VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
TRẦN THỊ NGỌC MAI
TEACHER-RELATED DEMOTIVES IN EFL SPEAKING
CLASSES AT A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY
(Những yếu tố liên quan đến giáo viên làm giảm động lực
thực hành nói Tiếng Anh của sinh viên tại một trường đại học ở Việt
Nam)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Major: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
HANOI – 2018
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
TRẦN THỊ NGỌC MAI
TEACHER-RELATED DEMOTIVES IN EFL SPEAKING
CLASSES AT A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY
(Những yếu tố liên quan đến giáo viên làm giảm động lực
thực hành nói Tiếng Anh của sinh viên tại một trường đại học ở Việt
Nam)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Major: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Dr. Ngô Thu Hương
Ngô Thu Hương
HANOI – 2018
Declaration
I hereby certify the thesis entitled “Teacher-related demotives in EFL
speaking classes at a Vietnamese university” as my own work in the fulfillment of
the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Languages
and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Hanoi, August, 2018
Trần Thị Ngọc Mai
i
Acknowledgements
I have now made it to the last stage of my MA journey. During this interesting
but at the same time challenging journey, I have been given continuous support of a
number of people whom I would like to acknowledge here.
First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Ngô
Thu Hương. The insightful academic comments she gave me, her enthusiasm for
my research, and more importantly, her patience were greatly appreciated.
Second, I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to the staff and
students of the university where my research was conducted. The study would not
be complete without their consent of participation.
My special thanks also go to the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University
of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi National University. Without the
knowledge I have learned from the intellectuals and the support of the staff in the
Faculty, I could not have finished my MA journey.
And last but not least, my heartfelt thanks are towards my beloved family,
especially to my Mom and Dad, my mother-in-law, my younger brother, and my
husband for loving me, trusting me, supporting me unconditionally and accepting
me as I am. Very importantly, my gratitude goes out to my little son and my
daughter-to-be, who give me motivation and strength to become a better me.
ii
Abstract
The present research investigated teacher-related demotives in EFL speaking
classes at a university in Vietnam. This mixed method study aimed at addressing
four main objectives. Specifically, quantitative method was used to examine the
factors relating to teachers that demotivate students to learn English speaking skills
from (1) students’ and (2) teachers’ perspectives; and (3) identify the similarities
and differences in the two groups’ perceptions of such demotivators. Qualitative
method (i.e. semi-structured interview) was employed to further inform the
quantitative results and to address the final research objective which was to (4) seek
ways to assist students to overcome demotivation when learning English speaking
skills.
The quantitative findings revealed four factors relating to teachers including
their traditional teaching methods, controlling communicative styles, the absence of
valid testing and assessment; and insufficient English speaking competence as
possible demotivators in EFL learners’ learning of speaking skills. Significantly,
meaningful statistical differences were computed in the teachers and students’
perceptions of teaching methods and teachers’ communicative styles. Specifically,
the students highly blamed their demotivation in speaking classes for teachers’
controlling communicative styles, while the teachers ranked this demotivator the
third. They instead believed that inappropriate pedagogy had the most destructive
influence on EFL learners’ motivation to learn speaking skills.
The qualitative findings generally supported the quantitative ones and
unveiled several recommendations for teachers to assist EFL students to overcome
demotivation to learn speaking skills, i.e. making speaking lessons more
communicative and interactive; choosing speaking topics of students’ interests;
providing constructive, informative feedbacks; being friendly, approachable and fair
to students.
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Table of contents
Declaration.............................................................................i
Acknowledgements................................................................ii
Abstract................................................................................ iii
Table of contents...................................................................iv
List of fggres........................................................................vi
List of tables.........................................................................vi
List of abbreviations.............................................................vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION..........................................................1
1. Statement of the problem...................................................1
2. Aims and objectives............................................................2
3. Research qgestions.............................................................3
4. Signifcance of the stgdy.....................................................3
5. Scope of the stgdy..............................................................4
6. Organization......................................................................4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT...........................................................6
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................6
1.1. The concept of second/foreign langgage speaking skills.....6
1.1.1. Knowledge areas of L2 speaking skills.......................................6
1.1.2.
L2
speaking
skills
and
Communicative
Language
Teaching (CLT).........................................................................................................8
1.1.3. Factors afecting the learning of English speaking skills
.........................................................................................................................................10
1.2. Demotivation and demotives in second/ foreign langgage
learning...............................................................................12
1.2.1. Defnition of demotivation in second/ foreign language
learning......................................................................................................................12
1.2.2. Demotives in second/foreign language learning................14
1.2.3. Demotivation in English speaking skills..................................18
1.2.4. Teacher-related demotives..............................................................20
iv
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................25
2.1. Research design............................................................25
2.2. The setting of the stgdy.................................................27
2.2.1. Research site............................................................................................27
2.2.2. Participant selection............................................................................27
2.3. Data collection instrgments............................................29
2.3.1. Questionnaire...........................................................................................29
2.3.2. Semi-structured interview................................................................31
2.4. Data collection procedgres.............................................33
2.4.1. Questionnaire...........................................................................................33
2.4.2. Semi-structure interview..................................................................35
2.5. Data analysis.................................................................37
2.5.1. Quantitative analysis...........................................................................37
2.5.2. Qualitative analysis..............................................................................37
2.6. Ethical considerations....................................................38
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS...............................40
3.1. Findings........................................................................40
3.1.1. Research question 1.............................................................................40
3.1.2. Research question 2.............................................................................44
3.1.3. Research question 3.............................................................................47
3.1.4. Research question 4...................................................................................52
3.2. Discgssions.................................................................... 55
PART C: CONCLUSION............................................................60
1. Sgmmary of the key fndings.............................................60
2. Limitations of the cgrrent research....................................61
3. Sgggestions for fgrther stgdies.........................................61
REFERENCES........................................................................63
APPENDICES...........................................................................I
APPENDIX A....................................................................................................................I
APPENDIX B.................................................................................................................IX
APPENDIX C...............................................................................................................XIII
v
vi
List of figures
Figure 1.1: Classification of demotives in English learning
Figure 3.1: Mean score of four subtypes of teacher-related demotives reported
by students and teachers
Figure 3.2: Frequencies of students’ self-perceived English speaking skills
List of tables
Table 2.1. Outline of the Current Program of Research
Table 2.2: Classification of the items in the questionnaire
Table 2.3: Key interview questions description
Table 3.1: Students’ Mean Levels, 95 % Confidence Interval of the Means,
Standard Deviation
Table 3.2: Teachers’ Mean Levels, 95 % Confidence Interval of the Means,
Standard Deviation
Table 3.3: Mean scores of demotivator subtypes between students and
teachers, t-test and significant levels
Table 3.4: Mean level of students’ self-perceived English speaking proficiency
Table 3.5: Correlations between teacher-related demotive subtypes and selfperceived English speaking proficiency
vii
List of abbreviations
EFL
English as a Foreign Language
ESL
English as a Second Language
L2
Second language
MOET
Ministry of Education and Training
SPSS
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION
This introductory part aims to state the research problem and rationale for the
study. It then outlines the objectives of this thesis, along with the research
questions. This is followed by the reason why the research is significant. The scope
of this research is then discussed. The last section specifies the organization of the
paper.
1. Statement of the problem
The English language, widely known as the global language, has become
popular in Vietnam for some decades (Van, 2010). The language is considered by
Vietnamese authorities as the most important foreign language at all national
education levels, particularly in higher education as a result of globalization. It has
been highlighted in the legal documents entitled ‘Teaching and learning foreign
language in the national education system in the period of 2008–2020’ lately issued
by the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and
Training (MoET) that Vietnamese higher education should prepare a well-equipped
labor force to work in a global economy (MoET, 2008). In other words, students
need to acquire an English level proficient enough to communicate effectively in an
international working environment. Different from the expectation, research has
indicated that a number of higher education learners, especially non- English major
students, demonstrate poor levels of English proficiency (see Van, 2008; Do, 2012),
which has concerned the researcher, also a lecturer teaching English in Vietnamese
higher education. According to Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011), the success or failure
in second language acquisition (SLA) is determined by a range of factors including
aptitude, intelligent and motivation. As motivation is acknowledged as one of the
determining factors in mastering a second or foreign (L2) language, the fact that
Vietnamese students are at rather low English proficiency, especially speaking
skills, may be contributed by the fact that Vietnamese students have low motivation
to learn the language (Huong, 2015). While a large body of research has confirmed
that motivation has the great potential to enhance learners’ levels of second
1
language proficiency (Dörnyei, 1998b; Gardner, 2010), few studies were conducted
to examine how the “dark side” of motivation (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2011) –
demotivation, impacts L2 learning. The significance of studies on demotivation lies
in the detrimental influences of the phenomenon on the learning outcomes (Falout
& Falout, 2005). According to Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011), language-learning
failure is a salient phenomenon and the study of its causes is often directly related to
demotivation. Despite the fact that demotivating factors largely impact the learning
outcomes, and are said to directly lead to learning failure, it is likely to be entirely
or at least, partly neglected in language learning and teaching studies (Soureshjani
& Riahipour, 2012). Moreover, among a scant body of research on demotivation so
far, most of the studies generally investigated the phenomenon in L2 learning and
teaching, instead of focusing on any particular aspects such as the learning and
teaching of vocabulary, pronunciation, or four language skills. Furthermore, while
the existing literature found a wide range of factors demotivating L2 learners, for
instance previous learning experiences, attitude towards the language, learning
environment, curriculum, and the teachers, few attempts were made to dig into an
individual source of demotivation. As such, the current thesis aimed to address
these research gaps and extended the research line to Vietnamese context where the
study of demotivation is still scarce by investigating teacher-related demotives in
EFL speaking classes at a Vietnamese university.
2. Aims and objectives
The overarching aim of the present study was to understand the demotivating
factors relating to teachers in English speaking classes at a university in Vietnam.
Accordingly, the thesis attempted to achieve four objectives. The first objective was
to examine students’ perceptions of what might demotivate them in their English
speaking classes (as aforementioned, this study examined teacher-related demotives
only). The second objective was to understand how the teachers answered the same
question from their own perspective. The third objective was to investigate the
similarities and/ or differences in perceptions of teachers-related demotives between
2
the teachers and the students. The fourth and final objective was to outline ways to
assist students to overcome their demotivation or in other words to motivate them to
study English speaking skills.
3. Research questions
To achieve the goals mentioned above, the research sought to answer the
following questions:
1- What are the teacher-related demotives in English speaking classes reported
by EFL students?
2- What are the teacher-related demotives in English speaking classes reported
by EFL teachers?
3- What are the similarities and/or differences between students’ and teachers’
perceptions of teacher-related demotives in English speaking classes?
4- What can teachers do to help students overcome demotivation when
learning English speaking skills?
4. Signifcance of the stgdy
The current program of research, which explored the perceptions of forces
originating from teachers that demotivate EFL learners to learn English speaking
skills in Vietnam, is significant at both practical and theoretical levels. At a practical
level, this study identified the demotivating factors (in this study only those relating
to teachers are researched) that demotivates students in their English speaking
classes. The current research’s findings may assist teachers to understand students’
perceptions of detrimental factors, particularly those relate to teachers that affect
them in their English learning. This information may enable teachers to reflect on
their current teaching practices and improve their future practices. The research
findings also provide a number of insights to the university managerial boards and
foreign language policy makers. Based on this research, they may suggest the
changes in the professional development programs for the teachers or some changes
in the foreign language policies, which aims to benefit students’ English learning.
3
At a theoretical level, the present study complements existing literature of L2
demotivation as it addressed the gaps in this area. In particular, this research has
provided an insight into demotives deriving from teachers that negatively influence
higher education students’ English speaking skills; explained why teachers have
such paramount impacts on their demotivation in a Vietnamese collectivist culture;
and proposed ways for teachers to assist students to deal with demotivation.
Moreover, since little research has used mixed methods to explore L2
demotivation, this work has made a contribution to the methodology by providing
the rationales of collecting both quantitative and qualitative data and demonstrating
a clear procedure of analyzing, converging two data sets in single research. This
research has indicated that collecting both quantitative and qualitative data enabled
the researcher to bring out the best of both paradigms to investigate layers of
students’ motivation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011).
5. Scope of the stgdy
The present thesis aimed at gaining insights into demotivating forces in the
learning of speaking skills. Due to its minor scope, teacher-related demovies were
selected as the subject of this study. Particularly, the research investigated what
EFL learners and teachers at a Vietnamese university thought about different
demotivators originating from teachers. Besides, meaningful comparisons were
made to identify similarities and differences between the perceptions on the subject
of the two groups of participants. Furthermore, the thesis sought to outline ways that
teachers could consider to assist students to overcome their demotivation to study
English speaking skills.
6. Organization
This thesis is made up of three major parts, namely Introduction,
Development, and Conclusion.
Part A: Introduction has provided an overview of the current
research.
The
statement of the problem and research gaps have been identifed
4
and
discussed, which assisted the researcher to form fve research
questions. The signifcance of the study is also highlighted in this
frst part. The introductory part ends with the structure of the
research program.
Part B: Development consists of four chapters. Chapter 1
provides literature review on two centerpieces of the thesis, i.e.
the concept of speaking skills and demotivation in second/foreign
language (L2) learning. Chapter 2 describes the research design
and methodology of the research. Chapter 3 presents, analyzes,
and discusses the fndings obtained from the interviews and the
questionnaires. Also, some implications are made based on the
fndings.
The study ends with part C: Conclusion, which provides the
summary, conclusion and recommendations for further research.
Limitations of the present research program are also discussed.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the key concepts, i.e. speaking skills and demotivation in
second/foreign language learning, that inform the current study. In the first section,
the key points about L2 speaking skills, including knowledge areas of L2 speaking
skills, the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) in teaching
the skills, and factors that potentially influence the learning of English speaking
skills are outlined. The second section of this chapter discusses four issues
regarding to demotivation, namely definition of the phenomenon, demotivating
factors, demotivation in English speaking skills, and teacher-related demotives.
1.1. The concept of second/foreign langgage speaking
skills
1.1.1. Knowledge areas of L2 speaking skills
Along the history of second/foreign language teaching and learning, L2
speaking has always been considered as the most essential skill to be mastered
(Richards, 2008; Nazara, 2011). At present, the need for proficiency in English
speaking has been dramatically increasing due to the strengthening position of
English as a language for international communication (Nazara, 2011). According
to Richards (2008), the mastery of speaking skill in English is a priority for many
L2 learners. The tendency to prioritize speaking is also reflected in the fact that
speaking competence is regularly considered a measure of one's mastery of English.
Although L2 learners often regard L2 speaking as the most important skill to
acquire, a number of them claim it the most complex and challenging to acquire
(Bailey, 2003). “While speaking is totally natural, speaking in a language other than
our own is anything but simple.” (Bailey, 2003, p.48). Despite being defined as
brief as the productive aural/oral skill that consists of producing systematic verbal
utterances to convey meaning, speaking is a multifaceted construct (Nazara, 2011).
6
Specifically, L2 speaking is more than to form grammatically correct sentences and
to utter them. A well-known example of such a grammatically correct, however
semantically ill-formed sentence "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" was
composed by Chomsky (1957). As such, L2 speaking involves more than
mechanics. The three areas of knowledge that composes speaking ability can be
stated as follows:
- First, the mechanical elements of language (pronunciation, grammar, and
vocabulary), which allows speakers to use the right words in the correct sequence
and appropriate pronunciation.
- Second, the speaking functions (transaction and interaction), which enables
the speaker to know when the clarity of the message is needed (as in carrying out
the transaction or in exchanging of information) and when a deep understanding is
not necessary (as in the development of relations).
- Third, the pragmatics and sociocultural norms (such as turn-taking, rate of
speech, length of pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants) which
enable an individual to realize the conversational situation, whom he is talking to,
and what the purpose of speaking is, etc.
(Nazara, 2011)
While L2 speaking is the mostly sought skill for an individual to be regarded
competent in a L2 language (Richards, 2008), the skill seems to be underestimated
or even ignored in a number of higher education institutions in Vietnam, especially
in non-English major programs (Hong, 2006). This can be explained by the fact that
in such programs, English is just a smaller part of a wider degree in other specialist
areas such as economics, and engineering (Huong, 2015). The subject, therefore,
counts for a few credits of the whole curriculums. In the research site of this study,
English weighs only 20 out of 177-181 credits of each major. In addition, it is
common among non-English major programs that written tests which mostly focus
on grammar elements, reading and writing skills are used as testing and assessment
tools at mid-term and final term level. In other words, speaking skills are rarely
7
tested, or only count for a minor proportion of the subject scores. As a result, many
students and even teachers are ‘examination-oriented’. They spend less time on oral
skills than what are likely to be included in the exams. Even when instructors
occasionally teach speaking skills, the focus of the lessons are sentence structures or
pronunciation of individual words. However, to be an effective speaker in another
language rather than one’s own is never an easy task as speaking is more than to
form grammatically correct sentences. It rather covers broad areas of mechanics,
functions, pragmatics, and social interaction. Therefore, any L2 teaching
methodology used in the classroom should seek ways to improve the competency of
learners in these areas.
1.1.2. L2 speaking skills and Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT)
Due to the belief that that language proficiency equals to communication
ability, the teaching and learning trend started to slide towards communicative
proficiency. As a result, the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has gained
considerable popularity. CLT is a method of L2 language teaching of which main
inspiration is communicative competence. The notion of communicative
competence is defined as “the aspect of our competence that enables us to convey
and interpret messages and negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific
contexts” (Brown, 2007, p. 219). Richards (2005) contended that such a notion
encompasses a wide range of abilities including four areas:
- Linguistic/grammar competence: the knowledge of grammar rules, lexis,
syntax, phonetics and vocabulary of the target language and the ability to use them.
- Sociolinguistic/pragmatic competence: the knowledge of how to express
messages in accordance with the relationship between the speaker, the listener, the
topic, and the setting.
- Discourse competence: the ability to understand the context and to know
how to link utterances of language to make coherent whole and meaningful texts.
8
- Strategic competence: the ability to manage difficulties that may arise in
communication.
CLT, underlining the importance of focusing on the functional and
communicative aspects of language rather than the grammar and vocabulary
building (Richards & Rodgers, 2014), is one the most favorable methods in teaching
speaking skills. That is because speaking is a productive skill used as a
communication tool through oral form (Bailey, 2003). It places the first rank in
communication compared with the other skills. Moreover, it is advocated that
language learning purposes are firstly focused on the ability to communicate in
speaking. The existence of communicative competence in teaching speaking is,
therefore, the goal that must be achieved.
In short, CLT emphasizes the communication of meaning rather than the
practice of grammatical forms in isolation. It assists learners to develop necessary
knowledge and skills for appropriate interpretation and use of a language in
different communicative settings. In practice, some of the characteristics of CLT
include learner centeredness, focus on both meaning and linguistic forms in context,
use of collaborative activities, promotion of authentic materials and of relevant and
meaningful classroom activities, and new roles for teachers as facilitators and
negotiators of meaning (Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
In Vietnam, CLT has gained its popularity since its first implementation in the
1990s (Ngoc & Iwashita, 2012). Viet (2008) even addressed CLT as an event of
pedagogical imperialism, by which he meant it is an approach of priority. Many
universities in Vietnam are attempting to employ CLT into syllabus design,
examination and teaching (Ngoc and Iwashita, 2012). However, the effectiveness of
CLT in English language teaching (ELT) in Vietnam is still questioned. Ngoc and
Iwashita (2012) argued that after a long period of learning English, most
Vietnamese learners still cannot use it effectively as a means of communication.
Among many practical factors militating against successful implementation of CLT
in Vietnam is the EFL context. Living in EFL context, Vietnamese learners lack real
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