Nghiên cứu những nhân tố gây nên sự mất hứng thú đối với sinh viên không chuyên trong việc học tiếng anh chuyên ngành tại trường cao đẳng công

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  TRẦN THỊ THANH BÌNH A STUDY ON FACTORS DEMOTIVATING NON-MAJOR

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



TRẦN THỊ THANH BÌNH

A STUDY ON FACTORS DEMOTIVATING NON-MAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING ESP

AT NAM DINH INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE

(Nghiên cứu những nhân tố gây nên sự mất hứng thú đối với sinh viên không chuyên trong việc học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành tại trường Cao đẳng Công nghiệp Nam Định)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



TRẦN THỊ THANH BÌNH

A STUDY ON FACTORS DEMOTIVATING NON-MAJOR STUDENTS IN LEARNING ESP

AT NAM DINH INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE

(Nghiên cứu những nhân tố gây nên sự mất hứng thú đối với sinh viên không chuyên trong việc học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành tại trường Cao đẳng Công nghiệp Nam Định)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi - 2018

DECLARATION

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “A Study on Factors Demotivating Non-major Students in Learning ESP at Nam Dinh Industrial College” is the result of my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any universities or other institutions

Tran Thi Thanh Binh

Hanoi, 2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge my truthful gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Dr Hoang Van Van for his thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable guidance and precious corrections of the thesis It was his acute guidance that has enabled me

to find the right way to complete this study

I also would like to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues at Nam Dinh Industrial College, who have been willing to complete my survey questionnaire and have given me invaluable suggestions for the research

I appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the students in classes from three Faculties at Nam Dinh Industrial College

My special words of thanks are sent to my family, especially my husband who has given me constant encouragement and support throughout my research work

Hanoi, 2018

ABSTRACT

This study is an attempt to investigate factors demotivating the non-major students

in learning ESP at Nam Dinh Industrial College The main purposes of the study are

to find out the main demotivating factors affecting students‟ motivation in ESP lessons and to offer some solutions to help students overcome their demotivation The study data were collected by means of questionnaire for students, informal interviews with both teachers and students The results indicated that five demotivating factors were found in this study: (1) learning material (course book), (2) students‟ low intrinsic motivation (3) limited class time leading to the teachers‟ fast teaching speed and hindering the teacher‟s effective exploitation of teaching techniques and activities, (4) teachers‟ strictness and inflexibility and (5) unfavorable teaching and learning environment However, there still existed the gap between teachers‟ perception and students‟ perception as a source of demotivation Some suggestions were provided with the aim to minimize demotivating factors

of students in ESP lessons Hopefully, this study will some help teachers and students to better teaching and learning ESP at Nam Dinh Industrial College

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents pages

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF CHARTS vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aim and objective of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Significance of the study 2

5 Scope of the study 3

6 Method of the study 3

7 Organization of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5

1.1 Introduction 5

1.2 English for specific purposes (ESP) 5

1.2.1 Definition of ESP 5

1.2.2 Classification of ESP 6

1.2.3 ESP teacher 6

1.3 Motivation 10

1.3.1 Definitions of motivation 10

1.3.2 Motivation in learning foreign language 10

1.3.3 ESP Learner and Motivation 12

1.4 Demotivation 12

1.4.1 Definitions of demotivation 12

1.4.2 Overview of previous studies related to student demotivating factors 13

1.4.3 Demotivating factors in foreign language teaching and learning 16

1.5 Summary 18

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 19

2.1 Introduction 19

2.2 Research setting 19

2.2.1 Description of the ESP course and its objectives at NICOL 19

2.2.2 Description of the students at NICOL 20

2.2.3 Description of English teachers at NICOL 20

2.2.4 Description of teaching facilities at NICOL 21

2.2.5 Description of testing and assessment at NICOL 21

2.3 Subjects 21

2.4 Research types 22

2.5 Data collection instruments 22

2.5.1 Questionnaire for students 22

2.5.2 Interviews for students and teachers 23

2.6 Data collection procedures 23

2.6.1 Questionnaires 23

2.6.2 Interviews 23

2.7 Data analysis method 24

2.8 Summary 24

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 25

3.1 Introduction 25

3.2 Data analysis and discussion of students’ survey questionnaire and interview 25

3.2.1 Students‟ personal information 25

3.2.2 Students-related demotivating factors 26

3.2.3 Teachers' competence and teaching styles demotivating factors 28

3.2.4 Teacher-student rapport 31

3.2.5 Learning contents and materials 32

3.2.6 Teaching and learning environment 34

3.2.7 Test score and examination 35

3.2.8 Students‟ suggested solutions to motivating them in learning ESP 36

3.3 Data analysis and discussion of teachers’ interview 37

3.3.1 Students‟ attitudes toward ESP from the teachers‟ view 37

3.3.2 Teachers‟ opinion on factors demotivating students in learning ESP 38

3.3.3 Teachers‟ opinion to the ESP course book 39

3.3.4 Teaching techniques and activities employed by teachers in teaching ESP

40

3.3.5 Teachers‟ opinions on strategies and techniques to help students overcome their motivation 40

3.4 Findings and discussion 41

3.4.1 Students‟ perspective on demotivating factors 42

3.4.2 Teachers‟ perspective on demotivating factors 43

3.4.3 Solutions suggested by the teachers to overcome demotivation in ESP lessons 45

3.5 Implications 46

3.6 Summary 49

PART C: CONCLUSION 50

1 Recapitulation 50

2 Limitations of the study 52

3 Suggestions for the further research 52

REFERENCES 54 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 IV APPENDIX 3 VII APPENDIX 4 VIII APPENDIX 5 IX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

NICOL: Nam Dinh Industrial College

L2: Second language

ESP: English for Special Purpose

EGP: English for General Purpose

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students' profiles

Table 2: Student-related demotivating factors

Table 3: Teachers' competence and teaching styles related to demotivating factors Table 4: Demotivating factors related to teacher-student rapport

Table 5: Demotivating factors related to learning contents and materials

Table 6: Demotivating factors related to teaching and learning environment Table 7: Demotivating factors related to test score and examination

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Student- related demotivating factors

Chart 2: Demotivating factors related to teacher-student rapport

Chart 3: Demotivating factors related to learning contents and materials

Chart 4: Demotivating factors related to teaching and learning environment Chart 5: Demotivating factors related to test score and examination

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Motivation is considered one of the key factors in second and foreign language teaching and learning It explains why a person starts to learn a language and what keeps him or her interested in the long process of second language (L2) learning (Dornyei 2005: 65) Moreover, by referring to motivation we can answer questions such as why a person is making progress in learning a language simply by stating that this person is motivated without the need to go into details about the factors that have led to this commitment (Dornyei 2001a: 6) Due to the significance

of motivation in L2 teaching and learning, many researchers have also examined motivation and its negative side, demotivation in teaching and learning general English in universities Just as motivation is important in second language acquisition research, demotivation constitutes an important factor Despite the importance of demotivation in general, only a limited number of studies exist on demotivation students tend to carry in the course of learning English for Special Purpose (ESP) although English continues to dominate as the lingua franca of business, technology, medicine, media, education and research

Moreover, the demand of ESP is growing rapidly in many countries including Vietnam In response to the great demand of English in academic, vocational and professional contexts, more and more universities and colleges in Vietnam are offering ESP courses to meet the global trend as well as to meet students' future career needs Nam Dinh Industrial College (NICOL) is not an exception ESP is offered to non-major students as a compulsory subject All the students are required to pass the examination in ESP to graduate However, ESP teaching and learning have not been paid enough attention to because of many reasons such as course book, mixed-level students, large-scale class These factors have led to low learner motivation; in other words, it has brought about demotivated students in learning ESP Thus, a critical look needs to be taken in defining and testing the underlying causes of demotivation to students‟ ESP learning at NICOL The researcher has realized the negative impact of demotivation on ESP learning of students at NICOL and found that its existence and scope have not been adequately

investigated This urges the researcher to carry out this investigation: “A Study on Factors Demotivating Non-major Students in Learning ESP at Nam Dinh Industrial College” in the hope of finding effective strategies and techniques to help students

at NICOL overcome demotivation in learning ESP so that they will find learning ESP fun and enjoyable Also, the solutions offered in this study can help teachers at NICOL facilitate their students‟ motivation to better their ESP learning

2 Aim and objective of the study

The overarching aim of this study is to help NICOL students get better results

in learning ESP It, therefore, is designed to meet the following objectives:

- Investigating the factors that demotivate non-major students in learning ESP

at NICOL

- Suggesting teaching strategies and techniques in order to assist students at NICOL to overcome demotivation in learning ESP

3 Research questions

In order to achieve the above mentioned aim and objectives, this study focuses

on two research questions:

(1) What are the main factors that demotivate non-major students in learning ESP at NICOL?

(2) What strategies and techniques can be applied to assist students at NICOL

to overcome demotivation?

4 Significance of the study

The study highlights factors causing demotivation in learning ESP at NICOL The proposed study provides students of three faculties at NICOL with solutions to overcome their demotivation in learning ESP In addition, the results of the findings can be of great use for the teachers at NICOL to have deeper understanding of their students' demotivating factors in learning ESP Thus, they can adapt their teaching strategies and techniques to motivate their students in learning ESP for better results Also, the recommendations of this study will benefit and help future researchers specializing in ESP and motivation with meaningful insights from the findings

5 Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time and scale of a minor thesis, it is impossible to cover all aspects of demotivation in learning ESP in this study Thus, the study focuses on examining the factors that demotivate the non-major students in learning ESP at NICOL It involves the participants of 3 teachers of English and 155 students in three faculties at NICOL

6 Method of the study

The study primarily employs a survey questionnaire to find answers for the research questions Data is collected through a survey questionnaire which is delivered to 155 students at NICOL Besides, informal interviews with teachers and students are carried out to collect more information and to reinforce the findings found from the survey questionnaire

7 Organization of the study

The study consists of three parts

Part A, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, aim of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, method of the study and organization of the study Part B, DEVELOPMENT, includes three main chapters:

Chapter 1, LITERATURE REVIEW, displays the theoretical background on motivation, and demotivation in language learning The main issues related to ESP are also covered in this chapter

Chapter 2, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, presents the methodology performed in the study: the setting of the study, subjects of the study, the data collection method, instruments as well as process of data collection and data analysis

Chapter 3, DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS, gives a detailed presentation of data and detailed description of data analysis This focuses on presenting, analyzing and discussing the results obtained from the study based on the survey questionnaire and interview questions Besides, the chapter also presents some discussion and interpretations of the findings of the study, and then gives suggestions for the teachers and the students in learning ESP at NICOL The implications of the study are also given in this chapter

Part C, CONCLUSION, is a review of the study, and points out implications for the improvement, its limitations and suggestions for future research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

This part consists of three chapters The first chapter presents the basic theories related to motivation, demotivation and ESP The next chapter is about methodology which I applies to conduct the research Data analysis and discussion

of the major findings are presented in chapter three

CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

in language learning Finally, I will give brief information on demotivation, its conceptions, overview of previous studies related to student demotivating factors and demotivating factors in foreign language teaching and learning

1.2 English for specific purposes (ESP)

This section will focus on issues related to ESP such as ESP definition and classification, the ESP teacher, motivation of ESP learner and ESP course and material

1.2.1 Definition of ESP

From the early 1960‟s, there was an increasing need to use English for the expression of knowledge within professional and educational fields It has become one of the most prominent issues in EFL teaching This is because ESP derives from the needs to use language as a tool in professional life, not as a hobby or so-called communication All these demands and requirements fostered the expansion

of one particular aspect of English Language Teaching, namely the teaching of academic and professional English, more commonly known as English for Specific

Purposes Therefore, in ESP situation the learner wants to learn the target language

in order to meet specific ends In this respect Harmer (1983: 1) defines ESP as “ situations where the student has some specific reasons for wanting to learn a language.”

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP is “an approach rather than a product to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on learner‟s reason for learning” Hutchinson and Waters (1993) also emphasized that: ESP is not a matter of teaching specialized varieties of English, nor is just matter of science words and grammar for scientists It is also not different

in kind from any other form of language teaching as far as principles of effective and efficient learning are concerned Similarly, Munby (1978: 2) stated: “ESP courses are those where the syllabus and materials are determined in all essentials

by the prior analysis of the communication needs of the learner” And Robinson (1991: 3) wrote: “An ESP course is based on a needs analysis, which aims to specify as closely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English” It is obvious that these definitions reveal that any ESP course must be based on learners‟ needs

In short, ESP is in contrast with “general English” Besides, it meets specified needs of learners because its content is in a close relation with learners‟ occupations or professional activities The language in ESP is also appropriate to

these activities Moreover, it may be limited to skills to be learnt

1.2.2 Classification of ESP

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), ESP is divided into two main categories: English for Academic Purposes and English for Occupational Purposes ESP belongs to a more international movement of teaching language for specific purposes known as Language for Specific Purposes The term comprises other languages such as French or German for specific purposes and English, too

1.2.3 ESP teacher

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) believe that the teaching based on ESP differs from the English for General Purpose (EGP) in the sense that ESP has a specific methodology, which is related to the kind of interaction that occurs

between the teacher and the learner In more specific ESP classes, the teacher becomes a kind of a language consultant He or she has the knowledge of language but the expertise on the subject being discussed belongs to the learner “The teaching of ESP has generally been seen as a separate activity within English Language Teaching, and ESP research as an identifiable component of Applied Linguistics research.” (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 2) They believe that to some extent ESP has its own methodology as well as that the research not only stems from Applied Linguistics but also from many other disciplines

ESP teacher has to have personality, knowledge and experience and must be

outgoing, tactful and genuinely interested in business issues according to Ellis and Johnson (1994) For those English for Business Purposes teachers involved with company language training, an understanding in the five following areas is recommended by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998): A knowledge of the communicative functioning of English in business contexts; an understanding of the business people‟s expectations and learning strategies; an understanding of the psychology of personal and interpersonal interactions in cross-cultural settings; some knowledge of management theories and practices and first-class training skills

“It is likely that in addition to the normal functions of a classroom teacher, the ESP teacher will have to deal with needs analysis, syllabus design, materials writing or adaptation and evaluation” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1991, p.157) Nowadays there are plenty of materials available in the market to choose from, but once in a while ESP teachers are expected to produce material The Internet is a rich source of material which is under public domain such as articles from business magazines as

well as videos that can be adapted to be used in the classroom

1.2.4 ESP course and materials

a ESP course

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) argue that the advantages of ESP courses compared to EGP courses rely on the fact that there is no waste in time as courses are focused on the learners needs; they are relevant to the students; are successful in contributing to the learning process and ESP courses are more cost-effective than EGP courses The implication of these claims is that the teaching based on ESP courses is more motivating for learners than the one based on EGP courses

“Generally speaking, this is true; the focused nature of the teaching, its relevance and cost-effectiveness ensure that its aims are widely accepted by learners” (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 10) Specificity and motivation in ESP are linked in the sense that the more specific the course is, the more motivate the students get On the other hand, motivation lowers as the learning gets less specific The concept of carrier content and real content is important to better understand the motivational aspect of ESP courses

According to Tomlinson (as cited in Ahmed, 2016), „materials‟ are inclusive of anything which can be used to facilitate the teaching and learning of a language They can be linguistic, visual, auditory or kinesthetic, and they can be presented in print, through live performance or display, or on cassette, CD-ROM, DVD or the internet They can be instructional, experiential, elicitative or exploratory while informing learners about the language, providing experience of the language in use, stimulating language use or helping learners to make discovery about the language for themselves

Basturkmen (2010: 3) stated that “ESP has narrower focus of study than general English because the courses of ESP are much more based on the analysis of students‟ needs.” ESP concerned with different areas of study based on the field where the specification of English is needed Concerning the students‟ need, ESP materials have been in advance of general English materials This makes ESP materials different from general English materials Alan (1995: 132) argued that ESP materials have been developed specifically for students who were perceived to have specific needs that could not be found fully by general English materials He also stated that teaching materials for ESP tend to be viewed as distinct and separate from general materials Azza (2013) added that ESP materials must be varied so

that to attract and motivate students; they appear in most times interesting, fun and clear Sometimes, materials are appropriate for the content but sometimes they need

to be modified and creative; the teacher has to adapt or supplement in order to fit the local context

c Selection of ESP materials

Teachers should pay attention the selection of suitable ESP materials Some

teachers may use the same ESP material for different classes ignoring the variation among different classrooms Also, some of them may use the same material in all lectures In this situation, students will get bored and may hate this class That is why appropriate ESP materials selection would be important and can play a crucial role in ESP lesson planning Ellis and Johnson (1994) distinguish between two levels of materials selection The first one occurs at the beginning of the course when teachers suggest their course books and materials The second level occurs when the teacher is going to select items from the chosen course book In addition

to this, Wallace (1992) suggests the following criteria when selecting ESP materials:

 Adequacy: the selected materials should contain appropriate language and information about the course

 Motivation: They should present interesting content in order to help students

be active and work hard in order to understand better This criterion should

be respected in order to make students‟ work more effective

 Sequence: It is important to have materials that are related to the lecture There must be a relation to previous texts, activities, topics not to miss the sense of a lesson

 Diversity: The selected material should lead to a range of classroom activities, be a vehicle for teaching specific language structure and vocabulary, and promote strategies

 Acceptability: It should contain acceptable cultural customs and language ESP materials are not selected solely to transform information from teacher to learners In fact, they must be selected for educational purposes as well as for fun and motivation If the teacher does not think of this side, learners would not be satisfied and happy concerning what they are learning Thus, the teacher should

focus on what attracts his students for the learning process Wallace‟s suggestion is, therefore, helpful for teachers to choose the right material for the teaching context

1.3 Motivation

1.3.1 Definitions of motivation

Many researches on motivation have been undertaken and each researcher has different ideas in defining motivation, but all of them agree that motivation is one of the main determining factors in an individual‟s success in developing a L2

Gardner (1985) defined motivation as “Motivation in the present context refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” He considered the importance of efforts and desires to obtain the learning goal

Dörnyei (2001) considered motivation as “a general way of referring to the antecedents (i.e the causes and the origins” He also stated that “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”

Burden (1997) assumed that “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”

It can be inferred from the above definitions that motivation is a psychological process that people try to achieve their goal Motivations inspire people to “behave” in a certain way or to take a particular action Motivation can be understood as the “WHY” of people‟s behaviors

1.3.2 Motivation in learning foreign language

The relation between theories of motivation in educational psychology and in the L2 field is becoming closer through concepts of some other language researcher According to Dörnyei (1998) motivation refers to the efforts learners make to learn

a foreign language Motivation is one of the keys that influence the rate and success

of language learning Norris-Holt (2002) referring to Crookes and Schmidt (1991)

defines motivation as “ the learner‟s orientation with regard to the goal of learning

a second language” Motivation in this context can be figured out as the one relating

to attitude and vice versa with both having an influence on learning and acquisition Gardner (1985) assumed that motivation involved desire to learn a language, intensity of effort to achieve this, and attitudes toward learning the language

Motivation in foreign language learning is more broadly categorized into two types: integrative and instrumental motivation In a pioneering study, Gardner and Lambert (1972) highlighted “integrative motivation” which stresses “a sincere and personal interest in the people and culture represented by the other group” and

“instrumental motivation” which stresses “the practical value and advantages of learning a new language” Gardner‟s later socio-educational model (1982) adds three aspects of student motivation: effort (time and drive), desire (extent of language proficiency wished for) and effect (emotional reactions to language study) Integrative motivation is the desire on the part of the student to feel an affinity with the people, the society and the culture of the country whose language is learned, and

is usually referred to in the context of living in the target language community (1978) Instrumental motivation, on the other hand, concerns the practical and concrete rewards that student‟s desire (2000)

Marion Williams and Bob Burden (1997) proposed a detailed framework of

L2 motivation with the Internal and External motivational impact This skeleton

consists of nine internal factors: intrinsic interest of activity, perceived value of activity, sense of agency, mastery, self-concept, attitudes, affective states such as confidence, anxiety and fear, developmental age and gender Human factors supposed to be included in the internal factors such as parents, teachers, peers, feedback, rewards or punishments, the learning environment and the boarder context (adapted from Dörnyei, 2001)

To sum up, there have been a number of concepts and definition of motivation in L2 learning Motivation is dynamic in nature and can vary from moment to moment depending on the learning context or task However, the implications of these concepts and definitions contribute much in the process of L2 teaching and learning It is fundamental in learning in the sense that it controls the

students‟ behavior; it serves as an evidence for teachers to interpret how much students are willing to learn

1.3.3 ESP Learner and Motivation

As mentioned, motivation is one of the crucial factors that influence the success

of language learning, it plays an indispensable role in learners achievement Thus,

Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 8) asserted that “Learners were seen to have different needs and interests, which would have an important influence on their motivation to learn and therefore on the effectiveness of their learning.” In ESP

context, learners show a great interest to learning, since they are aware of their needs Besides, the ESP teaching is intended to develop language learning skills and structural knowledge of English under the promise that interest in content of the ESP language subject Also selecting appropriate teaching materials can help to

raise learner‟s motivation and keep them stimulating Learners have different needs

and interests and such matters have an impact on their motivation to learn and on the effectiveness of their learning Based on this assumption, courses whose main focus is on the learners‟ needs would be more meaningful to them due to the relevance of their content to the learners According to Hutchinson and Waters (1991), by putting together a course which focuses on the learners‟ specialist area, the content becomes more relevant to them and therefore enhances the students‟ motivation making learning more effective and faster In addition to this, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) stated that the main concerns of ESP have always been with needs analysis, text analysis, and preparing learners to communicate effectively in their tasks prescribed by their study or work situation

1.4 Demotivation

1.4.1 Definitions of demotivation

In L2 learning, motivation has been considered an important feature which promotes learners to act to achieve their goals in mastering the language The terms motivation is quite familiar and has been studied by many researchers Besides studying motivation, language researchers recently have also paid much attention to

“demotivation”

Dörnyei (2001:143) defined demotivation as “concerns 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 etc

Deci and Ryan (1985) used a similar term “amotivation”, which means “the relative absence of motivation that is not caused by a lack of initial interest but rather by the individual‟s experiencing feelings of incompetence and helplessness when faced with the activity.” Both of these terms mean lack of motivation, but a-motivation is related to general outcomes expectations which, to some extent, are unrealistic for some reason whereas de-motivation concerns specific external causes

According to Flout and Maruyama (2004), demotivation has a negative influence on students, preventing from gaining expected learning outcomes In other words, demotivation causes learners to 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

Dörnyei (2005) points out that de-motivation does not mean that all the positive influences that originally made up the motivational basis of a behavior have been got rid of It only means that a strong negative factor restrains the present motivation with some other positive motives still remain ready to be activated

Kukichi and Sakai‟s (2009) raised their opinion that the definition of

demotivation “specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action” (Dörnyei, 2001) needed to be

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

1.4.2 Overview of previous studies related to student demotivating factors

Many studies on language learning demotivation have been conducted by such authors as Dörnyei (1998, 2001), Gorham and Christophel (1992), Chambers (1993), Rebecca Oxford (1998), Sakai and Kikuchi (2007), Tran and Baldauf

(2007) These studies discussed in the following illustrate that demotivation in learning a L2 is a matter of concern worldwide Thus, it is necessary to pay much more intention to the nature of the phenomenon

According to Dörnyei (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 Dörnyei‟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)

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 took 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 an 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, including hypercriticism, belligerence, a lack of caring, and favouritism; the teacher’s attitude towards the course or the material, including lack of enthusiasm, sloppy management and close-mindedness; style conflicts between teachers and students, including multiple style conflicts,

conflicts about the amount of structure or detail, and conflicts about the degree of

closure or „seriousness‟ of the class; the nature of the classroom activities, including overload, repetitiveness, and irrelevance 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‟ demotivation to various reasons including psychological, attitudinal, social, historical and even geographical reasons with realizing the potential demotivating roles of them

Also, Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) conducted a research on demotivation from students studying in upper secondary school, Japan The researchers found out five

factors that demotivate students such as learning content and materials, inadequate school facilities, test scores, lack of intrinsic motivation, teacher’s competence and teaching styles In contrast to the previous studies, factors related to teacher were

not found to have very strong demotivating influence compared to learning contents and materials or test scores that are the prominent demotivating factors among participants

In Vietnam, Trang and Baldauf (2007) aimed to investigate demotivating factors among 100 university students in learning English 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 external 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

1.4.3 Demotivating factors in foreign language teaching and learning

Based on the overview of previous studies, demotivating factors can be

mainly classified into internal factors which related to students such as aptitude, attitude, interest, personality and external factors which focus on figures related to

teachers, teaching and learning conditions

* Aptitude

Language aptitude has been suggested as “one of the central individual differences in language learning.” (Skehan, 1989, pp 25, 38 as cited by Harley & Hart, p.379) It has also been declared to be the most consistent predictor of one‟s success in learning a foreign language (Skehan, 1989 as cited by Harley & Hart, p

379 and Dörnyei, p 61, 2005) Due to the conceptual issues involved, the matter of differentiating among ability, aptitude, and intelligence must be considered Aptitude is commonly used in reference to a specific area of performance, intelligence carries a broader meaning; it is not specific to a discipline, but rather entails all areas of learning

* Attitude

Attitude towards a particular language can be deduced from the respondents‟ patterns of language choice and use as well as their intention of using the language

in different domains of use The concept attitude is described by Kayagil (2011: 01)

as “the intensity of positive or negative effect towards psychological object” Gardner (1985) viewed attitude as component of motivation in language learning Accordingly, Gardner (1985: 1) states that “motivation refers to the combination

of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable attitudes towards learning the language”

Breer and Loccke (1967, cited in Smith 1971) defined that an attitude is a relatively enduring organization of beliefs around an object or a situation, predisposing one to respond in some preferential manner An attitude is relatively

enduring because it is learned, it can be unlearned Because it is learned, it can be taught

In addition, motivation of learning a language is affected by its negative or positive attitude Spolsky (1989: 149) showed a complete agreement with Gardner‟s view when he stated that “attitudes do not have direct influence on learning but lead

to motivation which does” What is made clear by Brown (2001: 81) is “That is to say, the positive attitude increases the degree of motivation in learning a foreign language, whereas, the negative attitude decreases the level of motivation”

In the same line of thought, in the field of English language learning, Kaharan (2007: 84) believes that “positive language attitudes let learner have positive orientation towards learning English.” Thus, English language learning is closely related to the attitude towards the language

* Interest

According to Woolfolk and Margetts (2013), there are two kinds of interest: personal or individual interest and situational interest He considers the individual interest of the student as “students with individual interests in learning in general seek new information and have more positive attitudes towards schooling.” Woolfolk and Margetts (2013: 384) Whereas, situational interests are defined as

“short-lived aspects of the activity, text, material that catch and keep the student intention” (Ibid) Therefore, the student‟s interest on the task or activity can affect his/her motivation to learn, and his/her interest was identified as one of the important motivational constructs that influences students‟ engagement and achievement in learning

* Personality

Lightbown & Spada (1999) discussed a number of personality characteristics such as extroversion, inhibition, self-esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness, responsiveness Although several studies on personality and second language learning have been carried out with different and contradictory results, many researchers believe that personality factors are important predictors of success in second language learning “This relationship is a complex one, however, in that it is probably not personality alone, but the way in which it combines with other factors, that contributes to second language learning” (Lightbown & Spada, 1999: 56)

* Teacher responsibility

The major motivational factor in language learning is the teacher; in fact, the teacher remains the best model for motivation Thus, the way of teaching and teacher attitude and motivation will affect learners‟ motivation Ames (1990: 421) asserts that “Effective schools and effective teachers are those who develop goals, beliefs, and attitudes in students that will sustain a long-term involvement and that will contribute to quality involvement in learning” Therefore, it is important for the teacher to be mindful of the fact that how he/she structures the course and the teaching methodologies he/she uses can greatly affect his/her students‟ motivation

to learn

* Teaching and learning environment

Teaching and learning processes are shaped by their physical, social and organizational environment, and the design of learning environments is, in turn, influenced by the processes that take place within them Therefore, learning environment is the complete physical, social and pedagogical context in which learning is intended to occur

In a learning environment developing motivation is a difficult task for the teacher considering that every student learns differently and every student is diverse

in their own ways But students expect the teacher to guide and encourage them in a constructive manner (Shadlyn, 2004)

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Introduction

In the preceding chapter, the literature on the research topic was briefly reviewed for the theoretical basis of the whole study Turning to the practical side, a survey research design was employed in this study with strict adherence to justified methods of data collection and analysis in order to maximize its validity and reliability This claim would be substantiated in this chapter as research setting; the subjects, the instruments as well as the procedure of data collection and analysis are discussed in detail

2.2 Research setting

2.2.1 Description of the ESP course and its objectives at NICOL

The study was conducted with non-English-major students at NICOL, where English is taught as a non-major subject Students learn ESP in the second year, after 2 Basic English courses The textbook used during the basic English course is New English File (Elementary) by Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive Oxenden, and Paul Seligson By using this textbook, teachers hoped to improve students‟ communicative competence by providing the real things from daily topic conversations Students are asked to work individually, in pairs, in groups to practice English in situational contexts It also means that when entering ESP course students have already been revised basic knowledge of English such as vocabulary and basic grammar and communicative skills The materials used during ESP course are English for Electrical Engineering (14 lessons), English for Mechanical Engineering (14 lessons), English for Garment Engineering and Fashion (7 lessons), English for Accounting (7 lessons) and English for Informatics (14 lessons) compiled by teachers of English in Basic Faculty, NICOL These course books are redesigned basing mainly on the textbooks: Oxford English for Electrical and Mechanical Engineering by Eric H Glendinning, Norman Glendinning; English for Fashion Industry - Express Series by Mary E Ward,

English for Accounting - Express Series Evan Frendo and Sean Mahoney and English for Computer Users (Cambridge Professional English - fourth edition) The total number of teaching periods is 30 including 2 class hours for mid-term test Students have one lecture each week equivalent to two in-class periods Therefore, with the limitation of class teaching, it requires students 60 hours for self - study and preparing new lessons These textbooks aim at providing students with a great deal of technical terms and developing students‟ reading comprehension and translation The exercises following each text are often reading comprehension and grammar exercises The assessment of the course is a written test

2.2.2 Description of the students at NICOL

The students at NICOL come from different parts of the country, but mostly from the Northern provinces of Vietnam Most of them studied English at high school; however, they were not good at English When they took the entrance exam

to this college, they just took the test in math, physics and chemistry; therefore, they only paid attention to these subjects to pass the exam English was considered to be unimportant; they did not study it thoroughly Their English level varied Moreover, the students are quite passive in learning They have a tendency of depending on the textbooks and the teachers for knowledge, and do not have the habit of self-study They tend to prefer written work, which may be resulted from their learning habits

In general, the students‟ level of English proficiency is still very low as compared to the requirements of the syllabus

2.2.3 Description of English teachers at NICOL

As in every college, English is taught here as a compulsory subject by 5 female teachers aged from 33 to 55 Two of them graduated from the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, VNU University of Languages and International Studies; three others were from Hanoi University, Quy Nhon University, and Hue University of Education and one is taking an MA course Two

of them have been teaching English for more than 20 years, 3 of them from 8 to 12 years Some of them have had opportunities to attend the provincial textbook introduction workshops or training programs to get the ideas about the textbook and new teaching methodology Teachers who are responsible for ESP course often

have at least 2 years‟ experience and they have to be trained a lot about ESP before teaching this course by older and more experienced ones However, they do not have chances to contact with native speakers or specialists who can give them precious help and advice

2.2.4 Description of teaching facilities at NICOL

Recognizing the importance of teaching facilities in the process of training students, especially in teaching English, most classes at NICOL are equipped with projectors The teachers are supplied with speakers and laptops to make use of

modern technology and equipment in teaching Moreover, the library with

computers connected to the internet, some sorts of materials for reference like English books, magazines, newspapers in all training fields However, most of these

materials are in Vietnamese, not in English ESP books are hardly found there 2.2.5 Description of testing and assessment at NICOL

It would be impossible to ignore the role of testing and assessment in teaching and learning At NICOL, ESP students will be assessed with a mid-term test and a final examination These two tests help teachers classify their students‟ proficiency Through the mid-term test, they can adjust their teaching so the ESP test scores in the final examination can be improved

2.3 Subjects

This study was conducted with the participation 155 second year students coming from 5 classes of which 35 students majored in Mechanical Engineering, 50 students specialized in Electrical Engineering and 70 students are from class Garment Engineering 1 and Garment Engineering 2 At the time the study was being carried out, these students had recently finished their ESP course For the accuracy‟s sake, there are no students from Accounting Faculty and Informatics Faculty participating in this study due to the number of students in these faculties are small, only 11 and 10 students respectively In addition, 3 female teachers who have at least 2 years experienced in teaching English for Electrical Engineering, English for Mechanical Engineering, English for Garment Engineering and Fashion are involved in this study

2.4 Research types

The collected information from a survey questionnaire and interview was first read carefully and then analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively The data from the questionnaires were displayed in the tables and charts and the information from the interviews was presented in notes and quotations

2.5 Data collection instruments

The data was collected by means of questionnaires and interviews in three faculties (Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Electrical Engineering Faculty and

Garment Engineering and Fashion Faculty) at NICOL

2.5.1 Questionnaire for students

Questionnaire is one of the most efficient research instruments to collect information as much as possible Moreover, questionnaire is considered to be a good deal of precision and clarity and is beneficial for categorizing than other types

of research instrument This survey questionnaire (Appendices 1 and 2) consists of

41 questions, including 40 five-point Likert type questions that was constructed based on demotivating factors used by Sakai and Kikuchi (2009), Trang Tran., &

Balduf Jr (2007) The questions are categorized into 2 groups as content: internal

factors (statements 1 to 11) and external factors in which external factors are

classified into sub-groups such as: teachers' competence and teaching styles (statements 12 to 24), teacher-student rapport (statements 25 to 28), learning contents and materials (statements 29 to 34), teaching and learning environment (statements 35, 38), test score and examination (statements 39, 40) The answers are

ranged from Strongly Disagree/ Disagree/ Undecided/Agree/ Strongly Agree The

data was collected in participants' first language The only one open-ended question was employed as well to seek for participants‟ own opinions

Among various factors that demotivate students in learning ESP mentioned

in the survey questionnaire, the author would like to find out the most dominant

factors: internal or external ones These demovitating factors caused by students

themselves or it belonged to the responsibility of the teachers or other contextual factors

2.5.2 Interviews for students and teachers

Similar to the survey questionnaire, interviews were designed for both teachers and students The questions in each schedule were in both English and Vietnamese in order to avoid misunderstanding and difficulty in expressing opinions or communication breakdown There are 3 main questions in the interview for students (Appendix 3&4) and 4 main questions are used to interview the teachers (Appendix 5) to deepen their opinions about ESP demotivating aspects, and to obtain their recommended solutions to reduce these factors Some content of the interview is recorded and transcribed into texts and quoted for data analysis The information from the interviews is analyzed as qualitative data and helped to clarify some matters in the questionnaire

2.6 Data collection procedures

The data collection went through two major steps in chronological order: delivering questionnaires and interviewing

2.6.1 Questionnaires

Questionnaires were directly distributed to participants A brief introduction

of the purpose, the nature of the research topic as well as the purpose of the questionnaire and the great role of the respondents and instructions on what to do were given The students were given careful explanation and instructions to each question and encouraged to answer truly and frankly Also, the respondents‟ confidentiality was confirmed Notably, all delivered questionnaires were returned

on important points throughout the interviews, which helped with the interview transcription later on

2.7 Data analysis method

The data collected were firstly classified into different categories, such as

students‟ internal demotivation factors and external demotivation factors in ESP

class and solutions to motivate students Based on categories established, data were then analyzed by using descriptive statistics (percentage) Moreover, typical quotations from the interviews, the answers to open-ended questions in the questionnaires were cited when necessary Interpretation and conclusions were drawn after analyzing the data

2.8 Summary

This chapter provides the information on the setting, the subjects of the study and the data collection instrument and data analysis method In the next chapter, an effort will be made to find out the factors demotivating students in learning ESP

based on the data collected through survey questionnaire and interviews

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 Introduction

This part of the thesis is the analysis of all the data collected from survey questionnaires and interviews in order to discover the factors that discourage students to participate in the ESP lessons and find out strategies and techniques to assist students at NICOL to overcome demotivation The responses for “agree and strongly agree” were considered as positive responses in identifying the most demotivating factors and determining their ranks

3.2 Data analysis and discussion of students’ survey questionnaire and interview

3.2.1 Students’ personal information

Information Number and percentage of students

Table 1: Students' profiles (Total number of students: 155)

As shown in Table 1, the total number of the students in the study was 155 students of which 127 students were aged from 19 to 20 and 28 were aged from 20

to 24 The age of students is relatively equal; there is no gap in age between them All of them had been learning English for at least 7 years or even more than 7 years

70 female students come from Garment Engineering and Fashion Faculty and there were 85 male students are students of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Faculty It can be seen that there are no significant differences in the number of male and female students

3.2.2 Students-related demotivating factors

1

My English ability is not

good enough to handle ESP

I get lost in how to self-study

for ESP lessons 16.13% 15.48% 16.77% 30.97% 20.65%

I was not confident in ESP

classes and often felt left

I don‟t think ESP is

necessary for my future

career

16.13% 17.42% 9.68% 21.29% 35.48%

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

Table 2: Student- related demotivating factors

SD&DUSA&A

Chart 1: Student-related demotivating factors

As can be seen from Table 2, the participants‟ response showed that their poor English ability, item 1 (63.87%) was the most demotivating factor in student-related demotivating factors Furthermore, lack of professional background was found to be the second demotivating factor, which was item 8 (58.07%) The third demotivating item (56.77%) was related to learners‟ perception about the importance of ESP to their future job It can be drawn from the data above that low English proficiency strongly demotivated students in learning ESP It seemed that students had low word bank, bad grammar translation, and poor reading comprehension In addition, students are still not equipped with professional knowledge and they do not realize the role of ESP to their future work Therefore, they regularly reduced their intrinsic motivation in learning ESP

A similar picture was revealed in the interview with students The following

quote gives much insight into how English ability can demotivate learners: “I think

my general English is not good enough to study ESP, in fact I really want to study general English as well ESP, I tried to revise the lesson at home but I found I got lost in how to self-study for ESP lessons This makes me feel demotivated”

Some others‟ explanation is related to their background knowledge, lies

within the learners themselves which ranks the second: “I feel demotivated in learning ESP because I find it was difficult to pronounce words, its spelling was also strange to me Moreover, I was unfamiliar to ESP terms both Vietnamese and

in English I think I will understand the nature of the terms when I take more courses related to my major I wish I learnt ESP at the final academic year.”

The students also said: “I think I’d better focus on my major first I do not need to study ESP now It is unnecessary in getting a job General English is more important than ESP If I were good at General English, I could find a job easily ESP can be learnt later if my future job requires.”

Another factor, 54.20% of the students agree that they are not interested in ESP lesson because they have difficulty in memorizing words and phrases of words including pronunciation, spelling and grammar structures Most of them (52.26%) find ESP is a compulsory subject, 50.97% of them have no demand to study it As a result, only 48.39% of them have set a goal in taking ESP course They were not confident in ESP classes, often felt left behind their classmates and become demotivated when they cannot answer teacher‟s questions (50.32%) When being asked for further information in the interview, most of the students claim that:

"I dislike the ESP lesson when I find myself unable to speak out some sentences or express myself correctly in front of my friends and my face will be lost

if I am asked to answer any question concerning the ESP lesson."

"I feel embarrassed and demotivated when I usually find myself unable to follow or understand texts and fail to answer the teacher’s questions.”

3.2.3 Teachers' competence and teaching styles demotivating factors

Teachers give too much

homework and very little

in-class work

16.15% 17.39% 8.70% 27.95% 29.81%

16 Teacher‟s teaching style is

boring 10.32% 27.10% 11.61% 20.65% 30.32%