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



NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG LAN

Effect of teachers’ feedback on freshmen’s motivation to
learn writing skill – A survey research at Hanoi University
of Business and Technology
(Ảnh hưởng của việc phản hồi của giáo viên đến động lực học kĩ
năng viết của sinh viên năm thứ nhất: Một nghiên cứu tìm hiểu
tại trường đại học Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis
Major: ELT Methodology
Code : 60 14 10

Hanoi - 2012


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



NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG LAN

Effect of teachers’ feedback on freshmen’s motivation to

I.1.2. Motivation in second/foreign language learning ………….……...……5
I.1.3. Types of motivation and their effect in language learning….……………6
I.1.4. Vietnamese students’ motivation in learning writing ……….……………7
I.1.5. Summary of main issues in motivation and Vietnamese students’
motivation in learning writing………..………………………………………8
I.2. Teacher feedback ……………………………………………….……………9
I.2.1. Definition of teacher feedback in language learning and teaching……9
I.2.2. Feedback as an extrinsic motivation to student learning ……………10
I.2.3. Feedback in teaching and learning writing ………...…………………..……13
I.2.4. Types of feedback in teaching writing ………………………………14
I.2.5.What types and what ways of teacher feedback best motivate students to
write? ……………………………………...………………………….……18
I.2.6. Summary of teacher feedback and it effect on student motivation to

write

………………………………………………………………………………21

Chapter II. Methodology ………………………………………………….………….22


v

II.1. Context of the study……………………………………...………….………22
II.1.1. Time distributed to English at HUBT……………………………… 22
II.1.2. English course book at HUBT………………………………………22
II.1.3. Time and schedule distributed for writing skill…………..…………23
II.1.4. How HUBT teachers give feedback to student writing …….………24
II.2. Participants……………………………………….…….……………………25
II.3. Data collection instruments………………….………………..………….…25

IV.1.Written feedback……………………………………………………………46
IV.1.1.The types of teacher written feedback in writing lessons and their
influence on HUBT freshmen’s motivation to write ………...………….…46
IV.1.2.The methods teachers give written feedback in writing lessons and
their influence on HUBT freshmen’s motivation to write ……...………..48
IV.2. Oral feedback……………………………………….………................……50
IV.2.1.The types of teacher oral feedback in writing lessons and their
influence on HUBT freshmen’s motivation to write

……………...……50

IV.2.2.Oral feedback versus written feedback ……………………..………51
IV.3. General discussion on HUBT teacher feedback on freshmen’s motivation
to write ………………………………………………………………………...….52
PART C. Conclusion …………………………………………………….……..54

1.Summary of the finding…………………………………….………………54
2.Recommendation ……………………………………………………………55
3.Limitations…………………………….………………………….…………56
4.Suggestion for further studies………………………………………………57
References ………………………………………………………………..……..58
Appendix 1. Questionaire –English version…………….….………………………I
Appendix 2. Questionaire –Vietnamese version….………….…………………VI
Appendix 3. Interview transcript with students ……….……………………..…XII


vii

List of abbreviations
HUBT

13. Table 13: The reasons for written feedback ……………………………………45


viii

List of charts

1. Chart 1: The frequency of HUBT teacher written feedback in writing lessons
………………………………………………………………………………………..30
2. Chart 2: The influence teacher written feedback on HUBT freshmen’s
motivation to write ……………………………….………………………………..32
3. Chart 3: The frequency of the methods HUBT teachers give written feedback
in writing lessons …………………………………………………...……………..35
4. Chart 4: The influence of feedback-giving-methods on HUBT freshmen’s
motivation to write………………………………………………………….……. 38
5. Chart 5: The frequency of HUBT teacher oral feedback in writing
lessons……………………………………………………………………………… 40
6. Chart 6: The influence of HUBT teacher oral feedback on freshmen
motivation to write ……………..………………………………………………….42
7. Chart 7: Oral feedback versus written feedback ………………………………43


1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
There are four main reasons for this study. Firstly, as a teacher of English at
Hanoi University of Business and Technology (hereafter HUBT), the author notices
that HUBT freshmen need motivation in learning writing. Many of HUBT freshmen
show their frustration when writing. They complain about the difficulties and low


on the effect of teacher feedback on their

motivation in speaking (Truong, 2011). However, the participants of those studies
are limited only to the majors in Finance and Banking. Therefore, the author of this
paper wants to widen the participants who are from several departments but share
the same course book and English schedule, as well as to widen the area of
research: teacher feedback in teaching writing and its effect on learner’s motivation.
All the reasons above inspire the author to do this research to find out the
influence of teacher feedback (both written and oral) on first- year- student’s
motivation to write.
2. Aim of the study
This study intends to seek the influence of teacher feedback on freshmen’s
motivation to write.
3. Scope of the study
Because this study only investigates the impact of teacher feedback on
student’s motivation to write, it does not look into the impact of non-teacher
feedback such as peer-respond and self-correction. In addition, it does not study the
correction ability, revision ability, the performance or improvement of students
under the effect of teacher feedback.
There have been a great number of studies on the influence of written
assessment to learners’ writing, such as Hyland & Hyland (2001), Duijnhouwer
(2010), Ashwell (2000), Duppenthaler (2002), and Ferris (1997). However just a
few researchers mention the oral feedback in writing class, such as teacher-student
conference, teacher-class discussion. Meanwhile, in writing session at HUBT, many
teachers choose and take advantages of oral feedback. Because teacher feedback
can be in written or oral form, this study will discuss the effect of both kinds of
feedback, instead of limiting to only written one.
It is also important to note that the participants of this study are the nonEnglish major freshmen at departments of Banking, Management, Finance,
Accounting at HUBT. According to Nguyen (2010), they share the similar


understanding, as he summarizes from the view of Paul Eggen & Don Kauchak,
(1994) is seen as ―a force that energizes and directs behavior toward a goal‖.
Motivation moves a person just like a force moves an object. He also summarizes
the three function of motivation: (i) energizing us, (ii) directing us, (iii) help us to
select the most appropriate behaviors to achieve our goal. In accordance with this
sight, Dornyei (1998) defines ―motivation is responsible for determining human
behavior by energizing it and giving it direction‖. Motivation is also seen under the
view of mental process, such as the opinion of Pintrich and Schunk (1996, cited in
Dornyei, 1998): ―'Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is
instigated and sustained‖. In other words, motivation involves various mental
processes that lead to the initiation and maintenance of an action.
We could have many definitions of motivation, they can be different in
words, but they agree on its functions or responsibilities of driving people to
achieve something they want. These definitions are easy to understand and help us
to be aware of the importance of motivation in any activity and process of humans
in life. Motivation is invisible, however, it underlines this or that action a person
does to achieve this or that result. Without motivation, any activities of people can
be come boring. Because of this, many researchers have found the way to increase
the level of motivation, so that people can be encouraged achieve this or that goal.
And, motivation in language learning is an outstanding field of motivation


5

researching. Now, we are going to look into the role of motivation in language
learning.

I.1.2. Motivation in second/foreign language learning
Motivation plays a very crucial role in language learning. Because of its

the level and orientation of motivation. (Ryan & Deci, 2000:54). For instance, a
student can be highly motivated to do homework out of curiosity and interest or,
alternatively, because he or she wants to obtain the approval of a teacher or parent.
Consequently, the implication for educators and teachers is to find the suitable ways
to motivate students to learn.

I.1.3. Types of motivation and their effect in language learning
Many researchers divide motivation in two main types: intrinsic and
extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it is inherently
interesting or enjoyable; and extrinsic motivation refers to doing something because
it leads to a separable outcome (Ryan & Deci, 2000:55). Both intrinsic and extrinsic
motivations are important, inseparable and complementary to each other in English
learning. (Kong, 2009:146). It is believed that intrinsic motivation has long term
effect to push student to study by its own curiosity and interest. However, in the
real world not all of the students are automatically energized to perform this or that
task, or to learn about this or that topic. Instead, they are driven by extrinsic
impetus. Sometimes, a good grade, a reward, the threat of failing and praise move
students from an inactive to an active state. Hence, extrinsic motivation becomes
an essential strategy for successful teaching and learning.
Another kind of motivation is instrumental motivation. Gardner (2001:10,
cited in Cote & Waugh, 2004) wrote that such motivation could be considered by
some to be learning a target language simply to get ahead in society or to gain
social recognition or economic advantages through knowledge of a foreign
language. Cote & Waugh (2004) give some examples of instrumental motivation:
the people who learn a foreign language to get a job, to make money to survive, or
just to communicate with foreigners, to read a novel and so on.


7


8

The result of Tran’s study (2007) indicates that Vietnamese students
nowadays have not only extrinsic motivation to write, but also intrinsic motivation.
Moreover, the study brings a new image of Vietnamese students who show their
potential to write independently, creatively and passionately if they are really
motivated. This reflects an image of students who are able and ready to write with a
sense of authorship in a foreign language, which is different from how they appear
to be in the routine. Tran also points out that teacher’s enthusiasm in giving
feedback to students’ writing is one of the sources of motivation which stimulate
them to write. However, the participants of her study are limited to the Englishmajors, which leaves a gap in the investigation of non-English majors’ writing
motivation.
I.1.5. Summary of the main issues in learner’s writing motivation
Motivation plays a crucial role to the success of a person in life in general
and in learning process in particular. There are three main types of motivation:
intrinsic, extrinsic and instrumental one. These types closely relate, affect, support
or weaken each other. Therefore, it is an implication for any teacher to find the way
to motivate learners.
In case of Vietnamese students’ enthusiasm to learn writing skill, it is
traditionally believed that writing is less favorable than other skills, there is a low
interest and motivation in writing. On the other hand, recently, this belief has been
change by such study by Tran (2007), in which Vietnamese student are found to be
more independent and creative. Therefore, we need more research which investigate
the Vietnamese learner’s motivation in writing, especially with the non-English
majors.
Although there are a lot of elements that influence learner’s motivation, in
writing skill, teacher feedback is very important. This is also the focus of this study,
hence, we come to the next issue: teacher feedback and it effect on learner
motivation to write.


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I.2.2. Feedback as an extrinsic motivation to student learning
There are many scholars confirm that teacher feedback is one of the element
of extrinsic motivation. William and Burden (1997, cited in Dornyei, 1998)
proposed a framework of motivation in language learning, with internal and
external factors. The external factors include the role of teacher as well as the nature
and amount of feedback.
Table 1. Williams and Burden's (1997) framework of motivation in language
learning, (cited in Dornyei, 1998)
Internal factors

External factors

Intrinsic interest of activity
• arousal of curiosity

Significant others

• optimal degree of challenge

• parents

Perceived value of activity

• teachers

• personal relevance

• peers


• ability to set appropriate goals

• punishments, sanctions

Mastery

The learning environment

• feelings of competence

• comfort

• awareness of developing skills and • resources
mastery in a chosen area

• time of day, week, year

• self-efficacy

• size of class and school

Self-concept

• class and school ethos

• realistic awareness of personal

The broader context



Dornyei (1994a, cited in Dornyei 1998) also presents a table of components of
foreign language learning motivation. Teacher-specific motivational element with
feedback is also emphasized in the category.

Table 2 .Components of foreign language learning motivation (Dornyei, 1994a:
280, cited in Dornyei, 1998)
Language Level

Integrative Motivational Subsystem
Instrumental Motivational Subsystem

Learner Level

Need for Achievement
Self-Confidence
* Language Use Anxiety
* Perceived L2 Competence
* Causal Attributions


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* Self-Efficacy
Learning Situation Level
Course-Specific
Components

Motivational Interest
Relevance

what to do next—the cognitive factor. Once students feel they understand what to
do and why, most students develop a feeling that they have control over their own
learning—the motivational factor. Next, Srichanyachon (2012:8) believes ―Mostly


13

students from cultures that see a teacher as the only source of authority value
teacher revision more highly than other methods because they have confidence in
the teacher’s knowledge and skill in English.‖ All of the opinions above have
clearly explained why teacher feedback can stimulate students to learn.

I.2.3. Feedback in teaching and learning writing
Giving feedback seems to be a natural characteristic of teaching writing, and
its role is of importance to both teachers and learners. Magno and Amarles
(2011:21) says: ―Feedback plays a central role in developing writing proficiency
among second language learners‖. Park (2006) also confirms the importance of
feedback on student writing by saying that it has been considered as one of the
essential parts in a writing course. Students regard teachers' written feedback as
crucial to their improvement as writers. From teacher’s perspective, they seem to
think that it is a kind of duty as a writing instructor to help students, and it shows
teachers’ credibility.
Teacher feedback in writing, as well as teacher feedback in learning in
general, also is a source of motivation to learners. Srichanyachon (2012:13) reviews
the studies of other researchers such as Hyland and Hyland (2006); Richards and
Lockhart (1996) to conclude that teacher feedback can serve as a powerful tool to
motivate students in the writing process if done well. Another researcher, Saito
(1994) proves that students prefer teacher feedback to other kinds of feedback such
as peer feedback and self-correction. In case of Vietnamese students, as Tran (2007)
points out, teacher feedback is a source of motivation for them.

feedback. Besides, Park also mentions some other kinds of response to written
works such as direct and indirect feedback. With direct feedback, teachers give
direct correction. However, with indirect one, teacher gives indirect error pointer
using correction code which requires students themselves to correct errors. Park
calls the coded feedback ―techniques‖ because it helps students to find and identify
their mistakes.


15

Another type of feedback is electronic feedback using computers (Park,
2006). Teachers can provide comments on electronic submission by email and using
comment function. These new ways of feedback offer ―greater flexibility in their
responding practices‖, but we should consider the conveniences of both teacher and
students to have the highest effectiveness.
Magno & Amarles (2011), on the other hand, divide feedback into three
categories: feedback on form, on content and on writing style. Their definitions of
feedback on form and content are similar to the definitions of Park (2006). In term
of feedback on writing style, they defines it is the one ―involves assessment of the
use of language, persuasion, originality and creativity‖.
Saito (1994) gives six types of teacher feedback: teacher correction,
commentary, teacher correction with comments, error identification, teacher-student
conferencing, correction-using prompts. The teacher-student conferencing response
means teacher and student discuss a piece of student writing individually during the
writing of a composition, and after it is finished. In language learning, Saito review
the benefit of teacher-students conferences: two-way communication in a writing
conference appeared more effective than written comments because it allowed
students to explain their opinions and needs, and to clarify the teacher's comments.
Most of researchers concern written feedback rather than one-to-one conference,
There are some difficulties in running an individual conference between teacher

To sum up, there are some differences on the classification of teacher
feedback to students’ writing. Nonetheless, all the feedback could be put into four
main types: feedback on content/meaning; feedback on form/errors/surface errors;
feedback on writing style, and integrated feedback (combining both form and
content feedback). The feedback could be direct (teachers locate and correct the
errors/ideas/organization) or indirect (teachers locate the errors or provide code
response or give prompt/suggestion for other writing problems). The feedback
could be in form of a commentary, an instruction, an evaluation, a piece of
suggestion, praise, and criticism.
In this paper, the author employs her own category of feedback, which is
generalized from the above studies. In her view, there are two main types of
feedback: written and oral feedback. And, the feedback in the forms of such things


17

as praise, encouragement, instruction, evaluation is considered as the ways teachers
respond.
The detail of the category will be illustrated in the following table:

Table 3.The category of feedback in teaching writing employed in this study
1.

Content-focused feedback (on organization,

supporting ideas, length, expression…)
2.

tense, capitulation, punctuations….)



(unclear

ideas,

poor

&

writing

problems

organization,

poor

development…)without correcting
2.

Identifying the errors & writing problems and

The

giving direct correction

ways

3.



omit or rearrange any ideas or sentences)


18

9.

Asking for clarification (ask students to clarify

of any unclear ideas)
1.

Teacher-student conference while writing

Oral

Types of

2.

Teacher-student conference after writing

feedback

oral

3.

Teacher-class

If a student with low English level, received a

corrected draft from a teacher with red ink smeared all over the page would only
make him or her less confident and more worried when composing another writing
task. Secondly, a large amount of error correction only succeeds in drawing the
student's attention to form only and not to the more important matter of developing