(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a study on the motivation in learning english of gifted students at high school for gifted students, hanoi national university of education m a thesis linguist

VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
-------------------

TRẦN HOÀI LINH

A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF
GIFTED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS,
HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH
CHUYÊN, TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN, ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2014


VIETNAMNATIONALUNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
-------------------

TRẦN HOÀI LINH

A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF
GIFTED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS,
HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘNG CƠ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH
CHUYÊN, TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN, ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI – 2014


DECLARATION
I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “A Study on the Motivation in
Learning English of Gifted Students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi
National University of Education” is the result of my own work in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Teaching
Methodology at Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The research has not
been submitted to any other university or institution wholly and partially.

Hanoi, 2014

Trần Hoài Linh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from

a number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Dr.
Hoang Van Van, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me
through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and
suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher.
A special word of thanks goes to my students, without whom it would never
have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished.
Last by not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they
have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.

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ABSTRACT
This study was intended to investigate the motivation of English gifted
students at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education
(HNUE). More specifically, the researcher attempted to offer several common
definitions and perceptions of motivation and identify the categories of motivation,
perceived by different theories by reviewing several models of language learning
motivation up to now. More importantly, the study aims to investigate the type of
motivations that exist among English gifted students at High School for Gifted
Students, HNUE and examine whether gifted students of grades 10, 11 and 12 have
the same or different types of English learning motivation. In the study, 158 students
participated in completing the questionnaire reflecting the learning motivation. The
results of the study reveal that the student surveyed had high motivation of learning
English, and the types of motivation that prevails among those students were
intrinsic, extrinsic, instrumental and integrative motivation. Moreover, it was also
found that students of grade 11 were more integrative and intrinsic oriented than
those in grade 10 and grade 12. Finally, based on the findings, some suggestions for
teachers of these classes are offered.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES
Figure 1: Socioeducational Model ........................................................................... 7
Figure 2: General Model of Goal Setting Theory ................................................... 10
Table 1: Information on the Number of Students Surveyed ...................................... 16
Table 2: Percentage of Reasons for Choosing English as a Specialized Subject. ......... 20
Figure 3: Students’ Reasons for Choosing English Specialized Subject.................. 20
Table 3: Students’ Main Goal of Learning ............................................................. 21
Figure 4: Students’ Main Goal of Learning .............................................................. 22
Figure 5: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 10 Students ......................... 22
Figure 6: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 11 Students ......................... 23
Figure 7: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation of Grade 12 Students ........................ 23
Table 4: Mean Value of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation ................................... 23
Figure 8: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 10 Students ............... 24
Figure 9: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 11 Students ............... 25
Figure 10: Instrumental and Integrative Motivation of Grade 12 Students ............. 25
Table 5: Mean Comparison among Three Grades .................................................. 25
Figure 11: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 10 Students .............................................. 26
Figure 12: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 11 Students ............................................... 26
Figure 13: Amotivation Pattern of Grade 12 Students ............................................... 27
Table 6: Comparison of Amotivation Pattern among Three Grades ....................... 27
Table 7: Attitude Towards Learning Activities ......................................................... 28
Table 8: Students’ Interest and Desire to Learn English ............................................ 28
Figure 14: Students’ Motivation to Learn English to Communicate ........................... 29

Abbreviations
LLM: Language Learning Motivation

HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education
L2: second language
AMBT: Attitude / Motivation Test Battery

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ............................................................................................................I
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................III
PART A: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1
1. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY .................................................................... 1
2. AIMS OF THE RESEARCH ............................................................................ 2
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH.............................................................. 2
4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................... 2
5. SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH ......................................................................... 3
6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH.......................................................... 3
7. STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS ................................... 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ......................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 4
1.1. Theoretical Background ................................................................................ 4
1.1.1. Definition of Motivation.......................................................................... 4
1.1.2. Language Learning Motivation ............................................................... 5
1.1.2.1. Socioeducational Model .................................................................... 5
1.1.2.2. Cognitive Revolution ........................................................................ 8
1.2. Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis ...... 13
1.3. Summary ..................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................... 16
2.1. Research Setting .......................................................................................... 16
2.2. Subjects ....................................................................................................... 16

2.3. Research Types ........................................................................................... 17
2.4. Data Collection Instruments ........................................................................ 17
2.5. Data Collection Procedures ......................................................................... 18
2.6. Data Analysis .............................................................................................. 19
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................................... 20
3.1. Students’ Main Goal of Learning ............................................................. 20
3.2. Main Goal of Learning ............................................................................. 21
3.3. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation ............................................................ 22
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3.4. Instrumental and Integrative Motivation ................................................... 24
3.5. Amotivation ............................................................................................. 26
CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION .............................................................................. 28
4.1. Research Question 1 ................................................................................. 28
3.2.2. Research Question 2 .............................................................................. 30
3.2.3. Additional Findings ............................................................................... 30
PART C: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 32
1. RECAPITULATION ....................................................................................... 32
2. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 32
3. LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH.......................................................... 33
4. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .............................................. 34
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 36
APPENDIX 1...................................................................................................................I
APPENDIX 2................................................................................................................. V

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale for the Study
In an article entitled “How motivation affects learning and behavior”, Ormrod
(2014), it claims that the motivation exists in most students, in one way or another.
One may be engrossed in a certain subject, play an active role in classroom
activities, and obtain high scores at school, while one may be more attentive to the
social activities in the society including communicative events and similar
occasions. It is undeniable that the motivation has a strong impact on the learning
and behaviour of students. Specifically, it affects students’ choice, their goals in
learning. It also determines students’ effort and energy as well as the initiation and
persistence spent on learning: once they feel motivated they will devote to the
study.
According to Hussin, Nooreiny, and D'Cruz (2001), a persistent issue claimed
by many English teachers is the effort to maintain the students’ interest in learning
English. Teachers have to well balance the preparation for the exam and the lifelong language skills.
Since most researchers and teachers are aware of the importance of motivation
in learning, they have been attempting to figure out ways to increase the students’
motivation by carrying out studies of motivation among students. Numerous studies
about motivation dated back from the 1960s and have still been one of the favored
themes for researchers worldwide.
As and old saying “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him
drink”, implying that you can lead your students to the treasure of erudition but you
cannot reinforce them to “swallow” the knowledge, instead you can let them acquire
the knowledge themselves by providing them with learning motivation. I am myself
a teacher and I know how crucial the motivation is for teaching and learning. Hence
a teacher’s goal is to show his or her students an interesting way to the water by
making him a motivated student. To work out the proper way, teachers are supposed
to be conscious of students’ own desire as well as their purpose of learning, or to be
more specifically, what can motivate and demotivate them in learning. A student
who is oriented to pursue natural sciences and does not care much about English
would wish to experience a different way of learning and teaching in comparison

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with the one who is totally devoted to English and studies this subject as his major
or passion. This is also the reason I would like to conduct a study on the motivation
of students of 3 levels: grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12, who are specialized in
English at High School for Gifted Student, Hanoi National University of Education
(HNUE).
2. Aims of the Research
The study aims at investigating the types of motivations of students majoring in
English at High School for Gifted Students, HNUE and whether there are any
differences among the motivation surveyed among students in grade 10, grade 11
and grade 12. The results can be a useful source of reference information for
teachers of the classes surveyed as well as the classes to come to work out the
proper way to improvise the teaching methods and make their students more
strongly motivated.
3. Objectives of the Research
The study is originally conducted to identiy the change in motivation among gifted
students in terms of time. As stated by Ryan (2000), intrinsic motivation fades out
with “each advancing grade”. It was also assumed that students were not much as
integratively as well as intrinsically motivated as instrumentally and extrinsically
motivated. Thus, to find out whether these hypotheses are true among gifted
students at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE), the objectives are determined
as below:
 To identify what types of motivation exist among students at High School for
Gifted Students (HNUE) and which types of motivation prevail among
students.
 To find out if students of different grades have different types of motivation.
4. Research Questions

In this investigation, the following research questions were addressed:
1. What types of motivation exist among students at High School for Gifted
Students (HNUE)? And which types of motivation prevail?
2. Do gifted students of English in grades 10, 11 and 12 differ in their
motivation to learn English, and what are the differences?

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5. Scope of the Research
This study only focused on investigation of the motivation of learning English of
students majoring in English, not students who learn English as a normal subject in
general, at High School for Gifted Students.
6. Significance of the Research
This study aimed to investigate the types of motivation that exist among English
gifted students, and the differences in the motivation among students of different
grades. Firstly, the survey itself, partly helped students be aware of the importance
of motivation in learning, and they could themselves figure out different ways to
increase their motivation. Secondly, the results of the finings 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.
7. Structural Organization of the Thesis
The thesis is organized as follows:
Part A - Introduction – provides the rationale of the study, aims and objectives
and the significance of the study as well as raises research questions.
Part B - Development - consists of three chapters:
Chapter One – Literature review – presents an overview of relevant literature on
the issues of motivation in second/foreign language learning.
Chapter Two – Research methodology – provides a description of research

methods, selection of the participants, data collection instruments, and data
collection procedures.
Chapter Three – Findings and discussions - presents the results of the study and
the discussion of the results.
Part C – Conclusion - summarises the main points of the study, draw some
conclusions, points out the limitations of the study and make some suggestions for
further research.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Theoretical Background
1.1.1. Definition of Motivation
For quite a long time, the crucial role of motivation in learning has been widely
agreed upon by researchers and teachers worldwide. There are numerous research
and studies on motivation as well its correlation with study result with aim to
improving students’ achievement in learning a second/foreign language. However,
it is complicated to give a concise and satisfactory concept of motivation since it,
indeed, involves a lot of disciplines to have a grasp of its multi-face essence.
According to Keblawi (2011) it involves “general, educational, social, and cognitive
psychology, as well as general educational and social theories and sociolinguistic
theories have something to contribute for understanding language learning
motivation (LLM) within a formal school context.” The complication of the concept
is attributed to the fact that it attempts to explain the action and behavior of an
individual while such action and behavior cannot be figured out by a single
approach. Though there have been a lot of studies on the issue the subject still
remain “uneven and inconsistent” (Dornyei, 2003).
To illustrate the confusion and complexity of the motivation’s concept, in his

study, Dornyei also ironically compares it with an old umbrella that contains
numerous concepts, but unfortunately, they have very little in common. Following
are some definitions accumulated from several sources:
In the Online Oxford Dictionaries (2013) motivation is defined as “a reason or
reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way with interest or enthusiasm”
Meanwhile, Harmer (2007: 98) also agrees with Dornyei and Otto (1998: 65) that
motivation is “the dynamically changing cumulative arousal or internal drive in a
person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates the
cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected,
prioritized, operationalized and successfully or unsuccessfully acted out”.
According to Gardner (1985: 10), motivation is “the extent to which the individual
works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the
satisfaction experienced in the activity.”

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However, such definitions are not adequate to explain the complicated essence
of motivation in language learning. To have a deeper understanding, it is necessary
to look at the history of the development of the motivation theory with its different
components looked from various perspectives.
1.1.2. Language Learning Motivation
As mentioned above, researchers still do not share the same points of view on
Language learning motivation (LLM) components and the different roles that these
components play - individual differences, situational differences, social and cultural
factors, and cognition (Renchler, 1992; Belmechri & Hummel, 1998). The
complication of the issue is due to its involvement in different aspects. Initially,
LLM was looked into on the basis of a behavioural framework to work out “what
moved a resting organism into a state of activity”, with heavy reliance on concepts
such as instinct, drive, need, energisation, and homeostasis (Weiner, 1990).

However, this does not relate much to the educational issue. However, the
appearance and advance of another approach, cognitive approach led to a shift to
why students engage in the academic tasks. Following are several influential models
in LLM.
1.1.2.1. Socioeducational Model
Due to the social and cultural impact on language learning, the initial studies
on motivation were carried out by social psychologists. Among several models
proposed during the sixties and eighties, the most influential model was
Socioeducational Model (Gardner, 1985). According to Gardner (1985), motivation
is defined as “combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the
language plus favourable attitudes towards learning the language”. In his study,
Gardner mentioned two types of motivation: integrative motivation and
instrumental motivation.
Accordingly, learners with integrative motivation have an aspiration of
learning a foreign language to make friends with other speakers of a language to
travel to the places where the language is used. For them, learning about culture is
more appealing than the language itself. Integrative motivation stems from the
interest in learning the language itself. It is the keenness on communicating with
those who use it and the eagerness to integrate with the target language community.

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As cited in Ahmadi (2011), Falk (1978) assumed that those who have favorable
attitudes towards people speaking target language, the target culture and the desire
to integrate with the communities where the language is spoken are those who tend
to be more successful in studying the language. This form of motivation is known as
integrative motivation.
Conversely, those who have high instrumental orientation learn a language to
pass exams, to gain high grade and to use the language in their professional goals

(Gardner & Lambert, 1959). Instrumental motivation refers to practical value in
learning the language, for instance, to obtain more job opportunities, strengthen
power, or gain access to scientific and technical information. Ahmadi (2011) gave
an example in his study about instrumental motivation: A designer in Chile who has
just graduated from university and wants to get a well-paid position which would
result in changing his economic situation completely. However, the job has one
requirement which is good command of English. And the desiring job with a chance
of improving financial situation becomes an instrument for him to study English.
Both integrative and instrumental motivation prove crucial factors leading to
learners’ achievement, integrative motivation is found to contribute more to long
term success as perceived by Taylor, Meynard & Rheault (1977); Ellis (1997),
Crookes et al. (1991) (cited in Ahmadi’s study). Gardner and Lambert themselves
also put more emphasis on integrative motivation than instrumental motivation in a
formal learning environment.
Socioeducational model consists of several components and they are
measured using Attitude / Motivation Test Battery (AMBT). The first component,
attitudes towards the learning situation refers to the individual’s attitudes towards
academic environment, including towards teachers and towards the course.
Meanwhile the integrativeness is valued based on the attitude towards target
language group, the interest in the language and integrative orientation. And finally,
motivation is evaluated based on the effort spent on learning language, the attitudes
towards learning the language, and affinity to learn the target language.

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Figure 1: Socioeducational Model
Source: Gardner (2001), cited in Keblawi (2009)
In Gardner’s model, the more important part is integrative motivation, which
consists of three different components: integrative orientation, integrativeness, and

integrative motivation. He made it clear that orientations concerns the reasons a
learner studies the target language, while motivation relates to his spent “effort”,
desire and enjoyment.
However, the theory also encountered a lot of criticism, mainly because the
confusion in the definition of integrative motivation, which can be perceived
differently by different researchers. It is described by Clement & Kruidenier (1983)
that any reasons that prompt one to learn a language can fall into the category. A
reason can be classified instrumental by some, but can be regarded integrative by
others.
Another point proposed by Shaw (1981) is that while Gardner stressed the
integrative motivation, this type, indeed, acts only a petty role because only a small
number of learners have chance to interact in an authentic environment.
Meanwhile, researchers of constructivist approach worried that the stress on
integrative motivation may threaten the individual’s identities since the models
implies that to be more successful in learning the target language, one may part with
his own identity to adopt the new one, or in other words, assimilated. Such criticism

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does not mean this model should be eliminated. In fact, it became the base for
further expansion, which belongs to the cognitive revolution from the seventies
onward.
1.1.2.2. Cognitive Revolution
Cognitive Revolution consists of the three prominent theories as follows:
1.1.2.2.1 Self-Determination Theory
The theory is regarded as one of the most dominant theory in motivational
psychology. Its central premise is there is a tendency in each individual towards
personal growth, which is either met or prevented by the environment (Deci &
Ryan, 2000). It consists of two types: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

According to Ryan and Deci (2000) intrinsic motivation is defined as “the doing of
an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence.
When intrinsically motivated, a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge
entailed rather than because of external products, pressures or reward”.
Meanwhile, extrinsic motivation is defined as “extrinsic motivation is a
construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable
outcome. Extrinsic motivation thus contrasts with intrinsic motivation, which refers
to doing an activity simply for the enjoyment of the activity itself, rather than its
instrumental value (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
In general, according to Deci and Ryan, intrinsically motivated behaviors are
“out of interest and satisfy the innate psycho-logical needs for competence and
autonomy are the prototype of self-deter-mined behavior.” Meanwhile, extrinsically
motivated behaviors refer to those that are “executed because they are instrumental
to some separable consequence”.
Oudeyer et al. (2007) gave an example of intrinsically and extrinsically
motivated as following. A child does his homework because he is afraid that his
parents will punish him if he fails to finish it. And the homework is done for a
separable outcome, for not being sanctioned. This case, he is extrinsically
motivated. In contrast, when the kid completes his task since he finds the pleasure
and experience the feeling of satisfaction upon discovering new knowledge in doing
homework, just like playing video game, he is said to be intrinsically motivated.

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There is also a term to mention, namely, amotivation, which is the situation
when one has no intention to act because of not appreciate the activities or simply
not feeling capable of doing that (Deci, 1975). Accordingly, unmotivated
individuals fail to sense the relationship between their actions and the actions’
outcome (Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand, & Briere, 2001). Such individuals may have

the feeling of less integrated and less control of their actions, and thus little effort is
spent on actions accomplishment. Amotivation often leads to boredom and “poor
concentration” in class, poor psychosocial adjustment, high perceived stress at
school and school dropout (as cited by Bo Shen et al., 2010).
The first type of extrinsic motivation, external regulation is the least
autonomous, which is realized with aim to meeting the external demands or to
obtain an “externally reward contingency”. Ryan and Deci also gave an example of
external regulation. Students may take part in a certain activity because the teacher
wants them to do so or else they will be punished or subjected to teacher’s criticism.
The behavior is not self determined. Besides constraints or punishment, external
regulations can be boosted by rewards or desire, for instance, students study hard to
obtain an award from their parents or teachers.
The second type is introjected regulation with which learners “begin to
internalize the reasons for their actions” (Ryan, 1982). However, this is the
internalization of “external contingencies”, and hence is not really self-determined.
In this case, the constraints or rewards do not stem from outside but from inside
individuals when they feel an obligation to do so due to specific aims. Ryan also
exemplified with a case in which student believed that he or she studies the night
before an exam since he or she would feel guilty without doing this.
A more autonomous type is identification which based on individuals’ wish to
enhance their self esteem. This can be explained as following: an individual accepts
certain kind of regulation because he has decided to pursue his personal importance
or behavior. In a review, Deci and Ryan (2000) gave an example: “A boy who
memorizes spelling lists because he sees it as relevant to writing, which he values as
a life goal, has identified with the value of this learning activity.”
The type considered the most autonomous is integrated regulation at which level
a person willingly does an activity and the regulation is consistent with his other

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concept. More specifically, its main focus is on how the motivation fits with his
values and the belief how it gets along with other aspects of his life, which
eventually leads to integration. For example, a student may choose to leave other
activities behind to study because for him studying well at school is very important.
In other words, according to Deci and Ryan (2000), this happens when the
regulations are “assimilated to the self”. The more the regulations are assimilated,
the more the motivated actions are self-determined. According to Noels (2000,
2001) intrinsic motivation is improved when learners have more autonomy, receive
encouraging feedback and are less controlled by teachers.
The next category is intrinsic motivation. The intrinsic motivation is described
to involve three kinds. The first type is called “knowledge” which is the pleasure to
learn new things and obtain new knowledge. The second subcategory is
“accomplishment” which is the pleasure to achieve certain goals, and finally,
“Stimulation”, the pleasure gained when they perform the task.
1.1.2.2.2 Goal Theories
The two influential goal theories in studying motivation have been
introduced are goal setting theories and goal orientation theory. The former was
developed by Locke and Latham (1990). As stated in the theory, goals have two
aspects namely internal and external. The internal aspects of the goals are the ideas
that guide the goal obtaining process and the conditions sought for refer to the
external aspect of the goals.

Figure 2: General Model of Goal Setting Theory
Source: Lunenburg (2011)

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The theory assumes that there are two “cognitive determinants of behavior”:

values and intentions (goals). And a goal is defined as what the individual is
consciously trying to do, which helps motivate people to perform at the required
levels to achieve the set goals. What’s more, attaining the goal can result in
satisfaction and further motivation; meanwhile, failure to accomplish may lead to
frustration and lower motivation.
Relations among the characteristics of the goals can be utilized to enhance
the motivation for learners. Firstly, goals should be specific: the more specific, the
better. Research states that specific goals could result in desirable organizational
goals, such as “reducing absenteeism, tardiness and turnover” (Locke & Latham,
2002). Secondly, the more difficult the goal is, the greater the sense of achievement
it brings about. And the third feature is commitment. High commitment can be
obtained if an individual believed in an important and achievable goal.
The second theory is goal orientation theory in academic settings which
distinguishes between mastery and performance orientation. Students may adopt
different goals in their learning environment. According to Fryer and Elliot (2008),
goal is defined as “what a person plans to do in a particular achievement situation”.
And (Ames, 1992) stated that goal orientations identified the way students
“approach, engage in, and respond to learning activities”, as cited by Sakiz (2011).
Sakiz also pointed out the revelation by several researchers that the set goals affect
students’ motivation, emotion, strategy, utilization, learning, academic behaviors,
and achievement.
According to this theory, students who set the former goal focus on
increasing their knowledge and their capability, aiming to master the task itself and
are able to pursue challenging tasks. Another subcategory is performance goals.
Different from the first type, learners with this type of goal mainly concern showing
their ability in comparison with other’s performance. Williams (1997: 131) wrote:
“Put simply, with performance goals, an individual aims to look smart, whereas
with the learning goals, the individual aims to becoming smarter”.
While students with mastery goal orientation may attribute their success or
failure to controlling internal factor, those setting performance goal tend to blame

the external elements such as luck, task difficulty for their failure. (Dweck, 1986).

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In general, it has been studied that mastery oriented students tend to concentrate
more on development and understanding. Such learners adopt more effective
learning strategies and would be engaged in more challenging tasks. Meanwhile
performance oriented students invest more effort on doing better than others,
wishing to attract public recognition, compliment, and they employ less effective
learning strategies and as well as prefer easy tasks. For example, mastery oriented
learners wish to master the subject matter and acquire new knowledge and while
students adopting performance approach goals tend to do to be recognized by
others.
1.1.2.2.3. Attribution Theories
This was an influential theory in the 1980’s. To put it simply, this theory is
about how people explain things or why things happened. According to William and
Burden (1997), the theory is not based on the experiences people have but it looks
into how the experiences are “perceived”. For example within academic contexts,
students may attribute their “locus of causality” (failure or success) to a wide
variety of reasons, which falls into two subcategories, namely external and internal
attribution, which means they see themselves or others as the causes. An external
attribution accuses something outside of motivating the event while internal
attribution ascribes the causality to factors within a person, meaning the people
themselves are directly responsible for the failure or success. The attribution theory
proved significant in classroom environment because it relates to motivation for
language learning. If a student attributes his failure to the uncontrollable internal
factors, let’s say lack of ability, and then the motivation may easily decline or even
disappear. While he/ she ascribes the failure to the controllable internal factors, for
instance, his or her laziness, the motivation is likely to be improved without

difficulty. Nonetheless, there were not many studies regarding this theory since
quantitative is not easily applicable in such cases. There were to major findings
drawn using qualitative studies. Uslu (2013) summarized the findings in his studies
that Ushioda (1996b) utilized attribution theory to explain the “attribution patterns”
in Irish learners of French and found that learners referred the achievements to
personal abilities and the failure to unstable shortcomings.

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On the other hand, Williams and Burden (1999) revealed that there were
differences in the attribution among different age groups. That is, younger learners
attributed their successes to concentrating while the older ascribed their successes to
ability, hard work.
1.2. Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis
A study carried out by Carreira (2006) on motivation of learning English in
Japanese Elementary Schools focuses mainly on the intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation. The research’s subjects are 174 third grade and 171 sixth grade
students. According to the analysis, there were five underlying factors behind the
students’ motivation, namely, “interest in foreign countries, intrinsic motivation,
caregivers’ encouragement, instrumental motivation, and anxiety”. The study
findings also pointed out a considerable gap between third and sixth graders
regarding the intrinsic motivation, interest in foreign countries, and instrumental
motivation. Moreover, the study also indicated a “steady developmental decline in
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for learning English”. The research also had some
drawbacks, claimed by the researcher himself. The study employed quantitative
research, using questionnaire to investigate. Thus, further analysis would be
achieved with the use of qualitative research like interviews or classroom
observations. Besides, the data collected was “cross sectional”, which may show a
less consistent result compared with longitudinal studies. However, the study did

contribute to the understanding of the motivation of English learning of Japanese
elementary students.
Another study investigated a different aspect, the link between motivation and
gender by Akram and Ghani (2013). There were 240 students of grade 12 in
Pakistan participating in the survey, including 63 male and 87 female students,
coming from both urban and rural areas. A questionnaire adapted from Gardner’s
Attitudes/ Motivation Test Batteries (1985) was employed to investigate the
students' attitudes and motivations toward learning English. According to the
results, there were no distinguished differences between male and female students’
attitudes and motivation towards learning English, which showed a contrast to the
results of several previous studies in the same issue. Akram and Ghani (2013) also
pointed out that the previous research by MacIntyre et al. (2002); Baker and

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MacIntyre (2003) showed a significant difference between female and male, and
Sung & Padilla (1998) revealed a significantly higher motivation in female students
compared with male students.
Another research is carried out by Vaezi (2008), whose main subject is
undergraduate students, and mainly focused on two types of motivation,
instrumental and integrative motivation. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to
examine Iranian's undergraduate students' integrative and instrumental motivation
toward learning English as a foreign language. In the study, 79 students, not
specializing in English from Islamic Republic of Iran participated in the survey,
completing a modified 2 item questionnaire on motivation of learning English
(instrumental and integrative motivation). The result of the study revealed that
Iranian students participating in the survey had a very high motivation towards
learning English, and the level of instrumental motivation measured is higher than
that of integrative one. This is explained by the researcher that Iranian L2 learners

might preserve their identity by choosing to be instrumentally motivated. They fear
that the identification with English culture and values would eventually result in a
socio-cultural and religious integration.
Additional finding is that the amotivating factor was that their major study was a
burden for them, depriving of their time learning English. Another problem found
out is that students’ level of proficiency is not high enough to communicate in target
language in the university. Moreover, four skills were not worked on adequately
because of time limit and overcrowded classroom, with almost no students’ talking
in classroom.
In another study, Phan (2010) investigated the motivation of Vietnamese
technical English majors in their English studies and the factors that affect their
motivation. The data were collected from seven Vietnamese technical English
majors, and eight of their teachers of English, using semi-structured interviews, and
students’ weekly diaries. The findings of the thesis indicated that the participants
were intrinsically motivated to learn the English language. Meanwhile, other types
of motivation overwhelmed the students’ intrinsic motivation. Finally, what affected
their motivation was the specific Vietnamese cultural practices.

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1.3. Summary
Motivation is regarded as one of the most crucial factors in learning English.
Motivation can also be classified into different categories, depending on different
theories of language learning. It can fall into two subcategories, namely the
motivation to integrate with the target language community or the language is only
a mean to an end (integrative and instrumental motivation). Or it can be intrinsic
motivation and extrinsic motivation, according to self determination theory. In
addition, motivation is perceived by goal setting theories to consist of internal and
external aspects; or two types, performance and mastering oriented goals according

to goal orientation theories. The two categories, internal and external reasons given
by attribute theories are also another way of classification. The ultimate goal of
classifying motivation 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, recently, a lot of studies revolving around this topic.
This study, mainly, based on the socioeducational model and self determined
model. This means that two categories namely instrumental and integrative
motivation and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are theoritical basis of the
research.

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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Research Setting
The study was conducted at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE) whose
classes are categorized into different majors: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry,
Biology, Informatics, Literature, English, and two other non-majored classes: A1
and A2. As the students come from different parts in Vietnam, and aims to
following different majors, they, definitely, have different motivation of learnings.
Those who specialize in English are supposed to have higher motivation of
studying. However, among the English gifted students themselves, the motivations
are hypothesized to be varied.
2.2. Subjects
There were 158 students from six classes majoring in English in High School for
Gifted Students (Hanoi National University of Education) participating in the thesis
study. It is preferable to mention the distinguished characteristics of the school as
well as the academic schedule for students majoring in English in this school. Since
it is a school for gifted students, it offers a bit different orientation for students.
There are two milestones for English gifted students during their 3 years at high

school, namely, the English national competition for students of grade 11 and 12,
and the university entrance exam for grade 12 students. Hence it is hypothesized
that there would be a significant difference in the motivation of students of different
grade levels. It is the researcher’s intention to investigate all the students in the 6
classes. However, because the time of questionnaire distribution is the school 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 158 students
out of 184 students in total. The information of the participants can be seen as
below:
Total

Grade 10

Grade 11

Grade 12

158

50

58

50

Table 3: Information on the Number of Students Surveyed

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2.3. Research Types
The ultimate goal of this study is to explore the motivation of English gifted
students and determine the differences among the motivation of students of different
grades. The research goal is mainly achieved by means of quantitative data, using
survey research. The sample of the research nearly covered the entire target subjects,
with aim to bringing a more complete result.
2.4. Data Collection Instruments
As mentioned above, the survey research design is employed in the study with the
use of questionnaire as instrument. The questionnaire on motivation is originally
designed by Gardner (1985). The one used in this study is based on the International
Attitudes/ Motivation Test Batteries (2004), the English version, reserved for
secondary school students learning English as a foreign language, which has been
translated and used in research in Brazil, Croatia, Japan, Poland, Romania, and Spain
(Catalonia). Each statement in the questionnaire employs the 6 point Likert scale
(from strongly disagree to strongly agree), requiring students to choose one point to
represent their idea.
The second part of the questionnaire is designed to determine the feelings of
students to a number of things with 7 point Likert scale.
However, the subjects of my study are high schools students aged from 15 to 18
with short concentration span, may fail to complete a lengthy questionnaire. Even if
they are completed, the result would be unreliable because they may tick randomly.
The questionnaire for the study is shortened and added some more articles to
investigate the goal of students. The mini version, which consists of 25 statements
with 6 point Likert scale and 8 statements with 7 point Likert scale and two multiple
choice questions to exclusively determine the main goal of these gifted students.
Specifically, question 1, 7 and 14 focused more on investigating the intrinsic
motivation of students, while question 9, 10, 11, 13 and 15 aimed to study their
extrinsic motivation. Instrumental motivation was mainly investigated via question 2,
3, 4, and 12, while integrative motivation information could be obtained primarily from
question 5 and 6. Demotivation was studied via question 16, 17 and 18. The

questionnaire was written in English and then translated into Vietnamese. The
questionnaires in Vietnamese were distributed to students so that they can understand

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