Factors affecting non english major students’ motivation in learning english listening skills at college of industrial techniques

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LÊ MINH HƯỜNG FACTORS AFFECTING NON-ENGLISH MAJO

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES *****************

LÊ MINH HƯỜNG

FACTORS AFFECTING NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS

AT COLLEGE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNIQUES

CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN HỨNG THÚ HỌC KĨ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG

CAO ĐẲNG KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES *****************

LÊ MINH HƯỜNG

FACTORS AFFECTING NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS

AT COLLEGE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNIQUES

CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN HỨNG THÚ HỌC KĨ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG

CAO ĐẲNG KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field Code

: English Teaching Methodology : 60140111

Supervisor : Dr Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa

Hanoi, 2014

I certify that the thesis entitled “Factors affecting non-English major students' motivation

in learning English listening skills at College of Industrial Techniques" is entirely my own

work The substance of this thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree toany other universities or institutions

Hanoi, August 2014

Lê Minh Hường

I would also like to send my sincere thanks to all staff, teachers and members at Faculty ofPost-Graduate Studies of University of Languages and International Studies-VietnamNational University for their work and services Especially, I am grateful to the librarianswho supplied me with a lot of materials.

My gratitude is also to my colleagues and students at the College of Industrial Techniqueswho were willing to answer my questions and complete my questionnaires They gave meinvaluable advice and suggestions on the thesis Without them, my thesis could not becompleted and successful

Last but not least, I would like to send my thanks to my beloved people, my parents, myhusband and my daughter for their encouragement and support which help me overcomedifficulties to complete this study

Motivation is one of the most important factors that influences the rate and success ofsecond language learning This study aims to investigate the factors affecting non-Englishmajor students' motivation in learning English listening skills at the College of IndustrialTechniques In this study, 55 first-year non- English major students from different faculties

of College of Industrial Techniques were chosen as the subjects A survey questionnaireand a semi-structured interview were used as the data collection instrument The findings

of the study showed that the factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation inlearning English listening skills derive from 3 sources: students, teachers, learningconditions In details, the first factor is that students‟ lack of basic knowledge, lack ofconfidence, personality and belief in learning English listening skills The other factor isthat students have to face are teachers‟ behaviors and methods in teaching Englishlistening In addition, inadequate school facilities, lack of target language environment,textbook and exam- orientation are also factors affecting that prevent students at College ofIndustrial Techniques from concentrating and motivating in their learning English listeningskills Based on the findings of the study, some discussions and implications of learningEnglish listening skills are made along with recommended suggestions for further research

At last, it is hoped that the results of this study could be of much benefit for students inlearning English listening skills at College of Industrial Techniques

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF CHARTS vii

LIST OF TABLES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 The research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Method of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation 5

1.1.1 Definition of motivation 5

1.1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning 6

1.1.3 The role of motivation in second language learning 7

1.2 Theoretical background of listening skills 8

1.2.1 Definition of listening skills 8

1.2.2 Teaching listening skills 9

1.2.3 The factors affecting motivation in learning listening skills 10

1.2.3.1 The student-related factors 10

1.2.3.2 The teacher-related factors 12

1.2.3.3 Teaching and learning conditions 14

1.3 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam 15

1.4 Summary 16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 17

2.1 The setting of the study 17

2.2 Participants 18

2.3 Instrument for collecting data 20

2.4 Data collection procedures 21

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 22

3.1 Findings 22

3.1.1 Level of students‟ motivation 22

3.1.1.1 Students‟ attitudes towards the learning of listening English 22

3.1.1.2 Students‟ motivation in learning listening English 25

3.1.2 Factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills at CIT 27

3.1.2.1 The student-related factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills 27

3.1.2.2 The teacher-related factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills 29

3.1.2.3 Learning conditions affecting students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills 31

3.2 Discussions 32

PART C: CONCLUSION 34

1 Conclusions 34

2 Recommendations 34

3 Limitations of the study 36

4 Suggestions for further research 37

REFERENCES 38 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW III APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS IV

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L2 : Second Language

CIT : College of Industrial Techniques

% : Percentage

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Students‟ attitudes towards the learning of listening EnglishChart 2: Students‟ participation in speaking lessons

Chart 3: Students‟ motivations on learning listening skills

Chart 4: Teachers‟ factors

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The student-related factors

Table 2: Learning conditions

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Among four macro skills of languages, listening skills make a significantcontribution to the process of acquiring language Listening skills play a crucial role incommunication It has been estimated that the time people spend on communicationactivities 45 percent is devoted to listening, only 30 percent to speaking, 16 percent toreading and a mere 9 percent to writing by Rivers, W.M & Temperley, M.S (1978) Inaddition, it also requires a wide range of knowledge and ability: knowledge of phonology,vocabulary, semantics of the language in use, culture of its people, and their lifeexperiences in the topic, their ability to predict and respond However, how to listeningEnglish well is a problem for many learners of English, especially for the students ofcolleges and universities Despite the fact that the students have been learning Englishsince they were at secondary or high school, most of students are weak at listening skillsand have a lot of difficulties in listening acquisitions They even become stressful andignorant in listening lessons

In literature, there have been numerous studies conducted by the international teachers andresearchers to investigate a multitude of factors that may affect language learning Amongall, motivation has been proved to play a significant role in determining whether studentssucceed or fail in school In other words, there has been a highly positive relationshipbetween motivation and learners‟ achievement in language learning According to Oxfordand Shearin (1996, cited in Ha 2009: 163-164), motivation directly influences how mucheffort students make, how often students use L2 learning strategies, how much studentsinteract with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned,how well they do on curriculum related achievement tests, how high their generalproficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain L2 skills afterlanguage study is over Ely (1986); Oxford & Shearin (1996) Particularly, toward learninglistening skills, motivation is one important element in foreign language teaching ingeneral and learning English listening skills in particular

With six years of teaching English at College of Industrial Techniques (CIT), theresearcher has realized that students normally lack of motivation in learning English ingeneral and in listening skills in particular In fact, most students have passive attitudestoward learning listening English due to the previous experiences that listening skill is hard

to learn and they fail to take listening input Many of them get bored and become motivated when listening classes start They are generally less aware of its importance Inaddition to the lack of well-equipped facilities, classes at colleges and universities areusually very large-between fifty and sixty students Another problem is students‟ low level

de-of prde-oficiency in terms de-of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills Listening skill istreated equally as other skills in terms of time allocation The foreign language they learn isoften presented in the first language, the emphasis is on grammar only with the aim to helpstudents pass the exams given by either the school examination board or the Ministry ofEducation and Training All of these have inspired the author to make an attempt to carryout the research “Factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learningEnglish listening skills at CIT” This will be the basis for the researcher in general and theteachers of English at CIT in particular in arousing motivation for students in listeningskills, helping them to get involved in different listening activities, keep their efforts duringlearning process and then achieve successes

2 Aims of the study

This survey is conducted in order to investigate the factors affecting non-Englishmajor students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills at CIT

Objectives of the study are summarized as follows:

- To investigate the non-English major students‟ level of motivation in learning Englishlistening skills at CIT

- To identify the factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learningEnglish listening skills at CIT

3 The research questions

To achieve the aims mentioned above, the following research questions were proposed:

1 How motivated are the non-English major students in learning English listening skills at CIT?

2 What are the factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learningEnglish listening skills at CIT?

4 Scope of the study

This study mainly focuses on the factors affecting non-English major students‟motivation in learning English listening skills at CIT However, due to the limit of time andthe scope of a minor thesis, the researcher only carried out to investigate the non-Englishmajor students‟ level of motivation in learning English listening skills at CIT and identifythe factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learning English listeningskills at CIT The other study of this minor thesis would be beyond of the scope

5 Method of the study

This survey research uses two instruments to collect the data Firstly, the surveyquestionnaire was conducted with 55 students randomly chosen from about 300 first yearstudents at CIT Secondly, semi-structured interviews with 5 students, who have done thesurvey questionnaire, were carried out

6 Design of the study

This study consists of three main parts: the introduction, the development and theconclusion

Part A is the Introduction It lays out the reasons for choosing the topic for this thesis and points out the aims, the scope, the methods and the design of the study Part B is the

Development It consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature Review presents the theoretical background of motivation, the

theoretical background of listening skills and discussion of issues and aspects concerningthe topic of the study

Chapter 2: Methodology gives the situation analysis, participants; instruments for

collection data and data analysis method are discussed in this chapter

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions present the results from the detailed analysis of

collected data and provides several discussions related to them

Part C is the Conclusion It summarizes the major findings and points out the limitations ofthe study Furthermore, some suggestions for further studies are also given in this part.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the theoretical background of motivation, the theoreticalbackground of listening skills and discussion of issues and aspects concerning the topic ofthe study

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation

1.1.1 Definition of motivation

Motivation plays an important role in the process of English learning – teaching.Research shows that motivation is one of the main determining factors in an individual‟ssuccess in developing a L2, it is crucial for L2 learning by Dornyei (1994); Oxford &Shearin (1996) because it directly influences how much effort students make, how oftenstudents use L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, howmuch input they receive in the language being learned, how well they do on curriculumrelated achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how longthey preserve and maintain L2 skills after language study is over

For many years, a lot of different proposed definitions of motivation have been provided.According to Dornyei (2001), motivation is one of the most important factors thatinfluences the rate and success of second language learning He states, “Motivationprovides the primary impetus to initiate learning the L2 and later the driving force tosustain the long and often tedious learning process” He claims that without sufficientmotivation, even individuals with remarkable abilities couldn‟t accomplish long-termgoals However, high motivation can make learners get considerable achievement in spite

of their language aptitude and learning condition

As Dornyei (2001: 7) claims that “ motivation explains why people decide to dosomething, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are going to sustaintheir activities.” While Woldkowski, R J (1998) explains that in the broadest sense,motivation is "a value and a desire for learning" Motivation involves a student‟s desire to

participate in the learning process It is also concerned with the reasons or goals whichunderlie a student‟s participation in learning activities.

According to Crooks and Schmidt (1991), motivation is defined in terms of interest in andenthusiasm for the teaching methods used in the class; persistence with the listening task asindicated by levels of attention or action for an extended duration; and levels ofconcentration and enjoyment From the researcher‟s point of view, this definition is exactlyright for the motivation in this study The motivation being investigated in this study is thelevels of students‟ motivation generated in the listening lessons whether students areinterested and enthusiastic in listening task with high concentration and enjoyment

1.1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning.

Motivation can be classified in different ways In some studies, motivation iscategorized: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Besides, motivation in foreign languagelearning is more broadly categorized into two types: integrative and instrumentalmotivation In addition, there are some different categorized of motivation as follows:global, situational, task, resultative motivation Yet due to the scope of the study, the focus

was on two types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation is generally possessed by people having personal

interests in doing something and helping to set their goals People are intrinsically motivatenot because accomplishing the activity they do brings a rewards, but because doing theactivity itself is a reward by Dornyei (2001:51)

Dornyei (2001) notes that a student with intrinsic motivation participates in his/ herlearning for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides, the learning it permits, or thefeelings of accomplishment it evokes

Extrinsic motivation: Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, derives from an anticipation

of rewards such as praise, awards, prizes, and evaluation and fear for punishment asextrinsically motivated students does the activity itself, and this kind of motivation refers tolearning situations where the reason for doing a task is something other than an interest inthe task itself by Williams & Burden (1997:40)

The goal connected with intrinsic motivation is a positive learning effect that lasts a longtime, but the goal of an extrinsic motivated student is completely different Ur (1996)points out that extrinsic derives from the influence of some kind of external incentives, asdistinct from the wish to learn for its own sake or internet in learning tasks Many sources

of extrinsic motivation are beyond the influence of important people, such as parents.However, other sources are certainly affected by teacher action, including success and itsrewards, failure and its rewards, failure and its penalties, authoritative demands, tests,competition Teachers use extrinsic motivation to stimulate learning or encourage students

to perform in a particular way It is one of the most powerful motivations It is operativewhen an individual is motivated by an outcome that is external or somehow related to theactivity in which she or he is engaged

In short, the category of motivation is useful for carrying out this study Based on theanalysis of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation mentioned above, the teacher can stimulatestudents to participate in tasks actively by the innovation of teaching methods

1.1.3 The role of motivation in second language learning.

Learner motivation has become more and more commonly recognized as one of themajor defining factors for success in learning English

Reece & Walker (1997) express that “motivation is a key factor in the second languagelearning process” They stressed that a less able student who is highly motivated canachieve greater success than the more intelligent student who is not well motivation.Among the things that do clearly affected mastery of a second language is the kind ofmotivation that a learner has Finegan (1994:466)

As Littlewood (1984:53) puts it “in second language learning as well as in other fields ofhuman learning, motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learnerembarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he preserves”.Besides, Hedge (2000: 23) affirms, “motivation is of crucial importance in the classroom,whether learners arrive with it or they acquire it through classroom experiences”

Furthermore, Dornyei (2001) states that a learner with enough motivation is likely to gain

an acceptable knowledge of an L2 despite his language aptitude or other cognitive

characteristics Even the brightest student without enough motivation is unlikely to persistlong enough to achieve any really useful language Therefore, motivation is crucial for L2learning, and it is essential to understand what our students‟ motivations are.

1.2 Theoretical background of listening skills

1.2.1 Definition of listening skills

In second language learning and teaching, listening is defined as the process ofunderstanding speech in a second or foreign language

Listening plays a vital role in our social life that no one can deny Indeed, listening takes

up as much as fifty percent of our everyday communication time and it is the most usedlanguage skill at work and at home by God (2002)

According to Rost (1994) listening now becomes an essential element of communication.Listening is essential for interaction A learner can express himself orally but never be able

to communicate with speakers of English if unable to understand what is said to him

As Grant (1987), he states that the listening skill includes everything from learningparticular sounds to comprehending complicated messages Without this skill,communication can break down Therefore, successful communication really depends onlistener or receivers of messages

Yagang (1993) provide a simpler definition as listening is considered “the ability toidentify and understand what others are saying.” In order to understand what is listening,the concept of listening by Underwood (1989) is extracted „listening is the activity ofpaying attention to and trying to get meaning from something you hear.”

Also according to Underwood (1989) to listen successfully to spoke language, we need to

be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways

on particular occasion, and not simply to understand the words themselves

All in all, listening involves a multiplicity of skills It is a complex, active processes ofinterpretation in which listener match what they hear with what they have already know

1.2.2 Teaching listening skills

Teaching listening as well as learning listening is not simple, complex and difficultprocesses Teachers and students meet many challenges in this skill

Mendelsohn (1998) emphasizes that in teaching listening; teachers need to help studentsbecome self-regulated learners He claims that listening should be changed from product toprocess, and the role of teacher is to teach his/her learner “how” to listen, not to test theirlistening proficiency during listening lessons

Vandergrift (1999) composed a pedagogical sequence in which teachers and students‟responsibility were indentified clearly in listening lessons This consequence can developteachers‟ awareness of the process of listening and help students acquire the met cognitiveknowledge to success in listening comprehension The consequence consists of three mainperiods: planning for the successful completion of a listening task, monitoringcomprehension during a listening task and valuating the approach and outcomes of alistening task

For the period of planning for the successful completion of a listening task, pre-listeningactivities takes a very important role These activities help students make decisions aboutwhat to listen for and, subsequently, to focus attention on meaning while listening Duringthis critical phase of the listening process, teachers prepare students for what they will hearand what they are expected to do First, students need to bring to consciousness theirknowledge of the topic, their knowledge of how information is organized in different textsand any relevant cultural information Second, a purpose for listening must be established

so that students know the specific information they need to listen for and/or the degree ofdetail required Using all the available information, students can make predictions toanticipate what they might hear

During the listening process, students monitor their comprehension and make decisionsabout strategy use Students need to evaluate continually what they are comprehending andcheck the consistency with their predictions, and the internal consistency, for example, theongoing interpretation of the oral text or interaction Teacher intervention during this phase

is virtually impossible because of the ephemeral nature of listening Periodic practice in

decision-making skills and strategy use can sharpen inference skills and help students tomonitor more effectively.

In addition, students need to evaluate the results of decisions made during a listening task.The teacher can encourage self-evaluation and reflection by asking students to assess theeffectiveness of strategies used Group or class discussions on the approach taken bydifferent students can also stimulate reflection and worthwhile evaluation Students areencouraged to share individual routes leading to success, for instance, how someoneguessed the meaning of a certain word or how someone modified a particular strategy

In order to help students consciously focus on planning, monitoring and evaluation beforeand after the completion of listening tasks, teachers can develop performance checklists.These instruments help students prepare for a listening task and evaluate their ownperformance

1.2.3 The factors affecting motivation in learning listening skills

There are a variety of factors influencing learners‟ motivation such as learners,parents, community, the learning context, the teacher, the subject matters, teaching andlearning conditions, ect However, the author of this research pays much of the attention tosome influential factors, namely: students‟ factors, teachers‟ factors and learningconditions

1.2.3.1 The student-related factors

Personality: Personality of the students constitutes a major factor contributing to success

or failure in language learning For example, Ellis (1997) proves that extrovert students areadvantaged in the development of language associated with interpersonal communication.From the same point of view, Lightbown & Spada (1999) give a number of personalitycharacteristics: extroversion, inhibition, self – esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness,responsiveness To sum up, personality characteristics are likely to affect second languagelearning including extroversion, relaxation, self-esteem (self-confidence), anxiety andempathy

other” In learning listening, they are expressed through the awareness of the importance oflistening, learners‟ needs (personal growth, cultural enrichment, practical goals, andintegrative reason) and learners‟ effort and interest in learning and practicing listening.

Students’ lack of basic knowledge of English: Among these factors, the first and most

influential factor is their background knowledge Background knowledge refers to theexisting information on a specific topic in each language lesson Therefore, if students lackthis type of knowledge, it is really challenging for them to get involved in learningactivities They are likely to be unable to comprehend new knowledge, and more seriously,they may lose their interests in learning lessons Realizing the importance of this factor, theteacher needs to provide students with suitable background information for the lesson andhelps them use it effectively

Besides language items such as vocabulary and grammatical structures may have impact

on students‟ feelings This causes them difficulties in getting meaning as well as practicinglanguage skills Just as Underwood (1989:17) said, “ For people listening to a foreignlanguage , an unknown word can be like suddenly dropped barrier causing them to stop andthink about the meaning of the word and thus making them miss the next part of thespeech” When hearing unknown words, they easily become worried and stop continuehearing the next part of speech to try to work out the meaning of the new word Studentsneed to develop the skill of keeping up with the speaker even if this means letting partwhich they have failed to sort out pass

Students’ preference: It refers to learning styles involving an individual‟s natural habitual,

preferred ways of absorbing, processing and retaining new information and skills Thereare two types of learning styles related to second language learning:

- Perceptual learning styles include learning through the eyes (visual), through the ears (aural) and through touch and body movement (hap tic)

- Cognitive learning styles: field-independence and field-dependence, reflectivity and impulsivity and ambiguity tolerance

Students’ beliefs: Learners have strong beliefs about how their language instruction should

be delivered or expectations of how classes should be organized and taught “These beliefsare usually based on previous learning experiences and the assumption (right or wrong)

that a particular type of instruction is the best way for them to learn.” Lightbown (1999:59) Hence; teachers should help learners expand their repertoire of learning strategies andthus develop greater flexibility in their ways of approaching language learning.

Students’ lack of confidence: Learner‟s motivation can strongly decrease depending on

how much confidence learner‟s lack As a result, when a learner lacks confidence towardthe language they are learning and the environment they are in, they can easily get anxietywhich not only de-motivate them but also is related to proficiency as suggested by Clemen,Dorneyi and Noel (1994)

Aptitude: According to Lightbown & Spada (1999:53), aptitude is the factor that “predicts

whether individuals become efficient learners of foreign language in a classroom setting”

An aptitude is an innate Aptitude comprises different types of abilities: auditory ability(the ability to identify and memorize new sounds), grammatical sensitivity (the ability tofigure out grammatical rules from language samples, the ability to understand the function

of particular words in sentences) and memory (the ability to memorize new words)

1.2.3.2 The teacher-related factors

The teacher also needs to be clearly aware of learners‟ needs, their motivation andtheir purposes of their learning A good teacher should be the one who is capable of pullingthe student and the lesson closely together

Teacher’s behaviors: The first factor affecting the motivation of learners is the teacher‟s

attitudes and behaviors The way the teacher feels, thinks, and behaves while teachingsurely has a profound influence on learners‟ motivation and the learning atmosphere.When the teacher has personal and interpersonal variables such as good mood, warmth,respect, empathy, understanding, sensitivity, enthusiasm, good sense of humor, the learningenvironment is likely to be relaxing and enjoying to students It is suggested that whenlearners have chances to work with an instructor who shows students excitement about thesubject matter being taught, or simply expresses their love for teaching job, inevitably theyare affected by this energy and will engage themselves more actively in the learningprocess

Moreover, when the teacher shows that their expectations are put on students‟ abilities,they are more likely to reach higher levels of achievement and feel more confident.Learners tend to perform at the level that is consistent with the teacher‟s belief andexpectations.

Teaching methods: Besides, the teacher‟s teaching techniques and activities are of great

impact on learners‟ motivation Without proper techniques and activities in the learningprocess, learners could be left in confusion and boredom while dealing with the subjectmatter That is why the teacher should invest more time and efforts in designing andprocessing teaching materials as well as in finding out appropriate techniques and activitiesthat can best facilitate learners in their learning For example, in listening, teachingmethods of one lesson can be different, they depend on three stages: pre – listening, while– listening and post – listening

However, when deciding what teaching method to use, a teacher needs to considerstudents' background knowledge, environment, and learning goals The teachers aware thatstudents learn in different ways so they must use techniques which cater to multiplelearning styles to help students retain information and strengthen understanding

Enthusiasm: Teachers' love, dedication and passion together with their commitment toward

the subject matter will give students willingness to pursue knowledge Moreover, based onGood & Brophy (1994), teachers should clearly identify reasons for their love and interest

in the L2 and then share these reasons with their students

Ability to listen and pay attention to students: The teacher can convey his/ her personal

attention to the students by remembering their names, smiling at them, asking them abouttheir lives outside school

Teacher’s competence: It refers to teacher‟s proficiency, social and cultural background

knowledge The proficiency shows by the level of mastering and using the secondlanguage, the ability to perform teachers‟ mastery suitably to the content of each lesson.Social and cultural background knowledge is known with the understanding of society andculture in both the second language community and the mother tongue community andshown in teaching

1.2.3.3 Learning conditions

Physical conditions: Physical conditions in the classroom include the classroom size,

chairs, desks, table, lights, boards and even bulletin boards affect students' motivationeither positively or negatively The decoration (poster, flowers, funny objects) also has astrong influence on the classroom atmosphere Moreover, according to Dornyei (2001: 42),personalizing the classroom can be seen as students exercising increasing control over theirenvironment

Besides, noise and quality of listening facilities might cause students‟ listening becomechallenging Noise including both background noises on the recording and environmentalnoises, can take the listener‟s mind off the content of the listening passage Furthermore,listening material on tape or radio lacks visual and aural environmental clues Not seeingthe speaker‟s body language and facial expressions makes it more difficult for the listener

to understand the speaker‟s meaning Moreover, unclear sounds resulting from quality equipment can interfere with the listener‟s comprehension

poor-Classroom atmosphere: Teacher must be aware of how important to create a pleasant and

supportive classroom atmosphere The teacher's rapport with the students, the students'relationship with each other and the norm of tolerance will help students feel safe andcomfortable taking risk Moreover, teacher should make students know that makingmistakes is a natural part of learning Therefore, students are encouraged to express theirown opinion and thinking As Lightbown & Spada (1999), they state that the supportiveand non- threatening atmosphere made a contribution to learners' motivation

Learning materials: One of the most important factors that influence the learner‟s

motivation is learning materials Interesting, relevant, and carefully-designed materials willsurely more motivate students in learning the subject matter For example, students willeasily lose their interest in dealing with reading text containing too many new words,complex structures and ambiguous ideas And if the content of the reading is nothingrelevant to the topic at hand of the lesson, students are definitely uninterested in workingwith it In addition, the lack of diversification in tasks used also makes students reluctant tofully engage with the learning activity

1.3 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam

The impact of motivation in foreign language learning has been recognizedsignificantly by many educational researchers

Gardner (1985), Dornyei (2001), Brown (1994) etc., have generated the concept ofmotivation, its effects in foreign language learning and applicable strategies for improvinglearners‟ motivation in class In the light of their researches, teachers are able to answer thequestion how to motivate learners for success and their findings encourage or supporteducational researchers to do more research in different aspects of language teaching.Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) investigated 6 factors from reviewing previous studies of de-motivation in learning, concluding teachers, characteristics of classes, experiences offailure, class environment, class materials, and lack of interest They administrated a 35-item questionnaire to 656 Japanese high school students and identified the followingsources of de-motivation: 1) Learning contents and materials, 2) Teachers‟ competenceand teaching style, 3) Inadequate school facilities, 4) Lack of intrinsic motivation, and 5)Test scores In contrast to both previous studies, teacher-related factors were not the mostde-motivating factors, that learning contents and materials and test scores are theprominent de-motivating factors for various students

Kikuchi (2011) conducted a research among 1334 Japanese senior high school students at 7high schools The questionnaire was used as the data instrument The de-motivation wasfound from these sources: students‟ difficult experience or loss of interest in learning Inaddition, influence from teachers also causes de-motivation and material focusing ondifficult reading passage and/or vocabulary causes the strongest sense of de-motivation.Kikuchi‟s study also reviews on de-motivation and de-motivators of previous study indetail The questionnaires he used depend on analysis of other study and chose the mosteffective points such as from Dornyei, Oxford and Gardner His study is one part of thebackground for this study However, only questionnaire was used If there were interviewswith students, the deeper information could be collected from students

Relating to factors affecting students‟ motivation to study English, Tuyen, N.T (2012) didresearch on “factors affecting students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills at AnLao high school” The researcher uses a questionnaire of two parts and interview as the data

collection The study revealed that students lacked listening strategies, but teachers didn'tteach those listening strategies regularly Teachers had to face in teaching listening wasthat students lacked language knowledge and vocabulary Moreover, learning environmentand learning facilities also badly affected teaching and learning listening.

Another study conducted by Huong, N.T.T (2010) to investigate non-majors‟ motivationalfactors in learning English listening at Hai Phong private university Participants were 186English non - major students at TOEIC level 2 in total of 1078 students from sevendifferent classes The data was collected using a survey questionnaire in Likert Scalepattern After analyzing five learners‟ related factors, the findings showed that the effect ofeach factor on students‟ motivation was different while, for each factor, the ideas wereshown rather similarly in both groups of participants coming from the country and from theurban areas

Overall, there have been number of studies in motivation in foreign language learning andlearning English skills However, there has been little research into factors affecting non-English major students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills at College ofIndustrial Techniques This is the gap that the current thesis study tries to bridge By doingresearch through questionnaires a semi-structured interview, this study hopes to add furtherevidence to the small but growing body of research on this topic

1.4 Summary

In this chapter, motivation has not been paid more attention from Vietnamese studentsand researchers From the factual contexts that the researcher works in and finds the matterinteresting and necessary, this study aims to measure the factors affecting non-Englishmajor students‟ motivation in learning English listening skills at CIT

Among the factors identified by previous researchers and depending on the context ofteaching and learning English at CIT, the researcher wants to put emphasis on thefollowing factors: the teacher-related factors, the student-related factors, and learningconditions

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the setting of the study, participants, instrument for collectingdata and data collection procedures

2.1 The setting of the study

The study was conducted at College of Industrial Techniques It is located in thecenter of Bac Giang city, a mountainous province of Vietnam The main duty of thiscollege is to train and foster thousands of managers, highly qualified technicians andskilled workers for the country in general and the province in particular

The teaching of English at CIT is divided into two phases In the first phase, studentsacquire General English with the four language skills through New English FileElementary course book by Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham-Koenig, Paul Seligson,published by Oxford University Press The course book consists of 09 units with 09different topics relating to our life such as holiday, friends, entertainment, survivors, travel,fashion, health, experiences and so on Especially, the book supports students with somesupplementary such as grammar reference, functional language, tape script, workbook andkey

According to the course book New English File Elementary, listening skills are learntgenerally with other skills in each unit Students listen to the subject matters related to theunit topic; new vocabulary is presented in listening sessions Listening lesson includes 2 - 3tasks (matching, multiple choice questions, true/false, comprehension questions, gap-filling, taking notes, etc.) aiming at developing students‟ comprehensive listening

In the second phase, students acquire English for Specific Purposes depending on theirmajor Students at CIT have to learn English from the first term The time allocated toEnglish is five 45-minute periods per week in 15 weeks for each semester

At CIT, six teachers take charge of teaching Basic English Among them, four haveMaster Degree and the rest hold a bachelor degree in English Language Teaching Two ofthem have more than three years teaching experience

To become students at CIT, they have to pass the entrance exam in different groups such as

A, A1, or D At the college, there are approximately 45 -55 students with different levels ofEnglish were put to study in the same class and same textbook It is easy to see that thenumber of students in a class at CIT is very large; from experiences of more than six years

of teaching, it is still a big barrier to my teaching

Students at CIT have learnt English for either three or seven years at high school beforeentering college However, their English proficiency is not high especially in learningEnglish listening skills They get used to learning a language by focusing extensivevocabulary and grammatical structures so language function and communicativecompetence are their weak points Besides, compared with university students, thesestudents usually have much lower entrance marks (total of 10-15 marks for three subjects)

In addition, they learn to spoken English in almost isolated environment from speaking people Thus, their abilities to speak and listen in English can hardly beimproved It‟s difficult for teachers to teach English well Teachers will face withproblems in monitoring work, giving feedback, setting up communicative tasks as well aspaying attention to all students during class time

English-Although most students attended every lesson, many of them showed their bored inlearning English in class Many commented that they came to classes because teachersmarked their attendance and if they were off more than 30% of the total lessons, they couldnot attend the final exam

Therefore, this survey was conducted to investigate factors affecting non-English majorstudents‟ motivation in learning English listening skills at CIT

2.2 Participants

This survey was carried out with 55 first -year non-major students from CIT All ofthem compulsorily studied English for General Purpose as a foreign language in their firstschool year like other colleges in Vietnam Their age ranged from 18 to 20 There were 55participants for the study of which 9 were females and 46 were males Most of them camefrom countryside and mountainous areas (25 students) and towns (18 students) while 12students were from cities like Lang Son, Quang Ninh or Lao Cai Their different places of