A study on the motivation in learning english of gifted students at high school for gifted students hanoi national university of education

VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES --- TRẦN HOÀI LINH A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF G

VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-

TRẦN HOÀI LINH

A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF GIFTED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS,

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH CHUYÊN, TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN, ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2014

VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-

TRẦN HOÀI LINH

A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF GIFTED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS,

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH CHUYÊN, TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN, ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI – 2014

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “A Study on the Motivation in Learning English of Gifted Students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education” is the result of my own work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi The research has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly and partially

Hanoi, 2014

Trần Hoài Linh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from

a number of people

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof Dr Hoang Van Van, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher

A special word of thanks goes to my students, without whom it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last by not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

ABSTRACT

This study was intended to investigate the motivation of English gifted students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) More specifically, the researcher attempted to offer several common definitions and perceptions of motivation and identify the categories of motivation, perceived by different theories by reviewing several models of language learning motivation up to now More importantly, the study aims to investigate the type of motivations that exist among English gifted students at High School for Gifted Students, HNUE and examine whether gifted students of grades 10, 11 and 12 have the same or different types of English learning motivation In the study, 158 students participated in completing the questionnaire reflecting the learning motivation The results of the study reveal that the student surveyed had high motivation of learning English, and the types of motivation that prevails among those students were intrinsic, extrinsic, instrumental and integrative motivation Moreover, it was also found that students of grade 11 were more integrative and intrinsic oriented than those in grade 10 and grade 12 Finally, based on the findings, some suggestions for teachers of these classes are offered

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: Socioeducational Model 7

Figure 2: General Model of Goal Setting Theory 10

Table 1: Information on the Number of Students Surveyed 16

Table 2: Percentage of Reasons for Choosing English as a Specialized Subject 20

Figure 3: Students’ Reasons for Choosing English Specialized Subject 20

Table 3: Students’ Main Goal of Learning 21

Figure 4: Students’ Main Goal of Learning 22

Figure 5: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 10 Students 22

Figure 6: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 11 Students 23

Figure 7: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 12 Students 23

Table 4: Mean Value of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation 23

Figure 8: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 10 Students 24

Figure 9: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 11 Students 25

Figure 10: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 12 Students 25

Table 5: Mean Comparison among Three Grades 25

Figure 11: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 10 Students 26

Figure 12: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 11 Students 26

Figure 13: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 12 Students 27

Table 6: Comparison of Amotivation Pattern among Three Grades 27

Table 7: Attitude Towards Learning Activities 28

Table 8: Students’ Interest and Desire to Learn English 28

Figure 14: Students’ Motivation to Learn English to Communicate 29

Abbreviations

LLM: Language Learning Motivation

HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education

L2: second language

AMBT: Attitude / Motivation Test Battery

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION I ABSTRACT III

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1

2 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH 2

3 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH 2

4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2

5 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH 3

6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 3

7 STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Theoretical Background 4

1.1.1 Definition of Motivation 4

1.1.2 Language Learning Motivation 5

1.1.2.1 Socioeducational Model 5

1.1.2.2 Cognitive Revolution 8

1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis 13

1.3 Summary 15

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 Research Setting 16

2.2 Subjects 16

2.3 Research Types 17

2.4 Data Collection Instruments 17

2.5 Data Collection Procedures 18

2.6 Data Analysis 19

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 20

3.1 Students’ Main Goal of Learning 20

3.2 Main Goal of Learning 21

3.3 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation 22

3.4 Instrumental and Integrative Motivation 24

3.5 Amotivation 26

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION 28

4.1 Research Question 1 28

3.2.2 Research Question 2 30

3.2.3 Additional Findings 30

PART C: CONCLUSION 32

1 RECAPITULATION 32

2 CONCLUSION 32

3 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 33

4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 34

REFERENCES 36 APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 V

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the Study

In an article entitled “How motivation affects learning and behavior”, Ormrod

(2014), it claims that the motivation exists in most students, in one way or another One may be engrossed in a certain subject, play an active role in classroom activities, and obtain high scores at school, while one may be more attentive to the social activities in the society including communicative events and similar occasions It is undeniable that the motivation has a strong impact on the learning and behaviour of students Specifically, it affects students’ choice, their goals in learning It also determines students’ effort and energy as well as the initiation and persistence spent on learning: once they feel motivated they will devote to the study

According to Hussin, Nooreiny, and D'Cruz (2001), a persistent issue claimed

by many English teachers is the effort to maintain the students’ interest in learning English Teachers have to well balance the preparation for the exam and the life-long language skills

Since most researchers and teachers are aware of the importance of motivation

in learning, they have been attempting to figure out ways to increase the students’ motivation by carrying out studies of motivation among students Numerous studies about motivation dated back from the 1960s and have still been one of the favored themes for researchers worldwide

As and old saying “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink”, implying that you can lead your students to the treasure of erudition but you cannot reinforce them to “swallow” the knowledge, instead you can let them acquire the knowledge themselves by providing them with learning motivation I am myself

a teacher and I know how crucial the motivation is for teaching and learning Hence

a teacher’s goal is to show his or her students an interesting way to the water by making him a motivated student To work out the proper way, teachers are supposed

to be conscious of students’ own desire as well as their purpose of learning, or to be more specifically, what can motivate and demotivate them in learning A student who is oriented to pursue natural sciences and does not care much about English would wish to experience a different way of learning and teaching in comparison

with the one who is totally devoted to English and studies this subject as his major

or passion This is also the reason I would like to conduct a study on the motivation

of students of 3 levels: grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12, who are specialized in English at High School for Gifted Student, Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE)

2 Aims of the Research

The study aims at investigating the types of motivations of students majoring in English at High School for Gifted Students, HNUE and whether there are any differences among the motivation surveyed among students in grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12 The results can be a useful source of reference information for teachers of the classes surveyed as well as the classes to come to work out the proper way to improvise the teaching methods and make their students more strongly motivated

3 Objectives of the Research

The study is originally conducted to identiy the change in motivation among gifted students in terms of time As stated by Ryan (2000), intrinsic motivation fades out with “each advancing grade” It was also assumed that students were not much as integratively as well as intrinsically motivated as instrumentally and extrinsically motivated Thus, to find out whether these hypotheses are true among gifted students at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE), the objectives are determined

as below:

 To identify what types of motivation exist among students at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE) and which types of motivation prevail among students

 To find out if students of different grades have different types of motivation

4 Research Questions

In this investigation, the following research questions were addressed:

1 What types of motivation exist among students at High School for Gifted

Students (HNUE)? And which types of motivation prevail?

2 Do gifted students of English in grades 10, 11 and 12 differ in their

motivation to learn English, and what are the differences?

5 Scope of the Research

This study only focused on investigation of the motivation of learning English of students majoring in English, not students who learn English as a normal subject in general, at High School for Gifted Students

6 Significance of the Research

This study aimed to investigate the types of motivation that exist among English gifted students, and the differences in the motivation among students of different grades Firstly, the survey itself, partly helped students be aware of the importance

of motivation in learning, and they could themselves figure out different ways to increase their motivation Secondly, the results of the finings can be of great use for the teachers of the classes surveyed in the way that they can adapt their teaching methods as well as activities so that their students can be more motivated in learning English

7 Structural Organization of the Thesis

The thesis is organized as follows:

Part A - Introduction – provides the rationale of the study, aims and objectives and the significance of the study as well as raises research questions

Part B - Development - consists of three chapters:

Chapter One – Literature review – presents an overview of relevant literature on the issues of motivation in second/foreign language learning

Chapter Two – Research methodology – provides a description of research methods, selection of the participants, data collection instruments, and data collection procedures

Chapter Three – Findings and discussions - presents the results of the study and the discussion of the results

Part C – Conclusion - summarises the main points of the study, draw some conclusions, points out the limitations of the study and make some suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 Definition of Motivation

For quite a long time, the crucial role of motivation in learning has been widely agreed upon by researchers and teachers worldwide There are numerous research and studies on motivation as well its correlation with study result with aim to improving students’ achievement in learning a second/foreign language However,

it is complicated to give a concise and satisfactory concept of motivation since it, indeed, involves a lot of disciplines to have a grasp of its multi-face essence According to Keblawi (2011) it involves “general, educational, social, and cognitive psychology, as well as general educational and social theories and sociolinguistic theories have something to contribute for understanding language learning motivation (LLM) within a formal school context.” The complication of the concept

is attributed to the fact that it attempts to explain the action and behavior of an individual while such action and behavior cannot be figured out by a single approach Though there have been a lot of studies on the issue the subject still remain “uneven and inconsistent” (Dornyei, 2003)

To illustrate the confusion and complexity of the motivation’s concept, in his study, Dornyei also ironically compares it with an old umbrella that contains numerous concepts, but unfortunately, they have very little in common Following are some definitions accumulated from several sources:

In the Online Oxford Dictionaries (2013) motivation is defined as “a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way with interest or enthusiasm” Meanwhile, Harmer (2007: 98) also agrees with Dornyei and Otto (1998: 65) that motivation is “the dynamically changing cumulative arousal or internal drive in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritized, operationalized and successfully or unsuccessfully acted out” According to Gardner (1985: 10), motivation is “the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the

However, such definitions are not adequate to explain the complicated essence

of motivation in language learning To have a deeper understanding, it is necessary

to look at the history of the development of the motivation theory with its different components looked from various perspectives

1.1.2 Language Learning Motivation

As mentioned above, researchers still do not share the same points of view on Language learning motivation (LLM) components and the different roles that these components play - individual differences, situational differences, social and cultural factors, and cognition (Renchler, 1992; Belmechri & Hummel, 1998) The complication of the issue is due to its involvement in different aspects Initially, LLM was looked into on the basis of a behavioural framework to work out “what moved a resting organism into a state of activity”, with heavy reliance on concepts such as instinct, drive, need, energisation, and homeostasis (Weiner, 1990) However, this does not relate much to the educational issue However, the appearance and advance of another approach, cognitive approach led to a shift to why students engage in the academic tasks Following are several influential models

in LLM

1.1.2.1 Socioeducational Model

Due to the social and cultural impact on language learning, the initial studies

on motivation were carried out by social psychologists Among several models proposed during the sixties and eighties, the most influential model was Socioeducational Model (Gardner, 1985) According to Gardner (1985), motivation

is defined as “combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable attitudes towards learning the language” In his study, Gardner mentioned two types of motivation: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation

Accordingly, learners with integrative motivation have an aspiration of learning a foreign language to make friends with other speakers of a language to travel to the places where the language is used For them, learning about culture is more appealing than the language itself Integrative motivation stems from the interest in learning the language itself It is the keenness on communicating with those who use it and the eagerness to integrate with the target language community

As cited in Ahmadi (2011), Falk (1978) assumed that those who have favorable attitudes towards people speaking target language, the target culture and the desire

to integrate with the communities where the language is spoken are those who tend

to be more successful in studying the language This form of motivation is known as integrative motivation

Conversely, those who have high instrumental orientation learn a language to pass exams, to gain high grade and to use the language in their professional goals (Gardner & Lambert, 1959) Instrumental motivation refers to practical value in learning the language, for instance, to obtain more job opportunities, strengthen power, or gain access to scientific and technical information Ahmadi (2011) gave

an example in his study about instrumental motivation: A designer in Chile who has just graduated from university and wants to get a well-paid position which would result in changing his economic situation completely However, the job has one requirement which is good command of English And the desiring job with a chance

of improving financial situation becomes an instrument for him to study English

Both integrative and instrumental motivation prove crucial factors leading to learners’ achievement, integrative motivation is found to contribute more to long term success as perceived by Taylor, Meynard & Rheault (1977); Ellis (1997), Crookes et al (1991) (cited in Ahmadi’s study) Gardner and Lambert themselves also put more emphasis on integrative motivation than instrumental motivation in a formal learning environment

Socioeducational model consists of several components and they are measured using Attitude / Motivation Test Battery (AMBT) The first component, attitudes towards the learning situation refers to the individual’s attitudes towards academic environment, including towards teachers and towards the course Meanwhile the integrativeness is valued based on the attitude towards target language group, the interest in the language and integrative orientation And finally, motivation is evaluated based on the effort spent on learning language, the attitudes towards learning the language, and affinity to learn the target language

Figure 1: Socioeducational Model Source: Gardner (2001), cited in Keblawi (2009)

In Gardner’s model, the more important part is integrative motivation, which consists of three different components: integrative orientation, integrativeness, and integrative motivation He made it clear that orientations concerns the reasons a learner studies the target language, while motivation relates to his spent “effort”, desire and enjoyment

However, the theory also encountered a lot of criticism, mainly because the confusion in the definition of integrative motivation, which can be perceived differently by different researchers It is described by Clement & Kruidenier (1983) that any reasons that prompt one to learn a language can fall into the category A reason can be classified instrumental by some, but can be regarded integrative by others

Another point proposed by Shaw (1981) is that while Gardner stressed the integrative motivation, this type, indeed, acts only a petty role because only a small number of learners have chance to interact in an authentic environment

Meanwhile, researchers of constructivist approach worried that the stress on integrative motivation may threaten the individual’s identities since the models implies that to be more successful in learning the target language, one may part with his own identity to adopt the new one, or in other words, assimilated Such criticism

does not mean this model should be eliminated In fact, it became the base for further expansion, which belongs to the cognitive revolution from the seventies onward

an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence When intrinsically motivated, a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external products, pressures or reward”

Meanwhile, extrinsic motivation is defined as “extrinsic motivation is a construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome Extrinsic motivation thus contrasts with intrinsic motivation, which refers

to doing an activity simply for the enjoyment of the activity itself, rather than its instrumental value (Ryan and Deci, 2000)

In general, according to Deci and Ryan, intrinsically motivated behaviors are

“out of interest and satisfy the innate psycho-logical needs for competence and autonomy are the prototype of self-deter-mined behavior.” Meanwhile, extrinsically motivated behaviors refer to those that are “executed because they are instrumental

to some separable consequence”

Oudeyer et al (2007) gave an example of intrinsically and extrinsically motivated as following A child does his homework because he is afraid that his parents will punish him if he fails to finish it And the homework is done for a separable outcome, for not being sanctioned This case, he is extrinsically motivated In contrast, when the kid completes his task since he finds the pleasure and experience the feeling of satisfaction upon discovering new knowledge in doing homework, just like playing video game, he is said to be intrinsically motivated

There is also a term to mention, namely, amotivation, which is the situation when one has no intention to act because of not appreciate the activities or simply not feeling capable of doing that (Deci, 1975) Accordingly, unmotivated individuals fail to sense the relationship between their actions and the actions’ outcome (Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand, & Briere, 2001) Such individuals may have the feeling of less integrated and less control of their actions, and thus little effort is spent on actions accomplishment Amotivation often leads to boredom and “poor concentration” in class, poor psychosocial adjustment, high perceived stress at school and school dropout (as cited by Bo Shen et al., 2010)

The first type of extrinsic motivation, external regulation is the least autonomous, which is realized with aim to meeting the external demands or to obtain an “externally reward contingency” Ryan and Deci also gave an example of external regulation Students may take part in a certain activity because the teacher wants them to do so or else they will be punished or subjected to teacher’s criticism The behavior is not self determined Besides constraints or punishment, external regulations can be boosted by rewards or desire, for instance, students study hard to obtain an award from their parents or teachers

The second type is introjected regulation with which learners “begin to internalize the reasons for their actions” (Ryan, 1982) However, this is the internalization of “external contingencies”, and hence is not really self-determined

In this case, the constraints or rewards do not stem from outside but from inside individuals when they feel an obligation to do so due to specific aims Ryan also exemplified with a case in which student believed that he or she studies the night before an exam since he or she would feel guilty without doing this

A more autonomous type is identification which based on individuals’ wish to enhance their self esteem This can be explained as following: an individual accepts certain kind of regulation because he has decided to pursue his personal importance

or behavior In a review, Deci and Ryan (2000) gave an example: “A boy who memorizes spelling lists because he sees it as relevant to writing, which he values as

a life goal, has identified with the value of this learning activity.”

The type considered the most autonomous is integrated regulation at which level

a person willingly does an activity and the regulation is consistent with his other

concept More specifically, its main focus is on how the motivation fits with his values and the belief how it gets along with other aspects of his life, which eventually leads to integration For example, a student may choose to leave other activities behind to study because for him studying well at school is very important

In other words, according to Deci and Ryan (2000), this happens when the regulations are “assimilated to the self” The more the regulations are assimilated, the more the motivated actions are self-determined According to Noels (2000, 2001) intrinsic motivation is improved when learners have more autonomy, receive encouraging feedback and are less controlled by teachers

The next category is intrinsic motivation The intrinsic motivation is described

to involve three kinds The first type is called “knowledge” which is the pleasure to learn new things and obtain new knowledge The second subcategory is

“accomplishment” which is the pleasure to achieve certain goals, and finally,

“Stimulation”, the pleasure gained when they perform the task

1.1.2.2.2 Goal Theories

The two influential goal theories in studying motivation have been introduced are goal setting theories and goal orientation theory The former was developed by Locke and Latham (1990) As stated in the theory, goals have two aspects namely internal and external The internal aspects of the goals are the ideas that guide the goal obtaining process and the conditions sought for refer to the external aspect of the goals

Figure 2: General Model of Goal Setting Theory

Source: Lunenburg (2011)

The theory assumes that there are two “cognitive determinants of behavior”: values and intentions (goals) And a goal is defined as what the individual is consciously trying to do, which helps motivate people to perform at the required levels to achieve the set goals What’s more, attaining the goal can result in satisfaction and further motivation; meanwhile, failure to accomplish may lead to frustration and lower motivation

Relations among the characteristics of the goals can be utilized to enhance the motivation for learners Firstly, goals should be specific: the more specific, the better Research states that specific goals could result in desirable organizational goals, such as “reducing absenteeism, tardiness and turnover” (Locke & Latham, 2002) Secondly, the more difficult the goal is, the greater the sense of achievement

it brings about And the third feature is commitment High commitment can be obtained if an individual believed in an important and achievable goal

The second theory is goal orientation theory in academic settings which distinguishes between mastery and performance orientation Students may adopt different goals in their learning environment According to Fryer and Elliot (2008), goal is defined as “what a person plans to do in a particular achievement situation” And (Ames, 1992) stated that goal orientations identified the way students

“approach, engage in, and respond to learning activities”, as cited by Sakiz (2011) Sakiz also pointed out the revelation by several researchers that the set goals affect students’ motivation, emotion, strategy, utilization, learning, academic behaviors, and achievement

According to this theory, students who set the former goal focus on increasing their knowledge and their capability, aiming to master the task itself and are able to pursue challenging tasks Another subcategory is performance goals Different from the first type, learners with this type of goal mainly concern showing their ability in comparison with other’s performance Williams (1997: 131) wrote:

“Put simply, with performance goals, an individual aims to look smart, whereas with the learning goals, the individual aims to becoming smarter”

While students with mastery goal orientation may attribute their success or failure to controlling internal factor, those setting performance goal tend to blame the external elements such as luck, task difficulty for their failure (Dweck, 1986)

In general, it has been studied that mastery oriented students tend to concentrate more on development and understanding Such learners adopt more effective learning strategies and would be engaged in more challenging tasks Meanwhile performance oriented students invest more effort on doing better than others, wishing to attract public recognition, compliment, and they employ less effective learning strategies and as well as prefer easy tasks For example, mastery oriented learners wish to master the subject matter and acquire new knowledge and while students adopting performance approach goals tend to do to be recognized by others

1.1.2.2.3 Attribution Theories

This was an influential theory in the 1980’s To put it simply, this theory is about how people explain things or why things happened According to William and Burden (1997), the theory is not based on the experiences people have but it looks into how the experiences are “perceived” For example within academic contexts, students may attribute their “locus of causality” (failure or success) to a wide variety of reasons, which falls into two subcategories, namely external and internal attribution, which means they see themselves or others as the causes An external attribution accuses something outside of motivating the event while internal attribution ascribes the causality to factors within a person, meaning the people themselves are directly responsible for the failure or success The attribution theory proved significant in classroom environment because it relates to motivation for language learning If a student attributes his failure to the uncontrollable internal factors, let’s say lack of ability, and then the motivation may easily decline or even disappear While he/ she ascribes the failure to the controllable internal factors, for instance, his or her laziness, the motivation is likely to be improved without difficulty Nonetheless, there were not many studies regarding this theory since quantitative is not easily applicable in such cases There were to major findings drawn using qualitative studies Uslu (2013) summarized the findings in his studies that Ushioda (1996b) utilized attribution theory to explain the “attribution patterns”

in Irish learners of French and found that learners referred the achievements to personal abilities and the failure to unstable shortcomings

On the other hand, Williams and Burden (1999) revealed that there were differences in the attribution among different age groups That is, younger learners attributed their successes to concentrating while the older ascribed their successes to ability, hard work

1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis

A study carried out by Carreira (2006) on motivation of learning English in Japanese Elementary Schools focuses mainly on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation The research’s subjects are 174 third grade and 171 sixth grade students According to the analysis, there were five underlying factors behind the students’ motivation, namely, “interest in foreign countries, intrinsic motivation, caregivers’ encouragement, instrumental motivation, and anxiety” The study findings also pointed out a considerable gap between third and sixth graders regarding the intrinsic motivation, interest in foreign countries, and instrumental motivation Moreover, the study also indicated a “steady developmental decline in

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for learning English” The research also had some

drawbacks, claimed by the researcher himself The study employed quantitative research, using questionnaire to investigate Thus, further analysis would be achieved with the use of qualitative research like interviews or classroom observations Besides, the data collected was “cross sectional”, which may show a less consistent result compared with longitudinal studies However, the study did contribute to the understanding of the motivation of English learning of Japanese elementary students

Another study investigated a different aspect, the link between motivation and gender by Akram and Ghani (2013) There were 240 students of grade 12 in Pakistan participating in the survey, including 63 male and 87 female students, coming from both urban and rural areas A questionnaire adapted from Gardner’s Attitudes/ Motivation Test Batteries (1985) was employed to investigate the students' attitudes and motivations toward learning English According to the results, there were no distinguished differences between male and female students’ attitudes and motivation towards learning English, which showed a contrast to the results of several previous studies in the same issue Akram and Ghani (2013) also pointed out that the previous research by MacIntyre et al (2002); Baker and

MacIntyre (2003) showed a significant difference between female and male, and Sung & Padilla (1998) revealed a significantly higher motivation in female students compared with male students

Another research is carried out by Vaezi (2008), whose main subject is undergraduate students, and mainly focused on two types of motivation, instrumental and integrative motivation Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine Iranian's undergraduate students' integrative and instrumental motivation toward learning English as a foreign language In the study, 79 students, not specializing in English from Islamic Republic of Iran participated in the survey, completing a modified 2 item questionnaire on motivation of learning English (instrumental and integrative motivation) The result of the study revealed that Iranian students participating in the survey had a very high motivation towards learning English, and the level of instrumental motivation measured is higher than that of integrative one This is explained by the researcher that Iranian L2 learners might preserve their identity by choosing to be instrumentally motivated They fear that the identification with English culture and values would eventually result in a socio-cultural and religious integration

Additional finding is that the amotivating factor was that their major study was a burden for them, depriving of their time learning English Another problem found out is that students’ level of proficiency is not high enough to communicate in target language in the university Moreover, four skills were not worked on adequately because of time limit and overcrowded classroom, with almost no students’ talking

in classroom

In another study, Phan (2010) investigated the motivation of Vietnamese technical English majors in their English studies and the factors that affect their motivation The data were collected from seven Vietnamese technical English majors, and eight of their teachers of English, using semi-structured interviews, and students’ weekly diaries The findings of the thesis indicated that the participants were intrinsically motivated to learn the English language Meanwhile, other types

of motivation overwhelmed the students’ intrinsic motivation Finally, what affected their motivation was the specific Vietnamese cultural practices

1.3 Summary

Motivation is regarded as one of the most crucial factors in learning English Motivation can also be classified into different categories, depending on different theories of language learning It can fall into two subcategories, namely the motivation to integrate with the target language community or the language is only

a mean to an end (integrative and instrumental motivation) Or it can be intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, according to self determination theory In addition, motivation is perceived by goal setting theories to consist of internal and external aspects; or two types, performance and mastering oriented goals according

to goal orientation theories The two categories, internal and external reasons given

by attribute theories are also another way of classification The ultimate goal of classifying motivation is to more easily determine the learners’ motivation and the way to boost their incentives of learning That is also the reason why there have been, recently, a lot of studies revolving around this topic

This study, mainly, based on the socioeducational model and self determined model This means that two categories namely instrumental and integrative motivation and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are theoritical basis of the research

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research Setting

The study was conducted at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE) whose classes are categorized into different majors: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, Literature, English, and two other non-majored classes: A1 and A2 As the students come from different parts in Vietnam, and aims to following different majors, they, definitely, have different motivation of learnings Those who specialize in English are supposed to have higher motivation of studying However, among the English gifted students themselves, the motivations are hypothesized to be varied

2.2 Subjects

There were 158 students from six classes majoring in English in High School for Gifted Students (Hanoi National University of Education) participating in the thesis study It is preferable to mention the distinguished characteristics of the school as well as the academic schedule for students majoring in English in this school Since

it is a school for gifted students, it offers a bit different orientation for students There are two milestones for English gifted students during their 3 years at high school, namely, the English national competition for students of grade 11 and 12, and the university entrance exam for grade 12 students Hence it is hypothesized that there would be a significant difference in the motivation of students of different grade levels It is the researcher’s intention to investigate all the students in the 6 classes However, because the time of questionnaire distribution is the school year end, there were not enough students attending classes, the real number of students taking part in the survey did not live up to the initial expectation, only 158 students out of 184 students in total The information of the participants can be seen as below:

Table 3: Information on the Number of Students Surveyed

2.3 Research Types

The ultimate goal of this study is to explore the motivation of English gifted students and determine the differences among the motivation of students of different grades The research goal is mainly achieved by means of quantitative data, using survey research The sample of the research nearly covered the entire target subjects, with aim to bringing a more complete result

2.4 Data Collection Instruments

As mentioned above, the survey research design is employed in the study with the use of questionnaire as instrument The questionnaire on motivation is originally designed by Gardner (1985) The one used in this study is based on the International Attitudes/ Motivation Test Batteries (2004), the English version, reserved for secondary school students learning English as a foreign language, which has been translated and used in research in Brazil, Croatia, Japan, Poland, Romania, and Spain (Catalonia) Each statement in the questionnaire employs the 6 point Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree), requiring students to choose one point to represent their idea

The second part of the questionnaire is designed to determine the feelings of students to a number of things with 7 point Likert scale

However, the subjects of my study are high schools students aged from 15 to 18 with short concentration span, may fail to complete a lengthy questionnaire Even if they are completed, the result would be unreliable because they may tick randomly The questionnaire for the study is shortened and added some more articles to investigate the goal of students The mini version, which consists of 25 statements with 6 point Likert scale and 8 statements with 7 point Likert scale and two multiple choice questions to exclusively determine the main goal of these gifted students Specifically, question 1, 7 and 14 focused more on investigating the intrinsic motivation of students, while question 9, 10, 11, 13 and 15 aimed to study their extrinsic motivation Instrumental motivation was mainly investigated via question 2,

3, 4, and 12, while integrative motivation information could be obtained primarily from question 5 and 6 Demotivation was studied via question 16, 17 and 18 The questionnaire was written in English and then translated into Vietnamese The questionnaires in Vietnamese were distributed to students so that they can understand

the essence of the items surveyed The degrees of the 6 point scale are not translated into Vietnamese, but the researcher is available to explain if necessary (See Appendix)

As I mentioned above, the students surveyed are English gifted students, so they have a different learning schedule compared with average students They stand a big chance of joining a national competition which may allow them to enter the university they like if they achieve good results enough Thus, if the teacher understands more about their goal, they may have a more appropriate schedule for these gifted students For example, if the majority of them wish to prepare for the entrance exams only, teacher may reduce the difficulty level of the academic tasks assigned in class That also explains why a question regarding students’ goals of learning is included at the beginning of the questionnaire

2.5 Data Collection Procedures

The following was the procedure of the main study After the questionnaire was developed, it was piloted among a group of students in class 10A1, with the aim to find out any difficulty in understanding, if necessary The questionnaire was then modified and distributed to students in grade 10, 11, and grade 12 of English gifted students in High School for Gifted students (HNUE) in the last days of May The researcher, also a teacher at this school, after seeking for permission of the head teachers of these classes, came into each class, and delivered the questionnaires to students and explained clearly the questions as well as the Likert Scale to them to ensure that students fully understand what to do At first, several students, especially grade 10, were afraid since they thought it was a test But then, after understanding the purpose of the questionnaire, they were eager to do and complete the questionnaire in

a serious manner There was one drawback upon questionnaire distribution, which lies

in the time that the survey was carried out As mentioned above, the data was distributed and collected when May was ending, which was also the time for a school year end This also meant deterioration in the learning spirit among students At that time, when all the exams were over, and students may feel less prompted to go to school, resulting in a class with many absent pupils This was a disadvantage in collecting questionnaire However, the researcher is a teacher at school, and she also