AN INVESTIGATION INTO TINH GIA 2 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO LEARN ENGLISH

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA

TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA 2

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

AN INVESTIGATION INTO TINH GIA 2 HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO LEARN ENGLISH

Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Xuân Thành
Chức vụ : Giáo viên
SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Tiếng Anh

THANH HÓA NĂM 2021



TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………........
1.1. Rationale …………………………………………………………. …...
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study………………………………………
1.3. Scope of the study …………………………………………………......
1.4. Research methodology ………………………………………………….
1.5. Significance of study ……………………………………………………

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PART 2: CONTENT …………………………………….............................
Theoretical background
2.1. Definition of motivation in language learning…………………………
2.2. Types of motivation…………………………………………………..…..
2.3. Factors affecting students’ motivation……………………………….....
2.4. Teachers’ role in motivating the students………………………………
Design of Research Methods ………………………………………….......
2.5. Participants ……………………………………………………………
2.6. Research instrument ……………………………………………………
2.7.1. The questionnaire……………………………………………................
2.7.2.The interview……………………………………………………...........
2.7.3 Data collection …………………………………………………............
2.8. Data analysis……………………………………………………………..
2.9. Procedures …………………………………………………………….....
2.10. Findings from questionnaire and data analysis…………………...........
2.11. Findings from interview and data analysis…………............................
2.12.1. Motivating factors…………………………………………................
2.12.2 Discussion of the questionnaire and interview findings ……………

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PART 3: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ……………………….
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3.1. Conclusions……………………………………………………………. ..
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3.2. Pedagogical implications ……………………………………………….
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3.2.1. For teachers…………………………………………………………….. 18
3.2.2. For students…………………………………………………………...
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3.2.3. For facilities, teaching and learning equipment ……………….............
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3.3. Recommendation…………………………………………………............
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REFERENCES……………………………………………………………......
APPENDICES…………………………………………………………….......
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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1.Rationale
Motivation is perhaps the single most important factor affecting the outcome of
second language learning. Indeed, Dörnyei (2001, p. 5) contends that when second
language learners have sufficient motivation, most of them can acquire a working
knowledge of the language. He further maintains that second language learners’
ultimate success or failure is determined by their sustained ‘enthusiasm,
commitment and persistence’ in the long and drawn out process of language
learning. While there have been a large number of studies on student motivation,
little has been researched regarding the motivation to learn English in a rural high
school in Vietnam. This is the rationale for conducting this study, which is aimed at
gaining information about students’ motivation at Tinh Gia 2 High School. The
understanding gained could have positive implications for current teaching and
learning practices, based on the adopted motivational theory. Furthermore, students’
motivation to learn English may be enhanced, thus enabling them to better integrate
into their new learning environment, eventually improve their careers, and
ultimately contribute more to society.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
The research was conducted with the aim of investigating the students’ motivation
to learn English, what type of motivation that dominates and factors shaping their
motivation in language learning. The findings of this research would make an
attempt to raise awareness of teachers of the importance of motivation towards
students’ success in learning English and find suggestions for motivating students
in English classes.
Therefore, the study is designed to achieve the following objectives:

To find out the students’ motivational orientations in learning English
as a curriculum subject;


To find out the factors that shape the students’ motivational
orientation.

3. Scope of the study
Motivation in second language learning achievement has been a heated issue
attracting attention of researchers. However, unlike other researches, this study only
focuses on exploiting and analyzing the kind of dominant motivation and factors
shape students’ motivation at Tinh Gia 2 High School in Thanh Hoa. Due to time
limit, to implement the study, 100 students of three graders at Tinh Gia 2 High

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School were chosen randomly in order to fill out questionnaire. Then, 20 students
were invited to interview for in-depth and valuable information.
4. Research methodology
This part clarifies the choice of research methodology of this study. It will provide
an overall description of design of research, methods, participants, research
instrument, data collection, data analysis, and procedures .
5. Significance of study
It is hoped that through this research, I will get deeper insight into about the reality
of teaching and learning English at Tinh Gia 2 High School in Thanh Hoa. The
wonderful thing is that, the researcher is thirsty for gaining better knowledge of
motivation as well as its impact on English teaching and learning process with a
view of applying them to teach efficiently. My further desire is that this study’s
outcome will make small contribution towards boosting the efficiency of English
teaching and learning, which will be helpful for the researchers as well as
counterparts in teaching job in the future.
PART 2: CONTENT
2.1 Theoretical background

Motivation in language learning is defined differently from different theoretical
perspectives. According to Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary - 7 th edition
(2005), motivation is “that which moves or induces a person to act in a certain way;
a desire, fear, reason, etc which influences a person’s volition: also often applied to
a result or object which is desired.” To think of motivation as belonging only to the
initial stages of an action, - that is as concerned with arousing initial interest and
turning it into a decision to engage in some activity - is only a limited
understanding of the term. The need to maintain this state of arousal, to determine
someone to make the necessary effort to complete an action is also of great
importance. This idea is reflected in the definition given by Williams and Burden
(1997, p. 120) who see motivation as “a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, a
state which leads to a conscious decision to act and gives rise to a period of
sustained intellectual and/or physical effort”.
Gardner (1982), in his socio-educational model, notes that motivation is perceived
to be composed of three elements. These are effort, desire and affect. Effort refers
to the time spent studying the language and the drive of the learner. Desire indicates
how much the learner wants to become proficient in the language, and affect means
the learner’s emotional reactions related to language study.

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Basing on Gardner’s definition, this study was conducted to identify the students’
motivation to learn English in a rural high school in Thanh Hoa. Gardner (1982), in
his socio-educational model, notes that motivation is perceived to be composed of
three elements. These are effort, desire and affect. This definition is an adequate
rationale for conducting this study, which is aimed at gaining information about
students’ motivation.
2.2. Types of motivation
Motivation has been classified into integrative motivation vs. instrumental

motivation; intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic motivation in the literature. These
types of motivation are reviewed below.
1. Integrative motivation, defined as the desire to be a part of recognized or
important members of the community or that society that speak the second
language. It is based on interest in learning the second language because of their
need to learn about, associate or socialize with the people who use it or because of
purpose or intention to participate or integrate in the second language using the
same language in that community; but sometimes it involves emotion or affective
factors a great deal. (Saville-Troike, 2006, p. 86). This type of motivation is defined
as desire to identify with and integrate with the target language culture (Ur, 1996, p.
276).
2. Instrumental motivation involves the concepts of purely practical value in
learning the second language in order to increase learners’ careers or business
opportunities, giving them more prestige and power, accessing scientific and
technical information, or just passing a course of their study in school (SavilleTroike, 2006, p. 86).
2.3. Factors affecting students’ motivation
2.3.1. Personality variables
In general, many people see an association between personality attributes and the
successful acquisition of a second language. While successful students may display
different types of characteristics (they may be extrovert, self-confident, active,
passive, independent as well as introvert or shy), unsuccessful students are more
frequently described as demonstrating a lack of self-confidence and being shy,
afraid to express their opinions and nervous. Whatever their form of behavior,
students who try to adopt a more flexible attitude towards the learning of a foreign
language seem to have greater chances of success than those whose affective filter
is constantly up. Referring to the problem of motivation, W. Rivers (1964) has
observed that personal motifs such as fear or anxiety may combine with learned
social motifs such as a desire for status in a group and for social approval, creating

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a series of reactions that may inhibit or work towards progress in a foreign
language. Up to a point, an anxious learner may try hard to catch up with the group
and acquire proficiency in a language. A friendly/supportive environment may be
decisive in such a situation. But the judgment of classmates can also be harmful,
destroying the self-belief in one’s ability to succeed. Combined with a generalized
fear of negative evaluation, it may inhibit or distract the learner from the task of
attending and remembering new items. Williams and Burden (1997, p.100) also
speak of a state called “learned helplessness” referring to people who feel that they
had no control over their actions and see intelligence as something unchangeable
and failure as essentially due to a lack of ability. In conclusion, learners’ inhibition
may be the result of both internal and external factors, and being related to the
ability or inability to find solutions to problems in the past.
2.3.2. Attitudes of learners
In general, most people seem to agree that attitudes and motivation are closely
related to success in language learning. This explains perhaps why some people
have a much easier time of learning languages than others; in the same classroom
setting, some students progress rapidly, while others just struggle along and never
achieve command of a second language. Krashen has drawn attention to the fact
that variables in second language acquisition derive both from the amount of
comprehensible input the acquirer receives and understands and from the strength
of the affective filter. When the only reason for learning a second language is
external pressure, internal motivation may be minimal and attitudes towards
learning are likely to be negated. On the other hand, if students have favorable
attitudes towards the foreign language and its speakers, towards the teacher and the
course, they will probably be more attentive in the class, would take assessments
more seriously and, willing to achieve more, would look for situations when they
can obtain further practice in the foreign language. Some critics (Gardner, 1985)
make a distinction between different types of attitudes according to factors in the

environment or subject characteristics such as age or sex. Thus we can speak of
attitudes revolving around the educational aspects of second language acquisition
(educational attitudes) and of social attitudes, focusing on cultural implications of
second language acquisition. Sex differences are also thought to influence attitudes
and motivation: experience indicates that girls tend to demonstrate significantly
more positive attitudes towards learning languages than boys, a good example in
this respect being the overwhelming majority in the faculties of philology and
foreign languages. Though many researchers (Spolsky, 1989; Williams and Burden,
1997) do not believe in an absolute biological basis for learning, there are cases
when differences of age may have an important influence upon the process of
foreign language learning. The notion that young children pick up foreign

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languages more easily than older learners is clearly challenged by the evidence of
areas in which the latter do better. However, the adults’ emphatic capacity and
openness to get involved in “real communication”, their ego permeability may be
lower especially because of external causes.
2.3.3. Learning styles
Closely related to the problem of students’ attitudes towards the language course is
the problem of their different learning styles. Researchers and foreign language
teachers have gradually become conscious that individual students have preferred
modalities of learning. Consequently, when learners are given some freedom to
choose one way of learning or another, they might do better than those who find
themselves forced to learn in environments where a learning style, which does not
suit them, is imposed as the only way to learn. One of the views put forward by the
initiators of humanistic approaches to learning was that teachers should be allowed
to adapt their programmes with due attention to the objectives of their students and
the needs of the area where they are teaching. Though, this might not always be

easy, a concern for the students’ learning styles might be of great help in motivating
them to learn. The existence of power relationships between languages is one of the
reasons why people have favorable or unfavorable attitudes towards learning a
particular language. Subjects, who select instrumental reasons over integrative
ones, often take into consideration the economic and practical advantages of
learning a foreign language. A good example in this respect is the present situation
in Romanian schools where learners and the parents, faced with the opportunity of
choosing between English and French, generally choose the former as it has
become a kind of lingua franca, placing those who are able to use it in a more
favorable position then those who are proficient in French. In the same way,
members of a minority group may have different attitudes and motivation when
learning the language of a majority group than those of a majority group members
learning a minority language. Here, the case of immigrants is perhaps the most
relevant.
2.3.4. Teacher as a motivating factor
The teachers as the most powerful variable of motivation and demotivation, can
become a major part in demotivating the learners.
The teacher plays an important role in ensuring that students are motivated and
continue to be committed in their learning throughout the tenure of their studies.
Almost everything about the teacher, including his or her personal characteristics,
can have an influence on student motivation. Many studies on good language
teachers have identified general teacher characteristics deemed to be desirable and
which tend to generate positive appraisals of second language learning in the

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classroom. The following characteristics are often cited as being associated with
good teachers (Borg, 2006; Brophy, 1998; Dörnyei , 2001; Miller, 2012, Renandya,
2013, 2014b)

.
2.3.5. Teacher teaching methodology as a motivating factor
Teaching Method which refers to the way that students are taught must affect their
motivation. Whenever the learners feel bored at the teacher’s method, their
motivation would likely be lost or gradually decreased. As he said, “If the students
loses confidence in the method, they will become demotivated” (Harmer, 1991, p.
5).
Motivating teachers are knowledgeable about different kinds of teaching methods.
But more importantly, they have deep understanding about how these methods
work with different groups of learners in different learning contexts. They are not
dogmatic about certain kinds of methods and do not subscribe to a single method.
They believe that there is no single best method that will work with every group of
students.
2.3.6. The Text
The text here refers to language teaching materials (print and electronic; oral and
written) that teachers use in the language classroom, including course books and
their accompanying resource materials (e.g., CD, DVD), teacher-developed
materials or multimodal materials from the internet, and any other supplementary
materials. Instructional materials play an important role in the language classroom.
It is hard to imagine a language class without instructional materials because much
of the tasks and activities of a language lesson are often organized around coursebooks or other instructional materials.
2.3.7. The Task
Language tasks and activities serve pedagogical purposes, but unfortunately not all
of them are perceived to be useful, interesting and engaging by the students.
Indeed, students often associate language learning tasks and activities with
classroom chores, things that they have to do to fill in time, or worse, for teachers
to ‘take a break’ while students are doing some work either individually or in
groups. In addition, students can not always see the value of the activities (e.g.,
tasks that require students to change active to passive sentences) and often find the
tasks too challenging (e.g., answering comprehension questions based on a reading

passage which is linguistically too demanding), which reduces the chances of
success in completing the tasks.
2.3.8. The Test

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An oft-heard complaint from teachers is that our education system tends to give too
much attention to testing and examinations. Our teaching, they say, is often
overshadowed or even dictated by tests and examinations. Not surprisingly,
teachers often teach in order to prepare students for the tests and examinations. In
some places, the situation has become so bad that people actually talk about a
culture of learning where testing has become the dominant mode of learning in the
classroom. Such an examination-oriented classroom then becomes a source of
frustration, fear of failure, feeling of anxiety, and a fertile breeding ground for the
development of excessive spirit of competition (instead of healthy competition and
cooperation) and other negative feelings and attitudes towards learning.
2.4. The teachers’ role in motivating the students
Nowadays the role of the teacher is recognized as being highly significant in all the
stages of the motivational process. Motivation is no longer thought of only as
integrative or instrumental. It is also considered a key to learn something in many
cases created, fostered and maintained by an enthusiastic and well-prepared
classroom teacher. Because of the importance of the nature of the interactions that
occur between learners and teachers, many studies have been dedicated to the
discussions of the influence of teachers in the process of foreign language learning.
Given the complexity of the issue it may well constitute the subject of a separate
paper. What we shall attempt here is just summary of important qualities a good
teacher usually displays. As mentioned above, the researcher should place the
teacher’s enthusiasm, acknowledgement and stimulation of students ideas, the
creation of a relax and enjoyable atmosphere in the classroom, the presentation of

activities in a clear, interesting and motivating way, the encouragement of pupils
with difficulties, helping them to increase their expectations of themselves. In an
article published in 1982, Mary Finocchiaro has added to all these the importance
of (a) making sure the students comprehend every dialogue, utterance, the gist of
the reading passage; (b) giving them extensive practice in using verbal or nonverbal alternatives for communicative expressions, structures or language items; (c)
correcting important errors tactfully by rephrasing a question, expanding an answer,
or by merely saying “listen” and giving the correct answer; (d) letting them either
grade their own papers or do so with a partner; (e) showing concern for school or
community problems of individuals; (f) making it possible for them to enjoy small
successes and the feeling that they are making definite – even if slow – progress
toward their goals. As Finocchiaro argues in points (c),(d),(e), the problem of error
correction plays a very important role in the process of motivating or de-motivating
students. Being constantly aware that all human learning is fundamentally a process
involving the making of mistakes may help any teacher in using mistakes and
errors creatively during the teaching activity, for they hold in them some of the

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keys to the understanding of the process. When teachers help the learners to
develop an internal sense of control as well as feelings of effectiveness in their
ability to carry out tasks, then there are great chances for the learners to become
motivated to learn. External reinforces in the form of rewards, good marks or
simple praise, are often considered to be excellent ways of motivating
underachieving or reluctant learners. Conversely, extra homework, punishment or
other sanctions, proved not only ineffective in bringing about positive change, but
also having exactly the opposite effect. As Williams and Burden (1997, p. 138)
have rightly observed when “feedback actually provides information to learners
that enables them to identify specific aspects of their performance, it should prove
both motivating and helpful to them to move into the zone of next development. If,

on the other hand, the feedback fails to provide this kind of information, it could
have entirely the opposite effect”.
Research Design
2.5. Participants
Of the 100 Tinh Gia 2 High School students including 30 graders 10 th , 30 graders
11th and 40 graders 12th who accepted the invitation to join this study. All of them
were 50 males and 50 females. They ranged in age from 15-18 and were learning at
Tinh Gia 2 High School.
2.6. Research instruments
The current study employs a mixed method design which includes both quantitative
and qualitative research methods. Such a method integrates both approaches to
provide a much more detailed and comprehensive picture of which is being
investigated. In this study the qualitative data (interviews) was conducted after the
quantitative data collection to deepen understanding and interpretation of the
results. For the purpose of obtaining data that will explore why high school
students learn English and what affects their English learning motivation, the
researcher conducted this study by using the following tools for data collection:
Common instruments of data collection for a survey study are the questionnaire and
interviewing (Brown, 2001). The questionnaire, according to Brown (2001) is
particularly efficient for gathering data on a large scale basis. Interviewing, on the
contrary is useful in gaining insights into the views and opinions of the participants
in a particular language setting (Brown, 2001, p. 6). The survey reported in this
study involved 100 students in one high school. Therefore, the questionnaire is an
appropriate instrument of data collection.

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In addition to the questionnaire, a semi-structured interview was conducted with a
small number of the students who were selected from the questionnaire respondents

as a complimentary data collection instrument.
2.7.1. The questionnaire
A questionnaire consisted of two parts (see Appendix 1). The first part was adapted
from Gardner's (1985) Gardner’s Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) to
measure the students' integrative/ instrumental motivation in learning English. This
part of the questionnaire contains items reflecting the integrative/ instrumental
motivation and a five- point Likert Scale ranged from "strongly disagree to strongly
agree" was used. The integrative motivation scale includes items (11-20) to find out
how much the learners learn English with a genuine interest to assimilate with the
target language, culture, community, their way of life and literature, which would
show their integrativeness toward the target language. But, the instrumental
motivation scale includes items(1-10) aiming at measuring the respondents'
utilitarian reasons for studying English, such as passing an exam, obtaining
financial rewards, getting a job or pleasing another person(s). The second part was
tailored by the researcher to explore the factors shaping high school students’
motivation to learn English. 20 randomly chosen students were interviewed and
asked to tick their choosing factors in the table of 15 possible affecting factors
designed by the researcher (see Appendix 2 and Appendix 3).
The items of the questionnaire were developed basing on Gardner and Lambert’s
research on types of motivation (1972) to identify the dominant kind of motivation
integrative or instrumental (see Appendix A).
Depending on the results of relevant studies and the factors affecting students’
motivation declared in theoractical background section, which enabled the
researcher to design interview questions and 15 possible affecting factors to explore
some factors which might shape high school students’ motivation to learn English
and fit the rural high school students context. The items of the questions were
translated into Vietnamese by the researcher to prevent any interference due to
misunderstandings in L2 (see Appendix B, Appendix C).
Basing on the result from the questionnaire, interview questions were conducted
with 20 randomly chosen students from those to search for the factors shaping their

motivation.
To help the researcher to clarify any gaps in data appearing after interviewing,
interviewees were asked to tick the factors they chose in the table of 15 possible
motivating factors generated by the researcher (see Appendix C).

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2.7.2. The interview
Concerning the interviews, they were conducted to gain a more in depth
understanding of the factors shaping the learners' motivation. The 20 interviewed
students were chosen according to their rate in English (10 from those who rated
themselves good in English and 10 from those who were rated weak learners). Of
the 20 interviewees, one by one was invited to answer 4 researcher’s prepared
interviewing questions in 15 minutes. The interviewing questions were in
Vietnamese in order to avoid misunderstandings (see Appendix D).
2.8. Data collection
The questionnaires were distributed to the 100 students during their normal class
session during which time they were given clear instructions and explanation for
filling out the questionnaire. The questionnaires were then collected upon
completion.
The interviews recorded by the researcher were conducted for 20 students learning
at Tinh Gia 2 High School with the purpose of gathering valuable and reliable
factors shaping their motivation to learn English.
2.9. Data analysis
The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS program.
The data concerning subjects’ general background as well as their comments were
calculated and presented in percentage. Adapting from Gardner’s Attitude /
Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) to measure the students' integrative/ instrumental
motivation in learning English, a five-point Likert scale was used to measure the

dominant motivation. Such scale was used in the questionnaire to specify the level
of the agreement or disagreement based on the following criteria: The researcher
designed the questionnaire basing on two types of motivation including integrative,
instrumental motivation of Gardner and Lambert (1972) identified in literature
review.
A five- point Likert Scale ranged "strongly disagree = 1, disagree = 2, uncertain =
3, agree = 4 , strongly agree = 5 ".
Mean Range

Interpretation

3.68 – 5.00

High degree of Motivation

2.34 – 3.67
1.00 – 2.33

Moderate degree of Motivation
Low degree of Motivation

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Data collected from the questionnaire was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive
analyses using descriptive statistics of Mean scores were mainly used to measure
the levels of motivation.
The mean value or score of a certain set of data is equal to the sum of all the values
in the data set divided by the total number of values. A mean is the same as an
average. For example, if a certain data set consists of the numbers 2, 5, 5, 8 and 10,

the sum of the numbers is 30. Since there are five total numbers in the data set, the
mean of the set is equal to 6 because 30 divided by 5 equals 6.
In this study: mean scores =

{(1 A)  (2 B )  (3 C )  (4 D)  (5 E )}
100

Strongly disagree = 1, disagree =2, uncertain = 3, agree =4 , strongly agree = 5.
A is the number of participants who strongly disagreed.
B is the number of participants who disagreed.
C is the number of participants who were uncertain.
D is the number of participants who agreed.
E is the number of participants who strongly agreed.
100 is the total of participants.
2.10. Procedures
At the very beginning of the study, permission was gained from the principals of
the targeted schools who showed a willingness to collaborate in this study. To
guarantee a positive participation, the subjects were informed that their answers
would be confidential and they were not required to write or give their names at
any stage of the study. The questionnaire was administered by the researcher and
100 students participated in completing the questionnaire during the English
classes. The respondents were chosen equally from literary and science sections.
The students were assured that the main objective of the researcher was to find out
their motivation to learn English. Moreover, the students were told that their
answers and opinions would not affect their grades or their teachers' impression and
their participation in the survey would help teachers to understand their desires and
problems. Students were encouraged to ask questions at any time during the
process.
Concerning the interviews, they were conducted to gain a more in depth
understanding of the factors shaping the learners' motivation. The 20 interviewed

students were chosen according to their rate in English (10 from those who rated
themselves good in English and 10 from those who were rated weak learners).
The results of both processes provided a rich body of data on which to base
conclusions about the learners' motivation. The survey results were tabulated and

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the interviews transcriptions were analyzed.
2.11. Findings from questionnaire and data analysis
This part presents overall details of the study’s results. The following two tables
(Table 4.1. and 4.2. see Appendix) outlines all the 20 questioned items, their
resulting itemized mean scores, using descriptive statistics of Mean scores and their
corresponding motivation levels, which serve as the basis for further interpretation
and implications.
Table 4.5. The Comparison Between Integrative and Instrumental Motivation
Motivation
Instrumental Motivation
Integrative Motivation
Total

Mean scores
3.47
3.17
3.32

Meaning
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate

Table 4.5. presents the comparison between instrumental and integrative
motivation. It reveals that the mean score of instrumental motivation (3.47) is
higher than the mean score of integrative motivation (3.17). However, the overall
mean score of both types of motivation of 3.32 is considered as a moderate degree
of motivation. As can be seen from table 4.5., the instrumental motivation of Tinh
Gia 2 high school students is more dominant than integrative one, which is also the
answer for the research question.
2.12. Findings from interview and data analysis
This part presents overall details of the study’s results from interviewing and
questionnaire to gain more understanding about factors shaping students’
motivation to learn English. The findings will serve as the basis for further
interpretation and implications.
4.12.1. Motivating factors.
Basing on the result from the questionnaire, interview questions were made to
conduct with 20 randomly chosen students from 100 participants to search for the
factors shaping their motivation (see Appendix 2).
To help the researcher to clarify any gaps in data appearing after interviewing, 20
interviewees were asked to tick the factors they chose in the table of 15 possible
motivating factors generated by the researcher (see Appendix 3).

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This part of the questionnaire was designed to investigate the factors motivating the
students when learning English. The question asked to recognize the motivating
factors was "which one of the following factors motivated you when studying
English?"(see Appendix 3). The respondents had an opportunity to choose more
than one factor. Then, the factors were ranked according to their frequency from the
most frequent to the least (see Table 4a Appendix ).

2.12.2.Discussion of the questionnaire findings
With reference to previous research, it was noted that while the present findings
were consistent with some studies, they are at variance with others. For example,
the present study showed that instrumental reasons for learning English were
preferred over integrative ones. The results show the students’ demonstrated greater
emphasis on instrumental reasons for learning the English language including
utilitarian (e.g. You want to pass the exams at the high school, You aspire to pass
University Entrance exam, Being proficient in English can lead to more success
and achievements in life) and occupational reasons (e.g. You will need English for
your future career, Studying English can be important for you because you
think it will someday be useful in getting a good job). This is in harmony with
those results of Sarjit Kaur (1993), Al- Quyadi (2002) and Qashoa (2006). This
apparently reinforces the idea that the students see English as playing a vital role in
their lives, either currently or in the future. On the other hand, the findings of this
study were different from those of researchers in other countries (Vijchulata & Lee,
1985; Benson, 1991) as the findings of the latter studies showed that integrative
reasons were preferred over instrumental ones.
Based on the comparison and assessment, it is discovered that Tinh Gia 2 High
School students are more strongly instrumentally motivated to learn English which
can answer the research question of the motivation found is more integrative or
instrumental.
2.12.3. Discussion of the interview findings
Concerning with the factors shaping high school students' motivation to learn
English, the findings of the survey and interviews in this study are in line with the
extension of the first part of the definition would take into consideration the types
of motivation as identified by researchers at different moments in time in literature
review, such as (Gardner, 1985; Lightbown & Spada, 1993; Wright, 1987; Spolsky,
1989). They all have come to draw a distinction between two types of motivation:
when the only reason for learning a foreign language is to gain something outside
the activity itself, such as passing an exam, obtaining financial rewards, getting a

job or pleasing another person(s), the motivation is likely to be instrumental. As the
terms themselves indicate, it is caused by a combination of external factors and

13


used as a means or instrument to obtain something. When its purpose is to enable
one to communicate with the members of a specific language community, then
motivation is considered to be integrative. In order to offer a clear image of the
integrative - instrumental dichotomy, Spolsky (1989, p.124) borrows Harter’s
model (1982) and represents it in the following way: Integrative Preference for
challenge, Curiosity/interest, Independent mastery, Independent judgment, Internal
criteria for success. Versus Instrumental Preference for easy work, Pleasing a
teacher/getting grades, Dependence on teacher in figuring out problems, Reliance
on teacher’s judgment about what to do, External criteria for success. Following
this model, it comes out clearly that the greater the value the individuals attach to
the accomplishment of an activity, the more highly motivated they will be to
engage in it and later to put sustained effort until they achieve their goal. This
distinction also tells us that both internal and external factors have an important
role to play in motivating learners.
From the ideas presented above, it can be revealed that two factors shaping Tinh
gia 2 High School students’ motivation are internal and external. Internal is
learners’ communicative needs and external is their social and educational attitudes.
However, They tend to be influenced by external factors much more. In other
words, most of the students want to learn English on account of instrumental
motivation. In respect of the instrumental motivation, the results as shown in the
previous section indicated that having many future career opportunities, passing the
exams, getting a good job, satisfying parents, getting good marks, as well as
continuing a higher education inside the country are some of the most common
instrumental motivation for learning English in the rural high schools. As shown in

the results of questionnaire and interview, 100% of the respondents like to study
English for getting a good job because the labor market offers more high-paying
jobs for those who know English and it is noticed that knowledge of English is a
prerequisite for getting good jobs particularly in the private sector. Besides, one can
hardly find job advertisements without conditions related to English proficiency. As
a result, more and more young people are becoming involved in English learning
programmes hoping that some day they may obtain a satisfying profitable job.
For the things above, it is widely believed that the majority of high school students’
English learning motivation instead derive from inner power, they tend to be
contributed by external factors much more. In other words, most of students want
to learn English on account of instrumental motivation. In the interview, when
being asked if English was their favorite subject, half of the students responded
“Yes” and the rest said “No” and when being asked about their purpose to learn
English, majority of the students’ responses was that They study English for getting
high marks, satisfying their parents, having future career opportunities, passing the
school exams safely but not for their hobby.

14


Moreover, with 90% of agreements in the favor of English will help them meet
more and varied people, these answers reflect that students acknowledge the social
dimension of English as a language that can offer the opportunity of cross-cultural
exchanges. It also indicates that English primarily is seen to be a link to a wider
world.
Relating to the factors affecting students’ motivation declared in literature review,
Harmer (1991, p. 4) indicated the following demotivating factors.
1. Physical condition which means the atmosphere in class. For example if
students have to study in the bad lighting classroom, overcrowded with too many
students, have to look at the small board, or in the unpleasant smell classroom, they

can lose their motivation or their motivation in learning will be lowered.
2. Method of teaching which refers to the way that students are taught must affect
their motivation. Whenever the learners feel bored at the teacher’s method, their
motivation would likely be lost or gradually decreased. As he said, “If the students
lose confidence in the method, they will become demotivated” (Harmer, 1991, p.
5).
3. The teachers as the most powerful variable of motivation and demotivation, can
become a major part in demotivating the learners.
4. Success refers to the appropriate level of challenge designed by the teachers. If
the difficulty of work and activity is too high or too low, it can lead students to a
demotivated situation in learning. As Harmer pointed out, to give high challenge
activities may have a negative effect on motivation. Students can also equally be
demotivated by too low level of challenge.
From Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis (as cited in Lightbown and Spada, 1999,
p. 39), emotional states such as tiredness, depression, boredom, etc obstruct the
learning process of the students. Anxiety becomes a factor that influences the
affective filter. Low anxiety is more helpful for second language acquisition
(Krashen, cited in J.Oller and J. Richards, 2003, p. 183). This means that learners’
anxiety can affect their motivation. According to Krashen, there are three affective
variables that interact with the affective filter.
1. Motivation which is beneficial for language acquisition.
2. Self-confidence which is also useful for acquisition.
3. Anxiety which is good in the case where it is in a low level.
Consistent with the results of Qashoa (2006), the findings indicated that difficulties
with the subject (English) aspects such as vocabulary, structures and spelling were
found to be the most demotivating factors for the students.
To sum up from the results of finding and discussions mentioned above, it is
apparently revealed that, Tinh Gia 2 High School students were more
instrumentally motivated. Internal and external were two key factors shaping their

15


motivation to learn English. However, these factors also had positive and negative
effects on students’ motivation in learning English. In order to make small
contribution towards boosting the efficiency of English teaching and learning in
Tinh Gia 2 High School as well as in rural high schools, in the next part conclusion
and some positive implications for current teaching and learning practices will be
suggested.
PART: 3 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
3.1. Conclusion
In this study, the researcher focused on investigating the students' motivation
towards learning English in a rural high school in Thanh Hoa. The results showed
that the English learners were instrumentally motivated. As mentioned above,
instrumental motivation comes from external factors. This indicated that the
students have certain reasons for learning the language. According to the results
gathered from the questionnaire and interviews, the main reasons motivating
students to learn English most come from outer factors, such as teachers’
characteristics and methodology. As a matter of fact, a great number of students in
the survey stated that teachers have a English clear voice, way of accurate
pronunciation, confident teaching manner and friendly attitude will motivate them
most. Taking the second position, positive, constructive feedback together with
rewards take a significant part in stimulating students to participate in activities in
English classes a along with its positive and negative effects on the process of high
school students’ learning English.
With regard to its positive impact on students’ English learning, it was found that
external factors stimulate students’ participation in English classes, make them
much more interested in learning English, help students recognize their success in
learning English through high marks or rewards. Specially, getting constructive,
positive feedback encourages students to study harder, boost students’ selfconfidence, help them increase their strengths as well as correct their mistakes and

have chance to show their ability. On the other hand, as for negative effects of
instrumental motivation in learning English of high school students, in reality, the
researcher realized that relying on instrumental motivation too much makes
students study well for high marks, rewards, satisfy parents’ expectation, receive
friends’ admiration but not be aware of the real benefits of learning English. This
will bring the disappointment to students if they get low marks, negative feedback
so on. In order to contribute to improve these problems the next part will present
some implications.
3.2. Pedagogical implications

16


The findings in this study have suggested some implications which are of
significance to educators and policymakers as well as to researchers. For the
convenience of discussion, these implications will be presented in two main
aspects: the implications which arise directly from this study for educational
practice relating to the teaching, learning and examination in high schools, and
recommendations for future research in aspects of teaching and learning which this
study has not covered.
As indicated by the findings of the present study, Tinh Gia 2 high school students
are instrumentally motivated in learning English. The students' instrumentality
poses a necessity for change in the field of EFL. Teachers, educators and syllabus
designers should be sensitive to learners' motives by recognizing their
instrumentality. Enhancing learners' instrumentality can be easily achieved by
focusing more on practical skills such as how to communicate with others fluently
and express oneself correctly. As most students learn English to get a good job, it is
necessary to train them for example on how to do well at the interviews, to write
formal letters and e-mails. Moreover, English textbooks and examination system
should be also modified to meet the learners' instrumental motives.

On the other hand, raising students' integrativeness is also necessary because both
integrative and instrumental orientations are required for real language acquisition
and learning. Students' integrativeness can be raised by enhancing their positive
attitudes and correcting their negative stereotypes towards English speaking
communities. Additionally, interests towards the English culture and literature can
be raised by exposing learners to more literary forms which suit the high school
context and by providing opportunities for communication with the native speakers
(Rossier, 1975). For example, exposing the students to English poems, stories or
short plays which reflect some good manners and traditions might increase the
students' motivation towards the English literature. To fulfill the integrative desire
to learn the L2 to integrate with the people of the target language, there must be
some form of communicative contact. But often in foreign language contexts,
contact with native speakers has not been possible for many learners, so the lack of
contact with L2 community affect developing positive attitudes towards that
community (Dornyei, 1990). Therefore, major strategies for stimulating integrative
motivation should be followed by teachers. For instance, teachers can set up
activities which place the students into contact with L2 speakers such as inviting
native speaker guests and promoting students' contact with native speakers through
exchange programmes like pen pals.
Concerning the motivating factors shaping students' motivation, the study shows
that both internal and external were crucial factors contributing to students’
motivation. Thus, the educational policy makers should make some changes by
improving the traditional teaching methods and the content of the textbooks.

17


Experience tells us that some English textbooks fail to capture the students' interest
due to the heavy emphasis on vocabulary and grammar. Instead, the topics should
create great deal of class interaction and help to motivate students to develop their

language skills.
One of the most important pedagogical implications derived from the findings is
the teacher's role (personality & methods) in shaping the learner's motivation and
attitudes towards learning L2. When the learner comes to the classroom with low
integrative motivation, he could be motivated instrumentally by the motivational
teacher's choice of approaches and personal styles. Finocchario (1981) states that
"Motivation is the feeling nurtured primarily by the classroom teacher in the
learning situation. The moment of truth - the enhancement of motivation - occurs
when the teacher closes the classroom door, greets his students with a warm
welcoming smile and proceeds to interact with various individuals by making
comments or asking questions which indicate personal concerns."
Depending directly on the findings of this study and realizing the crucial role of
teachers in reducing the learners' anxiety and demotivation, the researcher likes to
present some recommendations which might be beneficial to those who are
responsible for the educational process in high schools:
3.2.1. For teachers
Teachers should create some school activities which meet the students' needs and
learning goals instead of concentrating solely on memorizing vocabulary and
grammatical rules at the expense of the language skills and actual language
acquisition. Concerning the vocabulary load, I think if the students are trained and
accustomed to guess the meaning from the context instead of memorizing all the
new lexical items, learning vocabulary will be easier and more motivating because
the "look and remember" way of vocabulary learning seems to be not very effective
for learners of the English language.
It should be born in mind that students have to be taught in a meaningful way to
master the language skills, be able to communicate fluently and use English in real
world situations. Knowles (1998) believes that adults are motivated by acquiring
knowledge that solves real world problems in their lives or gives them internal
satisfaction.
Teachers should explain their language teaching approach to their students. For

instance, students should realize that student- centred activities such as pair work or
group activities designed to create an interactive learning environment. In other
words, motivation levels drop when students are unsure about why they should
perform certain language skills.
It is recommended that the foreign language teacher should adopt the role of a

18


facilitator rather than an authority figure in the classroom to increase students'
motivation (Oxford & Shearin, 1994). At the same time, teachers have to bear in
their minds that the maximum use of a target language facilitates its acquisition and
balancing the use of L1 and L2 according to the students' levels and abilities will
motivate students to learn English.
It should be realized that integration of culture and language could function as a
positive attitude and further motivation to study a foreign language (Gardner,
1985). This can be done easily by utilizing authentic material and arranging
some students' visits to English speaking countries. At the same time, teachers
should develop students' cross cultural awareness systematically rather than simply
adopting the socio-cultural components to satisfy students' integrative orientations
(Dornyei, 1994).
The Ministry of Education should give more freedom to the teachers in selecting
approaches and strategies which suit their learners' levels and abilities particularly
in the heterogeneous classes.
To respond to the students' needs about tests, the teachers can reduce the students'
demotivation by allocating few periods before the final exams to review and train
students on test taking strategies.
Last but not least, to create a supportive, stimulating class atmosphere, apart from
teaching job, teachers need to be fully aware of their duties as motivator. Besides
teachers’ methodology, their personalities make a vital contribution towards

stimulating students’ engagement and interest in the lessons. Moreover, teachers
need to grasp deep understanding about students’ interest, personality, because high
school students are in the late-adolescence. To obtain it, teachers need to spend
time listening students’ troubles in order to support them in time and paying
attention to students much more especially weak students or deficiently- financial
ones. This is illustrated by the fact that teachers should give students their phone
numbers, ask students’ lives to stand closer to them. Because of this, they are
shaping their personality step by step with an attempt to become a real adult as their
psychology is quite complicated.
3.2.2. For students
To make the success of an English class, apart from teachers’ efforts and energy,
students also support their teachers so much by enthusiastically taking part in
activities which organized in English classes. Also, students should be fully aware
of self -study, shouldn’t completely depend on teachers. In other words, students
had better consult advice from their teacher or other good students to find out
effective, appropriate learning method for their ability, learning styles and learning
preferences. For example, students can learn vocabulary at home through pictures,
video clips, conversations on the internet with the purpose of having understanding

19


of using of new words in the context suitably, exactly. The most important thing is
that when encountering any difficulty in learning, students shouldn’t reluctantly
answer teachers or their friends to receive the help and make considerable progress
in studying.
3.2.3. For facilities, teaching and learning equipment
In order to utilize technology effectively in teaching English, schools should be
equipped with adequate numbers of technological devices (language labs, computer
sets…etc.). Additionally, teachers should be trained intensively on utilizing

technology in teaching English. It should be noted that teachers cannot be expected
to learn how to use educational technology in their teaching after a one-time
workshop. Teachers need in-depth, sustained assistance not only in the use of the
technology but in their efforts to integrate technology into the curriculum (Kanaya
& Light, 2005). The time spent ensuring that teachers are using technology to
enrich their students' learning experiences is an important piece in determining the
value of technology to their students.
3.3. Recommendation
In regard to the future research, many methodological and pedagogical questions
with regard to different issues in foreign language education in high schools
emerged while investigating the research questions addressed in this study.
However, this study might serve as a basis for further research in many ways. First,
this study utilized qualitative and quantitative instruments to investigate the
students' motivation toward learning English. It is recommended that such an
approach can be used to study the context in which English instruction takes place
including teachers, schools, and syllabus or socio- cultural barriers. Second, it is
recommended to conduct a study about teachers' demotivation to find out its effect
on learners' motivation. Finally, this study could be replicated with a larger number
of participants (males & females) in the urban high schools to give a clearer and a
more generalizable picture about the investigated phenomenon.
XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ
TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ

Thanh Hóa , ngày 17 tháng 5 năm 2021
Tơi xin cam đoan đây là SKKN của mình
khơng sao chép của người khác.
Người thực hiện
Nguyễn Xuân Thành

REFRENCES

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1. Al-Quyadi, A. (2002). Psycho-sociological variables in the learning of English
in Yemen. Ph.D thesis, Bhagalpur University.
2. Arnold, J. (2000). Affect in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
3. Arani, J. (2004). Issues of learning EMP at university: An analysis of students’
perspectives. Karan’s Linguistics Issues. (Online) Retrieved 11 August, 2009
from />4. Bandura, A. 1997. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
5. Benson, M. J. (1991). Attitudes and motivation towards English: a survey of
Japanese freshmen. RELC Journal, 22(1), 34-48.
6. Borg, S. (2006). The distinctive characteristics of foreign language teachers.
Language Teaching Research, 10 (1), 3–31
7. Brophy, J. (1998). Motivating students to learn. Boston: McGraw Hill.
8. Brown, H.D. (2000). Principles of Language learning and teaching. American:
Prentice Hall Regents.
9. Dornyei, Z. (1994a). Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language
Classroom¸ Modern Language Journal, 78, 273-284.
10. Gardner, R. C., and Lambert, W.E. (1972). Attitude and Motivation in Second
Language Learning . Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
DANH MỤC SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG SÁNG
KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NGÀNH GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO XẾP LOẠI.
- Họ và tên tác giả: Nguyễn Xuân Thành.
- Chức vụ và đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên trường THPT Tĩnh Gia 2.
TT
1
2

Tên đề tài SKKN

Cấp đánh giá xếp Kết
quả Năm đánh
loại
đánh
giá giá xếp loại
xếp loại
Dạy từ vựng trong một Cấp Sở GD và ĐT
C
2005-2006
bài đọc hiểu tiếng Anh
Kinh nghiệm dạy Cấp Sở GD và ĐT
C
2011-2012
nnghe môn tiếng Anh
lớp 10 ( cơ bản) THPT

21


APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire
Below are statements with which some people agree and others disagree. There is no right or wrong
answers since many people have different opinions. I would like you to indicate your opinion about each
statement by ticking the boxes below which best indicates the extent to which you disagree or agree with
that statement
Table 1 Instrumental Motivation
Statements
Reasons for learning English

1

Your teachers’ methods
interesting and attractive.

2

S.disagree

are 9

disagree

uncertain

agree

S.agree

31

22

28

10

You want to compete with your 12
friends
for

the
learning
achievement.

38

14

30

6

3

You want to pass the exams at the 6
high school.

3

5

50

36

4

Being proficient in English can 3
lead to more success and
achievements in life.

0

5

41

51

5

you'll need English for your 4
future career.

0

10

28

58
22