Demotivating factors in speaking lessons of the non english major students at hanoi pedagogical university 2 and possible solutions

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

ĐỖ THỊ HƢƠNG

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN SPEAKING LESSONS
OF THE NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT
HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 AND
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

YẾU TỒ GÂY MẤT HỨNG THÚ TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI
CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN
TẠI TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƢ PHẠM HÀ NỘI 2 VÀ HƢỚNG KHẮC PHỤC

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2017


VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐỖ THỊ HƢƠNG

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN SPEAKING LESSONS
OF THE NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT
HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 AND
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

YẾU TỒ GÂY MẤT HỨNG THÚ TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI
CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN
TẠI TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƢ PHẠM HÀ NỘI 2 VÀ HƢỚNG KHẮC PHỤC

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kiều Thị Thu Hƣơng

Hanoi, 2017


AUTHORSHIP DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no
material previously been submitted and accepted for any degree in any university or
other publishing purposes. The thesis is my own work and based on my own
research.
Hanoi, December 2017
Signature

Đỗ Thị Hƣơng

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor Associate Professor Kieu Thi Thu Huong for her excellent supervision

and careful guidance in the completion of this thesis. She has provided me with
valuable experience and comments, which I always highly appreciate.
My sincere thanks also go to my colleagues for their support, and students at
Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 for their cooperation in completing my survey
questionnaire as well as attending the interview needed for this thesis paper.
Last but not least, my gratitude is extended to all members of my family for
their love and continuant encouragement during the time I carried out this study.

ii


ABSTRACT
This minor thesis aims at investigating some demotivating factors that nonEnglish major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 have encountered in
speaking lessons. The study involved 150 non-English major students from different
faculties except for the ones whose major is English. For more accurate results, the
researcher has also invited three English teachers to attend an interview. Through the
use of quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews)
methods as research instruments and the implementation of the Statistical Package
for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, the study has collected valuable data and
drawn reliable conclusions. There are six main demotivating factors facing nonEnglish major students at HPU2 in their speaking classes namely: students’ negative
attitude toward language learning and speaking, teacher-related factors, facilityrelated factors, teaching materials, unfavorable classroom climate, and insufficient
opportunities for speaking practice. Several pedagogical strategies of these findings
have been offered to assist instructors in helping learners be aware of and
successfully cope with these demotivating factors.

iii


CONTENTS
AUTHORSHIP DECLARATION.............................................................................. i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................iii
Contents................................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES........................................................................ vii
PART A..................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1
1. Rationale of the study........................................................................................ 1
2. Significance of the study................................................................................... 2
3. Aims and objectives of the study....................................................................... 2
4. Research questions............................................................................................ 2
5. Scope of the study............................................................................................. 2
6. Methods of the study......................................................................................... 2
7. Design of the study............................................................................................ 3
PART B..................................................................................................................... 4
THE STUDY............................................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................... 4
1.1. Notions of speaking and teaching speaking skills........................................... 4
1.1.1. Speaking skills......................................................................................... 4
1.1.2. Theories of teaching speaking skills........................................................ 4
1.1.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity..................................... 6
1.1.4. Problems with teaching speaking............................................................ 6
1.2. Motivation and demotivation.......................................................................... 7
1.2.1. Motivation............................................................................................... 7
1.2.2. Demotivation........................................................................................... 8
1.3. Factors affecting students’ demotivation in learning speaking skills..............8
iv


1.3.1. Factors related to learning attitudes......................................................... 8
1.3.2. Factors related to teacher’s competence and performances.....................9

1.3.3. Factors related to facilities..................................................................... 10
1.3.4. Factors related to teaching materials..................................................... 10
1.3.5. Factors related to classroom climate...................................................... 11
1.3.6. Factors related to speaking practice opportunities.................................11
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY........................................................................... 13
2.1. Context of the study..................................................................................... 13
2.1.1. An overview of the research site............................................................ 13
2.1.2. Description of the participants............................................................... 13
2.2. Research method.......................................................................................... 14
2.2.1. Quantitative research approach.............................................................. 14
2.2.2. Qualitative research approach................................................................ 15
2.2.3. Research instruments............................................................................. 15
2.3. Data analysis................................................................................................ 16
2.3.1. Quantitative data analysis...................................................................... 16
2.3.2. Qualitative data analysis........................................................................ 16
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION..................................................... 17
3.1. Quantitative results....................................................................................... 17
3.1.1. Demographic Information..................................................................... 17
3.1.2. Demotivating factors in speaking lessons of non-English majors at
HPU2............................................................................................................... 17
3.1.3. Possible solutions.................................................................................. 22
3.2. Qualitative results......................................................................................... 24
3.2.1. Semi-structured interviews with students.............................................. 24
3.2.2. Semi-structured interviews with teachers.............................................. 28

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3.3. Discussion.................................................................................................... 32
3.3.1. Students’ negative attitude toward language learning and speaking......32

3.3.2. Teacher-related factors........................................................................... 32
3.3.3. Facility-related factors........................................................................... 32
3.3.4. Teaching materials................................................................................. 33
3.3.5. Unfavorable classroom climate............................................................. 33
3.3.6. Insufficient opportunities for speaking practice..................................... 34
PART C: CONCLUSION........................................................................................ 35
1. Summary of the study...................................................................................... 35
2. Suggested solutions......................................................................................... 35
2.1. Students’ positive attitudes toward speaking............................................ 36
2.2. Various teaching methods......................................................................... 36
2.3. Sufficient teaching facilities..................................................................... 36
2.4. Good teaching materials........................................................................... 37
2.5. Warm classroom climate........................................................................... 37
2.6. Speaking opportunities............................................................................. 38
3. Limitations of the study................................................................................... 38
4. Suggestions for further study........................................................................... 39
REFERENCES........................................................................................................ 40
APPENDIX A............................................................................................................ I
APPENDIX B......................................................................................................... IV
APPENDIX C........................................................................................................ VII
APPENDIX D...................................................................................................... VIII
APPENDIX D......................................................................................................... IX

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 3.1.Demographic Information: Gender.......................................................... 17
Table 3.2:Demographic Information: Years of studying English............................. 17

Figure 1: Factors related to negative attitudes toward language learning and
speaking.................................................................................................................. 18
Figure 2: Factors related to teachers’ competence and performances......................19
Figure 3: Factors related to facilities....................................................................... 20
Figure 4: Factors related to teaching materials........................................................ 21
Figure 5: Factors related to classroom climate........................................................ 21
Figure 6: Factors related to speaking practice opportunities................................... 22
Figure 7: Possible solutions..................................................................................... 24

vii


PART A
INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
The use of English is growing country-by-country internally and for
international communication. As stated by John, Helen, and Paul (2015), five per
cent of the world’s population speak English as their first language; but about one
billion people (one in every seven people in the world) learn and use English as the
second language. In a fully Integrated Age, a working knowledge of English has
become a requirement in a number of occupations and professions such as
medicine, finance, entertainment, computing and education, etc. As a result, the
ability to communicate in the world most popular second language has become the
key to everyone’s success in their career. Most people learn English for practical
rather than ideological reasons. Accordingly, teaching English speaking skills is one
of the most important tasks assigned to educators and learning speaking skills
efficiently is becoming so demanding to students today.
However, as written examinations are much more commonly found
and oral examinations are rarely required to non-English majors, we have
long been focusing on grammar in teaching pupils at schools. Learners are

gradually hesitant to and anxious about speaking English even when they
are not so bad at the written one. As a result, the goal of improving students’
proficiency in using English communicatively has not been fully achieved at
lower levels, which puts up great barrier against effective teaching and
learning spoken English language at universities and colleges.
In this complicated situation, the question of how to make it easier and
possible for HPU2 non-English majors to master the vital skills of speaking
is what my teaching now concerns. Identifying what are the major causes
stands in need of accomplishing this task. This study, therefore, tries to
figure out what are demotivating factors in speaking lessons of the nonEnglish majors at HPU 2 and possible solutions.
1


2. Significance of the study
The study is conducted under the circumstance that non-English major
students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 has been experiencing difficulties in
learning English speaking skills. However, no previous study has been done to
figure out what the causes and solutions are. Hence, It is of the vital importance that
this study is done.
3. Aims and objectives of the study
This study aims at finding out demotivating factors in speaking lessons of the
non-English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 (HPU2) and
providing some possible solutions.
Following are the objectives of the study:
 To find out what demotivate non-English majors in learning English

speaking skills at HPU2
 To suggest necessary changes that should be made to avoid demotivation

of the students in English speaking classes.

4. Research questions

There are some questions risen in this research:
. What are the demotivations facing non-English majors in learning

English speaking skills at HPU2.
• What changes should be made to seek to avoid demotivation of the
students in English speaking classes.
5. Scope of the study
This study only focuses on speaking skills in concerning factors that
demotivate students’ participation in English speaking lessons, which involves
150 HPU2 non-English majors in their first academic year of 2016-2017.

6. Methods of the study
In this study, the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods is
employed. The former one is used with a survey questionnaire distributed to

2


students. The latter one is used with a semi-structured interview with
teachers and students.
7. Design of the study
There are three parts included in this paper, namely, the introduction,
the study and the conclusion.
Part A is the the introduction presents the ratinale, aims and objectives,
significance, research questions, scope and design of the study. Part B is
the study which consists of three chapters:
Chapter 1 is the literature review which is an evaluative brief report of
information found in the literature related to demotivations in teaching

speaking skills.
Chapter 2 provides data collection and data analysis is the part in which
description of the samples and physical setting is shown. More
importantly, it also demonstrates data analysis and the statistical results.

Chapter 3 is the findings which addresses itself to demotivating factors
facing non-Enlish major students at HPU2 in learing speaking skills and
satisfactory answers to the questions risen in conducting this study.
Part C is the conclusion which gives the gist of the study’s important issues
and mentions some limitations as well as suggestions for further study.

3


PART B
THE STUDY
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review
1.1. Notions of speaking and teaching speaking skills
1.1.1. Speaking skills
Speaking is described as an interactive process of constructing meaning
that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Its form and
meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants, and
the purposes of speaking (Burns & Joyce, 1997). According to Ladouse (in
Nunan, 1991:23), speaking is the capability to express oneself in a particular
context, or the activity to describe acts, or situations in precise words or the
ability to give discourse on a sequence of ideas without hesitation.
According to Baker and Watsrup (2003), speaking skills is the use of
language to serve communicational purposes. Chaney (1998) defines speaking
skills as the process of building and communicating meaning through the use of

verbal and non-verbal symbols, under a variety of circumstances. In the whole,
speaking is commonly to express our thoughts and feelings orally. Speaking
skills can be seen as meaning-conveying techniques both verbally and nonverbally, which makes a contribution to successful communication.

Nunan (1991, p. 39) states that the mastery of speaking skill is “the single
most important aspect of learning a second language or foreign language, and
success is measured in terms of ability to carry out a conversation in the language.”
1.1.2. Theories of teaching speaking skills
Hughes makes an interesting methodological point that when discussing
teaching speaking skills, it is necessary that one bare in mind the difference between
teaching the spoken form of a language and teaching a language through speaking.

4


She also stresses the fact that unfortunately, when compared to writing, the
spoken form is under-researched and that this may be one of the causes of
the hesitation of using the target language orally in a language learning
class. Meanwhile, teachers are likely to show the preference for using stable
written forms and genres in their lessons (Hughes 2011).
There are four things that students need to do when they learn a
foreign language: be exposed to it, understand its meaning, understand its
form (how it is constructed) and practice it (Harmer, 1998). In the classroom,
giving students maximum exposure to the new language is a major part of
the teacher’s job so that they can use it later. Foreign language learners
need opportunities to advance the skills especially speaking ones, by being
exposed to situations where the emphasis is on using the language for
communicating meanings as efficiently and economically as possible.
In concerning language teaching pedagogy in general and teaching speaking
in particular, Li (2012) argues that there are several fundamental speaking-teaching

principles to which teachers should drawn their attention. They are about the
curriculum used at schools and strategies teachers may implement in class.
st

The 1 principle is implementing challenging curriculum, which means the
content taught in class should be inspiring enough to caught students’ interest. The
2

nd

principle deals with the design and easy availability of the content. The 3

rd

principle takes into consideration explicit and relevant instruction. The next
principle focuses on the significance of appropriate learning strategies introduced
by teachers. Proper use of the first language in class is also highly evaluated in the
5

th

principle. Teaching vocabulary within multiple contexts, building reading

comprehension ability, providing strong oral models for students to follow, and
integrating the four basic skills of reading, listening, writing, and speaking are
th

th

th

th

stressed in the 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9 principle respectively.

5


1.1.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity
Thornbury (2007, p.70-116) asserts that there are three stages in the
process of developing speaking skills:
• Awareness - learners are made aware of features of target language

knowledge. Activities in class should better be designed to serve the
purpose of introducing and making clear what are the distinctive
characteristics of the target language and students’ mother tongue.
• Appropriation

- Their existing knowledge should be taken into

consideration when it comes to language teaching and learning. How
much they have known and how much they can acquire under a unit, etc.
• Autonomy - Learners develop the capacity to mobilize these features

under real-time conditions without assistance. It has long been obvious
that the more active we are in doing something, the better the results
we can get. Therefore, language-teaching activities should focus much
on increasing leaners’ autonomy.
At elementary level, it is properly true that students need a range of speaking

tasks that encourage a considerable degree of autonomy, awareness, interest
in studying by bringing into focus interesting oral practice (treated as a source
of meaningful input and feedback) mainly in the form of student-student
interactions. The speaking activities namely making conversations, simple
example-based interviews, discussions, enjoyment-oriented presentations,
role-play, home-making videos, etc. take into account the above assumptions.

1.1.4. Problems with teaching speaking
After carrying out a research, Zhengdong Gan (2012, p.181-187) finds that
there are a number of obstacles in teaching and learning speaking skills. The first and
foremost problem facing both teachers and learners is leaners’ lack of adequate
vocabulary. People say that vocabulary accounts for 70% percent of how successful
you are in using and mastering a language. At university, most students have learned
English for about 7 years including 4 years of secondary education and 3 years of high
school education and they are supposed to acquire up to 1000

6


common words. However, if they do not, the task of teaching them speaking
skills become the very tough and challenging one.
Zhengdong Gan (2012) also mentions inadequate opportunities for students
to speak in class as one of the difficulties the job of teaching has to deal with. This
may derive from the fact that language-learning classes at educational institutions
are often the large-sized ones and the number of students does not support
teachers in the attempt to involve all students in speaking activities.

1.2. Motivation and demotivation
1.2.1. Motivation
Concerning about foreign language teaching and learning, a number of

researchers have drawn attention to language motivation in foreign language
contexts. Dornyei (1998) claims that motivation refers to the dynamically changing
cumulative arousal in a person that initiates, directs, and coordinates the
perceptive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected,
prioritized, operationalized, and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out.

When intrinsically motivated, people become involved in activities to
which they find appealing, and they do so with a full sense of volition and
without the necessity of material rewards or constraints (Deci & Ryan, 1985).
Intrinsically motivated behaviors represent the prototype of self-determination,
which makes people to behave in effective and healthy ways. If one is into
leaning speaking naturally, he has the tendency of enthusiastically devoting
much time and effort to the task of fulfilling his ambition to be good at speaking.

Extrinsically motivated behaviors, on the other hand, are instrumental
in nature. Extrinsic motivation is generated when we are motivated take part
in an activity aiming at earning a reward or avoiding punishment. Examples
of behaviors that are the result of extrinsic motivation include:
 Studying because of your parents’ wishes
 Participating in a sport to win awards
 Competing in a contest to win a scholarship
 Learning English because it helps you find jobs easier in the future

7


As stated by Deci (1985), these activities are performed not necessarily
out of interest but because they are believed to be instrumental to some
separable consequence. In early research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation,
the two forms of motivation appeared to be antagonistic, and thus extrinsically

motivated behaviors were assumed not to be self-determined.

1.2.2. Demotivation
As important as motivation for doing something, demotivation also plays a
crucial role in deciding the outcomes of activities. Demonstrably, the subject of
demotivation has long been a matter of concern to scholars and researchers who aim
to boost students’ performance in learning speaking English. For instance, Lens and
Decruyenaere (1991) investigate the motivation and demotivation characteristics of
secondary students. In an intensive study, Kikuchi and Sakai (2009, p.57-69) also
point out five demotivating factors in high school EFL learners: (a) course content and
material, (b) teacher competence and teaching style, (c) inadequate school facilities,
(d) lack of intrinsic motivation, and (e) test scores.
Besides, Falout, Elwood and Hood (2009), who carry out a research into the
demotivating factors involved in EFL learning and the relationship between the past
demotivating experiences and the present proficiencies, come to the conclusion that
learners’ proficiency and their ability to cope with obstacles follow the same trend.

1.3. Factors affecting students’ demotivation in learning speaking skills
1.3.1. Factors related to learning attitudes
Al-Saidat, Emad M. (2009, p.155-167) in the study English in Jordan:
Attitudes and Prestige about Jordanian university students' attitude towards
English as a foreign language mention some common opinions found
among the college students as following:
 Students are interested in learning English (intrinsic motivation) but

they do not expect much about their speaking competence.
 They consider English as a very necessary tool, which enables them to

achieve success in the future but their first language is more crucial to their

8


development. Besides, English has not been regarded as an
integrative need among these young learners.
 They highly evaluate English and refer to it as an international

language

for

major

fields

such

as

science,

technology,

and

communication. As a result, those who are good at English are always
respected.
These findings support the conclusion that college students especially ones in
Asia countries like Viet Nam hold various believes about the functions of English in
their life. Consequently, learners learn English for different reasons and motives.

Positive school of thoughts helps students acquire knowledge much faster and more
effortlessly. On the contrary, negative attitude like learning speaking because it is a
compulsory subject at school may ruin your chances of being successful learners.

1.3.2. Factors related to teacher’s competence and performances
Scholars have long been familiar with the two well-known names
Gorham and Christophel who are the leading researchers in the field of
demotivation in instructional communication. Gorham and Christophel (1992)
try to determine what factors are judged as demotives by college students while
they took introductory communication classes. The findings show that teacherrelated factors accounted for seventy-nine percent of all the responses.
In order to figure out reliable results of what are the major demotives among
students in learning a new language communicatively, Christophel and Gorham
(1995) distribute the same questionnaire to another group of college students. The
new results and the previous ones were homogeneous. Gorham and Millette
(1997) administer a further investigation based on Gorham’s previous research.
Their findings show that teachers are more likely to attribute students’ demotivaiton
to performance-related factors while students attributed more of their demotivation
to teachers’ behaviors, such as poor presentational skills.

Hoang Duc Doan (2011) concludes that the way the teachers use
their first language (Vietnamese) in the lesson also demotivates students in
their trying to use the target languge (English) in class.
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The above evidence makes it plain to see that teachers have great impact on
how much students are motivated or demotivated in a language-learning class and
that it is crucial to investigate the consequences as well as solutions to this properly.

1.3.3. Factors related to facilities

Afrough, Rahimi, and Zarafshan (2013) in their study of Foreign Language
Learning Demotivation: A Construct Validation Study assert that lack of technological
facilities in classroom make students less eager to work or study. It is obviously that
students of all ages find learning in a poor condition rather uninterested and the poorer
the condition is, the more demotivated the learners are.

The hindering compounding factor that negatively affects the process of
teaching and learning English at schools is the unavailability and inadequate
diverse, selective, and appropriate teaching resources including wall charts, flash
cards, posters, audio and visual aids, language software, e-learning resources, a
well-equipped language computer laboratory, and other facilities (Shehdeh, 2010).
When equipment employed in classes are not matched with the intended context,
the students may feel they are going nowhere and are wasting their time.
Meshkat and Hassani (2012) claim that inadequate school facilities seem to
scale down students’ motivation in fully achieve their goal of studying in class.
Students are normally interested in lessons, which make use of visual aids like
posters or videos. Vice versa, they tend to show their boredom and are less likely
to be involved in lessons without technological supports (modern facilities).

1.3.4. Factors related to teaching materials
As claimed by Al-Seghyer (2014), the type of English textbooks used
at educational institutions decides much of what the students can learn. If
textbooks are designed in the way that learners have little exposure to
communicative situations or communication functions in life like situations; it
is outside the bounds of possibility that students can learn spoken English
effectively. Realizing the unsatisfactory outcome, students may loose their
interest in speaking lessons and demotivation is generated.
10

Al-Seghyer also calls his attention to the unavailability and inadequate
diverse, selective, and appropriate teaching resources. The unavailability of
such adequate teaching resources results in the failure to capture students’
full attention and latter on such an ineffective practice fails to engage and
facilitate students’ motivation. To put it into perspective, teaching materials
has been seen regarded as one of the demotives.
1.3.5. Factors related to classroom climate
Chaudhry Zahid Javid, Muhammad Umar Farooq, Malik Ajmal Gulzar
(2012) in their study Saudi English-Major Undergraduates and English
Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding Effective ELT in the KSA: a Comparative
Study conclude that classroom climate should be more interactive. Interaction
and collaboration, which are students’ willingness to participate in class
activities and practice with friends among students, can truly become a decisive
factor in either improving their motivation or generating demotivation.
Aydin (2012) in his case study about factors causing demotivation in EFL
teaching process reports that problems relating to the classroom (physical)
conditions, such as bad school climate create demotivation among students
and teachers as well. Studying in a class where other students appear unwilling
to talk, students gradually form the culture of being silent and the habit of
ignoring answering questions like their classmates.

1.3.6. Factors related to speaking practice opportunities
There are some controversy with regard to the effect of class size and
how frequent the opportunities of speaking in class is given to students on
students’ demotivation and consequently on their learning.
In opposition to the findings of other related studies which state that
vocabulary, structures and spelling are ranked in the first place in terms of learning
English demotivating factors; Khazaei, Moinzadeh & Ketabi (2012) in their study
Willingness to Communicate in Iranian EFL Learners: The Effect of Class Size
indicate that the number of students or class size determines how much motivation

11


the students have for engaging in speaking activities in class. Students are found to
be more willing to communicate in small classes where they have more opportunities
to practice oral skills and communicate; conversely, they tend to show great hesitancy
about expressing their thought if they are in large-sized classes.

According to Soureshjani and Riahipour (2012), teachers in small
classes pay greater attention to individual pupil and pupils’ chance of being
involved in the lessons is maximized. On this account, students in these
classes experience continuing pressure to participate in learning activities
and become better, more enthusiastic students. On the contrary, the
absence of good opportunities can diminish one’s intention to fully engage in
learning tasks and result in their demotivation.
Conclusion
There is a general agreement that when students’ obstacles in
learning are well studied and understood, both learners and educators can
make better the process of learning and guiding respectively. Consequently,
researchers and scholars have long been placed their prior notice to
speaking and the task of successfully teaching and learning speaking skills.
With the objective of better understanding major elements that interfere
students’ learning process, this chapter has provided readers with a review of
literature in this field. More importantly, factors negatively affecting students’
learning of speaking skills have also been identified and classified.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. Context of the study
2.1.1. An overview of the research site
HPU2 is located in a mountainous district in Vinh Phuc province, there
are no good opportunities for communicating with foreigners and there are
few English centers teaching communicative English to non-English majors.
Besides, the majority of the students are in large-sized classes of from 40 to
60 students, which greatly limit their chance of practicing in class. Therefore,
the teaching of English in general, and the teaching of speaking English in
particular has encountered with a great deal of difficulties.
2.1.2. Description of the participants
The participants are 150 first year non-English majors at HPU2. This target
population consists of students from different faculties and different majors except
for English. Before registering for their English class, they have to take a
placement test, which will ensure their English is at a required level. These
students have finished their first semester learning English at HPU2. After finishing
their general English course only in which are they taught speaking skills, they are
supposed to have the ability to deal with simple, straightforward information and
begin to express themselves in familiar contexts.

Among 150 students participated into the study, 138 students (92%)
are female and 12 students (8%) are male due to the fact that there are far
more female students studying at HPU2 than male ones. The majority of
students are at the age of eighteen and have been studying English for
seven years or more before entering university.
Besides, three teachers teaching these groups of students are also
invited to answer some questions related to demotivation and their
suggested solutions. These teachers are all experienced ones with at least 2
years teaching English to non-English majors.
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2.2. Research method
In this research, the combination of both qualitative and quantitative
methods is employed. It is worthy to make use of this combination as Madey
(1982) claimed; intrinsic qualities of each method really help to strengthen each
other when they are combined. According to Gay, Mills and Airasian (2006),
qualitative method helps to establish what, meanwhile quantitative one helps to
understand how. Besides, Creswell and Clark (2007), claim that putting together
qualitative and quantitative research design ensures more comprehensive insights
to the research issues. In this study, the quantitative method is used with a
questionnaire survey distributed to students, followed by a semi-structured
interview with teachers and students- a form of qualitative method design.

2.2.1. Quantitative research approach
This method emphasizes objective measurements and the statistical,
mathematical,

or

numerical

analysis

of

data

collected

through

polls,

questionnaires, and surveys, etc. Gay, Mills, and Airasian (2006) say that there are
five major approaches of this method. The first approach is descriptive research,
which tries to provide researchers with information about the current status of the
research subject. The second approach is correlation research, which is used to
identify the relationship existing between two or more variables. The third type
namely causal-comparative research involves determining the differences existing
between individuals. Experimental research approach is the best choice for
evidence about cause and effect relationships. Last but not least, single-subject
research approach attempts to understand the behavioral change in individuals as
a result of treatment applied.

In quantitative research, the common data collection methods are tests
and survey. It involves large and random sample and usually begins with a
specific research question or hypothesis from the literature review section.
In this study, the author decides to put quantitative approach into practice
because of the nature of the research questions and objectives, which satisfies the

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needs of identifying what demotivate non-English majors at HPU2 in learning
speaking successfully and what can guide us to overcome the difficulties.

2.2.2. Qualitative research approach
The purpose of utilizing qualitative research method is to gain sufficient
understanding of what the students and teachers are actually being annoyed with,

what should be done to deal with the situation. This will help avoid making
assumption about the study. This type deals with quality of the subject examined.
The number of the participants is limited based on the researcher’s purpose.

In this study, a semi-structured interview is conducted with both
teachers and students in order to provide clear insights about demotivating
factors that prevent students from improving their performance in learning
English speaking and possible solutions.
2.2.3. Research instruments
2.2.3.1. Data collection instruments from students
(i) Questionnaire with students
The developed questionnaire is developed based on the literature available
and the questionnaire used by Afrough, Rahimi, and Zarafshan (2013) in their study of
Foreign Language Learning Demotivation: A Construct Validation Study. There are
two big questions in the questionnaire. The first one helps to identify what
demotivating factors, which include several smaller elements the students can choose
from, the non-English majors are facing. With respect to the literature review
presented, the researcher decides to investigate six major demotivating factors
namely: students’ attitude English and English speaking skills, teacher-related factors,
facility-related factors, classroom climate, teaching materials, and practicing
opportunities. The second big question tries to wrap information on how to decrease
demotivation level among non-English majors. The questionnaires distributed to
students are in Vietnamese to avoid misunderstanding and hesitation.

(ii) semi-structured interview
After having collected information regarding to students demotivation in
learning spoken English and the necessary changes they want to have in order to

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make better their speaking skills; the researcher arranges an in-depth interview
with 10 students who wish to take part in to share more of the thought about
this area. The semi-structured interview is designed and conducted for more
clarification and explanation of students’ answers in the questionnaire. The
interview is conducted in Vietnamese for better mutual understanding and more
explanations form the students. Prior to the interview, the researcher carefully
explains how the interview will be, and how their attitudes should be freely
shown. Students’ answers are noted and recorded.

2.2.3.2. Data collection from the teachers
(i) semi-structured interview
Like the students, three teachers are asked to take part in a semistructured interview and give their points of view toward the issue with
details. The data given are also written down and recorded for analysis.
2.3. Data analysis
Data serving the research coming mostly from the questionnaire sent
out to 150 non-English majors and the semi- structured interview with both
teachers and students. The former will provide quantitative data, meanwhile
the latter illustrates qualitative one.
2.3.1. Quantitative data analysis
After collecting the questionnaire, the researcher reads the answer
carefully, classifies items into appropriate categories for latter use. Data
collected from questionnaire are analyzed using The Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.
2.3.2. Qualitative data analysis
Answers from teachers and students are noted, recorded, transcribed
and translated into English. Following the step of analyzing both quantitative
and qualitative results, the researcher has a focus look at how students and
teachers find about what make their learning and teaching English a difficult
task, describes the data and draws conclusion.

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