A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN READING LESSONS OF THE 10th FORM STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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

ĐINH THỊ HÀ TRANG
A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN READING
LESSONS OF THE 10th FORM STUDENTS AT HIGH
SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS, HANOI NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
(Nghiên cứu về những yếu tố gây mất hứng thú trong giờ đọc hiểu
của học sinh lớp 10 tại trường THPT Chuyên
– Đại Học Sư Phạm Hà Nội)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

Hanoi - 2015

i


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

ĐINH THỊ HÀ TRANG
A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN READING
LESSONS OF THE 10th FORM STUDENTS AT HIGH

SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS, HANOI NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
(Nghiên cứu về những yếu tố gây mất hứng thú trong giờ đọc hiểu
của học sinh lớp 10 tại trường THPT Chuyên
– Đại Học Sư Phạm Hà Nội)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

ii


Hanoi - 2015

DECLARATION
I certificate that the minor thesis entitled “A study on demotivating factors in reading
lessons of 10th form students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University
of Education” is the result of my own work and has not been submitted in any form for
another degree or diploma at any university or other institutions.

Đinh Thị Hà Trang

Hanoi, 2015

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge my truthful gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Huynh Anh
Tuan, from Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies, University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University. Thanks to his thorough reading,
critical comments, invaluable guidance and precious corrections, I was able to find
the right way to complete this study.
I also would like to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues at High School for
Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education, who have been willing to
complete my survey questionnaire and have given me invaluable suggestions to the
research.
I appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the students in classes 10 Math 1, 10
Physics and 10 Chemistry at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National
University of Education.
My special words of thanks are sent to my family, especially my husband who has
given me encouragement and support throughout my research work.
Hanoi, 2015

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ABSTRACT

Reading has long been considered as a fundamental skill by many second
language learners. Reading itself, however, causes students a lot of difficulties to
acquire. This study was conducted to investigate demotivating factors in English
reading lessons of the 10th form students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi
National University of Education. To meet the objectives of the study, two different
groups of participants are taken into investigation, 109 students of three classes
including 10 Math1, 10 Physics and 10 Chemistry and 6 teachers of English. This
study was carried out in the form of survey research. The main instruments

employed for data collection were questionnaires and interviews. Specifically, two
sets of questionnaires were designed, one for the students and the other for six
teachers. Furthermore, to get the validity of the collected data from questionnaires,
interviews were conducted among 10 randomly selected students who have already
done the survey questionnaires. The data were then analyzed both quantitatively and
qualitatively. The results show that the out- of- date content of reading texts in the
current textbook “Tieng Anh 10” was the most dominant demotivating factors. In
addition, teachers’ boring teaching methods, students’ inadequate vocabulary
knowledge and boring classroom activities should be taken into account. Based on
the findings, feasible solutions are provided to mitigate students’ demotivation in
reading lessons. Hopefully, this study is of great help to better teaching and learning
reading comprehension at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National
University of Education.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
List of tables and charts
Abstract
PART A: INTRODUCTION.
1. Rationale of the study
2. Aims of the study
3. Research questions
4. Significance of the study
5. Scope of the study

6. Method of the study
7. Design of the study
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Theoretical background of demotivation
1.1.1. Definitions of demotivation
1.1.2. Demotivating factors in foreign language learning
1.2. Theoretical background of reading and reading comprehension
1.2.1. Definitions of reading
1.2.2. Definitions of reading comprehension
1.2.3. The significance of reading comprehension
1.2.4. Demotivating factors in reading comprehension
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Research setting
2.2. Subjects
2.3. Research types
2.4. Data collection instruments
2.4.1. Questionnaires
2.4.2. Interviews
2.5. Data collection procedures
2.5.1. Questionnaires
2.5.2. Interviews
2.6. Data analysis method
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS
3.1. Students’ responses to the questionnaire and the interview’s
questions
3.2. Teachers’ responses to the questionnaire
3.3. Findings and discussion
3.4. Implications
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PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Recapitulation
2. Summary of the findings
3. Limitations of the study
4. Suggestions for further research
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

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LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 3.1: Students’ attitudes towards the learning of reading English
Chart 3.2: Students’ interest in English reading lessons
Chart 3.3: Students’ opinions on teachers’ classroom activities
Chart 3.4: Teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of teaching reading skills

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Information on the number of students surveyed
Table 3.1: Students’ purposes of learning reading comprehension
Table 3.2: Students’ opinions on factors that demotivate students in reading lessons
Table 3.3: Students’ opinions on teachers’ employment of activities
Table 3.4: Students’ expectations towards teachers of reading skills

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Table 3.5: Teachers’ perceptions of factors that demotivate students in reading
lessons
Table 3.6: The frequency of activities used by teachers in reading lessons

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
These days, English has been widely chosen by almost all Vietnamese
students as their foreign language. This enormous proportion, however, reflects a
considerable demand for English rather than the quality of language learning and
teaching process itself. While some students make a lot of effort to learn English as
hard as possible, others mentally withdraw or look for strategies to pass the required
exams with minimum effort. In fact, learning English has become an increasingly
necessity for many people and there is a tremendous increase in the demand for the
level of proficiency in learning English.
Learning reading skills is one of the biggest obstacles for Vietnamese
students. Reading was traditionally regarded as a passive process in which the
readers simply decode the written symbols without bringing their own knowledge to
interact with the text (Clarke & Silberstein, 1977; Ruddell, 1976). Reading was also

viewed to involve reading words in a linear fashion and internalizing their meaning
one at a time. Reading seems to be a source of frustration. Some students complain
that they feel rather bored when they learn reading skills. The reading process
requires a certain amount of time and involves a lot of individual work, which is not
in some way related to the communicative language ability. Unlike speaking or
listening, there is little chance for students to ask for additional explanation or
clarification. Reading lessons are considered to cause the tiredness, even making
students lose their interest in learning other skills or demotivating students in
absorbing the knowledge. However, reading is fundamental in developing the mind
and it is of great importance to improve other language skills.
Consequently, a large number of studies (Dornyei, 1990, 2001a, 2001b;
Gardner, Lalonde, Moorcroft, & Evers, 1985; Oxford & Shearin,1994; Scarcella &
Oxford, 1992; Warden & Lin, 2000, Gorham and Christophel, 1992; Rebecca
Oxford, 1998; Arai , 2004; Falout and Maruyama, 2004; Tsuchiya, 2006; Sakai and
Kikuchi, 2009) have been carried out in the field of motivation and demotivation,
especially both Vietnamese and foreigners have made numerous researches on
1


demotivating factors in reading comprehension. These studies have revealed several
findings about factors to demotivate Vietnamese students in learning reading skills
and methods to overcome these demotivating factors. However, there have not been
a large number of studies going into reality to check those findings from the
perception of students.
Despite the great effort from teachers and learners, there are still weaknesses
in the current teaching and learning reading English skills at High School for Gifted
Students, Hanoi National University of Education. Specifically, students’
demotivation can constitute a barrier for an enjoyable teaching and learning.
All these facts, henceforth, have offered the researcher a chance to conduct
“A study on demotivating factors in reading lessons of 10 th form students at High

School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education”. The purpose
of this research is to find out demotivating factors to better the current situation of
teaching and learning English reading skills at High School for Gifted Students,
Hanoi National University of Education. These factors involve the current textbook
“Tieng Anh 10”, the learning environment, the learning conditions, classroom
activities, teaching methods, teacher’s behavior and competence.
2. Aims of the study
The ultimate aim of this study is to increase 10 th form students’ motivation in
reading comprehension. In order to achieve the above aim, the following objective
is to investigate factors that demotivate the 10 th form students at High School for
Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education when they are engaged in
reading lessons. Based on the findings, some feasible solutions are given to
eliminate factors that demotivate students in reading lessons.
3. Research questions
This study focuses on answering the following research question:
 What are factors that demotivate the 10th form students at High School
for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education when
they are engaged in reading lessons?
4. Significance of the study
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This study highlights factors that demotivate 10 th form students at High
School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education when they are
engaged in reading lessons. The results of the findings can be of great use for the
teachers of the classes surveyed in the way that they can adapt their teaching
methods as well as activities so that their students can be more motivated in
learning English. Therefore, the recommendations of this study will be vital to
improve the teaching and learning of reading at High School for Gifted Students,
Hanoi National University of Education in particular and of high school students in

general.
5. Scope of the study
This study was conducted to find out demotivating factors in reading
comprehension and suggest some recommendations in order to develop students’
motivation for learning English reading skills at High School for Gifted Students,
Hanoi National University of Education.
6. Method of the study
In order to achieve its aim, a survey research design is employed in the study.
The research is carried out on the basis of survey questionnaires and interviews.
Firstly, the data were collected with the use of the survey questionnaires which were
conducted with 6 teachers of English and 109 students in the 10 th form students at
High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education. Then,
interviews were employed with ten students randomly selected for further
information.
7. Design of the study
The study is organized as follows:
Part A: INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, the aims, and the research
questions, the significance of study, the scope of the study, the method of the study
and the design of the study.
Part B: DEVELOPMENT, consists of the following chapters
 Chapter 1, LITERATURE REVIEW, presents the theoretical background
related to demotivation including the conceptions of demotivation,
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demotivating factors in foreign language learning. In addition, this chapter
also covers the followings: the definitions of reading, the definitions of
reading comprehension, the significance of reading comprehension and
potential problems in reading comprehension.
 Chapter 2, METHODOLOGY, provides general information about the

current situation of learning reading at High School for Gifted Students,
Hanoi National University of Education as well as study subjects, data
collection instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis method.
 Chapter 3, ANALYSIS OF DATA, gives a detailed analysis of data
collected. Besides, the chapter also presents some explanations and
interpretations of the findings of the study.
Part C: CONCLUSION, summarizes the major findings and points out the
limitations of the study. Furthermore, some suggestions for further studies are also
given in this part.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. 1. Theoretical background of demotivation
1.1. 1. Conceptions of demotivation
Generally, to pursue certain goals, students need a force that can motivate
them in learning. Dornyei and Otto (1998) defined motivation as the dynamically
changing cumulative arousal that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies,
terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor processes where by initial wishes
and desires are selected, prioritized, operationalized and successfully or
unsuccessfully acted out. Furthermore, a large number of research results show that
motivation play a crucial role in learners’ acquisition of second language and
foreign language (see, e.g., Dornyei, 1990, 2001a, 2001b; Gardner, Lalonde,
Moorcroft, & Evers, 1985; Oxford & Shearin,1994; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992;
Warden & Lin, 2000) . Research has shown that motivation is crucial for L2
learning (Dornyei,1994; Oxford & Shearin,1996) since it has great impact on the
intensity of their learning effort, their frequency of L2 strategies application and of
their interaction with native speakers. Besides, it can also affect the achievement

test results related to the curriculum and their commitment to L2 skills after their
study is over.

It could be described as a driving force that energizes human

behavior and directs their behavior.
Demotivation should not be viewed as the opposite of motivation but a
certain aspect of motivation. According to Christophel and Gorham (1995),
demotivation is conceptually different from the phenomenon of no motivation.
There are some positive factors which may motivate students’ learning, but there
are also elements causing them to demotivate at some point which are called
demotivating influences. There are also some influences with a negative effect,
which are called demotivating influences. They reduce students’ motivation during
learning. Dornyei (2001a) made every effort to provide a definition for
demotivation. It concerns “various negative influences that cancel out existing
motivation” (p.142) or “specific external forces that reduce or diminish the
5


motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action” (p.143).
Therefore, demotivation could be regarded as the dark side of motivation.
Demotivation, as also defined by Dornyei (2001b), is a decrease or drop in level of
motivation. Dornyei points out that demotivation does not mean that a learner has
lost his or her motivation completely. In contrast, the positive influences that
originally made up the motivational basis of behavior can still be there. However,
demotivation is not solely external, and many researchers (e.g., Arai, 2004; Falout
& Maruyama, 2004) included internal factors such as lack of self- confidence and
negative attitude within learners themselves to complement external sources. In
spite of his definition, even Dornyei (2001) himself listed reduced self- confidence
and a negative attitude toward the foreign language as sources of demotivation.

Sakai & Kuichi (2009) disagree with Dornyei’s definition of demotivation by
referring to numerous studies where researchers have also included internal forces
(a learner’s lack of self- confidence and negative attitudes of the learners) in
addition to external forces that Dornyei mentions. Therefore, demotivation is a
phenomenon in which motivation declines due to one or several causes, which
every learner experiences.
Demotivation, however, is different from amotivation. Demotivation is
understood as the circumstance in which motivation decreased, which means
motivation must exist before. Amotivation is described as the void of motivation
and is highlighted with passivity. Deci and Ryan (1985) introduced the concept of
amotivation, which referred to 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 face with the activity. Vallerand and Ratelle
(2002) expanded that amotivated people experience a lack of competence or control
over their external environments, which was caused by a feeling of helplessness
between behaviors and outcomes. They “go through the motions with no sense of
intending to do what they are doing” until they quit the activity (Ryan and Deci,
2002, p.17). Legault et al (2006) defined amotivation as “a state in which
individuals cannot perceive a relationship between their behavior and that
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behavior’s subsequent outcome” (p.568). In recent days, a further concept has been
introduced by researchers in the field of second language motivation, namely,
remotivation (see Chapter 17, Falout et al., 2009), which refers to taking steps to
bring back second language learners’ lost or reduced motivation.
In this study, the researcher adopted Sakai & Kukichi’s (2009) opinion.
They claimed that the definition of demotivation “specific external forces that
reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing
action” (Dornyei, 2001) needed to be expanded to cover both internal and

external demotivating factors which reduce or diminish the motivation to study
English.
1.1.2. Demotivating factors in foreign language learning
There have been several studies on demotivating factors mainly in the field
of instructional communication, for example, in lectures of communication at
North American universities (Gorham & Christophel, 1992; Christophel & Gorham,
1995; Gorham & Millette, 1997) and demotivators in university lectures in China,
Germany, Japan and the United States (Zhang, 2007). In the field of language
teaching, Chambers, Rudnai, Ushioda and Dornyei were the pioneers to study
demotivation of learners of English. In recent years, this issue has attracted many
more researchers, especially those from Japanese context (Ikeno, 2002; Arai, 2004;
Falout & Maruyama, 2004; Hasegawa, 2004; Sakai & Kikuchi, 2009; Falout er al,
2009) and Vietnam (Tran & Richard Baldauf, 2007). The ultimate goal of
identifying demotivating factors is to more easily determine the learners’ motivation
and the way to boost their incentives of learning. That is also the reason why there
have been a lot of studies revolving around this topic.
A demotivation study was initiated in the United States with Gorham and
Christophel (1992) attempting to identify what factors causing demotivation among
college students taking introductory communication classes. In comparing learner
attributions of demotivation and motivation, they found that the absence of
demotivators in the classroom such as unenthusiastic teaching, dissatisfaction with
grading, and boring subject had a more positive influence on motivation that the
7


presence of motivators such as an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher. The
researchers gave a conclusion that teachers could promote learner motivation
simply by preventing demotivation. Demotivators were collected from students’
responses to the open- ended question: “What things decrease your motivation to try
hard to do your best in that class?” The research findings revealed three main

categories of demotives: 1) Context demotives (factors likely to be regarded as
antecedent to the teacher’s influence), 2) Structure/format demotives (factors over
which the teacher is likely to have some degree of influence, if not complete
control), 3) Teacher behaviors (factors likely to be perceived as under the teacher’s
direct control). Teacher-related factors, which consist of class structure or formatrelated demotives and the demotives resulting from teacher behavior, accounted for
79% of all responses. In a follow-up study to ascertain whether the perceived
sources of demotivation could be replicated.
A study on learning experiences among 250 high school and university
American students was conducted by Oxford (1998) determined four types of
demotivating factors as below:

1) The teacher’s personal relationship with the

students, including hypercriticism, belligerence, a lack of caring, and favouritism;
2) The teacher’s attitude towards the course or the material, including lack of
enthusiasm, sloppy management and close-mindedness; 3) Style conflicts between
teachers and students, including multiple style conflicts, conflicts about the amount
of structure or detail, and conflicts about the degree of closure or ‘seriousness’ of
the class; 4) The nature of the classroom activities, including overload,
repetitiveness, and irrelevance.
Meanwhile, Dornyei (1998) with his structured 10-30 minute interviews
carried out among 50 secondary school students in Budapest, Hungary discovered
that it was students’ teachers or peers that demotivated them. He identified nine
demotivating factors: 1) Teachers’ personalities, commitment, competence and
teaching methods, 2) Inadequate school facilities (very big group, not the right
level, or frequent change of teachers), 3) Reduced self- confidence due to their
experience of failure or lack of success, 4) Negative attitude towards the second
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language, 5) Compulsory nature of second language study, 6) Interference of
another foreign language being studied, 7) Negative attitude towards second
language community, 8) Attitude of group members, and 9) Course book used in
class. It was reported that demotivating factors of the teacher and reduced selfconfidence account for more than half of all demotivating factors.
Arai (2004) conducted a study among 33 university students of high English
proficiency to determine whether they had had demotivating experiences in foreign
language classrooms and to depict the experiences and their instant reactions to
those experiences. Arai collected 105 comments and categorized them into the
following four areas: 1) Teachers, 2) Classes, 3) Class atmosphere, and 4) Others.
She found that the number of reports about the first category, Teachers, accounted
for 46.7% of total reports, followed by Classes (36.2%). The third category, Class
atmosphere, was the least reported (13.3%).
In another study by Falout and Maruyama (2004), the relationship between
demotivation and students’ level of language proficiency was examined. The
researchers employed the 49- item questionnaire developed based on Dornyei’s nine
demotivating factors among 164 freshmen university students from two science
departments. Accordingly, six categories of demotivating factors were identified:
1) Teachers, 2) Courses, 3) Attitude towards English speaking community, 4)
Attitude towards English itself, 5) Self- confidence, and 6) Attitude of group
members. It was found that for the low- proficiency learners, self- confidence,
attitudes towards the second language, courses, teachers, and attitudes of group
members were the most demotivating factors. For the high- proficiency learners,
self- confidence was the most important demotivating factors. In fact, low proficient
students tented to correlate demotivation to their affective states, while the high
proficient students were more suitable to attribute their demotivation to external
factors and indicate more control over their affective states and learning conditions.
Tsuchiya (2006) was able to list nine areas of demotivation after the study
among 129 freshmen: 1) Teachers, 2) Classes, 3) Compulsory nature of English
study, 4) Negative attitude toward the English- speaking community, 5) Negative
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attitude toward English itself, 6) Lack of self- confidence, 7) Negative group
attitude, 8) Lack of a positive English speaking model, 9) Ways of learning. The
results showed that significant differences were found between the two groups in all
nine factors of demotivation. The low- proficiency group rated higher than the highproficiency group on every factor.
In 2007, a case study with 100 Vietnamese students was conducted by Tran
and Baldauf on their foreign language learning experiences. The results of the study
revealed that there are two groups of demotives: 1) Internal attributions, 2)
External attributions. The internal attributions includes students’ attitudes towards
English, their experiences of failure or lack of success and the incidents related to
their self- esteem, meanwhile the external attributions contain teacher-related
factors, the learning environment and other external factors. The researchers have
given a specific and comparatively full description of the issue in Vietnamese
condition.
Sakai and Kikuchi (2009) in their study 656 Japanese high school students,
determined demotivating factors via a set of questionnaire including 35 questions.
Through a principal axis factor analysis, five demotivating factors were extracted:
1) Learning contents and materials, 2) Teacher’s competence and teaching styles, 3)
Inadequate school facilities, 4) Lack of intrinsic motivation, 5) Test scores. The
results showed that the learning contents and materials and test scores were
demotivating factors for many Japanese high school students, especially for less
motivated learners. Contrary to what previous research suggested, teachers’
competence and teaching styles factor was not a very strong cause of demotivation
compared to learning contents and materials or test scores for both more and less
motivated groups. The study also showed that both more and less motivated
learners did not perceive inadequate school facilities as demotivating.
In another study by Falout et al. (2009), 900 Japanese university learners of
English were surveyed to determine the demotivating factors to investigate the
demotivating factors in learning EFL as well as the relationship between past

demotivating experiences and present proficiencies. Demotivating factors were
10


grouped into three categories: 1) External conditions of the learning environment
2) Internal conditions of the learner 3) Reactive behaviors to demotivating
experiences. Internal and reactive factors were shown to correlate with long- term
EFL learning outcomes. Findings indicated that beginning, less- proficient learners
among non- English majors were least likely to control their affective states to cope
with demotivating experiences.
To cut a long story short, numerous studies have been carried out on the
issue of demotivation. However, the findings are applied in specific teaching and
learning contexts. Two groups of demotivating factors including internal
attributions and external attributions, which were extracted in the study by Tran and
Baldauf Jr. (2007), give the researcher a lot of guidance in examining the common
negative factors affecting high school students’ English learning in reading
comprehension at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of
Education.
1.2. Theoretical background of reading and reading comprehension
1.2.1. Definitions of reading
Reading was traditionally regarded as a passive process that involves reading
words in a linear fashion and internalizing their meaning one at a time. However,
Goodman (1971:153) sees reading as “a psycholinguistic process by which the
reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been
encoded by a writer as graphic display”. After the emergence of the
psycholinguistic model of reading, Goodman, (1976) and Smith (1971; 1973) argue
that reading is actually an active process, in which readers create meaning from the
printed words or receive and interpret a message from printed materials. In other
words, reading is a process of how information is processed from the text into
meanings, starting with the information from the text, and ending with what the

reader gains. The following definitions from experts can provide a deeper
understanding of reading.
Goodman (1976) described that “reading is a psycholinguistic guessing
game, in which the reader actively interacts with the text to construct meaning”.
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Grabe (1991:377) defined that “reading can be seen as an active process of
comprehending where students need to be taught strategies to read more efficiently
for example, guess from context, define expectations, make inferences about the
text, skim ahead to fill in the text”.
Smith (1985:102) proposed that “reading means understanding the author’s
thought”. In other words, the readers “read the author’s mind not the author’s
words”.
Harmer (1994:190) shared a similar opinion with Smith that “reading is an
exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive the message and the
brain then has to work out the significance of these messages”.
Alyouef (2005:144) claimed that “reading can be seen as an interactive
process between a reader and a text which leads to automaticity or reading fluency”.
1.2.2. Definitions of reading comprehension
Comprehension is generally considered to be the ultimate goal of reading.
Reading comprehension is not a simple matter of recognizing individual words, or
even of understanding each individual word as the eyes pass over it. Reading
comprehension requires efficient knowledge of the world and an efficient
knowledge of the language. In other words, reading requires a rich background and
some ability to comprehend the texts. Good readers have to do other jobs in order to
comprehend a text. They should connect a new text with past experiences background knowledge, interpret, evaluate, synthesize, and consider alternative
interpretations (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995)
Many definitions of reading comprehension were obtained from various sources.
Swan (1975:1) stated that “A student is good at comprehension we mean that

he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information of a
text with the minimum of understanding”.
Grellet (1981:3) defined reading comprehensions as “understanding a written
text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible”.
Gillet and Temple (1998:2) said that comprehension is the understanding
new information in light of what we have already known.
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Ngadiso (1998:1) indicated that reading comprehension is the process of
using syntactic, semantic, and rhetorical information found in the printed texts to
reconstruct in the reader’s mind, using the knowledge of the world he or she
possesses.
John R. Kirby (2006) showed that reading comprehension is the application
of a skill that evolved for other purposes (listening or oral comprehension) to a new
form of input (text). Unlike oral comprehension, reading comprehension is not
something for which the brains have evolved. Whereas oral comprehension seems
to develop naturally with minimal deliberate intervention, reading comprehension is
more challenging and requires deliberate instruction. Humans have been doing oral
comprehension for 100,000 years or more (Donald, 1991). Reading comprehension
has only been practiced for 5,000 years (Olson, 1994)
John R. Kirby (2006) also indicated that there are three different types or
levels of comprehension. Any type of comprehension a reader employs will depend
on ability, purpose and instruction.
 Passive comprehension: What we do when we are following a text but not
analyzing or assessing it deeply.
 Comprehension for learning: What we do when we try to remember the
details and/ or deeper meanings of a text.
 Self- regulated comprehension: What we do when we are using the text to
achieve our own goals.

1.2.3. The significance of reading comprehension
There is no denying that reading plays an integral part in students’ academic
success. Reading is a bridge to enlarge knowledge and improves the technological
achievements.
Ramelan (1990:i) showed that “reading is a very important part in our life.
Through reading, we can explore the world, countries that have never been visited
before and the minds and ideas of great people in the past, all of which will enrich
our experience and knowledge to broaden our horizon”.

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Hung & Tzeng, (2001) pointed out that “reading is an important skill to help
people learn from human knowledge and experience. Through reading, knowledge
has greatly contributed to the growth of mankind. Reading is the fastest and
simplest way to raise people’s education level. Reading is like opening the door of
understanding to human’s past, where it can serve as looking glass for our present.
Reading also stimulates the development of brain cells, reinforces language skills,
enhances organizational abilities, improves one’s temperament and poise, and
provides strength to endure frustration. Reading is the best way of enabling humans
to absorb new experience and replace old views”.
In short, reading comprehension is a critical foundation skill for later
academic learning, employment skills and life satisfaction. According to Beatrice
S.Mikuleckly and Linda Jeffries (1996):
 Reading helps you learn to think in English.
 Reading can enlarge your English vocabulary.
 Reading can help you improve your writing.
 Reading may be a good way to practice your English if you live in a
non- English speaking country.
 Reading can help you prepare for studying in English- speaking

country.
 Reading is a good way to find out about new ideas, facts and
experiences.
1.2.4. Potential problems in reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is commonly known to be complex and
multifaceted. It is no surprise that several students encounter reading
comprehension difficulties. To illustrate this, students have difficulty in
understanding word meanings, understanding important ideas, making inferences
with the mentioned information; even they do not understand what they have read at
all. As a result, they frequently avoid reading and feel frustrated with reading tasks
in school. According to Nation et al. (2004), poor comprehenders often have
weaknesses in some aspects of language skills with deficits at both lower (e.g.,
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vocabulary knowledge) and higher levels (e.g., inference generation, understanding
figurative language). There is no doubt that motivation plays a critical role in
students’ foreign language learning outcomes, especially in reading comprehension.
According to Saville - Troike (2006: 85- 86), individual motivation is a factor that
is used to explain why some second language learners are more successful than
others. However there are demotivating factors which negatively influence the
learner’s attitudes and behaviors and lead to undesired learning outcomes. The
findings of the study “Impact of demotivating factors on the reading
comprehension achievement of Iranian EFL learners” by Ghaedrahmat & Entezari
& Abedi (2014) reveal that demotivation negatively affects students’ performance
in reading comprehension test. The less the amount of demotivation is, the higher
the reading scores. In particular, negative teachers’ traits and behaviors, improper
methods of teaching English in class, lack of focusing on oral skills, teaching mere
grammar at high schools, limitation of English to textbooks, improper evaluation
system and lack of using technology in English classes were the most contextual

demotivating factors.
In short, there is a remarkable correlation between demotivating factors and
learner’s reading comprehension achievement. To increase student’s motivation and
boost learner’s learning outcomes, it is of great significance to explore factors that
demotivate students in reading comprehension.
.

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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To answer the research question “What are factors that demotivate the 10th
form students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of
Education when they are engaged in reading lessons?”, a survey research design
was employed in this study. This chapter discusses the setting of the study, subjects,
data collection instruments, data collection procedures and the data analysis
method.
2.1. Research Setting
The study was conducted at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National
University of Education, which is one of three national gifted high schools in
Hanoi. This high school was founded in 1966 and its initial aim was to nurture
Vietnamese students who excelled at Mathematics. Several majors were gradually
added, including Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, Literature. It was not
until 2009 that English and two other non-majored classes (A1 and A2) were
founded. The students were carefully selected from several parts in Vietnam and
there is always competitive learning environment, which creates real opportunities
for students to develop their full ability.
Each classroom has recently been equipped with modern teaching and
learning facilities such as a projector, a computer and a television. The learning
environment, therefore, seems to be very enjoyable and favorable.

2.2. Subjects
The participants are grouped into two categories in this study.
The first group is 109 tenth form students from three classes of Mathematics,
Physics and Chemistry at High School for Gifted Students.
Total
10 Math 1
10 Physics
10 Chemistry
109
35
38
36
Table 2. 1: Information on the Number of Students Surveyed
They have been learning English for at least 4 years. The teachers claim that all
the participants were provided with reading strategies when they were at secondary
school. All of the participants, however, come from different parts of our country.

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Different educational settings may apply specific standards of teaching, which
result in the difference in levels of knowledge. In other words, it causes the
imbalance between the scope of vocabulary and the learners’ levels. As a result, the
proficiency level of English among students is not the same. Students with higher
proficiency level of English do not show their interest in absorbing the knowledge
that is not new and challenging. In contrast, ones with lower proficiency level of
English are fed up with following English lessons which cause a lot of difficulties.
These students even catch up with nothing in lessons. It is generally believed that
this imbalance itself leads to students’ low motivation in learning English,
especially in English reading comprehension. The scores of reading skills are very

different among students. While some students who have poor learning outcomes
got the average reading score ranging from 4 to 5 points, others got 8 to 9 points.
Six teachers ranging from the age of 25 to 32 are the second group. All of
them are the teachers of the above students. They have at least 2 years of teaching
English. All of them graduated with distinction degree from the English Department
of University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University.
2.3. Research Types
This study employs the survey research. Exploring the demotivation of 10 th
form students in learning reading skills is the ultimate goal of this study. The research
goal is mainly achieved by means of quantitative data, using survey research. The
qualitative data (interviews) was obtained after the quantitative data collection to
deepen understanding and interpretation of the results.
2.4. Data Collection Instruments
The data was collected by means of questionnaires and interviews at High
School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education.
2.4.1. Questionnaires
The main instruments are questionnaires administered in order to gather both
students’ and teachers’ perspectives.
One kind of survey questionnaire is for 10th form non - English major
students. It was adapted from Tran. and Baldauf Jr. (2007), Demotivation:
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