Dimotivating factors for the first year non english major students in learning to speak english at hai duong college

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYỀN DEMOTIVATING FACTORS FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING TO SPEAK ENGLISH AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE CÁC YẾU TỐ LÀM GIẢM HỨNG THÚ TRONG VIỆC HỌC

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYỀN

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING TO

SPEAK ENGLISH AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE

CÁC YẾU TỐ LÀM GIẢM HỨNG THÚ TRONG VIỆC HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG HẢI DƯƠNG

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410

HANOI, 2012

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYỀN

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING TO

SPEAK ENGLISH AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE

CÁC YẾU TỐ LÀM GIẢM HỨNG THÚ TRONG VIỆC HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG HẢI DƯƠNG

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410

SUPERVISER: DO BA QUY, M.Ed

HANOI, 2012

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

1.3 Previous studies on the topic 13

2.1 An overview of current situation of teaching and learning 16

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 22 3.1 Data analysis of students’ responses 22 3.1.1 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skills 22 3.1.2 Students’ ideas about demotivating factors in learning

3.2 Data analysis of teachers’ responses 30 3.2.1 Teachers’ opinions on students’ attitudes towards speaking

3.2.2 Teachers’ ideas about students’ demotivation in learning to

3.2.3 The frequency of teaching techniques and activities used by

3.2.4 Teachers’ opinions on what motivates students to learn to

3.3 Major findings and discussion 33 3.3.1 Demotivating factors in learning English speaking skills for 33

the first year non-English majors at HDC

3.3.2 Solutions suggested by the teachers and the students to

overcome demotivation in the learning of speaking skills 35

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BA Bachelor of Arts

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ELT English Language Teaching

ESL English as a Second Language

HDC Hai Duong College

L2 Second Language

MA Master of Arts

PhD Doctor of Philosophy

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1 Students’ perceptions of the importance of speaking skills 22

Chart 3 Teachers’ perceptions of students’ thought over speaking

Table 5 Student’s opinions on speaking time and the textbook 28 Table 6 Students’ opinions on what motivates them to learn speaking

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Language skills have never been more important than today because in a global world where information travels fast, and people frequently interact across borders, the ability to communicate effectively is very necessary It can not be denied that English is now considered to be a means of international communication and an important tool to connect countries all over the world It is English that plays

an essential role in the path of industrialization and modernization as well as in the process of integration and globalization of every country in the world

In Vietnam, English teaching and learning has become a great concern over the last decades It has been a compulsory program in most of educational campuses such as institutions, universities, colleges and schools at different levels There are more and more people desiring to know and master English because of different purposes: to pass examinations, to keep up with the latest development in science and technology in the world, or to cater their practical needs

Among the four skills known as listening, speaking, writing and listening, speaking skill plays an important part in language teaching in the context of Vietnam For many learners, speaking skill is the most important of the four skills

in a second language in general and in English in particular However, it is the fact that most of students at Hai Duong College (HDC) seem to consider speaking skill

to be the most challenging From observations and teaching experiences, the author realizes that students pay little attention to communicative skills such as listening and speaking They seem to have lost interest in learning English and they are not active in participating in speaking activities They feel nervous in speaking class and become demotivated in learning speaking These lead to the underachievement and have a negative effect on students in learning English as a foreign language With the desire to identify the factors affecting students’ demotivation and find out

some solutions for this problem, I decided to choose the topic “Demotivating

Factors for the First Year non-English Major Students in Learning to Speak English

at Hai Duong College” as the title of my minor thesis

2 Aims of the study

The major purposes of this study are:

- To identify the demotivating factors affecting the first year non-English majors learning to speak English

- To figure out some suggested solutions to eliminate the demotivation and help to improve students’ speaking skills

4 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed The data was collected by means of questionnaires and interview Two sets of survey questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers, were mainly used to get information and evidence for the study To get more reliable data, an interview was conducted All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusions provided in the thesis were based on the analysis of the data

5 Scope of the study

This study is limited to the student’s demotivation in learning to speak English at HDC Therefore, the investigation of the issue on other skills will not be included in the study Furthermore, it should be taken into consideration that the subjects of the study are the first year non-English majors who are being taught speaking skill under the communicative approach

6 Design of the study

This minor thesis is divided into three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusions

Part A, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions,

the methods, the scope as well as the design of the study

Part B, Development, consists of three chapters:

Chapter one, Literature review, revises the relevant theories as the base for

carrying out the research In addition, related studies are also mentioned in this chapter

Chapter two, Methodology, provides the methodology underlying the

research which includes the setting of the study, research questions, participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedure as well as data analysis procedure

Chapter three, Data analysis and discussion, shows a detailed presentation of

data analysis to answer the research questions The discussion of the findings is also included in this chapter

Part C, Conclusions, addresses the key issues in the study, comes up with

some recommendations to cope with the problem Furthermore, this part also points out some shortcomings of the study as well as provides some suggestions for further studies

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews relevant theories and studies that can be the base for conducting the research The background knowledge of speaking and demotivation

as well as previous studies concerning the topic of the study will be presented

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking

1.1.1 The nature of speaking

Of the four macro inter-related language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking seems intuitively the most important According to Ur (1996), people who know a language are referred to as speakers of that language, as if speaking included all other types of skills, and many, if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak

Speaking skill requires the masters speak with confidence to carry out a lot

of their most basic transactions Byrne (1986) proved that the nature of oral communication is a two-way process between the speaker and the listener involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding When the speaker starts a message, the listener decodes, and responds to the message in turns

In spite of not being a set curriculum in most schools, speaking skill has been illustrated to be a fundamental skill for a child to succeed in life

1.1.2 Definition of speaking

According to Brown (1994), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information It is “often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving” but it is not

completely unpredictable Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in

which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences,

the physical environment, and the purpose for speaking

In addition, Chaney and Burk (1998:13) defined speaking as "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in

a variety of contexts" Bailey (2005:2) also argued that “speaking is the productive, oral skill It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.”

Mackey (1995, cited in Bygate, (1987:5)), affirmed speaking as “oral expression involves not only the use of right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning.”

Brown and Yule (1983) pointed out a useful distinction between two basic language functions which are transactional function and interactional function The transactional function is concerned with the transfer of information whereas the interactional function is to maintain the social relationships

According to Nunan (1992), there is a difference between the two types of conversations called dialogue and monologue The first type refers to the ability to give and interrupt oral presentation while the second type refers to the interaction with one or more other speakers for transactional and interactional purposes

1.1.3 The role of speaking in foreign language teaching

In the view of language teaching, language has been divided into four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing based on the purpose of analysis and instruction It is undeniable that speaking skill plays the most important part in foreign language teaching because it is fundamental to human communication (Ur, 1996) Knowing the language means being able to speak the language Furthermore,

macro-it is the vehicle to establish and maintain social relationships as well as to achieve professional advancement

In the international relationship, English speaking ability is obviously crucial

to be able to participate in the wider world of work The speaking skill is measured

in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language For the reasons

mentioned above, it is really vital that language teachers should pay great attention

to the teaching of speaking skill

1.1.4 Factors affecting the learning of speaking

According to Richards & Rogers (1986), one needs to have communicative competence to be successful in learning to speak a language However, this is affected by both subjective factors such as: psychology, linguistics, culture and objective factors such as: class size, materials used and learning environment

Linguistics factors

According to Burns and Joyce (1997), the linguistic factors that inhibit the use of the spoken language include difficulties in transferring from the learners’ first language to the target language in term of the sounds, rhythms, and stress patterns Furthermore, learners may have difficulties in understanding the English grammatical patterns which are different from those of their mother tongue

Psychological factors

Psychological factors include cultural shock, previous negative social or political experiences, lack of motivation, anxiety or shyness in class, especially if learners’ previous learning experiences were negative

1.1.4.2 Objective factors

Textbook

Seldon (1988: 237) considered textbook to be “the visible heart of any ELT program” In English as a foreign language context, it may even constitute the main and perhaps only source of language input that learners receive and the basis for language practice that occurs both inside and outside the classroom However, there still remain some limitations about textbook The first problem is that textbooks are often implicitly prescriptive and thus might control the methods, processes, and procedures of classroom practice and “deskill” teachers (Allwright, 1982) The second problem is that since textbooks are often written for global markets, they might not suit all classrooms and might require adaptation to better meet students’ true needs (Richards, 2005)

Learning environment

Language learning environment is of considerable importance to learners of English Being in an English speaking environment will help to improve students’ English speaking skills since students have to hear and speak in English However,

it is not very easy for students to go abroad so as to live in an English speaking community Therefore, students should take advantage of speaking opportunities in class by working in groups and working in pairs For English language teachers, upgrading teaching methods and creating various activities are good ways to encourage students to participate in speaking activities

1.2 Theoretical background of demotivation

1.2.1 Definition of demotivation

It is strongly believed that motivation plays a significant role in academic learning in general and the second language learning in particular Motivational factors or motives have been considered as kinds or inducements with the effect of energizing ongoing action (Dörnyei, 2001) For a long time, many studies have been conducted to explore the motivational factors affecting second language learning However important motivation is, it is obviously not the only factor relevant to second and foreign language learning There is “another side of motivation” (Sakai and Kikuchi, 2009) that makes learners lose their interest in

learning a second language called demotivation Since it is a relatively new issue in

the field of second language motivation, many researchers in the second language learning field have only started to work on this topic fairly recently

Dörnyei (2001) suggested that demotivation concerns “specific external

forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioural intention or an ongoing action” These negative external factors consist of items such as the class environment, teaching situations, methods, teachers’ behaviours and so on According to the researcher, demotivation does not mean that all the positive influences that originally make up the motivational basis of a behaviour have been annulled; rather, it is only the resultant force that has been dampened by a strong negative component

However, the definition given by Dörnyei is not approved by some other researchers Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) believed that Dörnyei limited the original definition of demotivation to only external factors and that his definition may need

to be expanded to cover both internal and external factors which reduce or diminish the motivation to study English

There are many reasons for demotivation whether the factors are external or internal Dörnyei (2001a) gave hypothetical examples of learners who are

demotivated to form a portrait of a demotivated learner Firstly, a demotivated learner can be a learner who was put among the “slow” students Secondly, a learner’s motivation to learn French can be diminished as result of not understanding what the teacher is talking about in class Thirdly, a learner can get demotivated when speaking in front of the class with an embarrassing experience According to Dörnyei (2001a), a demotivated learner, in short, is someone who initially has had motivation to accomplish a goal or to engage in an activity and has lost his or her motivation to do so because of negative external influences

Furthermore, Dörnyei (2001a) made a distinction between the states of

“diminished motivation” and “totally loss of motivation”, that is to say demotivation and amotivation respectively Demotivation, according to Dörnyei (2001a), does not by all means entail that all the positive influences that in the beginning made up the motivation basis have been lost It could be regarded as the negative counterpart of motivation The notion of amotivation was introduced by Deci and Ryan (1985) According to them, amotivation refers to lack of motivation

and an amotivated learner is someone who thinks “there is no point in me pursuing this” Dörnyei (2001) stated that demotivation does not mean that a learner has lost

his or her motivation completely while an amotivated learner has lost his or her motivation totally The difference between the two related terminations is that when

an amotivated learner is someone who has found the general outcome expectations

to be unrealistic for one reason or another, a demotivated learner is someone whose motivation has decreased due to some external factors In the course of time, demotivation can develop into amotivation (Dörnyei, 2001), that is, a series of demotivating experiences can lead to a complete loss of motivation However, if the demotives cease to exist for reason, the level of motivation can return to normal

1.2.2 Factors affecting students’ demotivation

Despite the probable importance of demotivation in learning in general, and second and foreign language in particular, to date not much research has been

conducted on student demotivation In other words, few studies have investigated the factors influencing demotivation at different levels of education so far The studies by Gorham & Christophel (1992), Chambers (1993), Gorham and Millete (1997), Dörnyei (2001), Oxford (1998), Keblawi (2006), Trang and Baldauf (2007), Kikuchi and Sakai (2009), Tabatabaei & Molavi (2012) discussed in the following illustrate that demotivation in learning a second language is a matter of concern worldwide

According to Gorham & Christophel (1992), two-thirds of the demotivating factors pertinent to instructional are related to teachers The two researchers tried to explore what factors were perceived as demotives by college students taking introductory communication class by administering the open-ended question: “What things decrease your motivation to try hard to do your best in your class?” The research findings revealed three main categories of demotives They are: (1) context demotives (factors likely to be regarded as antecedent to the teacher’s influence); (2) structure/ format demotives (factors over which the teacher is likely to have some degree of influence, if not complete control), and (3) teacher behaviours (factors likely to be perceived as under the teacher’s direct control)

Chambers (1993) conducted a study on motivation which attempted to explore the factors that influenced pupils’ motivation in learning foreign languages The emphasis was particularly on learning German in the UK According to the researcher, the teacher was the key factor in everything Not only was he or she the reason why the pupils both looked forward or dreaded to learn a new language, but he/she was also the source of motivation as well as demotivation

To investigate the degree to which teacher’s perceptions of what affects student motivation were similar to those found in student reports, Gorham and Millete (1997) carried out a study to respond to the open-ended question, “What do you perceive decreases students’ motivation to try to do their best in this class and

to achieve your instructional goals?” The results pointed out that teachers and students agreed on a set of central factors that are relevant to demotivation In spite

of these similarities, teachers were more likely to believe that student demotivation

is the result of performance-related factors such as the students’ lack of success on graded work, the students’ lack of prerequisite skills or knowledge and the students’ heavy workload However, students blamed teacher behaviour for their demotivation These factors include poor presentation skills, lack of enthusiasm on the role of the instructor, and to the instructor’s overall choice and organization of course material

Oxford (1998) conducted a qualitative study on demotivation, which focused

on a teachers’ influence on both motivation and demotivation She took into account the time factor by asking 250 students, both in high schools and universities, to write about their experiences over a period of five years The findings drawn from the analysis of the essays revealed four broad sources of demotivation:

1 The teacher’s personal relationship with students

2 The teacher’s attitude towards the course and material

3 Style conflicts between teachers and students

4 The nature of classroom activities

Dörnyei (2001) carried out a research on demotivation, aiming to find out the variety of demotivating factors The study was a qualitative one with the subjects of 50 secondary school pupils in Budapest who were studying either English or German as their second language and had been identified as being particularly demotivated by their teachers or peers The research results indicated nine areas of concern as follows:

1 The teachers’ personalities, commitment, competence, teaching methods

2 Inadequate school facilities (big group, not the right level, or frequent change of teachers)

3 Reduced self-confidence due to their experience of failure or lack of success

4 Negative attitudes towards the second language studied

5 Compulsory nature of the second language study

6 Interference of another foreign language that pupils are studying

7 Negative attitudes towards the community of the second language spoken

8 Attitudes of group members

9 Course books used in the class

Chang & Cho (2003) explored the demotivating factors of English language learning among Taiwanese junior high school students From the data analysis of the ninety-one essays written by students, eight factors were identified as the sources of demotivation They are: (1) learning difficulties; (2) threats to self-worth; (3) monotonous teaching; (4) poor teacher-student relationship; (5) punishments; (6) general and language-specific anxiety; (7) lack of self-determination; and (8) poor classroom management

Keblawi (2006) studied demotivators of Arab learners of English Participants in the study were 294 Arab learners of English in Israel in years 9 and

10 The demotivating factors that students referred to and that were related to teachers were classified into two main groups: teachers’ style and personality traits Furthermore other factors such as textbooks and evaluation system were identified

by learners as demotivating

Kikuchi and Sakai (2009), explored demotivating factors for high school students in Japan through a 35-item questionnaire administering to 112 students From the data analysis, a list of five demotivating factors among Japanese learners was revealed: (1) learning contents and materials; (2) teachers' teaching styles; (3) inadequate school facilities; (4) lack of intrinsic motivation; and (5) test scores

Tabatabaei & Molavi (2012) conducted a study using Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery, Interchange Objective Placement Test and a modified version of Stuart D Warrington’s questionnaire to examine the demotivating factors affecting EFL learning of Iranian Islamic seminary students According to the study, the major demotivating factors which lead to frustration an undesired outcome among Iranian EFL seminary students were: (1) the frequency of English class, (2) other

important subjects to be studied, (2) the shortage of time and lack of English usage

in students’ daily lives, and (4) the desire to be sent to other countries to propagate Islam

In short, in spite of few studies on the field of demotivation, the researchers tried to find out the demotivating factors affecting students’ second language learning Among all the factors investigated, the teacher, teaching methods, learning context, and learner’s attitudes toward second language seem to be the big ones in any case

1.3 Previous studies on the topic

As mentioned in 1.2.2, the most concerned studies on demotivating factors in learning an L2 were discussed They are studies by Gorham & Christophel (1992), Chambers (1993), Gorham and Millete (1997), Dörnyei (2001), Oxford (1998), Chang & Cho (2003), Keblawi (2006), Kikuchi and Sakai (2009), Tabatabaei and Molavi (2012)

There are some other studies carried out in the context of Vietnam to explore demotivating factors for students’ second language learning at different levels of education

Trang and Baldauf (2007) investigated demotivation involving Vietnamese students from a university of economics, using a case study, with three main foci: (i) the reasons (i.e the demotives) underlying demotivation, (ii) the degree of influence of different motives and (iii) student's experiences in overcoming demotivation Findings indicated two classifications of demotivating factors: internal attributions and external attributions The former included students’ attitudes towards English, their experiences of failure or lack of success, and incidents related to their self-esteem; the latter consisted of teacher-related factors, the learning environment, and other external factors

Tuyet (2010) conducted a study to investigate the factors causing demotivation in learning writing among the 10th grade students at Doan Thi Diem

private high school The researcher administered two sets of questionnaires to 75

10th form students and 5 teachers In addition, the observation was carried out in two different lessons in two classes Findings indicated that factors causing students’ demotivation in learning writing skill come from both the students and the teachers They are: (1) students’ personality and intelligence; (2) students’ lack of background knowledge; (3) teachers’ teaching methods; and (4) writing topics in the textbook

Linh (2011) explored the demotivators in English lessons of the 10th form non-English majors at Cao Bang Upper Secondary School for the Gifted In order to reach the aims, the researcher used two survey questionnaires, one for teachers and one for students The interviewed questions structured with a list of 7 open-ended questions were based on the survey questionnaires to get a more comprehensive view of the matter From the data analysis, it is concluded that the demotivators in listening lessons of the students are: (1) the teachers (teaching method, personality); (2) inadequate background knowledge of English (insufficient pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar); (3) learning environment (lack of modern facilities, lack of encouragement from friends, parents); and (4) little intrinsic motivation

Hang (2010) investigated the demotivators in English speaking lessons of the

10th grade students at Nam Sach High School The 10-item questionnaire adapted from Hamada & Kito (2007) was administered to 126 10th grade students and another 5-item questionnaire was delivered to 8 teachers to get information An interview was carried out in Vietnamese to get more thorough understanding of the matter In this study, five factors about demotivation in learning to speak English were found: (1) teacher’s competence and teaching style (incorrect pronunciation, not very good intonation, not clear instructions, negative behaviours); (2) learning environment and facilities (not encouraging peers, overload activities, rare use of modern technology); (3) assessment

of speaking skill; (4) self-confidence; and (5) little intrinsic motivation (little interests/ effort)

Of all the studies mentioned, there are none in which demotivators for students in learning to speak English at any college campus were investigated This inspires the researcher to conduct a research project to identify the primary factors demotivating students learning to speak English at HDC

1.4 Summary of the chapter

To sump up, this chapter conceptualizes the discussion of issues and aspects concerning the topic of the study This literature review serves as the base for the researcher to conduct the study In the following chapter, the methodology employed in the study will be presented

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the writer describes the current situation of learning and teaching English at HDC as the setting for the study The methodology used to carry out the study is also presented in detail

2.1 An overview of current situation of teaching and learning English at HDC 2.1.1 Hai Duong College

HDC, the research site, is situated in Hai Duong City, which is about 60 kilometers from Hanoi Capital The school was founded in 1965 and was first named Hai Duong Teacher Training College Because of the fall demand of Department of Education and Training and the expansion of the training target to multiple branches, it was renamed Hai Duong College (HDC) in 2009 For nearly

50 years, HDC has been a reliable address for students not only in Hai Duong province but also some nearby areas

2.1.2 The students

In the school year 2011-2012, there are nearly 3,000 students assigned in 9 different departments Most of the students come from Hai Duong City and the eleven districts of Hai Duong province The majority major in economics branches such as accounting, finance and banking, corporate administration, etc while the minority major in teacher training English is taught here as a compulsory subject for the first two years It is considered to be one of the core subjects because it serves as a means of international communication

Although most of the students studied English at secondary and upper secondary schools, their English proficiency is very low Furthermore, many of them do not pay attention to English It is thought that they learn English just because it is a compulsory subject Therefore, communicating in English is impossible for the majority of the students and the subject, for them, seems to be the most challenging at college

2.1.3 The teachers

There are 10 teachers of English currently working at Department of Foreign Languages at HDC Their age’s range is from 26 to 59 years old They all graduated from College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi – VNU Among them, four got their Master Degrees, two are doing their MA courses and the other four teachers got their Bachelor Degrees In general, they are helpful and willing

to make some renovations in their teaching methodology

2.1.4 The teaching and learning conditions

In spite of being considered to be a very important subject, conditions for English teaching and learning are not very good The main teaching aids used are blackboards and textbooks Each teacher is provided with a speaker and some CDs However, they have to use their own computers since there are only some rooms equipped with projectors and computers No videos are provided There are not many English books, magazines, newspapers in the college library for students to make use of Besides, the classrooms are physically crowded, with limited space for activity organization

2.1.5 The textbooks

The textbook used for the first year economics majors is Market Leader – Elementary by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, published by Pearson,

2004 The book was designed according to communicative approach It consists of

12 units based on the topics involved in international business and 4 revision units Each unit covers 8 parts providing students with four communicative skills and even language skills for a wide range of business situations Speaking skill is the most prominent one which is presented in every part of each unit Generally speaking, the textbook has proved to be appropriate for economics majors However, it is also a big challenge for both teachers and students due to students’ English low proficiency and teachers’ lack of experience

The textbook used for teacher training majors is Life Lines - Elementary by Tom Hutchinson, published by Oxford University Press, 1999 It covers 14 units

with different topics relating to real life such as entertainment, survivors, travel, fashion, health, experiences and so on Each unit is divided into 5 sections: grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing, listening and speaking, and pronunciation There is an extension unit after every two units This helps the students to review theories and practice more exercises And in each unit, important parts are highlighted to remind the students to remember

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Subjects of the study

The subjects of the study included 120 first year non-English major students and 8 teachers of English at HDC

The target population of students consisted of 856 first year economics majors The reason for the researcher’s option is that economics majors form the large majority (approximately 90%) of the first year students They are using Market Leader – Elementary by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, Pearson 2004 as the main textbook These students, aged from 18 to 22, were assigned in different classes according to their different majors They have been learning English at both secondary and upper secondary school for 7 years In order

to save time, the researcher decided to randomly choose three classes to be the sample of the study The classes selected were Accounting 1B, Accounting 1C and Finance & Banking 1A Altogether, there were 125 students in these three classes Among 125 delivered questionnaire copies, the researcher received 120 responses

Eight teachers who are currently teaching English for the first year English majors at HDC were selected to be the subjects of the second questionnaire Their age range is from 26 to 38 All of them were trained in English Language Methodology at College of Foreign Languages and they have been teaching English for at least three years These teachers are believed to be dedicated and receptive in the teaching career

non-2.2.2 Data collection instruments

Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed in order to reduce potential limitations of relying on a single approach and enhance confidence in the collected data as recommended by Nunan (1992) In this study, the quantitative data were collected from two questionnaires and were analyzed statistically An interview was followed to deepen understanding and interpretation of the results

2.2.2.1 Survey questionnaire

Questionnaire for the students

The first questionnaire adapted from Trang & Baldauf (2007), Demotivation: Understanding Resistance to English Language Learning – The Case of Vietnamese Students, consists of 8 questions The questionnaire was conducted in Vietnamese to

ensure the reliability of the questionnaire for the respondents The purpose of this questionnaire was to elicit:

(1) Students’ attitudes towards the learning of speaking skills (Questions 1 to 5) (2) Students’ opinions on demotivating factors in learning speaking English (Question 6)

(3) Students’ interest and expectations (Questions 7, 8)

The respondents must choose only one answer for questions 1 to 7 while they can choose more than one option for the last question

Questionnaire for the teachers

The second questionnaire consisting of 5 questions was administered to 8 teachers of English with the aim to identify:

(1) Teachers’ perceptions of students’ attitudes towards the learning of speaking skills (Questions 1, 2)

(2) Teachers’ ideas about students’ demotivation in learning to speak English (Question 3)

(3) Teachers’ current teaching techniques and activities employed in speaking lessons (Question 4)

(4) Teachers’ opinions on factors motivating students in learning speaking English (Question 5)

For questions 1, 2 and 4, the respondents must choose only one answer while they can choose more than one option for two questions 3 and 5

2.2.2.2 Interview with the students

Apart from two questionnaires, an interview was also conducted with a group of 10 students randomly selected from the three classes The interview was structured with a list of 10 open-ended questions These questions were based on the survey questionnaires in order to get a better understanding of the subject matter

2.2.3 Data collection procedure

Data collection was conducted via the questionnaires for both the teachers and the students First, the two sets of questionnaires – one for students and one for teachers - were developed on the criteria which are the most appropriate to the study Then, these were administered to 125 students and 8 teachers of English at HDC after they had been told the purposes and guided how to complete the questionnaire carefully In order to ensure that they would have enough time to give accurate information, the participants were asked to return the questionnaires a week later There were totally 128 responses gathered, of which 120 came from the students and 8 came from the teachers

Besides, ten students from those three classes were randomly chosen for the interview to yield more interesting points Structured interviews of fifteen to twenty minutes were administered in Vietnamese with each participant in an informal atmosphere to minimize their anxiety While asking a series of questions prepared beforehand, the researcher recorded the students’ answers by tape recordings And note-taking was also applied to get more reliable information

2.2.4 Data analysis procedure

Data gathered from the responses of the teachers and the students were sorted and analyzed to get the answers for the research questions The quantitative data collected from the questionnaires were converted into percentages and illustrated in the form of charts and tables As for student interviews, the recordings

were transcribed, translated into English, and presented by citing relevant responses After that, a descriptive and interpretive analysis was applied to synthesize those data

2.3 Summary of the chapter

This chapter has identified the setting, participants, instruments, and procedure of the study The next chapter will present the figures and data collected from survey questionnaires and student interviews, from which some initial

conclusions about the questioned issues of the study start to take shape

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter will provide a careful and comprehensive analysis on the data collected from the survey questionnaires and the interview Then, prominent findings will be presented in accordance with the discussions of the relating fields

3.1 Data analysis of students’ responses

3.1.1 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skills

Understanding the students’ points of view towards speaking skills is very important, especially for the teachers If the students appreciate the role of speaking skills when learning English, they will form precise motivations and attitudes These will decide the effects of the students in learning to speak English

Chart 1: Students’ perceptions of the importance of speaking skills

Chart 1 shows the students’ perceptions of the importance of speaking skill

It is clearly seen that over 70% of the respondents recognized the significance of English speaking skills while only 4% did not think that it was necessary to learn speaking English In the interview, most of students also stated the importance of speaking skill and gave reasons for their attitudes After accumulating their points

of views, the researcher found the most common and significant ideas as follow:

“English is an international language in the world today It is used everywhere and in every aspect of life It helps me to have a good job in the future and it plays a vital role on the path of industrialization and modernization.”