solutions to enhance students’ motivation at thuongmai university

Thus, this study is an attempt to give an insights into motivation and its key role in language learning, simultaneously, put forth some solutions to motivate students to learn English a

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstracts i

Tóm tắt i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

List of Tables iv

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 The research questions of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Design of the study 2

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Motivation and language learning 4

1.1.1 Definition 4

1.1.2 Theories on motivation 4

1.1.3 Types of motivations 10

1.1.4 Factors affecting motivation in second language learning 12

1.1.5 The importance of motivation in language learning 15

1.1.6 Previous study 16

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20

2.1 The context of the study 20

2 Methodology 20

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2.1 Research questions 20

2.2 Participants 21

2.3 Instruments 21

2.4 Procedures of data analysis 22

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23

3.1 Findings 23

3.1.1 Students’ attitude towards learning English 23

3.1.2 Classroom activities 24

3.1.3 Teaching methods 25

3.1.4 Praise and rewards 26

3.1.5 Classroom atmosphere 28

3.1.6 Cooperative learning 29

3.2 Discussion 30

CONCLUSION 34

1 Solutions to enhance student’s English learning at Thuongmai university 34 2 Limitations of the study 35

3 Suggestions for further research 38

REFERENCES 39

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List of Tables

Table 3.1: Motivators relating to classroom activities 24 Table 3.2: Motivators relating to teaching methods 25 Table 3.3: Motivators relating to praise and rewards 26 Table 3.4: Motivators relating to classroom atmosphere 28 Table 3.5: Motivators relating to cooperative learning 29

in their low engagement in learning Specifically, instead of concentrating on the lesson, many students chat, send messages, read novels, surf the net, facebook, etc Low motivation in learning English has a correlation with their achievement; as a result, graduates at Thuongmai university are said to have low level English proficiency at workplace They are unable to use English properly and precisely in daily communication, negotiation, presentation and email writing This problem poses a need to raise their language competency at university and one of the urgent action is to increase students’ motivation in learning English Thus, this study is an attempt to give an insights into motivation and its key role in language learning, simultaneously, put forth some solutions to motivate students to learn English at Thuongmai university The study hopefully serve as a good reference to enhance students language skills, assist them to become global citizen with good expertise and fluent English to confidently join the world of jobs after graduation

2 Aims of the study

The main aims of the study are as follows:

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- explore the factors affecting students’ motivation in learning English

- propose some recommendations to enhance students’ motivation in learning English

3 The research questions of the study

In order to achieve the aforementioned aims, the study seeks to answer the following questions:

1 What are the factors affecting students’ motivation to learn English?

2 What are the solutions to enhance their motivation in learning English?

4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on identifying solutions to enhance English competence for Thuongmai non-English majors It was carried out in the second semester of 2016-

2017 academic year with 108 second year students The impacts of different methods to boost students motivation are taken into account such as: classroom activities, teaching methods, praise and rewards, classroom atmosphere, and cooperative learning

5 Significance of the study

The study is intended to shed light on the factors affecting non English major students’ motivation in learning English Then, possible solutions are recommended

to boost their motivation in language learning which in turn enhance their competence Thus, it is beneficial for both learners and teachers in the way that teachers will have some insights into how to motivate students to learn better, and learners will be equipped with necessary methods and conditions to develop their English skills The study hopefully lay a solid foundation for English teaching at Thuongmai university in the pursuit of effective and high quality education

6 Design of the study

The study is organized as follows:

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INTRODUCTION specifies the background of the study which covers a wide range

of information such as rationale, aims, research questions, scope, significance, and design of the study

Chapter 1 provides an overview of literature on motivation in language learning

Chapter 2 discusses the research methods of the study

Chapter 3 deals with the findings and discussion of the study

CONCLUSION summarizes the main issues of the study, accompanied by limitations and suggestions for further study Additionally, some possible implications for language teaching and learning are presented

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CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Motivation and language learning

1.1.1 Definition

Motivation is considered as an influential factor in the success of any activity It has positive contribution to the learning process in any educational context In the learning process, motivation plays a vital role in providing energy to continue and achieve the desired goal Therefore, initiating any goal needs first to be preceded by desire or wish that provides this action with necessary means for implementation and accomplishment

In second language learning acquisition, there are a lot of research focusing on type and factors affecting motivation First of all, Gardner (1985) sought to investigate how the language learners’ attitudes towards the second language speaking community affects their desire to learn He also made the distinction between two kinds of motivation The first one is integrative motivation which means that someone learn a language to achieve a higher level of integration and assimilation

in the target language community The second kind of motivation is instrumental motivation where a student learns a language to achieve some kind of benefits The interest in this case focused on the product of the language and not on the language itself The second phase of motivations began in the 1990s and it has been based on cognitive theories (Dornyei, 2009) Many concepts have been formed in this phase

as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, attributions, self-efficacy and situation-specific motives related to the learning environment such as courses, teachers, peers The third phase of motivation research has been conceptualized with temporal aspects This trend has been based on a process oriented approach to motivation that pays more attention to the dynamic nature of motivation It investigates the complicated processes of motivation and how motivation works, starting with intention formation and ending with realizing the goals (Dornyei, 1994)

Research in motivation and language learning by Dornyei (1994) and Williams (1994) revealed that there are a number of motivational strategies in langauge classroom such as: teachers should act as a role model, class atmosphere is relaxed and pleasant, tasks are properly relevant to students, good teacher-student relationship should be maintained, teachers know how to increase students’ self confidence, learner autonomy should be promoted, teachers take care of individual student’s needs, etc

For the purpose of this study, the authors adopt the definition of motivation developed by Dornyei (1994) in which it is the willing to learn as influenced by teachers, classroom atmosphere, teacher-student relationship, etc

1.1.2 Theories on motivation and conceptual framework of the study

For a long time, aptitude and intelligence had long been considered the most important factors of learners’ success or failure (Nakata, 2006) However, Gardner and Lambert (1959) later prove that motivation also plays a crucial role in learning

a language Gardner and Lambert’s research has triggered many subsequent studies relating to language motivation Up to now, there are four main motivational theories namely, the socio-psychological, cognitive-situated, process-oriented and socio-dynamic perspectives

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The socio-psychological theory

According to Gardner and Lambert (1959:193), learning a second language “must

be viewed as a central social psychological phenomenon and is different from learning academic subjects such as Maths and Physics” Accordingly, those researchers believe that motivation to learn a second language is different from motivation to learn other subjects Learners not only learn new knowledge such grammar, vocabulary and pragmatics, but also are willing to integrate with community speaking that language In this theory, two types of motivation are identified: integrative and instrumental motivation In this regard, learners are motivated to learn by either integrative or instrumental orientations Integrative motivation is connected to the willingness to learn the second language in order to get to know the people who speak that language They are also interested in the culture associated with that language because their spouse or girl friend or boyfriend speak that language Meanwhile, instrumental motivation refers to the wish to learn a language for the purpose of obtaining a concrete goal such as a good job, graduation, the ability to read academic materials or job-related materials Gardner’s findings revealed that integrative-oriented students exerted more effort in learning a second language and were more successful than instrumentally-oriented students

Socio-educational model of second language acquisition

Socio-educational model emphasizes the characteristics of students in second language learning Gardner (2006) states a motivated learner demonstrates all features about motivation which consists of effort, desire to learn and attitudes towards learning a second language Of these factors, effort is considered the most important aspect in creating the success of learners or predicting their language proficiency Without effort, there may be little learning and thus lead to low achievement

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Moreover, it is proposed that the individual’s motivation to learn a second language has a direct effect on their achievement and is influenced by a number of other social-psychological variables Two affective components included: intergrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation, and the complex of such attitudes and motivation reflects an integrative motive that promotes language learning According to Gardner (2006), integrative motive consisting of the openness to cultural identification seems more associated with pursuing the ultimate level of achievement than other motivational types that lack this component

Cognitive-situated theory

While the social psychological theory focused on the importance of attitudes and feelings of language learners towards the target language and communities, the cognitive period emphasized on cognition or mental processes The learning contexts and the needs of the students and teachers in the classroom were considered more important than the community and the social context This did not signify that the social and psychological findings were ignored, in fact, the idea was

to broaden the previous theories but with consideration for other cognitive perspectives

Dornyei (1994) proposed motivation on three different levels as follows:

- Language level: considers the language and the community as well as the instrumental and integrative motivations proposed by Gardner

- Learner level: includes the learner’s personal traits and cognitive processes

- Learning situation level: focuses on three specific learning levels in the classroom

In this period the transition from a general to a more specific perspective in the understanding of motivation in learning a language becomes more apparent Specifically, there were a greater interest in learners and their learning experiences

as opposed to the focus on the attitudes towards the language learning in the previous period This focus laid the foundation for other researchers in order to

of two types could be enhanced or undermined by the social factors Since this feature is relevant to the aims of this research, cognitive theory is chosen as the guiding theory for our study

Socio-dynamic theory

This theory is characterized by “the complexity of the second language motivation process and its organic development in dynamic interaction with a multiplicity of internal, social and contextual factors” (Doryei & Ushioda, 2011:72) In this regard, learners’ motivation are influenced by social demands or other significant people in their lives such as: teachers, peers and parents

Adoption of a dynamic conception of the notion of motivation has been induced by both the situated and process-oriented conceptualisations of motivation As Dörnyei

& Ushioda (2011) stress, this approach allows researchers to integrate various aspects of the key factors in SLA, namely the learner, the learning task and the learning environment into a complex system They argued that L2 motivation in particular lends itself to the analysis from this perspectives because of its inherently changing nature In line with a complex dynamic systems approach, motivation is a dynamic subsystem entering continuous and complex interactions with other subsystems (i.e cognition and affect)

Contemporary theories of motivation

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In the first half of the twentieth century, the dominant theories considered motivation as a basic human instincts and drives The middle of the twentieth century was influenced by conditioning theories that were related to behaviorist psychology Later on, there emerged the theories relating to the desire to achieve personal growth and to fully develop the capacities and talents that learner have had

Dornyei (2011) states that the current trend in motivational psychology is featured

by the cognitive approach which places the focus on how the individual’s conscious attitudes, thoughts, beliefs, and interpretation of events influence their behavior Up

to now, the following sub theories were later developed concerning cognitive perspectives:

a Expectancy-value theories: Motivation to carry out the tasks is based on expectancy of success and the value the individual attaches to success on that task The greater the likelihood of success is, the higher degree of the individual’s positive motivation

b Achievement motivation theory: This theory focuses on the expectancy of success and incentive values It also emphasizes the need for achievement The negative sides include the fear of failure and the incentive to avoid failure

c Self-efficacy theory: refers to people’ belief in their capabilities to carry out certain tasks and their sense of efficacy will determine their choice of the activities, the effort they exerted and the persistence they displayed

d Self-worth theory: People are highly motivated to behave in ways that enhance their sense of personal value When these thoughts are threatened, they struggle vigoriously to protect them, which results in a number of unique patterns of face saving behaviours in school settings

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e Goal setting theory: Human action is caused by intention, and for action to take place, goals have to be set and pursued by choice Goals that are both specific and difficult lead to strong commitment and highest motivation

f Goal orientation theory: Mastery goals (focusing on learning the content) are superior to performance goals (focusing on demonstrating ability and getting good grades) in that they are associated with a preference for challenging work, an intrinsic interest in learning activities, and positive attitudes towards learning

g Theory of planned behavior: Attitudes have direct influence on behavior, because attitude towards a target influences the overall tattern of the person’s subjective norms

1.1.3 Types of motivations

1.1.2.1 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation

There are two types of motivation introduced by Ryan & Deci (2000) which include intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

a Intrinsic motivation: It means the students are willing and voluntary to learn

what they think it is worth or important for them When students have intrinsic motivation, they have the inner desire to learn and pay little attention to external outcomes Intrinsic motivation pushes the student to learn without rewards, because the need is innate or come from inside or depends on their own will Intrinsic motivational factors include: involvement (the desire to be involved), curiosity (exploring their interest), challenge (figuring out the complexity of a topic) and social interaction (establishing relationship)

b Extrinsic motivation: It refers to the desire to get a reward and avoid punishment

This type of motivation highlights external requirement to convince the learner to take part in learning activity (Arnold, 2000) such as homework, grade, or doing something to please teachers Because extrinsic motivation is largely based on external outcomes such as rewards and punishment, it has several negative impact

After all, extrinsic motivational factors include: compliance (to meet another’s expectation and do what is told), recognition (to be publicly acknowledged), and punishment avoidance (avoid being punished for bad performance)

In the past, extrinsic motivation was featured as being non-autonomous because it was regulated by external forces like tangible reward, praise and punishment However, nowadays researchers conceptualize it differently based on the assumption that humans possess an innate ability to internalise external regulation and integrate external attributes into and internal system Ryan and Deci (2000) posit that due to this process of internalisation, individuals can be autonomous when experiencing this extrinsically-motivated behaviour Internalisation refers to the natural process in which individuals become aware of the importance of engaging in

a task and take ownership for the task, instead of feeling obligated and forced to engage in the task requirements

1.1.2.1 Instrumental and Integrative motivation

According to Gardner & Lambert (1972), there are two types of motivation: instrumental and integrative

a Instrumental motivation: If a person learns a language for a purpose like getting a

job or meeting an academic requirement, he/she is affected by instrumental motivation To put it simply, instrumental motivation refers to the need to acquire language as a means of achieving goals such as getting a promotion in a job, reading and understanding technical texts or communicating with foreign colleagues

at workplace

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b Integrative motivation is the integration of one person within a culture to become

a part of that society Learners with integrative motivation want to study that language in order to understand and get to know people who speak that language It

is thought that students who are most successful when learning a target language are those who like the people that speak the language, admire the culture and have the desire to become familiar with or even integrate into the society in which the language is used (Gardner, 1972)

1.1.4 Factors affecting motivation in second language learning

According to Harmer (1991), there are many factors that have impacts on students’ motivation as follows:

a Attitude of students

Research shows that learners’ favorable attitude to language learning would motivate them to reach their learning goals Their attitude is actually influenced by the teachers and classroom environment (Gardner, 2000) Thus, the researcher ssuggests that teachers should use strategies to reduce language anxiety and create a positive classroom atmosphere to increase student motivation

b Classroom climate which refers to the atmosphere in class For instance, we can

not expect high motivation in learning if students have to study in a dark classroom, big class size, or have to look at small board with small words, etc They will easily lose their interest to learn if physical environment are in poor condition

c Method of teaching which means the way that students are taught in class It is

likely that students will lose their motivation if they feel bored at the teachers’ methods Thus, teachers should use methods which encourages students to move and engage in the activities like role play, discussion, debate, etc Other activities involve puzzles, brain teasers, or detective-like projects

d The teachers’ characters is considered the most powerful factor in motivating

students to learn According to Brewer & Burgess (2005), teachers should maintain

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a positive attitude toward students Some personal qualities that ensure to enhance students’ motivation includes: open-minded, friendly, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about students’ names and interests Moreover, teachers’ out-of-classroom relationship with students is highly valued by students Through outside contact with teachers, students may feel that their teachers care about them which may motivate them to perform better in class (Arnett, 2002)

e Teachers’ qualification: The teacher’s knowledge of the subject matter and the

motivational level are among the most important factors to motivate students to do well at school That may be because professors could influence the students’ internal state of wanting to learn well Besides, teaching quality is thought to play

an important role in motivating students Teachers need to acquire new qualities and continue to develop as they are role models for the students Additionally, apart from subject matter knowledge and classroom management skills, teachers should master pedagogical techniques The pedagogical skill includes the ability to organize and present particular topics, problems or issues; then adapt to the diverse interests and abilities of learners

f Students’s psychological needs

According to Ryan and Deci (2000), there are three psychological needs to promote people’s motivation: a need for autonomy, a need for competence and a need for relatedness Firstly, the need for autonomy refers to an individual’s need to have choose and act freely without any control or pressure from external forces It is considered the most important because autonomy is the ability to take charge of one's own learning Secondly, the need for competence will enable individuals to seek challenges that are relevant to their capacity When carrying out the challenging tasks, learners have a chance to maintain and enhance their competence, which is critical in their growth and development process Competence is not a skill which can be attained by an individual, rather it is an individual’s sense of being confident and effective in undertaking a task Thirdly, the need for relatedness pertains to feeling cared for, and caring for others, and feeling respected by

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significant others such as teachers, peers and family members When feeling secure and cared by other people, which characterise the satisfaction of need for relatedness, people tend to initiate the task and find the task enjoyable In contrast,

if these needs are not satisfied, there is a strong likelihood that people feel controlled, incompetent and isolated As a result, they may find engaging in a task obligatory and uninspiring and even waste of time

Students’ success also play an important role in creating their motivation Their success refers to the suitable level of challenge designed by the teachers If the the task is either too difficult or too easy, it can lead students to a demotivated situation

in learning Specifically, teacher should design task so that students can experience the success at the beginning of the course Once students feel they can do it successfully, teachers can gradually increase the level of difficulty and students still retain their high motivation Compliments and rewards for students’ good job are also emphasized because they can triger students’ motivation to learn harder

g Cooperative activities

Cooperative activities give students a sense of safety and help them to reduce the fear of failure as compared to working individually In this case, both high and low performing students benefit from each other On the one hand, it is a chance for good students to share their knowledge and play the role of leader and role model which in turn increase their confidence in the subject On the other hand, low performing students are provided with the opportunity to learn and receive necessary help from their peers

h Using technology

Technology has positive effect on students’ attitude towards learning process and makes learning more enjoyable According to Ramachaudran (2004), it encourages the exchange of ideas outside the classroom and motivate learners to use the target language Kim (2003) explores that using technology to chat in English helps students to improve their language proficiency Specifically, they have the

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opportunity to interact with other students, teachers and online learning content Students become more expressive in the computer-based communications than in their classroom environments and demonstrate more active participation

to improve learning To do so, alternative methods (e.g dialogue journals, portfolio conferences, interviews and questionnaires, observation, etc.) are available for collecting useful information about language learning and about student related factors which influence the processes of language teaching and learning Genesee (cited in Carter and Nunan, 2001) is of opinion that for tests and alternative forms

of language assessment to be useful for classroom-based evaluation, they should be: linked to instructional objectives and activities; designed to optimize student performance; developmentally appropriate, relevant and interesting to students; accurate; fair and ongoing

1.1.5 The importance of motivation in language learning

The importance of motivation in language learning is widely recognized due to the fact that it is the decisive factor in the success or failure of learning process Gardner (1985) points out that motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes toward

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learning the language He also states that motivation to learn a foreign language is determined by basic predispositions and personality characteristics such as the the leaners’ attitudes toward foreign people in general, and the target group and language in particular, motives for learning and generalized attitudes

Moreover, Claire (2008) notes that in language learning, motivation is the determining force which influence a learners’ effort and perserverance It is a complex phenomenon which includes many elements such as: internal drive, the need for success, curiosity, desire for stimulation and new experience, ect

Allwright & Bailey (1994: 182) state that “the motivated learners are more receptive than those who are not motivated” Moreover, motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate learning and later to sustain the long learning process Motivation determines the extent of active, personal involvement in learning Research shows that motivation directly influences how often students use language learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers and how long they persevere and maintain language skills after the course is over (Oxford & Shearin, 1994 as cited in Huang, 2007) On the contrary, without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most notable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals and the most appropriate curriculum and good teaching can not ensure student achievement

With regard to the relationship between motivation and educational outcomes, Deci and Ryan (2000) state that different types of motivation may lead to different outcomes Past empirical research studies found that students with high intrinsic motivation persisted in learning for a longer time and expended higher levels of effort in learning task Consequently, those students have positive academic performance than other types of motivation

1.1.6 Previous study

Review of research on motivation to learn English in the world

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Up to now, motivation in language learning has been the focus of attention of many researchers First of all, there are a number of studies examining the influencing factors affecting students’ motivation For example, Astuti (2013) stated that a good rapport between teachers and students enhanced students’ motivation to learn English In another study using quantitative research method conducted by Moskovsky (2013), it found that teachers might enhance students’ motivation to learn English by using games or humor in teaching Consistent with this result, Claire (2008) claimed that teacher is the most influential element affecting the enthusiasm, interest and motivation of students

Additionally, Boosakorn (1985) carried out a study to investigate students’ motivation in learning English in Malaysia The result showed that most of the students here are highly motivated to study English In another research, Shaaban (2000) discovered that female students are more interested in learning English than male counterpart The result in Clement (2006) indicated that classroom environment is the most important factor to motivate students in English lessons Another research using quantitative questionnaire to 500 students at a university in Taiwan Warden and Lin (2000) found that participants were motivated to learn English to get good jobs in the future, others reported that they did not have any inner motivation to learn English and they studied English only because of being required to do so and taking the tests In the context of Indonesia, the participants in Bradford’s study (2007), he found that the highest levels of extrinsic motivation to learn English is to get well-paid jobs and earn money The study aslo revealed that most of the students had very low level of integrative motivation to identify with English native Asian region Likewise, Thai university in Hayes’s research (2014) exhibited a strong motivation to learn English to prepare for future jobs

Additionally, according to Koseoglu’s research in the context of Turkey, he carried out mixed methods on 523 university students together with interview with five students from each faculty The result showed that students had very high level of instrumental motivation and very low level of integrative one It is evident that

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student are mostly extrinsically motivated to learn English (to get good job, to have good English marks, etc.) while they have low intrinsic or integrative motivation

Review of research on motivation to learn English in Vietnam

In Vietnam, motivation in English teaching and learning has been also the source of interest for many researchers Loan, M.T (2014) conducted a study on strategies to motivate students in language lessons The result showed that course book play the crucial part in increasing their motivation because if the book is too challenging or the topics are too out-dated and boring, the students would feel demotivated In another study implemented by Hanh, L.T (2011), she found that teaching methods exert the most influence on student motivation The research also put forth some recommendations in that teachers should change methods to suit students’ level and needs Duc, H (2009) made an investigation in the motivation to learn speaking skill

of a College in Vietnam It was revealed that two most important factors that motivate students to learn are teaching styles and the quality of course book

In another research conducted by Phan (2010), she used semi-structure interviews with both lecturers and students, the result showed that in formal learning environment, students were inclined to have intrinsic motivation when their lecturers provided them with informative feedback and conducted interesting and challenging activities They were demotivated to learn English when their lectures were not willing to help them and their classmates did support them In informal learning environment, these participants were motivated to learn when they could choose what they wanted to learn

Another study carried out by Tran (2007) investigated demotivating factors in learning English The result indicated that demotivation was caused by internal factors such as students’ past failure in learning English, students’ negative attitude, lack of chance to use English in everyday conversation and their low self-efficacy External demotivating factors included teachers’ negative feedback, teachers’

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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 The context of the study

This study was conducted at two English classes of second year students at Thuongmai university The students in these two classes shared some common features such as: mixed ability, different attitudes, dissimilar motivation towards learning English The coursebook included five units with integrated skills, namely reading, listening, writing and speaking The level of difficulty is thought to be relevant to second year students with different business-related topics like: Managing people, Conflict, New business and Products The initial part of each unit

is “starting up activity” to lead the students gradually in to the lesson Subsequently, vocabulary exercises are introduced to make students familiar with the words related to topic lesson; reading comprehension questions and listening exercises are also included in the lesson Grammar and exercises are the final parts of each lesson which give students the opportunity to consolidate grammar points At the end of the course, students in both classes took mid-term test and made presentation on the previously assigned topics

According to teacher’s observation, about over a half of the class are motivated to study English in class The rest pay very little attention to the lesson and doing something else instead of concentrating on learning activities in class Students who have high motivation keep serious attitude, show interest, listen attentively and make significant contribution to the lesson, whereas students with low motivation sleep, chat, text messages, facebook, read books, etc during the lesson This situation trigger the researchers to investigate factors affecting students’ motivation and work towards the solutions to enhance their motivation

2 Methodology

2.1 Research questions

The study seeks to find the answer for the following questions:

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1 What are the factors affecting students’ motivation to learn English?

2 What are the solutions to enhance their motivation in learning English?

To fulfill the research aims, survey questionnaires and interview were carried out to collect the data

2.2 Participants

The participants of the study included 108 second year students from two classes (86 female and 22 male students) at Thuongmai University who were studying English 3 in the second semester, 2016-2017 academic year

To the authors’ observation, these students are different in English competence, attitude and motivation to learn English One of the authors taught these two classes,

so they were chosen to study for the purpose of approachability to conduct both questionnaire and interview

2.3 Instruments

The study employed questionnaire and interview to collect answers from students about their motivation towards English learning The questionnaire included 12 questions which focused on students’ attitude towards learning English, classroom activities, teaching methods, praise and rewards, classroom atmosphere, cooperative learning Due to time constraint, the authors only made an attempt to investigate five out of many factors presented in theoretical background The questionnaire used 5 point Likert Scale ranging from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree” to gather information

Eight of 108 students were then selected to be interviewed face to face to elicit detailed answers The interview was conducted to seek information for further explanation and exploration of the problems All the conversations in the interview were audio recorded and transcribed for later analysis