Students’ low motivation in learning English at Ngo Tri Hoa High school Reasons and solutions = Động lực thấp trong việc học tiếng Anh của học sinh trường THPT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
***



HOÀNG VĂN HỢI


STUDENTS’ LOW MOTIVATION IN LEARNING
ENGLISH AT NGÔ TRÍ HÒA HIGH SCHOOL:
REASONS AND SOLUTIONS
(Động lực thấp trong việc học tiếng Anh của học sinh trường THPT
Ngô Trí Hòa: Các nguyên nhân và các giải pháp)


M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10


Hanoi - 2013


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

***


HOÀNG VĂN HỢI


STUDENTS’ LOW MOTIVATION IN LEARNING
ENGLISH AT NGÔ TRÍ HÒA HIGH SCHOOL:
REASONS AND SOLUTIONS
(Động lực thấp trong việc học tiếng Anh của học sinh trường THPT
Ngô Trí Hòa: Các nguyên nhân và các giải pháp)


M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng




Hanoi - 2013
iv


ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language
L2: Second Language

FL: Foreign Language

v


LIST OF TABLES

Table 3. The factors of low motivation in students‟ learning English speaking class
Table 4. The external factors of low motivation
Table 5. The internal factors of low motivation
Table 6. Students‟ idea on what motivates them to learn English speaking

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS
PAGES
Declaration
i
Acknowledgements
ii
Abstract
iii
List of abbreviations
iv
List of tables and charts
v
Table of contents
vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION.
1
1. Rationale
1
2. Aims of the study
1
3. Research questions
2
4. Significance of the study
2
5. Scope of the study
2
6. Design of the study

2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
4
1.1. Previous studies on de-motivation in learning English
4
1.2. Theoretical background of low motivation (de-motivation)
8
1.2.1. Definition of motivation
8
1.2.2. The importance of motivation in foreign language learning
10
1.2.3. Low motivation or de-motivation in foreign language learning
11
1.3. Speaking
15
1.3.1. Definitions of Speaking.
15
1.3.2. The importance of Speaking
15
Summary
16
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
17
2.1. Research questions
17
2.2. Subjects
17
2.3 Context

18
vii

2.4 Methods of data collection
19
2.4.1 Questionnaires for students
20
2.4.2 Semi – Structured interview
20
Summary
21
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
22
3.1. Results
22
3.1.1. The factors of low motivation in students‟ learning English
22
3.1.2. Results of research question 1
23
3.1.3.Results of research question 2
29
3.2. Discussion
30
Summary
33
PART C: CONCLUSION
34
1.Conclusion
34
2. Pedagogical implications

34
3. Limitations of the study
39
4. Suggestions for further study
39
REFERENCES
41
APPENDIX 1
I
APPENDIX 2
III
APPENDIX 3
IV
APPENDIX 4
VI













1

PART A INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
In the English teaching and learning, among the four skills, the speaking skill plays an
important part in language teaching in the context of Vietnam. At Ngo Tri Hoa High
school, students seem to have lost motivation in learning English and they are not
active in participating in all activities such as Listening, Speaking, Reading and
Writing. These lead to the underachievement and a negative effect on students in
learning English as a foreign language.

I have been a teacher of English at Ngo Tri Hoa High school in Dien Chau district,
Nghe An province for 6 six years. Ngo Tri Hoa is not a gifted school. However the
quality of teaching and learning is quite high in compassion with other school in this
area. English is compulsory subject and there are 4 English periods per week. I am
very sad to realize that most of student in grade 10 are interested in learning English,
but their interest is gradually reduced in grade 11, and they are almost not motivated in
learning English any more when they are in grade 12. Why this happens? What factors
cause their low motivation? This is the reason why I decided to choose this title of the
study “Students’ low motivation in learning English at Ngô Trí Hoà High School”.

2. Aims of the study
The study is carried out to meet the following aims to
- Overview the status to learn English, bad situation, contribution voice to raise
engine and the quality of the school‟s learning English later.
- Identity the low motivation in English Speaking lesson of the 12
th
form students
- Suggest some feasible solutions to eliminate the low motivation factors in
English lessons in order to better students‟ English learning.

3. Research questions

Question 1: What are the factors that cause students‟ low motivation in learning
English speaking?
Question 2: What are the factors that assist students to overcome the low motivation?

2

4. Significance of the study
As mentioned in the Aims and research questions. The study has practical significance
and pedagogical significance:
- Practical significance: to find and confirm the negative factors, barriers to
learning English of the students at Ngo Tri Hoa High School in Dien Chau District,
Nghe An Province based on the study of 100 students of the 12
th
grade.
- Pedagogical significance: to suggest some implications to teachers at Ngo Tri
Hoa School and improve the Ngo Tri Hoa High School's learning English.

5. Scope of the study
In the previous studies (see page 4), de-motivation in learning English is mentioned in
general and they aimed at several levels of learners. I limited and focused on speaking
skill only of students at Ngo Tri Hoa high school, Dien Chau district, Nghe An
province.

This study was conducted in two classes (H1 and H2) with 100 12
th
grade students at
Ngo Tri Hoa High School. This study was carried out in order to find out the reasons
causing low motivation to learn English and solutions that can help them to overcome
their problem.

6. Design of the study
This minor thesis is divided into three parts.
Part A, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, the aims, and research
questions, significance of study, method and design of the study.
Part B, DEVELOPMENT, includes three chapters
Chapter 1, LITERATURE REVIEW, presents various concepts most relevant to the
research topic such previous studies on de-motivation in learning English and
definition of motivation, low motivation and de-motivation, the importance of
motivation in foreign language learning. Besides, the following are also included in
this chapter: definition of speaking, the importance of speaking English skill.

Chapter 2, METHODOLOGY, provides the methodology underlying the research
3

which includes the general information about study subjects, the current state of
teaching and learning English at Ngo Tri Hoa High School. This chapter also focuses
on the methods of data collection

Chapter 3, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, gives a detailed presentation of data and a
detailed description of data analysis. Some explanations and interpretations of the
findings of the study are also presented.

Part C, CONCLUSION, emphasizes the implication of the study in which
certain techniques for improving speaking skill to students at Ngo Tri Hoa high school.
Furthermore, this chapter also points out the limitations of the study and provides
some suggestions for further studies.

4



PART B DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is concerned with some previous studies of de-motivation and theoretical
background and definitions of motivation, low motivation. Then, the definitions of
speaking, the importance of speaking and teaching speaking in rural high school.

1.1. Previous studies on de-motivation in learning English
Hamada and Kito (2008) carried out a research to find the answer for two questions:
“What are the primary de-motivating factors in Japanese high school students?” and
“what are the root of those factors?”. Hamada and Kito conducted a quality research

by mean of questionnaire on 100 second-year students, aged 16-17 a public high
school in Tohuku. The English proficiency level of most the students are slightly
below the National average for the Japanese high school students. The students were
ask to 11 questionnaires with 4 scales: “Yes”, “Not really”, “No” and “Not at all”. The
questionnaire focused on finding the factors of the motivation, for example, “Some
friends around you do not like English. Has it de-motivated you?”, “Has teacher‟s
pronunciation de-motivated you?”, “Have you lost interest in English?” etc. Then, they
exercised the interview with 26 second - year students selected randomly from 100
students who had responded to the questionnaire to have deeply understanding the
roots of these factors.

In this study, five factors about de-motivation were found: 1) Learning environment
and facilities, 2) Teacher‟s competence and teaching style, 3) Little intrinsic
motivation, 4) Non-communicative methods, 5) Textbooks and lesson. Moreover,
Hamada, Y and Kito, K found out one notable factor that some students said they had
started having negative feelings toward English when they were in Junior high school.
However, other students revealed that they had not interested or had any purpose in
studying from the beginning.

5

This study found almost the de-motivation factors that language learner have and gave
some important suggestions for English teacher and students. However, there is a need
find out the roots of these de-motivation factors and to examine more sophisticatedly
the issue of English itself.

An investigation into English learning motivation of upper secondary school students
in Quang Nam province by Phan Van Hoa and Le Viet Ha (2009) was carried with the
aim at finding English goals and motivation and some factors that influencing the
motivation of the students. In this case, the writers investigate students with the hope

to answer 4 questions”: 1) what are the upper secondary school students‟ goal for
learning English?, 2) What kinds of motivation do the students have in learning EFL in
Quang Nam?, 3) What are the factors that influencing the motivation of EFL learners
in Quang Nam?, and 4) What should be done to promote students‟ motivation in
learning EFL.

For the purpose of obtaining data that will explore why students in Quang Nam learn
English and what negative affects their English learning motivation, applied
quantitative and quality research methods on 100 students from 4 upper secondary
school in Quang Nam and 10 English teachers from those school.

Different from the result of Keblawi‟s study, the factors related to teacher in this
investigation do not have the highest percentage but the subject factors with spelling
error, 90% and listening skill difficulty with 89%. The factors was occupied by
English teacher is only 31%. Similar with the students in Hamada Kito‟s study and
Keblawi‟s research, students in upper secondary school in Quang Nam province,
Vietnamese students also encountered difficulties with textbooks and evaluation
system. However, these de-motivating factors only have small percentage, about 17%.

The result of these surveys shows many types of de-motivating factors in EFL of the
students in Quang Nam province. Nevertheless, the researchers need to have more
deep and sophisticated investigation on each factor instead of listing the de-motivation
factors.
6


In the area of second language classroom learning, student de-motivation has not been
the topic of much research with Chambers (1993), who examined the problem using
questionnaires to gather both student and teacher perspectives, providing the only
evidence, that is, his research is the only study that was fully devoted to de-motivation

in second language learning completed so far. In contrast to the findings of the
Gorham and Millette‟s study (1997), the reasons underlying student de-motivation
were perceived quite differently by the teachers and their students. Teachers perceived
the causes of de-motivation to be related to psychological, attitudinal, social, historical
and geographical reasons, but they explicitly excluded themselves. The students‟
perceived reasons, but they explicitly excluded themselves. The students‟ perceived
reasons for de-motivation also varied, i.e., teachers‟ behaviors, class size, etc.
Unfortunately, Chambers did not try to determine what de-motives were or to look at
them critically, instead simply listing the students‟ opinions. As a result, Chambers
could draw only a few conclusions about the impact of de-motives on the language
learning experience. Thus, while there have been studies that have explored issues
related to de-motives, no attempt has been made either to create a framework to aid in
better understanding the phenomenon, nor to relate it to issues of curriculum and
teaching.

Trang and Baldual (2007) used Stimulated recalled method to collect retrospective
data of de-motivation in learning English. The research was carried out on 100 second-
year students from University of Economic in central Vietnam with the aim at finding
the answer for four questions:
1. To what extent, de-motivation is a problem?
2. What are the factors that are likely to contribute to de-motivate?
3. Are de-motivates different in terms of their levels of impact?
4. What are factors that assist students to overcome de-motivation?

The students in this study were asked to recall their English learning experiences, to
think back across the whole learning process, then write an essay.

7

With the use of this method the writers discovered that out of the sample of 100

students, 88 indicated that they had been de-motivated to a great or lesser extent. There
are two groups of de-motivation: group 1 is internal attribution. The former included
students‟ attitudes towards English, their experiences of failure or lack of success, and
incidents related to their self – eastern. The later consisted of teacher related factors,
the learning environment, and other external factors. They also found out that internal
factors occupied 36 % and external factors is 64 %. More surprising in 64 % of
external factors, teachers are blamed most with 35 %.

Students had overcome de-motivation basing on internal factors (71%) and external
factor (29%). Five factors that might contribute to students‟ overcoming de-motivation
were: an awareness of the important of English, personal reason, self – improvement,
self –determination, and positive attitude towards English. External factors might
include: changes in teacher behaviors, teaching method, learning condition, and
external encouragement. Trang and Baldual‟s research truly gave out many
recommendations to overcome de-motivation in learning English for English students.
However, the study only focused on the students in the university, so there is a need to
examine more the secondary school students.

Oxford‟s 1998 study advanced the understanding of de-motives by taking into account
the time factor. She recognized that de-motivation is a process that can be best
understood by “looking backward”, i.e., by asking participants to recall their learning
experiences over a period of time, in this case, five years. The students were asked to
write a stimulated recall essay using a variety of prompts, including “Describe a
situation in which you experienced conflict with a teacher”, and “Talk about a
classroom in which you felt uncomfortable”. The findings drawn from the content
analysis of the student essays revealed four broad sources of de-motivation, i.e., the
teacher‟s personal relationship with the student, the teacher‟s attitude towards the
course or the material, style conflicts between teachers and students, and the nature of
the classroom activities. However, since the prompts used by Oxford specifically
referred to the teacher‟s role as a source of de-motivation, other potential sources

might not have been provided by participants in the study.
8


Dornyei (1998) started a qualitative analysis by conducting structured long interviews
in 10 to 30 minutes of 50 high school students who were studying English as a foreign
language. Nevertheless, in his study the participants were not of cross-sectional
students but were those who had been identified by the teachers or peers as being
particularly de-motivated. He identified nine types of de-motivators:
(1) The teachers (personality, commitment, competence, teaching method)
(2) Inadequate school facilities (group is too big or not the right level;
frequent change of teachers)
(3) Reduced self-confidence (experience of failure of lack of success)
(4) Negative attitudes towards the L2
(5) Compulsory nature of L2 learning
(6) Interference of another foreign language being studied
(7) Negative attitudes towards L2 community
(8) Attitudes of group members
(9) Course book used in the language class.

The compulsory nature of L2 studies and the interference of a third language were first
discovered in this study. The negative effect of the compulsory nature of L2 learning is
obviously related to the lack of learner autonomy and lack of self-determination.
Among nine factors, teacher factor ranks first. The teacher‟s personality commitment
to teaching, attention paid to the students, competence, teaching method, style and
rapport with students can have a direct impact on students de-motivation. Students also
attribute their lack of confidence to teacher‟s indirect negative influence, such as rigid
classroom management, their perception of teacher‟s strict marking. Such results were
consistent with previous studies. Therefore, it is of vital importance to analyze the
teacher factor in order to find possible solutions to de-motivation.

1.2. Theoretical background of low motivation (de-motivation)
1.2.1. Definition of motivation
There have been so far many researches on the theory of motivation. Each author has
his/her own way of explaining what motivation is since the look at motivation from
9

different angle. Most definitions of motivation reflect the consensus that motivation is
an internal state or condition that serves to activate or energize behavior. The term
motivation is used constantly in everyday and professional context but defining
motivation precisely is a demanding task due to its complex and multination.
Motivation research was first inspired and spearheaded by social psychologist Robert
Gardner in Canada. According to Gardner ((1985), motivation is and act of stimulating
the interest of somebody to so something. He drawn out a formula of motivation:
“Motivation = effort + desire to achieve goal + attitudes”. In term of
Second/Foreign language learning, Gardner (1985, pp:10 -11) defined motivation as:

……the combination of effort plus desire the goal of learning the
language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language,
when the desire to achieve the goal and favorable attitudes towards
the goal are linked with the effort or the drive, then we have a
motivated organism.

Besides Gardner, Williams and Burden (1997: 120) defined motivation as “ a state of
cognitive and emotional around which many researches‟ results indicate that
motivation is the main determining factors in an individual‟s success in developing a
second language (L2) or foreign language (FL). (e.g., Dornyei, 1990; Gardner, 1985).
In the book “Motivation factors in language learning” (2009) Makiko Ebate says that
motivation is the vital role in language learning; provide the primary impetus to
imitate learning L2 and later driving force to sustain the long and often tedious

learning process. Without sufficient motivation, students can not accomplish long-term
goals and we can not ensure their achievement. According to Trang and Baldau
(2007):
Motivation is crucial for L2 learning because motivation directly
influences how much effort students make, how much often students use
L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native
speakers, how much input receive in the language being learned, hoe
well they do on curriculum related achievements tests, how high their
general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and
10

maintain L2 skills after study is over.

Lightbown and Spada (1996:6) state that motivation in second language learning is a
complex phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors: learners‟
communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community.
Motivation has been defined as the learner‟s orientation with regard to the goal of
learning a second language. Learners with positive attitudes toward the subject and
high motivation are likely to be successful in second language learning (Gardner,
1985).

Crookes and Schmidt (1991) define motivation in terms of students‟ interest in and
enthusiasm for the materials and ACTIVITIES used in class, their persistence with the
learning task as indicated by levels of concentration and enjoyment. Learning is only
effective if students enjoy activities and work hard.

In second language learning as in other fields of human learning, motivation is the
crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much
energy he devotes to it, and how long he preserves. It is a complex phenomenon and
includes many components: the individual‟s drive, need for achievement and success,

curiosity, desire for stimulation and experience, and so on (Little wood, 1998:53).

1.2.2. The importance of motivation in foreign language learning
While there have been a great deal of research on the role of motivation in second
language learning, the overall findings reveal that positive attitude and motivation are
closely related to success in second language learning ( Gardner, 1985). Motivation is
also considered as “a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to
communicate” (Gardner, 1985:10).

Oxford and Shearin (1994) state: “Many researchers considered motivation as one of
the main elements that determine success in a second or foreign language. It
determines the extent of active, personal involvement in L2 learning”.

11

Carol (1962) pointed out: “the more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she
will spend learning an aspect of a second language”. Labonde (1982), based on the
findings made by Garner and Lambert (1972), concluded that motivation and attitudes
are important factors which help determine the level of proficiency achieved by
different learners and the effects of motivation appear to be separated from the effects
of aptitude, the most successful learners will be those who have both talent and a high
level of motivation for learning. Dornyei (2001) believes that motivation needs to be
generated, maintained actively, protected and retrospectively evaluated.

Another role of motivation in foreign language learning is to promote the choice of
strategies among students learning a second or foreign language. Research has shown
that the use of specific learning strategies and techniques while studying a second or
foreign language leads to success. Oxford (1994) emphasizes “more motivated
students tend to use more strategies than less motivated students, hence, they tend to
be more successful”.

In short, motivation is a vital factor determining success or failure in second language
learning. It helps L2 learners find and maintain interest in learning a second language
and is worthy of attention of language teachers.

1.2.3. Low motivation or de-motivation in foreign language learning
Motivation plays a very important role in L2; many teachers are looking for the best
ways to motivate students. Past motivation research has mainly concentrated on the
positive motivational influences. “A motive has been seen as kind of inducement
whose force ranges on a continuum from zero to strong” (Dornyei, 2001). In addition
to positive influences there are, however, negative effects that de-energies action
(Dornyei, 2001). The darker side of motivation, de-motivation, has been found to play
a crucial role in learning process but yet it has been neglected as a research topic until
recently. Christopher and Gorham (1995) found that the strongest influence on
motivation was not the presence of motivators in the classroom, but the absence of low
motivators (de-motivators). At the beginning of the semester, the absence of context
low motivators. At the beginning of the semester, the absence of de-motivators and
12

teacher behavior de-motivators positively affected motivation. So what is low
motivation (de-motivation)? According to my observation, I have the linear. The
model of motivation loss is as followed.

MOTIVATION  LOW MOTIVATION  DEMOTIVATION

However, the boundary of de-motivation and low motivation sometimes are not clear.
From now on, the tow terms will be used interchangeable so that I used the phrase
“low motivation” as a term throughout the article.

In light of Dornyei‟s considerations, “De-motivation” concerns “specific external

forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention” and
describes de-motivation as various negative influences cancelling out existing
motivation. He introduces “de-motives” as being negative counterparts of “motives
ongoing action” (ibd: 143). A de-motive learner is some who “motivated bust has lost
his or her interest for some reasons”. In term of de-motive, it decreases learners‟ de-
motivation to the study of language while motive increases it. However, not all
researchers agree with this definition. Sakai and Kikuchi (2009: 58) refer to several
studies where researchers have included also internal forces, such as a learner‟s lack of
self-confidence and negative attitudes of the learners in addition to external forces.
They point out that in fact Dornyei him self (2001a) has listed reduced self-
confidence and negative attitude towards the foreign language as sources of de-
motivation. Thus, Sakai and Kikuchi feel the need to expand Dornyei‟s definition
stated above to comprehend both internal and external factors that reduce or diminish
the motivation to learn a L2. Whether external or internal, reasons for de-motivation
are many, Dornyei (2001a: 142) aims to form a portrait of a de-motivated learner by
giving hypothetical examples of learners who are de-motivated. Firstly, a de-motivated
learner can be a learner whose study group was divided into two groups depending on
the ability, and the learner was put among the „slow‟ students. Secondly, a learner‟s
motivation to learn French can diminish as result of not understanding what the
teacher is talking about in class. Thirdly, a learner can feel de-motivated because he
has suffered an embarrassing experience of having to speak in front of the class. In
13

short, according to Dornyei, a de-motivated learner is someone who once was
motivated but for one reason or another has lost his or her commitment or interest in
learning. These reasons for losing interest can be called de-motives which are the
negative counterpart of motives, and whereas motives increase action tendency, de-
motives de-energize it (Dornyei 2001a: 142).

Concerning teachers‟ communication behavior and learners‟ motivation, Gorham and

Christophel (1992) had identified three categories of sources of motivator and de-
motivators. Context, structure/format and teacher behavior motivators are de-
motivators. Context factor is antecedent to the teacher‟s influence which is beyond the
teacher‟s control such as; personal laziness, length of class, desire to do well belongs
to the context factors. Structure/format factors are like the organization of the class
material, grading, and opportunity to participate in which the teacher has some degree
of control. Lastly, teacher behaviors are related to the teacher‟s characteristics, for
instance, the enthusiasm, humor, and accessibility of the teacher. Christophel and
Gorham (1995) investigated college students‟ perception of the sources of motivation
and de-motivation. They suggested that context factors are student-owned source of
motivation and de-motivation, while structure/format decisions and teacher behaviors
are teacher-owned. The results of their study showed that most students perceived the
sources of motivation as student-owned and de-motivation as teacher-owned. In a
word, negative behaviors of teachers are the main sources of de-motivator in students‟
view.

However, the notion of de-motivation cannot be related to every reluctant learner.
Dornyei (2001) has distinguished at least three negative factors that can not be referred
to as de-motivators. Firstly, an attractive alternative action that serves as a powerful
distraction (e.g. watching television instead of doing one‟s homework). These can not
be seen as de-motivators because they do not carry negative value. Therefore, instead
of reducing motivation they distract a leaner by presenting a more attractive
alternative. Secondly, gradual loss of interest in a long-lasting, ongoing activity can
not be regarded as a de-motivator because de-motivators are specific factors or
incidents that reduce motivation on a single event. Thirdly, the sudden realization that
14

the costs of pursuing a goal are too high is rising (e.g. when someone recognizes how
demanding it is to attend an evening course while working during the day). This is the
result of an internal process of deliberation, without any specific external trigger.

Conversely, if something triggered the termination of action (e.g. the persuasion of an
influential friend), that would be a case of de-motivation.

Dornyei (2001) also pointed out that de-motivation does not mean that a learner has
lost his or her motivation completely. On the contrary, the positive influence that
originally made up the motivational basis of behavior can still be there. For instance, a
learner may still be highly motivated to learnt English; it is important world language,
even if his or her teacher were incompetent or malevolent.

In addition, Dornyei (2001) makes a distinction between de-motivation and a-
motivation. A-motivation was introduced by Deci and Ryan (1985) as a constituent of
their self-determination theory and they (1985, as explained by Dornyei 2001a: 144)
define it as “the relative absence of motivation that is not caused by a lack of initial
interest but rather by the individual‟s experiencing feelings of incompetence and
helplessness when faced with the activity”. According to him, a-motivation refers to a
lack of motivation brought about by the realization that “there is no point……” or “it‟s
beyond my keen”. Thus, “a-motivation is insolvably related to general outcome expect
that are thought to be unrealistic”, whereas de-motivation is related to specific external
causes. Of course, some de-motivations can lead to general a-motivation regarding the
particular activity (e.g. A series of bad classroom experiences can reduce the learner‟s
self efficiency) but some other de-motive as soon as the detrimental external influence
stops to exist, other positive, and thus far oppressed, motives may again surface (e.g. If
it turns out that someone who dissuaded the individual from doing something was not
telling the truth).

To conclude, those above studies are very helpful in providing researcher with general
views on the study of the de-motivating factors in listening lesson. The most popular
data collections tool the previous researcher used were the combination of
questionnaires, interview to seek information related to the de-motivation factors in
15

learning English. Most of them prove that de-motivation in learning L2 is not a strange
problem; it happens in almost every L2 lesson. However, there has never been any
research on low motivation factors carried out by Ngo Tri Hoa‟s teachers. I hope that I
can improve my students‟ learning and my teaching. I really want to implement the
survey low motivation in English lesson. That the reason why I do this thesis.

1.3. Speaking
1.3.1. Definitions of speaking
Speaking, as Bygate (1987) defines, involves not only the use of the right sounds in
the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in
the right order to convey the right meaning.

Speaking skill is known to have two main types of conversation namely dialogue and
monologue, which are rather different. In monologue, you give uninterrupted oral
presentation while in dialogue you interact with one or more other speakers for
transactional and international purposes.

It is noticeable from the two productive language skills that speaking is different from
writing in both processing conditions and reciprocity conditions. “First, spoken
language is affected by the time limitations, and the associated problems of planning,
memory, and production under pressure. Second, it is reciprocal activity, has a crucial
effect on the kinds of decisions to be made” (Bygate, 1987: 11-12).

1.3.2. The importance of speaking
In social context, social roles are likely to be taken by those who learn and know how
to speak, but not buy those who do not have this skill. In language learning, speaking
play an utmost important role among the four language skills (listening, reading,
speaking and writing) since it helps to identify who knows or does not know a
language. Pattison (1992) confirms that when people mention knowing or learning a

language, they actually mean that they are able to speak the language.

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It can not be denied that speaking deserves as much attention as or even more attention
than written skill. In order to carry out many of the most basic transactions, it is
necessary for learners to speak with confidence.

Summary
This chapter has presented relevant literature, which has helped to form the theoretical
framework for the study. Different definitions about motivation, the importance of
motivation in foreign language learning, definitions about low motivation (de-
motivation) in language learning and review research about it. Then, an overview on
speaking in which definition, the importance of speaking.

In the next chapter, a research will be presented to show the effects of these mentioned
factors that cause students‟ low motivation in learning English.

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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Chapter 2 will present the survey research including research questions, subjects,
context of the research and methods for data collection. To achieve the aims of the
study, the qualitative method is employed and the following steps are involved:
- Collecting data by survey questionnaires for students
- Conducting an interview with students who are randomly chosen for further
information of the study
I based on the five factors of Hamada and Kito (2008) and used them to make
questions for students to answer.
All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion are based on the data
analysis. This data hoped to confirm and support the results obtained from other
sources.

2.1 Research questions
This research is aimed at answering the following questions:
Q1. What are the factors that cause students’ low motivation in learning English
speaking?
Q2. What are the factors that assist students to overcome their low motivation?

2.2. Subjects
The study was conducted at Ngo Tri Hoa high school, which is situated in the
centre of Dien Chau town, Nghe An province. The school was established in 1998
and it has been reliable for training quality not only in Dien Chau district but also

in Nghe An province for many years.

The school has 27 classes with over 70 teachers of different subjects. English is taught
here as a compulsory subjects by six teachers aged from 28 to 37. Currently, there are
approximately 1300 students ranged from grade 10 to grade 12. Most of the students
come from the villages in Dien Chau district and was born in farming family with
medium and low living standard.

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The teaching of English has encountered with many difficulties. Although most
students are aware of the importance of English, few students have real interest in
learning English. In other words, the majority of the students do not pay much
attention to English. First, in classroom interaction, students are enthusiastic when
familiar subject matters are presented in Vietnamese; second, student interaction, they
rarely use English to talk to each other; except when they are asked to use English by
the teachers. To explain new words, new concepts and new structures, English is rarely
used because the students would not understand if they were explained in English.
When students answer the teachers‟ questions, they often use Vietnamese whey they
do not know the words in English or they just say, “I don‟t know”. Secondly, there is
tremendous peer pressure both among the teachers and among the students, not to
speak outside the classroom. In fact, of one spoke in English, one would be thought
unusual, isolated and even a show-off. Thirdly, there has so far been a connection with
native speakers in the school. Students do not have chance to communicate with
foreigners, which means students have no real condition to use English. Last but not
least, the school rules also cause difficulties in organizing communicative games to
stimulate the students to speak. Thus for practical purposes, the natural use of English
in our school is confined to the artificial classroom context, between four walls, in the
English language class and under school rules

The subjects of this study consisted of 100 students in grade 12, from 12 H1, 12 H2
at Ngo Tri Hoa High School, is located in a rural area of Nghe An Province where the
researcher is teaching. The teaching and learning equipment is not sufficient. It is not
equipped with modern teaching equipment such as overhead projectors, computers etc.
Therefore teachers cannot use electronic teaching plans. In English lessons, the main
materials used are simply a blackboard, textbooks. 95 percent of students come from
farming families which don‟t have much money to support for their learning and to
equip modern Medias such as cassette, CD, the internet for their children English
learning. Especially, their proficiency, competence and motivation are very low.
Although the majority of the students started to learn English in lower secondary
school, their proficiency is rather low. There are few students who can master the
grammatical items and vocabularies and are able to communicate in English, even a
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part of students returned as an English beginner when they came in high school.
Furthermore, students‟ psychology in rural areas towards learning a foreign language
prevents them being comfortable and confident in general and in this study in
particular.

2.4. Context
The teaching of speaking in rural high school is more challenging than in urban ones.
Firstly, the dominant language used outside classroom is the mother tongue. Secondly,
there is not available device for students to access English as well as foreign language
environment for them to master their skill. Anyone speaking English can be seen as
strange creature. Thirdly, with the focus of study, being directed towards university
entrance examinations, students generally have little desire or motivation to improve
their language skills. Finally yet importantly, at rural high school, a series of
grammatical items to be taught in any one year is listed.

However, these difficulties do not mean that they cannot be solved. Andrew (1984:97-

100) and Norris –Holt, 2001) make some suggestions on the teaching of speaking in
rural high school as follow:
- creating a subculture of English in a rural setting
- creating a make-believe world in the classroom
- creating a content-challenging milieu in the classroom
- creating interesting lessons in which students’ attention is gain
- Creating a great deal of interaction and help to motivate students to
develop their language skills.

2.4. Methods of data collection
A combination of the main data collection instruments: questionnaires and semi-
structured interview for students. The reason for use of this combination is that one
method can be related to another one to help evaluate the low motivation factors
among students‟ learning English speaking. Furthermore, the result of one method can
help to develop or inform another method (Greence, Carecelli & Graham, 1989).