AN INVESTIGATION INTO DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN SPEAKING LESSONS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
-----------

HOÀNG THỊ HIẾU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN
SPEAKING LESSONS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION


Nghệ An, năm 2017
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
--------

HOÀNG THỊ HIẾU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN
SPEAKING LESSONS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages(TESOL)
Code: 60140111
MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor:Trịnh Thị Thơm, Ph.D


Nghệ An, năm 2017

DECLARATION
I, Hoang Thi Hieu, certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and
that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or
partially.

Author:

Hoang Thi Hieu

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, my sincere thanks are due to my respectful supervisor
Trinh Thi Thom, Ph.D. for her continual, invaluable support, encouragement,
guidance and ideas.
I would like to express my great gratitude to all the teachers and
colleagues at Le Van Huu high school for their help in answering surveys and their
willingness to share their ideas on the relevant problems with me.
I would also like to give my special thanks to the students in classes 10A5,
11B3 and 12C6 who actively participated in doing the surveys and responding to
my interviews.
It is my pleasure to acknowledge my debt to my family, my relatives who
encouraged and helped me to check the thesis.
Eventually, the study has been completed to the best of my knowledge;
however, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable. Therefore, I am looking
forward to receiving comments and suggestions from any readers for the perfection
of the course work.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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ABSTRACT
The current study aims at investigating the demotivating factors in speaking lessons
among high school students at Le Van Huu High school, Thanh Hoa province
Demotivation is a relatively new issue in the field of second language (L2)
motivation. In this study, several previous studies were reviewed to investigate
demotivation of learners of English in order to identify common demotivating
factors. It also reports a survey study which explored demotivating factors for
students at Le Van Huu high school in the speaking lessons. Through the data
analysis, five demotivating factors were extracted: (1) teachers’ competence and
teaching style; (2) learning environment and facilities; (3) assessment of speaking
skill; (4) lack of self-confidence and (5) minor intrinsic motivation. The results
showed that the teachers’ competence and teaching style were demotivating factors
for many Le Van Huu high school students, especially for less motivated learners.
Contrary to what previous research suggested, textbook and curriculum were not a
very strong source of demotivation. Based on the results, some pedagogical
implications were put forward for solving the problem.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
L1: First language

L2: Second language
FL: Foreign language
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
TL: Target language
MOET: Ministry of Education and Training
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

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LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Tables

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Nowadays English as an international language has become increasingly
essential in most countries around the world. Thus, a large number of students are
being required to learn it through compulsory programs in schools and universities.
As a result, in Vietnam English plays a crucial role on the path of industrialization
and modernization of the country as well as in the process of integration and
globalization in the world.
The current state of teaching and learning English has been investigated in a
lot of research (e.g. Le: 1999; Pham: 2007). There is a fact that students have to
pass English examinations to graduate, but many of them fail to learn it
successfully. Students have lost their communicative competence, which means
little attention has been paid to communicative skills such as listening and speaking.
In addition, under the effect of traditional methods, students are believed to be

indifferent to such skills. They mentally withdraw or look for strategies to pass the
required exams with minimum effort.
Language learning is influenced directly or indirectly by numerous factors.
One of the most major factors is ‘Motivation’; over the past decades, researchers, as
well as educators poured much ink in an attempt to illustrate this key term which
affects the learning process to a large extent. It is seen as the desire that directs ones’
behavior. In the book “Motivation factors in language learning” (2009), Makiko
Ebata says that motivation plays the vital role in language learning; provides the
primary impetus to initiate learning L2 and later driving force to sustain the long
and often tedious learning process. Without sufficient motivation, students cannot
accomplish long-term goals and teachers cannot ensure their achievement.
According to Trang and Baldauf (2007):
Motivation is crucial for L2 learning because motivation
directly influences how much effort students make, how much
often students use L2 learning strategies, how much students

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interact with native speakers, how much input receive in the
language being learned, how well they do on curriculum
related achievements tests, how high their general proficiency
level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain L2
skills after study is over.
Moreover, research studies on motivation show that a student with high
motivation is likely to be a successful learner. Currently, ‘Demotivation’, which is
considered as the other side of motivation, has been an interest point on many
research studies unlike in the past, when it was totally a neglected subject especially
in the EFL field (English as a foreign language). Whereas motivation is the desire
that guides a learner to achieve his goal, demotivation is the lack and the loss of this

desire due to some factors and therefore the learner is not able to achieve his
learning goals or improve his skills including the speaking skill.
Demotivation can be regarded as the negative counterpart of motivation.
Likewise, demotivation can be considered as the negative counterparts of motives.
Moreover, a demotivated learner is someone who has lost his interest for some
reasons. The loss of interest can originate from different sources of demotivation.
For instance, an unprepared teacher or an uninteresting textbook can act as a
demotivator for a learner. However, not all researchers agree that demotivation is
only external. Many researchers (e.g., Arai, 2004, Falout& Maruyama, 2004 and
Sakai &Kikuchi, 2009) go on to expand Dornyei’s original definition to cover both
external and internal factors (i.e., demotivators) which reduce or diminish the
motivation to study English.
The speaking skill is one of the four skills naming listening, reading,
writing and speaking. It is an essential skill that enables learners to express their
thoughts and ideas. Speaking can be affected by many factors that may discourage
learners to speak when they are asked to. Howarth (2006) discusses the problems
facing teachers trying to increase oral interaction among learners. The first one is
learner resistance: learners in monolingual classes may feel that group work and

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pair work are not authentic and that it is unnatural to speak a language with partners
who speak the same L1. A second problem is self-consciousness, when learners feel
nervous and embarrassed when asked to speak English. Next, Howarth points out
the fact that it is difficult to monitor large classes who are doing pair or group work.
There are also the associated risks of noise, bad behavior and the use of the mother
tongue. Howarth identifies two further factors: firstly, lack of motivation, so if the
learners do not want to interact, they will not; secondly, insufficient language, so if
the learners do not have enough English language, it will be difficult for them to

interact.
I have been a teacher of English at Le Van Huu High School in Thanh Hoa
for twelve years. Le Van Huu high school is located in a poor countryside with a
number of difficulties. English is a compulsory subject and there are three English
periods per week, I am very disappointed to realize that most of the students in
grade 10 are interested in learning English, but their interest is gradually reduced in
grade 11, and they are almost not motivated in learning English any more when they
are in grade 12. Why this happens? What factors make them de-motivated? This is
the reason why I decided to choose this title of the study: “AN INVESTIGATION
INTO DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN SPEAKING LESSONS AMONG
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS”. As one of the first attempts to explore the
demotivation in the context of learning English speaking at Le Van Huu High
School, this paper also explores the current techniques utilized by teachers and
learners in fostering motivation in speaking learning and students’ perceptions about
those techniques. The paper begins by reviewing the current literature on
demotivation, speaking learning and related studies. This is a case study conducted
with 80 per 1500 students at Le Van Huu High school who undertook the survey
questionnaires. The analysis of the collected data demonstrated students’ learning
realities in the demotivation within learning of speaking. The findings analyzed
suggest a way to eliminate the demotivating factors in English speaking lessons in
order to better students’ English learning.

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1.2 Aims of the study
The study is carried out to meet the following aims
- to identify the demotivating factors in English speaking lessons among high
school students at Le Van Huu high school
- to suggest some possible solutions to eliminate the demotivating factors in English

speaking lessons in order to improve students’ speaking skill
1.3 Research questions
In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims, the following research
questions were asked in the study:
1. What are the main factors that demotivate high school students’ speaking skills at
Le Van Huu High school?
2. What are possible solutions to overcome the demotivating factors in speaking
lessons among high school students at Le Van Huu High school?
1.4. Significance of the study
Firstly, the study is conducted to find out the demotivating factors in learning
to speak English at a certain learning condition among high school students at Le
Van Huu High school in Thanh Hoa province.
Secondly, the study is carried out with a view to giving some possible
solutions to help students overcome demotivation in learning to speak English.
Finally, the study will be the first investigation into demotivating factors in
learning to speak English at Le Van Huu high school. Therefore, it is recommended
that not just speaking skill but others skills or even other subjects might be
developed this way.
1.5. Scope of the study
In some previous studies, demotivation in learning English was mentioned in
general and they aimed at several levels of learners. In this, I only investigate
students’ demotivating factors in learning English speaking. The survey
questionnaires were used for both students and teachers. The two structured
interviews were also used for both students and teachers and five speaking

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classroom observations were carried out. Truthfully, this topic cannot be wholly
discussed within the framework of this paper; therefore, the subjects chosen for this

study are students and teachers at Le Van Huu High school. Thus, it cannot be said
that the results of this study are general to other language elements and Vietnamese
high school students.
1.6. Method of the study
To achieve the aims of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods
are employed and the following steps are involved:
- Collecting data by survey questionnaires for students and teachers

- Conducting two interviews with students and teachers who were randomly
chosen for further information of the study
- Observing classes
All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion are based on the
data analysis. This data hoped to confirm and support the results obtained from
other sources.
1.7. Thesis organization
This thesis is divided into five chapters.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, gives the rationale of the study, aims of
the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, the method of the
study, the scope of the study, and the thesis organization.
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND, presents various concepts
related to the research topic such as definition of demotivation, speaking, teachers
and student’s demotivation in second language teaching and learning.
CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY, describes the methodology underlying the
research which includes the general information about the subjects of subject, the
current state of teaching and learning English speaking at Le Van Huu High School.
This chapter also focuses on the methods of data collection.

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DICUSSIONS, gives a detailed presentation
of data and a detailed description of data analysis. Some explanations and
interpretations of the findings of the study are also presented.
CHAPTER 5:

IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION, summarizes the

findings, and pedagogical implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for
further study.

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

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2.1. Overview of demotivation
Demotivation has been traditionally considered as low motivation or a
third type of motivation rather than as a phenomenon in its own rights (Trang
and Baldauf, 2007). However, Soureshjani and Riahipour (2012) state that
demotivation is the lack of sufficient motivation to do a specific goal; therefore, a
demotivated person is one who lacks deliberate effort, readiness, willingness and
excitement for achieving a target goal. Similarly, a demotivated learner is the
one who was formerly motivated but has lost his interest because of some factors.
Aydin refers to demotivation as “the lack of effort, need and desire (2012)”. Falout
(2005) believes that “if motivation pushes learning for life, demotivation cuts
learning short” (Cited in Bahramy and Araghi, 2013).
2.1.1. Definition of demotivation
Motivation plays a very important role in L2; many teachers are looking for
the best ways to motivate students. Past motivation research has mainly
concentrated on the positive motivational influences as seen in the previous

chapter. “A motive has been seen as a kind of inducement whose force ranges on a
continuum from zero to strong. In addition to positive influences there are,
however, negative effects that de-energize action” Dornyei (2001). The darker side
of motivation, demotivation, has been found to play a crucial role in the learning
process but yet it has been neglected as a research topic until recently. Christophel
and Gorham found that the strongest influence on motivation was not the presence
of motivators in the classroom, but the absence of demotivators. At the beginning,
the absence of context demotivators and teacher behavior demotivators positively
affected motivation. Therefore, the question set is “ what is demotivation?”
In light of Dornyei’s considerations, “demotivation” concerns “specific
external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral
intention” and describes demotivation as various negative influences cancelling out
existing motivation. He introduces “demotives” as being negative counterparts of
“motives on going action” (p.143). A demotivated learner is someone who

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“motivated but has lost his or her interest for some reasons”. In terms of demotive,
it decreases learners’ demotivation to the study of language while motive increases
it.
However, not all researchers agree with Dornyei’s definition, Sakai and
Kikuchi (p. 58) refer to several studies where researchers have included also
internal forces, such as a learner’s lack of self-confidence and negative attitudes of
the learners in addition to external forces. They pointed out that in fact Dornyei
himself has listed reduced self-confidence and negative attitude towards the
foreign language as source of demotivation. Thus Sakai and Kikuchi feel the need
to expand Dornyei’s definition stated above to comprehend both internal and
external factors that reduce or diminish the motivation to learn a L2. Dornyei aims
to form a portrait of a demotivated learner by giving hypothetical examples of

learners who are demotivated. Firstly, a demotivated learner can be a learner whose
study group was divided into two groups depending on the ability, and the learner
was put among the “slow” students. Secondly, a learner’s motivation can be
diminished as a result of not understanding what the teacher is talking about in
class. Thirdly, a learner can feel demotivated because he has suffered an
embarrassing experience of having to speak in front of the class. In short,
according to Dornyei, a demotivated learner is someone who once was motivated
but for one reason or another has lost his or her commitment or interest in learning.
These reasons for losing interest can be called demotives which area the negative
counterparts of motives, and whereas motives increase action tendency, demotives
de-energize it.
Concerning teachers’ communication behavior and learners’ motivation,
Gorham and Christophel had identified three categories of the sources of motivator
and demotivators: context, structure/format, and teacher behavior motivators and
demotivators. Context factor is antecedent to the teacher’s influence which is
beyond the teacher’s control such as; personal laziness, length of class, desire to do
well belongs to the context factors. Structure/format factors are like the

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organization of the class material, grading, and opportunity to participate in which
the teacher has some degree of control. Lastly, teacher behaviors are related to the
teacher’s characteristics, for instance, the enthusiasm, humor, and accessibility of
the teacher. Christophel and Gorham investigated college students’ perception of
the sources of motivation and demotivation. They suggested that context factors
are student-owned source of motivation and demotivation, while structure/format
decisions and teacher behaviors are teacher-owned. The results of their study
showed that most students perceived the sources of motivation as student-owned
and demotivation as teacher-owned. In a word, negative behaviors of teachers are

the main sources of demotivator in students’ view.
However, the notion of demotivation cannot be related to every reluctant
learner. Dornyei has distinguished at least three negative factors that cannot be
referred to as demotivators. Firstly, an attractive alternative action that serves as a
powerful distraction (e.g., watching television instead of doing one’s homework).
These cannot be seen as demotivators because they do not carry negative value.
Therefore, instead of reducing motivation they distract a learner by presenting a
more attractive alternative. Secondly, gradual loss of interest in a long-lasting,
ongoing activity cannot be regarded as a demotivator because demotivators are
specific factors or incidents that reduce motivation on a single event. Thirdly, the
sudden realization that the costs of pursuing a goal are too high is raised (e.g.,
when someone recognizes how demanding it is to attend an evening course while
working during the day). This is the result of an internal process of deliberation,
without any specific external trigger. Conversely, if something triggered the
termination of action (e.g. the persuasion of an influential friend), that would be a
case of demotivation.
Dornyei also points out that demotivation does not mean that a learner has
lost his or her motivation completely. On the contrary, the positive influences that
originally made up the motivational basis of behavior can still be there. For
instance, a learner may still be highly motivated to learn English; it is an important

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world language, even if his or her teacher were incompetent or malevolent.
2.1.2 Research studies on Demotivation
Dornyei started a qualitative analysis by conducting structured long
interviews in 10 to 30 minutes of 50 high school students who were studying
English as a foreign language. Nevertheless, in his study the participants were not
of cross-sectional students but were those who had been identified by the teachers

or peers as being particularly demotivated. He identified nine types of
demotivators:
- the teachers (personality, commitment, competence, teaching method)
- inadequate school facilities (group is too big or not the right level; frequent
change of teachers)
- reduced self-confidence (experience of failure of lack of success)
- negative attitudes towards the second language (L2)
- compulsory nature of L2 learning
- interference of another foreign language being studied
- negative attitudes towards L2 community
- attitudes of group members
- course book used in the language class.
The compulsory nature of L2 studies and the interference of a L2 were first
discovered in this study. The negative effect of the compulsory nature of L2
learning is obviously related to the lack of learner autonomy and lack of selfdetermination. Among nine factors, teacher factor ranks first. The teacher’s
personality commitment to teaching, attention paid to the students, competence,
teaching method, style and rapport with students can have a direct impact on
student’s demotivation. Students also attribute their lack of confidence to teacher’s
indirect negative influence, such as rigid classroom management, their perception
of teacher’s strict marking. Such results were consistent with previous studies.
Therefore, it is of vital importance to analyze the teacher factor in order to find
possible solutions to demotivation.

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Hamada, Y. and Kito, K. carried out a study to find the answer to two
questions: “What are the primary demotivating factors in Japanese high school
students?” and “What are the roots of those factors?”. Hamada and Kito conducted
a quantitative research by means of questionnaire on 100 second-year students, in a

public high school in Tohoku. The English proficiency level of most the students
are slightly below the national average for the Japanese high school students. The
students were asked to answer the questionnaire focused on finding the factors of
the demotivation, for example, “Some friends around you do not like English. Has
it demotivated you? “Has teacher’s pronunciation demotivated you?”, “Have you
lost interest in English?” etc. Then, they exercised the interview with 26 secondyear students selected randomly from 100 students who had responded to the
questionnaire to have deeply understanding the roots of these factors.
In this study, five factors about demotivation were found: 1) Learning
environment and facilities, 2) Teacher’s competence and teaching style, 3) Little
intrinsic motivation, 4) Non-communicative methods, 5) Textbooks and lesson.
Moreover, Hamada, Y. and Kito, K. found out one notable factor that some
students said they had started having negative feelings toward English when they
were in Junior high school. However, other students revealed that they had not
interested or had any purpose in studying from the beginning.
Despite may integral findings, Hamada, Y. and Kito, K. research has some
limitations. They did not make a distinction between de-motivated learners and
motivated ones and they could not investigate more about when the students
started getting demotivated.
Trần Thị Thu Trang and Baldauf Jr., Richard B. used Stimulated recalled
method to collect retrospective data of demotivation in English learning. The
research was carried out on 100 second-year students from University of
Economics in central Vietnam with the aim at riding the answer to four questions:
1. To what extent, demotivation is a problem?
2. What are the factors that are likely to contribute to demotivates?

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3. Are demotivates different in terms of their levels of impact?
4. What are factors that assist students to overcome demotivation?

The students in this study were asked to recall their English learning
experiences, to think back across the whole learning process, then write an essay.
With the use of this method the writers discovered that out of the sample of 100
students, 88 indicated that they had been demotivated to a greater or lesser extent.
There are two groups of demotivation: group 1 is internal attribution. The former
included students intrudes towards English, their experiences of failure or lack of
success, and incidents related to their self-eastern. The later consisted of teacher related factors, the environment, and other external factors. They also found out
that internal factors occupy 36% and external factors are 64%. More surprising in
64% of external factors, teachers are blamed most with 35%.
Students had overcome demotivation basing on internal factors (71%) and
external factors (29%). Five factors that might contribute to students’ overcoming
demotivation were: an awareness of the importance of English, personal reasons,
self-improvement, self-determination, and positive attitudes towards English.
External factors might include: changes in teacher behaviors, teaching method,
learning condition, and external encouragement.
Trang and Balduaf’s research truly gave out many recommendations to
overcome demotivation in learning English for English students. However, the
study only focuses on the students in the university, so there is a need to examine
more the high school students.
An investigation into English learning demotivation of Dương Xá High
School students was carried out by Nguyễn Kim Dung to investigate the
demotivators in English classes of 11 form students at Dương Xá High School,
Hanoi city. In this case, the writers investigate students with the hope to answer
two questions:
1. What are the factors that are likely to contribute to demotivates?
2. What are factors that assist students to overcome demotivation?

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Demotivation is a relatively new issue in the field of L2 motivation. In this
study, several previous studies were reviewed to investigate demotivation of
learners of English in order to identify common demotivating factors. It also
reports a survey study which explored demotivating factors for students at Dương
Xá High School. A survey questionnaire was completed by 90 11form students. In
addition, in order to clarify the data collected, a semi-structured interview was
conducted with 10 students who were randomly chosen after they finished the
questionnaire. Through the data analysis, two demotivation factors were extracted:
internal and external factors in which internal factors related to personal matters
and attitude towards learning English, external factors consist of learning
environment, textbook and learning materials, teacher’ competence and
personalities, test and evaluation system. Contrary to what previous studies
suggested, internal factors were a very strong source of demotivation. Based on the
results, some pedagogical implications were put forward for solving the problem.
To conclude, those above studies are very helpful in providing researcher
with general views on the study of the demotivating factors in lessons. The most
popular data collections tools the previous researchers used were the combination
of questionnaire, interview to seek information related to the demotivation factors
in learning English speaking. Most of them prove that demotivation in learning L2
is not a strange problem; it happens in almost every L2 lessons. However, there are
still few researches in demotivation in English speaking lessons and there has
never been any research on demotivated factors carried out by Le Van Huu’s
teachers. With the hope of improving my students’ learning and my teaching, I
really want to implement the investigation into demotivating factors in English
speaking lessons. That the reason why I do this thesis.
2.1.3. Demotivation in learning speaking
2.1.3.1. The features of spoken language
To be able to find out students’ demotivation to help students develop their
ability in spoken production in English, it is necessary to think about some typical

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features of the spoken language in general. It is essential to have that insight in
order to be able to find an appropriate methodology for teaching it.
According to Bygate, facilitating rises four typical features of the spoken
language:
“Firstly, it is easier for speakers to improvise if they use less complex syntax.
In addition, ... people take short cuts to avoid unnecessary effort in producing
individual utterances. This often leads speakers to abbreviate the message and
produce “incomplete” sentences or clauses... Thirdly, it is easier for speakers
to produce their message if they use fixed conventional phrases. And finally, it
is inevitable that they will use devices to gain time to speak.” (p.14)
As Brown and Yule assume that the spoken production is relatively
undemanding in terms of syntax, as it mostly requires simple phrases or clauses
and a very few subordinate structures. Each of the above mentioned aspects needs
deciding and therefore producing of speaking is determined by operating these
aspects. The more learners of the foreign language are able to understand and
handle these aspects, the more confident speakers of the language they become.
Considering conversations in terms of purposes, people produce oral
interaction for two intentions: to keep the relationships within the society and to
carry out or exchange some new information. According to Brown and
Yule( 1983), the main function of communication is to create and maintain social
relationships. They distinguish between the function of the language where the
speaker is oriented more on the listener without any important transfer of
information, which they call interactional, and the other where transmission of
information is the main function of spoken production. In the first one interactional - the purpose for communication is nothing more than to be polite and
nice to a person talking to us and to gain overall impression rather than the detailed
information. Concerning the choice of language forms - interactional speaking
contains such forms that refer to expressing greetings, farewells, giving opinions

and agreement or disagreement with those opinions. In such conversations

23


participants assume a lot of shared information, so the language tends to be
relatively inexplicit.
In the second function, called transactional, the speaker is concentrated more
on the transmission of information than on the listener, as the purpose of the
speaker is primarily to communicate his message. In that case, the speaker aims to
make his message clear and understandable. If the listener does not seem to
understand or appear to misunderstand, the speaker exerts greater effort, for
example in repeating what has been already said, to assure himself that the
message is finally transferred and understood clearly. In cases, where the transfer
of information is the main purpose for oral interaction, the language tends to be
more specific, explicit and accurate in comparison with interactional use. In
transactional conversations the details of what happened are important and it
matters that the listener gets the details correct.
Therefore, participants of such conversation spell out more and repeat what
they have already said because the clear understanding depends particularly on
clear production.
2.1.3.2. Demotivation in learning speaking
It is clear that demotivation and speaking are among the most important
issues in the process of language learning. Therefore, considering them and
conducting researches like the present one about the relationship between them
could help language teachers and students to be more efficient in process of
language learning and teaching. To put it more clearly, by taking into account these
factors, language teachers can become aware of factors which may hinder their
speaking activities. From that may encourage language learners to speak.
Howarth discusses the problems facing teachers trying to increase oral

interaction among learners. The first one is learner resistance: learners in
monolingual classes may feel that group work and pair work are not authentic and
that it is unnatural to speak a language with partners who speak the same L1. A
second problem is self-consciousness, when learners feel nervous and embarrassed

24


when asked to speak English. Next, Howarth points out the fact that it is difficult to
monitor large classes who are doing pair or group work. There are also the
associated risks of noise, bad behavior and the use of the mother tongue. Howarth
identifies two further factors: firstly, lack of motivation, so if the learners do not
want to interact, they will not; secondly, insufficient language, so if the learners do
not have enough English language, it will be difficult for them to interact.
The impact of demotivating factors is more conspicuous when language
learning occurs in an EFL context where, due to the lack of opportunity to
communicate with native speakers, language learners don't have much intrinsic and
integrative motivation. In such a context, it is of paramount importance to be aware
of the factors that demotivate language learners, particularly when speaking skill is
concerned. In other words, it is important to know what factors can be claimed to
adversely affect the speaking intention of language learners. It is said that
motivating students is seen by teachers as one of the most significant factors of
success in the classroom.
Being corrected several times the learner begins to feel uncomfortable, as
being considered to be silly or at least not so clever. A student experiencing panic
anytime when he is exposed to another task and faces other mistakes expects a
priori not to be able to make a correct speech since he has often failed to before.
Therefore, he stops trying to do so as soon as he fails again. It can be compared to
going upstairs where making mistakes equals going backwards. Stepping on the
first two or three stairs with ensuing going backwards would not cause too many

troubles yet. But stepping to higher stairs with several times going back (because
of made mistakes) would elicit greater effort and the climbing would become
harder and harder. The effort endeavored does not equal the results, which evokes
anxiety or feeling of dissatisfaction and so it can lead to ceasing doing that and
finally giving up attempting to reach the top. These facts implicate that the teacher
should treat the learner with a lot of awareness of the psychological background of
every individual and should help and support students “...by building self-

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