Vai trò của phụ huynh trong việc tạo động lực học Tiếng Anh cho học sinh tiểu học = Parents’ roles in motivating primary school students to learn English

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

********************

NGÔ THỊ HUỆ

PARENTS’ ROLES IN MOTIVATING PRIMARY SCHOOL
STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH
VAI TRÒ CỦA PHỤ HUYNH TRONG VIỆC TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC
TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.01.11

Hanoi - 2014


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

********************

NGÔ THỊ HUỆ

PARENTS’ ROLES IN MOTIVATING PRIMARY SCHOOL
STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH

VAI TRÒ CỦA PHỤ HUYNH TRONG VIỆC TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC
TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.01.11
Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Ph.D

Hanoi - 2014


DECLARATION
I hereby state that I, Ngô Thị Huệ, being a candidate for the Degree of Master of
Arts, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and use of
M.A. Thesis deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or
reproduction of the paper

Signature:

Date: July 21st, 2014

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor,
Dr. Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa for her valuable advice, constructive comments, patient
support and encouragement in the completion of this M.A. Thesis.
I would like to send my sincere thanks to my informants in this study, who
have provided useful and valuable information for this research. Without their
enthusiastic contribution and cooperation, this research would certainly not have
been completed.
In the thesis, it is inevitable that the ideas of many other writers in this field
are reflected and developed. Their ideas have stimulated my thinking on doing this
paper. My debt to the authors listed in the references is equally great. To all these
scholars, I offer my sincere thanks.
Finally, I am greatly thankful to my family and friends, who are forever a
great source of support and encouragement.

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ABSTRACT

This study attempted to find out the roles of parents towards their children in
learning English at home. Specifically, it sought the anwers to the following
questions: 1.What are parents‟ attitude about their children‟s English learning at
primary school? 2.What do parents often do to encourage their children to learn
English? 3.What are parents‟ role in motivating

primary students in learning

English at home? 4.What are the common barriers for parents to get involved in
children‟s learning English at home?. The participants of this study were all parents
of third graders in Ngoc Xuyen Primary School, Do Son District. The data was

collected from the questionnaires and interviews. The analysis of the data showed
that parents not only had positive attitude towards their children‟s English learning
but also expressed strong willingness to be involved in children‟s English learning
process. Results from the study show that besides school instruction, parents
reported various strategies and activities that they used at home to encourage their
children to learn English. It was revealed that there were four types of roles that
parents played in motivating their children to learn English : an advocate, a
supervisor, a facilitator and a guider. The parents involved in the study also reported
that they faced some difficulties when helping their children in English learning, the
most significant of which are the lack of English knowledge and financial condition.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ......................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... iv
PART A : INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1
1. Rationale ................................................................................................................................ 1
2. Aims of the research ............................................................................................................. 3
3. Significance of the research. ................................................................................................ 3
4. Scope of the research. ........................................................................................................... 4
5. Methodology.......................................................................................................................... 4
6. Design of the research.......................................................................................................... 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVEW ..................................................................... 5
1.1.Definition of terms. ............................................................................................................. 5

1.2. An overview of motivation in language learning .......................................................... 6
1.2.1. Definition of language learning motivation ......................................................... 6
1.2.2. Classification of motivation in language learning ................................................ 7
1.2.3. The importance of motivation in language learning .......................................... 10
1.2.4. Parental factor and language learning motivation .............................................. 11
1.2.5. Characteristics of motivated children. ................................................................ 13
1.3. An overview of primary school students ...................................................................... 13
1.3.1. Physiological characteristics ................................................................................ 14
1.3.2. Cognitive ability .................................................................................................... 14
1.3.3. Faculty of memory ................................................................................................ 14
1.3.4. Study ability .......................................................................................................... 15
1.3.5. Self- consciousness ............................................................................................... 15
1.4. Home learning ................................................................................................................. 15
1.4.1. The importance of home learning ......................................................................... 15

iv


1.4.2. Barriers for parents‟ involvement ......................................................................... 16
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................... 18
2.1. The context of the study .................................................................................................. 18
2.2. Research questions ........................................................................................................... 19
2.3. Participants........................................................................................................................ 19
2.4. The data collection instruments. ..................................................................................... 21
2.5. Data Collection Procedures ............................................................................................. 22
2.6. Data Analysis................................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND MAJOR FINDINGS ............................... 24
3.1. Parents‟ attitudes towards their children‟s English learning at primary school. ........ 24
3.2. Parents‟ behaviors ............................................................................................................ 26
3.2.1. Parents‟ interests in involvement in the children‟ English learning. ............... 26

3.2.2. Ways and types of parental behaviors ................................................................. 27
3.3. Parents‟ roles .............................................................................................................. 33
3.4. Barriers for parents‟ involvement. ........................................................................... 34
PART C: CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 37
1. Major findings and conclusions ......................................................................................... 37
2. Some implications .............................................................................................................. 37
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 39
APPENDIX 1 .............................................................................................................. I
APPENDIX 2 ............................................................................................................IX
APPENDIX 3 ............................................................................................................. X
APPENDIX 4 ............................................................................................................XI

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PART A : INTRODUCTION
This part states the rationale of the study, together with the aims, the
significance and the scope of the research. Above all, it is this part that the research
questions are formulated to work as clear guideline for the whole research.
1. Rationale
Because of the globalization, English has become an international language.
In many countries, English is the primary language or official language; whereas in
non- speaking countries, it is often taught as a foreign language and has referred to
as an international language. Hence, it is widely taught at all stages of education
system in Vietnam. According to the Decision No 1400-QD-TTg of the Prime
Minister, English is introduced into the primary education curriculum starting from
grade 3 in Vietnam. As English education is largely promoted in recent years, it has
encouraged and influenced many Vietnamese parents‟ decision to place English as
an educational priority for their children. They are beginning their children‟s
English learning at the earlier age than were common in the past and send them to

English language learning center. In Do Son, a small district of Haiphong city, there
are no such centers. English is taught in a classroom context where teachers follow
the syllabus and learners have a few hours of English instruction a week. In this
type of environment, students have little opportunity to articulate English structure
that are presented to them. When complicated grammatical structures are taught
without the opportunity to learn by trial and errors, learners may lose interest in
learning English, particularly if their cognition is not mature enough to make sense
of these grammatical structure. According to my observation, there are too many
students in one class, nearly about 40 students. Moreover, the number of English
periods per week is only 4 periods. In such condition, it is difficult for third grade
students to be able acquire English well immediately at school. They must learn
and practise their English a lot at home with the support from parents. Different
practices of families in motivating children‟s language learning might exist. On the
other hand, children with good attitudes may be more likely to be persistent in the

1


learning of English if they can develop strategies based on their individual
characteristics and aptitudes, supported by family, school and other environments.
Motivation is very important to the learning process. If children are not
motivated, they will not learn. Children must see and feel the need for learning.
Unless they see a need for and have an interest in learning, there is little incentive
for them to learn. There are internal and external factors or psychological factors
that affect language learning. Ellis (1990) states that internal factors are related to
individual themselves. The other category is the influence from outside or external
factors. Two of the important external factors are the parents‟ attitude towards
second language learning and parent involvement in that process. A lot of parents
believe that education is the mere responsibility of school. Because of this wrong
perception, they tend to ignore the needs of their children‟s education at home.

Good quality home learning contributes more to children‟s learning than parental
occupation, education and income. Many researchers have been asserted the
influence that parents can have on individual‟s motivation to learn a second
language. Furthermore, many recent research projects on language learning
motivation have included this factor in their studies (Atay and Kurt (2010), Henkel
(2009), Ryan (2009)). They have indicated that parents play an important role in
maintaining their children ability as well as in participating for the success of
learning. The influence the parents on the child can be active supporters of their
children‟s foreign language learning without themselves having skill in the foreign
language.
Although parents play an active role in children‟s learning, there is little
research on parents‟ roles in education in general and in language learning in
particular in Vietnam. However, despite growing documents of factors instrumental
to children‟s English learning motivation and achievement, empirical attention
focuses on individual characteristics of students, language learning strategies and
teachers‟ contributions while neglecting the role of parents that can be shown
through their attitudes towards English learning and the way they involve in the
learning process. All of these reasons did give an account for the researcher‟s wish

2


of carrying out the study “parents‟ roles in motivating primary students to learn
English at home” to investigate parents attitudes towards English learning and the
way they act to promote their children to learn English.
2. Aims of the research
This study aims to find out parents‟ role in motivating primary students to learn
English. To be more specific, the objectives of this study are:
-

To find out parents‟ attitudes towards their children‟s learning English at
primary schools.

-

To find out what parents do to encourage their children to learn English

-

To find out parents‟ roles in motivating children to learn English

-

To find out the common barriers for parents to get involved in children‟s
learning English at home?

These aims are formulated into four following research questions:
1. What are parents‟ attitudes towards their children‟s English learning at
primary school?
2. What do parents often do to encourage their children to learn English?
3. What are parents‟ roles in motivating primary students in learning
English at home?
4. What are the common barriers for parents to get involved in children‟s
learning English at home?
3. Significance of the research.
3.1. Theoretical significance.
Through this study, theories of motivation are revisited. Main definition
together with the classification of motivation and the importance of motivation in
language learning are represented. Besides, an overview of primary students‟
characteristics and their English learning are provided.. Moreover, the common barriers

affecting parents‟ participation in children‟s learning English at home are covered.
3.2 . Practical significance.
This study is expected to find out the parents‟ roles in motivating their children
in learning English. Through the result, it is expected that it can give benefit for

3


parents to know the necessary information about their roles and help them in
encouraging their children to learn English more.
4. Scope of the research.
Parents play an important role in primary students‟ English learning. Their
roles can be shown by their involvement in school and at home. Due to time
constraints, the length of the thesis and the research‟s knowledge, this study only
focus on find out what roles can parents play in motivating their children in
learning English at home.
5. Methodology
This study uses survey method which is based on both qualitative and
quantitative data collected from parents of all the third grade students at Ngoc
Xuyen Primary School in Do Son District by Questionnaire and Interviews.
6. Design of the research
The study report is divided into three main parts
Part one is the Introduction featuring the rationale for the study as well as the
aims, the significance and the methods employed in the research. In addition, it also
briefly introduces the scope of the study together with the overall design of the
research report.
Part two is the Development consisting three chapters:
- Chapter 1 is the Literature review covering main issues and concepts
related to motivation, primary students and parental factors affecting their
participation in motivating their children to learn English at home.

- Chapter 2, Methodology, is devoted to describe the research methodology
which comprises the information of the research subjects, settings and data
collection instruments and procedures.
- Chapter 3, Data analysis, Findings and Discussion, presents the results from the
detailed analysis of collected data and provides several discussions related to them.
Part three is the Conclusion that recapitulates the main contents of the study
report. Some limitations, implications and suggestions for further study are also
represented.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVEW
1.1.Definition of terms.
Parents
When discussing parents‟ roles, the most commonly appearing – word will
be “ parents”. As Lockette (1999) mentions “ When we use the term “ parents”, we
need to remember that “ parents” can also mean other adults who play an important
role in a child‟s life”. Lunts (2003) includes parents, guardians, stepparents,
siblings, members of extended family and any other adults who might carry the
primary responsibilities for a child‟s health, development and education into the
meaning of “ parents”.
Parental involvement
According to Epstein (1995), there are six types of parental involvement
which include:
1. Parenting ( helping families with child -rearing and parenting skills)
2. Communicating (developing effective home- school communication)
3. Volunteering (creating ways that families can become involved in activities at
the school)

4. Learning at home (supporting learning activities in the home that reinforce school
curricula)
5. Decision- making (including families as decision- makers through school- site
councils, committees..)
6. Collaborating with the community (matching community service with family
needs and serving their community)
Parental involvement in type four (learning at home) suggests that the parents can
engage in children education through supporting learning activities at home .
Attitude
Attitude is a psychological state that is expressed through agreement or
disagreement with a certain situation or value (Eager and Chaiken, 1993).
Role

5


Role is a prescribed or expected behavior associated with

a particular

position or states in a group or organization.
( Roles correspond to
behaviors and vice versa.
Homework
The Oxford Dictionary defines homework as “ school work that a pupil is
required to do at home”.
( />According to this definition, homework in English learning can be exercises from
workbook, memorising vocabulary, grammar and phonemic symbols, listening to
tape….
1.2. An overview of motivation in language learning

1.2.1. Definition of language learning motivation
In education in general and in language learning in particular, motivation has
always been considered as essential factor contributing to success. Without
motivation, any efforts would be almost impossible. Therefore, a thorough
understanding of this concept is needed.
Motivation has been defined in a number of ways by a variety of researchers
and scholars. According to MacIntyre (2002:16), motivation indicates a thing or a
condition. Ager (2001:7) defined motivation as a language behaviors. Motivation
prompts learners‟ desire to achieve the target language learning and provides a
stimulus for continuous learning activity. Motivation consists of three aspects:
goals, attitudes and motives. Goal theory, which is one of three main elements to
define motivation, consists of three types of goal: ideal, objective and target (Ager,
2001: 11). However, not all motivations can be explained by the goal theory. For
instance, motives such as parental expectation, imitation and self-esteem are more
likely to be explained by needs more than goals. So the satisfaction of needs that
can explain these motives is one type of goal theory. Another linguist, Harmer
(2001:51) states that “at its most basic level, motivation is some kind of internal
drive which pushes someone to do something in order to achieve something”. More

6


elaborately, Gardner (1985) remarks “motivation involves four aspects: a goal,
effort behavior, a desire to attain the goal and favourable attitudes towards the
activity in question”.
Briefly, motivation is an undoubtedly complicated phenomenon that has
many definitions in many ways. Although those researchers use different statements
to define motivation, all definitions would not contradict its important in language
learning and the nature of how motivation is defined similar. Simply speaking, if an
individual wants to do something, it is necessary for him or her to have the

motivation or desire to complete the task. Therefore, language learning motivation
is very important for people to learn a target language.
1.2.2. Classification of motivation in language learning
When employed in education and language learning, the following different
types of motivation can be differentiated:
- Integrative motivation: the desire to identify with and to integrate into the target
language culture. It is a “ motivation to learn a second language because of positive
feelings towards the community that speaks that language” (Gardner, 1985). The
integrative motive is a composite construct made up of three main components:
integrative orientation, interest in foreign language and attitudes towards second
language community.
- Instrumental motivation: the wish to learn the language for

more utilitarian

purposes such as meeting the requirement for school or university graduation,
applying for a job or achieving higher social status.
- Intrinsic motivation: the urge to engage in the learning activity for its own sake.
- Extrinsic motivation: motivation that is derived from external incentives such as
high marks or compliments from teachers, friends and parents..
- Global motivation: the overall orientation of the learners towards the learning of
the foreign language.
- Situational motivation: it has to do with the context of learning ( classroom,
learning environment).

7


-Task motivation: the motivation that the learners get when they are performing
particular tasks in learning performance.

- Resultative motivation: according to Ellis (1990), “ it is likely that the relationship
between motivation and achievement is an of interactive one. A high level of
motivation does stimulate learning, but perceived success in achieving second
language goals can help maintain existing motivation and create new types”. When
learners succeed in learning, they may be more or some times less motivated to
learn.
- Developmental or personal motivation: the motivation relating to “ personal
development or personal satisfaction” (Cooper and Fisherman, 1997). This includes
such activities as watching movies and reading books in English.
Among these types of, the most well-known types are discussed in the following
section.
1.2.2.1. Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation refers to “ motivation to engage in an activity for its own
sake”( Wordkowski, 1991). He means that the activity itself is for its own benefit.
Paul Eggen and Don Kauchak (1994) suggest that such behaviors as curiosity, the
need to know and feelings of competence or growth reveal a learner‟s intrinsic
motivation, the needs that exist within the learners. Intrinsically motivated students
are willing to learn the language in the purpose of fulfilling of their curiosity, the
need to know and feeling of competence. They also enjoy the learning process for
the interest, they do not need other kind of rewards or punishment. The factors of
support of intrinsic motivation include competence (the feeling that you know how
to do things), autonomy (being able to perform an activity by yourself) and
relatedness (connection with your social environment like helping others).
Three types of intrinsic motivation are classified by Valler (1997) as follows:
- To learn: involving in an activity for pleasure, satisfying one‟s curiosity and
exploring the world.
- For achievement: engaging an activity for suppressing or accomplishing
something

8

- To experience stimulation: referring to the learners‟ engagement in an activity to
experience pleasant sensation.
In contrast to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation is defined as a motivation
that stems from external stimulus. These motivators are unrelated to the subjects being
learnt and they exist outside the individual dong the task ( Cheryl L. Spaulding,
1992:4). There are four different types of extrinsic motivation depending on the degree
of self – determination that learners have in it ( Deci and Ryan, 1985).
- External regulation: referring to a behavior that is determined through means
external to the individual such as reward or punishment.
- Interjected regulation: representing reasons for performing an activity in respond
to some kind or pressure that the individual has internalized.
- Identified regulation: the individual decides to perform a behavior because he or
she views the activity as personal worthwhile.
- Integrated regulation: involving choiceful behavior that is fully assimilated with
the individuals‟ other values, needs and identity.
In short, intrinsic motivation produces more potential benefits than extrinsic
motivation. Intrinsically motivated students tend to try harder and think more
deeply than extrinsically motivated ones.
1.2.2.2. Instrumental and integrative motivation
Gardner and Lambert (1972) first made the most famous distinction between
two types of motivation: integrative and instrumental.
Integrative motivation is the desire to learn a language to integrate
successfully into the target language community. According to Garner and Lambert
(1972, cited in Ellis, 1997:50), motivation is strongly influenced by integrative
orientation to language learning. In their words, "an integrative orientation involves
an interest in learning a second language” because of a sincere and personal interest
in the people and culture represented by the other group". In addition, “the
integratively motivated student”, wrote Masgoret and Gardner (2003), “is one who

is motivated to learn the second language, has openness to identification with the

9


other language community and has favourable attitude toward the language
situation.”
Instrumental motivation, on the contrary, is something which concerns the
practical value and advantages of learning a new language (Lambert 1974: 98, cited
in Ellis, 1997), and which is characterized by „the wish to learn the language for
purposes of study or career promotion‟ (Ur, 1996: 276, cited in Lan, 2008) and the
desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language
(Hudson, 2000). In other words, instrumental motivation is the learner‟s desire to
learn a language for utilitarian purposes (such as employment/travel/exam purposes)
in the context of language learning.
While both kinds of motivation are essential elements of success in learning a
second language, it is integrative motivation which has been found to sustain longterm success when learning a second language Ellis (1997). In some of the early
research by Gardner and Lambert (cited in Ellis, 1997), integrative motivation was
viewed more importance in a formal learning environment than instrumental
motivation. Integrative motivation was regarded as superior to instrumental
motivation for predicting the success of second language learning (Gass, 2001, cited
in Vaezi, 2008: 54). The reason is that if students respect the target culture, they
may read literature or practice the language and thereby be able to improve their
language skills (Cook, 2001, cited in Vaezi, 2008:54). However, from another
perspective, instrumental motivation is meaningful for the learner who has had
limited access to the L2 culture, or foreign language settings (Oxford, 1996, cited in
Vaezi, 2008:55). Dornyei (1996, cited in Vaezi, 2008:55) opposed Gardner by
claiming that instrumental motivation is more important than the integrative
motivation. It is important to note that instrumental motivation has only been
acknowledged as a significant factor in some research, whereas integrative

motivation is continually linked to successful second language acquisition.
1.2.3. The importance of motivation in language learning
The importance of motivation in enhancing language learning is undeniable.
Lifrieri (2005:4) points out that “ when asked about the factors which influence

10


individual levels of success in any activity- such as language learning- most people
would certainly mention motivation among them”. Brown ( 2000: 160) states that”
it is easy in second language learning to claim that a learner will be successful with
the proper motivation”.
With similar view, Gardner ( 2006: 241) posits that “ students with higher
levels of motivation will do better than students with lower levels” . “If one is
motivated, he/she has reason for engaging in the relevant activities, expends effort,
persists in the activities, attends to the task, shows desire to achieve the goal, enjoys
the activities”. Reece and Walker (1997) express that motivation is a key factor in
the second language learning process. They stressed that a less able student who is
highly motivated can achieve greater success than the more intelligent student who
is not well motivated.
Among the things that do clearly affected the mastery of a second language is
the kind of motivation that a learner has (Finegan, 1994:466).Students who are in
some way “motivated” do significantly better than their peers despite using methods
which experts consider unsatisfactory and being in unfavorable conditions.
(Harmer, 1991:3)
Motivation is the driving force in determining whether or not the learning
will be successful. Therefore, motivation is very crucial in language leaning and it is
important

for parents and teachers to motivate the children in the process of

learning foreign language.
1.2.4. Parental factor and language learning motivation
It is found that second language learning are learnt in diverse context.
Learners have a range of external factors associated with the significant others on
motivation including parents, teachers and peers. Parents are considered as a factor
of extrinsic motivation that cannot be fully influenced by the teacher. In any case,
parents remain an important motivating factor that affect learners in the very front
line (Lumsden 2). As an extrinsic motivational factor, if well oriented, parents
become an unforgettable source of confidence, which returns in self-esteem and
eventually as intrinsic motivation. Also, parents are fundamental in the development

11


of affective relations and emotional stability, factors that are again, closely related
to intrinsic motivation. Parental influence on second language motivation was a
major component of Gardner‟s model because parents were seen to “ act as the
major intermediary between the cultural milieu and the student” (Gardner, 1985:
109). Parents can play an active or passive role in the second language learning.
Parents play active role

when they display positive attitude about language

learning, taking interest in the material and schoolwork. Visible expressions of
attitudes parents hold about language learning are shared when parents describe
those who speak English with praise and admiration and enjoy being in their job.
Then they have behaviors to motivate their children in learning such as encouraging
their children to do well, assisting them to learn, reinforcing any successes
identified by the school. The passive role involves parents‟ indirect modeling and

communicating attitudes related to second language learning and the community.
They can show no interest in language learning or making no attempt to learn. It can
send passive negative message about the importance of knowing a second language.
This may expressed by encouraging their child to spend more time in other subjects.
Gardner suggests that when parents

have positive attitudes towards the

community, they would serve to support an integrative motive in the student. In
order to support Gardner‟s hypothesis, Sarojani Devi Krishnan conducted an
interview to examine the role of parents in language learning motivation. The
findings showed that among all the factors, parents‟ encouragement play the most
important role in motivating students to learn the English language. To young
learners, due to their developmental stage, they are likely to be particularly
susceptical to the influence of parents. Therefore, parents play an important role in
young learners‟ motivation to learn English. Successive models of language
motivation have also included the role of parents in learners‟ live. “ When parents
are involved in their children‟s education at home, they do better in school”
(Hendeson and Berla, 1994). Success at school is guaranteed if children are
supported by parents attitudes and involvement at home. (Simsek and Tanayd,
2002).

12


In the context of Vietnam where English is learnt as a foreign language, most
children do not have immediate needs to use English in their daily life. On the other
hand, children do not always have a choice about learning English, they are often
forced to learn it because of parental pressure. Therefore, the emphasis parents place
on learning is a key incentive for children . Parents‟ positive attitude and behaviors

can be another motivation orientation. Thus, in children‟s English learning, it is
necessary for parents to promote children‟s motivation. Internalizing their
perception of parents‟ expectation , children may consequently generate their own
volition to learn English.
1.2.5. Characteristics of motivated children.
A motivated learner here means the one who participates willingly and
actively in the learning activities. They often show certain characteristics associated
clearly with motivation as follows:
- Positive task orientation: the learner is ready to deal with the task and challenges
and has confidence in his/ her success.
- Ego-involvement: the learner has a need to achieve, to overcome difficulties, and
to succeed in what he/she sets out to do.
- High aspirations: the learner goes for demanding challenges and high proficiency.
- Goal orientation: the learner is very aware of the goals of learning and directs his
or her efforts towards achieving them.
- Perseverance: the learner consistently invests a high level of efforts in learning and
is not discouraged by setbacks or apparently the lack of progress.
- Tolerance of ambiguity: the learner is not frustrated by a temporary lack of
understanding; he/she should think it will come clear later.
1.3. An overview of primary school students
Primary school children in Vietnam are basically aged from 5 to 11 years old
and included 5 grades. They are called young learners. The children in this research
are third graders in primary school system; thus, their age is about 9 years old.
They have the following common characteristics:

13


1.3.1. Physiological characteristics
Children are physically underdeveloped and

not matured biologically.

According to the Critical Period Hypothesis, children have a neurological advantage
in learning languages. They can acquire language more easily. Their speech organs
are more flexible than those of matured adults. They have the advantage in learning
a new language because it is much easier for children than for adults to utter the
new language with an accurate pronunciation and intonation.
1.3.2. Cognitive ability
Children‟s cognitive ability is underdeveloped. Malcolm Knowles‟ pedagogy
and andragogy theory maintains that children tend to be dependent thinkers and
learners and therefore need teacher when they are at school and parents when they
are at home to direct what, when and how a subject is learnt. According to Jean
Piaget‟s theory of cognitive development, children rely principally on sensory
experience of reflecting and acquiring knowledge, and they mostly understand
things directly or through audio visual aids and other sensory inputs. Competence is
encouraged by interactions, interest, opportunities, admiration and signs of
affection. (Malcolm Knowle, 1984).
1.3.3. Faculty of memory
Children‟s memory is weak. Children cannot control what they are taught,
the younger the learner, the patchier storage and recall, which again makes
recycling activities necessary, whereas age improve second language capacity.
Memory consists of three phrases: register, storing and recalling. In order to be able
to say that they have learnt a given item successfully, all three stages must be
available.
Moreover, children‟s memory is more mechanical. They do not have access
to the memory techniques and other strategies. Children have short –term visual
memory and forget things quickly. It is difficult for them to retain memory over a
long period of time. Therefore, children should revised at home what they have
learnt at school.

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1.3.4. Study ability
With regard to language learning, children have good ability to recognize and
imitate sounds from individual to individual. Children are less self-disciplined and
self-directed for study. They need more teachers‟ and parents‟ guidance and push
1.3.5. Self- consciousness
According to Stephen Krashen (1982), most children do not feel nervous about
attempting to use a new language, even when their proficiency is quite limited.
They are not afraid of taking the risk of making mistakes. They do not always
monitor their second language speech. Children tend to be more awareness of being
noticed and praised by teachers, peers and parents.
1.4. Home learning
1.4.1. The importance of home learning
English education for children can be done everywhere, not only at school
but also in other environment outside school. Children‟s English learning
environment outside school can be at home. Actually, children have more time at
home rather at school. Therefore, they are supposed to have more learning with
their parents. Moreover, children cannot master all lessons taught at school once at a
time. They need to repeat the lesson at home continuously . They have to make the
continuity between school and home learning because it is very important in
motivating children to keep learning their English without stopping. These are why
parent play an important role to learn at home with children. Children‟s interest in
home learning is built depending on how parents show their attitude and how they
act to help them to learn. Parents can improve their children‟s English learning by
providing encouragement, reviewing English lessons or providing supporting
materials and facilities which can enable their children in their study. Through
parents‟ attitude, children can realize the importance of English in their future life

meeting the need of

globalization. From that point, their English learning

motivation may be enhanced. By doing home review, parents can explain more to
their children what they have learnt at home. Parents can check whether their
children understand the lesson, remember vocabulary and sentence patterns or not.

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Children will also have more opportunity to ask with their parents because of their
closed relationship. From this review time, parents can help them to learn from
books or to read and write the vocabulary and sentences for practice. They can also
accompany and check children to do homework. In addition, they can give their
children facilities such as tape recorders or DVD players to help them improve their
pronunciation and listening skill.
The benefits of enhancing learning at home
- Parental understanding: Parents will understand the material their children are
responsible for knowing.
- Attainment of goals: Parents can assist their children with attainment of learning
goals.
- Positive attitude: Students develop a more positive attitude about homework.
Effects of learning at home:
For students: - Skills, abilities and tests scores limited to homework and class work.
- Homework completion
- Positive attitude about homework and school.
- View of parents as more similar to teacher and of home as more
similar to school
- Self- confidence in ability as learners.

For parents: - Knowledge of how to support, encourage and help student at home
- Discussion of school, homework and future plans
- Understanding of instructional program at what a child is learning
- Awareness of child as learners.
( Cited in A toolkit for family involvement in education- Oregon Department of
Education)
1.4.2. Barriers for parents’ involvement
According to Comer (1993), in spite of the agreement that parents‟ attitude
and involvement has positive impact on children‟s learning result, parents have
reported barriers for them to get involved. According to Chen (2008), time
constraint is the top reason that parents give for not participating more in their

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children‟s education. Lack of time is also cited by school personnel as a result for
not seeking parental support more actively (Chen, 2008). Parents‟ financial
condition and educational background are what shape parental behaviors, their
opportunities to be involved and their own orientation toward education. The
parental financial condition affects the children‟s success at school (Hargreaves,
1991). Unlike the children from financially capable families, low income families
have a hard time in providing their children with sufficient number of books, extracurricular activities, or computers to support their learning process. Because of that,
the children are likely to participate less in academic life which may result in poor
academic achievements. On the other hand, children from high income family could
easily get the access towards books, computers and other facilities.
The high awareness of learning needs can also be reflected from the parents‟
level education background supporting children academically. These are usually
visible from the parents who come from higher education or college graduate in
contrast to parents from low education level such as elementary graduate or drop
out. They tend to ignore their children‟s academic development at school. They

rarely check the children‟s homework. Parents with higher education level would
hope that their children would have higher achievement and thus, pay more
attention to their children‟s academic. Moreover, their English proficiency level
would affect the level of their involvement and how they help their children in
English learning. If parents do not know English, they cannot assist their children
with school work at home.

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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter gives a brief view on the setting of the research then discusses
the methodology of the study related to subjects of the study, research instruments,
data collection and data analysis.
2.1. The context of the study
English language teaching at primary level has been actively implemented at
almost school since 2010 according to Project "Teaching and learning of foreign
languages in the national education system in the period 2008 – 2020” Decision No.
1400/QD-TTg 30/9/2008 of the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Education and
Training is taking a phased approach in which primary English language teaching
plays a very important role.
Ngoc Xuyen Primary School is in Do Son Districts, Haiphong city. The
students population is the biggest among three primary schools in Do Son. It has for
many years to be the most reliable address for students and parents of the district. In
the school year of 2013- 2014, Ngoc Xuyen Primary School had three third-grade
classes. Each class had an average of 39 students. The biggest class had the
maximum of 42 and the smallest had the minimum of 36. Like other primary
schools in Haiphong city in general and in Do Son in particular, English teaching
has been applying for third graders in Ngoc Xuyen Primary School since 2004. For
the past ten years, it used to be an optional subject from grade 3 with the time

allocation of two periods per week and using the textbook “Let‟s learn English book
1, 2, 3” (The Educational Publishing House & SNP Panpac Publishing House,
Singapore). Because of the implementation, English has become a compulsory
subject. A new program is applied and the number of periods increased from two
periods per week to four periods per week since 2010. The initial result is the
textbooks Tieng Anh 3, which was published by Ministry of Education and
Training. Tieng Anh 3 consists of twenty units and four review ones for two terms.
Each unit focuses on competences, sentence patterns, vocabulary and phonics.
Thanks to the globalization and the new policy of the Ministry of Education
and Training, parents in Do Son have realized the importance of English for their

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