An investigation into high school students motivation to learn english

Aims and objectives of the study The research was conducted with the aim of investigating the students’ motivation to learn English, what type of motivation that dominates and factors s

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN XUÂN THÀNH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’

MOTIVATION TO LEARN ENGLISH

Major: Theory and methodology of English language teaching

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page TABLE OF CONTENTS……… ii

ABTRACT ……….… ……… iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.1 Rationale ……… ………… 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study……… 1

1.3 Significance of study……… 2

1.4 Research questions ……… 2

1.5 Scope of the study ……… 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 4

2.1 Definition of motivation in language learning……… 4

2.2 Types of motivation……… 7

2.3 The role of motivation in language learning……… 11

2.4 Factors affecting students’ motivation……… 12

2.4.1 Personality variables ……… 12

2 4.2 Attitudes of learners……… 14

2.4.3 Learning styles……… 15

2.4.4 Teacher as a motivating factor……… 16

2.4.5 Teacher teaching methodology as a motivating factor……… 19

2.4.6 The Text……… …… 22

2.4.7 The Task……… 23

2.4.8 The Test……… 25

2.5 Teachers’ role in motivating the students……… 27

2.6 Previous studies on language students’ motivation……… 29

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ……… 36

3.1 Design of Research Methods ……… 36

3.2 Participants ……… 36

3.3 Research instrument ……… 36

3.3.1 The questionnaire……… 37

3.3.2.The interview……… 39

3.4 Data collection ……… 39

3.5 Data analysis……… 39

3.6 Procedures ……… 41

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DICUSSIONS ……… ……… 43

4.1 Findings from questionnaire and data analysis……… 43

4.2 Findings from interview and data analysis……… 53

4.2.1 Motivating factors……… 54

4.3 Discussion of the questionnaire and interview findings ……… 60

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ……… 60

5.1 Conclusions……… …… 66

5.2 Pedagogical implications ……… …… 67

5.2.1 For teachers……… …… 69

5.2.2 For students……… 71

5.2.3 For facilities, teaching and learning equipment ……… 72

5.3 Recommendation……… 72

5.4 Limitations……… …… 73

REFERENCES……… 75

APPENDICES……… 82

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Motivation is perhaps the single most important factor affecting the outcome of second language learning Indeed, Dörnyei (2001, p 5) contends that when second language learners have sufficient motivation, most of them can acquire a working knowledge of the language He further maintains that second language learners’ ultimate success or failure is determined by their sustained ‘enthusiasm, commitment and persistence’ in the long and drawn out process of language learning While there have been a large number of studies on student motivation, little has been researched regarding the motivation to learn English in a rural high school in Vietnam This is the rationale for conducting this study, which is aimed at gaining information about students’ motivation at Tinh Gia 2 High School The understanding gained could have positive implications for current teaching and learning practices, based on the adopted motivational theory Furthermore, students’ motivation to learn English may be enhanced, thus enabling them to better integrate into their new learning environment, eventually improve their careers, and ultimately contribute more to society

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The research was conducted with the aim of investigating the students’ motivation to learn English, what type of motivation that dominates and factors shaping their motivation in language learning The findings of this research would make an attempt

to raise awareness of teachers of the importance of motivation towards students’

success in learning English and find suggestions for motivating students in English classes

Therefore, the study is designed to achieve the following objectives:

 To find out the students’ motivational orientations in learning English as

as its impact on English teaching and learning process with a view of applying them to teach efficiently My further desire is that this study’s outcome will make small contribution towards boosting the efficiency of English teaching and learning, which will be helpful for the researchers as well as counterparts in teaching job in the future

4 Research questions

In order to fulfill the purpose mentioned above, this study was designed and conducted

to seek answers to the following questions:

1 How motivated are the students in learning English?

2 What are their motivational orientations?

3 What factors shape their motivational orientations?

5 Scope of the study

Motivation in second language learning achievement has been a heated issue attracting attention of researchers However, unlike other researches, this study only focuses on exploiting and analyzing the kind of dominant motivation and factors shape students’ motivation at Tinh Gia 2 High School in Thanh Hoa Due to time limit, to implement the study, 100 students of three graders at Tinh Gia 2 High School were chosen randomly in order to fill out questionnaire Then, 20 students were invited to interview for in-depth and valuable information

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Motivation in learning English as a second or foreign language is not a new topic In

fact, it has been investigated by many scholars and researchers However, because motivation is, as reported by scholars and researchers, dynamic and context-specific, the researcher of this study did not have adequate information about the motivation in learning English of the students at Tinh Gia 2 High School This chapter reviews the relevant literature in order to develop a conceptual framework for the study

2.1 Definition of motivation in language learning

Motivation in language learning is defined differently from different theoretical perspectives According to Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary - 7th edition (2005), motivation is “that which moves or induces a person to act in a certain way; a desire, fear, reason, etc which influences a person’s volition: also often applied to a result or object which is desired.” To think of motivation as belonging only to the initial stages

of an action, - that is as concerned with arousing initial interest and turning it into a decision to engage in some activity - is only a limited understanding of the term The need to maintain this state of arousal, to determine someone to make the necessary effort to complete an action is also of great importance This idea is reflected in the definition given by Williams and Burden (1997, p 120) who see motivation as “a state

of cognitive and emotional arousal, a state which leads to a conscious decision to act and gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort” Thus intellect and affect combine with volition and perseverance to result in what is known as motivated behavior The same idea is conveyed in different words by Gardner (1985), who seems to explain the term with the precision of mathematical demonstration: motivation is a combination of effort plus desire to achieve a goal plus favorable

attitudes towards the goal to be accomplished ( p.11) Thus the simple existence of desire, strong reasons for doing something or favorable attitudes towards a particular thing or action do not reflect motivation in and of themselves The same R.C Gardner gives the example of individuals who may have a strong desire to do something or may enjoy an activity and who can not be considered to be motivated, since their intentions are not linked with a striving to accomplish that particular thing Similarly, a person can put a great deal of effort toward a goal without being necessarily motivated: the decision to accomplish something may be triggered by different causes, both internal – such as interest, curiosity, or even a general desire to achieve – and external ones such

as another person, social pressure, material rewards, etc

Since the emergence of conception of motivation, it has grabbed special attention of a lot of researchers, experts on this field The major reason is that motivation plays an indispensable part in English learning success Until now, there have been some various theories of motivation Geen (1982) confirmed that motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of human behavior Apparently, motivation is the desire, determination and willingness to do something According to Little Wood (1984) “Motivation is the crucial force which determine if a learner motivation centers on the task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, how long he preserves” However, there are opposing views of theories of motivation Dornyei (2001) confirmed “There are over 20 internationally recognized theories of motivation with many opposing point of views” Kong (2009) has contrasting opinion of concept

of motivation He believed that motivation is something like the engine and steering wheel of automobile that can move students from boredom to interest This means that motivation is inner power that pushes students forward, encourages them to study harder Cook (1996) stated the conception of motivation for teachers “The meaning of

motivation for the teacher is probably the interest that something generates in students such as participant exercises, or particular songs make students involve in class”

Harmer (1991, p.3) explains the meaning of motivation as the “internal drive” that pushes somebody to do something If we think that our goal is worth doing and attractive for us, then we try to reach that goal; this is called “the action driven by motivation”

Lightbown and Spada (1999, p 56) note that motivation in second language learning is quite complicate to study which can be explained in terms of two factors: learner’s communicative needs and their attitudes toward the second language community

In addition, Parsons, Hinson and Brown (2001, p 28) define motivation as an important component or factor in the learning process Learning and motivation have the same importance in order to achieve something Learning makes us gain new knowledge and skills and motivation pushes us or encourage us to go through the learning process

Gardner (1982), in his socio-educational model, notes that motivation is perceived to

be composed of three elements These are effort, desire and affect Effort refers to the time spent studying the language and the drive of the learner Desire indicates how much the learner wants to become proficient in the language, and affect means the learner’s emotional reactions related to language study

Aree Punmanee (1991) views motivation as the process aroused by stimulus to achieve desired purposes, behaviors or conditions Motivation is the continuous process based

on a person’s desire

Ausubel (1968) pointed out six desires or needs of human organism which underguide the structure of motivation; the need for exploration; for seeing the other side of mountain, for probing the unknown things; the need for activity, both physical and mental; the need for stimulation, the need to be stimulated by the environment, by the other people, or by thought and feelings; the need for knowledge, the need to process and internalize the result of exploration, manipulation, activity and stimulation, to resolve contradictions, to question for solutions to problems, and for self-consistent systems of knowledge; finally, the need for ego enhancement for the self to be known and to be accepted and approved of by others Motivation needs a lot of time It has been seen that “ Motivation make all students desire to learn” Briefly speaking, it isn’t easy to find out the perfect definition for motivation

Basing on Gardner’s definition, this study was conducted to identify the students’ motivation to learn English in a rural high school in Thanh Hoa Gardner (1982), in his socio-educational model, notes that motivation is perceived to be composed of three elements These are effort, desire and affect This definition is an adequate rationale for conducting this study, which is aimed at gaining information about students’ motivation

2.2 Types of motivation

Motivation has been classified into integrative motivation vs instrumental motivation; intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation in the literature These types of motivation are reviewed below

1 Integrative motivation, defined as the desire to be a part of recognized or important

members of the community or that society that speak the second language It is based

on interest in learning the second language because of their need to learn about, associate or socialize with the people who use it or because of purpose or intention to participate or integrate in the second language using the same language in that community; but sometimes it involves emotion or affective factors a great deal (Saville-Troike, 2006, p 86) This type of motivation is defined as desire to identify with and integrate with the target language culture (Ur, 1996, p 276)

2 Instrumental motivation involves the concepts of purely practical value in learning

the second language in order to increase learners’ careers or business opportunities, giving them more prestige and power, accessing scientific and technical information, or just passing a course of their study in school (Saville-Troike, 2006, p 86)

Another classification of motivation distinguishes extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation

1.Extrinsic motivation refers to a desire to get a reward and avoid punishment It

emphasizes external need to persuade the learner to take part in learning activity (Arnold, 2000, p 14), such as homework, grade, or doing something to please teachers Both integrative and instrumental motivations are also grouped under the branch of the extrinsic motivation (Harmer, 1991, p 4)

As extrinsic motivation is based on external outcomes such as rewards and punishment

This motivation could bring a negative impact to the students, because with extrinsic motivation, students do not learn with their strong intention or will but they study it because they are pushed by the interest in the rewards or the punishment When a student is learning because he is promised rewards or because he wants the rewards, he

will be highly motivated to come to classes and learn and achieve the goal that is set for him But when these rewards are taken away, or sometimes even if they do not see any punishment, the student will not be interested in coming to class and learn the language any longer

2 Intrinsic motivation refers to learning itself having its own reward (Arnold, 2000, p

14) It means the learners are willingly and voluntarily (not compulsorily) try to learn what they think it is worth or important for them When students have intrinsic motivation, they have the internal desire to learn and they do not have the need for external outcomes There are no negative impacts in having intrinsic motivation In addition, intrinsic motivation pushes the student to learn without rewards, because the need is innate or come from inside or depends on their own will Lightbown and Spada (1999, p 56-57) mentioned that teachers do not have many effects on students’ intrinsic motivation since the students are from different backgrounds and the only way

to motivate students is by making the classroom a supportive environment

With regard to types of motivation, Gardner and Lambert (1972, cited in Cook, 1996) identified two types of motivation including integrative, instrumental motivation Instrumental motivation refers to motivation which acquires language as means for attaining instrumental goals: passing in the examination, getting place in the university, furthering a career ( Garner, 1985)

Besides, an additional division is to classify motivation into extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, Ur (1996) adds that the intrinsic learners are linked to the image of the ones who learn English for their own sake, whereas the extrinsic learners have a motivation that is deprived from external factors As English is taught as a curriculum

subject in the researched school, this study uses the instrument-integrativeness categorization of motivation

In order to summarize briefly the ideas presented so far, we could define it in terms of two factors: learners’ communicative needs and their social and educational attitudes

An extension of the first part of the definition would take into consideration the types

of motivation as identified by researchers at different moments in time (Gardner, 1985; Lightbown & Spada, 1993; Wright, 1987; Spolsky, 1989) They all have come to draw

a distinction between two types of motivation: when the only reason for learning a foreign language is to gain something outside the activity itself, such as passing an exam, obtaining financial rewards, getting a job or pleasing another person(s), the motivation is likely to be extrinsic/instrumental As the terms themselves indicate, it is caused by a combination of external factors and used as a means or instrument to obtain something When its purpose is to enable one to communicate with the members

of a specific language community, then motivation is considered to be intrinsic or integrative In order to offer a clear image of the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy, Spolsky (1989, p.124) borrows Harter’s model (1982) and represents it in the following way: Intrinsic Preference for challenge, Curiosity/interest, Independent mastery, Independent judgment, Internal criteria for success Versus Extrinsic Preference for easy work, Pleasing a teacher/getting grades, Dependence on teacher in figuring out problems, Reliance on teacher’s judgment about what to do, External criteria for success Following this model, it comes out clearly that the greater the value the individuals attach to the accomplishment of an activity, the more highly motivated they will be to engage in it and later to put sustained effort until they achieve their goal This distinction also tells us that both internal and external factors have an important role to play in motivating learners

(Harmer, 1991, p 3) uses the word ‘goal’ to categorize the motivation in second language learning into two types :

1 Short-term goal means when students wish to succeed in doing something in the

near future, for example, students who want to pass their examination or to get good grade or high scores

2 Long-term goal refers to a wish of students or learners who want to get a better job

in the future or to be able to communicate with people who use the language that they study or the target language

This classification is similar to the dichotomies that have presented above

2.3 The role of motivation in language learning

So far, many researchers proved and clarified the importance of motivation in teaching and learning process especially language teaching and learning process Most of them come to the conclusion that motivation is an indispensable factor in successful learning English Concerning this role of motivation, Brown (2000) proved that “ It is easy to measure that success in the task is due simply to the fact that someone is “ motivated”

It is easy in second language to claim that a learner will be success with the proper motivation” Sharing with common point of view, some researchers such as Brophy (1998) have put forward the ideas that students learn best when being motivated When students are motivated, they will set proper goal, invest effort, persist in goal by studying hard, attending activities enthusiastically and achieve the goal Furthermore, Cook (1996) also emphasized that some learners do better than others because they are better motivation It is clear that students who don’t have proper learning motivation will find it difficult to attend the class, take part in activities in English classes Truer (

2002) also added that apart from English knowledge, intelligence, skill, students need

to identify proper and positive motivation Students are often motivated for ample reasons, but in many cases, the motivation leads to effective English learning To conclude, it is proved that motivation take a paramount important part in determining the success or failure in English learning Moreover, learner’s motivation makes an utmost significant contribution towards facilitating the English teaching and learning Therefore, teachers need to concern about students’ motivation in English teaching process This means that apart from teaching job, teachers need to spend time understanding more about students’ motivation as well as helping them identify the proper learning motivation by coming up with interesting, original activities in English classes, creating active, lively class atmosphere

2.4 Factors affecting students’ motivation

2.4.1 Personality variables

In general, many people see an association between personality attributes and the successful acquisition of a second language While successful students may display different types of characteristics (they may be extrovert, self-confident, active, passive, independent as well as introvert or shy), unsuccessful students are more frequently described as demonstrating a lack of self-confidence and being shy, afraid to express their opinions and nervous Whatever their form of behavior, students who try to adopt

a more flexible attitude towards the learning of a foreign language seem to have greater chances of success than those whose affective filter is constantly up Referring to the problem of motivation, W Rivers (1964) has observed that personal motifs such as fear

or anxiety may combine with learned social motifs such as a desire for status in a group and for social approval, creating a series of reactions that may inhibit or work towards

progress in a foreign language Up to a point, an anxious learner may try hard to catch

up with the group and acquire proficiency in a language A friendly/supportive environment may be decisive in such a situation But the judgment of classmates can also be harmful, destroying the self-belief in one’s ability to succeed Combined with a generalized fear of negative evaluation, it may inhibit or distract the learner from the task of attending and remembering new items Williams and Burden (1997, p.100) also speak of a state called “learned helplessness” referring to people who feel that they had

no control over their actions and see intelligence as something unchangeable and failure as essentially due to a lack of ability In conclusion, learners’ inhibition may be the result of both internal and external factors, and being related to the ability or inability to find solutions to problems in the past

Another important component influencing motivation to learn is the individual learners’ feelings of competence and self-efficacy Displaying no signs of inhibition, they are usually eager to take risks, are not afraid of making language mistakes and ready to adopt some of the identity characteristics of another cultural group Their affective filter is low and they can grasp much of the comprehensible input they are faced with Such people often referred to as “mastery oriented” tend to understand failure in terms of lack of effort and seek to improve their subsequent performance Obviously, there might be other categories of learners between these two extremes such as those who hide their shyness behind a face of openness and willingness to take risks or people who avoid situations in which failure would signify low ability, trying

to look smarter by all means But in those situations we can speak of the appearance of motivation, rather than the reality of it Given the diversity of personality types, some researchers have tried to find connections between them and receptivity to different aspects of language learning In a book dedicated to the way in which languages are learned, Lightbown & Spada (1993, p.36) do not exclude the possibility of motivation

to be more related to particular aspects of language proficiency than others They base their suppositions on several studies among which a language proficiency test in which highly motivated students were found to be more successful in the part of the test which measured oral communication skills but not more successful than others in the part assessing grammatical knowledge Though, motivated students may have a better self image and more confidence than non-motivated ones, and such characteristics might make them feel more at ease when interacting with others, the fact that the two things occurred at the same time do not necessarily mean that one caused the other Even if cases when students preferred oral practice to written assignments or work on grammatical structure do exist, they cannot make us jump at the conclusion that motivated students will draw a line between different aspects of a language, accepting some and rejecting others

2 4.2 Attitudes of learners

In general, most people seem to agree that attitudes and motivation are closely related

to success in language learning This explains perhaps why some people have a much easier time of learning languages than others; in the same classroom setting, some students progress rapidly, while others just struggle along and never achieve command

of a second language Krashen has drawn attention to the fact that variables in second language acquisition derive both from the amount of comprehensible input the acquirer receives and understands and from the strength of the affective filter When the only reason for learning a second language is external pressure, internal motivation may be minimal and attitudes towards learning are likely to be negated On the other hand, if students have favorable attitudes towards the foreign language and its speakers, towards the teacher and the course, they will probably be more attentive in the class, would take assessments more seriously and, willing to achieve more, would look for

situations when they can obtain further practice in the foreign language Some critics (Gardner, 1985) make a distinction between different types of attitudes according to factors in the environment or subject characteristics such as age or sex Thus we can speak of attitudes revolving around the educational aspects of second language acquisition (educational attitudes) and of social attitudes, focusing on cultural implications of second language acquisition Sex differences are also thought to influence attitudes and motivation: experience indicates that girls tend to demonstrate significantly more positive attitudes towards learning languages than boys, a good example in this respect being the overwhelming majority in the faculties of philology and foreign languages Though many researchers (Spolsky, 1989; Williams and Burden, 1997) do not believe in an absolute biological basis for learning, there are cases when differences of age may have an important influence upon the process of foreign language learning The notion that young children pick up foreign languages more easily than older learners is clearly challenged by the evidence of areas in which the latter do better However, the adults’ emphatic capacity and openness to get involved in “real communication”, their ego permeability may be lower especially because of external causes

2.4.3 Learning styles

Closely related to the problem of students’ attitudes towards the language course is the problem of their different learning styles Researchers and foreign language teachers have gradually become conscious that individual students have preferred modalities of learning Consequently, when learners are given some freedom to choose one way of learning or another, they might do better than those who find themselves forced to learn in environments where a learning style, which does not suit them, is imposed as the only way to learn One of the views put forward by the initiators of humanistic

approaches to learning was that teachers should be allowed to adapt their programmes with due attention to the objectives of their students and the needs of the area where they are teaching Though, this might not always be easy, a concern for the students’ learning styles might be of great help in motivating them to learn The existence of power relationships between languages is one of the reasons why people have favorable or unfavorable attitudes towards learning a particular language Subjects, who select instrumental reasons over integrative ones, often take into consideration the economic and practical advantages of learning a foreign language A good example in this respect is the present situation in Romanian schools where learners and the parents, faced with the opportunity of choosing between English and French, generally choose the former as it has become a kind of lingua franca, placing those who are able to use it

in a more favorable position then those who are proficient in French In the same way, members of a minority group may have different attitudes and motivation when learning the language of a majority group than those of a majority group members learning a minority language Here, the case of immigrants is perhaps the most relevant

2.4.4 Teacher as a motivating factor

The teachers as the most powerful variable of motivation and demotivation, can

become a major part in demotivating the learners

The teacher plays an important role in ensuring that students are motivated and continue to be committed in their learning throughout the tenure of their studies Almost everything about the teacher, including his or her personal characteristics, can have an influence on student motivation Many studies on good language teachers have identified general teacher characteristics deemed to be desirable and which tend to generate positive appraisals of second language learning in the classroom The

following characteristics are often cited as being associated with good teachers (Borg, 2006; Brophy, 1998; Dörnyei , 2001; Miller, 2012, Renandya, 2013, 2014b)

a Good teachers are enthusiastic Enthusiastic teachers love their subject matter, and

teach it with great passion Their enthusiasm is infectious and acts as an open invitation for the students to enjoy learning the subject matter as much as the teachers enjoy teaching it

b Good teachers are warm and friendly Students appreciate having teachers who are

friendly and approachable, those who they can talk to not only about school work, but also about other things related to their personal and social lives

c Good teachers are caring Students remember their teachers who are caring and show

sincere concern of their learning and also their general well-being Students also feel safe, knowing that the teachers are there to help them when they encounter learning problems

d Good teachers are encouraging and patient Students enjoy having teachers who are

encouraging and does not show any sign of unhappiness when students make the same mistakes frequently, and who are always available to provide extra help even after normal school hours

e Good teachers are humorous Humorous teachers can make a dry subject interesting

They use humor skillfully to make their lessons more appealing and make the key points of the lessons more memorable by using anecdotes and hilarious stories etc

f Good teachers are fair Students have a deep respect for teachers who treat every

student fairly and who do not practice favoritism In class, these teachers give equal attention to every single student without regard to their ability level, gender, race, ethnicity or social backgrounds

There are also second language-specific characteristics that students value and expect good teachers to possess In outer and expanding circle countries where English is normally taught by bilingual teachers of English, good teachers are those who can serve as models or good users of English, who can serve as models of successful learners of English, who are knowledgeable about English, who can code-switch when necessary, who understand the students’ language learning goals and needs, who are sympathetic towards students’ second language learning problems and who use teaching methods that are socially and culturally appropriate (Brown, 2012; McKay, 2002)

Effective teachers have deep understanding of motivational factors that can enhance students’ learning experiences in the classroom They plan and deliver their lessons based on sound motivational principles and deliberately infuse these principles in the activities and tasks in the classroom Listed below are principles derived from mainstream motivational theories

a Students are likely to be more motivated when they have a high expectancy of

success in completing the task and when they value the outcome This principle is informed by the expectancy value theory (Brophy, 1998)

b Students’ motivation increases if they feel that they have the ability to do a certain

task and are confident of successfully completing the task In order words, the level of

their self-efficacy determines the amount of effort they will put in and the extent to which they persist in their effort This principle is based on the self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997)

c Students who are intrinsically motivated, who perform tasks because they want to,

tend to work harder and achieve more success compared to those who are extrinsically motivated, and who do things because they have to This is based on Ryan and Deci’s (2000) self-determination theory

d Students become more motivated when they feel good about themselves as a result

of their being able to complete a task Because of this they tend to do things that increase their personal value and worth and avoid face-threatening activities as these can undermine their self-worth (Covington, 1998) This self-worth theory of motivation is particularly relevant for adult learners of English who often have to participate in potentially face-threatening activities

2.4.5 Teacher teaching methodology as a motivating factor

Teaching Method which refers to the way that students are taught must affect their

motivation Whenever the learners feel bored at the teacher’s method, their motivation would likely be lost or gradually decreased As he said, “If the students loses confidence in the method, they will become demotivated” (Harmer, 1991, p 5)

Motivating teachers are knowledgeable about different kinds of teaching methods But more importantly, they have deep understanding about how these methods work with different groups of learners in different learning contexts They are not dogmatic about certain kinds of methods and do not subscribe to a single method They believe that there is no single best method that will work with every group of students

Instructional skills

Teaching is more than just making decisions about which specific teaching methods to adopt It is a complex process that involves making decisions about what we want to teach, how we want to teach it, and how we know that we have been successful in teaching it What distinguishes effective from ineffective teachers often lies in their skills in teaching their daily lessons Effective teachers are very skilful in formulating the objective of the lesson They think through the objective carefully, making sure that the objective relates to the overall plan of the language programme and is formulated in ways that are achievable and measurable They are effective in choosing and organizing learning activities Effective teachers carefully select and structure learning activities that support the attainment of the lesson objectives in ways that engage students’ interest and attention and stimulate their motivation They are also good at evaluating how well the lesson went Good teachers use a variety of instruments, both formal and informal, to find out how much or how little students have learned from the lesson

Keeping student motivation level high

It’s a well-known fact that student motivation goes up and down In fact, in many language classes, motivation tends to flow initially and then ebbs quite considerably as time passes by One of the reasons for this is that acquiring a foreign or second language takes time, and it’s often hard to keep student’s enthusiasm and commitment high throughout this lengthy process What then are some of the strategies that teachers can use to keep students sufficiently motivated and engaged in the language learning process? I discuss below several strategies that can positively influence student motivation (Renandya, 2014b)

First, use a variety of teaching methods Our teaching methods may be intrinsically interesting, but over time students may get bored and lose interest Teachers should therefore have a large repertoire of teaching methods and consciously vary them to avoid student boredom For example, a teacher-led predicting activity is a popular technique that teachers use regularly during the pre-reading phase of a reading lesson But this is just one of the numerous other schema-activating techniques that we have available There are probably more than 50 activities of this type that teachers can use

Second, provide students with choices Choice is a key element of motivation Students feel unmotivated because they often are not given a choice in their learning process Everything seems to have already been chosen for them to do in class, e.g., the teaching materials are fixed, the tasks and activities are set in stone, etc While we can’t give students total freedom to choose what they want to do in class, we can give students some choices For example, in a speaking class we can let students choose a topic from a list and give them the freedom to work in pairs, in groups of three or four, etc

Next, inject some novelty into the lesson Novelty can enliven students’ motivation

We can introduce a few surprises in our lesson so that the structure and flow of the lesson becomes less predictable Too much novelty of course can have an adverse effect and bring too much unpredictability

Finally, add some element of curiosity People are naturally curious But we often do not provide enough room for students to be curious in the language lesson For example, we tend to give the rules of certain grammar points, instead of getting students to work out the rules for themselves The teaching materials we use are

already packed with complete, self-contained information, leaving no room for students to speculate, predict, hypothesize, or use their imagination

2.4.6 The Text

The text here refers to language teaching materials (print and electronic; oral and written) that teachers use in the language classroom, including course books and their accompanying resource materials (e.g., CD, DVD), teacher-developed materials or multimodal materials from the internet, and any other supplementary materials Instructional materials play an important role in the language classroom It is hard to imagine a language class without instructional materials because much of the tasks and activities of a language lesson are often organized around course-books or other instructional materials

Given the important role of instructional materials in the language learning process, it

is essential that the materials we use are interesting and motivating Not much learning can occur if the materials are linguistically, cognitively and affectively unappealing to the learners The following questions can be used to gauge the interest level of the instructional materials we use (Renandya, 2014b; Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2004):

 Are the materials pitched at the right linguistic levels, not to easy and not too demanding?

 Do the materials contain language items that attract students’ attention?

 Are the contents appropriate for the students you are teaching?

 Do the materials help the learners make personally meaningful connections with their own lives?

 Do the materials help the learners make connections with the lives of the people in their surrounding?

 Do the materials provide positive learning experiences and promote students’ esteem and self-confidence?

self- Do the materials provide ample opportunity for students to learn what they really need or want to learn?

 Are the materials emotionally stimulating and engaging?

The affective dimension of course materials is particularly important in language learning ELT materials development experts such as Tomlinson and Masuhara (2004,

p 6).) contend that “materials should engage the emotions of the learner Laughter, joy, excitement, sorrow and anger can promote learning; neutrality cannot” This type of materials allows learners to process the contents and language of the materials at a much deeper level, resulting in the kind of learning that is durable and long lasting

2.4.7 The Task

Language tasks and activities serve pedagogical purposes, but unfortunately not all of them are perceived to be useful, interesting and engaging by the students Indeed, students often associate language learning tasks and activities with classroom chores, things that they have to do to fill in time, or worse, for teachers to ‘take a break’ while students are doing some work either individually or in groups In addition, students can not always see the value of the activities (e.g., tasks that require students to change active to passive sentences) and often find the tasks too challenging (e.g., answering comprehension questions based on a reading passage which is linguistically too demanding), which reduces the chances of success in completing the tasks

When language learning tasks designed for classroom use are both interesting and enjoyable, and well-aligned with the skills and experience of the students, there is more than a fair chance that the tasks will be both useful (i.e., they have direct impact on language learning) and motivating (i.e., they create the necessary conditions for students to be cognitively and affectively engaged) Listed below are some ideas that teachers can use to make language learning tasks more engaging and motivating

First, tasks should have a clear and tangible outcome For example, students may be asked to create a brochure that highlights the major accomplishments of their school in the past 10 years The best brochure will be posted in the school website so that the general public is informed about the school’s achievements Once the students understand what is expected of them in terms of the task outcome, they will become more engaged and do the utmost to produce the final product

Second, tasks should provide an optimal challenge Tasks should not be too easy or too difficult They should be designed in such a way that they provide an optimal challenge, i.e., they stretch students’ linguistic knowledge to a new level of sophistication Tasks should also provide optimal challenge from a cognitive point of view This is particularly important when we work with older learners of English Borg (2006) for example reported that teachers tend to use tasks that are cognitively undemanding with cognitively mature learners of English This of course can undermine these learners’ level of engagement with the tasks

Third, tasks should be interesting What is interesting for the teachers may not be so for students One simple way is simply to find what kinds of tasks are interesting for which group of students Teachers can design a simple questionnaire at the beginning of the term to get an idea about what the students find interesting to do To meet the different

needs of the students, it is possible for the teacher to give students choices in terms of the kinds of tasks they want to do during lessons

Fourth, create tasks that arouse students’ competitive spirit Adding an element of competition in the learning tasks can be very motivating as people are naturally competitive We don’t however want to create unhealthy competition in which some students win and others lose Those who lose may feel resentful, and if they lose frequently as is the case with those with lower ability levels in our class, they will soon lose interest in learning

2.4.8 The Test

An oft-heard complaint from teachers is that our education system tends to give too much attention to testing and examinations Our teaching, they say, is often overshadowed or even dictated by tests and examinations Not surprisingly, teachers often teach in order to prepare students for the tests and examinations In some places, the situation has become so bad that people actually talk about a culture of learning where testing has become the dominant mode of learning in the classroom Such an examination-oriented classroom then becomes a source of frustration, fear of failure, feeling of anxiety, and a fertile breeding ground for the development of excessive spirit

of competition (instead of healthy competition and cooperation) and other negative feelings and attitudes towards learning

Formal tests and examinations are here to stay Thus it seems like wishful thinking to expect that they will go away in the immediate future On balance, tests and other forms of formal assessments are useful teaching tools that provide us with useful information about many things that we have done in our teaching They can give us

information about students’ achievements in relation to the curricular goals, about their learning progress (e.g., mid-term or end-of-year tests), help us identify areas of students’ weaknesses to that remedial actions can be taken and provide useful information about students’ ability levels which can be used for placement purposes However, these benefits are often obtained at the expense of good teaching We seem

to forget that testing should serve teaching, and not the other way round As Maley (2009, p 5) puts it, while testing plays an important role in teaching, ‘we need to ensure that the testing tail does not wag the learning dog’

However, in addition to using formal, high-stakes tests, we should also consider using less formal assessment procedures, known as alternative or authentic assessments They are more learner- and learning friendly and can be used to complement or replace traditional instruments that use multiple choice, true-false and fill-in-the-blank items that focus on accuracy, grammar, and lower-order thinking (Jacobs and Farrell, 2003,

p 19) Features of authentic assessments include the following:

 They reflect closely what we teach and how we teach in class both in terms of contents and also assessment formats

 They provide information about areas of students’ weaknesses and their strengths This is unlike traditional assessments that tend to give undue emphasis on what students cannot do more than what they can do

 The goal of these assessments is to test and to teach, thus blurring the distinction between assessing and teaching We teach when we assess; we assess when we teach as well

 They mirror more closely how language is used in real life, thus is more motivating Students can see the real value of these assessment procedures and are likely to work hard to perform well

Alternative assessment procedures such as portfolios and project work can be more motivating and provide more useful information about student learning They also take examination fear away, help students become intrinsically motivated as they learn how

to develop their language skills in a low-anxiety learning environment

2.5 The teachers’ role in motivating the students

Nowadays the role of the teacher is recognized as being highly significant in all the stages of the motivational process Motivation is no longer thought of only as integrative or instrumental It is also considered a key to learn something in many cases created, fostered and maintained by an enthusiastic and well-prepared classroom teacher Because of the importance of the nature of the interactions that occur between learners and teachers, many studies have been dedicated to the discussions of the influence of teachers in the process of foreign language learning Given the complexity

of the issue it may well constitute the subject of a separate paper What we shall attempt here is just summary of important qualities a good teacher usually displays As mentioned above, the researcher should place the teacher’s enthusiasm, acknowledgement and stimulation of students ideas, the creation of a relax and enjoyable atmosphere in the classroom, the presentation of activities in a clear, interesting and motivating way, the encouragement of pupils with difficulties, helping them to increase their expectations of themselves In an article published in 1982, Mary Finocchiaro has added to all these the importance of (a) making sure the students comprehend every dialogue, utterance, the gist of the reading passage; (b) giving them extensive practice in using verbal or non-verbal alternatives for communicative expressions, structures or language items; (c) correcting important errors tactfully by rephrasing a question, expanding an answer, or by merely saying “listen” and giving

the correct answer; (d) letting them either grade their own papers or do so with a partner; (e) showing concern for school or community problems of individuals; (f) making it possible for them to enjoy small successes and the feeling that they are making definite – even if slow – progress toward their goals As Finocchiaro argues in points (c),(d),(e), the problem of error correction plays a very important role in the process of motivating or de-motivating students Being constantly aware that all human learning is fundamentally a process involving the making of mistakes may help any teacher in using mistakes and errors creatively during the teaching activity, for they hold in them some of the keys to the understanding of the process When teachers help the learners to develop an internal sense of control as well as feelings of effectiveness

in their ability to carry out tasks, then there are great chances for the learners to become motivated to learn External reinforces in the form of rewards, good marks or simple praise, are often considered to be excellent ways of motivating underachieving or reluctant learners Conversely, extra homework, punishment or other sanctions, proved not only ineffective in bringing about positive change, but also having exactly the opposite effect As Williams and Burden (1997, p 138) have rightly observed when

“feedback actually provides information to learners that enables them to identify specific aspects of their performance, it should prove both motivating and helpful to them to move into the zone of next development If, on the other hand, the feedback fails to provide this kind of information, it could have entirely the opposite effect”

2.6 Previous studies on language students’ motivation

There is a plethora of research that has been carried out internationally to investigate learners’ motivation and attitudes towards the English language In Malaysia, for example, Vijchulata and Lee (1985) reported on a study that investigated the students’ motivation for learning English in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Based on Gardner

and Lambert’s research (1972), the researchers developed a questionnaire to elicit the data required The questionnaire was administered on approximately a thousand students from all the different faculties in UPM The findings revealed that UPM students are both integratively and instrumentally oriented towards learning the English language

Another study by Sarjit (1993) attempted to explore the language needs of consultants

at a company The name of the organization was not mentioned as the consultants did not allow the researcher to expose their identities Learners’ motivation was of concern

in the study The research sample consisted of 26 consultants, 4 directors and one instructor In her study, Sarjit (1993) employed different techniques to gather information, such as questionnaire, interviews and field observation For the subjects’ motivation, the study found that instrumental motivation was the main reason for learning the language followed by personal motivation

In Japan, learners’ motivation and attitudes towards the English language were also of concern for many researchers One of the most relevant studies was that of Benson (1991) who surveyed over 300 freshmen to assess their motivation towards learning English The results demonstrated the importance of integrative and personal goals as factors in motivation among Japanese college students as he stated, “integrative and personal reasons for learning English were preferred over instrumental ones" (Benson,

1991, p 34)

In Papua New Guinea (PNG), a related study was undertaken by Buschenhofen (1998)

He sought to assess the attitudes towards English among year 12 and final-year university students To collect the data, he administered a questionnaire on approximately 50 % of year 12 and first-year university students in PNG Both groups

were contrasted in terms of their tolerance towards the use of English in a variety of contexts The results indicated (1) a generally positive attitude by both groups towards English and (2) some significant attitudinal differences in relation to specific English language contexts Buschenhofen attributed such differences to the changing social, educational, and linguistic conditions which characterize the transition from year 12 to university education

Arani (2004) investigated in Iran the language learning needs of medical students at Kashan University of Medical Sciences One of the primary objectives of the study was to identify the students' attitudes towards learning English as a school subject i.e prior entering the university The research sample consisted of 45 medical students who enrolled in the first and second year of study To collect the data, different types

of questionnaires were administered to the sample at the beginning, in the middle and

at the end of the English for Medical Purposes (EMP) courses The results showed that most of the subjects had positive attitudes towards both learning English and the English language teacher

A more recent study has been carried out by Karahan (2007) in the Turkish EFL context The motive of his study arose from the complaints raised by learners, teachers, administrators, and parents about why most of Turkish EFL students cannot attain the desired level of proficiency in English Therefore, he conducted a study to find out the relation between language attitudes and language learning which is a missing point of discussions on the problems of teaching English in Turkey More specifically, Karahan tried to identify the interlaced relationship among language attitudes, the starting age of language learning, and the place where the individual started to learn language within Turkey EFL context The only method of inquiry used was a questionnaire adapted from previous studies on language attitudes The sample included 190 (94 females and

96 males) eighth grade students of a private primary school in Adana, Turkey, where English was intensively taught The findings indicated that although the students were exposed to English in a school environment more frequently than other students at public schools, they had only mildly positive attitudes; especially female students had higher rates In addition, the subjects recognized the importance of the English language but interestingly did not reveal high level orientation towards learning the language On the other hand, the results revealed that the subjects had mildly positive attitudes towards the English based culture but they were not tolerant to Turkish people speaking English among themselves

With regard to Arab EFL learners, some studies have been undertaken to investigate learners’ motivation and attitudes towards the English language For instance, Qashoa (2006) conducted a study among secondary school students in Dubai The study aimed

at 1) examining the students’ instrumental and integrative motivation for learning English, and 2) recognizing the factors affecting learners’ motivation Two research tools were used: questionnaire and interviews The sample, for the questionnaire, consisted of 100 students For the interviews, on the other hand, the sample included 20 students, 10 Arab English teachers and 3 supervisors The results revealed that students have a higher degree of instrumentality than integrativeness In addition, the findings indicated that difficulties with the subject (English) aspects such as vocabulary, structures and spelling were found to be the most demotivating factors for the students

In the Yemeni Arabic EFL context, Al-Quyadi (2002) carried out a comprehensive study to investigate the psycho-sociological variables in the learning of English in the faculties of Sana’a in Yemen One of the main objectives of his study was to study the nature of the psychological variables of learning English by Yemeni EFL learners in terms of attitudes and motivation as measured by English majors at the Department of

English, Faculties of Education at Sana’a University The only research tool used was

a questionnaire The study sample consisted of 518 students representing seven Faculties of Education Generally, the results showed that the students had a high level

of both instrumental and integrative motivation toward the English language With regard to their attitudes, the findings indicated that the students had positive attitudes towards the English language and the use of English in the Yemeni social and educational contexts

To sum up, the following may be said about the past studies discussed in this section: All the above-mentioned studies reconfirmed the importance of identifying learners’ motivation and attitudes towards the English language

Some studies have been carried out to investigate second/foreign language learners’ motivation These studies help the researchers to understand the how to identify learners’ motivation As a result, to assess students’ motivation, some questions were adapted from Benson (1991), Sarjit Kaur (1993) and Qashoa (2006)

Other studies focused on learners’ attitudes (Buschenhofen, 1998; Al-Quyadi, 2000; Karahan, 2007) Besides adapting questions to investigate the students’ attitudes, these studies help the researcher to build the ideas on how to identify the dominant motivation of high school students and the factors shape their motivation to learn English language

The issues of learners’ motivation and factors have not been sufficiently discussed with regard to high school students In other words, no study has been conducted to explore the dominant type of motivation and factors shape their motivation that high school students in Thanh Hoa might have toward learning the English language Therefore,

this study would help understand these important issues with regard to students in Tinh Gia 2 High School context

Given the situation that highlighted the gap in the literature with regard to high school students’ motivation in Thanh Hoa, the next section presents how the current study was carried out

In conclusion, motivation has an important role in success and failure in learning a

second language Spolsky (1990, p 157) stated that motivated students are likely to learn more and learn more quickly than students who are less motivated In a particular learning situation, students who are less motivated are likely to lose their attention, misbehave and cause discipline problems On the contrary, students who are more highly motivated will participate actively and pay more attention to a certain learning task or activity

The types of motivation as identified by researchers at different moments in time (Gardner, 1985; Lightbown & Spada, 1993; Wright, 1987; Spolsky, 1989) have come

to draw a distinction between two types of motivation: when the only reason for learning a foreign language is to gain something outside the activity itself, such as passing an exam, obtaining financial rewards, getting a job or pleasing another person(s), the motivation is likely to be extrinsic/instrumental As the terms themselves indicate, it is caused by a combination of external factors and used as a means or instrument to obtain something When its purpose is to enable one to communicate with the members of a specific language community, then motivation is considered to

be intrinsic or integrative In order to offer a clear image of the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy, Spolsky (1989, p.124) borrows Harter’s model (1982) and represents it in the following way: Intrinsic Preference for challenge, Curiosity/interest, Independent

mastery, Independent judgment, Internal criteria for success Versus Extrinsic Preference for easy work, Pleasing a teacher/getting grades, Dependence on teacher in figuring out problems, Reliance on teacher’s judgment about what to do, External criteria for success Following this model, it comes out clearly that the greater the value the individuals attach to the accomplishment of an activity, the more highly motivated they will be to engage in it and later to put sustained effort until they achieve their goal This distinction also tells us that both internal and external factors have an important role to play in motivating learners

As mentioned above, we can draw out four factors that can affect learners’ motivation, according to Harmer (1991, p 4) are the following :

1 Physical condition which means the atmosphere in class For example if student

have to study in the bad lighting classroom , overcrowded with too many students , have to look at the small board, or in the unpleasant smell classroom, they can lose their motivation or their motivation in learning will be lowered

2 Method of teaching which refers to the way that students are taught must affect their

motivation Whenever the learners feel bored at the teacher’s method, their motivation would likely be lost or gradually decreased As he said, “If the students lose confidence

in the method, they will become demotivated” (Harmer, 1991, p 5)

3 The teachers as the most powerful variable of motivation and demotivation, can

become a major part in demotivating the learners

4 Success refers to the appropriate level of challenge designed by the teachers If the

difficulty of work and activity is too high or too low, it can lead students to a demotivated situation in learning As Harmer pointed out, to give high challenge

activities may have a negative effect on motivation Students can also equally be demotivated by too low level of challenge

From Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis (as cited in Lightbown and Spada, 1999, p 39), emotional states such as tiredness, depression, boredom, etc obstruct the learning process of the students Anxiety becomes a factor that influences the affective filter Low anxiety is more helpful for second language acquisition (Krashen, cited in J.Oller and J Richards, 2003, p 183) This means that learners’ anxiety can affect their motivation According to Krashen, there are three affective variables that interact with the affective filter

1 Motivation which is beneficial for language acquisition

2 Self-confidence which is also useful for acquisition

3 Anxiety which is good in the case where it is in a low level

As can be seen above, motivation has been classified into integrative motivation vs instrumental motivation; intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation in the literature Therefore, integrative and instrumental types of motivation were chosen to conduct in this study