A study on test taking techniques for toeic reading comprehension test by students at vietnam maritime university ics

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---  --- NGUYỄN THỊ BƯỞI DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN LISTENING LES

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-  -

NGUYỄN THỊ BƯỞI DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN LISTENING LESSONS

OF THE SECOND YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

(Nghiên cứu về các yếu tố gây mất hứng thú trong các bài học nghe

của sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ hai trường đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội )

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

HA NOI – 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-  -

NGUYỄN THỊ BƯỞI DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN LISTENING LESSONS

OF THE SECOND YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

(Nghiên cứu về các yếu tố gây mất hứng thú trong các bài học nghe

của sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ hai trường đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội )

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Ha

HA NOI – 2015

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DECLARATION

I, hereby, certify the thesis entitled “Demotivating factors in listening lessons of

the second year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry” is the

result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and that this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions

Post-Hanoi, October 2nd, 2015

Nguyen Thi Buoi

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Ha for her inspiring me to do this research If it had not been for her invaluable guidance, insightful comments and kind support, my thesis would not have been accomplished

My special thanks also go to all the professors and lecturers of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable lectures, which have laid the

foundation for this thesis

I am indebted to my friends and my colleagues for their suggestions and encouragement to fulfill the study Finally, I owe the completion of this study to my family, especially my husband who gave me encouragement throughout the study

Hanoi, October 2015

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ABSTRACT

This study is an attempt to investigate factors demotivating the second year non English major students in listening lessons at Hanoi university of Industry The main purposes of the study are to find out: the main demotivating factor affecting students‟ motivation in listening lessons and some suggested solutions by teachers to stimulate students to arouse their interest in listening lessons The study data were collected by means of questionnaire for students and teachers, informal interviews with teachers and class observation The results indicated that four demotivating factors were found in this study: (1) unfavorable teaching and learning condition, (2) the difficulty of listening section in the coursebook,(3) learner‟s lack of background knowledge and reduced interest, and (4) teachers‟ teaching styles However, there still existed the gap between teachers‟ perception and students‟ perception as a source of demotivation The students mostly blamed on unfavorable teaching and learning condition; whereas, teachers thought that it was the students‟ low English proficiency and laziness in learning Some suggestions were provided by the teachers to motivate students in listening lessons

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations………vii

List of tables and charts……… ………viii

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Research methodology 2

6 Significance of the study 3

7 Organization of the study 3

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Theoretical background of listening 1.1.1 Definitions of listening 4

1.1.2 Definition of listening comprehension 4

1.1.3 Teaching listening skill 5

1.2 Theoretical background of motivation and demotivation 7

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1.2.1Definition of motivation 7

1.2.2 Definition of demotivation 7

1.2.3 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam of demotivation 8

1.2.4 Studies of demotivating factors in listening 10

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13

2.1 Research questions 13

2.2 Participants of the study 13

2.3 Methods of the study 13

2.4 Instruments 14

2.4.1 Questionnaire 14

2.4.2 Interview 14

2.5 Data collection and data analysis 14

2.5.1 Data collection 14

2.5.2 Data analysis 15

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 16

3.1 Data analysis of discussion of students‟ survey questionnaire 16

3.1.1 The coursebook 16

3.1.2 Student- related demotivating factors 17

3.1.3 Teacher- related demotivating factors 18

3.1.4 Teaching and learning conditions 19

3.1.5The demotivating items in rank order 20

3.2 Data analysis and discussion of teachers‟ survey questionnaire and interview 23

3.2.1 Teachers‟ opinion on the role of listening comprehension, tasks, students‟ proficiency in listening and students‟ motivation in listening 24

3.2.2 Teachers‟ opinion on demotivating factors in listening lessons 27

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3.2.3 The frequency of teaching techniques and activities used by teachers in

listening lessons 29

3.2.4 Teachers‟ opinion on solutions helping students to revive their motivation in listening lessons 30

3.3 Major findings and discussion 33

3.3.1 Demotivating factors from students‟ perceptions 33

3.3.2 Demotivating factors from teachers‟ perceptions 35

3.3.3 Solutions suggested by teachers 37

3.4 Summary of the chapter 37

PART THREE: CONCLUSION 38

1 Conclusion 38

2 Recommandation 38

3 Limitation of the study 40

4 Suggestion for further study 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDIX 1 (Student questionnaire – English version) I APPENDIX 2 (Student questionnaire – Vietnamese version) III APPENDIX 3 (Teacher questionnaire) V APPENDIX 4 (Teacher interview- English version)……….VIII APPENDIX 5 (Teacher interview- Vietnamese version) IX

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry

LC : Listening comprehension

Table 3: Students‟ opinions on teacher- related demotivating factors

Table 4: Students‟ opinions on teaching and learning conditions

Table 5: The rank order of 30 items of 4groups of demotivating factors

Table 6: Teachers‟ opinions on students‟ demotivation in listening lesson

Table 7:Frequency of teaching techniques and activities used by the teachers

Chart:

Chart 1: Teachers‟ opinions on the importance of listening skill

Chart 2: Teachers‟ opinions on the tasks in the coursebook

Chart 3: Teachers‟ opinions on students‟ proficiency in listening

Chart 4: Teachers‟ opinions on students‟ motivation in listening lessons

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PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

It goes without saying that English is an international language and has become

an useful tool for people in many fields of life There is an increasing number of learners trying to master English which is necessary for their jobs later In Vietnam, English is a foreign language that has been compulsory in schools and universities Learners are being trained to master the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Learners are expected to use English successfully However, there is a large number of students who fail to fulfill that purpose

As a teacher of English at Hanoi University of Industry, I found that my learners have faced many problems in their learning process Although the course‟s objective is designed with a communicative orientation, non- English major students find it hard to use English for daily communication At Hanoi University of Industry, the second- year non major English students are required to learn the course book “New Headway- pre intermediate”; however, many students feel bored and uninterested in listening lessons because of some underlying reasons that need to be investigated

A large amount of research on second language learning has mainly concentrated

on motivating factors with the aim of developing a positive attitude toward English language learning On the contrary, demotivation is considered to be a relatively new term in this field There have been so few studies conducted on demotivating factors in learning second language in general, and in listening in particular That is one of the reasons why we carry out more research on this problem

All the aforementioned reasons have encouraged me to carry out a study entitled

“Demotivating factors in listening lessons of the second year non- English major students at Hanoi University of Industry” I do this study with the hope that it will be a useful reference for teachers and learners at HAUI to find a better way to teach and learn listening skills

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2 Aims and Objectives of the Study

The study aims at exploring factors of demotivation in listening lessons of the second year non- English major at Hanoi University of Industry

The paper is intended to aim at the following objectives:

(+) To investigate main demotivating factors that reduce students‟ interest in listening lessons

(+)To suggest some solutions to eliminate these factors in order to help students recover their interest in listening lesson

3 Research questions

This study aims to answer the following question:

What are the dominant demotivating factors affecting students’ listening lessons from students’ perception and from teachers’ perception?

4 Scope of the study

The study only focuses on the demotivation that the second year non-English major students at HaUI have in their listening lessons Then, the study is carried out to investigate main demotivating factors in listening lessons, and to suggest some solutions to help students overcome the current situation

5 Research methodology

The study was a quantitative study, in which I used mainly quantifying techniques A little amount of qualitative analysis is added to offer deeper insight to the quantifying results Survey questionnaires were used to collect the data that show the students' opinions and attitudes on the factors that demotivate them in listening lessons Informal interviews were applied to teachers to get information on their opinions and their solutions to recover students‟ interest in listening lesson Lastly, data from observation in some listening classes were used for further analysis

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6 Significance of the study

Theoretical significance: As I have mentioned above, most of earlier studies in

second language acquisition mainly focused on motivation rather than on demotivation Moreover, there have been few studies on demotivating factors that prevent students from learning English in a particular skill, especially listening skill Therefore, this

study is hoped to offer new insight in this research area

Practical significance: Findings of this study will provide information that can

help teachers and learners at HaUI find a better way to teach and learn listening skills

In detail, the teachers are able to find appropriate teaching methods to motivate students learning listening skill and students are aware of the factors that can help them

revive their interest in learning lessons

7 Organization of the study

The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion The first part presents rationale, aims, scope, method, and design of the study The second part is the main content including 3 chapters Chapter one is the literature review which deals with the concepts of listening, listening comprehension, demotivation and reviewing studies of demotivation in second language acquisition as well as demotivating factors Chapter two is about the methodology of the study which presents research questions, participants, methods of the study, instruments, data collection Chapter three is about the data analysis, discussion and major findings The last part is conclusion which presents the summary of the study, limitations and the suggestions for further study

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PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

This part consists of three chapters The first chapter presents the basic theories related to listening, listening comprehension, demotivation The next chapter is about methodology which the author applies to conduct the research In chapter three, data

analysis and discussion of the major findings are presented

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of listening:

1.1.1Definition of Listening

According to Thomlison‟s (1984) listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying This process involves understanding a speaker‟s accent or pronunciation, the speaker‟s grammar and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously

1.1.2 Definition of Listening comprehension

According to O‟malley, J.M &Chamot, A.U., (1989), “Listening

Comprehension is an active and conscious process in which the listener constructs meaning by using cues from contextual information and existing knowledge, which relying upon multiple strategic resources to fulfill the task requirement”

Rost (2002) defines listening comprehension as follows: “Listening comprehension is regarded as a complex, interactive process in which listeners are involved in a dynamic construction of meaning Listeners understand the oral input from sound discrimination, prior knowledge of vocabulary, grammatical structures, stress and intonation, as well as other use linguistic, paralinguistic, or even non-

linguistic clues in contextual utterance”

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From these definitions, we can conclude that in listening comprehension, learners should be encouraged to concentrate on an active process of listening for meaning, using not only linguistic cues but also his nonlinguistic knowledge

1.1.3 Teaching listening skill

According to Byrnes (1984), listening is a highly-complex solving activity in which listeners interact with a speaker to construct meaning, within the context of their experience and knowledge When students are made aware of the factors that affect listening, the levels of listening, and the components of the listening process, they are more likely to recognize their own listening abilities and engage in activities that prepare them to be effective listeners Karakas (2002) states that listening activities try

to prevent failure so that they can support the learner„s interpretation of the text Listening activities are usually subcategorized as pre-listening, while-listening, and

post-listening activities

Pre-listening stage prepares students by getting them to think about the topic or the text Teacher may select certain words, difficult grammatical structures and expressions to be explained through the discussion about the topic and may also ask students to predict the content or what speakers are going to say, based on the information they have already got Pre-listening activities usually have two primary goals: (a) to help to activate students „prior knowledge, build up their expectations for the coming information; and (b) to provide the necessary context for the specific listening task

In while listening process, listeners are more likely to construct clear and accurate meaning as they interpret the speaker„s verbal message and nonverbal cues During the listening experience students verify and revise their predictions They make

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interpretations and judgments based on what they heard Teacher may ask students to note down key words to work out the main points of the text Students answer comprehension questions while listening to the text and select specific information to complete the table provided with the text While-listening activities usually have some

of the following purposes: to focus students‟ comprehension of the speaker„s language and ideas; to focus students‟ attention on such things as the speaker„s organizational patterns; to encourage students‟ critical reactions and personal responses to the speaker„s ideas and use of language An open-ended activity could follow that allows students to have the freedom to practice listening comprehension in the class about their daily life and asking for further information Listening comprehension should begin with what students already know so that they can build on their existing knowledge and skills with activities designed on the same principle A variation on the filling in the missing word listening activity could be to use the same listening materials, but to set a pair work activity where student A and student B have the same worksheet where some information items are missing

Post-listening activities are important because they extend students„ listening skill Post -listening activities are most effective when done immediately after the listening experience Well-planned post-listening activities offer students opportunities

to connect what they have heard to their own ideas and experiences, and encourage interpretive and critical listening and reflective thinking As well, post-listening activities provide opportunities for teachers to assess and check students

„comprehension, and clarify their understandings; to extend comprehension beyond the literal level to the interpretive and critical levels Different comprehension questions can be assigned for students to discuss after listening, students then swap information to complete the whole class chart, correlating what each student has heard

to arrive at the big picture If there are any questions that remain unanswered during

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the first or second listening, and after the information swap activity, the whole class can listen to the tape again The students will then try to find the answer to the questions that have not been previously understood, rather than the teacher providing the answers straight away

1.2 Theoretical background of motivation and demotivation

1.2.1 Definition of motivation

Researchers have different ideas in defining what motivation is, but all of them agree that motivation is a very important factor that encourages students to enjoy their studying

Dornyei (2001) defined motivation as “a general way of referring to the antecedents (i.e the causes and the origins” Also, “motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities”

According to Burden (1997) “from a cognitive perspective, motivation is concerned with such issues as why people decide to act in certain ways and what factors influence the choice they make It also involves decisions as to the amount of effect people are prepared to expand in attempting to achieve their goals The role of the teacher thus becomes one of the helping and enabling learners to make suitable decisions”

1.2.2 Definition of demotivation

While motivation is learning second language is the target deal of research during the past decades, demotivation seems to be a new issue of this field that has recently inspired researchers

According to Oxford Advance dictionary, “demotivate” means “to make somebody feel that it is not worth making an effort” because there is something that raises meaninglessness or worthlessness in their mind when doing anything they do not

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want to pursue the task as well as try to perform it without any effort Zhang (2007) defines demotivation as the force that decreases students‟ energy to learn and/or the absence of the force that stimulates students to learn”

Dornyei (2001) defines demotivation as “specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action” These negative external factors consist of items such as the class environment, teaching situations, methods, teachers‟ behaviors and so on

Flout and Maruyama (2004) states that demotivation has a negative influence on students, preventing from gaining expected learning outcomes In other words, demotivation causes learners lose their motivation in studying, which leads to unsuccessful mastery of English language proficiency Demotivation can be classified into two main categories: external factors and internal factors The former relates to factors that come from outside such as teachers, learning conditions, learning materials, grading and assessment, etc The later results from students themselves include their attitude toward English, their self-esteem, their experience of failure or lack of success, etc

1.2.3 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam of demotivation

According to Dornyei (1998, 2001) there are nine demotivating categories in the order of frequency as follows: the teacher, inadequate school facilities, reduced self-confidence, negative attitude towards the second language, compulsory nature of second language study, interference of another foreign language being studied, negative attitude towards second language community, attitudes of group members and course book.Dornyei‟s demotivating factors have been considered a standard and have become the guideline in developing questionnaires and interviews in conducting researches on demotivation of other researchers such as Chang & Hwang (2004),

Falout & Maruyama (2004), Kikuchi (2009), Sakai & Kikuchi (2009)

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The research on demotivation in instructional communication studies is mostly done by Gorham and Christophel Gorham and Christophel (1992) tried to determine what factors were deemed as demotives by college students while they tool introductory communication classes The findings showed that teacher-related factors accounted for seventy –nine percent of all the responses They also summarize a rank

of order of the frequency of the various demotives, with first five categories as dissatisfaction with grading and assignments, the teacher being boring, the teacher being unapproachable, self-centered, biased, condescending and insulting This rank offers a initiative insight into the true nature of teacher‟s role in demotivation

In the field of second language motivation research, Chamber‟s study (1993) was undertaken to explore demotivation among elementary students The findings showed that teachers perceived the causes of demotivation differently from how students perceived them Teachers perceived the causes of demotivation as related to a variety of reasons: psychological, attitudinal, social, historical and geographical, except for themselves Students, on the other hand, blamed their teachers for: not giving clear enough instructions, criticizing students, and shouting at them when they do not understand

Other studies also give further insight to student demotivation Oxford (1998) asked the participants to recall their learning experiences over a period of five years Four types of demotivation factors are discovered: the teacher‟s personal relationship with the students; the teacher‟s attitude towards the course or the material; style conflicts between teachers and students and the nature of the classroom activities From the analyses it is clear that his studies centers on the classroom learning and teacher‟s demotivating roles Many demotives were found such as teacher‟s lack of caring or favoritism, teacher‟s lack of enthusiasm and sloppy management of irrelevance and repetitiveness The research shows that most teachers will easily attribute students‟

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demotivation to various reasons including psychological, attitudinal, social, historical and even geographical reasons with realizing the potential demotivating roles of themselves

Also, Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) aimed to investigate demotivating factors among students studying in upper secondary school, Japan The researchers found out five factors that demotivate students such as inadequate school facilities, test scores, lack of intrinsic motivation teacher‟s competence and teaching styles and learning content and materials In contrast to the previous studies, teacher-related factors were not the most demotivating factors, that learning contents and materials and test scores are the prominent demotivating factors for various students

In Vietnam, Trang and Baldauf (2007) conducted a research on demotivation from 100 university students in learning English The students were asked to write an essay of factors that demotivate them on learning foreign language They found out that both internal factors from students such as attitude toward English, experiences of failure or lack of success, or self-esteem and external factors such as from teacher (behavior, competence, methods, etc.) from learning environment (classroom atmosphere, opportunities to use English, learning conditions, text books etc.) and other demotivating factors such as obligation (compulsory nature of English, parents‟ interference) or negative changes (teacher replacements, learning environment changes) The findings of their study seem to be similar to the previous study when it stated that the biggest source of demotivation is relevant to the teachers

1.2.4 Studies of demotivating factors in listening

According to Willis (1981) four factors: the message to be listened to, the speaker, the listener and the physical setting are the reasons of listening difficulties which in turn might make students become demotivated in listening

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Firstly, it is hard for students to listen to a taped massage than to read the same messages on a piece of paper because they only have a little time to hear that message meanwhile reading material can be read as long as the students like Moreover, the content of listening material is various and usually not well organized There are a lot

of unfamiliar topics and situation Therefore, in many cases listeners cannot predict what speakers are going to say Besides, messages on the radio or recorded on tape cannot be listened to at a slower speed In spontaneous conversations people sometimes use ungrammatical sentences because of nervousness or hesitation They may omit elements of sentences or add something redundant This may make it difficult for the listener to understand the meaning

Secondly, “redundant utterances of the speaker may take the form of repetitions, false starts, re-phrasings, self-corrections, elaborations and apparently meaningless additions such as I mean or you know” may make it more difficult for beginners to understand the speaker is saying, on the other hand, it may give advanced students more time to “tune in” to the speaker‟s voice and speech style as Ur (1984) stated in his research Also, learners tend to be used to their teacher‟s accent or to the standard variety of British or American English, therefore they find it hard to understand speakers with other accents

Thirdly, the listeners as foreign-language students are not familiar enough with clichés and collocations in English to predict a missing word or phrase Besides, their lack of socio-cultural, factual and contextual knowledge of the target language can present an obstacle to comprehension because language is used to express its culture (Anderson and Lynch 1988) It is easily seen that foreign- language learners usually devote more time to reading than to listening, and so lack exposure to different kinds of listening materials Both psychological and physical factors may have a negative effect

on perception and interpretation of listening material

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Lastly, in terms of physical setting, background noises on the recording and environment noises can take the listener‟s mind off the content of the listening passage Listening material on tape or radio lacks visual and aural environmental clues Not seeing the speaker‟s body language and facial expression makes it more difficult for the listener to understand the speaker‟s meaning Moreover, unclear sounds resulting from poor- quality equipment can interfere with the listener‟s comprehension

In Vietnam, Nhung (2012) also conducted a research to find out demotivating factors in listening lessons of 10th grade students at No.1 Lao Cai High School Two survey questionnaires were delivered to 125 students and 4 teachers Besides, the semi-structured interview was conducted with 4 teachers to find out the techniques used by teachers to motivate their students during listening lessons The study show that factors such as listening difficulties, teacher‟s style and competence, inadequate school facilities, lack of target environment and exam- orientation were the main demotivating factors that caused 10th grade students demotivated in listening lessons

In conclusion, the researcher has reviewed some popular research on demotivation in teaching and learning foreign/second language It is clear that there are

a few studies on demotivating factors in listening lessons in particular Each study reflects different points in investigating demotivating factors because the researchers used different ways to collect data in different contexts and subjects However, from these studies above, it can be concluded that demotivation varies from many sources such as teachers, students, learning conditions etc In Vietnam, there are very few studies on demotivation in learning foreign language in general or in listening skill in particular Therefore, this study aims to find out factors that demotivate second year non- English major at Hanoi university of Industry in listening lessons

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Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research questions

This study is intended to seek the answer to the following research questions:

- What are the dominant demotivating factors affecting students in listening lessons at Hanoi University of Industry from students’ perception and from teachers’ perception?

2.2 Participants of the study

There were two groups of participants: students and teachers

Group 1:155second year non- English major students at different classes such as

Electricity 1, Electronics 4 and Software Design1took part in the survey questionnaire Most of them have learnt English for nine years and a half as a compulsory subject They have six periods of English per week Each period lasts 45 minutes The coursebook in use is “New headway- pre intermediate” which is taught by Vietnamese teachers of English Before working on this course book, the students had already learnt the course book “New Headway- elementary”

Group 2:20 teachers are working with listening lessons of New Headway- pre

intermediate, participated in survey questionnaires and 5 of them took part in the informal interview All of them have Bachelor degrees Besides, they are the teachers with at least more than three years of teaching experience

2.3 Method of the study

The study was conducted quantitatively, in which I used mainly quantifying techniques A little amount of qualitative analysis was added to offer deeper insight to the quantifying results The data were collected using survey questionnaires for students & teachers, informal interviews for teachers In this study, survey questionnaires were used to collect the data that show the students' opinions and attitudes on the factors that demotivate them in listening lessons Informal interviews were applied to teachers to get information on their opinions and their solutions to recover students‟ interest in listening lesson

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2.4 Instruments

To ensure the reality of the information gathered for the study, quantitative methods and qualitative methods of research was employed with the following instruments: Survey questionnaires for students and teachers and informal interviews with teachers

Questionnaires were designed basing on Likert scales model The content of the

questionnaire was designed partly according to the results of related research and my own teaching experience in reality This form of question was used for both students

and teachers to find out the factors that demotivate students in listening lessons

Informal interviews were used for teachers All the questions in this interview

focused on finding out teachers‟ opinions and their appropriate techniques to recover students‟ interest in listening lessons

2.5 Data collection and data analysis

2.5.1 Data collection

To gain data for the study, two survey questionnaires (appendix 2 and appendix 3) were administered to the participants A 30- item questionnaire was constructed based on demotivating factors used by Dornyei (1998), Falout& Maruyama (2004), Kim (2009) and Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) and the researcher‟s own investigation The items were designed to measure the four demotivating factors derived from previous studies: 1) course book-related factors, 2) learner-related factors, 3) teacher- related factors and 4) learning and teaching condition The participants were asked to respond

to questions with choices ranging from strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree and strongly agree The participants were also asked to provide their background information such as name, age and the years of learning English

Informal interview (appendix 5) was carried out either at Faculty of Foreign Languages or during the break time between two-period classes in the staff room for the convenience The interview lasted from 8 to15 minutes in Vietnamese for each

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teacher to ensure mutual understanding between the teachers and the interviewer Informal interview questionnaires were constructed based on Kikuchi (2009) The first question was about the participants‟ viewpoints on their students‟ attitude toward listening lessons The next question was based on the four demotivating factors The third question was about the activities and techniques applied by teachers The last question was about the solutions suggested by teachers to arouse students‟ interest in listening lessons

3 (%)

4 (%)

5 (%)

Total (%)

1 There are many new words and

grammar structures in listening

lessons

13.4 12.2 25.0 24.7 25.7 100

2 It is difficult to understand the

content of listening material in the

course book

17.1 45.4 16.0 13.2 8.3 100

3 The topics of listening lessons totally

strange only some topics are familiar

to your own knowledge

7 The pronunciation in the listening

part is difficult to listen and

1= strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3=undecided, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree

Table 1: Listening comprehension section in the course book

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In the category of listening lessons in the course book, as can be seen in table 1, the participants responded that item 8 (60.9%) was the most demotivating factors, showing that they became demotivated when listening tasks are difficult and uninteresting The second demotivating item was item 1 (50.4 %) where the participant admitted that there were too many new words and grammar points to them in listening parts The third most demotivating factor was item 5 (48.1%), addressing long listening texts It is clear that one of the reasons demotivating most of the students in listening lessons was listening difficulty in the course book Students found it difficult to do these uninteresting difficult tasks, so it was necessary to adapt or redesign these kinds

of tasks to make them more suitable to students‟ level Moreover, with listening lessons that had too many new words or grammar points in the listening text, teacher should do pre-listening activities carefully to ensure that students could understand the meaning

3.1.2 Student- related demotivating factors

(%)

2 (%)

3 (%)

4 (%)

5 (%)

Total

10 My English ability is not good enough

to handle lesson‟s objectives

12.6 19.5 13.2 32.9 21.8 100

11 I have difficulty in memorizing words

and phrases of words

28.8 32.5 17.5 22.5 21.3 100

12 I get lost in how to self-study for

listening skill

31.5 16.8 13.6 17.0 21.4 100

13 I often get low marks 20.1 15.8 11.6 25.5 27.0 100

14 I fail to answer the teacher‟s questions 16.9 21.2 19.1 22.2 20.6 100

15 I am not interested in listening lessons 23.5 16.2 9.7 30.6 20.2 100

Table 2: Student- related demotivating factors

As can be seen from table 2, the participants‟ response showed that bad English ability, item 10 (54.7%)was the most demotivating factor in student-related demotivating factors Furthermore, low scores on tests or exams was found to be the

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second demotivating factor, which was item 13 (52.5%) The third demotivating item was item 15 (50.8 %), which was related to learners‟ lack of interest in listening classes It can be drawn from the data above that low English proficiency strongly demotivated students in learning listening It seemed that students had low word bank, bad grammar translation, and poor listening comprehension Due to this fact, students often got low scores and regularly they reduced their intrinsic motivation in learning listening

3.1.3 Teacher- related demotivating factors

(%)

2 (%)

3 (%)

4 (%)

5 (%)

Total

16 Teacher‟s teaching style is boring 8.6 15.4 26.8 20.4 28.8 100

17 The speech of teaching is fast 11.7 14.2 32.5 21.7 19.9 100

18 Teacher‟s instructions and

explanations are not clear and not easy

to understand

12.0 16.8 34.7 22.6 13.9 100

19 Teacher rarely speaks English in class 22.5 21.6 15.2 23.1 17.6 100

20 Teacher‟s pronunciation of English is

poor

22.9 30.3 21.7 15.6 9.5 100

21 Teacher is lack of care and enthusiasm 12.7 18.8 25.8 23.8 18.9 100

22 Teacher demonstrates favoritism

(appreciate high achievers, humiliate

on low achievers)

35.1 30.0 11.2 14.3 9.4 100

23 Teacher is strict and inflexible 24.7 33.5 22.3 9.8 9.7 100

24 Teacher rarely uses teaching aids:

handouts, pictures, computers,

speakers, tapes, recorders, CD

35.2 40.1 10.5 8.9 5.3 100

Table 3: Teacher- related demotivating factors

As shown in table 3, the participants agreed the most with the item 16 (49.2%), stating that they became demotivated because their teachers‟ teaching style was boring The second high value was found in item 21 (42.7%) showing that teachers lacked of care and enthusiasm The third demotivating factor was item 17 (41.6%), where the

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participant showed that they reduce their interest in listening lessons because of teachers‟ fast speech of teaching From the data above, it can be seen that teacher‟s inadequate competence and inappropriate teaching methods affect students a lot in their learning process Especially, teachers should reconsider their ways of delivering the lectures A lot of the students think that their vocabularies and structures are not good enough to comprehend what they are listening to Therefore, teachers should speak clearly and slowly for the students to understand

3.1.4 Teaching and learning conditions

(%)

2 (%)

3 (%)

4 (%)

5 (%)

28 The audio quality is poor 19.0 14.3 17.1 23.6 26.0 100

29 The number of the students in the

classes is too large

9.8 10.4 2.9 42.4 34.5 100

30 The class is always in disorder, which

affects my performance in class

31.0 22.6 27.4 11.5 7.5 100

Table 4: Teaching and learning conditions

In table 4, the demotivating factors related to characteristics of teaching and learning condition are presented The participant responded that item 29 (76.9%), the number of students in a class is too large, was the most demotivating factors in this category Classmates‟ dislike attitude toward learning English (item 26) followed with (57.2%), and the third demotivating item was item 28, stating that poor quality of the audio made the participant lose their motivation in learning listening lessons From the figures above, we see that lack of target language environment led to students‟ demotivation in listening.The results suggested that the educators need to consider an

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appropriate class size as well as create a favorable learning environment for students to study English

3.1.5 The demotivating items in rank order

1 Environment The number of the students in the classes is too large 76.9

2 Course book Listening tasks are difficult and uninteresting 60.9

3 Environment My classmates do not like learning English 57.2

4 Learner My English ability is not good enough to handle

lesson‟s objectives

54.7

5 Learner I often get low marks 52.5

6 Learner I am not interested in listening lessons 50.8

7 Course book There are too many new words and grammar points

in listening lessons

50.4

8 Environment The audio quality is poor 49.6

9 Teacher Teacher‟s teaching style is boring 49.2

10 Course book Listening texts in the course book are long 48.1

11 Learner I have difficulty in memorizing words and phrases of

words

43.8

12 Learner I fail to answer the teacher‟s questions 42.8

13 Teacher Teacher is lack of care and enthusiasm 42.7

14 Teacher The speech of teaching is fast 41.6

15 Course book The pronunciation in the listening part is difficult to

listen and recognize words

41.2

16 Teacher Teacher rarely speaks English in class 40.7

17 Couse book Time for listening lessons are not enough 40.2

18 Learner I get lost in how to self-study for listening skill 38.4