MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

A Study into EFL Learner Motivation

THE THESIS SUMMITED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL)

Submitted by TRAN THI THUY HANG

Supervisor

Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYEN THANH TUNG

SEPTEMBER 2016


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “A Study into EFL Learner Motivation” is my own work.
Except for the reference which is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no
material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I
qualified for or awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of
the thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other
tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, 12 September 2016

Tran Thi Thuy Hang

specially written for them. Furthermore, twelve students chosen randomly and the
lecturers participated in the one-by-one interviews with the researcher. The results
gathered from these questionnaires and interviews were analyzed with the support of
SPSS.
The results from the survey with 275 students indicate that the students are both
extrinsically and intrinsically motivated to learn English. However, their extrinsic
motivation is the dominant because of the better job opportunity in the future and the
usefulness for effective communication in the modern society. The findings also show
that both internal factors and external factors play an important role in enhancing learner
motivation and performance. Among those factors, the English teachers are considered as
a crucial element because they can help the students to follow their learning goals, create
a friendly classroom environment, give supportive feedback, conduct interesting
classroom activities, and design the most suitable materials for their particular classes.
In conclusion, although the lecturers could understand their students’ learning motivation
types and applied varied methods to motivate the students to learn English in class, they
also need more activities to increase the students’ time of using English outside the
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classrooms and more support from the administrative staff at the university. Based on the
research findings, some pedagogical implications for the students, the lecturers and the
administrative staff were withdrawn. Hopefully, the results from this research can be
helpful to improve learner motivation in particular as well as the quality of teaching and
learning process at HCM University of Technology.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.................................................................................. I

2.5.1.2. Expectancy ..................................................................................................... 15
2.5.1.3. Self-confidence .............................................................................................. 16
2.5.1.4. Self-efficacy ................................................................................................... 17
2.5.2. External factors .................................................................................................... 17
2.5.2.1. Teachers ......................................................................................................... 18
2.5.2.2. Feedback ........................................................................................................ 18
2.5.2.3. Classroom environment ................................................................................. 19
2.5.2.4. Materials ........................................................................................................ 20
2.5.2.5. Activities ........................................................................................................ 20
2.6. Teachers’ perceptions toward students’ motivation ............................................. 21
2.7. Related studies on learner motivation .................................................................... 21
2.7.1. Around the world ................................................................................................. 22
2.7.2. In Vietnam ............................................................................................................ 24
2.8. Research gap ............................................................................................................. 27
2.9. Summary ................................................................................................................... 27
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 29
3.1. Pedagogical setting ................................................................................................... 29
3.2. Research design......................................................................................................... 30
3.2.1. Research subjects ................................................................................................. 30
3.2.1.1. Students .......................................................................................................... 30
3.2.1.2. Teachers ......................................................................................................... 31
3.2.2. Research methods................................................................................................. 31
3.2.3. Research instruments ........................................................................................... 33
3.2.3.1. Questionnaires ............................................................................................... 33
3.2.3.2. Interviews....................................................................................................... 35
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3.2.4. Analytical framework........................................................................................... 37
3.3. Data collection procedure ........................................................................................ 39


5.3. Research implications .............................................................................................. 97
5.3.1. Implications for students ...................................................................................... 98
5.3.2. Implications for lecturers ..................................................................................... 98
5.3.3. Implications for administrative staff .................................................................. 101
5.4. Recommendations for further research ............................................................... 102
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 105
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 112
Appendix 1...................................................................................................................... 112
Appendix 2A ................................................................................................................... 113
Appendix 2B ................................................................................................................... 115
Appendix 3A ................................................................................................................... 117
Appendix 3B ................................................................................................................... 119
Appendix 4...................................................................................................................... 121
Appendix 5A ................................................................................................................... 122
Appendix 5B ................................................................................................................... 137

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 The procedure of delivering and collecting data .................................................. 42
Table 2 Students’ information (gender) ............................................................................ 46
Table 3 Students’ information (English in their university entrance exam) ..................... 47
Table 4 Students’ information (mid-term score) ............................................................... 48
Table 5 Students’ information (English learning experience) ........................................... 49
Table 6 Students’ information (using English outside the classroom) .............................. 50
Table 7 Students’ reasons for studying English ................................................................ 51
Table 8 Factors related to the students .............................................................................. 54
Table 9 Factors related to the teachers .............................................................................. 56

Nevertheless, the matter of English in Vietnamese universities is complicated and
disappointed.
After completing the 10 credits within the first and second years of study, very
few training branches are allowed to provide further English training for students.
Most universities do not have policies or regulations to encourage their learners to
continue learning a foreign language. (Phan H. T., 2010, p. 5)
Phan’s statement pointed that English education in universities has not effectively
prepared students for the demand of English after their graduation. As the result, the
English proficiency of the majority of university students and graduates are quite
disappointing. They do not appear to be confident with their English (Tran T. T., 2013, p.
139). In an effort to discover the reasons behind that unpromising consequence, Tran
(2013) in her study mentioned learner motivation as a vital factor affected English
learning process in Vietnamese universities. She reported that good motivation can be
viewed as a factor which can positively lead to the successful enhancement of English
teaching and learning at universities (p. 141). In addition, she also had further analysis in
Vietnamese setting:
The teaching of English in Vietnamese universities received many criticisms from
the participants. They all suggested that the current English teaching and learning
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at universities was ineffective and disappointing. It negated their motivation and
made them lose their hope in English learning. (p. 141)
Therefore, in order to improve the current English achievement in universities, learner
motivation should be the center of attention. The following section turns to focus on
learner motivation.
1.1.2. Main constraints in Vietnamese learner motivation
Despite of the previously mentioned essential influence of learner motivation on English
learning process, it is believed that Vietnamese university students obtain a low level of
motivation. Tran and Richard Jr. (2007) wrote that:

classrooms and the ability to set their goals in learning English. This situation results in
the fact that Vietnamese student motivation has been decreasing considerately, which
triggers their low English proficiency. The next section will discuss the teachers’ action
and perception.
1.1.2.2. Teachers’ action and perception
Besides Vietnamese learning style in the last section, the second constraint, Vietnamese
teachers’ action and perception, also has an important effect on learner motivation.
“Teachers were found to have a strong impact on students’ demotivation or motivation to
learn” (Tran & Baldauf, 2007, p. 100). However, the influence of Vietnamese university
educators is believed to be negative. Luu (2011) raised his convincing points:
The word “ignore” is highlighted since numerous teachers understand the position
of the learner element in their teaching strategies. Nevertheless, they do not want
to explore it due to such factors as time constraints, energy insufficiency (due to
teaching several hours a day), brief and unrepeated teaching of a particular class,
and pride in their degrees or ranks. It is their “pride” that a number of teachers
even take students’ resistance as an offence, but teaching students without
understanding them is a greater offence like doctors treating patients without
investigating their medical histories. (p. 285)

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Based on Luu’s opinion, the reasons why Vietnamese lecturers have remained traditional
demotivating teaching style have been certainly clarified. However, another important
cause is discovered in teachers’ perception. Tomlinson and Bao Dat (2004) found that
“teachers believe their students to be passive, not willing to participate in classroom
activities, and seldom speaking English in the classroom. For these reasons, they keep on
using a lecturing style in class” (p. 38). Holding that unsupportive viewpoint, teachers are
unable to motivate themselves and their students to create a successful English teaching
and learning process. Furthermore, some special circumstances at a tertiary level have

supporting English competence at a tertiary level. Furthermore, the statement of the
problem is presented in the next part.
1.2. Statement of the problem
English has become the predominant foreign language in Vietnam. Therefore, English
educational system at all levels has received the most attention from the government and
society. However, the outcome of English teaching and learning process at a tertiary level
could not satisfy the social expectation. In an attempt to find out the possible reasons for
that issue, learner motivation with its powerful influence on English learning is
emphasized. Despite Vietnamese learning style, teacher’s action and perception and
classroom organization as main constraints, learner motivation is believed to be the factor
supporting English learning practice at universities. Nguyen (2012, p. 73) emphasizes
that if Vietnamese students get proper encouragement, they can become motivated and
eager to follow English learning process. However, “teachers’ lack of knowledge about
their students’ real reasons for learning a language is one of conditions that impede our
full understanding of students’ motivation for L2 learning (Oxford & Shearin, 1994, as
cited in Zhao, 2012, p. 100). That point raised the significant concern over teachers’
understanding of learner motivation. Consequently, leaner motivation at universities in
Vietnam needs to be further investigated for higher understanding and encouragement.
Therefore, the purpose of the study is presented in the next part.
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1.3. Purpose of the study and the research questions
Based on the findings of the previous studies, this research is an attempt to (i) investigate
what motivation types the students at HCM University of Technology have, (ii) discover
the most supporting motivation factors for these students, and (iii) explore their teachers’
perception of learner motivation. To achieve the aims set up above, the study is
conducted with an effort to find out the answers to the following research questions:
1. What kind of learner motivation do the students at HCM University of Technology


Chapter 1 presents the study background, the reasons why the researcher choses this
topic, the purposes and research questions, as well as the organization and limitations of
the study.
Chapter 2 reviews relevant theories on learner motivation definition, types of learner
motivation and the factors affecting learner motivation.
Chapter 3 describes the design and methodology in which the study is carried out. It
involves research method, research design, population and sample, instruments, data
collection procedure and method of analysis.
Chapter 4 presents the data analysis and discussion of the findings.
Chapter 5 summarizes the study and offers some limitations of the study, implications
and recommendations for further research.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definitions of learner motivation
Because of the essential influence of learner motivation, there are a considerable number
of studies discussing its definition and types. According to Oxford and Shearin (1994, p.
12), learner motivation has been viewed as an important encouragement to start and
maintain a long term language learning process. Therefore, many authors conducted
numerous studies on motivation and provided their definitions of learner motivation.
Thus, “it is not possible to give a simple definition” for leaner motivation (Gardner, 2006,
p. 242). The researchers supporting behaviourism defined motivation as “the anticipation
of reward" (Brown, 2000, p. 160). Nevertheless, the cognitivists shared the opinion that
students’ decisions should have been mentioned when discussing leaner motivation
because of "the choices people make as to what experiences or goals they will approach
or avoid, and the degree of effort they exert in that respect" (Keller, 1983, p. 389).
However, Al-Tamimi and Shuib (2009, p. 31) claimed the constructivists also focus on
social contexts on the way searching the definition for leaner motivation. In short, learner

motivation the purpose of language acquisition is more utilitarian, such as meeting the
requirements for school or university graduation, applying for a job, requesting higher
pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation work, or achieving
higher social status. Instrumental motivation is often characteristic of second language
acquisition, where little or no social integration of the learner into a community using the
target language takes place, or in some instances is even desired” (p. 2). Different
currents of ideas have been introduced to discuss the comparison between integrative and
instrumental motivation. Generally, as Lei Zhao (2012, p. 101) stated, instrumental
orientation is greatly appreciated because it is considered as a stronger effort when
learners become active. That point of view has been supported by a number of studies in
the following years. Norris-Holt (2001, p. 3) was successful in borrowing the ideas from
Taylor, Meynard and Rheault (1977); Ellis (1997); Crookes Schmidt (1991) to suggest
that integrative motivation has played a more important part to maintain a long-term
learning process. However, a study carried out by Lukmani (1972) reported an opposite
fact that instrumental motivation predominated in the second language learning process
of the Indian female learners. Dörnyei (1990) also found that under-intermediate learners
tend to get higher improvement by the force of instrumental motivation than by one of
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integrative motivation. However, in higher level of language proficiency, learners must
possess integrative motivation to really learn the language and get further achievement. It
means that instrumental motivation should be stressed as an essential factor affecting
language learners’ performance while integrative motivation is stressed as an
indispensible condition for overall higher success in second language acquisition.
Therefore, Brown (2000) shared the view that both integrative motivation and
instrumental motivation are important in language learning. In his study, the finding
showed that the international students living in America were learning English for
academic purposes and social integration. It led to the conclusion that integrative and
instrumental motivation should not be exclusively separated because students generally

related to short-term success.”
Under the discussion of the relationship among integrative, instrumental, intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation, Lei Zhao (2012, p. 110) offered a significant explanation:
The intrinsic and extrinsic motivation provide us another perspective to understand
the source of motivation. This model is not meant to replace the integrativeinstrumental distinction, but rather to complement it (Oxford, 1996). According to
Kang (2000), foreign language learning orientations, in settings where most
learning of English takes place in the formal classroom, might consist of subcomponents of Gardner’s traditional integrative/instrumental orientations as well as
intrinsic/ extrinsic orientations, depending on the contexts.
Based on that view, it is possible to say that the two pairs of motivation constructs are
important but the model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation seems to more sufficient for
the detailed investigation of leaner motivation at HCM university of Technology where
English is learnt as a foreign language in formal classrooms. Therefore, the researcher
attempts to employ two concepts, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, to
investigate the types of learner motivation in this study. Besides the types of learner
motivation, the motivation factors also get great attention from many researchers because
they are the direct elements affecting learners’ motivation and performance. The
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following section will discuss a framework listing the most important factors in the
research on learner motivation in English learning.
2.4. Research framework
From many previous studies on learner motivation, the researcher found the framework
of learner motivation designed by Williams and Burden (1997) the clearest one in
contents and presentation (See Appendix 1). This framework was also employed by Zhao
(2012) in his research, “Investigation into motivation types and influences on motivation:
The case of Chinese non-English majors”. The framework listed all the motivational
factors which were divided into two groups consisting of the internal factors and the
external factors.
The first group includes intrinsic interest of activity, perceived value of activity, sense of

Besides motivation classification, “it is important to find out the underlying causes of
students’ motivation in English learning and the possible factors that influence students’
sustaining motivation, especially in a practical sense to teachers who want to stimulate
students’ motivation” (Zhao, 2012, p. 100). Although many frameworks of motivational
factors have been introduced, Williams and Burden’s (1997) model seems to be
comprehensible to investigate in this research study. As leaner motivation is considered
an important condition for acquiring a foreign language, the factors which can increase or
decrease leaner motivation also receive great attention in many frameworks. Williams
and Burden (1997) provided a comprehensive framework including significant internal
and external factors. However, this framework covered too many aspects for a study to
investigate. Therefore, in this study the researcher plans to focus only on some key
factors which have been emphasized in many previous studies. The factors can be
classified into two groups, internal factors and external factors. The first group is
discussed in the next part.
2.5.1. Internal factors
Internal factors refer to learner’s perceptions of themselves and their control in the
activities (Williams & Burden, 1997, p. 137). There are many studies written about the
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