1
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays English language has gained its significance among a number of foreign
languages such as French, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, etc in the world as well as in
Vietnam. The importance of English has been realized in Vietnam because English is
considered to play a crucial role on the path of industrialization and modernization of the
country. Therefore, English is now taught in almost every school, college, university and
language centre all over the country.
One of the main tasks assigned to foreign language teaching at school is that of training
students to be communicatively competent. In an industrialized and modernized society, and in
the time of globalization, communicative competence is required in the spoken as well as
written form. It means communication can be conducted orally or in written documents. In
many fields of life, being able to speak English is a necessity. For high school leavers, a good
oral communicative competence in English may enable them to get a scholarship in a
university in an English speaking country such as in the USA, in Britain, in Australia and so
on, which is believed to ensure a much brighter future for them. Moreover, high school leavers
who can speak English are easier to find a job with quite a big salary in a foreign company or a
joint venture one, or to do an oversea job. Especially, graduates of a good command of English
whose basic knowledge is what they obtain at school have a great deal of chances to be offered
a good job with a big salary in a both state and private company. Thus, it is obvious that being
able to speak English brings about a better career prospect.
At Gia Loc senior secondary school, like at many other high schools in Vietnam,
English has been a compulsory subject in secondary curriculum for many years. The fact is
that, due to the demand of the senior secondary school graduation and university entrance
examinations, the students' focus is on grammar and vocabulary, which means little attention
has been paid to speaking skill.
Besides, teaching English at school is mainly performed with a traditional method- the
Grammar Translation method, which focuses mainly on grammatical and vocabulary items. As
a result, students who are passive recipients become structurally competent but
communicatively incompetent.

students reluctant to speak, to study some techniques used by the teachers to see if they
workable, and to make some suggestions on useful techniques to help the students better their
speaking skill .
1.4. Methods of the study
To achieve the aims of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used
and the following tasks are involved:
- Collecting data for the analysis from 186 students grade 11.
- Collecting data for the analysis from eight teachers teaching English in the school.
- Interviewing eight students for further information of the study.
All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion are based on the data
analysis.
1.5. Design of the study.
This minor thesis is divided into five chapters.
The first chapter, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, the aims, scope, methods
and design of the study. Definitions of terms are also presented in this chapter.
The second chapter, REVIEW OF LITERATURE, presents various concepts most
relevant to the research topic such as definition of motivation, motivation in L2 learning, types
and importance of motivation, and factors affecting motivation in L2 learning. Furthermore,
the following are also included in this chapter: definition of speaking, the importance of
speaking, approaches to develop speaking skill, the teaching of speaking in rural area and at
senior secondary school.
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Chapter three, METHODOLOGY, provides the methodology underlying the research
which includes the general information about the study subjects, the teaching and learning
speaking situation at Gia Loc senior high school. This chapter also focuses on the methods of
data collection.
Chapter four, PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA, gives a detailed
presentation of data and a detailed description of data analysis. Some explanations and
interpretations of the findings of the study are also presented.
Chapter five, PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONs AND CONCLUSION, provides the

` Motivation in L2 learning: can be defined as a combination of effort and desire to
achieve the goal of language learning plus a favorable attitude towards learning the language.
( Gardner, 1985 )
Physical conditions: refers to the classroom, the classroom size, desks, chairs, tables
and etc.
Proficiency: shows the learner’s ability to perform well in L2 learning.
Target language: refers to the language that learners are trying to master other than
their mother tongue.
Teachers: refers to the teachers who teach English at the school.
5
CHAPTER 2: review of literature
Chapter 2, Review of Literature, presents some of the most important issues in the
theories of motivation for teaching language in general and teaching speaking in particular,
and speaking, namely, theoretical background and the nature of speaking.
2.1. Theoretical background of motivation
2.1.1. Definitions of motivation.
There have been so far many researches on the theory of motivation which have
generally come to a conclusion that motivation is an abstract concept used to describe the
willingness of a person to expand effort to reach a particular goal.
Some scholars and psychologists of the first half of the 20
th
century determined two
interior factors of motivation, instincts and drives, which are of great importance in our lives.
However, in the second half of the 20
th
century, researchers found that self- actualizing
tendencies are the central force in motivation in people. Maslow (1970), analysises two
groupings of seven levels of basic needs. They are deficiency needs including physiological,
safety, belongingness and love, and being needs consisting of cognitive, aesthetic and self-
actualization. Williams and Burden (1997) points out

However, Gardner and Lambert (1972), two dominant researchers of the social
psychological approach, propose that the broad concept of the “integrative motie” consists of
three main components: attitude, integrativeness and motivation.
There are some other new approaches the researchers of which wish to make close the
gap between theories of motivation in educational psychology and in the L2 field. The
researchers of this period added some new elements to the concept of L2 motivation. In his
framework of motivation, Dornyei (1994) classifies three levels: language level, learner level
and learning situational level, and in each level there are some different elements (Adapted
7
from Dornyei, 2001). Moreover, Marion Williams and Bob Burden (1997), propose a detailed
framework of L2 motivation with the Internal and External motivational influence. They
analyse nine internal factors as follow: intrinsic interest of activity, perceived value of activity,
sense of agency, mastery, self-concept, attitudes, affective states such as confidence, anxiety
and fear, developmental age and gender. The external factors consist of human factors such as
parents, teachers, peers, feedback, rewards or punishments, the learning environment and the
boarder context(Adapted from Dornyei, 2001)
2.1.3. Types of motivation in second language learning
Gardner and Lambert (1985:10) distinguished integrative and instrumental as two
types of motivation. Besides, researchers have added some other kinds such as resultative,
intrinsic, extrinsic, global, situational and task motivation.
* Integrative motivation . This type of motivation occurs when learners wish to identify
with the culture of the L2 group. When speaking the target language, learners admire the
culture and have a desire to become familiar with the society in which the language is used
(Falk, 1978). It is, therefore, the interest in the people and culture of the language that create
student motivation in L2 learning and this type of motivation lies in the realm of intrinsic need.
* Instrumental motivation. This is characterised by the desire to obtain something
practical from the study of L2 (Hudson, 2000). Ellis (1994) states "Some functional reasons
such as to pass an examination, to get a better job or to get a university place motivate
learners to learn an L2 because it opens up educational and economic opportunities for
them." (1994:75)

may encourage learners to invest their effort and energy in.
2.1.4. The importance of motivation in second language learning
The overall findings of the researches on motivation are that positive attitude and
motivation are closely related to success in L2 learning (Gardner, 1985) . According to Caroll
(1962) , motivation decides the amount of time a learner will spend on the task of language
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learning. She claims: “ The more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend
learning an aspect of a second language” (Carol, 1962).
Labonde (1982) also makes a conclusion that motivation is an important factor that
helps to determines the level of proficiency achieved by a learner.
Finegan (1999:568) sees the vital role of integrative motivation in L2 learning
"Integrative motivation typically underlines successful acquisition of a wide range of registers
and a native-like pronunciation." Besides, Ellis (1994:513) finds that learners with Integrative
motivation were more active in class and were less likely to drop out.
Motivation not only plays an important role in learning, it helps the teaching as well.
Lite, (2002) confirms "Motivation is the backbone of any classroom. When the students are
motivated, the teacher can perform his/her job the best." (2002, Jan.)
Norris-Holt (2001) also points out "Motivation is an important factor in L2
achievement." (2001, Jun.)
2.1.5. Factors affecting motivation in second language learning
2.1.5.1. Learners' factors
* Intelligence: refers to performance on certain kinds of tests (Lightbown & Spada,
1999:52)
*Aptitude: According to Lightbown and Spada (1999:53) aptitude consists of:
(1) the ability to identify and memorize new sounds
(2) the ability to understand the function of particular words in sentences.
(3) the ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples.
(4) the ability to memorize new words.
* Personality: Lightbown and Spada (1999) list a number of personality characteristics:
extroversion, inhibition, self-esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness.

succeeded are a necessity for language teachers (Dornyei, 2001). They can do this by offering
11
concrete assistance, responding immediately when help is requested, correcting tests and
papers promply, arranging extra-assignments and so on. Besides, when students are treated as
if they are eager learners, it is more likely that they will become eager learners (Brophy,
1998:170).
* Teachers' expectations: Students tend to perform at a level consistent with the teachers'
expectations. When high expectations are set by teachers, students seem to perform better at
the subject matter and even feel more competent (Good &Brophy, 1987).
* Good relationship with students: Teachers should make close the gap between teacher
and students by being friendly, helpful, tolerant, smiling instead of shouting at them and never
creating stressful atmosphere in the classroom. Remembering students' names, is also of great
importance when teachers wish to make good impression on students.
* Acceptance: Teachers should not be rigid but flexible and be always ready to accept a
variety of students' answers since acceptance together with empathy and congruence is of great
influence in the development of student-centred teaching.
* Ability to listen and pay attention to students: Listening to a person is the single most
powerful transaction that occurs between ourselves and another person (Wlodkowski,
1986:28). Students will be motivated when teachers convey personal attention to them by
noticing interesting features of their appearance, asking them about their life after class,
showing interest in their hobby, moving around in class, etc.
2.1.5.3. Teaching and learning conditions
* Physical conditions: Physical conditions in the classroom, including the classroom
size, chairs, desks, tables, lights, boards and even bulletin boards, affect students' motivation
either positively or negatively. In addition, the decoration: posters, flowers, funny objects also
has a strong influence on the classroom atmosphere. More importantly, the ownership of the
classroom among students should be created as "Personalising the classroom can be seen as
students' exercising increasing control over their environment" (Dornyei, 2001:42).
* A pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom: Learners seem to feel less
anxious and less constrained but more secured to take part in learning activities in supportive,

Speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skills since it helps to
identify who knows or does not know a language. Pattison (1992) points out that when people
mention knowing or learning a language, they mean being able to speak the language.
In a social context, social roles are likely to be taken by those who learn and know how
to speak, but not by those who do not have this skill. It cannot be denied that speaking deserves
as much attention as or even more attention than written skill. In order to carry out many of
the most basic transactions, it is necessary for learners to speak with confidence.
2.2.3. Approaches to the teaching of speaking
2.2.3.1. Proficiency or the native speaker
There are two very different views of the goal of language teaching, native speaker and
proficiency. Davies (1994) distinguishes the two very different views of the goal of language
teaching, the goal of the native speaker and the goal of a proficiency level "A second language
learner may attain native speaker levels of proficiency and therefore be indistinguishable from
a native speaker"(1994:145). He also points out that the native speaker seems at first more
obvious, less abstract. Proficiency, however, appears to be less easily graspable and it is an
abstract construct, which does not occur in nature. As a result, we have to invent it, find
something to stand for it.
Since the native speaker is a fine myth, in teaching speaking we need it as a model, a
goal and almost an inspiration, but not a measure. Davies (1994:157) confirms that what is
crucial for language teaching is the definability of partial proficiency. The native speaker is the
construct whereas proficiency is its metric.
2.2.3.2. Accuracy or fluency
Accuracy in language teaching involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and
pronunciation. In controlled and guided activities , accuracy is usually the focus and the
teacher makes it clear from feedback that accuracy is important. Ongoing correction is often
appropriate during accuracy activities. In freer activities the teacher's hopes are the students'
correct use of the language and ability to communicate as well.
14
Fluency can be considered to be the ability to keep the talk going when speaking
spontaneously. When speaking fluently students should be able to get the message across with

(2) Introduce the text. New words and structures are given.
(3) Provide relevant practice.
(4) Set the reading task: make questions.
(5) Ask the learners to read the passage in silence and find the answers.
(6) Ask learners to read again aloud and ask for the answer.
(7) Explain difficulties they still have.
(8) Do silent reading again because learners need to go on with step nine.
(9) Get the learners to talk about what they have to learn based on the previous answers.
* The Practice Phase
It is the time for learners to do the most of talking as they are provided maximum
amount of practice in the form of controlled and guided activities to improve vocabulary and
grammar knowledge as well as fluency of speaking. The activities are usually pair work,
group work or sometimes learners do individual work.
* The production Phase
At the last phase of learning speaking learners are given chances to speak English freely.
Being in a real situation, learners use English by themselves, not nearly depend on the teacher's
help. Free activities are also in the form of individual work, pair work and group work.
However, pair work and group work are of great importance and effectiveness as all learners
can have chance to participate in talks, and they seem more confident and more motivated.
Moreover, this can save a great deal of time.
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In the process of teaching speaking, improvement of the speaking ability will be gained
if these three phases are followed orderly. Nevertheless, the practical application much
depends on such factors as the time and the material used etc.
2.3.4. Teaching speaking in rural areas
The teaching of speaking in rural area are far more difficult than in urban area. The
dominant language used outside the classroom is the mother tongue, Vietnamese. There are no
mass media contacts with English, except through some TV programmes, and some
newspapers which are hardly accessible to the students. Moreover, there is tremendous peer
pressure, both among the teachers and the students, not to use English except in English

and in L2 in particular, the types and the importance of motivation, factors affecting student
motivation in L2 learning. Then comes an overview on the nature of speaking in which the
definition, the importance of speaking are discussed. Besides, the teaching of speaking in rural
areas and in secondary school, and approaches to teaching speaking are presented as well.
The following chapters will present the investigation, the findings and recommendations
of the research under the light of the above discussed theories.
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Chapter three: methodology
3.1. An overview of the research site.
Gia Loc senior secondary school, the research site, situated in the centre of Gia Loc
town, Hai Duong province, was established in 1961. It has for many years been the most
reliable address for students and parents of the district and one of the first nationally-
standardized high schools in Hai Duong province.
The school has 36 classes with over 80 teachers of different subjects. English is taught
here as a compulsory subject by nine English teachers aged from 25 to 50. Currently, there are
approximately 1620 students ranged from grade 10 to grade 12. Most of the students come
from villages in the district.
Therefore, the teaching of English in general, and the teaching speaking English in
particular has encountered with a great deal of difficulties. Only a few students wish to take
university entrance exams in English, which means few students have real interest in learning
English. In other words, not much attention is paid to English by the majority of the students.
The learning of speaking is far worse. First, in classroom interaction, the students are
enthusiastic when familiar subject matters are presented in Vietnamese; students to students
interaction, even in English lessons is conducted in Vietnamese, except when they are asked
to use English by their teachers. In explaining new words, new concepts and new structures,
English is rarely used because the students would not understand if they were explained in
English. By and large, in English lessons, there is a predominance of teacher-talk. As the
students grow older, in the upper grades, they become more reluctant to speak. What is
alarming is that, there is not only poor speaking comprehension but responding in English as
well in this school. To answer the teachers' questions, the students usually use Vietnamese

(2) The students' attitudes towards speaking skill (questions 1, 3, 4)
(3) Factors making the students reluctant to speak English in class (questions 5-8)
(4) The students' interest and desire (question 9,10, 11)
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With questions 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 the students must choose only one answer A, B, C or D
while they can choose more than one answers to questions 2, 5, 6, 9 10 and 11.
3.3.2. Questionnaire for teachers
The second questionnaire, which includes 8 questions, was delivered to 8 English
teachers at the research site. The purpose of this questionnaire was to identify:
(1) Teachers' opinion on the time to create motivation for students to speak (question 1)
(2) Difficulties teachers have encountered in teaching speaking at Gia Loc senior
secondary school (question 3)
(3) Teachers' attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake makers (question 4, 5)
(4) Their current teaching techniques and communicative activities used in class to
motivate the students to speak (question 2, 6, 7, 8)
To answer questions 1,4,5 and 7 the teachers must select only one from the four
alternatives, meanwhile, with the others more than one alternatives are correct.
3.3.3. The structured interview
Two interviews were carried out in Vietnamese in the form of an informal conversation
between the researcher and 8 students divided into two groups after the students had done the
survey questionnaire. The 30-minute interviews were structured with a list of 13 open-ended
questions in a predetermined order. The data were recorded, transcribed for the analysis
purpose, and then translated into English (for the interview transcripts, see appendix 3). The
interview protocol was adapted from "Qualitative inquiry and research design choosing among
five traditions" by John W. Cresswell (1997).
3.4. Summary
The third chapter has presented the research site whose notable contextual feature is that
learning English is compulsory and students tend to put their focus on grammar and
vocabulary. Besides, the subjects of study and the data collection methods have also been
discussed in this chapter. In the next chapter, the data analysis and discussion will be

Table 4.1 reveals that the highest percentage of the students (68%) percieved that
speaking skill could improve their knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and phonology which
help them to do their tests and exams well. Nearly a half (45%) claimed that getting a chance
22
to have a university place abroad or a work place in a foreign company after finishing school
or university was their underlying reason. A quarter (25%) said speaking skill helped them to
understand and sing beautiful English songs while17% identified the major reason for learning
speaking English as a means to communicate with English speaking people. The lowest
percentage of the students (13%) was found to possess resultive motivation. This appears that
better result does not lead to high motivation. Moreover, it could also be found out in the
interview that the primary reason for the students to learn speaking English was their good test
and exam results or future career, where six out of eight interviewees listed those reasons at
the first ground. The following were some of their answers:
+ "Nói tiếng Anh tốt sẽ giúp em nâng cao kiến thức ngôn ngữ tiếng Anh nói chung , vì
vậy em có thể làm bài thi và bài kiểm tra tốt"
[
Speaking English well helps me to improve
my knowledge of English in general, so I can do my tests and exams well
]

+ "Em cũng nghĩ vậy"
[
I do think so
]
+ "Vâng, đúng vậy. Khi em nói tiếng Anh nhiều, em sẽ nhớ từ vựng, ngữ pháp tốt và
nhanh hơn. Cách phát âm của em cũng tốt hơn, nữa"
[
Yes, that's right. When I speak English
a lot, I will remember vocabulary, grammar structures more easily and quickly. My
pronunciation ill be better, too.

A. rất cao D. thấp
B. cao E. rất thấp
C. bình thờng
16% 18% 48% 14% 4%
Question
4
Em có do dự khi nói tiếng Anh trên lớp
không?
A. Có, khá thờng xuyên.
B. Có, đôi khi.
C. Không, em nói bất kì khi nào giáo viên gọi.
D. Không, em nói bất kì khi nào đợc yêu cầu.
E. Không, em luôn tìm mọi cơ hội nói tiếng Anh.
19% 50% 22% 6% 3%
Table 4.2. Students' attitude towards speaking skill
Table 4.2 shows that thirty five percent of the respondents had interest in learning
speaking, eighteen percent did not mind practising speaking while nearly a half of the subjects
(40%) did not enjoy it and seven percent did not enjoy it at all.
The population of the subjects having high or very high attitude and desire to study
speaking was nearly the same (16% and 18%, respectively) while low or very low attitude and
desire were possessed by18%. Approximately a half (48%) of them had neutral opinion.
Surprisingly, 114 out of 186 subjects (69%) usually or sometimes felt reluctant to
speak English in class and among those who were willing to speak, only three percent said
they always seeked for chances to speak, 22% spoke when they were called and 6% spoke
when they were asked to.
In short, we can come to conclusion that most of the students found speaking skill
necessary or desirable. However, the minority of the respondents were interested in it and the
24
majority felt reluctant to speak English in class. Thus, the question raised here is what teachers
should do to make their students have interest in speaking.

]
+"Vâng, và theo ý kiến của em, giai đoạn đầu là vô cùng quan trọng"
[
Yes, and in my
opinion, the warm-up stage is very important
]
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