VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 HANOI, 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC QUỲNH HANOI, 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 HANOI, 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC QUỲNH HANOI, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES Declaration i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of contents List of tables and charts iv vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Significance of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Organization of the paper PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Definitions of reading and reading comprehension 1.1.1 Reading 1.1.2 Reading Comprehension 1.2 Motivation 1.2.1 Concept of motivation 1.2.2 The importance of motivation in reading second language 1.3 Demotivation 1.3.1 Concept of demotivation 1.3.2 Previous studies on de-motivation iv CHAPTER 2: Methodology 15 2.1 Setting 15 2.1.1 The school 15 2.1.2 Participants 15 2.1.3 The English textbook 10 16 2.2 Data collection 17 2.3 Data analysis procedures 18 CHAPTER 3: Data Analysis 19 3.1 Data analysis of students‟ responses 19 3.2 Data analysis of teachers‟ responses 29 3.3 Summary of the findings 36 3.4 Discussion 36 3.5 Implications 38 PART C: CONCLUSION 41 REFERENCES 43 I APPENDIX v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Students‟ attitudes towards the learning of reading English Figure 3.2: Students‟ interest in English reading lessons Figure 3.3: Students‟ participation in English reading comprehension lessons Figure 3.4: Teachers‟ attitude toward the importance of teaching reading comprehension skills at school Figure 3.5 Teacher‟s perception of students‟ participation in activities in the reading lessons LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Students‟ purposes of learning English reading Table 3.2: Table 3.2: Students‟ opinions on factors demotivating them in learning reading English Table 3.3: Students‟ opinions on their teachers‟ teaching methods Table 3.4: Students‟ opinions on teachers‟ employment of activities Table 3.5: Students‟ expectations towards teachers of reading skills Table 3.6: Teachers‟ perceptions of students‟ demotivation in reading skills Table 3.7: Teachers‟ frequency of using activities in reading lessons Table 3.8: Techniques and activities by the teacher, and the preference of the students for those activities vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Since English was chosen as an international language, learning English has long been important to students of almost all levels in Vietnam The remarkable shift from traditional method to communicative language teaching approach emphasizes the need for developing the communicative competence of the learners in four language skills namely speaking, reading, reading and writing Though a great deal of effort has been made to achieve the goal, there are still a lot of shortcomings in teaching and learning English in general and reading comprehension in particular To much extent, the reason is due to the fact that the students have to pass their exams which mainly focus on extensive vocabulary and grammatical rules In most of Vietnam high schools, English teaching and learning is taken place in a non-native environment, so reading English is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place For many students, reading is so far the most important of the four language skills It is commonly acknowledged that reading is one of the most complex skills When one reads, they are not able to control the message or the language used like they can in speaking and writing Reading is also a skill that must be carried out under the real time pressure if it is done fluently In addition, there is no chance for readers to ask for additional information or clarification like they can in speaking or listening Moreover, “the range of vocabulary encountered in reading is much greater than is typically used in speaking and listening settings” (Stanovich, 2000: 252-258) It is fairly clear that developing L2 reading abilities represents a serious challenge for both the learners and the teachers Being aware of the importance of reading skill, all the teachers of My Duc A high school have been trying their best to make their students motivated in learning English reading lessons, but their efforts seem not to be effective yet The students seem to be still demotivated in learning English in general, and in learning English reading comprehension in particular For all of those reasons, it would be necessary to have a study on factors causing demotivation in reading lessons for students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi Aims of the study The main purposes of the study are: - To investigate the demotivating factors in reading lessons of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi - To give some suggestions to minize the demotivating factors in reading lessons in order to improve the students‟ reading skills Research questions To achieve the aims mentioned above, the following research questions were proposed: (1) What are demotivating factors in reading lessons of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi? (2) What should be done to minimize the demotivating factors of the students in their reading lessons? Significance of the study This study points out factors causing demotivation in reading lessons of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi Besides, it can be used as an evidence for demotivating factors when learning English reading that Vietnamese SecondarySchool students encountered The findings and recommendations of this study will be useful to improve the teaching and learning of reading of Upper Secondary School students in general and of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi in particular Scope of the study This study mainly focuses on the demotivating factors that the 10th form students at My Duc A High School have in their reading lessons It does not cover the scope of demotivating factors in other skills It involves the participants of 10 teachers of English and 105 students in the 10th form at My Duc A High School Methods of the study The study uses two main methods to achieve its aims Firstly, two types of survey questionnaires were conducted with 10 teachers of English and 105 students from three classes at My Duc A High School In addition to the questionnaires, informal interviews with the 10 randomly selected students, who have done the survey questionnaires, were also employed Organization of the thesis paper The thesis paper is organized as follows: Part A, Introduction, provides rationale for the study, states what the study is aimed at and what specific tasks it resolves, specifies the scope of the study, and sketches the general structure of the study Part B, Development, consists of the following chapters: Chapter 1, Literature Review, presents the theoretical background related to reading and reading comprehension, motivation and the important of motivation in second language learning Besides, it reviews the concept of demotivation and previous studies on demotivation Chapter 2, Methodology, provides information about the study This includes the setting of the study, the participants and the research instruments used for the study Chapter 3, Data Analysis, gives a detailed analysis of data Besides, the chapter also presents some discussion and interpretations of the findings of the study, and then gives suggestions for the teachers and the students at Part C, Conclusion, summarizes the major findings and points out implications for the improvement, its limitations and suggestions for future research ... LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.)... LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.)... LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.)