FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION FOR STUDENTS PARTICIPATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS a SURVEY AT HUNG VUONG VOCATIONAL COLLEGE

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

PHẠM THỊ HỒNG VÂN

FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION FOR STUDENTS'
PARTICIPATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS: A SURVEY
AT HUNG VUONG VOCATIONAL COLLEGE
CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN ĐỘNG LỰC THAM GIA TRONG GIỜ HỌC
NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN HỌC NGHỀ: NGHIÊN CỨU KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG
CĐN HÙNG VƯƠNG

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English teaching methodology
Code: 60.14.01.11

Hanoi – 2015


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

PHẠM THỊ HỒNG VÂN

FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION FOR STUDENTS'
PARTICIPATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS: A SURVEY

AT HUNG VUONG VOCATIONAL COLLEGE
CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN ĐỘNG LỰC THAM GIA TRONG GIỜ HỌC
NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN HỌC NGHỀ: NGHIÊN CỨU KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG
CĐN HÙNG VƯƠNG

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English teaching methodology
Code: 60.14.01.11
Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Quỳnh, Ph.D

Hanoi – 2015


DECLARATION
I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
“ Factors affecting motivation for students’ participation in English speaking
lessons: A survey at Hung Vuong Vocational College" is the result of my own
research

for the Degree of Master of Arts, and that this thesis has not been

submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution.

Hanoi, 2015
Phạm Thị Hồng Vân

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

i

First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Nguyen Thi
Ngoc Quynh, Ph.D for her valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical
feedback throughout the research.
Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lecturers in the
Department of Postgraduate Studies, College of Foreign languages, VNU for their
useful lessons from which I have benefited a lot for the accomplishment of this
study.
I am greatly indebted to my first year students of business accounting from
Hung Vuong Vocational College for their participation and assistance without
which this study could not have been successful.
Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my loving
parents, my husband, who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement
so that I could accomplish my study.

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ABSTRACT
This study aims to investigate factors affecting motivation and differences
between high achievers and low achievers in speaking lessons of the first -year
students of business accounting at Hung Vuong Vocational College. Using
correlation and Man-Whitney U test to analyse the data, the result shows that
learners are highly motivated by their job orientation, teacher’s good pronunciation,
group cohesion and task difficulty. They are also demotivated by extra homework,
ineffective L1 & L2 use, L2 use outside the class, their lack of self-confidence. The
study also finds out some differences between two groups in terms of instrumental
orientation, self-confidence, affiliative motive, teacher’s L2 use, desire to speak as
well as teacher, classroom goal structures, task difficulty and classroom

atmosphere.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION..................................................................................................................i
DECLARATION

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

i

ABSTRACT

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

iv

1.2.2. Communicative language teaching ( CLT)....................................................13

iv


PART A. INTRODUCTION
1.Rationale of the study

In recent decades, English has been more and more important in Vietnam. It is now
widely known as the major language of intercommunication, international
commerce and business, science and technology and so on. Thus, people with good
English proficiency will have a brighter future. They will have a great deal of
chances to apply for a good job with high salary.
At Hung Vuong Vocational College, English is a compulsory subject with 120
periods. Teachers must teach four skills of which listening and speaking skills must
be paid more attention. That is one of the main tasks of the college that must train
students to be communicatively competent. After the course, students have to be
able to communicate successfully in social situations. It is a big challenge for
teachers because at secondary and high schools, listening skill and speaking skill
have been paid little attention. As a result, from my observation and my teaching
experience, I realized that only some learners get involved in the speaking activities
while others keep silence or do other things.
Motivating students in English speaking lessons is every teacher’s challenge,
especially in vocational college. They are unwilling to take part in speaking
activities in class. This may be caused by many factors. Therefore, this study will
investigate factors affecting the students’ participation in English speaking lessons.
The researcher hopes that this study will help teachers at the vocational college to
find suitable methods to motivate learners.
2. Aims of the study
This study aims at investigating factors affecting learners’ motivation to speak
English among students of business accounting field at Hung Vuong Vocational
College. Three main purposes are summarized below:
1. to investigate factors affecting learners’ motivation to speak English
2. to investigate differences in factors between high achievers and low achievers.
3. to give motivational strategies to motivate learners.
1

3. Scope of the study
The study was conducted with the sample selected from one hundred and eightynine first year students of business accounting at Hung Vuong Vocational College
to explore factors affecting learners’ motivation in English speaking lessons and
compare differences between high achievers and low achievers in terms of factors.
4. Methods of the study
To achieve the aims of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are
used. The data was collected from learners’ questionnaire papers and interviews.
After the data was collected, analyzed and discussed, some conclusions will be
drawn, and some suggestions will be made in the thesis.
5. Design of the study
The first part, introduction, includes the rationale, the aims, the scope, the method
and the design of the study.
The second part, development, includes three chapters. Chapter one, literature
review, provides a theoretical background of motivation, factors affecting language
learning. This chapter also summaries the theoretical background of speaking in L2
learning. This is viewed as the theoretical framework for the investigation in the
next chapter. Chapter 2, methodology gives the context of the study, the research
questions, the participants and data analysis procedure. Chapter 3, data analysis,
gives a detailed presentation of data.
The final part is conclusion. This part provides the summary of the findings and
some implications for teachers of English as a foreign language. In addition, this
part gives some limitations of the study and some possible suggestions for further
research

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PART B. DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Theoretical background of motivation in L2 learning:

1.1.1.Terminological issues
The concept “motivation” is seen as an important and complex element in the
process of second language acquisition. Dornyei ( 2001) pointed out the inherent
problems of motivation in L2 research: motivation is abstract and not directly
observable; motivation is a multi-dimensional construct and motivation is
inconstant.
Among many of definitions of motivation, Dornyei (2001: 7) gave a comprehensive
one which concerned “ the choice of a particular action, the persistence with it and
the effort expended on it”. It shows how behaviour starts, is directed and
maintained. Therefore, motivation is a study of process that give behaviour energy
and direction “ the dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person that
imitates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates and evaluates the cognitive and
motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritized,
operationalised and acted out” ( Dorney, 2001: 9).
In the 1990s, many works examined the relationship between learners and
classroom environment, ( e.g. Brown, 1990, 1994; Clement, Dornyei & Noels,
1994; Crookes & Schmitdt, 1991; Dornyei, 1994a, 1994b; Julkunen, 1989, 1993;
Oxford & Shearin, 1994; Skehan, 1989, 1991; Ushioda, 1994, 1996a; William,
1994). ( cited in Dornyei, 2001: 11)
Lastly, in Dornyei and Otto (1998); Dornyei (2000, 2001), motivation began to be
seen as dynamic and temporal. They defined motivation as “ a dynamic view”, or “
changes of motivation over time”. Motivation can not be viewed as a stable attribute
of learning that remains constant for several months or years. Instead, students’
motivation fluctuates, going through “ ebbs and flows” ( Dornyei, 2001: 19)
1.1.2. Importance of motivation in L2

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Motivation is considered as a crucial factor in achieving a second language.

Gardner and Lambert (1972) emphasized that motivation can influence what, when
and how learners learn. That is, motivation determines strategies to achieve the
goals, the effort and persistence. Littlewood (1998: 53) indicated that “ 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"
1.1.3. Major approaches and theories on language learning motivation
1.1.3.1. Behavioral approach
According to the behaviourists, all learning takes place through the process of habit
formation. Learners receive linguistic input from speakers in their environment and
positive reinforcement for their correct repetitions and imitations. As a result, habits
are formed ( cited in Lightbown & Spada,1993: 23). In other words, behaviorists
explain motivation in terms of external stimuli and reinforcement. In the classroom,
teachers often offer stimuli or reinforcement after a student performs in the foreign
language. This view is equivalent to Dornyei’s (1994) reward system, feedback.
1.1.3.2.Psychological- cognitive approach:
Cognitive psychologists search for motives for human behaviour in the individual
rather than in the social being, focusing primarily on psychological or internal
factors, placing much more emphasis on individual’s choice. ( Keller, 1983, p.389).
1.1.3.2.1. Achievement motivation theory
Atkinson (1966) viewed achievement behaviour as the result of emotional conflict
between hopes for success and fears of failure. He proposed that students’
motivation is a stable trait across different contexts, which arises largely from two
personality orientations: the achievement-oriented personality and the failurethreatened personality. Thus, his theory placed a great importance on need for
achievement and self-confidence which are mentioned in Dornyei’s (1994)
framework.
1.1.3.2.2. Attribution theory

4

Beside achievement theory, Weiner’s (1992) attribution theory is concerned with
the way in which an individual’s explanations of success and failure influence that
individual’s subsequence motivation and behavior. Students may attribute success
or failure to different causes, depending on their beliefs about who or what controls
their success or failure. These important causes are ability, effort, luck, task
difficulty, amount of effort, content, degree of difficulty, time and stability, aptitude
or mood. This theory is important for teachers to motivate learners in second
language acquisition and this theory is equivalent to Dornyei’s causal attribution.
1.1.3.2.3. Self-efficacy theory
Bandura’s ( 1997) self-efficacy theory refers to people’s judgment of their
capabilities to carry out certain specific tasks and accordingly, their sense of
efficacy will determine their choice of activities attempted, the amount of effort
exerted and persistence displayed. The theory is equivalent to Dornyei’s (1994)
perceived L2 competence and self-efficacy
1.1.3.2.4. Self-determination theory
Another theory that is closely related to Dornyei’s (1994) framework is DelciRyan’s self-determination theory (1985). In their works, they stated that “ when self
determined, people experience a sense of freedom to do what is interesting,
personally important and vitalizing”. Self-determination consists of three needs:
competence, autonomy and relatedness. An important aspect of self-determination
theory to be emphasized is autonomy in L2 classroom. Dickinson (1995) stated that
L2 motivation and learner autonomy go hand in hand, that is, their learning success
and failures are to be attributed to their own efforts and strategies rather than to
factors outside their control (Dickinson, 1995: 173-4). Ushioda (1996b: 2) also
states, “Autonomous language learners are by definition motivated learners” or
Noels, Clement and Pelletier found that “ a democratic teaching style fosters
intrinsic motivation” ( cited in Dornyei, 1998: 124). The theory is really related to
some subcomponents in Dornyei(1994)’s framework such as self-confidence,
authority type and group cohesion.

5

It can be seen that the above-mentioned theories tend to emphasize a particular
dimension of motivation, focusing on personal traits, beliefs, thoughts, feelings or
attitudes and there is a direct relationship with some components or subcomponents
in Dornyei’s motivational framework.
1.1.3.3. Socio-cultural and contextual approaches.
For socio-cultural and contextual approaches, researchers see that we acquire
language when we engage in meaningful interaction in second language. In other
words, motivation can be seen as result of the interpersonal interaction in a specific
environment/ situation.
1.1.3.3.1. Linguistic self-confidence
Linguistic self-confidence proposed by Clement is a socially defined construct- a
powerful mediating process in multi ethnic settings that affects a person’s
motivation to learn and use the language of another speech community. This
concept is extended by showing that there is a “ considerable indirect contact with
the L2 culture through the media” ( cited in Dorrnyei (1998: 123). The concept is
related to integrative motivation in Dornyei’s framework.
1.1.3.3.2. A situated concept of L2 motivation
Motivation researchers in the 1990s started to examine various aspects of the
learning context in which a) the target language is not used as L1 in the community
and b) it is used as L1. Most of learners can not speak well in the first environment.
Only in the classroom, they lack time or opportunity to practise L2, which results
into embarrassment or stress when they are exposed to the foreign language outside
the class. Krashen (1985: 46) states, for such learners, “ the only input is teachers’
or classmates’ talk-both do not speak L2 well”. Therefore, to inhibit the negative
influences in the classroom, three recent research directions that have adopted this
situated approach include a) the study of willingness to communicate (WTC), (b)
task motivation and c) the relationship between motivation and the use of language
learning strategies.

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• WTC is the “ readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a
specific person or persons, using a L2”, MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei and Noels
(1998: 547)
• Task motivation: The components of task motivation are task execution,
appraisal and action control. Task-based research and the study of task motivation is
“ one of the most fruitful directions for future research” in that these concepts are
also “useful in pulling together diverse approaches within the L2 motivation field” (
Dornyei, 2003: 16)
• Motivation and learning strategy use
Learning strategies are techniques that students apply to enhance effectiveness of
their learning. The study of the interrelationship between motivation and learning
strategies was initiated in the mid 1990s by Richard Schmidt, Peter MacIntyre and
their colleagues ( i.e MacIntyre & Noels, 1996; Schmidt, Boraie & Kassabgy, 1996)
To sum up, the view is closely related to teacher’s teaching method in Dornyei ‘s
(1994) framework.
1.1.3.3.3 A process-oriented approach to L2 motivation research.
The situated approach to motivation research soon drew attention to another aspect
of motivation: its dynamic character and temporal variation. A process-oriented
approach can explain “ the ups and downs” of motivation. In this process, three
stages can be discerned: (1) Preactional stage: Motivation is generated and initiated;
(2) Actional stage: executive motivation : ongoing appraisal of the student’s
progress and action control ( self-regulation); (3) Postactional stage: Motivational
retrospection: encouraging self-evaluation and even self-reflection ( cited in
Dornyei, 2003: 19)

1.1.4: Factors affecting motivation in L2 learning.

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1.1.4. Dornyei (1994a)’s framework
In the literature on motivation, researchers focused on what specific factors work
together to create motivation and they built a lot of models focusing on components
of L2 motivation. Typical examples are Wlliams and Burdens’s (1997) extended
framework, Tremblay and Gardner’s (1995), Schumann’s neurobiological model, or
descriptive studies of motivation in particular sociocultural contexts. However, in
this part, I only mention a framework proposed by Dornyei (1994), which is
suitable to my research. Indeed, his framework was rather detailed in factors
affecting motivation to learn English and its structure was clear, easy to understand.
He attempted to offer an extensive list of motivational components categorized into
three main dimensions: the Language Level, the Learner Level, and the Learning
Situation Level.
The first level in Dornyei’s model is the language level, which mentioned
integrative and instrumental motivational subsystems. The first describes learners
who learn a language in order to integrate themselves into the culture of a second
language group and become involved in social interchange in that group. The latter
refers to acquiring a language as a means for attaining instrumental goals such as
acquiring a degree or certificate, getting a better job. Gardner and Lambert (1972)
and Spolsky (1969) found that integrativeness accompanied higher scores on
proficiency tests in a foreign language. ( cited in Brown, 2003: 171)
The second level is the learner level which involves individual characteristics that
learners have in their learning process. The learner level “ involves a complex of
affects and cognitions that form fairly stable personality traits” ( Dornyei, 1994,
p.279). The learner level includes a need for achievement and self-confidence.
Need for achievement is concerned with a desire to achieve, to become perfect. This
factor is similar to Atkinson’s achievement motivation construct . He also stated

that learners with a high need for achievement are more likely to get better grades.
( Dornyei, 1990: 54-60)
Self-confidence is a complex factor, so he defines it with four subcomponents:

8


a. language use anxiety: Anxiety is a feeling of tension and nervousness relating to
second language learning. It is a negative factor in SLA. It influences the quality of
oral production and makes learners speak less fluently than they are really. ( cited in
Ellis, 1998: 121). There are some reasons for this issue. Fear of mistake is one of
the main factors that hinder learners to speak in the classroom (Robby, 2010). Aftat
(2008) stated that learners feel worried when they receive correction and negative
evaluation. In addition, learners are afraid of being laughed or mocked by other
students and teachers. ( Kutus, 2011)
b. Perceived target language competence ( PC) is the learners’ belief that they can
complete the tasks because of their past proficiency level. Clement , Baker and
MacIntyre (2003) claimed that higher perceived L2 competence and low anxiety
increase willingness to communicate.
c. attribution theory: past failures and successes affect the future goal and
expectancy of language learning.
d. self-efficacy refers to individual’s judgement of his/ her ability to perform a
specific action, which can develop not only from past accomplishments, but also
from observation of peers, persuasion, reinforcement and evaluation, affect the
outcome of language learning.

To enhance the sense of self-efficacy, teacher

should provide meaningful, achievable tasks.
The third level is the learning situation level, which takes into account specific

motivational factors connected with the teacher, the course and the group of
language learners
Course-specific component:
The component includes factors such as syllabus, teaching materials, learning tasks
and teaching methods. Dornyei specifies four factors as follows:
The first category, interest is related to intrinsic motivation and is centered around
the individual’s inherent curiosity and desire to know more about the language or
language task. Relevance is measured by the extent to which a student feels the
instruction is connected to personal needs or goals. Expectancy refers to the

9


perceived likelihood of success. It concerns the task difficulty, the amount effort
required, the teacher’s guide and assistance etc. Satisfaction concerns the outcome
of an activity, which includes both extrinsic rewards ( good grade or praise) or
intrinsic rewards, such as enjoyment or pride.
Teacher-specific component
Teacher-specific component is another important one. Affiliative drive is an
extrinsic motive, which refers to students’ need to do well in order to please the
teacher. Another factor is teacher’s authority type. Students will react differently if
teacher is either autonomy supporting

or controlling. One other factor of the

teacher is his/her role in direct socialization of students’ motivation. One teacher
can model behavior for students, or a teacher can present a task in such as way that
attract learners’ attention to do the tasks, or a teacher can give feedback.
Group-specific component refers to the classroom learning which takes places in
the group as an organizational unit. Dornyei (1994a) names this kind of group as “

group dynamics” which influence

students’ cognitions. Four aspects of group

dynamics mentioned in Dornyei (1994a)’s research are “ goal-orientedness”, “
norm and reward systems”, “ group cohesion” and classroom goal structure”. The
first factor is group goal which is considered as “ a composite of individual goals” .
In other words, students’ goal is pursuing l2 learning. The next factor is norms and
reward system, which concerns extrinsic motives that specify appropriate behaviors
for efficient learning. Finally, classroom goal structures can either be competitive,
cooperative or individualistic.
To sum up, his framework appears to be a comprehensive construct and it
synthesizes various lines of research. It shows nearly all important factors affecting
motivation in language learning. It can be seen that three levels in his framework
manifest three approaches: behavioral, cognitive and psychological, socialcontextual approaches. Lastly, compared to his framework (2001), emphasizing on
language learning and teaching strategies, learning process, time, only his
framework (1994)- simple, focusing on factors, is suitable to my research.

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However, Dornyei’s (1994) framework lacks some crucial subcomponents. For
instance, he did not mention individual learning techniques as well as the total
teaching periods and environment specific motivational component under the
component of learner level and learning situation level respectively. In my minor
thesis, I only add the environment-related factors to this framework.
Below is Dornyei’s (1994) extended framework of L2 motivation in my research.
Table 1: Dornyei’s (1994) framework of L2 motivation (cited in Dornyei, 2001)
Language level

Integrative motivational subsystem
Instrumental motivational subsystem

Learner level

Need for achievement
Self-confidence
+ Language use anxiety
+ Perceived L2 competence
+ Casual attributions
+ Self-efficacy

Learning situation level
Course
specific
motivational Interest (in the course)
components
Relevance (of the course to one’s needs)
Expectancy (of success)
Satisfaction (one has in the outcome)
Teacher
specific
components

motivational

Affiliative motive
Authority type
Direct socialization of student motivation
- Modeling

- Task presentation
- Feedback
Group
specific
motivational Goal-orientedness
components
Norms and reward system
Group cohesion
Classroom goal structure
*Environment-specific motivational Physical condition
components ( added)
Classroom atmosphere
Language environment
* new motivation component added to Dornyei’s framework.
1.1.4.2. New factors added to Dornyei’s framework.
a. Physical conditions

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Physical conditions in the classroom such as classroom size, chairs, tables, boards
affect learners’ participation positively or negatively.
Harmer (2001) emphasized that physical conditions had great impact on students’
learning as well as their attitude towards SLA, affecting learners’ motivation. Large
class size and poor facilities demotivate learners dramatically.
b. Classroom atmosphere
In order for students to be motivated, the learning environment needs to be free
from anxiety; the students should not feel threatened or intimidated. Learners need
to feel they will be heard and that what they are saying is worth hearing. The
atmosphere must be relaxed and comfortable

c. Language environment
As for speaking skill, learners often seek out situations in which they can
communicate with native speakers, or make use of the radio or cinema to get
maximum exposure to the L2. ( cited in Ellis, 1998: 103-104)
1.2. Theoretical background of speaking in L2 learning
1.2.1. Communicative competence
Canale and Swain (1980) gave four areas of communicative competence which are
briefly outlined below:
Grammatical competence: The knowledge of the English linguistic code, including
lexical items, rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar semantics, and
phonology. Often ESL students may thoroughly understand all of the rules of the
English language but may be unable to apply them to oral communication.
Discourse competence: The ability to connect sentences in stretches of discourse
and to form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances.
Socio-linguistic competence: Sociolinguistic competence includes being culturally
sensitive to social rules such as taboos and politeness. Sociolinguistic competence is
culturally specific.

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Strategic competence: The verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that may
be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to
performance variables or due to insufficient competence. Some examples of
strategic competence are asking questions, taking turns, using gestures, role playing,
etc.
1.2.2. Communicative language teaching ( CLT)
CLT has been popular and widespread in L2 language teaching. CLT reflects a
social relationship between the teacher and learner. This learner-centered approach
gives students a sense of ownership of their learning and enhances their motivation

( Brown, 1994).
CLT emphasizes the process of communication. Learners are actively engaged in
negotiating meaning by trying to make themselves understood and in understanding
others within the classroom and activities ( Richard and Rodger, 1986 ). Teachers
also take some roles in CLT approach: teacher facilitates the communication
process between all participants in the classroom; teacher is a co-communicator
who engages in communicative activities

with the students in the classroom

( Larsen- Freeman, 2001); teacher acts as analysts, counselor and group process
manager ( Richards and Rodgers, 1986)
Brown ( 2007: 241) gave four interconnected characteristics as a definition of CLT
1. Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative
competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence
2. Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic,
authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes. Organizational
language forms are not the central focus, but rather aspects of language that enable
the learner to accomplish those purposes.
3. Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying
communicative techniques. At times fluency may have to take on more importance
than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use.

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4. In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use their target
language,

productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts under proper

guidance, but not under the control of a teacher.
Besides, Brown (1994b) lists six key words of CLT to better understand what it
aims at: learned-centered, cooperative, interactive, integrated, content-centered and
task-based.

In

other

words,

language

teaching

should

be

conducted

communicatively.
In conclusion, chapter 1 has presented some theoretical background knowledge
related to the topic of the study. It has discussed some concepts and ideas
concerning to the issue of motivation in L2 study, and some major factors affecting
students’ motivation. Besides, some different aspects related to speaking were also
discussed. The following chapter will display the detailed description of the
methodology, the procedures of the study under Dornyei ‘s(1994) framework.

CHAPTER 2. METHODOLOGY
2.1. Research questions:

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1. What factors affect students’ motivation in speaking lessons for first year
students of business accounting ?
2. What are the differences in factors affecting the in speaking lessons between
high achievers and low achievers?
2.2. Research setting and participants
The study was conducted at Hung Vuong Vocational College, 401 Au Co Sreet-Ha
Noi where English is a compulsory subject with 120 periods, taught during the first
term and the second term. The course book chosen is New Headway Elementary by
Liz & John Soars which focuses on four skills and language use, grammar.
The participants consisted of 189 first-year students of business accounting. This is
also the total number of first- year students .They came from different provinces in
the country. Entering the college, the students’ levels are very different. Some
learners have a good command of English. The rest have trouble in listening and
speaking; even some of them have a number of limited vocabulary. The tests and
final tests are designed to test four skills and grammar. Their average scores at the
two semesters ranges from 3.0 to 9.5.
2.3. Techniques of collecting data.
2.3.1. Survey questionnaire
The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to avoid language barrier and
communication breakdown. Learners may be comfortable to complete the items in
the questionnaire. A preliminary version of questionnaire items was initially
formulated in English, based on Dorneyi (1994)’s framework.
All the questions in the questionnaire adopted a five-point rating scale. 189 question
papers were distributed to the students for collecting data, 142 of them were

completely filled.
2.3.2. Interviews:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted after statistical results were preminarily
analysed to gain further information about factors affecting students’ participation
in speaking lessons as well as the solutions to overcome the factors. Twelve

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students were chosen to take part in the interviews, namely 4 students of high
achievers ( average mark >8), 4 of low achievers ( average mark < 6) and 4 of
medium achievers.
2.4. Procedure
The questionnaire written in Vietnamese was delivered to 189 students of business
accounting. The participants finished the questionnaire under the researcher’s guide
and monitoring. Thirty minutes was given to fill in the questionnaire. Data was
analyzed by using SPSS. Some techniques of quantitative data analysis used in this
study are as follows
Firstly, a reliability test on all the items was carried out through SPSS version 16
and the reliability coefficient was 0.819, which meant that the internal consistency
of the items in the questionnaire was relatively high.
Secondly, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation ) and linear regression
were used to show to what extent each factor affected the participation in English
speaking lessons. To clarify its correlation, item 33 ( opportunities to use L2 in the
classroom) was dependent variable, other items were independent variables
Thirdly, to test normal distribution for each group, Shapiro-Wilk was used for the
sample size smaller than 50. If sig.-value is larger than 0.05, the group is normally
distributed
Finally, if both groups are normally distributed, the independent sample T-test is
used to show the mean difference between 2 groups, significant at 0.05 level

whereas if both are not normally distributed, Mann-Whitney U test is used.
Also, interviews were conducted with an attempt to understand students’ responses
better.

CHAPTER 3. DATA ANALYSIS
3.1. Participants
Information

Number and percentage of students
16


Age

19-20
125
88%
20-24
17
12%
Gender
Male
15
10.5%
Female
127
89.4%
Years of learning < 7 years
0
English

> = 7 years
142
100%
Table 2: students’ profiles ( total number of students: 142)
The total number of the students in the study was 142 students of which 125
students were aged from 19 to 20 and 17 were aged from 20 to 24. All of them had
been learning English for more than 7 years. 15 students were male and 127 were
females students. It is clear that most of business accounting-major students were
female.
3.2 Factors affecting students’ motivation in speaking lessons
3.2.1 Language level
In Dornyei’s model, language level refers to instrumental motivation and integrative
motivation. In terms of instrumental motivation, items in the questionnaire are item
2( I may need it later for jobs), item 3 (I want to have good grades). Integrative
motivation includes item 4 (I want to understand English-speaking films, videos, TV
or radio), item 5 (I want to go abroad) and item 6 (I want to know more the culture
and the people of English speaking countries)
Items
Instrumental motivation
Integrative motivation

Mean

Std. Deviation

r

P

2,3

4,5,6

3.7958
2.7488

.53975
.44595

.352
.125

.000
.119

Table 3: Factors related to language level
Table 3 revealed that the respondents possessed much a higher level of instrumental
motivation than that of integrative motivation, with average mean score of
instrumental motivation at 3.79 whereas integrative motivation was 2.74. It is clear
that instrumental motivation outweighed integrative motivation. In the survey, the
students thought that English speaking skill was important for them because “they
want to have good grades” ( item 3)( M: 4.4, SD: 0.7) and because “they need it
later for jobs”( item 2) ( M: 3.2, SD: 0.9). In other words, the students of business

17


accounting at Hung Vuong college were more extrinsically than intrinsically
motivated.
To test the correlation of instrumental and integrative motivation to students’
participation in speaking lessons, regression analysis was employed. Only item 2 ( I

may need it for my fob) significantly influenced their motivation to speak English (r
= . 372, p<.05).

The integrative motivation and item 3 were not statistically

significant at 0.05 level, which means there is no relationship with their motivation
to participate in speaking activities.
3.2.2.Learning situation level
Mean
teacher-specific components
Group-specific component
Course-specific component
Environment
-specific
component

Std. Deviation

r

P

3.5079
3.8259
2.7553

.40908
.24021
.48145

.446
.268
.285

.000
.002
.000

2.4611

.36888

,274

.001

Table 4: Learning situation level
From the table 4 , as can be seen that group-related factors (M:3.8) and teacherrelated factors (M: 3.50) had high mean scores. Otherwise, the mean score of
course-related factors ( M: 2.7) and that of environment-related factors ( M: 2.4)
were relatively low. However, only teacher-specific components had a significant
impact on their motivation to speak (r:.446) and the others affected less. In the
following sections, each of these components is to be explored in detail in the hope
that we can find the strengths to promote and the weaknesses to inhibit.
3.2.2.1. Teacher-specific components
Affiliative motive, authority type, direct socialization of student motivation are
under teacher-specific motivational components.
3.2.2.1.1. Authority type
The following table showed how the teachers behaved .
Items

Mean

Std. Deviation

19.How well do you speak when your teacher
gives you extra homework of speaking topics?

2.4859

.94333

18

r

p

.356

.000,


Mean

Std. Deviation

r

p

4.4577

.54086

0.74

.373

37a: gentle/ angry

3.7535

.59771

.154

.067

37b slapdash/conscientious

4.2282

.65983

.399

.000

37c humourous/serious

3.3099

.54815

.061

.472

38a Sympathetic / ridicule students’ mistakes

4.1338

.71686

.157

.062

38b Fair / unfair

4.0211

.69922

.034

.692

.003

.962

Items
20. How well do you speak when your teacher

revises the lesson?

38c. care or enthusiasm/

lack of care or of

enthusiasm

4.3310

.58007

Table 5: Authority type
The table 5 showed that only two factors significantly affected the students’
motivation to speak English: extra homework of speaking topics from teacher ( item
19, r = . 356, p<.05)) and teachers’ carefulness ( item 37b, r =. 399, p<.05). Other
factors relating to authority type were not significant at 0.05 level ( p<.05), which
means there was no/little relationship with the students’ motivation.
The first factor is that almost the students did not like doing homework ( item 19M: 2.4). In the interview, some explained : “ The content of the course book is
enough for me to learn, so I don’t like doing extra speaking topic. It takes me a lot
of time to prepare”.“ What I learn in the class is too much to learn by heart and
practise. I don’t like doing extra speaking topics because I don’t have a good
memory”( interview 1). In other words, most of the learners did not want to do
further exercises or similar topics which it took a lot of time to prepare. Because of
their lack of basic knowledge, the content in the course book is enough for them to

recall and practise again at home, but what the students’ achievement can be
enhanced if the teachers give extra homework is not conclusive. However, in the
context of vocational college, this study found that students preferred English
teachers to give less homework
The second factor is the teachers’ carefulness. The item 37b got the mean score of
4.2 which means that the students had a high level of motivation in terms of this
factor. They were motivated by teachers’ conscientiousness. This factor also
significantly affected the students’ motivation to speak English( r = . 399, p< . 05)

19