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
th

LESSONS OF THE 10 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


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
th

LESSONS OF THE 10 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

Hanoi - 2015


DECLARATION
I certificate that the minor thesis entitled “A study on demotivating factors in reading
lessons of 10

th

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

i

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, Hanoi. 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

ii


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
th

reading lessons of the 10 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.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Table of contents
List of tables and charts
PART A: INTRODUCTION

1.

Rationale of the study

2.

Aim 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. Demotivation
1.1.1. Conceptions of demotivation
1.1.2. Demotivating factors in foreign language learning
1.2. 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

iv


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

PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Recapitulation
2. Summary of the findings
3. Limitations of the study
4. Suggestions for further research
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

v


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
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

vi


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). Reading
was also viewed to involve reading words in a linear fashion and internalizing their
meaning one at a time. According to Stanovich (2000: 252 - 258), “The range of
vocabulary encountered in reading is much greater than is typically used in
speaking and listening settings”. 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;
Gorham and Christophel, 1992; Oxford, 1998; Falout and Maruyama, 2004;
Tsuchiya, 2006; Arai, 2004; Kikuchi and Sakai, 2009) have been carried out in the
field of motivation and demotivation, especially both Vietnamese and foreigners
have made numerous researches on demotivating factors in reading comprehension.
1


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
th

“A study on demotivating factors in reading lessons of 10 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. Aim of the study
th

The ultimate aim of this study is to increase 10 form students‟ motivation in
reading comprehension. In order to achieve the above aim, the following objective
th

is to investigate factors that demotivate the 10 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:



th

What are factors that demotivate the 10 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

2


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 factors that demotivate 10

th

form

students non - majoring in reading lessons 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
th

conducted with 6 teachers of English and 109 students in the 10 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,
3

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.


data

Chapter 3, ANALYSIS OF DATA, gives a detailed analysis of

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.

4


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, there are two main sections. Firstly, the conceptions of
demotivation and demotivating factors in foreign language learning are reviewed.
Secondly, the definitions of reading and reading comprehension, the significance of
reading comprehension as well as potential problems in reading comprehension are
presented.
1. 1. 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 (Dornyei, 1990, 2001a, 2001b). Research has shown that
motivation is crucial for L2 learning (Dornyei, 1994) 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
5

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
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) 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. Kikuchi and Sakai (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. Amotivation is also
6


viewed as a state in which individuals cannot perceive a relationship between their
behavior and that behavior‟s subsequent outcome. In recent days, a further concept
has been introduced by researchers in the field of second language motivation,
namely, remotivation which refers to taking steps to bring back second language
learners‟ lost or reduced motivation.
In this study, the researcher adopted Kukichi and Sakai‟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. In the field of language teaching, Dornyei
was one of the pioneers to study demotivation of learners of English. In recent
years, this issue has attracted many more researchers, especially those from
Japanese context (Arai, 2004; Falout and Maruyama, 2004; Kikuchi and Sakai,
2009) and Vietnam (Trang & 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: 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
8


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
9


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 Trang
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.
Kikuchi and Sakai (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.
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
10


attributions and external attributions, which were extracted in the study by Trang
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. 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) 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”.
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”. The readers “read the author‟s mind not the author‟s words”.
Harmer (1989:153) considered reading as a process of mechanic by “eyes
receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the
message”. In the mechanical process of reading, there are two actions which are
11


monitored by the eyes and brain. Therefore, it is the reader that decides how fast the
text runs.
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”.
To sum up, all the authors share the same idea that reading means
comprehending written language and it involves a large number of skills.
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. 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”.
Kirby J. R. (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. Reading comprehension has only been
practiced for 5,000 years.
12


Kirby J. R. (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.
Hung, Tzeng, Tsai and Lee (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.
13




Reading can help you prepare for studying in Englishspeaking 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.,
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.

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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 10

th

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
109

Ta
It is the researcher‟s intention to investigate all the students in the three
classes. Nevertheless, because the time of questionnaire distribution is the school

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year end, there were not enough students attending classes, the real number of

students taking part in the survey did not live up to the initial expectation, only 109
students out of 121 students in total. 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. 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.

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