VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HOA PRIMARY STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN
LEARNING ENGLISH: A CASE STUDY AT
NHAN PHUC PRIMARY SCHOOL
ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC:
NGHIÊN CỨU CỤ THỂ TẠI TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC NHÂN PHÚC

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology
Code : 601410 Hanoi - 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HOA


ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a
number of people.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Vo Dai Quang, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me
through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and
suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic
researcher.

A special word of thanks goes to my lecturers, my friends, my classmates, my
colleagues, my students and many others, without whose support and
encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis
accomplished.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality of study project report i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations vii
Tables and figures viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale for the study 1
2. Aims and objectives of the research 2
3. Scope of the research 3
4. Significance of the research 3
5. Structural organization of the thesis 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1.1. Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis 5
1.2. Theoritical background 9
1.2.1. Motivation in language learning 9
1.2.2. How children learn foreign languages? 10
1.2.3. Teaching English to children 13
1.3. Summary 9
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15

Appendix C: Interview questions 46

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CEFR
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment
EFL
English as a Foreign Language
SLA
Second Language Acquisition
Perhaps, there has been a “global revolution” of learning and teaching English at
primary schools nowadays. The term “global revolution” may appear something of
an over-statement, but actually the teaching of English has become especially
important in recent years. The trend towards an early start in learning English turns
out to be a worldwide phenomenon. The number of countries now introducing
English at primary levels has been increasing, including Viet Nam. It is expected
that English soon will be compulsory from grade 3 in every part of Viet Nam,
though the policy has been implemented in many provinces of the country. Viet
Nam has been taking a lot of important actions in an ambitious education reform so
that by the year 2020 all students will reach B1 level adopting CEFR standard after
leaving high schools. The Ministry of Education and Training is taking a phased
approach in which primary English language teaching plays a very important role.
Although it has long been believed that children can learn a second language more
quickly and efficiently than adults, in fact, there is no clear evidence for this belief.
Obviously, children’s language acquisition and adults’ differ from each other quite
a lot in terms of physiological characteristics, cognitive ability, span of attention,
faculty of memory, self-consciousness, linguistic capacities, learning style,
motivation for studying and so on. Because of learner difference and learning
context difference, a varied view on motivation in language learning should be
taken by researchers and teachers in order to devise suitable teaching styles that can
both enhance language learning and facilitate the achievement of education goals.
Numerous studies have been carried out to investigate motivation, which is
considered to be one of the most important elements in language learning, however
limited research has been done to thoroughly evaluate children’s motivation.
2

Working as a primary English teacher for nearly three years in a village in Ha Nam
made me think about the topics “teaching English to children” and “student
motivation” a bit deeper than I probably would. When I first started to work with
young learners, it raised fears and questions in my mind as well. For example:

Primary School
3. Scope of the research
Due to time constraint, the length of the thesis and the researcher’s knowledge, this
study only focused on students’ motivation in English learning at one primary
school in Ha Nam, where the researcher has been working for nearly three years.
Based on the general profile of motivation of primary students at Nhan Phuc
Primary School, some recommendations are given to teachers who face the same
teaching context so that they can sharpen their pedagogical to some extent.

4. Significance of the research
This study would be very helpful in explaining why young learners are interested in
learning English. Although the research is conducted in one primary school in Ha
Nam, it is believed to be an attempt to look into the matter of primary students’
motivation in learning English in Viet Nam generally. The result of the study will
be of some contribution to inspire primary English teachers to conduct more
interesting and effective lessons based on their students’ interest. The researcher
hopes that insights into this area will help to address the matter of motivation in
other primary schools. In addition, this study may be of useful suggestions to
enhance primary language teachers’ professional skills in Ha Nam and other
provinces throughout the country. 4

5. Structural organization of the thesis
The thesis is divided into three parts: the introduction, the development and the
conclusion.
Part A is the introduction which reveals the rationale, the aims and objectives of the
study, the scope of the study, the significance and the structure of the research.
Part B includes three chapters.

which 174 are at third grade and the rest are at sixth grade. The study revealed that
five factors affecting primary students in Japan were interest in foreign countries,
intrinsic motivation, caregivers’ encouragement, instrumental motivation and
anxiety. The result of the study demonstrated that there was a developmental
decrease in motivation for learning EFL, regarding the age factor. Despite of its
limitation, this study made a contribution towards understanding Japanese young
learners’ motivation in learning EFL generally. She also implied the improvement
of teaching methods for higher grades should be done. The author left room for
more investigation of cognitive, linguistic development, strategies and social
cultural factors in the future.
It is worth noticing that in her research, the author stressed the importance of
research into children’s motivation for learning foreign languages because the
results from studies on adults’ motivation cannot be applicable in the case of young
learners. The fact calls for a thorough research on children’s learning motivation.
She reported several important researches done by Masgoret, Bernaus, and Garner
(2001) and Nikolov (1999). According to Masgoret et al. (2001) there was “no clear
indication of independent cluster reflecting Integrativeness, Attitude towards the
6

Learning Situation, Motivation, or Language Anxiety.” Nikolov who studied a
group of children in Hungary remarked that external reasons for learning English
could be found in 8-to-11 year old rather than 6-to-8 year old children. Moreover,
the oldest of the group (11-to-14 years old) proved to be more practical than the
rest.
Although the findings from the mentioned studies cannot be applied to the context
of primary teaching and learning English in Vietnam, they serve as helpful sources
for an overall picture of children’s learning motivation generally. As a researcher, I
find these researches a big help for me to get deeper background knowledge about
the topic “motivation” in order to conduct a study on young learners’ motivation in
learning English in my own teaching context.

will exert in that respect”. It might not be the most perfect definition of motivation,
however, to my viewpoint; the author covers the term with a wide range of relating
items.
In the study of motivation, other terms such as orientation, attitude commonly
arise, causing confusion to readers. These terms are distinguished with motivation
as the following. According to Belmechri and Hummel (1998:238) “orientations
are related to motivation” and “they function as predictors of motivation”. In
foreign language learning, orientation is a tendency, which sustains learners’
motivation to learn the language, but may not necessary lead to effort in acquiring
the goal of the learning process. It differs from motivation in term that orientation
excludes the activity or effort in learning the target language. There are many
understandings of “attitude” resulting from different perspectives. Gardner (1985:
8) defines attitude as “an evaluative response” to some referent or attitude object,
inferred on the basic of the individual’s beliefs or opinions about the referent”.
Wenden (1991) noted that there have been many ways of expressing the nature of
attitude which share three characteristics of attitude:
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a. Attitude always have an object.
b. They are evaluative.
c. They predispose to certain actions.
In foreign language learning, attitude is an evaluative response based on learners’
beliefs and thinking about language learning that predisposes learning behaviors
while orientation does not maintain the effort in language learning.
The concept of motivation itself involves too many factors and contexts and is “too
complex and multifaceted” (Dornyei, 1998: 117), so these above definitions add to
the understanding of the motivation nature. It would be unwise to try to seek the
most satisfying definition among them. Generally speaking, when educators discuss
student motivation, they usually mention the same concept: motivation known as
the combination of desire and attempt to perform some activity and achieve a goal.

The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is one of the most general
and well-known in psychological motivational theory (Dornyei, 2001). In contrast
to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation is “a construct that is involved
whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome” (Ryan &
Deci, 2000: 7). It is referred as an outward force in the form of expectation, praise
and rewards stimulating students’ interest in learning. Cheryl L. Spaulding (1992:4)
explains that extrinsic motivation exists when individuals are motivated by an
outcome that is external or functionally unrelated to the activity in which they are
engaged. If the reasons for someone to work hard are to win his parents’ favor, gain
teachers’ praise, or earn rewards, his motivation is primarily extrinsic. Students’
purpose of learning a language is not for the knowledge itself, but outward rewards,
they will be encouraged to study actively with praise and rewards. Such students do
not carry out an activity for the enjoyment of the activity itself.
There are four different types of extrinsic motivation depending on the degree of
self-determination that learners have in it (Deci & Ryan, 1985). They are ranked
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from external regulation - motivation for a task over which one does not control, to
integrated motivation – motivation for a task that one totally accepts and adapts.
The more controlling and less self-determining that regulation is, the less learning
will take place (Deci et al., 1991).
1.2.1.2.3. Integrative motivation
Integrative motivation shares some common features with intrinsic motivation.
According to Gardner and Lambert (1959), integrative motivation has been
conceptualized as “one’s willingness to be liked valued members of the language
community”. Integratively motivated students would be interested in and have
positive attitude toward the target language community, the course and the teacher
and enjoy learning the language. Ellis (1997) explains that some learners prefer to
learn a particular second language because they are interested in the people and
culture represented by the target language. Dickenson (1995) notes “Learners with

beneficial career prospects or something that will enable them to use transactional
language with speakers of the foreign language will be motivated instrumentally. It
underlines the goal to gain some social or economic reward through L2
achievement, thus referring to a more functional reason for language learning
(Gardner & Lambert, 1972). Dornyei’ study (1996) of Hungarian secondary school
learners of English revealed that instrumental motivation is the central component
of motivation where it is relevant. He also claims that foreign language learning in a
classroom setting doesn’t involve attitudes towards the L2 community because
learners have little or no contact with members of L2 group.
Instrumental motivation is especially important for adult learners for reasons of
practical purpose. Many studies were carried out to support such an idea. In a study
about motivation for learning English among first year female university students in
Zayed University in the UAE (1999), the researcher found out that the key
motivating factor for the learner was instrumental. Attitudinal studies conducted on
Arab students (1984) have shown that Arab students are instrumentally motivated to
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learn English and it was true that some learners are integratively motivated but they
are in minority.
1.2.1.3. Importance of motivation in language learning
Numerous studies have revealed that motivation is the key of language learning
process. In a series of research on language achievement, Gardner (1977) found that
greater motivation and attitudes lead to better understanding. Oxford and Shearin
(1994) noted that “Many researcher consider motivation as one of the main
elements that determine success in developing a second or foreign language; it
determines the extent of active, personal involvement in L2 learning”. They also
stated that research shows that motivation directly influences how often students use
L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much
input they receive in the language being learnt, how well they do in curriculum-
related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and

one may think about the child as a language learner.
 Mary Slattery and Jane Willis (2001: 4-5) point out 12 characteristics of
children as language learners as follow:
+ Learning through seeing, listening, copying and doing.
+ Being unable to understand an explanation of grammatical rules.
+ Understanding the meaning partly through non-verbal communication activities.
+ Copying exactly.
+ Loving to play and use imagination.
+ Having short attention.
+ Being curious.
+ Enjoying repetition of activities.
+ Developing independent thinking.
+ Being able to distinct between reality and imagination.
+ Being able to organize the best to implement any activity.
+Team working.
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(Cited by Do Thi Mai Chi, MA thesis)
 Piaget: The child as active learner
Piaget’s theory concentrated in how the world surrounding children affects their
mental development and how they function in that world. From his viewpoint, it is
action is central to cognitive development. In this way, “thought is seen as deriving
from action”. The idea was illustrated by the example of how a child solves the
problem of getting food from a bowl into her mouth. She can use a spoon or her
fingers to get the food, that is, she learns to feed herself by muscle control or
direction finding. Such action is not inborn, but “actively constructed”. Piaget
suggested two ways for children’s active development: assimilation and
accommodation. “Assimilation happens when action take place without any change
to the child; accommodation involves the child adjusting to features of the
environment in some way” (Lynne Cameron, 2007: 3, Teaching Language to Young

the idea of ZDP (Zone of Proximal Development) which supports the new meaning
of intelligence, that is, intelligence should be measured by what a child can do with
skilled help rather than what a child can do alone. The notion of ZDP can help
teachers in both lesson planning and interactions with pupils and mediate “what
next it is the child can learn”.
1.2.3. Teaching English to children
Teaching English to kids has been increasingly important in the context of business
globalization today as English is an international language. The field of teaching
English to young learners has been received attention in the last ten years. More
concern was devoted to the area of teaching such as the theories and researches
contributed by Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner. Each of them approached the issue
from different perspectives, but they all seek to explore how young learners learn a
language and to find out the best method to teach them. The researches by Bruner,
Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg are 2 other significant understandings
which should be considered here.
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 Bruner
According to Bruner (1990), language is the most important tool for cognitive
growth and adults have used language to mediate the world for children and help
them to solve the problem. He is the one who initiate a useful technique labeled
“scaffolding” to teach foreign language for primary students. Like parents who
scaffold tasks for their children, the teachers should do the following:
- Make the children interested in the task;
- Simplify the task;
- Keep the child on track towards completing the task by reminding what the
goal is;
- Point out what important to do;
- Control the child’s frustration during the task;
- Demonstrate an idealized version of the task;