Yếu tố gây mất hứng thú trong giờ học nói của sinh viên không chuyên tại trường đại học sư phạm hà nội 2

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

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 NĨI
CỦA SINH VIÊN KHƠNG CHUN
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.

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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 non-English major students at HPU2 in their speaking classes
namely: students’ negative attitude toward language learning and speaking, teacherrelated factors, facility-related 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 non-English majors at HPU 2 and
possible solutions.
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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 non-verbally, 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.
The 1st principle is implementing challenging curriculum, which means the
content taught in class should be inspiring enough to caught students’ interest. The

2nd principle deals with the design and easy availability of the content. The 3rd
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
5th 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
stressed in the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th 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 teacher-related 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.

9


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 nonEnglish 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 causalcomparative 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, teacherrelated 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 semi-structured
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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