

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Context of the study

2.1.1 An overview of the research site

HPU2 is located in a mountainous district in Vinh Phuc province, there are

no good opportunities for communicating with foreigners and there are few English centers teaching communicative English to non-English majors Besides, the majority of the students are in large-sized classes of from 40 to 60 students, which greatly limit their chance of practicing in class Therefore, the teaching of English in general, and the teaching of speaking English in particular has encountered with a great deal of difficulties

2.1.2 Description of the participants

The participants are 150 first year non-English majors at HPU2 This target population consists of students from different faculties and different majors except for English Before registering for their English class, they have to take a placement test, which will ensure their English is at a required level These students have finished their first semester learning English at HPU2 After finishing their general English course only in which are they taught speaking skills, they are supposed to have the ability to deal with simple, straightforward information and begin to express themselves in familiar contexts

Among 150 students participated into the study, 138 students (92%) are female and 12 students (8%) are male due to the fact that there are far more female students studying at HPU2 than male ones The majority of students are at the age

of eighteen and have been studying English for seven years or more before entering university

Besides, three teachers teaching these groups of students are also invited to answer some questions related to demotivation and their suggested solutions These teachers are all experienced ones with at least 2 years teaching English to non-English majors

2.2 Research method

In this research, the combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods

is employed It is worthy to make use of this combination as Madey (1982) claimed; intrinsic qualities of each method really help to strengthen each other when they are combined According to Gay, Mills and Airasian (2006), qualitative method helps to establish what, meanwhile quantitative one helps to understand how Besides, Creswell and Clark (2007), claim that putting together qualitative and quantitative research design ensures more comprehensive insights to the research issues In this study, the quantitative method is used with a questionnaire survey distributed to students, followed by a semi-structured interview with teachers and students- a form of qualitative method design

2.2.1 Quantitative research approach

This method emphasizes objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, etc Gay, Mills, and Airasian (2006) say that there are five major approaches of this method The first approach is descriptive research, which tries to provide researchers with information about the current status of the research subject The second approach is correlation research, which is used to identify the relationship existing between two or more variables The third type namely causal-comparative research involves determining the differences existing between individuals Experimental research approach is the best choice for evidence about cause and effect relationships Last but not least, single-subject research approach attempts to understand the behavioral change in individuals as a result of treatment applied

In quantitative research, the common data collection methods are tests and survey It involves large and random sample and usually begins with a specific research question or hypothesis from the literature review section

In this study, the author decides to put quantitative approach into practice because of the nature of the research questions and objectives, which satisfies the

needs of identifying what demotivate non-English majors at HPU2 in learning speaking successfully and what can guide us to overcome the difficulties

2.2.2 Qualitative research approach

The purpose of utilizing qualitative research method is to gain sufficient understanding of what the students and teachers are actually being annoyed with, what should be done to deal with the situation This will help avoid making assumption about the study This type deals with quality of the subject examined The number of the participants is limited based on the researcher’s purpose

In this study, a semi-structured interview is conducted with both teachers and students in order to provide clear insights about demotivating factors that prevent students from improving their performance in learning English speaking and possible solutions

2.2.3 Research instruments

2.2.3.1 Data collection instruments from students

(i) Questionnaire with students

The developed questionnaire is developed based on the literature available and the questionnaire used by Afrough, Rahimi, and Zarafshan (2013) in their study

of Foreign Language Learning Demotivation: A Construct Validation Study There

are two big questions in the questionnaire The first one helps to identify what demotivating factors, which include several smaller elements the students can choose from, the non-English majors are facing With respect to the literature review presented, the researcher decides to investigate six major demotivating factors namely: students’ attitude English and English speaking skills, teacher-related factors, facility-related factors, classroom climate, teaching materials, and practicing opportunities The second big question tries to wrap information on how

to decrease demotivation level among non-English majors The questionnaires distributed to students are in Vietnamese to avoid misunderstanding and hesitation

(ii) semi-structured interview

After having collected information regarding to students demotivation in learning spoken English and the necessary changes they want to have in order to

make better their speaking skills; the researcher arranges an in-depth interview with

10 students who wish to take part in to share more of the thought about this area The semi-structured interview is designed and conducted for more clarification and explanation of students’ answers in the questionnaire The interview is conducted in Vietnamese for better mutual understanding and more explanations form the students Prior to the interview, the researcher carefully explains how the interview will be, and how their attitudes should be freely shown Students’ answers are noted and recorded

2.2.3.2 Data collection from the teachers

(i) semi-structured interview

Like the students, three teachers are asked to take part in a semi-structured interview and give their points of view toward the issue with details The data given are also written down and recorded for analysis

2.3 Data analysis

Data serving the research coming mostly from the questionnaire sent out to

150 non-English majors and the semi- structured interview with both teachers and students The former will provide quantitative data, meanwhile the latter illustrates qualitative one

2.3.1 Quantitative data analysis

After collecting the questionnaire, the researcher reads the answer carefully, classifies items into appropriate categories for latter use Data collected from questionnaire are analyzed using The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20

2.3.2 Qualitative data analysis

Answers from teachers and students are noted, recorded, transcribed and translated into English Following the step of analyzing both quantitative and qualitative results, the researcher has a focus look at how students and teachers find about what make their learning and teaching English a difficult task, describes the data and draws conclusion

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Table 3.1.Demographic Information: Gender

Years of studying English

Table 3.2: Demographic Information: Years of studying English

3.1.2 Demotivating factors in speaking lessons of non-English majors at HPU2

3.1.2.1 Factors related to negative attitudes toward language learning and speaking

Among the common found negative attitudes toward learning English, the one that block students’ desire to gain more practice in class in favour of developing

their speaking skills the most is their inadequate vocabulary It is obviously seen from the data that 60% of the students answering the questionnaire feel unconfident

in expressing themselves in class because they are not able to find proper words The majority of learners (81.3 %) have been conscious of the fact that English will

be of great importance in their future professional development and they have the tendency to learn English spontaneously Only a small number of participants (13.3

%) attach their learning of English to the obligation they have at school

Figure 1: Factors related to negative attitudes toward language learning

and speaking

3.1.2.2 Factors related to teachers’ competence and performances

As can be seen from the below chart, the most frequently found problem related to the teachers is the mismatch between teachers’ teaching styles and learners’ learning styles 70.7 % of the students admit that their teachers’ teaching methods are unappealing to them The number of students who think their learning

of English is less effective because of their teachers’ not encouraging them to use

the target language in class, their teachers’ not using of speaking practices of textbooks, their teachers’ poor pronunciation ability, and their teachers’ not using English in class are 38.7%, 10%, 6% and only 2% respectively

Figure 2: Factors related to teachers’ competence and performances

3.1.2.3 Factors related to facilities

In discussing facility-related factor, 70.7% of the students are under the impression that the major barrier to their spoken English language learning in class

is the little or no use of visual aids such as videos and DVDs There are about one third of the students (27.3%) think little or no use of the Internet in class demotivates them to enthusiastically acquire knowledge in their speaking class 17.3% and 16% consider little or no use of computers and the arrangement of tables and chairs are respectively reasons for their hesitance to English language learning

at school

Figure 3: Factors related to facilities

3.1.2.4 Factors related to teaching materials

With regard to teaching materials, the results collected have proved that a large number of participants (52%) are of the view that speaking topics used in class are somehow old, difficult and unfamiliar ones However, the majority (84%) still holds the opinion that these topics and exercises are useful

Figure 4: Factors related to teaching materials

3.1.2.5 Factors related to classroom climate

Looking at the below figure, it is obviously that the biggest challenge facing HPU2 non-English major students is being in the state of nerves when their mistakes are used to make fun of 73.3% of the students are demotivated by the thoughts that their classmates may laughed at them or their teacher may have unprofessional response to their wrong answers 47.3% have the tendency to follow other students, which means they may keep silent in a class of inactive students 24.7% say that they are not involved in speaking activities because they do not have enough time in class

Figure 5: Factors related to classroom climate

3.1.2.6 Factors related to speaking practice opportunities

As mentioned in the study context that HPU2 is located in a mountainous area in Vinh Phuc province, where there are no good opportunities for studying English Looking at the above table, it is noticeable that four out of five (80%) of the responses collected agree that the students have little chance of communicating

in English when they are outside of the classroom Surprisingly, 69.3% think that studying in a large-sized class does not limit their opportunity to practice their

English communicatively

Figure 6: Factors related to speaking practice opportunities

3.1.3 Possible solutions

In concerning demotivating factors in speaking lessons of the non-English majors at HPU2, there are some solutions recommended and even tested The results are presented in the below figure

Most students (86.7%) giving their answers believe that if the teachers give them more homework such as making conversations, role-play, or group presentations, check their work, and give them marks on their performance, they will learn more and consequently improve their speaking skills more Indeed, the author has understood how importance practice is and does a research on this issue

named “ Making videos on Facebook as a tool of self-learning and peer-learning

speaking skills for non-English major students” The study results convincingly

demonstrate that students’ oral performance has been improved significantly on account of this method

Predictably, the major part of the students (83.3%) prefer the increase in the use of language games in class and 68.7% would like their teachers to use a wide range of teaching techniques, 60.7% are in favor of the increasing use of visual aids

and the Internet Nearly half of the participants (44.7%) claim that giving marks or bonus for their participation in speaking activities will stimulate their interest in learning 40.7% need to be praised to the class to feel confident in themselves and

be more involved during the lesson

26% of the students take into consideration the fact that their teachers may sometimes get angry and interrupt them, only a minor percentage of the students (2.7%) need their teachers to organize extra activities such as English speaking clubs, quizzes, etc Apart from these solutions, none of the participant mentions any other suggestions

Figure 7: Possible solutions 3.2 Qualitative results

3.2.1 Semi-structured interviews with students

3.2.1.1 Factors related to negative attitudes toward language learning and speaking

When being asked about your attitude toward English and learning speaking English, the students share mostly the same point of view They say:

“I do realize how important English is to my study and my future It is the

fact that if I know English, my chances of getting a job will be increased I learn English especially speaking English because I think it will be useful for me not merely because it is a compulsory subject at school Even so, I find it hart to learn English communicatively since I cannot express myself Sometimes, I really want to answer the teacher’s questions, but I do not know the word, I mean I have a limited vocabulary.”

“I do not really like learning English, but I do not hate it For a student like

me, learning English plays a crucial role in helping me applying for a job in the future Despite that, I was not serious about English learning when I was at high school and I did not learn English properly Before entering university, we did not have speaking lessons in class and that is why I am so hesitant to speaking English now.”

“English is of great value in my career development, be that as it may, I am trying my best to learn the language The thing I find most difficult to overcome is

my poor vocabulary My teacher tells me that I can make mistakes, that’s fine and always encourages me to talk more Still, I cannot open my mouth sometimes because I fail to put my thoughts into words.”

3.2.1.2 Factors related to teachers’ competence and performances

The main schools of thought shared by the student participants when they are asked about their teachers’ competence and performance are as follow:

“My teacher’s pronunciation is good, she speaks English fluently and naturally She also motivates us to participate in speaking activities in class If possible, I hope my teacher use more games in class because I games are powerful tools through which we learn new things effortlessly.”

“Teachers’ pronunciation or speaking exercises are not really what makes

us be afraid of learning speaking The problem is that we have so many students in one class and we have different preferred learning styles When my teacher uses a particular method, a number of students like it, but the rest of the class may show

no interest.”

“Because we have to cover many skills in one class, we do not often have much time for speaking Consequently, if the teacher wants to finish everything, she has to sacrifice her ambition of making every single student speak At the very beginning of the speaking lesson, my teacher patiently calls on some students to answer a question or perform a task, but in the end fewer students are given chances to share ideas.”

3.2.1.3 Factors related to facilities

Students’ different perspectives upon facilities are mainly like what the following interviewees say

“Learning English is sometimes boring to us since we are asked to look at the textbook filled with words that we may not know, it will be much more fun if we have something to watch in class Short videos about how people use the real language in life are what we really want to see For me, Internet is not a must have thing It is better if our teacher can have access to the Internet and search for what

we need on the spot, but if she prepares everything before hand, the lesson can still

go smoothly.”

“We are learning at a university now, why don’t we have Internet in class? Internet can bring us great support like entertaining us when we are stressful, giving us some suggestions for tough questions With the Internet lively videos, which show us how the knowledge we learn can be used practically and effectively,