Tài liệu Quy nhon university undergraduate non english majaor's perceptions of motivational factors in learning english as a foreign language

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY LE HOANG HA VY QUY NHON UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATE NON-ENGLISH MAJORS' PERCEPTIONS OF MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYEN THI THU HIEN BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN LÊ HOÀNG HẠ VỸ NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN VỀ CÁC NHÂN TỐ ĐỘNG LỰC TRONG VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH Ngành: Lý Luận và Phƣơng Pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS.TS NGUYỄN THỊ THU HIỀN i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I totally assure that the thesis ―Quy Nhon University undergraduate nonEnglish majors' perceptions of motivational factors in learning English as a foreign language‖ is my own work for the purpose of graduating the MA course of English Linguistics. The content of this thesis has not been published or written by any other authors except for some references which are used in this thesis. The thesis has not been submitted for any degree or diploma in any university. Binh Dinh, July, 2022 Lê Hoàng Hạ Vỹ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The total completion of this scientific research project is the result of not only my efforts but also the precious assistance of those to whom I would like to express my sincere gratitude. First of all, I would like to express the most special appreciation and the deepest thanks to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, for her useful advice, aspiring guidance, invaluably constructive criticisms, and especially for her endless patience and warm encouragement during my whole study. Secondly, my deep indebtedness comes to Quy Nhon University, the Department of Foreign Languages, the Natural Sciences Faculty, and the Social Sciences & Humanities Faculty for permitting me to conduct this research. Thirdly, I am extremely thankful to 200 EFL students from the Natural Sciences Faculty and the Social Sciences & Humanities Faculty at Quy Nhon University who were willing to share their sympathy support with the tremendous assistance and provide valuable information with the friendliest cooperation for my research project. Last but not least, I owe an unpaid debt to all the generous support, love, and care from my beloved families and friends, which has given me more strength, belief, and motivation to overcome all the troubles in the whole process of this research. v ABSTRACT This study drew on Gardner (1985)’s motivation theory as the main theoretical framework to explore the perceptions of the Natural Sciences Faculty and the Sciences & Humanities Faculty students about motivational factors affecting their English learning process. This mixed-method study was conducted to address two key objectives. To achieve the objectives, all research participants completed a 20-item questionnaire reflecting their instrumental and integrative motivations for studying English. SPSS version 26 was used to analyze the questionnaire data. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were carried out to confirm the quantitative results. The findings of this study showed that non-English majors possessed both instrumental and integrative motivation for their English learning, and instrumental motivational factors were more common among them. The findings also revealed a slight difference in instrumental factors between non-English majors from the two faculties. In contrast, they reported having the same moderate integrative motivation for learning English as a foreign language. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. vi ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1 ...................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Aim and objectives.................................................................................. 3 1.2.1. Aim .................................................................................................... 3 1.2.2. Objectives .......................................................................................... 3 1.3. Research questions .................................................................................. 3 1.4. Scope of the study ................................................................................... 4 1.5. Significance of the study ......................................................................... 4 1.6. Organization of the study ........................................................................ 5 CHAPTER 2 ...................................................................................................... 7 LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................. 7 2.1. Definition of motivation ......................................................................... 7 2.2. Gardner’s motivation theory ................................................................. 11 2.3. Dörnyei’s (1994) model of L2 motivation ............................................ 14 2.4. The Self-determination theory .............................................................. 16 2.5. Main types of motivation ...................................................................... 17 2.5.1. Orientation and Motivation ............................................................ 18 2.5.2. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation .................................................. 18 2.5.2.1. Intrinsic motivation................................................................... 18 vii 2.5.2.2. Extrinsic motivation .................................................................. 19 2.5.2. Instrumental and Integrative Motivation ........................................ 21 2.5.2.1. Integrative motivation............................................................... 21 2.5.2.2. Instrumental motivation ............................................................ 22 2.6. Motivation in English learning ............................................................. 23 CHAPTER 3 .................................................................................................... 29 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 29 3.1. Research design..................................................................................... 29 3.2. Research setting .................................................................................... 30 3.3. Research participants ............................................................................ 31 3.4. Research instruments ............................................................................ 32 3.4.1. Questionnaire.................................................................................. 33 3.4.2. Semi-structured interviews ............................................................. 35 3.5. Research procedure ............................................................................... 36 3.6. Data analysis ......................................................................................... 37 3.7. Research reliability and validity ........................................................... 38 3.8. Legal and ethical considerations ........................................................... 39 CHAPTER 4 .................................................................................................... 41 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................... 41 4.1. Motivational factors among students of the Natural Sciences Faculty (NSF) and the Social Sciences & Humanities Faculty (SSF) from their perspectives .................................................................................................. 41 4.1.1. Instrumental motivation .................................................................. 42 4.1.1.1. English is an instrument to pass exams and graduate ................ 44 4.1.1.2. English is a significant instrument in students’ majors and in professional development ......................................................................... 45 4.1.1.3. English is a useful instrument to get well-paid jobs and high promotion in the future careers ................................................................ 46 viii 4.1.1.4. English is an instrument to get respect from peers and other people ........................................................................................................ 49 4.1.2. Integrative motivation ..................................................................... 50 4.1.2.1. Learning English to read English materials or to understand English films.............................................................................................. 52 4.1.2.2. Learning English to communicate and make friends with Englishspeaking people ......................................................................................... 53 4.1.2.3. Learning English to understand English-speaking communities’ cultures, arts and life styles ...................................................................... 55 4.1.2.4. Learning English to travel globally ............................................. 56 4.1.2.5. Learning English to satisfy the enjoyment of this language ........ 57 4.2. A comparison of motivational factors among students from the Natural Sciences Faculty (NSF) and those from the Social Sciences & Humanities Faculty (SSF) ............................................................................................... 60 4.2.1. A comparison of instrumental motivation among students from NSF and those from SSF ................................................................................... 60 4.2.2. A comparison of integrative motivation among students from NSF and those from SSF ................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER 5 .................................................................................................... 66 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ........................................................ 66 5.1. A summary of the study ........................................................................ 66 5.2. Implications of the study ....................................................................... 68 5.2.1. Theoretical Implications ................................................................. 68 5.2.2. Pedagogical Implications ............................................................... 69 5.3. Limitations of the study ........................................................................ 70 5.4. Suggestions for future studies ............................................................... 71 REFERENCE .................................................................................................. 73 APPENDIX A ................................................................................................. 81 ix APPENDIX B ................................................................................................. 87 APPENDIX C ................................................................................................. 88 x ABBREVIATIONS - L2: the second language - FL: foreign language - EFL: English as a Foreign Language - p: page - SLA: Second Language Acquisition - No.: number - ELT: English language teaching - AMTB: Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery - NSF: The Natural Sciences Faculty - SSF: The Social Sciences & Humanities Faculty - vs: Versus - &: And xi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Number of students by faculty and gender .................................... 32 Table 3.2. Process of Conducting the Survey ................................................. 35 Table 3.3. Mean Range for Motivation Level................................................. 38 Table 3.4. Reliability Statistics ....................................................................... 39 Table 4.1. Students’ instrumental motivation for learning English ................ 42 Table 4.2. Students’ integrative motivation for learning English ................... 50 Table 4.3. Instrumental motivation of students from NSF and those from SSF ....................................................................................... 61 Table 4.4. Independent Sample T-Test ........................................................... 61 Table 4.5. Integrative motivation of students from NSF and those from SSF ...............................................................................................63 Table 4.6. Independent Sample T-test ............................................................ 63 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Gardner's socio-educational model. (Gardner & Lalonde, 985) ........12 Figure 2.2. The Socio-Educational Model (Gardner, 2005, p. 6) ................... 13 Figure 2.3. Dörnyei’s (1994) framework of L2 learning motivation ............. 14 Figure 2.4. The self-determination continuum (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 72) ........16 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter aims to set the context for this study. The chapter is organized into six sections. It begins with presenting the reason motivating the researcher to initiate a study on Vietnamese undergraduate non-English majors' motivation to learn the English language. The research aims, objectives, and research questions are followed. Finally, it outlines the structure of this thesis. 1.1. Rationale For decades, English has been the most popular language in the world, especially in the current period of modernization and globalization. Learning English is like holding in your hand a universal key to open the door to the desired future. As a result, English has been one of the compulsory subjects in the educational program for students in most countries. Grasping the development trend of the world and the importance of English, Vietnam's education system has made English a compulsory and essential subject in schools from primary to tertiary education. Numerous studies and theories on teaching and learning English show that some factors, such as teachers, students, educational curriculum, pedagogy, teaching materials, and learning environment, impact on English teaching and learning. Among the mentioned factors, students are considered the most important and have the most influence on the results, and the success of learning English is based on their learning motivation. Indeed, the role of learners’ motivation in learning has drawn great concern and has been examined by many scholars. According to Gardner (1985), the motivation for foreign language learning includes a clear learning goal, efforts to master 2 English, a desire to achieve the set goal, and an attitude. English learners need have a positive attitude toward English to learn and produce this language better. It is undeniable that motivation has been regarded as a crucial factor affecting the whole second language (L2) learning and teaching process. It has also been considered one of the key factors determining success in developing the L2 language (Koiso, 2003). According to Dörnyei (1994, p. 273), motivation is defined as "one of the main determinants of second/foreign language achievement". For decades, motivation in teaching and learning L2 and FL has been the global concern. Therefore, the construct of motivation has been widely studied (e.g., Garner & Lambert, 1972 (cited in Ngo et al., 2017); Deci & Ryan, 1985 (cited in Phan, 2011); Oxford and Shearin, 1994 (cited in Phan, 2011); William, 1994; Noel et al., 1999; Dörnyei, 1998, 2001; Dörnyei & Ottó, 1998; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011). In Vietnam, teaching and learning English is brought up as a top concern, especially in the current period of world integration. Therefore, English has been included in the national education curriculum and has become a compulsory subject in schools from primary school to university level. In addition, motivation in learning English has received the wide attention of Vietnamese English teachers and scholars (Phan, 2011; Tran & Baldauf Jr., 2011; Nguyen, 2015; Truong, 2016; Ngo et al., 2017; Van & Habók, 2021). Although motivation in English learning has been extensively studied among students in Vietnamese universities and high schools, research on motivational factors among undergraduate non-English majors at Quy Nhon University in the context of Central Vietnam has not been done in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of teaching and learning English 3 yet. Hence, I conducted a study with the topic "Quy Nhon University undergraduate non-English majors' perceptions of motivational factors in learning English as a foreign language" for my master's thesis to explore students’ perceptions of motivation from two faculties—the Natural Sciences Faculty (NSF) and the Social Sciences & Humanities Faculty (SSF). Although there are many types of motivation affecting EFL learners’ English learning, this study will only focus on instrumental and integrative motivation. Hopefully, the outcome of the study will contribute more to the effective teaching and learning of English. 1.2. Aim and objectives 1.2.1. Aim This study aims to explore what instrumental and integrative factors students coming from two different faculties (NSF versus SSF) at Quy Nhon University perceive as motivation for their learning English. 1.2.2. Objectives The following detailed objectives are set to ensure the implementation of the above aim:  To identify what instrumental and integrative motivational factors affecting their English learning process from NSF and SSF students’ perspectives;  To investigate if there is any difference in the perception of NSF students and SSF ones about these types of motivation. 1.3. Research questions The study aims to answers two following research questions: 1. What instrumental and integrative motivational factors affect the 4 English learning process from NSF and SSF students’ perspectives? 2. What are similarities and differences in the motivation to learn English among non-English major students from NSF students and SSF ones? 1.4. Scope of the study There are many types of motivational factors. However, the study only focuses on two main types: instrumental and integrative. The participants are 200 first-year non-English majors from two faculties – the Natural Sciences Faculty (NSF) and the Social Sciences & Humanities Faculty (SSF) – who have almost completed two Basic English courses (English 1 and 2) at Quy Nhon University. The time for collecting the data was three weeks, in which the participants were asked to complete the questionnaire individually on paper or Google form, and then 12 participants would be invited to a direct or online interview on their mobile phones. 1.5. Significance of the study The current study investigating instrumental and integrative motivation affecting the English learning process of non-English majors in higher education in Vietnam is significant at theoretical and practical levels. At a theoretical level, this research strengthens the existing literature on L2 motivation as it complements the gaps in this area. This study has provided insight into what motivates non-English majors from two opposite faculties (NSF vs. SSF) in higher education to learn English, and how different these non-English majors are in their motivations to learn the English language in a tertiary context. Furthermore, the findings of this research have contributed to the motivation theory of Gardner regarding its applicability in researching motivation within the Vietnamese tertiary context. 5 At a practical level, this research has identified the most popular type of motivation non-English major students reported in learning English and the differences in the motivational factors to learn English among non-English majors from the two faculties. These findings may help EFL lecturers look for possible methods to improve students’ motivation to learn English and enhance the quality of teaching and learning English at the tertiary level in Vietnam. 1.6. Organization of the study The study consists of five chapters. Chapter 1, “Introduction”, presents the rationale, aims and objectives, research questions, the scope of the study, the significance of the study, and the organization of the study. Chapter 2, “Literature Review”, briefly reviews the literature of previous studies related to this study. This chapter also provides the theoretical background of motivation in learning English. Chapter 3, “Research Methods and Procedures”, deals with the research methods, the description of the data, data analysis, and research procedures. This chapter also presents the reliability and validity of the data. Chapter 4, “Findings and Discussions”, focuses on describing, analyzing, and discussing the data to answer two research questions, which are: 1. What instrumental and integrative motivational factors affect the English learning process from NSF and SSF students’ perspectives? 2. What are similarities and differences in the motivation to learn English among non-English major students from NSF students and SSF ones? 6 Chapter 5, “Conclusion and Implications”, provides a summary of the results of the study. It also offers implications for making students from different majors more motivated and interested in their English learning and mentions the limitations of the study and the suggestions for further research. To sum up, this chapter has described the reason for the researcher's conducting the present study. It also describes the research aims, objectives, the research questions, and the structure of this thesis. The next chapter Chapter 2 will present the theoretical framework that this study is based on. 7 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW The chapter includes three sections. First, it begins by giving different definitions of motivation to learn a second language and presenting the notion of motivation adopted for this research study. Second, the theories of motivation in second and foreign language learning, such as Gardner’s motivation theory, Dörnyei’s (1994) model of L2 motivation, and the Selfdetermination theory, which are relevant to this research, will be discussed. In addition, the second section also describes types of motivation as intrinsic, extrinsic, instrumental, and integrative. Third, this chapter will discuss some relevant studies related to motivation in language learning. 2.1. Definition of motivation According to Alizadeh (2016), motivation plays an important role in achieving success in learning English as a foreign or second language. Nuridin (2019) also agreed with Alizadeh (2016) that motivation is a crucial factor in second or foreign language learning. Positive motivation can enable them to enhance their performance, but negative motivation can decrease their output. Motivation in English language learning is considered the main factor in the success of EFL learners’ English learning and plays a crucial role in improving the effectiveness of EFL teachers’ English teaching. In other words, motivation directly influences EFL teachers' and learners’ success or failure in EFL instructing and acquiring processes. According to Ushioda (2008), the high achievers of this world or good learners have motivation. Depending on the desired goal, everyone can have different views on motivation and make their own definition. For decades, numerous scholars have conducted various studies to gain a deep understanding of the motivation 8 to create a model framework to assist teachers who have always had a strong desire to motivate learners to achieve their goals and succeed in L2 learning. Despite the numerous explanations, there is no agreement among researchers on the meaning of motivation (Svobodova, 2015) or "viewing it as no more than an absolute umbrella that hosts a wide range of concepts that do not have much in common" (Dörnyei, 2001, p. 7). Moreover, Dörnyei (1998, p.7) states that the term "motivation" has been mostly in the research and educational fields. However, there has been no consensus on the exact definition of this word. There are challenges in using simple terms to define motivation due to the variety of motivation theories. However, they have a common idea when explaining motivation, which generally indicates someone's stimulation, choice, and determination in performing the behaviors, or which is considered a personal want or desire to stimulate someone to do something. Indeed, according to Dörnyei (2001), "motivation" is a powerful source or force to drive somebody’s actions related to his/her desires to do something. Williams and Burden (2000) also similarly defined motivation as a term that might be related to mental and emotional incitement, which rouses conscious determination and the sustained intellectual and physical effort to achieve the set goal. Furthermore, Hall (2011) emphasized that motivation was an important factor for language learners to complete or achieve the previously set goal. Naiman et al. (1977, as cited in Ur, 1991 and Alotaibi, 2020) conducted a study of successful language learning and found the typical characteristics of successful students that are closely related to motivation, including a) they are willing to do challenging tasks, b) they are determined to succeed to maintain a positive self-image, c) they are ambitious, d) they set goals, e) they are positive