VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NGUYEN THANH NGA THE IMPACT OF LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH ACQUISITION: A CASE OF NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TRAN DAI NGHIA UNIVERSITY Nghiên cứu về ảnh hưởng của động cơ học tập đối với việc học Tiếng Anh của học viên không chuyên tại trường Đại học Trần Đại Nghĩa M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NGUYEN THANH NGA THE IMPACT OF LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH ACQUISITION: A CASE OF NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TRAN DAI NGHIA UNIVERSITY Nghiên cứu về ảnh hưởng của động cơ học tập đối với việc học Tiếng Anh của học viên không chuyên tại trường Đại học Trần Đại Nghĩa M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: PHAN THE HUNG, Ph.D. Hanoi, 2014 i DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP Student’s Declaration: I, Nguyen Thanh Nga, hereby declare that the work entitled ‘The Impact of Learners’ Motivation in English Acquisition: A Case of Non-English Major Students at Tran Đai Nghia University’ is my own work. I did not copy from any other people’s works except where dues reference or acknowledgement is made explicitly in the text. Signed: ___________________ Date: _________________ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi as an active learning environment where I have chance to receive knowledge and experience life as a post-university student. Thanks to the school, I have been approached professional training and educating that is required by modern society. I would like to sincerely thank the teachers at the Post-graduate Studies for providing me with foundation as well as advanced knowledge of English language in learning process. I am greatly indebted to PhD Phan The Hung, as my supervisor for providing me with useful techniques to carry out the study. I also have accumulated helpful experience from his suggestions and valuable comments on the writing of this thesis. My appreciation is also extended to a number of members of classes DH03601 of the Faculty of Infantry Weapon and DH03801 at the Faculty of Ammunition, with their truthful answers, I can complete my research. Their support is greatly appreciated. Very special thanks are due to my close friends who are Pham Le Nu Tuyet Ngan, Do Thi Tuyet Suong, Nguyen Quynh Nga. With their suggestions and contributions, I had many good ideas for my research, they are my fellow- travellers who shared happiness and difficulties with me throughout this research period. And last, but by no means least, my heartfelt thanks go to the members of my family. They gave me the biggest encouragement to help me not feel pressure to focus on this task. Without whose unfailing love, understanding, encouragement, and support over time and distance, I could not have got this far. iii ABSTRACT Motivation-a psychological aspect, which is considered as one of the most crucial factors in English acquisition, is very important in fostering learner’ positive attitude toward the L2 learning process. However, how special the influences of motivation on non-English major students in army environment is, compared to other civilian training types. Thus, this study is conducted to investigate some elements that motivate and de-motivate students in EFL courses for basic purpose at Tran Dai Nghia University, an example of military schools. The data was collected through the survey questionnaires and interview of 78 students in two classes of two different faculties in order to find out what should be considered to improve teaching and learning quality of the L2 in this school. Key words: Motivation, acquisition, motivate, de-motivate. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv DEFINITION OF TERMS vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ix PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 2 4. Methods 3 5. Design of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.1 Motivation 5 1.1.1 Definition of motivation 5 1.1.2 Motivation in English acquisition 6 1.1.3 Classification of motivation 10 1.1.3.1 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation 11 1.1.3.1.1 Intrinsic motivation 11 1.1.3.1.2 Extrinsic motivation 12 1.1.3.2 Integrative and instrumental motivation 12 1.1.3.2.1 Integrative motivation 12 1.1.3.2.2 Instrumental motivation 13 1.1.4 De-motivation in language acquisition 13 1.1.5 Factors that influence students’ motivation in English acquisition 14 v 1.1.5.1 Teacher-related factors 14 1.1.5.1.1 Professional competence 14 1.1.5.1.2 Teaching style 15 1.1.5.1.3 Commitment to teaching 15 1.1.5.2 Learner-related factors 15 1.1.5.2.1 Intelligence 15 1.1.5.2.2 Aptitude 16 1.1.5.2.3 Personality 16 1.1.5.2.4 Learning strategies 17 1.1.5.2.5 Learners’ belief 17 1.1.5.2.6 Age of acquisition 18 1.1.5.2.7 Anxiety 18 1.1.5.3 Learning condition-related factors 18 1.1.5.3.1 Physical conditions 18 1.1.5.3.2 Atmosphere in the classroom 19 1.2 Theoretical backgrounds of second language acquisition 19 1.2.1 Definition of second language acquisition 19 1.2.2 Principles of second language acquisition 21 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 23 2.1 Participants and setting of the study 23 2.1.1 Participants 23 2.1.2 Setting of the study 23 2.2 Data collection 24 2.2.1 Data collection instrument 24 2.2.2 Data collection procedure 25 2.2.3 Data analysis procedure 26 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 27 3.1 Findings 27 vi 3.1.1 Students’ attitude and reasons toward English and English acquisition 27 3.1.1.1 Students’ attitude of English 27 3.1.1.2 Types of students’ motivation in SLA 27 3.1.1.3 Students’ comments upon frequency of activities 29 3.1.2 Factors that influence students’ motivation in SLA at TDN University 30 3.1.2.1 Teacher-related factors 30 3.1.2.2 Student-related factors 32 3.1.2.3 Learning condition-related factors 34 3.2 Discussion 36 3.2.1 Techniques in teaching English at TDN University 36 3.2.2 Factors that de-motivate students’ motivation in English acquisition 37 3.3 Pedagogical implication 37 PART C: CONCLUSION 1. Conclusions of the study 39 2. Limitations of the study 40 3. Suggestions for further study 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 IV vii DEFINITION OF TERMS Motivation: the psychological feature that orientate an action toward a desired goal. Acquisition: cognitive process of acquire skill or knowledge. Intrinsic motivation: situated within or belonging solely to nature of something. Extrinsic motivation: one kind of motivation coming from outside factors. Integrative motivation: one kind of motivation related to be assimilated to target language -spoken countries. Instrumental motivation: one kind of motivation related to use the language as an instrument to get something. viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication IELTS: International English Language Testing System ESL: English as a Second Language SLA: Second Language Acquisition TDN: Tran Dai Nghia L2: Second language IM: Intrinsic motivation FL: Foreign language ESP: English For Specific Purpose EFL: English as Foreign Language ESL: English as Second Language [...]... to encourage non -English major students who are first year students at Tran Dai Nghia University in the language learning 2 Aims of the Study In order to carry out the study, it begins with the aims of investigating the motivation in English acquisition for general purposes among the first year nonEnglish students at Infantry Weapon Faculty as the representatives of military participants along with... master a task’ 11  IM-stimulation that stands for intrinsic motivation for experience stimulation ‘relating to motivation based on the sensations stimulated by doing a task, i.e., fun and excitement’ Coming from the internal reasons or goals that give rise to an action in general and in language acquisition in particular, intrinsic motivation refers to doing something- willingly participating in each... certain constraints in language development’ Age shows the inverse proportion between the ability to learn a language and the desire about the capacity of language using On the other hand, the more students age is, the more proficiency in language acquisition they want to attain; however, it is hard to find the correlation between the awareness of learning the language by taking part in a variety of. .. receptor without any motivation 1 For the mentioned reasons, I would like to conduct a study on ‘The Impact of Learners’ Motivation in English Acquisition: A Case of Non -English Major Students at Tran Đai Nghia University. ’ The study is to have an investigation in how subjective and objective factors can motivate and de-motivate students attitude in English learning From that point, I also recommend... self-determination model, the willingness to communicate model, and the extended motivational framework to name a few’ The following table describes what he gives more explanation the first among the above list that serves for the second language acquisition: Table 1: Gardner’s Social-Educational Model of Motivation (Adapted from Dörnyei, (1994) Integrativeness (can include an integrative orientation) Motivation. .. desire to learn  intensity  attitude Attitudes (can include an evaluation of a language teacher or course) A great contribution to keep in mind belongs to Dörnyei (1994) (about of his conceptualization of a general framework of L2 motivation:  The Language level is described in two broad motivational subsystems: integrative motivational subsystem and instrumental motivational subsystem  The learner... with some from Information Technology Faculty, the examples of civilian students, at Tran Dai Nghia University The research aims at the following points: - To analyze students perception of the English learning for general purposes - To evaluate the influence of students motivation in the language learning process in which divided into two opposite dimensions: motivating and de-motivating - To suggest... them, and being able to talk about them The second one is the Natural Order hypothesis In this hypothesis, he pointed out that learners tend to know grammatical structures early and the others later Direct teaching of features that the learners are not get ready to acquire cannot influence the natural order of acquisition 21 The next thing is the monitor hypothesis Stephen D Krashen said that: ‘The Monitor... Thus, their overall age is from 19 to 22 They are defined at pre-intermediate level of proficiency in English, at this level they perceive the basic grammatical items of English, their capability of vocabulary can guarantee for them to communicate in many general fields 2.1.2 Setting of the study Tran Dai Nghia University- where the research is conducted is one of military schools in the South of Vietnam... kind of psychological feature, students motivation is not always a sustainable state With supporting factors, it can be a positive reason that foster students language acquisition; however, it may be changed into an opposite one that is called ‘de -motivation The term is defined as ‘‘specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action’, . UNIVERSITY Nghiên cứu về ảnh hưởng của động cơ học tập đối với việc học Tiếng Anh của học viên không chuyên tại trường Đại học Trần Đại Nghĩa M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY. UNIVERSITY Nghiên cứu về ảnh hưởng của động cơ học tập đối với việc học Tiếng Anh của học viên không chuyên tại trường Đại học Trần Đại Nghĩa M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY. THANH NGA THE IMPACT OF LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH ACQUISITION: A CASE OF NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT TRAN DAI NGHIA UNIVERSITY Nghiên cứu về ảnh hưởng của động cơ học tập đối