A survey on lower secondary school students’ motivation to take extra courses in english m a thesis linguistics 82202

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THÚY LAN ANH A SURVEY ON LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MOT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THÚY LAN ANH

A SURVEY ON LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO TAKE EXTRA COURSES IN ENGLISH

NGHIÊN CỨU ĐIỀU TRA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC CƠ

SỞ THAM GIA CÁC LỚP HỌC THÊM TIẾNG ANH

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

` Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

HANOI, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THÚY LAN ANH

A SURVEY ON LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO TAKE EXTRA COURSES IN ENGLISH

NGHIÊN CỨU ĐIỀU TRA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC CƠ

SỞ THAM GIA CÁC LỚP HỌC THÊM TIẾNG ANH

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Le Van Canh

HANOI, 2018

I hereby declare that the minor study entitled “A survey on lower secondary schoolstudents‟ motivation to take extra courses in English” was conducted by me for thedegree of Master in English teaching methodology at University of Languages andInternational Studies under the guidance and supervision of Dr Le Van Canh,University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam The interpretations

of the collected data were based on my reading of the target topic and they are notpublished in any form of books or articles For this study, no degree or diploma hasbeen conferred on me before

I am so grateful to University of Languages and International Studies and the Faculty

of Post Graduate Studies for making it possible for me to study here I would like toheartily express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to all the Professors andlecturers of the university, especially my supervisor, Professor Le Van Canh whoencouraged and directed me to finish this paper

I am also thankful to all of the students at PCT Secondary schools who helped me to dothe survey as well as the interviews despite their busy time studying for theirexamination at school

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF CHARTS vi

ABSTRACT vii

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 General statement of the problem 1

1.3 The significance of the study 2

1.4 Research question 2

1.5 Context of the study 2

1.6 Organization of the thesis 2

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Definition of motivation 4

2.2 Motivational orientations in language learning 5

2.3 Motivation and the social context 9

2.3.1 The intergroup model 9

2.3.2 Situated language identity 10

2.3.3 Social theory of motivation 11

2.3.4 Motivational impact of learning situation 12

2.4 Role of motivation in language learning 13

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 15

3.1 Participants 15

3.2 Instruments 15

3.3 Data collection procedures 16

3.4 Data analysis procedures 16

CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 18

4.1 Findings 18

4.1.1 Questionnaire results 18

4.1.2 Interview Findings 31

4.2 Discussions 33

4.3 Pedagogical implications 35

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION 38

5.1 Conclusion 38

5.2 Limitation of the study 38

5.3 Recommendations for future and further research 38

REFERENCES 40

APPENDICES 44

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Number of students in extra English classes 18

Table 4.2 Teacher(s) in extra English classes 19

Table 4.3 The frequency of English extra classes 19

Table 4.4 Length of each class session 20

Table 4.5 Reasons for participating in English extra classes 20

Table 4.6 Additional reasons for choosing English extra classes 21

Table 4.7 Class preferences 22

Table 4.8 Evaluation of English extra classes 28

Table 4.9 Students‟ comments on English extra classes 30

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1 Reasons for preferences of English extra classes 23

Chart 4.2 Reasons for preferences of English class at school 25

Chart 4.3 Reasons for choosing both classes 26

Chart 4.4 Reasons for disliking both classes 27

Chart 4.5 Evaluation of English extra classes 29

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

In the context of this globalized world, English has become the leading language thatrolls the wheel of international communication (Phillipson, 1992) It is generallylearned as a second language and used as an official language of many countries andworld organizations Vietnam is not the exception which is influenced on the expansion

of English With the development of international businesses and trades, the capacity ofcommunicating in English plays a key role in all fields To meet the new trends, theVietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has made national projects oneducation, especially on English subject The latest national project is the Decision N01400/QD-TTg on approving the 10-year National plan for “Teaching and LearningForeign Language in the national Formal Education System in the Period of 2008 –2020” which was issued on September 30th, 2008 However, until now, the effort ofchanging in public education system is still not as good as it was expected To supply aservice which meets students‟ needs, many English institutions mushroom all over thecountry, especially in big cities As a matter of fact, these institutions attract a lot ofstudents at varied ages

1.2 General statement of the problem

When teaching English for lower secondary students, I recognized that a lot of students

at PCT Secondary school took private English courses after school although at the time

I conducted this research, students did not need to take part in an English test for theirgraduation exam I wonder what motivates them to take those courses I would like tofind out whether there is any causal relationship between the formal teaching ofEnglish at the school and the students‟ motivation to take extra courses The

understanding can be helpful to teachers and school administrators in their efforts toimprove the teaching and learning of English at the school.

1.3 The significance of the study

The study makes benefits for English teaching and learning at lower secondaryschools From the result of the paper, teachers may adjust their teaching ways to meetstudents‟ needs in the international globalization

The findings of this study may enrich the theory of teaching and learning English atsecondary schools The result of the research can also be used as a reference for thosewho want to conduct a research in English teaching and learning process

1.4 Research question

The research study was conducted to survey secondary students from grade 6 to grade

9 in the academic year 2017-2018 at PCT Secondary school, Hanoi, Vietnam Itsobjective was to find the answers to the following question:

- What motivates students to take extra courses in English?

1.5 Context of the study

The study was conducted at PCT Secondary public school in Hanoi, Vietnam It is apublic school which follows Ministry of Education and Training‟s programs There arenearly 1700 students in total from grade 6 to grade 9 The average number of students

in each class is 45 students Students have three English class sessions every week

1.6 Organization of the thesis

This study is organized into five chapters

Chapter one covers the background, the significance of the study, the research question,the context of the study and the organization of the thesis

Chapter two includes four main categories of literature: Definition of motivation,different motivational orientations in language teaching, motivation and the socialcontext, and role of motivation in language teaching.

Chapter three comprises of the methodology including participants, instruments, datacollection procedures, and data analysis procedures

Chapter four presents the findings of collected data consisted of survey results andinterview findings

In the last chapter, the paper covers the conclusion interpreted from collected data.Discussion, limitation of the study, pedagogical implications and further and futureresearch are also mentioned in this chapter

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of motivation

Motivation is an essential component which has effects on teaching and learningprocess The effectiveness of this component is attested by a variety of theorists andscholars Dörnyei (2004) proved that “motivation is one of the main determinants ofsecond/foreign language learning achievement” Spolsky (1989) had the similar viewwhen he assumed that motivation is one of 74 conditions for success in secondlanguage learning According to him, motivation is an important link to students‟learning and “the more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spendlearning an aspect of a second language” It explains the reason why some learners paymuch attention to lessons or try their hard to finish all tasks with high quality whileothers do not Therefore, many theorists have put their time and effort into searchingmotivation which is a complex concept and is defined in multiple ways However, thedefinition of motivation often becomes confusing because researchers do not provide auniform definition of motivation (Dörnye, 2001) In fact, there is little consensus andmuch disagreement among researchers who involve in the study of motivation.Dörnyei and Ottó (1998) defined motivation as “the dynamically changing cumulativearousal in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, andevaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires areselected, prioritized, operationalised and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out.”Gardner (2010) was in agreement with Dörnye (2001) when he considered thatmotivation is a difficult-to-define construct He defined motivation as referring to acombination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plusfavorable attitudes towards learning the language Motivation is operationally defined

by Gardner and his associates in a slightly different way for the purpose of

measurement, as consisting of desire to learn the language, motivational intensity, andattitudes towards learning the language Pintrich & Schunk (1996:4) identifiedmotivation as “the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained”.According to them, motivation is a process which cannot be observed directly but can

be inferred by behaviors as a choice of tasks, effort, persistence, and verbalizations.They explain that motivation involves goals that provide an impetus for and direction

to action and that motivation requires physical or mental activity geared towardsattaining goals Finally, these authors claim that motivation is an activity that isinstigated and sustained; that is to say, starting toward a goal is important and oftendifficult since it requires taking the first step However, they suggest that motivationalprocesses are critical to sustaining actions Although researchers have different views

of motivation; most of them agree that this component concerns the direction andmagnitude of human behavior like the choice of a particular action, the persistencewith it or the effort expended on it Additionally, motivation is responsible for whypeople decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, andhow hard they are going to pursue it (Dörnyei (2001))

2.2 Motivational orientations in language learning

In this section, I will outline prominent motivational orientations related to languagelearning field Orientation, according to Gardner‟s (1985) motivation theory, is not part

of motivation, but it is sought through the acquisition of the second language and

functions as motivational antecedents Its role is to help to arouse motivation and direct

it towards a set of goals Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972) categorized two classes oforientations which are integrative orientation and instrumental orientation The formerrefers to a desire to learn a second language in order to meet learners‟ need incommunicating with people in the second language group or becoming a valuedmember of that language community In general, the integrative motivational

orientation relates to a positive interpersonal attitude toward the second languagegroup In addition, Gardner and Lambert (1972) also suggested that individuals with anintegrative orientation would demonstrate greater motivational effort in learning asecond language and then achieve greater second language competence By contrast,the latter refers to a desire to learn a second language for a specific purpose or practicalgoals like job promotion or progress in one‟s studies In fact, there was a variety ofresearches which involve in this formulation; however, the results of them have beeninconsistent (Au, 1988; Gardner, 1985) While some early authors shared the view ofthe importance of the integrative orientation, others did not give approval to the modelbecause the instrumental orientation predicted the second language outcomes or theintegrative orientation had a negative correlation with proficiency (Chihara &Oller,1978; Lukmani, 1972; Clément and Kruidenier, 1983) Among them, Clément andKruidenier (1983) supposed that these discrepancies resulted from definitionalproblems and the influence of social milieu They suggested four other motivationalorientations which are common to all groups of learners: (1) travel, (2) friendship, (3)knowledge, and (4) the instrumental orientations There were several similar studies ofDörnye & Noels (1994), Belmechri & Hummel (1998) and Ozkut (1990) which had thesame view with Clément and Kruidenier (1983) However, the desire for contact andidentification with other members in second language group is not fundamental to themotivational process In fact, it is relevant to socio-cultural contexts Rather, these fourorientations may be seen to sustain motivation Because this conceptual came to astandstill, scholars have paid much attention to the nature of language learningmotivation One of the formulations which related to the nature of language learningmotivation is the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan (1985, 1995)) These theorists mentioned to twogeneral types of motivation which are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.According to Deci and Ryan (1985), intrinsic motivation is found on innate needs for

competence and self-determination This kind of motivation refers to an individual‟smotivation to perform a particular activity because of internal rewards such as joy,pleasure and satisfaction of curiosity By contrast, for extrinsic motivation, theindividual expects to achieve instrumental and extrinsic reward such as good grades orpraise from others In line with the notion of autonomy and intrinsic motivation, theself-determination theory offers an interesting look at motivation by setting a differentagenda for language teachers The focus should be on „how people can create theconditions within which others can motivate themselves‟ rather than focusing on „howteachers can motivate learners‟ In general, Deci and Ryan‟s theory of intrinsic andextrinsic motivation could explain and predict how orientations and learning outcomesare related to each other.

Goal theories have also been a central feature if second language motivation research.According to Anderman & Midgley (1998), goal theories focus on the reasons orpurposes that students perceive for achieving There are two goals theories (the goal-

setting theory and the goal orientation theory) have influences on motivation The goal

setting theory is mainly developed by Locke (1996) on three fundamental pillars First,

it is philosophically sound for it is in line with the philosophical theories that assumeindividuals‟ control of their actions Second, it is in line with the introspectiveevidence revealing that human action is normally purposeful Lastly, it is practical Thetheory suggests that goals have two aspects: internal (ideas) and external (conditionsought) Locke (1996) and Locke & Latham (2002) assumed that individuals‟characteristics could enhance their motivation as below:

• The more difficult the goal, the greater the achievement (easy tasks do not give asense of achievement)

• The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely performance is regulated (general goals like „do your best‟ do not really cause individuals to do their best)

• The highest performance is yielded when the goals are both specific and difficult.

• Commitment to goals is most critical when they are specific and difficult(commitment to general or vague goals is easy since general goals do not require muchcommitment and vague ones can be „manipulated‟ to accommodate low performance)

• High commitment to goals is attained when the individual is convinced that (a) thegoal is important and (b) attainable

By contrast, the goal orientation theory was developed in a classroom where children‟slearning and performance could be explained (Dörnyei, 2001) Pintrinch & Shunck(1996) assumed that this theory is one of the most vigorous motivation theories in theclassroom According to this theory, an individual‟s performance is closely related tohis or her accepted goals There are two types of goal orientations (Ames & Archer,1988; Ames, 1992): performance vs mastery (or learning) orientations Learners whoare mainly related to looking good and capable posses performance orientation Thosewho are more concerned with increasing their knowledge and being capable possessthe second one Dweck (1985) suggested a distinction between these two types oforientations “Put simply, with performance goals, an individual aims to look smart,whereas with the learning goals, the individual aims to becoming smarter”

However, it is possible to see that the goal theories correlate with intrinsic and extrinsicmotivation as well as the self-determination For instance, the integrative &instrumental motivation (from Gardner‟s theory) and the intrinsic & extrinsicmotivation (from the self-determination theory), with some researchers, have nodifference between them (e.g Soh, 1987) Additionally, intrinsic motivation andextrinsic motivation in the self-determination somehow correlate with the goalorientation theory

In general, different motivational orientations in language learning that I have justdescribed above make two latent assumptions which are learners could be driven by

one motive at a time and a contextual stimulus can trigger only one type of motivation.Some researchers confirmed that learners could be simultaneously driven by differentmotives For example, to “foster sustained learning, it may not be sufficient toconvince students that language learning is interesting and enjoyable; they may need to

be persuaded that it is also personally important for them” (Noels, et al, 2000).Keblawi (2006) also confirmed in Oxford's (1994) assumption that learners might havemixed motives In addition, he stated that a certain stimulus might trigger differentmotives at a time For example, a statement of the kind “I study English because I want

to pursue my high studies” can involve instrumental aspects (boosting one‟s chances of

a better career), intrinsic ones (feeling the satisfaction of knowing things and of being

an educated person) or achievement motivation (getting high marks that enable one toget access to a university) The kinds of motives triggered depend on the intention ofthe learner

2.3 Motivation and the social context

Different motivational orientations I reviewed in the previous section lead to an issuethat motivation is static Dörnyei and Ottό's (1998) perception of motivation is

“dynamically changing cumulative arousal” Keblawi (2006) shared the same viewwith Dörnyei and Ottό when he confirmed that motivation might change over time.This scholar found that many learners‟ motivation was different at different times and

it depends on the context

2.3.1 The intergroup model

According to Giles and Byrne (1982), the intergroup model offers a situated socialpsychological framework in order to investigate the conditions that people from groups

of ethnic minorities in multi-culture acquire and use the dominant language Theindividual‟s self-concept is the main concept of this framework and a positive self-image is one of significant motivating force These two scholars adopted social

identification theory as their guiding framework They also suggested that socialidentity related to not only significant linguistic processes and practices but also secondlanguage acquisition In their framework, they comprised concepts of “ethnolinguisticvitality”, “group boundaries” and multiple group membership” “Ethnolinguisticvitality” refers to factors like status factors, demographic factors, and institutionalfactors These factors determine a specific ethnic minority‟s distinctiveness as acollective entity “Group boundaries” determine the degree of ease or difficulty ofindividual mobility in and out of group membership “Multiple group membership”refers to different groups such as professional groups or organizations that individualstake part in besides their own ethnic group These multiple groups have influences onthe prominence of an individual‟s identification in the ethnic category The intergroupmodel could explain the reason why a specific ethnic group still maintains theirlanguage while they are embedded in dominant groups However, some scholar doesnot support this framework because it does not indicate the way that the individual‟squest for a positive identity relating to the group members‟ collectiveness (William,1992).

2.3.2 Situated language identity

Situated language identity is the research on ethnic identity and ethnolinguistic vitality.According to Clément and Noels (1992), the main hypothesis of social identity theory

is that individuals desire to view themselves positively and their image is determinedsocially Hence, the desire to build and maintain a positive social identity is closelyrelated to the motivation of linguistic practices Clément, Noels and their colleaguesalso indicated a number of factors that have an impact on social identity such as therelative minority or majority of the speaker in the immediate surroundings; the private

or public facet of language use; or the quality and quantity of connection with otherethnic group members

2.3.3 Social theory of motivation

Norton (2000; Norton Pierce, 1995), drawing on the social theory, initiates the term

“investment” instead of “motivation” to describe the “socially and historicallyconstructed relationship of learners to the target language” According to this scholar,the term “investment” is explained as a process of acquiring a range of symbolic andmaterial resources in order to promote the value of learners‟ cultural capital The mainreason for learning is the desire to have a good return on that investment Additionally,she assumed that different students do not have the same image communities, and thatthose imagined communities are best understood when they are put in the context of alearner‟s unique investment in the target language and the conditions that that learnerspeaks and practices it This scholar has introduced the concept of investment inNorton Peirce (1995) which signals the socially and historically constructedrelationship of 166 Learner Contributions to Language Learning learners to the target

language, and their often ambivalent desire to learn and practise it Additionally,

Norton (2013, 50-51) also stated “The conception of instrumental motivationpresupposes a unitary, fixed, and a historical language learner who desires access tomaterial resources that are the privilege of target language speakers The notion ofinvestment, on the other hand, conceives of the language learner as having a complexsocial history and multiple desires The notion presupposes that when languagelearners speak, they are only exchanging information with target language speakers,but they are constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and howthey relate to the social world… Thus an investment in the target language is also aninvestment in a learner‟s own identity, an identity which is constantly changing acrosstime and space.”

Maehr and Braskamp (1986) have a similar construct when they mentioned the term

“personal investment” to “capture the underlying meaning of the disparate behaviouralpatterns commonly associated with motivation”

“It is important to remember that motivation is a dynamic process Personalinvestment occurs as part of a continuous stream of ever –changing events … Personalinvestment is both a product and a producer of dynamic interaction with a variety ofpersons, situations, and events The effects of one‟s personal investment feed back toaffect the continuing investment of oneself We can take a picture of the variables inmotivation at any given moment, but such a static portrayal seldom does justice to what

in reality is a very dynamic and continuous flow of events.”

Maehr and Braskamp (1986:10-12)

2.3.4 Motivational impact of learning situation

2.3.4.1 Parents

Gardner (1985) suggested that parents play a significant role in shaping studentmotivation He classified two main dimensions (an active role and a passive role) thatparents play in children‟s learning process An active role includes encouragement,support and monitoring In contrast, a passive role comprises indirect modeling andcommunicating attitudes which relating to second language learning and the secondlanguage community This theorist also indicated that these two above roles are inharmony in many cases; however; when they are in conflicts, the passive role has moreeffect on students‟ learning process Additionally, he confirmed that parentalencouragement closely related to the development of learning attitudes and effort in thelearning the foreign language of children (Gardner et al., 1999)

2.3.4.2 Teachers

Clark and Trafford (1995) stated that the relationship between teacher and studentsplay a significant role in learners‟ attitudes towards language learning as well as groupcharacteristics in class Dörnyei (1994) offered a model of teacher-specificmotivational components comprises three main parts which are affiliative motive (to

satisfy the teacher), authority type (controlling and autonomy supporting) and directsocialization of motivation (modeling, task presentation and feedback) What is more,Noels and his colleagues confirmed that the teacher‟s support and positive feedbackpositively affect learner‟s learning attitudes (Noels et al (1999)).

2.3.4.3 Learner group

Learner group is one of the vital factors has a close relationship with the study offoreign language as well Clément et al (1994) investigated that groups contributed tothe learners‟ motivation Dörnyei supported this theory by his finding that maintenance

of effective group norms showed a connection with written home assignmentpreparation and homework completion Hotho – Jackson (1995) shared this view when

he examined the effect of the group context in the learners‟ tendency to give up theirlanguage study

2.3.4.4 School

The research on school effects on learners‟ motivation has been developed ineducational psychology Dörnyei (2001) indicated that by conducting researches oncharacteristics, educational psychology found reasons why in specific learningcontexts, public schools do not succeed in promoting learners‟ second languagecompetence while institutions like language schools or universities or colleges achievesignificant success

2.4 Role of motivation in language learning

The aim of this part is to examine which exactly the role of motivation in secondlanguage learning is In fact, there is a variety of factors which have effects on secondlanguage learning However, motivation is considered an influential role in languagelearning A lot of studies show many that teachers and researchers have stated thatmotivation which is one of the key factors has effects on the success of second/foreign

language learning Among these studies, Masgoret and Gadner (2003) affirm the

“responsible for achievement in the second language” which means that motivation isthe most influential and direct factor that affect language achievement Dörnyei (2001)has the same view when he states that “Most teachers and researchers would agree that

it has a very important role in determining success or failure in any learning situation”

In a study which carried out by Dörnyei in 1990, he also indicated that achievementwas clearly influenced by motivation At this point, in fact, Dörnyei, Masgoret andGadner share the view but they use different words to express their perspectives.Furthermore, Dörnyei (1998) shares Spolsky‟s view when he assumes that motivationprovides urge to learning of second language and then the driving force to maintain thelearning process It seems that motivation determines the extent of active, personalinvolvement in second language learning Additionally, Oxford & Shearin, (1994) showthat motivation directly influences on how often students use second language learningstrategies, how much students interact with native speakers and how long theypersevere and maintain second language skills after language study is over Anindividual with the most outstanding abilities without motivation cannot complete longlong-term goals, and suitable curricular as well as good teaching method cannot ensurestudents‟ achievement (Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998)

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY

This study was carried out to examine secondary students‟ motivation to take extraclasses in English Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and interviews.According to Silverman (2000), using multiple methods in a research design wouldalso help to “give a fuller picture and address many different aspects of phenomena”.Therefore, I decided to use both questionnaire and interviews to explore the same issue(learners‟ motivation) with the purpose of confirming the validity and reliability of theprocess (Tellis, 1997) The interviews were conducted based on the results fromquestionnaire analysis, and the findings from in-depth interviews supported meexplaining the results of the questionnaire

3.1 Participants

The target students‟ population in this study was students who took part in extraEnglish classes after school in the academic year 2017-2018 at PCT Secondary school,Hanoi, Vietnam The total number of students did the survey were 794 male and femalestudents in grade 6, 7, 8 and 9 Among them, only 22 students were involved in theinterviews

3.2 Instruments

The primary method used in this study was a questionnaire It comprised 2 sections: Iand II In the first section, 6 items were used to collect information relating to students‟extra classes and motivation that they joined these classes Additionally, studentsneeded to answer a question on which English class they prefer (class at school or theextra one) and what the reasons were The second section included questions whichaimed to identify learners‟ feelings of their extra classes

All the questions were written in Vietnamese in order that they were comprehensible toyoung learners and they could express their ideas about the target issue.

Interviews were followed the questionnaire to add depth to the quantitative results

3.3 Data collection procedures

In the late of February, 2018, I started delivering the survey to students at PCTSecondary school It took me about 15 minutes for each class (There are 33 classes intotal) Before administering the questionnaire, I informed the participants of theobjectives and significance of the study as well as encouraged them to do the surveytruthfully When they finished the questionnaire, they were asked to check whethertheir answers were incomplete or not The total number of questionnaire papersdelivered to students was 800 Among them, 794 papers were collected, and 728 paperswere analysed 66 papers were excluded from analysis because students did not finishmore than 5 questions These papers may not contain true answers because they did notreally want to do the survey Therefore, I removed them from the data analysis toguarantee the validity of the data

After collecting data from the questionnaire, I selected a number of students tocontinue with interviews These students were involved in the interviews because theirreasons belong to four most mentioned reasons why they take extra classes Beforeinterviews were conducted, students were encouraged to expose their own viewshonestly and they were guaranteed that their answers would not affect their equaltreatment at school Furthermore, a comfortable atmosphere was created during theinterviews to ensure valid results To record the interviewees, a notebook was used

3.4 Data analysis procedures

The data which was collected in this paper consisted of quantitative and qualitative.The quantitative data in the questionnaire was analysed by using SPSS (Statistical

Package for Social Sciences) as well as percentages, and the qualitative data from thesurvey was tallied To analyse the qualitative part of the data in the interviews, acontent analysis was used The interviewee‟s responses in Vietnamese for eachquestion were transcribed and then translated into English These responses then werefinally analysed in terms of themes which was related to the target issue of theresearch.

CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

> 30 students

Total

Table 4.1 depicts numbers of students in extra classes Overall, the figures for smallsize classes are higher than those for classes with more than 20 students 43.5 % ofextra classes consist of equal or less than 10 students while the percentage of classesfrom 11 to 20 students is slightly lower, at 43.3 % The proportion of classes containingfrom 21 to 30 students is 8.5 % while the figure for those which have more than 30students is lowest, at 4.7%

Table 4.2 Teacher(s) in extra English classes

Valid Vietnamese teacher

19

Table 4.3 illustrates the frequency of English extra classes per week 1-2 class-sessionEnglish extra classes are the most preferred by students at this secondary school Thefigure for these classes is highest, at 90% By contrast, 3-4 class-sessions, 5-6 class-sessions and others are lower, at 6%, 0.7% and 3.3% respectively.

Table 4.4 Length of each class session

Table 4.5 Reasons for participating in extra English classes

Studying English in extra classes is moreeffective than at school

Teachers in extra classes teach better thanthose at school

Teacher creates more chances for us tospeak English compared to at school

I want to get high marks in English atschool

I want to be good at English to studyabroad

My parents ask me to join it

20

Table 4.5 illustrates the data on reasons that students involved in English extra classes.Among six reasons was listed on the survey questionnaire, the reason that studentsdesire to get high marks in English at school is chosen most, at 27.7% The figures for

“I want to be good at English to study abroad” and “Studying English in extra classes ismore effective than at school” are lower, at 17% and 14.9% respectively The reasoninvolving parents in student‟s decision accounts for 13.6 % while the figure for thatrelating to chances of speaking is 10.9% The proportion of the reason relating to thequality of teachers is lowest, at 9.5%, compared to 6.4% of other reasons which wereadded by students The table below shows a list of reasons most added by students

Table 4.6 Additional reasons for choosing extra English classes

Number

1345678911121314151617

18 To work and co-operate with other countries

Reasons which were added by students in the above table mostly origins from socialimpact, and the data shows that students take extra classes in order to becomequalified people to satisfy their expectation in the future.

Table 4.7 Class preferences

Valid Do not like both

English class at school

English extra class

Like both

Total

Table 4.7 shows the percentage of classes that students prefer joining Students in thissecondary school are most attracted by English extra classes The figure for those ishighest, at 63.9% The percentage of students who prefer English class at school andthose who like both accounts for significantly lower, at 22.4% and 11.7% respectively,

a difference of 10.7% The figure for those who do not like both is lowest, only at2.1% Chart 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.44 explain reasons for students‟ choices In this survey,students also explain reasons for their choices I listed most referred reasons for theiranswers below

23

According to the results from chart 4.1, there are a lot of factors that make studentsprefer their extra classes to ones at school Factors which were referred in chart 1 aremost mentioned by students in the survey Comfort, freedom and no stress on marksare most attracted by students who took part in extra courses The figure for thataccounted for 12.7 In addition, lesson easy-understandings, fun and extensiveknowledge, communication in English and some other factors that created by teachers

in classes also interest students a lot Besides, the quality of English teaching at schoolalso affects students‟ choices The results show that not effective teaching quality orlow-level English teachers at school push students to find extra learning courses.Besides, some other factors at the lower number (I did not put them on the chart) thatmentioned by students were an active atmosphere, English programs that matchstudents‟ levels, much grammar practice, looking after and mentoring students, etc

6 4.98

420

Chart 4.2 Reasons for preferences of English class at school

Chart 4.2 depicts reasons why students like English classes at school better than extracourses Lesson easy-understandings are voted at the highest number, at 15.8.Moreover, there are a lot of other factors relating to fun, knowledge sharing amongfriends, comfort, learning through playing, etc Other factors (not in the chart) werereferred at a lower number in the survey were exciting atmosphere, good teachers, oreffectiveness in teaching and learning, etc

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Chart 4.3 Reasons for choosing both classes

Chart 4.3 describes why students like both classes According to the data from thechart, knowledge and skill complement as well as similarities between two classes(new knowledge, fun, good lessons, etc) were 50 and 32.1 in consequence The figurefor students who love studying English only accounted for 2.4

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