VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
   BÙI THỊ NGỌC HUỆ A STUDY ON MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES
IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS
TO THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS
AT HANAM TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE

(Nghiên cứu về các chiến thuật thúc đẩy dạy kỹ năng nói
cho sinh viên năm nhất chuyên ngành tiếng Anh
tại trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm Hà Nam) MINOR M.A THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Hanoi, 2013
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

I certify that this minor thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of the Master of Arts is the result of my own work. The
data and findings in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere. Signature Bùi Thị Ngọc Huệ


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ABSTRACT

Motivation is considered one of the most important factors in helping
teaching and learning gain success. The majority of the first-year English major
students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College need motivating to get effective
communication in English speaking skills because of the fact that at high school
they almost only focus on other skills such as reading, writing, grammatical
competence to pass the entrance exam. Therefore, this study aims at investigating
kinds of motivation the first-year English major students are having, strategies and
techniques teachers of speaking are applying to motivate their students, as well as
seeking difficulties the students are facing. Then, some suggestions on motivational
strategies and techniques are provided for teachers and students to help them to


LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Components of foreign language learning motivation (Dornyei, 1994a:
280)
Table 2: Williams and Burden’s (1997) framework of motivation in language
learning
Table 3: Students’ goal for learning speaking
Table 4: Necessity to motivate students in stages of a speaking lesson
Table 5: Activities teachers do before a speaking task
Table 6: Ways of organizing speaking activities
Table 7: Ways of grouping
Table 8: Activities teachers do while students practice speaking
Table 9: Activities teachers do when students show low motivation in speaking
activities
Table 10: Activities teachers do to encourage students to speak
Table 11: Activities teachers do after students finish practicing
Table 12: The motivational strategies used by the teachers by frequency
Table 13: Level of difficulty of speaking English well
Table 14: Difficulties students encounter when participating in speaking activities
Table 15: Students’ preference of being grouped v

3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………
4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………
4
1.1 Theoretical background of motivation ……………………………………
4
1.1.1 Definitions of motivation ………………………………………………
4
1.1.2 Motivation in L2 learning ………………………………………………
4
1.1.3 Type of motivation in L2 learning ………………………………………
8
1.1.4 The importance of motivation in L2 learning …………………………
9
1.1.5 Main de-motivating factors affecting motivation in L2 learning ………
10
1.1.5.1 Definitions of de-motivation ………………………………………
10
1.1.5.2 Main de-motivating factors affecting motivation in L2 learning ……
11
1.1.5.2.1 Learners’ factors …………………………………………………
11
1.1.5.2.2 Teachers’ factors ………………………………………………
13
1.1.5.2.3 Teaching and learning conditions ………………………………
14
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1.1.6 Motivational strategies in teaching and learning L2 ……………………

22
2.3.3 Classroom observation ………………………………………………….
22
2.4 Data collection procedures ………………………………………………….
23
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ………………………
24
3.1 Kinds of motivation in learning speaking skills …………………………….
24
3.2 Strategies and techniques applied by the teachers to motivate their students.
26
3.3 Main factors de-motivating students in English speaking …………………
36
3.4 Motivational strategies and techniques can be applied to motivate students
39
PART III: CONCLUSION …………………………………………………….
42
1. Summary of the findings …………………………………………………….
42
2. Limitations of the study ……………………………………………………
43
3. Suggestions for further researches …………………………………………
43
REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………
44
APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………….
I
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APPENDIX 1 ……………………………………………………………………

science, commerce, internet, and so on. Therefore, competence of using English
accurately and fluently is of great importance to a lot of people.
Because English has become so important, many non-native English
speaking countries including Vietnam pay more and more attention to teaching and
learning English. In fact, in Vietnam English is a compulsory subject in schools,
colleges and universities. The number of people using English to communicate is on
the rise. Most of the English textbooks are republished in the forms of
communicative ones to meet learners’ need. Also, instead of traditional methods in
which grammatical competence is much more paid attention to, communicative
language teaching approach has been widely applied.
However, there is a fact that a large number of students, even English major
students cannot communicate in oral English although they are the first-year
students at a college or a university. One of the reasons for this issue is that most of
the students only focus on grammatical competence to sit for the entrance exams,
and distract communicative competence. Indeed, much more attention is paid to
reading skill, writing skill and language focus. Whereas, speaking skill is
considered as one of the most important skills to help learners to gain
communicative competence. As researchers and educators, what we should do to
help learners achieve communicative goals to meet their needs in using oral
language effectively. Therefore, with the study “A study on motivational strategies
in teaching speaking skills to the first-year English major students at Hanam
Teachers’ Training College”, the researcher of this study does hope that the study
2

will help teachers of speaking skill in some ways to find appropriately motivational
strategies in speaking lessons to respond to their students’ need for effective
communication.
2. Aims of the study
The study aims at investigating the motivational strategies in teaching
speaking skills to the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training

English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College.
6. Significance of the study
The study hopes to contribute a part to help teachers find out more
motivational strategies to give a great assistance to their students to improve their
speaking skills and achieve communicative competence.
7. Design of the study
This study consists of three main parts:
Part I, Introduction presents the rationale of the study, the aims of the study,
research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, methods of the
study, and design of the study.
Part II, Development includes three following chapters.
Chapter 1, Literature Review displays the theoretical background of
motivation and the theoretical background of teaching speaking skills.
Chapter 2, Methodology presents the context of the study, participants,
research instruments and data collection procedures and methods.
Chapter 3, Data Analysis and Findings focuses on analysis about kinds of
motivation possessed by the first-year English major students, strategies and
techniques used by teachers of speaking, factors de-motivating students in learning
speaking skills, and motivational strategies and techniques can be applied.
Part III, Conclusion summarizes the findings, limitations of the study and
suggestions for further study are provided in this part.
References and Appendices are presented in the last pages of the study 4

PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Theoretical background of motivation
1.1.1 Definitions of motivation

learning is quite complicate to study which can be explained in terms of two factors:
learners’ communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language
community.
Besides, Parson, Hinson and Brown (2001, p.28) define motivation as an
important component or factor in the learning process. Learning and motivation
have the same importance in order to achieve something. Learning makes us gain
new knowledge and skills and motivation pushes us or encourages us to go through
the learning process.
Also, according to Ellis (1994) and Mcdonough (1983), learners’ motivation
has been widely accepted as a key factor which influences the rate and success of
second/ foreign language learning.
Holt (2001, p.1), referring to Cookes and Schmidt (1991), defines motivation
as “…the learners’ orientation with regard to the goal of learning as a second
language”.
Dornyei (1994a) developed a general framework of second language (L2)
motivation that attempted to synthesize various lines of research by offering an
extensive list of motivational components categorized into three main dimensions:
the Language Level, the Learner Level, and the Learning Situation Level, presented
in table 1 below:
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Table 1: Components of foreign language learning motivation (Dornyei, 1994a: 280)
Language Level
Integrative Motivational Subsystem

Authority Type
Direct Socialization of Motivation
 Modeling
 Task Presentation
 Feedback

Goal-orientedness
Norm & Reward System
Group Cohesion
Classroom Goal Structure

Besides, the motivational components that are relevant to L2 instruction have
been recently summarized by Williams and Burden (1997) as part of a larger
overview of psychology for language teachers, pointed out in table 2 below:

7 Table 2: Williams and Burden’s (1997) framework of motivation in language learning
Internal factors
External factors
Intrinsic interest of activity
 arousal of curiosity
 optimal degree of challenge
Perceived value of activity
 personal relevance
 anticipated value of outcomes

 mediated learning experiences
 the nature and amount of amount
of appropriate praise
 punishments, sanctions
The learning environment
 comfort
 resources
 time of day, week, year
 size of class and school
 class and school ethos
The broader context
 wider family networks
 the local education system
 conflicting interests
 cultural norms
 societal expectations and
attitudes

From the views above, motivation, one of the main factors combining with
other factors has great influences to learners’ success or failure.
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1.1.3 Types of motivation in second language learning
Motivation can be classified into two main categories: intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation.
The word “intrinsic” means “innate” or “within”, therefore intrinsic
motivation originates in the individual itself. Learners willingly and voluntarily try
to learn what they suppose it is worth and important to them. There are no external
factors affecting their study. On the other hand, their study completely comes from
within them, from the inner desire to learn and depends on their own will, without

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.
1.1.4 The importance of motivation in second language learning
The importance of motivation in enhancing second or foreign language
learning is undeniable. Lifrieri (2005, p.4) points out “when asked about the factors
which influence individual levels of success in any activity – such as language
learning, most people would certainly mention motivation among them”.
Brown (2000, p.160) states that “it is easy in second language learning to
claim that a learner will be successful with the proper motivation”.
Gardner (2006, p.241) posits that “students with higher levels of motivation
will do better than students with lower levels”. He further adds that “if one is
motivated, he/she has reasons (motives) for engaging in the relevant activities,
expends effort, persists in the activities, attends to the tasks, shows desire to achieve
the goal, enjoys the activities, etc” (Gardner, 2006, p.243).
Spolsky (1990, p.157) stated that motivated students are likely to learn more
and learn more quickly than less-motivated students. In a particular learning
situation, students who are less motivated are likely to lose their attention,
misbehave and cause discipline problems. On the other hand, students who are more
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highly motivated will participate actively and pay more attention to a certain
learning task or activity.
Motivation is one of some important factors that may influence students’
English achievement (Yu-mei, 2009).
Li & Pan (2009) state that among the factors influencing students’ learning,
motivation is considered as an important reason for different achievement. It
determines the success or failure in second language learning because it can directly
influence the frequency of using learning strategies, willpower of learning, goal

1.1.5.2.1 Learners’ factors
 Intelligence: Many studies using IQ tests and different methods of assessing
language learners have found that IQ scores are a good means of predicting
how successful a learner is. Measures of intelligence may be more strongly
related to certain kinds of L2 abilities than others.
 Personality: It is said that introverted or anxious leaners usually make slower
progress, particularly in the development of oral skills. They are less likely to
take advantage of opportunities to speak; or to seek out such opportunities.
More outgoing students will not worry about the inevitability of making
mistakes. They will take risks, and thus will give themselves much more
practice.
 Age: Second language acquisition is influenced by the age of the learner.
Children, already having solid literacy skills in their own language appear to
be in the best position to acquire a new language efficiently. Motivated, older
learners can be very successful too, but usually struggle to achieve native-
speaker-equivalent pronunciation and intonation.
 Learners’ beliefs: All learners have strong beliefs and opinions about how
instruction should be delivered. Learners’ preferences for learning influence
the kinds of strategies they choose to learn new materials.
 Cognition: In general, it seems that students with greater cognitive abilities
will make the faster progress. Some linguists believe that there is a specific,
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innate language learning ability that is stronger in some students than in
others.
 Experiences: Learners who have acquired general knowledge and experience
are in a stronger position to develop a new language than those who haven’t.
The student, for example, who has already lived in three different countries
and been exposed to various languages and cultures has a stronger base for
learning a further language than the student who hasn’t had such

atmosphere of mutual trust and respect with the learners (Alison & Halliwell,
2002). Teachers can promote such respect and trust through interacting with
students on a personal level and show that they care about their students’
personal issues or challenges that they face in the classroom or even outside.
 Enthusiasm is contagious in classroom; therefore, if students recognize their
teachers’ enthusiasm to the task, they, too, will be enthusiastic (Dornyei &
Ushioda, 2011).
1.1.5.2.3 Teaching and learning conditions
In addition to physical conditions in the classroom such as the classroom
size, chairs, desks, tables, boards, and bulletin boards, classroom atmosphere is one
of the most important motivational conditions affecting teaching and learning L2.
Students’ anxiety is one of the most recognized factors that undermine learning
effectiveness and second language motivation (Dornyei, 2007; MacIntyre, 2002;
Young, 1999). In safe classroom environments, students are encouraged to express
their opinions and perspectives on different issues because they feel safe and
protected from embarrassment and sarcasm. Humor is a very potential factor to
improve the classroom atmosphere. The use of humor helps students feel at ease
without tension in the air.
1.1.6 Motivational strategies in teaching and learning second language
With motivation being one of the key factors that determine success in
second language learning, strategies in motivating language learners should be seen
as an important aspect of the theoretical analysis of L2 motivation. Interestingly, the
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past decade has witnessed an increasing number of L2 scholars designing and
summarizing motivational techniques for classroom application (e.g. Alison &
Halliwell, 2002; Brown, 2001; Chambers, 1999; Williams & Burden, 1997), with
one book being particularly relevant to this topic: Motivational Strategies in the
Language Classroom by Dornyei (2001b), in which a list of more than 100 concrete
motivational techniques, divided into the pre-actional, actional and post-actional

promote or impede learning.
By employing these motivational strategies seriously, teachers can help their
learners improve their study.
1.2 Theoretical background of teaching speaking skills
1.2.1 Definitions of speaking
Speaking is crucially important for the whole learning process. The term
“speaking” has interested many linguists.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009, p.414),
speaking is “the action of conveying information or expressing ones’ thoughts and
feelings in spoken languages.”
Speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves
producing and receiving and processing information” (Brown, 1994; Burns &
Joyce, 1997).
Chaney (1998, p.13) stated that speaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of
contexts.
In general, there are different concepts of speaking; however, in this study the term
“speaking” will be used to refer to second language teaching and learning.
1.2.2 The importance of speaking skills
Speaking skill plays a significance role in teaching and learning a foreign
language. It not only helps learners know how to read, to write, to listen but also
know how to communicate with English speaking people. It is undeniable that the
speaking ability is a good source of motivation for most students. Nunan (1991)
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affirms that success is measured in term of the ability to carry out a conversation in
the target language.
1.2.3 Communicative language teaching (CLT) approach
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a prominent theoretical model
in English language teaching and accepted by many applied linguists and teachers