VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THỊ THU HƢƠNG AN EXPLORATARY STUDY OF ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN STUDYING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT SẦM SƠN ETHNIC PRE-UNIVERSITY SCHOOL Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu động học kỹ nói tiếng Anh học sinh dân tộc thiểu số trƣờng Dự bị Đại học Dân tộc Sầm Sơn M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THỊ THU HƢƠNG AN EXPLORATARY STUDY OF ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN STUDYING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT SẦM SƠN ETHNIC PRE-UNIVERSITY SCHOOL Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu động học kỹ nói tiếng Anh học sinh dân tộc thiểu số trƣờng Dự bị Đại học Dân tộc Sầm Sơn M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ MINH TÂM, PhD Hanoi, 2014 CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “An exploratory study of ethnic minority students’ motivation in studying English speaking skills at Sầm Sơn Ethnic Pre-university School” is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies - VNU, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or tertiary institution Ha Noi, Sep 2014 Signature Lê Thị Thu Hương i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm, PhD., for her wholehearted guidance, invaluable advice, instructions, suggestions, and especially constructive criticism as well as her encouragement in the completion of my research work Next, I am especially grateful to all the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies - VNU, for their useful lectures, materials, as well as guidance and enthusiasm which are of great value not only to me but also to all my class - K21 TH I also wish to give my sincere thanks to all my colleagues and students at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School who provided me with inspiration for the research topic and helped me with the research data Without them, I could not have finished my thesis Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and dear friends, especially my husband and my son who are always beside me with their love and understanding, encouragement and spiritual support throughout this thesis ii ABSTRACT During the seven-year teaching period at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School (S2EPS), the researcher has realized that the students at S2EPS lack adequate English speaking skill to further their study at university and their future job as well It is also realized that motivation is one of the major factors affecting the success or failure of students in learning a second/foreign language (L2) in general, and particularly learning the speaking skill Therefore, with the desire to help these students, the study is carried out in the context of S2EPS in order to explore ethnic minority students‟ motivation in learning English speaking skills The study was conducted with 100 students of S2EPS by completing a set of survey questionnaire and with students among whom by attending a focused group interview On the basis of data analysis, the findings, first of all, showed two kinds of motivation possessed by the ethnic students which are the instrumental and integrative Secondly, some factors affecting their motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill were found from the data, which are student factors, teacher factors as well as classroom factors and the textbook The extent to which these factors affect students‟ motivation are then discussed Finally, some strategies and techniques to motivate ethnic students at Pre-university schools in general and at S2EPS in particular to speak English more effectively were suggested and recommended iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language FLL: Foreign Language Learning L2: Second/ Foreign Language SLA: Second Language Acquisition SLL: Second Language Learning S2EPS: Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: How learners‟ motivation can possibly be affected in speaking classes Table 2: Students‟ reasons for learning English speaking skills Table 3: Students‟ interest in speaking activities used in the class Table 4: Students‟ opinion on factors affecting the learning process of the speaking skill Table 5: Students‟ opinion on strategies and techniques teachers should to use to motivate them in learning English speaking skills Chart 1: Students‟ attitude towards the importance of the speaking skill Chart 2: Students‟ attitude towards speaking English Chart 3: Students‟ level of participation in speaking activities v TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate‟s statement……………………………………………………… i Acknowledgement………………………………………………………… ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………… iii List of abbreviations …………………………… ……………………… iv List of tables and charts………………………………………………… v Table of contents ……………………………… …….…………………… vi PART A INTRODUCTION…………………………………….……… 01 Rationale ……………………………………………………… ……… 01 Aim of the study ………………………………………………………… 02 Scope of the study……………………………………………………… 02 Research questions……………………………………… …………… 02 Methods of the study……………………………………….…………… 02 Organization of the study……………………………………………… 03 PART B DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………… 04 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………… 04 1.1 Theoretical background of motivation…………….………………… 04 1.1.1 Motivation in foreign language learning ……………………… 04 1.1.2 Classification of motivation in foreign language learning.……… 05 1.1.3 Characteristics of a motivated learner…………………………… 06 1.2 Theoretical background of teaching the speaking skill ……… …… 07 1.2.1 The notion of the speaking skill ………………………………… 07 1.2.2 Teaching the speaking skill in Communicative Language Teaching approach…………………………….………………………… 08 1.3 Factors affecting learners‟ motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill……………………………………………………………… 09 1.3.1 Learner factors…………………………………………………… 09 1.3.2 Teacher factors………….………………………………………… 11 1.3.3 Classroom factors.………………………………………………… 13 1.4 Previous studies on the topic………………………………………… 16 vi 1.5 Summary of the chapter… ……………….………………………… 17 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY……………………………………… 18 2.1 Research setting… ……… ………………………………………… 18 2.1.1 An overview of Sam Son Ethnic Pre-university School………… 18 2.1.2 The teachers of English ….……………………………………… 18 2.1.3 The students……………………………………………………… 18 2.1.4 The textbook……………………………………………………… 19 2.1.5 The teaching and learning conditions…………………………… 19 2.2 The study……………………………………………………………… 20 2.2.1 Research questions restated……………………………………… 20 2.2.2 Data collecting instruments, participants and procedures …… 20 2.2.2.1 Survey questionnaire… ………………… .…… …… 20  Purpose 20  Structure 20  Participants 21  Data collecting procedure and presentation of data 21 2.2.2.2 Focused group interview…………………………… ……… 22  Purpose 22  Structure 22  Participants 23  Data collecting procedure and presentation of data 23 2.3 Summary of the chapter………………………………………… … 23 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS………… 24 3.1 Research question 1: To what extent are students at S2EPS motivated in studying English speaking skills? ……………………………………… 3.1.1 To what extent are students at S2EPS motivated in general? 24 24 3.1.2 To what extent does each factor affect students‟ motivation in the learning process of the speaking skill? ………………………….……… 27 3.2 Research question 2: What motivated strategies and techniques can be applied to teaching English speaking skills at S2EPS? ………………… 32 3.3 Recommendations to English teaching and leaning practice in S2EPS 33 vii 3.3.1 For the teachers…………………………………………………… 33 3.3.2 For the students…………………………………………………… 36 3.3.3 For the management board……………………………………… 37 3.4 Summary of the chapter……………………………………………… 37 PART C CONCLUSION………………………………………………… 38 Recapitulation………….…….………………………………………… 38 Pedagogical implications of the study…………………………………… 38 Limitations of the study ……………………………… ……………… 39 Suggestions for further study… ……………………………………… 39 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………… 40 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………… I Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for students (English version) ………… I Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version)…… V Appendix 3: Focused group interview questions (English version)……… IX Appendix 4: Focused group interview questions (Vietnamese version)…… X Appendix 5: Focused group interview transcripts………………… …… XI Appendix 6: Summary of statistic data collected from survey questionnaire XVI Appendix 7: A lesson plan for an English speaking learning class……… XX viii ... entitled ? ?An exploratory study of ethnic minority students’ motivation in studying English speaking skills at Sầm Sơn Ethnic Pre-university School? ?? is the result of my own research for the degree of. .. STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN STUDYING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT SẦM SƠN ETHNIC PRE-UNIVERSITY SCHOOL Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu đ? ??ng học kỹ nói tiếng Anh học sinh dân tộc thiểu số trƣờng Dự bị Đ? ??i học Dân... what motivational strategies and techniques can be applied to teaching English speaking skills Scope of the study This study is limited to ethnic minority students‟ motivation in learning the speaking