động cơ của học sinh, thái độ của cha mẹ ảnh hưởng đến việc học tiếng anh của các em học sinh trường thpt

HuNG YeN department of education and training
duong quang ham senior high school
******************

Initiative and experience
STUDENT MOTIVATION, PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND
INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S ENGLISH LEARNING AT
DUONG QUANG HAM SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Teacher :

Ha Thi Th¬m
Subject : English
Academic year : 2012-2013
i
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that the study entitled “Students’ motivation and Parental Attitudes and
Involvement in Children’s English Learning at Duong Quang Ham Senior High School”
is the result of my work.
Signed:
Dated:
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I
TABLE OF CONTENTS II
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP II
TABLE OF CONTENTS III
LIST OF TABLES V
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC 1
1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY 3

1.3 SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
2.1 MOTIVATION IN L2 LEARNING 4
2.1.1 Definition 4
2.1.2 Types of Motivation 5
2.1.3 Role of motivation in L2 learning 6
2.1.4 Studies into integrative and instrumental motivations 8
2.2 PARENTS AS A FACTOR AFFECTING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING 10
2.3 STUDIES INTO PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING 13
2.3.1 Parental attitudes in children s language learning’ 13
2.3.2 Parental involvement in children s language learning’ 16
2.4 SUMMARY 19
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 20
3.1 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 20
3.1.1 Questionnaires 20
3.2 SUBJECTS 23
3.2.1 Student population 23
3.2.2 Parents 24
3. 3 PROCEDURES 24
3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 25
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 27
4.1 STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH LEARNING 27
4.1.1 Students integrative motivation in English learning’ 27
4.1.2 Students instrumental motivation in English learning’ 30
4.1.3 Parental attitudes and involvement as perceived by students 33
4.2 PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S ENGLISH LEARNING AS JUDGED BY PARENTS36
4.3 PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S ENGLISH LEARNING PERCEIVED BY STUDENTS
AND PARENTS 39
4.4 CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND INVOLVEMENT IN
CHILDREN’S ENGLISH LEARNING 40

4.5 SUMMARY 41
CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 43
5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS 43
5.1.1 Parents 43
5.1.2 Teachers 44
iii
5.1.3 School 45
5.2 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH 47
REFERENCES 50
APPENDICES 54
APPENDIX A1: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE 54
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 57
APPENDIX A2: VIETNAMESE VERSION OF STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE 58
APPENDIX B1: PARENT QUESTIONNAIRE 63
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 64
APPENDIX B 2: VIETNAMESE VERSION OF PARENT QUESTIONNAIRE 65

iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Students’ Integrative Motivation in English learning
Table 2: Students’ Instrumental Motivation in English learning
Table 3: Motivation by Vietnamese and Chinese students
Table 4: Parental attitudes and involvement as perceived by students
Table 5: Parental attitudes and involvement in children’s English learning
Table 6: T-test value of mean scores of parental attitudes and involvement in
children’s English learning perceived by students and by their parents
Table 7: R-values of students’ motivation and parental attitudes and involvement
v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
A: agree

D: disagree
DQH: Duong Quang Ham
EFL: English as a foreign language
L2: second language
M: mean
Md: mode
N: neutral
n: number of respondents
No: numerical order
r: correlation coefficient
SD: standard deviation
SLA: second language acquisition
StrA: strongly agree
StrD: strongly disagree
TL: target language
vi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This introductory chapter provides three parts: the reason for choosing the topic, the
aims of the study, the scope and significance of the study.
1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic
The study of motivation in second language acquisition (SLA) has become an important
research topic with the development of socio-educational model on second language
(L2) motivation (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Gardner, 1985; Gardner & MacIntyre,
1993; Tremblay & Gardner, 1995). According to Gardner and Lambert (1972),
motivation to learn an L2 is grounded in positive attitudes toward the L2 community
and in a desire to communicate with valued members of that community and become
similar to them. This desire is integrative orientation, which is a support for language
learning, while an instrumental orientation is associated with the desire to learn L2 for
pragmatic gains such as getting a better job or higher salary (Dornyei, 2001; Gardner &
Lambert, 1972).

L2 motivation is indeed a prerequisite condition for the success of L2 learners like food
for the brain. Successful language learning can only take place if the learner has goals
and an inner drive to achieve these goals (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991). L2 motivation
can be seen as a desire to study the foreign language to understand and use the
language that learners are learning and to serve their purposes. For example, motivation
in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) involves a student’s desire to
participate in the English learning process (Gardner, 1985). Without L2 motivation,
learners would feel bored, and then they just learn to pass the exams or please their
parents (Krashen, 1982). Gradually, they would be afraid of studying L2.
Motivation plays a significant role in the process of learning a language. Language
teachers cannot effectively teach a language if they do not understand the relationship
1
between motivation and its effect on language acquisition as well as its affecting
factors. The core of motivation is what might be called passion, which relates to a
person's intrinsic goals and desires. Successful learners know their preferences, their
strengths and weaknesses, and effectively utilize strengths and compensate for
weaknesses. Successful language learning is linked to the learner’s passion (Karaoglu,
2008).
One of the factors affecting L2 motivation maintaining is parents. Parents can be
considered as the most important in increasing and maintaining student motivation in
L2 learning. According to Wlodkowski and Jaynes (1990), parents can greatly
influence and maintain their child’s motivation for a lifetime. Parental influences are an
integral part of students’ motivation. Indeed, the home environment and family support
may be major factors influencing the school student (Walberg, Paschal, & Weinstein,
1985 as cited in Hein & Wimer, 2007). Fortunately, many modern parents nowadays
are aware of the fact that failure or success of their children depends greatly on the
parents themselves - “the first and long life teacher” (Hein & Wimer, 2007). In order to
succeed in education in general and in teaching English in particular, teachers should
understand the factors affecting student motivation. Once teachers can understand the
parental influence, they would probably find ways to cooperate with parents to motivate

students more so that the students could be successful English learners.
Important as motivation and the role of parents in maintaining and enhancing
motivation are, it is a sad fact that in rural areas in Vietnam like Hungyen, the
motivation for English is low. Unlike parents in big cities such as Hanoi and
Hochiminh city, many of whom are so involved in their children’s English learning as
shown in the number of children taking extra courses and scoring so high in English,
parents in non-urban areas do not seem to have given due attention to this subject.
Unfortunately, no effort so far has been spent on exploring this aspect of learning as
well as the attitudes of the parents towards their children’s English learning. Obviously,
an investigation into this area will bring about the information needed to gain an insight
2
into how students in those less advantageous areas are driven toward the most
important language in today’s globalization context, how their parents feel toward the
subject and how these two aspects are inter-related.
1.2 Aims of the Study
The study aimed at investigating the level of student motivation and their parent’
attitudes and involvement in their English learning at DQH Senior High School.
1.3 Scope and Significance of the Study
The study was conducted at DQH Senior High School in Vangiang district, Hung Yen
province.
The study focused on examining student motivation in the language that they are
learning: English and their parents’ attitudes and involvement in their English learning.
It is expected to provide deeper understanding of how students in less advantageous
areas in Vietnam feel toward the language and what kind of motivation is stronger. It is
also intended to draw a picture, though far from comprehensive, on how parents in
those districts are involved in their children language learning. From all this
implications on how to better motivate the students, how to maximize parents’ support,
how to initiate and sustain parents’ engagement could be drawn.
The study certainly had practical value for teachers teaching English in DQH Senior
High School in particular, and for any researchers who would like to improve language

teaching as well as learning in general. Knowing the factors affecting student
motivation would assist the search for better teaching and learning process.
3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Motivation as a significant factor in language learning has attracted interest of various
researchers and the literature is, therefore, very rich. This chapter, however, limits itself
to issues that are most pertinent to the research focus. They are types of motivation,
roles of motivation and parental attitudes and involvement in children’s language
learning. The review also covers studies into possible roles of parents in shaping the
students’ motivation for the language.
2.1 Motivation in L2 learning
2.1.1 Definition
Research on motivation in L2 learning has been heavily influenced by the work of
Canadian psychologist Gardner and MacIntyre (1993). According to Gardner (1985), a
highly motivated individual will want to learn the language, enjoy learning it, and strive
to learn it. The Gardnerian theory of L2 learning motivation is based on the definition
of motivation as “the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the
language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity”
(Gardner, 1985).
In this definition, motivation is described as goal-directed. Gardner (1985) proposes
that in order to understand why learners are motivated, it is necessary to understand the
learner’s ultimate goal or purpose for learning the language. He refers to this as the
learner’s orientation (Gardner, 1985). Besides, he identifies two distinct orientations for
learning a language, which are integrative and instrumental orientations.
4
2.1.2 Types of Motivation
2.1.2.1 Integrative Motivation
Integrative motivation or integrative orientation refers to a learner’s desire to learn
more about the cultural community of the target language (TL) or to assimilate to some
degree in the target community (Gardner, 1985). Moreover, integrative motivation

refers to a desire to increase the affiliation with the target community. Integrative
motivation is characterized by the learner's positive attitudes towards the TL group and
the desire to integrate into the TL community (Gardner, 1982; Gardner, 1985). In this
sense, the student with integrative motivation likes to learn the TL as he wants to know
more about its culture and people.
In addition, integrative motivation is a key component in assisting the learner to
develop some level of proficiency in the language. When someone becomes a resident
in a new community that uses the TL in social interactions, it becomes a necessity to
operate socially in the community and become one of its members. It is also theorized
that integrative motivation underlies successful acquisition of a native like
pronunciation (Finegan, 1999). It is thought that students who are most successful in
learning a TL are those who like the people that speak the language, admire the culture
and have a desire to become familiar with or even integrate into the society in which
the language is used (Falk, 1978).
In EFL setting such as Vietnam, especially in small, quiet towns, where there are very
few English speakers and the exposure to English cultures is very low, it is important to
consider the actual meaning of the term "integrative." As Benson (1991) suggests, a
more appropriate approach to the concept of integrative motivation in the EFL context
would be the idea that it represents the desire of the individual to become bilingual,
while at the same time becoming bicultural. This occurs through the addition of another
language and culture to the learner's own cultural identity. As Vietnam is
5
predominantly a monoculture society, opportunities to use the TL in daily verbal
exchanges are relatively restricted, especially in the countryside where foreigners rarely
appear. Hence, there is limited potential for integrating into the TL community. It could
be anticipated that the integrative motivation under investigation would not be very
strong.
2.1.2.2 Instrumental Motivation
Instrumental motivation or Instrumental orientation underlies the goal to gain some
social or economic reward through L2 achievement, thus referring to a more functional

reason for language learning (Gardner, 1985). Instrumental motivation is a more
utilitarian orientation. It refers to learner’s desires to learn the language in order to
accomplish some non-interpersonal purpose such as to pass an exam, to get a
scholarship, to advance a career, to meet the requirements for school or university
graduation, to apply for a job, to achieve higher social status, and so forth (Clement et
al., 1994; Dornyei, 1990; Hudson, 2000; Verma, 2005). This is generally characterized
by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the language study .
In brief, it is clear that the latter refers to the need to acquire a language as a means for
attaining goals such as career advancement or successful further study. The former,
however, refers to the desire to learn a language in order to become closer to the culture
and society of the TL group. To gain a clear and deep understanding about motivation
roles, types, the following studies are supposed to be useful.
2.1.3 Role of motivation in L2 learning
The study of motivation in SLA has become an important research topic with the
development of the socio-educational model on L2 motivation (Gardner & Lambert,
1972; Gardner, 1985; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993; Tremblay & Gardner, 1995).
According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), motivation to learn an L2 is grounded in
6
positive attitudes towards the L2 community and a desire to communicate with valued
members of that community and become similar to them. The latter desire is integrative
motivation, which is a better support for language learning, while instrumental
motivation is associated with a desire to learn L2 for pragmatic gains such as getting a
better job or a higher salary (Clement, Dornyei, & Noels, 1994; Dornyei, 2001;
Gardner & Lambert, 1972).; Hudson, 2000; Verma, 2005).
Without motivation, success will be hard to achieve (Ushioda, 2000). Motivation
provides the primary impetus to begin learning a second/foreign language and to
sustain the long and difficult learning process (Brown, 2000; Ely, 1986; Gardner, 1985;
Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Nunan, 2000; Nunan & Lamb, 1996; Oxford & Shearin,
1994; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992; Williams & Burden, 1997). The role of orientation can
help arouse motivation and direct it towards a set of goals, with either a strong

interpersonal quality (integrative motivation) or a strong practical quality (instrumental
motivation) (Dornyei, 2001). Studies in the psychology of learning affirm that without
motivation little can be learned (Williams & Burden, 1997). Additionally, numerous
research studies on L2 motivation reveal that, in general, motivation enhances SLA;
learners ranking high on integrative motivation work harder and learn faster than those
who are low on integrative motivation (Clement et al., 1994; Gardner, 1985; Gardner &
MacIntyre, 1991; Tremblay & Gardner, 1995; Liu, 2007, etc.). Therefore, integrative
and instrumental orientations or intrinsic and extrinsic motivations contribute to the
learning of an L2. Nevertheless, as to which one is more important varies from context
to context. Likewise, students in different contexts may be motivated to learn an L2 by
different orientations. This is why the issue is still worth further exploration in
situations with different groups of learners.
It is worth noting that L2 motivation is recognized as one of the prerequisites for
successful language learning. Motivation is “a very important, if not the most important
factor in language learning” (Van Lier, 1996) without which even “gifted” individuals
cannot accomplish long-term goals, whatever the curriculum and whoever the teacher.
7
Instrumental motivation as a contributing factor to learners’ effort and success in SLA:
“the greater the value that individuals attach to the accomplishment of or involvement
in the activity, the more highly motivated they will be to engage in it initially, and later
to put sustained effort into succeeding in the activity” (Verma, 2005; Williams &
Burden, 1997).
2.1.4 Studies into integrative and instrumental motivations
It has been shown that both integrative and instrumental motivations are important. A
student might learn an L2 well with an integrative motivation or with instrumental
motivation, or indeed with both, for one does not rule out the other or with other
motivation. Both integrative and instrumental motivations may lead to success, but lack
of either would cause problems (Gardner, 1985).
Firstly, integrative motivation has been found to sustain long-term success when
learning an L2 (Ellis, 1997; Taylor, Meynard & Rheault, 1977). In some of the early

research conducted by Gardner and Lambert (1972), integrative motivation is viewed as
being of more importance in a formal learning environment than instrumental
motivation (Ellis, 1997). In later studies, integrative motivation has continued to be
emphasized, although now the importance of instrumental motivations is also stressed.
However, it is noteworthy that instrumental motivation has only been acknowledged as
a significant factor in some research, whereas integrative motivation is continually
linked to successful SLA. It has been found that generally students select instrumental
reasons more frequently than integrative reasons for the study of languages (Gardner &
Lambert, 1972; Liu, 2007; Ushioda, 2000; Wong, 2005). They are also good language
learners. Nevertheless, it should be repeated that those who do support an integrative
approach to language study are usually more highly motivated and overall more
successful in language learning.
8
Gardner and Lambert (1972) conducted an important study in the Philippines. The
researchers switched from the study of French to the study of English, which is the
most prestigious language in the Philippines. The subjects in this study were high
school students who had approximately six years of formal training in English.
Additionally, English has been the means of instruction since the third grade. In the
study, Gardner and Lambert (1972) concluded that those students who were
instrumentally motivated and received support in their homes succeeded in English
language development more than those students who were not instrumentally oriented.
Nevertheless, those students who identified with the foreign language culture and
language seemed to be in a position of advantage in the language acquisition process.
Finally, and most important, Gardner and Lambert (1972) concluded that in the foreign
language setting, teachers and administrators should try to help students develop
integrative motivation toward the foreign language and its culture. In L2 setting, it is of
fundamental importance to help students develop both instrumental and instrumental
motivations.
Man-Fat’s (2004) study focused on the relationship between integrative motivation and
L2 achievement among Chinese L2 learners in Hong Kong. The respondents of the

study included 41 students at St. Francis Xavier's College (SFXC). SFXC is a boys'
school in Hong Kong with Chinese secondary students aged from 12 to 18. The data
collection instruments used in the study were a questionnaire adapted from Gardner's
Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMI) (Gardner, 1985) and a semi-structured
interview. The findings revealed that instrumental goals, especially future career
development and meeting more varied people with career-related purposes are more
important than integrative goals such as appreciating British arts and literature. In
addition to high instrumental motivation, the findings of the study showed that
integrative was also important to the respondents.
Liu (2007) conducted a research study on Chinese students’ motivation to learn English
at the Tertiary Level. The purpose of the study was to investigate Chinese students’
9
attitudes towards and motivation to learn English and the correlations of the said
variables with the students’ English proficiency. The subjects included 202 third-year
non-English majors (51 females and 151 males) in six classes in a southern university
in China. The instrument used in the study consisted of a motivation questionnaire, an
open-ended question and an English proficiency test. A modified 44-item questionnaire
adapted from Gardner’s (1985) and Clement et al.’s (1994) studies. The findings
revealed that the students had positive attitudes towards learning English and were
highly motivated to study it, and that they were more instrumentally than integratively
motivated. Their attitudes and motivation were positively correlated with their English
proficiency. This means the more positive attitudes students have, the more motivated
they are and as a result, the higher score they get in English proficiency.
2.2 Parents as a factor affecting students motivation in language learning ’
Parents play a crucial role in enhancing children’s motivation to learn an L2. Outside
the school environment, Wlodkowski and Jaynes (1990) present four major influences
on an individual’s motivation to learn, which are family, school, the child as an
individual, and culture. As Williams (1994) has explained, many factors affect students'
commitment to study such as their home background, physical tiredness, events in their
personal life, health, previous educational experience, personality and the onset of

adolescence. Within the limited scope of this study, the impact of parental factor,
specifically parents’ attitudes and involvement on students’ L2 motivation will be
reviewed.
Parental attitudes and involvement are very important in enhancing motivation to
children’s language learning. Gardner (1985) finally suggests that although the
students’ perception of their parents’ support is not directly related to their performance
in class, their willingness to learn and their motivation are substantially enhanced by
suitable encouragement from their parents. In fact, parental attitudes and involvement
tend to yield highly effective results in language learning. Gardner (1968) thinks it is
10
meaningful to distinguish two roles of the parent which relevant to his child’s success
in a second-language program, i.e., active role and passive role. Gardner (1968)
explains the former is the role whereby the parent actively and consciously encourages
the student to learn the language. In this active role, the parent monitors the child’s
language-learning performance, and to the extent that he plays this role to promote
success. That is, the parent watches over the child and makes sure he does his
homework, encourages him to do and in general reinforces his successes. Gardner
(1968) also believes it is safe to assume differences in the extent to which parents vary
in this encouragement function would have some influence on the child’s performance
in any learning situation. On the contrary, the passive role is more subtle, and Gardner
(1968) thinks it is more important, primarily because the parent would probably be
unaware of it. By the subtle role, Gardner (1968) means the attitudes of the parent
toward the community whose language the child is learning. He believes these attitudes
are important because they influence the child’s attitudes and motivation.
To contrast these roles, Gardner (1968) explains that if an English speaking parent
might actively encourage a child to learn French, he may stress the importance of doing
well in that course, and might see that the child does his homework, and so forth. In
this case, he might be perceived as actually helping the child. This is the active role.
However, this same parent might hold positive or negative attitudes toward the target
community. To the extent that he holds negative attitudes toward the target community,

he may be undermining his active role by transferring to the child negative attitude
towards the target community whose language the child is learning (Gardner, 1968).
Therefore, like teachers, it is believed that parents can have remarkable impact on
students’ motivation to learn at school and at home as well. Webb and Palinscar (1996)
emphasizes the critical role of parents like teachers that can influence students’
motivation and engagement in class. Parents are considered to play a more critical role
in their child’ SLA (Gardner, 1960; Gardner & Lambert, 1972). Specifically, support
from home is very important for students’ motivation to learn a second language. If
11
parents value both the native language and English, communicate with their children in
whichever language is most comfortable, and show support for and interest in their
children’s progress, the children will definitely be more motivated to learn the L2
(Wlodkowski & Jaynes, 1990).
Concerning family, Wlodkowski and Jaynes (1990) assert that parents appear to be the
primary influence on child’s motivation to learn. Family has an impact on motivation at
every stage of development, lasting through secondary school and beyond. Healthy,
effective families possess positive attitudes and behaviors toward their children that
help them to succeed in school and life (Wlodkowski & Jaynes, 1990). With parents
being a child’s first and most important teacher, it seems obvious that family will have
a significant influence on the development of a child’s motivation to learn. Garrett
(1995) (as cited in Wlodkowski & Jaynes, 1990) asserts in a speech at the Oklahoma
Administrator’s Conference “the smallest school in America is the family”, which
illustrates the significant role that family has in education and motivation of students.
Of the family, parental influences are an integral part of students’ motivation. One of
the most effective areas of increased student motivation lies not in the schools at all,
but in the homes of the students. Parental involvement here continues to be the most
influential factor in student achievement and motivation. Students whose parents are
closely involved in their school lives and who monitor their progress fare best in high
school. From the research findings, Brophy (1987) finds significant proof that parents
and family are the leading models and motivators for secondary education students.

More importantly, children’s home environment can shape the initial constellation of
learning attitudes. When parents nurture their children to learn by encouraging them to
explore and ask questions, they will develop a sense of competence and self-efficacy
and autonomy, which help enhancing their motivation to learn. Additionally, Brophy
(1987) advocates, motivation to learn is stimulated most directly through modeling,
communication of expectations, and direct instruction or socialization by significant
others, especially parents and teachers. Additionally, scholars like Wlodkowski and
12
Jaynes (1990), Gottfried et al. (as cited in Dornyei, 2001) believe that parents, apart
from peers, also play a major role in affecting students’ motivation to learn as parents’
support is the main reference point reinforcing students’ goals during their process of
learning.
In conclusion, parents should be assumed that they are concerned and competent
people; they are making their best efforts for the good of their children; they have to
contend with pressure and responsibilities; and they need support in their efforts toward
problem solving (Wlodkowski & Jaynes, 1990).
2.3 Studies into parental attitudes and involvement in children s language’
learning
2.3.1 Parental attitudes in children s language learning’
Motivation in L2 learning has been a research topic of great interest to researchers and
educators for years. There have been various research projects done in this aspect (e.g.
Gardner & Lambert, 1959; Gardner, 1960; Gardner & Feenstra, 1968; Gardner &
Lambert, 1972, etc.). Moreover, several research studies conducted in recent years
(Madileng, 2007; Liu, 2007; Sung & Padilla, 1998; Wong, 2005) demonstrate how
much motivation influences student in L2 learning and some emphasize the role of
parents in student’s SLA.
In their first studies, Gardner and Lambert (1959), and Gardner (1960) investigated
English-speaking high school students who were taking French lesson in Montreal in
terms of language-learning aptitude, verbal intelligence, attitude toward the French
community and intensity of motivation to study French. Moreover, Gardner (1960)

found that those students with integrative motivation to study French, had parents who
also had an integrative motivation toward the French community. In this respect,
13
Gardner (1960) concluded that the students’ integrative motivation depended on the
family’s attitudes.
Related to the topic of the previous study, Gardner and Feenstra (1968) investigated
parental influence on students of French in Ontario. Basing on the result of their
research, Gardner and Feenstra (1968) confirmed the result of Gardner’s previous
studies. Those parents, who were concluded to hold more positive attitudes toward the
French language and community, encouraged their children to learn French more than
those parents who did not have positive attitudes toward the French language and
community.
After the series of studies described above, Gardner and Lambert (1972) decided to
extend their research to a non-Canadian setting to test the generalizability of their ideas
about motivation, attitudes, and the language learning process. For this purpose, they
conducted a series of studies in Louisiana, Maine, because it presented an active French
subculture. The third state, Connecticut, was chosen as a reference for foreign language
learning, and as an example of a more “typical American region”.
In Louisiana and Maine, Gardner and Lambert (1972) investigated the attitudes and
motivation of American high school students toward the French language and people.
The findings showed that parents in Louisiana seemed to encourage their children to
learn French for instrumental reasons. However, unlike the Louisiana setting, where
parental attitudes played an important role in motivating students, in Maine, motivation
apparently seemed to stem from a positive view of the French teacher and sensitivity
for the feeling of others. Furthermore, an instrumental orientation originated in those
homes where parents shared many French friends.
Sung and Padilla (1998) conducted a research on student motivation, parental attitudes,
and involvement in the learning of Asian languages in elementary and secondary
schools. The respondents consisted of 591 students, where elementary occupied 140
14

students from two different schools and 450 for secondary students from six different
schools in California. The aims of the study were to examine the student motivation
toward the learning of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean in public school in California.
Information was collected by means of a questionnaire, one for parents and one for
students. The findings revealed that elementary students were more motivated overall
toward Asian language study than were older students. Besides, younger students
perceived their parents as more involved in their language study than did high school
students. The findings further showed that elementary school parents had positive
attitudes toward L2 and were more motivated in the child’s language learning than
were parents of high school students. It is important to note that the students in this
study made no distinction between instrumental and integrative motives for learning a
foreign language. Students here had the right to choose the language they liked to learn.
Another recent research project carried out by Madileng (2007) with an empirical
investigation in the relationship between motivation and English second language
proficiency when English was viewed as a medium of instruction. The respondents of
the study were 52 first year students at the Ekurhuleni West College of the ALberton
campus registered for Business Studies. A questionnaire and a language proficiency test
were used for the data collection. The results of the study proved that parental support
were generally low and never went above 25.6% and that the students who got the least
parental support were low performers.
In brief, parental attitudes towards their child’s language learning play a vital and
crucial role in the development of SLA. More specifically, when children are receiving
frequent encouragement from their parents, they would be more motivated to learn the
language; as a result, they would put more effort to learn it. To some extent, they would
even be willing to study it. In other words, parents’ attitudes can shape their children’
motivation to learn the language and parental involvement holds a more significant part
in maintaining their children’s motivation. The latter issue is reviewed in the following
section.
15
2.3.2 Parental involvement in children s language learning’

Although little research has been done to examine students’ motivation to learn English
versus their parental involvement, several studies provide clues to this critical
component of L2 learning.
In the 1990s, researchers (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991; Mahlobo, 1999) studied the
effects of variables like the contribution of parents in their children’s SLA and
proficiency and the influence of other variables like the school and classroom
environment. The curriculum of the home is characterized by family values that
manifest from parent-child interaction. Such values set a foundation of individual
responsibility, hard work, perseverance and the importance of education and
educational achievement. The literature review highlights parents’ socio-economic
status, parents’ level of education, and appropriate family context and culture as
influential on learner motivation.
2.3.2.1 Parents socio-economic status’
Some research indicates that there is a significant relationship between parents’ socio-
economic status and their children’s level of intelligence (Milner, 1986 as cited in
Mahlobo, 1999).
Families with low socio-economic status lack items such as books, magazines, radios,
television, TV games, computers and computer games that can serve to stimulate
children intellectually and provide exposure to English. This can affect the learners’
ESL proficiency and academic performance since such learners tend to be characterized
by a lack motivation, poor academic achievement, poor language skills, inductive rather
than deductive reasoning, as well as inability to use high order cognitive strategies like
analysis and evaluation (Du Toit, 1993 as sited in Mahlobo, 1999).
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In the light of previous research, Wong (2005) conducted a research on “Student
Motivation and English Attainment” in Hong Kong. The research study aimed at
investigating the motivation patterns of the two groups of Hong Kong students with
different cultural backgrounds and at examining the relationship between their
motivation to learn English and English attainment. The respondents included 50
students. The tools for gathering information were a questionnaire and an English

Attainment Test. The findings revealed that peer is the most influential factor affecting
students’ motivation to learn while parents play the least significant role and that
parental guidance was not sufficient during students’ process of learning English.
Wong (2005) further explained most parents in this study were working class, their
educational level might not be sufficient to solve their children’s English problems and
sometimes the family income could barely support the expenses of the whole family
making it difficult for the parents to care for their children’s studying as well as English
learning. Therefore, parents’ education and financial status were the foremost
problems, which indirectly devastated students’ learning motivation.
2.3.2.2 Parents educational background’
The parents’ level of education also determines their levels of aspirations for their
children, parental involvement in the education of their children and the family value
systems. With this respect, children of highly educated parents benefit more from
education as their parents are able to assist more in their learning. Such children can
make more progress than those who are not fully supported by their parents due to poor
educational backgrounds (Driessen, Vander Slik, & De Bot, 2002).
What is more important, parental involvement entails their assistance in high scholastic
achievement, offering academic guidance and provision of resources on school related
tasks and managing and emphasizing educational activities of their children rather than
pleasurable things like TV programs, choice of books and magazines (Ferhmann et al.,
1987 as cited in Mahlobo, 1999). This means that expression of affection and interest
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in the child’s academic and personal growth, effective value systems, family practices,
parental beliefs and attitudes toward education can contribute to promote motivation
and positive self-concept. In contrast, when parents cannot speak or understand
English, the learners’ acquisition of English is not supported and reinforced after
school hours. Such parents may also feel ill-equipped to assist with homework
(Madileng, 2007).
2.3.2.3 Parental expectations from learners
Parents’ expectation of scholastic success, a better career, as well as high professional

status attainment, are important and easily transmitted through a development of a
family context and culture which values education in so far as it leads to self-
improvement and high self-esteem (Schnider & Lee, 1990 as cited in Mahlobo, 1999).
They point out that such a context can be created through, amongst others, verbal
encouragement of children to excel in EFL tasks, helping them with English homework
and practical projects, monitoring when possible and support from an EFL perspective.
Parents should also provide reading materials such as books, newspapers and
magazines with topics of interest to their children.
Parental expectations in learning EFL can also be a from of hope that can help children
strive to become better English learners as well as more motivated to learn , thus it is
natural for parents to have expectations about their children. Therefore, it is necessary
that parents should let children know what their expectations are (Gardner, 1968). Once
children know their parents’ hope, they would want to please their parents and try their
best to work hard to realize that hope. Consider an example, rural Vietnamese parents
can hope that one day their children with good knowledge of English will work in a
foreign company in order to be well-paid and support for the whole family.
In conclusion, a variety of studies show that a home conductive to learning and a family
context which include the parents’ level of education, positive educational aspirations
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and effective involvement in their children’s improvement in ESL proficiency, can
result in high general scholastic performance(Gardner, 1968; Gardner & Lambert,
1972; Madileng, 2007; Wong, 2005). This is a clear indication that education and ESL
achievement is not the responsibility of the school alone. For education to succeed,
parents should also play a prominent role in the education of their children
2.4 Summary
All this suggests that an investigation into parents’ role in promoting children’s
motivation needs to consider both aspects and their manifestations. In this chapter, the
general information about motivation in L2 learning was explored. First, the definition
of motivation, types and roles of motivation were reviewed through previous studies.
Second, role of parents in generating children’s motivation in language learning was

also reviewed through numerous research projects. All these were helpful because they
provide the background knowledge of the present research study.
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