VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ HIỀN
SOCIO-EDUCATIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE STUDENTS’
MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH LANGUAGE : A CASE
STUDY IN SON THINH UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN VAN CHAN-
YEN BAI

Yếu tố xã hội- giáo dục ảnh hưởng đến động cơ học Tiếng Anh của học sinh
trường trung học phổ thông Sơn Thịnh- Văn Chấn- Yên Bái

M.A. MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10
HA NOI - 2010
HA NOI - 2010 iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………… i
Abstract………………………………………………………………………ii
Table of contents…………………………………………………………….iii
List of figures and tables…………………………………………………….vi
Part I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………… 1
1.1. Rationale …………………………………………………………… 1
1.2. Objectives of the study …………………………………………………2
1.3.Research questions………………………………………………………… 2
1.4. Methods of the study……………………………………………………… 2
1. 5. Scope of the study………………………………………………………… 2
1.6.Significance of the study…………………………………………………… 3
1.7.Design of the study………………………………………………………… 3
Part II: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter I: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………… 4
1. 1. Theoretical background of motivation…………………………………. ….4
1.1.1 Definition of motivation……………………………………………………4
1.1. 2. Theories of motivation…………………………………………………….5
1.2. Types of motivation……………………………………………………… 12
1.2.1. Integrative motivation…………………………………………………. 13
1.2.2 Instrumental motivation……………………………………………………13

4.1. 7. Support for Participants’ Learning English at
home…………………… 29
4.1. 8. Participants’ Reported Challenges in and Opportunities for

v
Learning English…………………………………………………………………30
4. 2. The interview……………………………………………………………….31
4.2. 1. Students’ awareness of the importance of English……………………… 31
4.2. 2. Students’ self-reported difficulties in learning English………………… 32
4.2. 3. Parents’ attitudes………………………………………………………….32
4.2.4. Conditions for learning English………………………………………… 32
4. 3. Summary ………………………………………………………………….33
Part III : RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION……………………34
1. Conclusion…………… ……………………………………………………34
1.1. On students’ motivation…………………………………………………….34
1.2. On social factors affecting their motivation……………………………….35
1.3. On educational factors affecting their motivation…………………………35
.2. Recommendations for teaching………………………………………………36
3. Limitations of the study………………………………………………………37
4. Suggestion for further study………………………………………………… 38
References……………………………………………………………………… 39
Appendices
1.1. Rationale:
In recent years, Viet Nam has been opening its door to the world and to foreign
investment. English is considered to play a crucial role in leading the country‟s path to
the modernization and industrialization. Besides working skills, knowledge,
experiences, high English proficiency is extremely needed if people would like to have
a good job in many fields such as economics, politics, cultures, science, technology and
tourism. It is obvious that English is in a great demand in our society now, and it is
made a compulsory subject at all kinds of schools in our country from the secondary
schools to universities. However, English teaching and learning in Viet Nam is still
criticized to be far from satisfaction. For example, regarding the students‟ proficiency
in English, only a few people (in big cities) can speak English fluently and use it
effectively in their work. Most of the students after some years learning English at
school do not gain high score in their state exam, especially the students in remote
areas. The quality of teaching and learning English in Viet Nam is, there for, a big
issue that all teachers, researchers and linguistic professors have been concerned about.
Efforts have been made to find out the solutions to those issues.
In process of teaching and learning English, there are many factors affecting the
success of a language learner such as learners‟ factors, teachers‟ factors, learning
language opportunities, social factors, educational factors…. Among those factors,
social and educational factors may affect not only the students‟ learning outcome but
also their motivation to learn English. This issue is more important to disadvantaged
areas where both social and educational environments may not be conducive to English
language learning and teaching. Being a teacher of English in disadvantaged areas I see
that the socio-educational factors may affect much on the students‟ quality of English
learning. Therefore, it is strongly desirable for me to propose an investigation into the
influences of socio-educational factors to the students‟ motivation in Son Thinh upper
secondary school in Yen Bai. The intention in doing this research is to figure out the

2

a. Significance of the study:
This study is carried out with a hope that language teachers, especially those teaching
in remote areas, may be fully aware of the role and the importance of the socio-
educational factors toward students‟ motivation to learn a second language, from the
factors affecting Son Thinh students‟ motivation in learning English (especially socio-
educational factors), the teachers may find appropriate activities or methods to increase
students‟ motivation to learn English better.
b. Design of the study:
Part A- Introduction: provides rationales, aims of the study, research questions, scope,
and the significance of the study and its design.
Part B- Development: consists of four chapters
+ Chapter I: Literature review on theoretical background of motivation and socio-
educational factors affecting students‟ motivation in second language learning.
+ Chapter II: Context of the study: This chapter introduces the social context and
educational context for the study.
+ Chapter III: Methodology: this chapter introduces subjects and data collection
instruments.
+ Chapter IV: Data analysis and discussion.
Part C: Conclusion: This part presents conclusions, implications, limitations and
suggestions for further study.
4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter I: LITERATURE REVIEW

language learning involves the individual‟s desire to do so.
In short, there are many viewpoints in defining motivation. However, general
speaking, motivation is the willingness of a person to reach a particular goal or in other
words: motivation is something which gives an individual the desire to perform some
activity. In second language learning, motivation is one of the major factors
contributing to one‟s success. “Many researchers consider motivation as one of the
main elements that determines success in developing a second or foreign language; it
determines the extent of active, personal involvement in second language learning”
(Oxford & Shearin: 1994).
1.1. 2. Theories of motivation:
There is an old saying: you can take a horse to the water but you can not force it to
drink, it will drink only if it is thirsty, so with people, they will do what they want to do
or otherwise motivated to do. Therefore, motivation seems to be the hidden iceberg
which we can not easily see but it has much strength. In recent decades, theories of
motivation have been developed rapidly. There are many theories of motivation;
however in this section I will discuss some theories which are most helpful to my
study.
a)Need hierarchy theory:
Need hierarchy theory written by psychologist Abraham Maslow is the most
widely discussed theory of motivation. He saw human needs in the form of hierarchy,
ascending from the lowest to the highest, and he thought that when one of those human
needs is satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a motivator.
This theory can be summarized as thus:
* Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behavior; only
unsatisfied needs can influence behavior, satisfied needs can not.

6 * Since needs are many, they are arranged in order of importance, from the basic to

esteem motivators such as recognition, attention and social status.
* Self actualization:
This set of needs is about the quest of reaching one's full potential as a person.
Unlike lower level needs, this need is never fully satisfied. Self-actualized people tend
to have motivators such as: Truth, Justice, Wisdom, and Meaning. According to
Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches the level of self-
actualization.
Besides Abraham Maslow, David McClelland‟s achievement motivation theory
envisions that a person has a need for three things, but differs in degrees to which the
various needs influence their behavior: need for achievement, need for power, and
need for affiliation.
The above need theories are basic for being applied in many fields in our life, not only
in linguistics.
b) Cognitive theory:
There are different cognitive theories of motivation; however three approaches
such as attribution theory, self-efficacy theory, and goal theory are focused here.
Attribution theory has made important contributions to the development of a systematic
approach to motivating students in the classroom. Self-efficacy has emerged as an
extension of attribution theory. Our goal is to promote positive learning opportunities.
To achieve this goal we must understand how children attribute success or failure and
what factors they attribute to their success or failures. In knowing this we can change
our instruction, methods to motivate students to learn.
A first cognitive approach is attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Weiner, 1974).
This theory proposes that every individual tries to explain success or failure of self and
others by offering certain attributions. These attributions are either internal or external
and are either under control or not under control. The following chart shows the four

8
theory, all three variables must be high in order for motivation and the resulting
behavior to be high.

9 A third cognitive approach is goal-setting theory which is based on the notion that
individuals sometimes have a drive to reach a clearly defined end state. Often, this end
state is a reward in itself. A goal's efficiency is affected by three features: proximity,
difficulty and specificity. An ideal goal should present a situation where the time
between the initiation of behavior and the end state is close. A goal should be
moderate, not too hard or too easy to complete and the goal should be objectively
defined and intelligible for the individual. Douglas Vermeeren (2008) states that unless
an individual can clearly identify their motivating factor or their significant and
meaningful reasons why they wish to attain the goal, they will never have the power to
attain it.
c) New approaches of motivation:
In recent studies of second language learning motivation, one of the most
influential theories is Dornyei‟s theory. Dornyei (1994) developed an extended,
classroom-friendly model in which L2 motivation is conceptualized on three levels as
in the table below:
LANGUAGE LEVEL

Integrative motivational subsystem
Instrumental motivational subsystem
LEARNER LEVEL

Need for achievement
Self-confidence
* Language use anxiety


Affiliate motive (to please the teacher)
Authority type (controlling vs. autonomy-
supporting)
Direct socialization of motivation
* Modeling
* Task presentation
* Feedback

Goal-orientedness
Norm and reward system
Group cohesion
Classroom goal structure.(cooperative,
competitive or individualistic)
Dornyei's framework of L2 motivation (1994: 78)
From the above table, Dornyei gives a clear construction of L2 motivation in which:
The Language Level addresses the social side of L2 motivation. The Learner Level
represents individual characteristics of the learner, and concerns internal desire for
achievement and issues related to self confidence. The Learning Situation Level is
associated with classroom specific motivational factors: Course-specific, Teacher-
specific, and Group-specific motivational components.
Another influential motivational theory was developed by Williams and Burden
(1997) from a social-constructivist perspective. Motivational factors are divided into

11 internal and external factors. In Williams and Burden's model, some elements were
added to L2 motivation construction to make a new framework of motivation. We can
see the detail in the table below:

● the nature and amount of feedback
● rewards
● the nature and 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

12 weaknesses in skills required
● personal definitions and
judgments of success and failure
● self-worth concern
● learned helplessness
Attitudes
● to language learning in general
● to the target language
● to the target language community
and culture
Other affective states
● confidence
● anxiety, fear

1994:509).
1.2.2 Instrumental motivation
Another type of motivation associated with second language learning is instrumental
motivation. Instrumental motivation is the need and desire to achieve the reward for
achieving a high level of English.
To a great extent, instrumental motivation and orientation involves the
situational/cultural context of learning. It appears to be much more powerful in other
contexts where language learners have little or no interest in the target language
culture, if any, to interact with the target language members. (Ellis 1994) The social
situation helps to determine two things: what types of orientation learners have and
what kind is the most important for language learning.
1.2. 3. Intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is the type of motivation that occurs when an individual reaches a
conclusion that his or her skill level can be challenged and both the challenge and the
skill level are relatively high. When the level of challenge is too high for an individual
to handle, the outcome is anxiety. When the challenge is lower than an individual's
ability, the outcome is boredom. In other words, intrinsic motivation is what learners
bring to the learning environment that is their internal attributes such as attitudes,
values, needs, and personality factors.
1.2. 4. Extrinsic motivation:

14 Dornyei (2001) stated that extrinsic motivation involves performing a behavior as a
means to an end, that is, it originates outside the individual and is concerned with
external environmental factors that help shape students‟ behavior. (Dornyei, 2001; 27)
In summary, “A learner with instrumental motivation is more interested in how the
second language can be a useful instrument towards furthering other goals such as
gaining a necessary qualification or improving employment prospects”. (Little Wood,

strategies is related to language achievement and proficiency” and “ more motivated
students tend to use more strategies than less motivated students, hence, they tend to be
more successful” (Oxford, 1994).
In short, motivation has a great role in teaching and learning a foreign language.
When we think of the way to teach or to learn a foreign language well, we should
consider the way to promote the students‟ motivation: what students need/like, how to
encourage the slow students to work harder, how to show the attitudes to students, how
to create attractive learning atmosphere, how to reward the hard-working students,
which learning strategies should be applied…
1.4. Gardner’s socio-educational model:
Derived from different theories, models of motivation are also diversified in
number and nature; however in this study I only mention the Gardner‟s socio-
educational model as it is much more related to my study.
Gardner (1985) pointed out the socio-educational model of second language
learning. He said that the learning of second language involves both ability and a
motivational component and that the major basis of this motivation is best viewed from
a social- psychological perspective.
In his socio-educational model, firstly, what he proposed is that the motivation to learn
a second language is characterized by three aspects: the desire (or wanting) to learn the
language, the motivational intensity (or effort expanded) to learn the language, and the
affective reactions (or attitude) toward learning the language. All three above elements
are necessary to adequately reflect motivation. He showed that a motivated individual
is one who desires to achieve a goal, works hard to achieve that goal and enjoys the
activity involved.
Secondly, socio-educational model postulates that motivation is caused by at least
two attitudinal constructs as below:

16
17 * Gender:
Edlund et al. (2007:56-60) state that women and men tend to use their linguistic
knowledge differently. According to Ellis (1994:202-204), it has been shown that
female learners do better than men because they are more open to new linguistic forms.
Ellis states that women usually have a more positive attitude towards learning a second
language, which has a huge impact on their way of learning (ibid 202-204).
* Social class:
Ellis (1994:204-206) claims that social classes are usually based on level of education,
income and occupation. It has been shown that there are interesting connections
between social class and L2 achievement. Students from middle-class homes regularly
outperform those from lower- and working-class homes. Ellis (1994:204-206) argues
that L2 learning is connected to different attitudes based on the learners‟ will to learn.
Working-class students usually drop their language earlier than middle class students,
for instance more middle-class students tend to continue studying it at the university
(ibid 204-206).
* Ethnic identity:
Ellis (1994:207-210) states that an ethnic group is a group of people that has the same
native language, the same nationality and in most cases the same religion. Learners
who are ethnically close to the target-language culture are likely to outperform those
who are more distant (ibid 207-210).
How fast ethnic group learns a new language depends on the learners‟ motivation. If
the learners are motivated to learn the new language and feel that it is usable they will
learn it better than those who do not think that they need it. Some may think that they
do not need the new language, which means that they can use their native language in
most everyday situations. Another reason for some learners not to learn the second
language is that their parents may think that they do not need to learn it.
Spolsky (1989) proposes a number of social conditions for language learning such

+The statue of the teachers in the hierarchy and their involvement in book
selection, policy development…

19 + The interest of management in continuing professional development through in-
service sessions, projects in materials design…
+ Whether classes are monolingual or multilingual.
Among the above factors, physical conditions of the classroom have considerable
effect on the quality of learning. Physical conditions are classroom size, chairs, desks,
tables, lights, boards and bulletin boards. When learning takes place in a closed
physical space, a single classroom, controlled acoustics, it is possible to hear better; a
comfortable physical surroundings make concentration possible; the classroom can be
turn into foreign culture by judicious decoration… Moreover, the learning process will
be more effective when students satisfy their psychological environment in the class
such as posters, flowers, funny objects…which influence strongly the classroom
atmosphere.
1.5. 3. Socio-educational factors affecting motivation:
In addition to two major types of motivation, i.e. extrinsic/instrumental motivation and
intrinsic/integrative motivation, Warden and Lin (2000) studied the motivation of
Taiwanese EFL students and they found that these students appeared to be motivated
by requirements rather than either an interest in integration or any clear instrumental
yield. They labeled this type of motivation required motivation. In the same Chinese
cultural setting, Warden (2000) found EFL writing students responded better to
objective error correction than more process-oriented instructional approaches. Social
expectations emphasizing standardized requirements and de-emphasizing the
individual, the norm in Chinese culture, raise the likelihood that requirements are
potentially motivating in some circumstances. Chen, Warden, and Chang (2005)
conducted an on-line survey with 567 Taiwanese EFL students. Their findings support