Motivation in learning English among the second-year students in Faculty of Banking and Finance, Hanoi University of Business and Technology = Động lực học tiến

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


NGUYỄN THỊ XUYẾN


MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH AMONG THE
SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS IN FACULTY OF BANKING
AND FINANCE, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND
TECHNOLOGY
(Động lực học tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ hai Khoa Tài chính-Ngân
hàng, Trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội)



M.A Minor Programme Thesis
60 14 10





Hanoi, September/ 2010

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

  


NGUYỄN THỊ XUYẾN


MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH AMONG THE
SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS IN FACULTY OF BANKING
AND FINANCE, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND
TECHNOLOGY
(Động lực học tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ hai Khoa Tài chính-Ngân
hàng, Trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội)
M.A Minor Programme Thesis


Major: ELT Methodology
Major code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Hồng Hải, M.A



Hanoi, September/ 2010


iv
Table of content
Declaration………………………………………………………………………………….i
Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………… ii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………….iii
Table of content……………………………………………………………………………iv

List of abbreviation terms……………………………………………………………… vi
List of tables and figures………………………………………………………………….vii
INTRODUCTION 1
1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY 2
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2
4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3
5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3
6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY 3
DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4
1.1. Definition of motivation in L2 learning 4
1.2. Classification of motivation in language learning 6
1.2.1. Gardner’s classification…………………………………………………………….6
1.2.2. Deci and Ryan’s classsification………………………………………………… 7
1.3. Factors affecting negatively students’ motivation in L2/foreign language
learning……………………………………………………………………………………… 9
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ….13
2.1. Context of the study 13
2.2. Subjects 14
2.3. Data collection instruments 15
2.4. Data collection procedure 17
2.5. Data analysis…………………………………………………………………………… 18
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 19

v
3.1. Findings 19
3.1.1. Students’ motivation in learning English in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation…………………………………………………………………………………… 19
3.1.1.1. Extrinsic motivation…………………………………………………….19

3.1.1.2. Intrinsic motivation…………………………………………………… 21
3.1.2. Factors affecting negatively the motivation in learning English…………24
3.2. Discussions 30
3.2.1. Students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation……………………………….30
3.2.2. Demotivating factors……………………………………………………….32
3.2.2.1. Subject-related demotivating factors……………………………… 32
3.2.2.2. Learning environment-related demotivating factors……………….33
3.2.2.3. Teacher-related demotivating factors……………………………… 34
3.2.2.4. Student-related demotivating factors…………………………………36
CONCLUSION 37
1. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 37
2. RECOMMENDATIONS 38
3. LIMITATIONS 39
4. FUTURE DIRECTION 40
REFERENCES 41
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 : Motivation questionnaire (in English)
Appendix 2 : Motivation questionnaire (in Vietnamese)
Appendix 3: Tran and Baldauf’s (2007) framework of demotivating factors in
Vietnamese university students
Appendix 4: Schmidt et al. (1996) questionnaire
Appendix 5: Results of demotivating factors questionnaire





vi
List of abbreviation terms

L2
Second language
EFL
English as a foreign language
HUBT
Hanoi University of Business and Technology
FoBF
Faculty of Banking and Finance
SD
Strongly Disagree
D
Disagree
U
Undecided
A
Agree
SA
Strongly Agree

vii

List of tables


Table 1:
The structure of the motivation questionnaire………………………………………
16
Table 2:
The frequency and distribution of items measuring extrinsic motivation………….
20
Table 3:
The frequency distribution of items measuring intrinsic motivation………………
22
Table 4:
The frequency of Demotivating factors by coding categories…………………….
24
Table 5:
Internal demotivating factors……………………………………………………….
25

Table 6:
Teacher- related demotivating factors……………………………………………….
28
Table 7:
Learning environment-related demotivating factors………………………………
29





List of charts

Chart 1
The frequency and distribution of items measuring extrinsic motivation………….
20
Chart 2
The frequency distribution of items measuring intrinsic motivation………………
22
Chart 3
The frequency of demotivating factors by coding categories………………………
25



1
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Background of the study
In the globalization era, English has become more and more important as an
international language; therefore, in many countries all over the world, students are

required to learn English through compulsory programmes at educational institutions.
Surprisingly, despite the fact that students have to learn English to pass the examination to
graduate, many students fail to study it successfully. In many countries where studying
English as a second or foreign language is compulsory such as China, Taiwan, or Vietnam,
students usually drop out the programmes or find out the strategies to pass the exams with
the least effort. What are the reasons for this problem? Studies have shown that there are
many factors, both internal and external, that influence the second/foreign language
learning process such as the learning environment, the instructors, the learning conditions,
the attitude of learners towards the target language, the learners‟ language aptitude,
intelligence, and motivation, and so on (see Gardner (2001), Lightbown & Spada (1999),
and Ellis (1985)). That is why in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, those
influential factors for second/foreign language learning must be investigated carefully.
Among various influential factors, Gardner (2001) stated that “motivation is a
central element along with language attitude in determining success in learning another
language in the classroom setting” (p.2) since he believed “many of these other variables
are dependent on motivation for their effects to be realized” (Gardner, 2001, p.2). Other
researchers such as Ely (1986); Spolsky (1989), and Scarcella and Oxford (1992) shared
the same view that motivation determines how much effort students make, how often
students use second/foreign language learning strategies, how much students interact with
native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned, how well they
do on curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level
becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain second/foreign language skills after
language study is over. Hence, the study of motivation in second/foreign language learning
is very important. In Vietnam, although several researchers (see Tran & Baldauf (2007))
have conducted a few motivational studies of English as a foreign language in some
Vietnam‟s universities, most studies have focused mainly on the relationship between
motivation and academic achievement. There have been a few attempts revealing the

2
motivational factors that underlie the Vietnamese university students‟ English language

learning.
Furthermore, as a lecturer of English at HUBT, the researcher herself realizes that
although English is considered one of the most important subjects at HUBT with a lot of
time and effort spent on teaching and learning English, students at HUBT in general and in
FoBF in particular seem not to be successful in learning English. After a great deal of talks
with those students as well as the researcher‟s observation, it seems that one of the reasons
may be related to students‟ motivation in learning English. However, there are not any
researches conducted to investigate into the situation of students‟ motivation in learning
English at HUBT in general and students in FoBF in particular.
All of the above-mentioned reasons have urged the researcher to conduct the
research with the title “Motivation in learning English among the second-year students
in Faculty of Banking and Finance, Hanoi University of Business and Technology.”
2. Aims of the study
This study is conducted in order to investigate into the motivational factors that
urge second-year students in FoBF to learn English as well as to find out whether those
motivational factors are intrinsic or extrinsic. This piece of research moreover is expected
to reveal the main factors that affect negatively the motivation in learning English, and the
order of frequency of these demotivating factors. Finally, basing on the results of the
research, this study will propose some strategies to improve the motivation in learning
English of the second-year students in FoBF in particular and the students at HUBT in
general.
3. Research questions
This study is guided by the following questions:
1. What is Banking and Finance second-year students‟ motivation in learning
English in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
2. What factors affect negatively the motivation in learning English of second-year
students in FoBF?
3. Which demotivating factors are the most frequent as perceived by second-year
students in FoBF?

3
4. Significance of the study
It is hoped that this study would give a full picture of English learning motivation
of second-year students in FoBF, HUBT. From this research, the researcher herself
together with other English teachers who are in charge of teaching English for those
students can better understand the situation of their students‟ motivation in learning
English as well as the factors affecting that motivation. They then can find out appropriate
methods to improve the motivation in learning English of their students as well as to
reduce as many negative effects of demotivated factors as possible.
5. Scope of the study
Motivation is a broad topic with many different aspects; thus, within the scope of
this study, the researcher would like to focus only on analysing types of motivation in
terms of intrinsic-extrinsic motivation, and demotivating factors. In addition, this study
limits itself to investigate the English language learning motivation of the second-year
students in FoBF at HUBT, especially those who are interested in using the Internet.
6. Design of the study
This study is composed of three following parts:
Part A: Introduction presents the background, aims, research questions, the
significance, the scope, and the design of the study
Part B: Development is organized around three chapters as follows.
Chapter 1- Theoretical background, conceptualizes the framework of the study
through the discussion of issues and ideas on theories of motivation, types of motivation
and demotivation.
Chapter 2 - Methodology, presents the context, the methodology used in this study
including the subject, the data collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data
analysis
Chapter 3 – Findings and Discussions consists of a comprehensive analysis of the
data and a discussion on the findings of this study.
Part C: Conclusion, offers a summary of the findings, recommendations,

limitations, and future directions for further study.


4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
In order to lay a solid foundation for this study, some theoretical background
knowledge as well as the previous studies on motivation in L2 learning and factors
affecting negatively motivation in L2 learning have been reviewed. It is obvious that the
clarification of a definition is the initial step to any investigation; this chapter hence will
firstly present a brief definition of motivation in L2 learning.
1.1. Definition of motivation in L2 learning
Motivation has been perhaps one of the most popular research topics since the
beginning of the 20
th
century, which attracts a lot of attention of researchers both in
psychology and education field. Despite the divergence of the approaches used to study
motivation, its definitions are surprisingly uniform. In simple terms, motivation, based on
the Latin verb for “move”, is understood as the force that makes one do something. It is a
process that involves goals, physical or mental activity, and is both instigated and sustained
(Pintrick & Schunk, 1996, p.4-5). In other words, motivation in general is characterized in
terms of direction, duration, and intensity.
However, the definition of motivation in L2/foreign language learning is less
uniform. Oxford and Shearin (1994) and Do
̈
rnyei (1998a) shared the same view when they
both pointed out that even though motivation is a term frequently used in both educational
and research context, there is little agreement in the literature on the exact definition of
motivation in L2/foreign language learning.
In his education-oriented theory, Keller (1983) defined motivation as “the choices

people make as to what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid and the degree of
effort they will exert in that respect” (p. 389). In relation to this concept, Keller (1983) also
asserted four motivational conditions that teachers should know in order to motivate
students to learn. They are (1) Interest (Attention) that refers to whether learner‟s curiosity
is aroused, (2) Relevance refers to whether the highly desired goal is perceived to be
related to the instruction of the teacher, (3) Expectancy (Confidence) refers to whether the
learner perceives the likelihood of success, and (4) Satisfaction (Outcome) refers to

5
whether extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation meet the learners‟ anticipations (Keller,
1983, p. 395)
Gardner (1985), from the social psychological point, defined motivation in L2
learning 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” (p.10).
According to this definition, motivation consists of three components: (1) effort expanded
to achieve a goal, (2) a desire to learn the language, and (3) satisfaction with the task of
learning the language (Gardner, 1985, p.13).
Crookes and Schmidt (1991) suggested an expanded definition of language learning
motivation. They stated that language-learning motivation has both internal and external
aspects. Internal aspects consist of interest level, perception of relevance, expectancy of
success or failure, and perception of rewards. On the other hand, external aspects include
the overt decision to learn, persistent learning behavior, and high involvement.
According to Williams and Burden (1997), however, motivation is “a state of
cognitive and emotional arousal which leads to a conscious decision to act, and which
gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort in order to attain a
previously set goal(s)” (Williams & Burden, 1997, p. 120). In other words, motivation
involves arousing interest in doing something, sustaining interest, and investing time and
energy into using the necessary effort in order to achieve a certain goal.
Drnyei (1998) gave a comprehensive definition of motivation. Motivation, from
his process-oriented point of view, is “a process whereby a certain amount of instigation

force arises, initiates action, and persists as long as no other force comes into play to
weaken it and thereby terminate action or until the planned outcome has been reached”
(Drnyei, 1998, p.118).
In brief, each approach to motivation reflects a different perspective from which
L2/foreign language learning motivation is conceptualized. There are differences in the
way different researchers define motivation because they study motivation from the
perspectives of different languages in different contexts, with different subjects and
different learning conditions. However, from whatever angle the researchers look at the
concept of motivation in L2/foreign language learning, most of them have identified three
crucial components of motivation: (1) the conscious decision directed to the goal of

6
learning a language, (2) the effort expanded to achieve that goal, and (3) the sustenance of
that goal/effort.
1.2. Classification of motivation in language learning
Different researchers describe different reasons/motives why people learn a
language following different theories; thus, there exists different ways to classify
motivation in language learning. In this paper, the researcher would like to review only two
ways of classification of motivation in language learning of some famous researchers,
namely Gardner, and Deci and Ryan since their theories of motivation are considered the
most fundamental and influential in the field of motivational psychology and education.
1.2.1. Gardner’s classification
By the early 1990s, Gardner‟s motivation theory and framework dominated the
field. Motivation, as defined by Gardner, is a composite construct of goal, desire to attain
the goal, effortful behavior, and favorable attitudes towards the activity involved in
achieving the goal (Gardner, 1985, p.50). He proposed that motivation could have different
orientations, mainly integrative orientation and instrumental orientation.
Integrative motivation or integrativeness refers to positive attitudes towards the
target language group, and willingness to learn an L2 in order to learn about, interact with
or become closer with the L2 community. Instrumental motivation on the other hand is

associated with more functional reasons for L2 learning such as to get a better job/a
promotion/a scholarship, or simply to pass a required examination (Gardner, 1985).
EFL learners are identified as instrumental performers if they learn the language to
pass an examination, to use it in their work, or even use it in the country where it is spoken.
Integrative performers, however, are found to possess sympathetic attitudes towards the
culture of the target language and its speakers. They probably see great value in being able
to speak a foreign language and experience an appreciation of different cultures.
Gardner and Lambert (1972) suggested that individuals with an integrative
orientation would demonstrate greater motivational effect in learning a L2, and as a result,
they would achieve higher L2 proficiency. That is why of the two orientations, integrative
motivation has been usually held as superior (Crook & Schmidt, 1991). However, Gardner
(1985) claimed, “an integrative motive is not the only predictor” (p.83) of achievement in

7
L2 but simply those who are integratively motivated will be more successful in language
learning than those who are not so motivated (Gardner, 1985).
Although Gardner‟s classification is very famous and popular in the field of
motivation research, it has been criticized by many researchers such as Shaw (1981);
Clement, Drnyei, and Noels (1994); Drnyei (2001), and others. According to Shaw
(1981), in parts of the world where English is learned as a foreign language, the integrative
motivation, in the way it is understood by Gardner, plays only a minor role in the
achievement of English language learning because English is considered “a bonafide
international or intra-national language which is not inseparably connected to any
particular countries” (Shaw, 1981, p. 112). In addition, in many countries around the world
(Vietnam as an example) EFL learners do not have many opportunities to interact with the
target language speakers or go to English-speaking countries. It can also be noted that in
case of EFL learning, instrumental motivation seems to be more important and popular.
Another criticism comes from Clement , Drnyei and Noels (1994). Such researchers have
concluded that integrative and instrumental motivation is entwined rather than separated,
and that to attempt to pose them as antithetical is fruitless. Therefore, it is difficult to

distinguish integrative motivation from instrumental one.
1.2.2. Deci and Ryan’s classification
Deci and Ryan‟s (1985) theory of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and self-
determination is one of the most influential theories in mainstream motivational
psychology (Drnyei, 2001, p.58). The theory distinguishes between two main kinds of
motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation deals with individual‟s motivation
to perform a particular activity for its own sake in order to experience pleasure and
satisfaction, such as the joy of doing a particular activity or satisfying one‟s curiosity.
Extrinsically motivated individual, on the other hand, perform a specific activity to achieve
some instrumental end such as earning a reward (e.g. good grades) or avoiding punishment
(Drnyei, 2001, p.27).
Although intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are typically considered uni-
dimensional constructs, Vallerand (1997) has divided intrinsic motivation into three sub-
types and extrinsic motivation into four sub-types.

8
Intrinsic motivation is subdivided into intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic
motivation toward achievements, and intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation
(Drnyei, 2001, p.28). Intrinsic motivation to know refers to motivation for “engaging in
an activity for the pleasure and satisfaction of understanding something new, satisfying
one‟s curiosity and exploring the world” (Drnyei, 2001, p.28). Intrinsic motivation
towards achievements is the feeling of satisfaction associated with attempting to surpass
oneself, to cope with challenges and to accomplish or to create something. In other words,
this subtype of intrinsic motivation refers to the effort to realize a goal or master a task.
Intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation refers to motivation to engaging in an
activity to experience pleasant sensations stimulated by the activity itself (Drnyei, 2001).
Extrinsic motivation is divided into four subtypes, namely external regulation,
introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation.
External regulation, according to Drnyei (2001), refers to “the least self-
determined form of extrinsic motivation, coming entirely from external sources such as

rewards or threats” (p.28). A student with external regulation, for example, may learn
English because his/her parents ask him/her to learn or their teacher encourages him/her to
learn. Since for a student with external regulation, the reason for learning a foreign/second
language is completely regulated by contingencies outside the individual, the student‟s
effort and involvement in language learning would be expected to decrease once this
reason is removed.
Introjected regulation, as stated by Drnyei (2001), involves “externally imposed
rules that student accepts as norms to be followed in order not to feel guilty” (p.28). For
instance, an introjected student may do English reading exercises at home because s/he
feels guilty if s/he does not do so. Therefore, for those with introjected regulation, learning
takes place as long as they feel the need to reduce guilt or to self-aggrandize. This subtype
of extrinsic motivation seems to be more internalized than external regulation.
Identified regulation occurs when the student engages in an activity as s/he highly
values and identifies with the behavior, and sees it useful to do (Drnyei, 2001). For
example, a student with the identified regulation may learn English because it is necessary
for him/her to listen to English songs or watch films in English.
The last and also the most developmentally advanced form of extrinsic motivation
is integrated regulation. As Drnyei (2001) stated, integrated regulation involves

9
“choiceful behavior that is fully assimilated with the individual‟s other values, needs and
identity” (p.28). For instance, a student who learns English because s/he thinks English
proficiency is a part of an educated cosmopolitan culture that everyone in his/her country
must adopt is considered integrated one.
Of the two motivation types, extrinsic motivation has traditionally been viewed as
something that can undermine intrinsic motivation (Drnyei, 2001). Some studies have
confirmed that students will lose their natural intrinsic motivation in an activity if they
have to do it to meet some extrinsic requirement. However, as Deci and Ryan (1985)
argued, external rewards can be combined with or can even lead to intrinsic motivation if
they can enhance the feeling of competence.

While integrative and instrumental motivation is difficult to separate, intrinsic and
extrinsic factors, according to Brown (2000), can be easily identified in foreign language
classrooms regardless of the differences between the cultural beliefs and the attitudes of
learners and teachers. About the relationship between intrinsic-extrinsic motivation and
integrative-instrumental motivation, Schmidt et al. (1996) concluded that intrinsic-extrinsic
distinction is similar to integrative-instrumental distinction but not identical. Both
instrumental and integrative motivation can be seen as subtypes of extrinsic motivation
because both are related to goals or outcomes. They also stated that integrative and
instrumental motivation is not a dichotomy, and that there are some learners who are both
instrumentally and integratively motivated to learn a foreign language and those who are
neither instrumentally or integratively motivated.
1.3. Factors affecting negatively students’ motivation in L2/foreign
language learning
Within L2/foreign language learning motivation research, there is a tendency to
conceive motivation as a kind of a cumulative force whose strength ranges “… on a
continuum from zero to strong” (Drnyei, 2001, p.141). However, teachers‟ and students‟
experiences suggest that certain negative influences, or demotives can also have a
significant effect on motivation. Drnyei (2001) defined demotives as “specific external
forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an
ongoing action” (p.43) Demotivation is also considered a shared feature of most L2/foreign

10
language learning where the language studied is a required school subject. As Chamber
(1983) stated, many L2/foreign language teachers may be familiar with some student who,
“….makes no effort to learn, shows no interest, demonstrates poor concentration, produces
little or no homework, fails to bring materials to lessons, claims to have lost materials;
doesn‟t respond well to extra help; lacks a belief in own capabilities; demonstrates
lethargy, „what‟s the use?‟ syndrome, and gives negative or nil response to praise; is
unwilling to cooperate, distracts other pupils,…” (as cited in Drnyei, 2001, p.147)
Despite the popularity of demotivation phenomenon in L2/foreign language

learning, just a few studies on this topic have been conducted. Chamber‟s (1993) study
investigated demotivation in language learning in four schools in the UK by using the
questionnaires to gather both teachers‟ and students‟ perspectives. Teachers participating
in the study perceived the causes of demotivation as related to a variety of reasons such as
psychological, social, historical, and geographical. Students, on the other hand, blamed
their teachers and learning materials as the main causes of demotivation. Based on his data,
unfortunately, Chamber could only draw a few conclusions about the impact of demotives
on the language learning experience.
Oxford‟s (1998) study is considered an advance in the understanding of demotives.
She carried out a content analysis of essays written by nearly 250 American students about
their learning experience over a period of five years with the help of some prompts such as
“Describe a situation in which you experienced conflict with a teacher” or “Talk about a
classroom in which you feel uncomfortable”. The results of the study revealed four broad
sources of demotivation, namely the teacher‟s personal relationship with the students (e.g.
lack of caring), the teacher‟s attitudes towards the course or the material (e.g. lack of
enthusiasm), style conflicts between teachers and students, and the nature of the classroom
activities. Nevertheless, as Oxford‟s prompts specifically refer to the teacher‟s role in
causing demotivation, other potential sources might not have been provided by participants
in the study.
Drnyei‟s (1998b) study used long structured interviews to collect demotives
among students who have experienced demotivation. The results of the study revealed nine
main demotivating factors; of which teacher is the most frequent source of demotivation.
The demotivating aspects about the teacher are related to his/her personality, commitment
to teaching, attention paid to students, competence of subject matters and teaching

11
methods. Reduced self-confidence is the second most frequent source of demotivation.
This, on one hand, derives from experience of failure or lack of success; on the other hand,
reduced self-confidence is directly related to the teacher in the classrooms. Inadequate
school facilities are as frequent as reduced self-confidence. It includes the group being too

big or not on the right level, or teachers changing too frequently. Negative attitude towards
the L2 is the fourth source of demotivation, followed by the compulsory nature of the L2
study, which means, for instance, feeling compelled to choose English over another
language because of its utility and popularity. Interfere of another foreign language being
studied comes sixth. This demotivating source could be easily seen in mixing up two
languages. Negative attitude towards L2 community is the seventh source of demotivation.
For example, some students participating in Do
̈
rnyei‟s (1998b) study stated that they found
American culture with its best-known aspects such as McDonalds and films unattractive.
The eighth source of demotivation is attitudes of group members. For instance, a student
always feels embarrassed because s/he thinks the group members laugh at him/her because
of his/her poor English skills. The last source of demotivation study is the course book.
(see Drnyei, 2001, p.152-153).
The strength of Do
̈
rnyei‟s 1998b study lies in his focused approach to studying
demotivation. To be more clearly, his study focuses on students who are identified as
demotivated ones, which offers detailed and comprehensive insights into the source of
demotivation since these learners have presumably given them many thoughts. However,
the variety of demotivating factors might be wider if students that are not specifically
demotivated are not excluded from the study because in fact, every learner has some
experience of feeling demotivated during the process of L2 learning.
In Vietnam, Tran and Baldauf (2007) conducted a research on demotivation in
English language learning using stimulated recall essays from 100 university students of
their foreign language learning experiences. The study offered a framework of
demotivation (See Appendix 3).
Tran and Baldauf‟s (2007) study revealed that the phenomenon of demotivation not
only exists in EFL learning in Vietnam but is also a serious problem. The findings of this
study seem to be consistent with the general results reported in previous studies when it

states that the largest source of demotives is related to teachers. Teachers are reported to
have strong impacts on students‟ demotivation or motivation to learn. Within the four

12
demotive categories related to teachers, teaching methods provide the largest source of
demotives. Teacher‟s inappropriate classroom behavior is also a major demotivating factor
since it usually hurts students‟ feelings and leaves them with negative attitudes towards
English. Demotives that result from the learning environment account for 21% and 5% are
related to other external factors including obligation factors and negative changes in
students‟ courses. Internal demotivating factors accounts for 36% of the total number of
demotivating encounters. Of which, students‟ experiences of failure or lack of success are
the highest. Another important finding of Tran and Baldauf (2007) is that many students
are demotivated because of inadequate background knowledge of English. It is reported in
that study that university syllabi usually set progressive standards for subsequent classes
that students are supposed to have to meet, and teachers in subsequent classes keep these in
mind when they prepare lessons. Hence, students who fail to make adequate progress in
their previous classes find themselves with gaps in their knowledge and are incapable of
dealing with current lessons, and feel demotivated.
In conclusion, this chapter has reviewed some of the most popular and widely-used
theories on motivation, types of motivation, demotivation and factors affecting negatively
motivation in learning a second/foreign language. After considering some previous pieces
of research on those matters, the researcher realized that although motivation is stated to
play a very important role in EFL learning, and demotivation is a common problem in
many EFL learning environments in Vietnam in general and in HUBT in particular, those
matters have not been received much attention from Vietnamese researchers. There have
been few attempts investigating into the situation of business students‟ motivation in
learning English in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, especially to the extents of
factors that demotivate those students. Thus, this study is conducted with the hope to shed
a light on those matters in a specific EFL context in Vietnam, FoBF, HUBT.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the context and the subject of the study, the data collection
instruments, the data collection procedure, and the data analysis procedure will be
presented.
2.1. Context of the study
This study is conducted at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT),
a private university in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi, Vietnam. HUBT is rather famous for
providing good training in two main fields: business and technology. Business involves
several different majors such as Banking and Finance, Accounting, Business
Administration and Commerce. Of all, Banking and Finance is considered the most
popular major of HUBT with the greatest number of students studying in this faculty.
Every year there are approximately 1,000 new students enrolling in FoBF; this faculty
hence receives a lot of attention of the university.
At HUBT, English is considered an extremely important subject to all students
regardless the majors they are learning; the students hence have to study English during
three and a half years at HUBT and complete 72 credits of English (equivalent with 1080
periods) before allowed to take the Graduation examination by the end of the fourth year.
In addition, HUBT always looks for new ways to improve the quality of teaching and
learning English. Hence, in the school year 2010-2011, HUBT plans to pilot a new English
course called DynEd with the freshmen (K15) and the sophomore (K14) in FoBF. DynEd
is an English-learning software that allows students to learn English online so that they can
practice their English more at home, and teachers can easily manage their study records via

the Internet.
What is more, to prepare for students to learn English well, about 20 multi-media
classrooms are settled. In each of these classrooms, there are computers, projectors, and
screens. In addition, language learning equipment (e.g. CD-players, tape players, and extra
reference books) is also available and of high quality. Each week, students will have one
video lesson that focuses on practicing listening skills and pronunciation. Moreover, on
average, there are about 30 students in each English class, which is a good size for a
language class.

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Up to now, the books Market Leader Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, and
Intermediate written by David Cotton, David Falvey, and Simon Kent from London
Guildhall University have been used as course-books for Banking and Finance students.
The three books are primarily designed for business English courses for businesspeople
and students of business English to develop students‟ communication skills they need to
succeed in business as well as to enlarge their knowledge of business world. Moreover, it
is expected that every student studying this course will become more fluent and confident
in using the language of business and should increase their career prospects.
The assessment is based on two examinations per each semester namely End-of-
semester exam and Computer-based Multiple-choice Test. At the End-of-semester exam,
students‟ four English skills, Speaking-Listening-Writing-Reading are assessed. After that,
students will take Computer-based Multiple-choice test consisting of 120 multiple-choice
questions in 90 minutes. All multiple-choice questions are based on what students have
learnt in the course books.
English teachers at HUBT graduated from different universities in Vietnam but all
of them majored in English. Moreover, most of them are very young, enthusiastic, and
dynamic. Nevertheless, some of teachers do not have teaching experience since they were
not trained to be teachers. That is why for those teachers managing classrooms is difficult,
especially when some pedagogical situations happen.
2.2. Subjects

Initially all 900 students (equivalent with 30 classes) who are studying the second
year in FoBF at HUBT were invited to participate in this study. Of which, 238 students are
males (26.5%) and the rest 662 students are females (73.5%). All of those students were
born in 1990 or 1991. They come from different parts of Vietnam (from rural/mountainous
areas to big cities). That explains why they have experienced different methods of
instructions and achieved different levels of English proficiency. However, all of them are
supposed to be at Pre-intermediate level of proficiency. Those students have studied
English for at least eight years, and have finished the first year of studying business
English at HUBT; thus, they are supposed to be familiar with the teaching and learning
methods at HUBT. However, all of them use Vietnamese in their daily conversations, and

15
they rarely have chances to use English as a means of communication, except for some
time in the classroom with teachers and classmates.
2.3. Data collection instruments
This study employs a mixed method design that includes both quantitative and
qualitative research methods in order to get a more detailed and comprehensive picture
about what is investigated.
In this study, qualitative data is gained from semi-structured interviews and
quantitative data is achieved from self-report questionnaire. Self-report questionnaire is
used in this study since motivation, as Drnyei (2001) stated, is “an abstract term that
refers to various internal processes and states. It is therefore not subject to direct
observation but must be inferred from some indirect indicator, such as the individual‟s self-
report accounts” (p.185). In order to ensure that the participants can understand correctly
the content of the questionnaire and the interview, both of them are conducted in
Vietnamese.
The questionnaire consists of three parts. The table 2 displays the structure of the
questionnaire.
Part I: Background Information: This part is designed to gather the information
about the participants‟ demographic information including gender, number of years of

learning English, and hometown.
Part II: Motivational Questionnaire. The Motivational Questionnaire includes two
compositions: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation consist of
5 items (statements 2,4,6,8,10) and extrinsic motivation includes 5 items (statements
1,3,5,7,9). All 10 statements are in a Five-point Likert-scale. The Intrinsic-Extrinsic
Motivational Questionnaire designed by Schmidt et al. (1996) (see Appendix 4) is used as
the base for the researcher to develop this questionnaire since Schmidt et al. (1996) study
focused on intrinsic-extrinsic motivation of EFL adult learners in Egypt, which seems to be
similar to the participants and context of this study. However, it is too long to apply all the
20 items of Schmidt et al. (1996); hence, the researcher only chose 10 items which most
obviously indicate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors and also are most appropriate
with Vietnamese students.

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Part III: Demotivating factors questionnaire. This part includes 20 items (from
statement 11 to statement 30). All statements are in a Five-point Likert-scale. All 20 items
are developed based on Tran and Baldauf‟s (2007) framework of demotivating factors
mentioned by Vietnamese Economics Students (see Appendix 3). Tran and Baldauf‟s
(2007) framework is chosen because its participants and its context are similar to those of
this study. However, it would be too long if all 48 demotivating factors mentioned in that
framework were applied in this questionnaire; thus, only the most 20 frequent factors are
used.
Table 2: Structure of the motivation questionnaire
Content
Category
No of items
PART I
Background information
Gender, years of learning English,
hometown

Part II
Type of motivation
Extrinsic motivation
5 (Q1, Q3, Q5, Q7, Q9)
Intrinsic motivation
5(Q2, Q4, Q6, Q8,
Q10)



Part III
Demotivating factors
Attitudes towards English
2 (Q11, Q12)
Experience of failure or lack of
success
3 (Q13, Q14, Q15)
Self-esteem
1 (Q16)
Teacher‟s behavior
2 (Q17, Q18)
Teacher‟s competence
2 (Q19, Q20)
Teaching method
4 (Q21, Q22, Q23,
Q24)
Grading and assessment
2 (Q25, Q26)
Classroom atmosphere

2 (Q27, Q28)
Opportunities to use English
1 (Q29)
Textbook
1 (Q30)

The semi-structured interviews with 20 students who participated in doing the
questionnaire is conducted to obtain more detailed and comprehensive information about

17
students‟ motivation in learning English and the factors that demotivate them to learn
English at HUBT.
2.4. Data collection procedure
The sampling method is simply to get as many questionnaires to be filled and
returned as possible. In addition, as the scope of this study is to focus on second-year
students in FoBF who usually use the Internet, right at the beginning of the study, an email
was sent to the email addresses of all second-year students in FoBF to ask for their
willingness to participate in the study. To guarantee the positive participation, the students
were assured that it would not take them more than 10 minutes to finish the questionnaire
and all the information provided in the questionnaire would be kept confidential and used
for research purposes only. Unfortunately, only 269 out of 900 (approximately 29.9%)
students replied and agreed to participate in the study. All of them are those who can easily
get access to the Internet at home and usually use the Internet to keep in touch with their
friends as well as to send their home assignments to their teachers. In other words, they are
identified as Information Technology lovers.
The questionnaire was first piloted to a small sample of 60 students to check its
validity and reality. The piloted questionnaire then was re-edited, and administered to 269
students by the researcher six weeks before the new school-year (2010-2011). The students
were informed that they could do the questionnaire in as much time as they wanted and
sent it back to the email address of the researcher. Fortunately, 269 out of 269

questionnaires were returned.
Concerning the interviews, they were conducted to gain more in-depth information
about students‟ motivation and factors affecting negatively their motivation in learning
English at HUBT. After the researcher analyzed the questionnaires, 20 students were
chosen to participate in the interview, of which 10 were identified as extrinsically
motivated learners and the other were intrinsically motivated. These interviews were also
conducted through the Internet with the help of Yahoo!Messenger. Before the interview
was conducted, the interviewees were invited to join in a chat room at the time and date
suitable for the interviewees. All the content of the interviews were copied into Words for
analyzing.


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2.5. Data analysis
After all the questionnaires were returned, the researcher printed them out to check,
sort, and number. The researcher herself coded the participants (by named them P1, P2,
and so on). Due to the constraint time and large number of questionnaires to be analyzed,
five English teachers (who are the researcher‟s colleagues) were recruited to record the
participants‟ responses to the questionnaires with the researcher. The results of the
recording process were then input into a computer for analyzing with the help of the
programs Word 2000 and Excel 2000. For each part of the questionnaire, the total number
of respondents choosing answer choice SD and D, U, and A and SA was counted and
compared using the functions DCOUNT, AVERAGE, and SUM.
After conducted, all the content of the interviews with 20 students were copied into
Word 2000. The researcher read each response of each student to sort out the reasons for
them learning English, and the demotivating factors.
To ensure the consistency of the data, except when recording the participants‟
responses to the questionnaire, during the process of analyzing the data achieved from the
questionnaires and the interviews, the researcher did them alone.

Thus, so far, this chapter has presented in detail the context, the subject, the two
sets of instruments, and the procedure of collecting data and analyzing data of the study.
The following chapter will deal with the findings and discussions.











19
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this chapter, the students’ motivation in learning English in terms of extrinsic
and intrinsic motivation, as well the factors affecting negatively the students’ motivation in
learning English, which are reflected through the data of the conducted questionnaire and
the semi-structured interviews, will be in focus. This comprehensive analysis leads to a
better understanding of the type of motivation and the actual factors that demotivate the
students to learn English, in turn, will lay a firm foundation for a discussion and further
recommendations in the following part of the study.
3.1. Findings
3.1.1. Students’ motivation in learning English in terms of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation
After all the questionnaires were collected, all the participants‟ responses to the
questionnaires were input into a computer, and then analyzed with the programme Excel
2000. The questionnaire items were divided into two different categories, namely Intrinsic
Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation. The function DCOUNT was used to count the

frequency of each answer choice, namely 1-Strongly Disagree (SD), 2-Disagree (D), 3-
Undecided (U), 4-Agree (A), and 5-Strongly Agree (SA) of all the respondents to each
item (1,2,3,4,etc.) in each category of the questionnaire. All those frequencies were sorted
out into two different tables (see Table 2 and Table 3). Then the functions SUM and
AVERAGE were applied to calculate the total number and the average number of
participants choosing the choice SD, D, SD and D, U, A, SA, and A and SA. Then the total
number of SD and D and the total number of A and SA were compared.
3.1.1.1. Extrinsic motivation
Table 2 and Chart 1 show that students in this study have a strong extrinsic
motivation in learning English. On average, 72.7 % students agreed and strongly agreed
with the items measuring extrinsic motivation. Of which, 100% participants agreed and
totally agreed that they learned English in order to get a good job in the future. 242 out of
269 (90%) students stated that everybody in Vietnam should be able to speak English.
Learning English to communicate with foreigners is also a statement chosen by many
participants accounting for 76.6%. 67.3% of students shared that they learned English