Ways to motivate the first year non-English
majors at Ha Noi University of Technology in
Learning English Speaking Skill
Nguyễn Thị Phương
Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ
Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: Theory and methodology of English teaching
Mã số: 60 14 10
Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Nguyễn Huyền Minh
Năm bảo vệ: 2011
Abstract: This study is an effort to investigate ways to motivate the first year non-
English majors in learning English speaking skill at Ha Noi University of Technology.
The main purposes of the study are to find out: types of motivation possessed by the first
year non-English majors at Ha Noi University of Technology, factors affecting students’
motivation in learning English speaking skill, speaking motivational activities and
techniques applied by teachers and students’ opinions about them and then give some
recommendations for teachers to encourage students to speak English. The study is
composed of three main parts. Part I, the introduction, reveals the rationale, aims,
research questions, scope, design, methods of the research. Part II is divided into three
chapters. Chapter 1 reviews theoretical background of motivation and speaking. Chapter
2 gives the instrumentation, data collection and data analysis. Chapter 3 sums up some
major findings and discussion, and then presents recommendations to the English
teachers. Part III, the conclusion, points out what the researcher have done and what she
have not done and give some suggestions for further study.
Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp giảng dạy; Kỹ năng nói
Content
PART I: INTRODUCTION
Investigating methods, activities and techniques used by the teachers to motivate the
students in speaking skill.
Recommending several activities and techniques to motivate the students to speak
English.
3. Research questions
In order to gain the aims mentioned above, the following questions were asked in the study:
1. What are the activities and techniques used by the teachers to motivate students in learning
English skill?
2. Which activities and techniques are considered as effective tools in motivating students to
speak English?
4. Scope of the study
The study will be carried out within the following scope:
As we know, motivation is a broad topic that cannot be thoroughly discussed in this paper. So in
this study, the researcher will discuss one specific aspect: ways to motivate students in speaking
skill. The subjects for this study are 99 first year non-English majors at Ha Noi University of
Science and Technology in the hope that the results of this study are representative to all
Vietnamese non – English majors.
5. Methods of the study
The study was planned to use a variety of methods to obtain its aims as follows:
A questionnaire was distributed to 14 teachers who are now teaching or have taught speaking
skill to first year non – English majors to collect their opinions on motivation, examine speaking
motivational activities, techniques used by teachers to motivate students to speak and explore
their attitudes towards students who are reluctant to speak and keep making mistakes as well as
their ways for error correction.
Another questionnaire was distributed to 99 first year non-English majors to gather their
opinions on speaking skill, factors affecting their motivation to speak English in class, and what
activities and techniques used by the teachers.
An interview was conducted with 8 students randomly selected from the survey population to
explore further issues of interest.
An observation was conducted at the two speaking classes to investigate the students’ responses
Eds, The Second Language Classroom: Directions for the 1980’s, OUP, Oxford.
Brown H.D. (2007), Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (5
th
edition),
Pearson Education, Inc.
Burns A., Joyce H. (1997), Focus on Speaking, Sydney: National Center for English Language
Teaching and Research.
Byrne D. (1986), Teaching Oral English, Longman Group UK Limited.
Byrne D. (1991), Techniques for Classroom Interaction, London: Longman
Carter R., McCarthy M. (1995), “Grammar and Spoken Language”, Applied
Linguistics, 16 (2), 141-158.
Cashin W. E. (1979), Motivating Students, Idea Paper, no. 1. Manhattan: Center for
Faculty Evaluation and Development in Higher Education, Kansas State University.
Cohen A. (1996), “Developing the Ability to Perform Speech Acts”, Studies in Second
Language Acquisition, 18 (2), 253-267.
Davies P. (2000), Success in English Teaching, Oxford University Press.
Dornyei Z. (2001), Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Dornyei Z. (2001), Teaching and Researching Motivation, Pearson Education Limited.
Fiore N. (1985), On Not Doing a Student's Homework, Chemistry TA Handbook, Berkeley:
Chemistry Department, University of California.
Gardner R.C. (1985), Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The Role of
Attitudes and Motivation, Edward Arnold, London.
Grass, M.S & Selinker, L (2008), Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory
Course (Third edition). Taylor & Francis Group.
Guilloteaux J.M., Dornyei Z. (2008), “Motivating Language Learners: A Classroom-
Oriented Investigation of the Effects of Motivational Strategies on Student Motivation”,
TESOL QUARTERLY Vol.42, No. 1, p. 76.
Harmer J. (1983), The Practice of English Language Teaching, London: Longman.
Johnson D.M. (1992), Approaches to Research in Second Language Learning, N.Y.:
Tsui A.B.M. (1996), Reticence and Anxiety in Second Language Learning, In K.M.
Young D.J. (1991), “Creating a Low-anxiety Classroom Environment: What Does
Language Anxiety Research Suggest?” The Modern Language Journal, 75(iv),
426-439.
Wang H.Y. (2010), “Using Communicative Language Games in Teaching and
Learning English in Taiwanese Promary Schools”, Journal of Engineering Technology
and Education, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 126-142. Retrieved on 7
th
July 2011 from website:
Other websites: Speaking.html
/>dout.pdf