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HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
= = == = =

CAO THI VAN ANH

A STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST-YEAR
ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH
SPEAKING CLASSES AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH)

Field: English Language Teaching

Hanoi, May 2019

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HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
= = == = =

CAO THI VAN ANH

A CASE STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST-YEAR

Date submitted: May 10th 2019

Student

Supervisor 1

Supervisor 2

Cao Thi Van Anh

Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, M.A

Dr. William H. Salazar, Ed.D

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

In the completion of this thesis, first of all, I would like to express my
gratitude to my supervisors, Ms Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, M.A who taught me
how to organize my thesis and Dr. William H. Salazar, Ed.D who helped me
organize my ideas and how to edit my paper for their experience, guidance,
stimulating suggestions and encouragement throughout my research.
Additionally, I would like to convey my deepest thanks to the lecturers in the
Faculty of Foreign Languages for their advice and assistance in introducing me
many reference materials related to this research project.

factors (mean = 3.4); (3) Classroom – related factors (mean = 3.3) and; (4) Course
book – related factors (mean= 2.72). Mean scores of 3.5-5.0 on the 5-point Likert
scale were defined as highly motivated; mean scores of 2.5-3.4 were defined as
moderately motivated; and mean scores defined as lowly motivated were 1.0-2.4.
Based on the findings of this study, implications and suggestions to increase
students‟ positive motivation at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 were made: 1)
Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation are very important to increase students‟ speaking
skill level. 2) Lecturers should design interesting activities that are relevant to
students. 3) Lecturers should create a positive classroom environment and show
their enthusiasm in their teaching.

Key words: student motivation, factors affecting motivation, English speaking
classes, first-year English major students, L2 motivation

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HPU2

Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

FFL

Faculty of Foreign Languages



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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1
1. RATIONALE .......................................................................................................... 1
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................... 2
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..................................................................................... 3
4. METHOD OF THE STUDY .................................................................................. 3
5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ....................................................................................... 3
6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ........................................................................ 3
7. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................... 4
PART B. DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 5
1.1. Motivation in Second/ Foreign Language Learning ............................................ 5
1.1.1. Definition of Motivation ................................................................................... 5
1.1.2. Definition of Motivation in L2 Acquisition ...................................................... 6
1.1.3. Motivation in Practising English Speaking Skills............................................ 6
1.1.4. Types of Motivation .......................................................................................... 7
1.1.4.1. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation ................................................................. 7
1.1.4.2. Integrative and Instrumental Motivation........................................................ 8
1.2. Motivation in L2 Speaking Classroom ................................................................ 9
1.2.1. Related Issues of Speaking Skills ..................................................................... 9
1.2.1.1. Some Definitions of Speaking Skills ............................................................. 9
1.2.1.2. Types of Classroom Speaking Performance ................................................ 10
3.2. Motivation in Speaking Classroom .................................................................... 10
3.2.1. Factors Demotivate Students to Speak in Classes .......................................... 10
3.2.2. Some Conditions for Effective Motivation in Speaking Classroom ............... 11
1.3. Factors Affecting Motivation in L2 Learning .................................................... 12

3.1.3. Lecturer – related factors ................................................................................ 25
3.1.4. Classroom – related Factors ............................................................................ 28
3.1.5. Course book – related Factors ......................................................................... 30
3.1.6. The Comparison among Four Factors Affecting Sudents‟ Motivation in
English Speaking Classes .......................................................................................... 32
3.2. Discussion of Findings on Factors Affecting Students‟ Motivation in
English Speaking Classes .......................................................................................... 34
3.2.1. Student – related Factors ................................................................................. 34
3.2.2. Lecturer – related Factors................................................................................ 35
3.2.3. Classroom – related Factors ............................................................................ 36
3.2.4. Course book – related Factors ......................................................................... 36
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 38
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1. Summary of the Study ........................................................................................... 38
2. Pedagogical Implications ...................................................................................... 38
3. Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................ 40
4. Suggestions for Future Research ........................................................................... 40
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 42
APPENDICES........................................................................................................... 46

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of their lives. Many students fail to understand the significance of the ability to
speak English fluently. At the university level, students who are motivated to
enhance their English speaking skills can pursue a Bachelor of Arts in English or a
Bachelor of English. After graduating, they can be lecturers of English or

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interpreters in English according to their proficiency. Students in these programs
usually study for four years and the subjects they learn include linguistic and
teaching methods. In fact, teaching methods or classroom environment do not create
opportunities for students to satisfy their communication needs. Therefore,
Vietnamese students have difficulties in communicating in English fluently and
effectively because they do not get the practice they need in English except for a
number of special venues and events such as multinational corporations and
presentation activities. In fact, rarely do we see Vietnamese speaking English unless
it is absolutely necessary. That is the reason why many Vietnamese students are still
deficient in English speaking although they have been studying English since
primary school.
Motivation is an element that plays an important role in inspiring learners to
become proficient in English, esspecially English language learners. It is widely
accepted that the more motivated students are, the more successful they would be at
learning a second/foreign language. It is also undeniable that speaking (any
language) is one of the most essential everyday skills a person needs to function in
society. Therefore, when students have strong motivation to speak English with
accuracy and fluency, they will easily achieve their goals in life.
For the reasons mentioned above, I find that it is really necessary to conduct

Survey questionnaires were used to collect demographic information from
students. In addition, to make the data collected more reliable and authentic, two
following instruments were also applied: interviews with lecturers and students and
classroom observations to find out students and lecturers‟ ideas about the four
factors affecting first-year English major students‟ motivation in English speaking
classes.
5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
It is clear that motivation has a great impacts on students‟ English language
proficiency. However, this study just makes a limited insight in only a narrow area
– students‟ speaking skills; and focuses on this study of the 50 first-year English
major students at HPU2 instead of all K44 English major students.
6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research aims to provide pedagogical implications for educational
administrators, lecturers and students. For more details, the research results can help
those who do quality management teaching at HPU2 have an overall view and wish
to improve the quality of teaching students through the factors in this research
project. Therefore, it is the basis for conducting this research in order for
administrators and lecturers to develop a step-by-step improvement plan to improve

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the quality of teaching and learning for their school. This research will also help
students to know how the factors influence their speaking‟s motivation and they
will have the capacity to train themselves to enhance their motivation in learning
especially their English speaking skills.
7. DESIGN OF THE STUDY

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PART B
DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides an overview of motivation in L2 learning, motivation
in L2 speaking class especially factors affecting students‟ motivation in L2 speaking
class. Moreover, some studies about factors affecting students‟ motivation in
speaking classes are also presented.
1.1. Motivation in Second/ Foreign Language Learning
1.1.1. Definition of Motivation
Motivation is defined in many different ways by many researchers.
Motivation is a concept used popularly in not only education but also in other
research fields. Motivation, in an educational setting, is what promotes us to
perform to learn English, to figure out how to express ourselves in English, or to
teach it (McDonough & Steven 2007). This fundamental explanation reveals four
components: the reasons why we need or want to learn, the desire we want to learn,
the type of individual we are, the English assignment and our estimation of what it
expects from us (McDonough & Steven, 2007).
Motivation, according to lecturers and researchers, influences the rate and
achievement of L2 learning. Additionally, motivation gives the essential impulse to
begin learning L2 and later the main force to keep up the long, tedious and
challenging learning process. In fact, the various components related to L2
acquisition assume motivation to some degree. Without motivation, even adults
with the most specialised skills cannot accomplish their long-term goals, nor are
able to develop educational programs and design excellent instructional lesson plans
to ensure students‟ English proficiency (McDonough & Steven 2007).
However, high motivation can compensate for critical deficiency both in
one's language competence and learning conditions. As indicated by Masgoret and
Gardner (2003), a motivated student extends attempt, assumes responsibility, has

type of behavior they perform and their real accomplishment.
1.1.3. Motivation in Practising English Speaking Skills
Motivation is considered as a key factor influencing the achievement or
failure of language learning. It is as a mental feature which enables individuals to
accomplish a goal. The meaning of motivation has been defined differently by
various reseachers. For instance, Gardner (1985) characterized motivation as the
degree one endeavors to secure the language on account of the desire to do so and
the fulfillment the learners get from it. Dornyei (1994) clarified motivation as an
element of a person's ideas that encodes the information into conviction, and after
that drives to the action.
Another definition was given by Harmer (2001), "Motivation is some kind of
internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something".
Obviously, when we have our own goals which are extremely vital to us, we will
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attempt to pursue them. This activity is driven by motivation. In other words,
motivation is the entire vitality of a person to set a goal for an occupation or task
and work to achieve it. Discussing the function of motivation, (Mayer, 2003, p. 459,
cited in Liu, 2010) stated "When students are motivated to learn, they try harder to
understand the materials and thereby learn more deeply, resulting in better ability to
transfer what they have learned to new situations". In some situation, when students
are exceptionally motivated and energetic to develop their speaking ability, they can
achieve their goals.
1.1.4. Types of Motivation
Motivation has been classified in many different ways by different
researchers. Hence, the problem of distinguishing the types of motivation is still

something the individual feels compelled to do as opposed to really want to do.
In summary, it turns out to be evident that intrinsic motivation delivers more
potential advantages than the extrinsic motivation. Intrinsically motivated students
have tendency to have more energy and think more deeply than extrinsically
motivated ones.
1.1.4.2. Integrative and Instrumental Motivation
Integrative and Instrumental Motivation are two types of motivation which
were firstly mentioned in Gardner‟s studies (Gardner, 1985; Gardner & Lambert,
1972) and then promoted by other researchers.
Integrative motivation was defined as the learner's orientation on the subject
of the goal of learning a second/foreign language (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991). It is
understood that learner's positive attitudes and the desire to identify with and
integrate into the target language community. Finegan (1999) further showed the
role of integrative motivation as the successful acquisition of a series of native
registration and pronunciation. It is clear that integrative motivation is an important
element to support and enhance the students‟ language proficiency.
In constrast to integrative motivation, instrumental motivation is the basis for
achieving economic or social prizes through L2 accomplishment. Gardner and
Lambert (1972) in their research about motivation mentioned the instrumental
motivation for achieving the vital use of level L2 proficiency. Instrumental
motivation alludes all the students' wish to take on the language to finish a nonpersonal purposes such as to get high marks in exams or to get a good job with high
salary. Besides, instrumental motivation, as stated by Lambert (cited on Ellis,
1997), is something which related to the useful value and favorable circumstances
from taking up a new language.
It is undeniable that both integrative and instrumental motivations are crucial
components to success. However, integrative motivation has been discovered to
support long-term achievement in learning a second language (Taylor, Meynard and
Rheault 1977; Ellis 1997; Crookes et al, 1991). Gardner (1985) accentuated the
vitality of integrative motivation in second language acquisition more than


exchanging explicit language and information. Conversations, for instance, may
have a greater extent of negotiation to them than does responsive discourse.
Interpersonal (dialogue): Conversation is completed more to maintain
social interactions than for the transmission of information and facts.
Extensive: Oral production tasks consist of discourses, oral introductions,
and narrating. Language style is often progressively deliberative (planning is
included) and formal for extensive task, however we cannot rule out certain casual
monologs, for example, calmly conveyed speech.
3.2. Motivation in Speaking Classroom
3.2.1. Factors Demotivate Students to Speak in Classes
In his research, Oxford (1998) outlined some following factors that decrease
students‟ motivation in classes:
- The lecturer's relationship with the students, including an absence of caring,
general contentiousness, hypercriticism and support.

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- The lecturer's attitude towards the course or the material, involving lack of
enthusiasm, messy administration and close-mindedness in developing teaching
methods.
- Conflicts between lecturers and students, including different style conflicts,
conflicts about the measure of structure and conflicts about the conclusion or the
problems of the class.
- The effect of the classroom activities, including inappropriateness and
overload.
3.2.2. Some Conditions for Effective Motivation in Speaking Classroom

(1) Language level component includes elements identified with L2 such as

the culture, the community, benefits and practical values associated with learning
L2.
(2) The student level component includes individual characteristics that the
student acquires in the learning process. These characteristics comprise students',
self-efficacy, students‟ confidence, the latter encompassing various aspects of
language anxiety, L2 competences and attributions about past experiences.
(3) Learning circumstance level component is associated with situation-

specific motives L2 learning inside a classroom and it is partitioned into three
perspectives. The first is course-specific motivational component which are
identified with the syllabus, the materials for teaching, the teaching technique and
the learning tasks. The second one is lecturer-specific motivational components
which concern the motivational effect of the lecturer's behavior, teaching style and
personality. Also, the third is group-specific motivational components which
contains group cohesiveness, goal orientedness, classroom goal structure, norm and
reward system.
1.3.2. Williams and Burden’s Framework of the L2 Motivation
Williams and Burden (1997) investigated motivation in L2 in a framework of
two factors: internal and external factors. Internal factors cover different segments
such as age, gender, attitudes, intrinsic interest of activity, natural enthusiasm of
action, self-idea, frames of mind, and other full feeling states (fear, confidence,
anxiety). External factors incorporate with other segments (teachers, peers and
parents); the nature of communication with noteworthy others (interceded learning
encounters, the nature and measure of rewards, the nature and measure of fitting
praise and disciplines); the learning condition (time of day, week, year, size of class
and school, class and school regulations and sense of comfort) and the more
extensive setting (which consists of family arrangements, interests, attitudes,
education system, social standards and societal desires).

himself or herself to be able to do something effectively and successfully. In other
study, Oxford (1998) stated that ineffective students frequently have lower
confidence than effective language students, which hinders advance and obstructs
accomplishment in any field and in L2.
The fourth factor is students’ learning strategies. Learning strategies are
characterized by Oxford (1990) as "specific actions taken by the students to make
learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more
transferrable to new situations" (Oxford, 1990). Clearly, using suitable learning
strategies will influence students' motivation positively.

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The last factor is students' belief. Most students have strong convictions
about how languages are learnt. Little, Singleton and Silvius (1984) discovered that
“past experience, both of education in general and of language learning in
particular, played a major role in shaping attitudes to language learning”.
1.3.3.2. Lecturer – related Factors
The lecturer assumes a critical role in students‟ learning motivation.
Actually, some lecturer's factors and appropriate lecturer behaviors will raise
students‟ motivation in learning. According to Dornyei (2001), there are some
lecturer's factors influencing students‟ motivation: lecturer's positive relationship
and commitment to students, lecturer's enthusiasm and lecturer‟s teaching methods.
It is vital that lecturers have high expectations for the students.
First and foremost, lecturer’s teaching method in class is critical to motivate
L2 students. It is considered as an incredible „motivation instrument‟. To encourage
students‟ learning performance, lecturer should consider carefully in choosing a

Classroom – related factors include the classroom atmosphere and the
physical conditions. A welcoming and supportive classroom atmosphere will create
motivation and urge students to express their feelings and opinions. Macintyre and
Young (1999) claimed that students' nervousness made by a strained classroom
atmosphere was a standout elements that undermined learning ability and L2
motivation (cited in Dornyei, 2001).
Physical conditions are important, as well. Physical conditions are known as
the conditions of the classroom. For example, classroom‟s size and equipment
(seats, tables, electric devices,…) are important. Hammer (1992) said that physical
conditions had a big effect on students' learning and their frame of mind towards the
subject lessons. Physical conditions influence both lecturers and students‟
motivation. Big classes and poor facilities will diminish the connection between
lecturers and students, and therefore, will lessen students‟ motivation.
1.3.3.4. Course book – related Factors
Nowadays, using a course book is an essential tool to teach and learn
English. The function of the course book has been assumed and demonstrated. As
indicated by Ur (1996), it appears that the ownership of a course book may convey
a prestige. However, depending too much on it also achieves some specific burdens
that particularly do not fit students' needs nor serve for mixed ability of students.
1.3.4. Previous Studies on Factors Affecting Students’ Motivation in L2
Speaking Class
It is clear that many investigations on the study of factors affecting students‟
motivation in learning a foreign language have been made.
Park and Lee (2005) explored the connection between anxiety, confidence
and verbal ability of second language students. One hundred and thirty-two English
language learning students from Korea participated in this study. The results from
this study showed that students' anxiety level have a negative relationship with their
motivation in speaking skills.
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