1

Part I: Introduction
I. Rationale
Generally, English teaching for non-English-major learners in Vietnam aims at
providing the learners with the ability to understand written materials. Thus, the acquisition
of reading skills is a priority for most learners. In addition, English is taught and learnt in a
non-native environment so reading is an important means to gain knowledge not only of
the language itself but also of other fields.
Motivation, as indicated by research, is an essential element in language learning in
general and in learning reading in particular. The fact that the students at HaUI often
participate in the reading lessons reluctantly and inactively has encouraged the author to
investigate the reason why their motivation in learning reading is rather low and to give
some suggestions for enhancing their motivation. It is hoped that the study will be helpful
for the author and other teachers at HaUI in finding appropriate teaching methods to
stimulate their students in their reading lessons.
II. Aims of the Study
The purposes of the study is to investigate the factors affecting motivation in
learning reading among the first year non-English major students at Hanoi University of
Industry. The principal purposes of the study are summarized as follows:
1. To examine kinds of motivation possessed by the first year students in learning
reading.
2. To investigate factors affecting learners motivation in reading lessons.
3. To examine the methods and techniques used by teachers of English to motivate
their learners in reading lessons.
4. To suggest some methods to stimulate learners to read in English and to give
some recommendations for improving the reading materials for the first- year students.
III. Research Questions
The study was carried out in order to find the answers to two research questions:
1. What are the types of motivation possessed by the first- year students in learning
reading?
2. What are the factors affecting the students motivation in learning reading skills?
IV. Significance of the Study
The study indicates kinds of motivation which are possessed by most of the first
year students at Hanoi University of Industry, which is of benefit to teachers of English in

2
this university. It also describes the factors affecting motivation in classroom settings.
Furthermore, it gives some suggestions for the teachers to improve the textbook and some
techniques to stimulate students. Hopefully, it can help the students to improve their
reading skills as well as the teachers to upgrade their teaching methods.
V. Scope of the Study
There are three levels of training at Hanoi University of Industry: College level,
Junior College level and Vocational Training level (bc i hc, Cao ng v Trung cp).
Within its scope, the study is limited only to the non-major first-year students of College
level.
VI. Methods of the Study
In seeking answers to the research questions, survey questionnaires and class
observation were chosen to obtain relevant information for the study. The strategic method
of the study is quantitative one. That is all remarks, considerations, and conclusions are
made largely based on the analysis of the statistic data collected through the questionnaire
survey. Class observation is carried out as a supplementary to the survey questionnaires.
VII. Design of the Study
The thesis consists of three parts: the introduction, the development and the
conclusion. The introduction provides the basic information such as the rationale of the
study, aims, research questions, significance, scope and methods of the study. The main
content includes four chapters. Chapter 1, Literature Review, conceptualizes the nature of
the reading skills, motivation and factors affecting motivation in learning reading. Chapter
2, Research Methodology, presents the methodology used in the study. Chapter 3, Data
Analysis, covers a comprehensive analysis on the data collected from the survey, interview
and the observation. The last chapter, Major Findings and Suggestions, offers some major
findings and suggestions for enhancing students motivation in learning reading skills. The
conclusion is a review of the study, future directions for further research and limitations of
the study.

Part II: Development

Chapter 1: Literature Review
Introduction
This chapter involves different issues in the theories of the reading in a foreign
language and motivation. It will present an overview on reading theories, motivation
theories and motivation in learning the reading skill.
1.1. Overview on Reading Theories
1.1.1. Definition and Types of Reading
* Definition
Reading is an activity with a purpose. A person may read in order to gain
information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a writer's ideas or writing
style. A person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of the language
being read. The purpose(s) for reading guide the reader's selection of texts.
Ur (1996: 38) defines "reading means reading and understanding". According to
Harmer (1989: 153), "reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes
receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these messages".
Reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text,
resulting in comprehension. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that
encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that
meaning is. Reader knowledge, skills, and strategies include
* Linguistic competence: the ability to recognize the elements of the writing
system; knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences
* Discourse competence: knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect
parts of the text to one another
* Sociolinguistic competence: knowledge about different types of texts and their
usual structure and content
* Strategic competence: the ability to use top-down strategies as well as knowledge
of the language (a bottom-up strategy)
The purpose(s) for reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge,
skills, and strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading
comprehension is thus much more than decoding. Reading comprehension happens when
the reader knows which skills and strategies are appropriate for the type of text, and
understands how to apply them to accomplish the reading purpose.

4
* Types of Reading
Nutall (2000: 38) indicates two main types of reading: intensive and extensive
reading. For him, these are not just two contrasting ways of reading but an infinitive
variety of interrelated and overlapping strategies. Actually, both of these two types are
complementary and necessary.
Intensive Reading
Nutall (2000: 38) states that intensive reading involves approaching the text under
the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the student to focus on the text. According
to Brown (1990: 297), intensive reading "is usually a classroom-oriented activity in which
students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a passage". The objective of intensive
reading is to understand not only what the text means but also how the meaning is
produced.
Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is generally associated with reading large quantities with the aim
of getting an overall understanding of the material. Lewis and Hill (1992: 109) point out
that "extensive reading means students have a general understanding of the text without
necessarily understanding every word". This type of reading is suitable for students' selflearning in order to train them to read directly and fluently in the foreign language for their
own enjoyment without the aid of the teacher. However, extensive reading can be best
achieved only through an instructional program. Extensive reading sometimes involves
skimming and scanning as strategies to gain general sense of a text, skimming for the gist
and scanning for some key details.
In short, for second or foreign language learners, both intensive and extensive
reading are of great importance as they act as a means to gain knowledge but also to
develop learners' language skills.
1.1.2. Characteristics of an Effective Reader
According to Wassman and Rinsky (1993: 5), an effective reader needs "an
understanding of the reading process and an understanding of how to go about reading
different types of printed information".
Reading research shows that good readers
* read extensively
* integrate information in the text with existing knowledge
* have a flexible reading style, depending on what they are reading
* are motivated

5
* rely on different skills interacting: perceptual processing, phonemic processing,
and recall
* read for a purpose
1.1.3. Approaches to Teaching Reading Skills
Bamford and Day (1998: 124-141) state that around the world there are at least four
distinctive approaches to the teaching of second or foreign language reading: grammartranslation, comprehension questions, skills and strategies, and extensive reading.
Grammar-Translation
By this approach, students may be taught to read text written in the foreign
language by translating them into the native language.
Comprehension Questions
This approach focuses on teaching textbook containing short passages that
demonstrate the use of foreign language words or points of grammar. Texts are short
enough to encourage students to read them word by word. After reading the text, students
answer comprehension questions and do exercises.
Skills and Strategies
By this approach, the teacher has to prepare for students to read one or two-page
passage maybe by pre-teaching vocabulary that appears in the reading passage. Students
then read the text silently while keeping in mind two or three "while-reading" questions.
After reading, they have to share their answers in pairs or groups. Finally, they complete
various tasks or exercises that require them to demonstrate a global comprehension of the
passage and their grasp of particular reading skills or strategies.
Extensive Reading
The goal of extensive reading is for students to become willing and able readers in
a second or foreign language. Students individually read books and other materials at their
own speed mainly for homework.
In short, the four approaches to the teaching of reading a second or foreign
language are not exclusive and in reality they may be mixed in any particular course or
classroom. However, in the context of Hanoi University of Industry, comprehension
question approach is mainly applied to teaching reading for non-English-major students.
1.1.4. Stages of a Reading Lesson
It is a common knowledge that a reading lesson consists of three important stages:
pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading. Obviously, each stage has its own
characteristics and time allocation.

6
* Pre-reading Stage
This stage is carried out before the students begin reading the texts. It plays an
essential part in the whole process of a reading lesson. According to Williams (1984: 37),
the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:
- To introduce and arouse interest in the topic
- To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading
- To provide some language preparation for the text
Normally, pre-reading phrase often lasts from two to ten minutes depending on
each lesson. Before delivering activities for this stage, the teacher needs to take the
objectives of the lesson, the situation of teaching and learning, the students' needs into
account.
* While-reading Stage
Williams (1984: 38) states that while-reading stage is the main part of a reading
lesson with the following specific aims:
- To help understanding of the writer's purpose
- To help understanding of the text structure
- To help clarify text content
At this stage, the teacher needs to help students comprehend the text thoroughly
while the students have to apply to the best their reading skills like skimming, scanning,
guessing, etc. to understand the text as well as the writer's purposes conveyed through the
reading text. Apparently, time allocation for this is nearly two thirds of the whole lesson.
* Post-reading Stage
Post-reading stage is the last step of a reading lesson so it is the time for students'
production. What they produce will reflect how well they comprehend the text. "The postreading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating
the text to the learners' own knowledge, interests or views" (Williams, 1984: 39).
Normally, it takes ten or fifteen minutes to complete all activities at this stage.
1.2. Overview on Motivation
1.2.1. Definition of Motivation
Most definitions of motivation reflect the consensus that motivation is an internal
state or condition that serves to activate or energize behavior. Woolfolk (2001: 366) states
that "motivation is an internal state that arouses directs and maintains behavior". Sharing
the same point, Brown (2000: 160) suggests that "motivation is some kind of internal drove
which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something". Williams and Burden

7
(1997: 119) also point out that the reason for and factors affecting your choice of behaving
in this way but not in others and how much effort you decide to make in order to obtain
your objects are all aspects relating to motivation.
Motivation also refers to the need and desire. According to McKay and Tom (1999:
2), the need and desire to communicate with others in the new language provide strong
motivation for most newcomers. In a similar but more specified way, Lightbown and
Spada (1999: 6) state that motivation in second language learning is a complex
phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors: learners' communicative needs
and their attitudes towards the second language community. If learners need to speak the
second language in a wide range of social situations or to fulfill professional ambitions,
they will perceive the communicative value of the second language and will therefore be
motivated to acquire proficiency in it. Likewise, if learners have favorable attitudes
towards the speakers of the language, they will decide more contact with them.
1.2.2. Types of Motivation
There are many different kinds of motivation:
- "Integrative": the desire to identify with and integrate into the target-language culture.
According to Garner and Lambert (1972), (cited in Ellis, 1997: 509), motivation is
strongly influenced by integrative orientation to language learning. In their words, "an
integrative orientation involves an interest in learning an L2 because of a sincere and
personal interest in the people and culture represented by the other group".
- "Instrumental'': the wish to learn the language for purposes of study or career
promotion.
Ellis (1997: 75) regards instrumental motivation as some functional reasons for
learning-to pass an examination, to get a better job, or to get a place at university.
- "Intrinsic": the urge to engage in the learning activity for its own sake. It has been
termed "cognitive drive", very typical of young children and tends to deteriorate with age.
Intrinsic motivation "comes from the individual" (Harmer, 2001: 51) or "stems from
factors such as interest or curiosity" (Woolfolk, 2001: 368).
- "Extrinsic": motivation that is derived from external incentives.
Extrinsic motivation "is caused by any number of outside factors such as: the need
to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward or the possibility of future travel" (Harmer,
2001: 51). Ur (1996: 277) points out that extrinsic derives from the influence of some kind
of external incentives, as distinct from the wish to learn for its own sake or interest in

8
learning tasks. Many sources of extrinsic motivation are beyond the influence of important
people, such as parents. However, other sources are certainly affected by teacher action,
including success and its rewards, failure and its penalties, authoritative demands, tests,
competition.
- "Global": the overall orientation of the learner towards the learning of the foreign
language. According to Brown (1987), (cited in Ur, 1996: 276), it may be affected by
previous education, a large number of social factors as well as the teacher's own attitudes
conveyed either unconsciously or through explicit information and persuasion.
- "Situational": Brown (1987), (cited in Ur, 1996: 276) states that situational motivation
refers to the learning context: classroom, total environment which is assumed to be
influenced by teacher action.
- "Task":
In some learning situations, many learners' reason for learning a foreign language is
not because of the interest in the culture and target language community but the interest in
learning tasks. They may find the kind of learning activities enjoyable and become
productively engaged in learning tasks, and sustain that engagement. In other words, these
learners are intrinsically motivated (Ellis, 1997: 76).
Brown (1987) (cited in Ur, 1996: 276) also states that task motivation occurs when
learners are encouraged to invest efforts and energy in doing a particular task attractively
designed by the teacher and they succeed.
- "Resultative":
Ellis (1997: 76) claims that "motivation is the result of learning. Learners who
experience success in learning may become more, or in some contexts, less motivated to
learn". Truly, in some contexts like Vietnam, success in learning Korean may intensify
Vietnamese students' liking for Korean culture, and thus, stimulates them to learn more.
Among them, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have an important part to play in
classroom settings. Most writers agree that intrinsic and extrinsic interact with each other.
As a result, learners can be either motivated by internal or external factors depending on
the circumstances and conditions the activity is performed.
1.2.3. Importance of Motivation in second Language Learning
Most motivation theorists assume that motivation is involved in the performance of
all learned responses; that is, a learned behavior will not occur unless it is energized. As a
result, motivation affects the extent of active, personal involvement in second language
learning. Obviously, unmotivated students are insufficiently involved and therefore unable

9
to develop their potential L2 skills. Therefore, motivation is one of the main determining
factors in success in foreign or second language learning... Oxford and Shearin (1996: 121122) point out: "Motivation is important because it directly influences how students use L2
learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they
receive in the language being learned (the target language), how well they do on
curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes,
and how long they preserve and maintain L2 skills after language study is over...
Therefore, motivation is crucial for L2 learning, and it is essential to understand what our
students' motivations are". In addition, Harmer (1999: 51) confirms that "it is accepted for
most fields of learning that motivation is essential to success".
Ellis (1997: 515) concludes that the relationship between motivation and
achievement is an interactive one. A high level of motivation does stimulates learning, but
perceived success in achieving L2 goals can help to maintain existing motivation and even
create new types.
1.2.4. Characteristics of Motivated Learners
Actually, the term motivation on its own is rather difficult to define. It is easier and
more useful to think in terms of the "motivated learner". Motivated learners are those who
participate willingly and actively in learning activities in class.
According to Naiman et al (1978) (cited in Harmer, 1999: 42), "the most successful
learners are not necessarily those to whom a language comes very easily; they are those
who display typical characteristics, most of them clearly associated with motivation".
Below is the list:
- Positive task orientation: the learner has confidence in his or her success.
- Ego involvement: the learner finds it important to succeed in learning.
- Need for achievement: to overcome difficulties and succeed in what he or she sets
out to do.
- High aspirations: the learner goes for demanding challenges and high proficiency.
- Goal orientation: the learner is very aware of the goals of learning.
- Perseverance: the learner is not discouraged by setbacks or apparent lack of
progress.
- Tolerance of ambiguity: the learner is not frustrated by a temporary lack of
understanding; he or she thinks it will come later.
Sharing the same point, Crookes and Schmidt (1989) (cited in Ellis, 1997: 42)
describe a motivated student as someone "becomes productively engaged on learning

10
tasks, and sustains that engagement, without the need for continual encouragement or
direction". Additionally, Lightbown and Spada (1999: 57) state that motivated students are
usually those who participate actively in class, express interest in the subject-matter, and
study a great deal.
1.2.5. Strategies to Encourage Motivation and Thoughtful Learning
According to Woolfolk (2001: 421), there are five necessary conditions that must
exist in a classroom namely: fulfilling basic requirements, building confidence and positive
expectations, showing the value of learning, helping students to stay focused on the tasks,
and instrumental value. Basing on these conditions, he points out strategies to boost
students motivation as follows:
The first strategy is fulfilling basic requirements. These requirements consist of an
organized class environment, a supportive teacher and challenging but reasonable work.
Secondly, it is necessary to build students confidence and positive expectation by
asking students to make their learning goals clear, specific and attainable. Moreover,
students will feel more confident when they are guided to work at their own levels, when
they are assured that academic ability is improvable.
Thirdly, students will be fully aware of the value of their learning when the teacher
ties class activities to students interests, arouses their curiosity, and makes the learning
task fun.
The fourth strategy is helping students stay focused on the task by giving students
opportunities to respond to the task, providing them chances to create a finished product.
The teacher should teach them appropriate learning tactics for different kinds of exercises.
Finally, for instrumental value, it is essential to explain to students the connections
between school and life outside of school. Besides, teachers should provide them
incentives for learning when needed and using authentic tasks.
As motivation plays an important role in teaching and learning a foreign language,
the teacher should know strategies to boost students motivation and to obtain success in
teaching.
1.3. Motivation in Learning Reading
1.3.1. Importance of Motivation in Learning Reading
Resnick and Lester (2000: 5) state that "motivation is one of the most important
ingredients in skilled reading". Most of the English learners complain that they feel bored
with the reading lesson. One reason is the fact that reading is the most difficult and boring
of the four practical skills. Students often lose interest in the reading text and are

11
reluctantly participate in the reading lesson. From this fact, it is an important part of a
reading teacher's job to motivate learners (Girard, 1977: 20).
I.3.2. Factors Affecting Students' Motivation in Learning Reading
In the literature so far, there have been so few studies on the factors that influence
students' motivation in learning reading in a foreign language. However, most of
researchers have come to an agreement to some common factors affecting students'
motivation. These include students' factors, teacher's factor and reading materials factor.
1.3.2.1. Students' Factors
No one can deny that reading in a foreign language plays a vital part in academic
studies, personal development and professional success. However, reading in a foreign
language is really difficult. Scholars agreed that problems in reading for foreign language
learners may be either in reading skill, language or readers' background knowledge.
Reading Skill Problems
Students' reading skills or reading strategies can affect their motivation in engaging
in the text. Reading strategies can be defined as "plan for solving problems encountered in
constructing meaning" (Duffy, 1993: 232). They range from bottom-up vocabulary
strategies such as looking up an unknown word in the dictionary to a more comprehensive
action such as connecting what is being read to the reader's background knowledge.
Students limited reading skills create many problems. Generally, they read in a
foreign language slower than in their first language. Moreover, they do not know how to
use the appropriate ways to read. They just look at every single word, read slowly from the
beginning to the end and consequently fail to grasp the general meaning of the passage.
Sometimes, they may encounter a lot of vocabulary, a long text or an unfamiliar topic, yet
they can not concentrate well on the text and when they get to the last paragraph they may
not recall what they have read in the first ones.
If a learner does not know how to make use of grammatical, logical and cultural
clues, he will read the text with less comprehension than he might expect. Poor reading
comprehension may result in disinterest in reading. He may be trapped in a vicious circle:
Doesnt understand

Doesnt read much

read slowly

doesnt enjoy reading

Diagram 1: The Vicious Circle of the Weak Readers (Nuttall, 1982: 167)

12

Language Problems
According to Aebersold and Field (1997: 138), knowing vocabulary and structures
is necessary for getting meaning from a text. Students' limited knowledge of vocabulary
and structures makes it really difficult for them to read the text. As a result, students may
give up exploring the text.
Readers' Background Knowledge
Background knowledge refers to the existing information on a specific topic. When
readers deal with a reading text, the first problem is that they may encounter an unfamiliar
topic. The content of the text is comparatively new and difficult for them to understand,
which may make them lose their interest in reading the text.
In addition to these above factors, another factor that is believed to contribute more
or less to learners success and motivation in second language learning is learner
preferences.
Learner Preferences
Learners preferences refer to learning styles involving an individuals natural,
habitual, and preferred ways of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and
skills (Reid, 1995) (quoted in Lightbown and Spada, 1999: 58). It means that learners have
their own preferences for how to learn the new material.
1.3.2.2. Teachers Factor
Linguistics leaves out an essential element of the teachers role, that of a model
teacher. Nuttall (1982: 192) states that showing that you are a reader means carrying
books around with you, referring to books as you teach, reading out brief passages that
may interest students, talking about what you are reading at the moment, and handling
books as if you loved them. He also says teachers job as providing, first, suitable texts
and second, activities that will focus the students attention on the text.
Learners motivation in foreign and second language learning is strongly influenced
by what happens in the classroom, including teachers teaching methods, teachers
personality and teachers rapport with learners.

Teachers Teaching Methods

Teachers teaching methods refer to a set of techniques or activities used to get

learners involved in learning to achieve a goal. One of the reasons for learning a foreign
language among many learners is that they find learning activities interesting. It means that

13
teachers teaching techniques or activities can either motivate or demotivate learners to
learn.
Harmer (1991: 12) finds that classes in which the teachers present a variety of
activities are far more likely to ensure learners continuing interest and involvement in
learning, whereas classes in which the teachers continually give the same activities are not
likely to engage learners interest. For example, if all reading activities always focus on
scanning specific information and learners are never asked to anything else, reading will
become less interesting. The same is true of any activity that is constantly repeated.
Furthermore, learners considerably vary in personality, preferences and beliefs. The
activity that is particularly appropriate for one learner may not be ideal for another. Thus, a
particular teaching method can not satisfy the needs or the interests of all learners.
It is clear that a variety of teaching activities can contribute to learners motivation
while routine and monotony endanger it.

Teachers Personality

Much of the learning of foreign of a foreign and second language is done through
the interaction between the teacher and the learners. During the learning process, all
learners are likely to be influenced by their personal feelings about their teachers, and
therefore, their perceptions of their teachers and of the interaction that occurs between
them and their teachers will undoubtedly affect their motivation to learn (Williams and
Burden, 1997: 13). Teacher personalities like sensitivity, encouragement, sympathy,
enthusiasm are always highly appreciated by learners.

Teachers Rapport with Learners

In addition to teacher personalities, a good rapport between the teacher and learner is
considered significant for learners to cooperate well with the teacher. Wubbel and Levy
(1991) (quoted in Williams and Burden, 1997) emphasize that teachers who
demonstrated more relationship, as well as friendly and understanding behavior in their
interaction with learners were found to foster greater learner achievement and more
positive attitudes towards their subjects. Teachers who showed more uncertain,
dissatisfied, and admonishing behavior produce the reverse effect.
1.3.2.3. Reading Materials' Factors
Reading materials are one of the most important factors determining students'
motivation. According to Broughton (1984: 102), "The choice of an appropriate text is
very important in building up students' reading competence". Also, students are more

14
likely to be motivated to read more by reading materials that are interesting and relevant to
their age and level of ability (Lightbown and Spada, 1999: 57).
Actually, texts play an important role in teaching and learning reading because they are
a means to introduce new lexical, phonetic as well as grammatical items of the target
language. They are also a means to help students to enrich their background knowledge.
Thus, the teacher needs to take the following points into consideration (Grellet, 1981: 20)
when choosing appropriate authentic texts to suit with different reading activities:
-

The language of the text

The content of the text

Vocabulary and grammatical structures

Types of reading activities

In addition, Nuttall (1996) (quoted in Brown, 1990: 314) offered three criteria for
choosing reading texts for students: (1) suitability of content: material that students will
find interesting, enjoyable, challenging, and appropriate for their goals in learning English;
(2) exploitability: a text that facilitates the achievement of certain language and content
goals, that is exploitable for instructional tasks and techniques, and that is integratable with
other skills (listening, speaking, writing); readability: a text with lexical and structural
difficulty that will challenge students without overwhelming them.
Conclusion
The chapter so far has presented literature concerning the subject matter of the
study. It talked about different theories related to the reading skills and reading activities. It
has also discussed the concepts and ideas about motivation in general and in second or
foreign language in particular. Furthermore, the important role of motivation in learning
the reading skill and factors affecting students' motivation in learning this skill have been
reviewed.
The following chapter will display the methodology of the research under the light
of the above-mentioned theories.

15

Chapter 2: Research Methodology

Introduction
This chapter will analyze the situation of the study with the description of the
subjects, the materials used by informants and the instruments applied to collect data.
2.1. Situation Analysis
2.1.1. Setting of the Study
The study was conducted at Hanoi University of Industry, one of the universities
that trains qualified practical engineers. English is a compulsory subject in the training
program. The students have to complete a two-year-and-a-half English course and they
need to obtain the Certificate level B in using English as one of the requirements for their
Bachelors degree. Thus, English is taught in the formal setting with two stages. During the
first one, which lasts two years, students study general English with the four language
skills, namely: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In the second stage, students study
ESP (English for specific purposes) with a focus on reading and translating technical
document relating to their future career. Students are also trained to use English for basic
daily communication in workshop contexts.
The first stage is important to the students' development of the four skills since they
have more time and opportunities to practice language skills basically and systematically
than in the second one. Also, the first stage which provides essential grammar and
vocabulary serves as a base for studying the second one. Students study 120 periods of
English in each semester during the first stage. However, there is only one period of
reading a week. Totally, there are 15 periods of reading a semester. Thus, it is not enough
for the students to develop their reading skills which are assumed to be necessary in
reading technical materials and instructions.
2.1.2. Subjects
* The first-year Students
Most of the first-year students at HaUI, aged from 19 to 21, both male and female,
have learnt English for nearly 4 years or more, 3 years at secondary school and nearly one
year at the English Department. They all have similar background, that is, they all finished
secondary school and passed the Entrance Exam to HaUI. However, they come from
different parts of northern Vietnam. The majority is from the countryside. At the time of
the study, they were in the second term of the first year.

16
* The Teachers of the Non- major English Division 2
There are 10 teachers of English in the Non-major English Division 2. All of them
have been teaching for the division for at least one year. 7 have graduated from the English
Department, College of Foreign Languages, National University, Hanoi; 3 have graduated
from Hanoi University of Foreign Languages. Some of them have got M.A degrees.
However, none of them have studied abroad. They teach all four language skills, that is,
there are no teachers specialized in teaching reading skills.
2.1.3. Reading Materials
The materials used for teaching and learning English for the first stage at HaUI are
chosen with the aim to develop students' communicative skills. Students study English
with the textbook chosen by the Department without any survey on students needs and
interests: "International Expression- Pre-intermediate by Taylor, L. (2004, 1 sted, Oxford
University Press). The reading texts are rather long, requiring good reading techniques.
Some reading texts have many difficult and unfamiliar words to students.
2.1.4. Teaching and Learning Strategies
It is a common knowledge that teachers are responsible for helping their students to
use every possible strategy during the act of reading. In other words, teachers need to have
knowledge of the strategies available for use while reading. There are several useful
strategies for readers like skimming, scanning, summarizing, predicting, etc. Reading
strategies can be taught to the students. In order to become proficient readers, students
need to adopt different types of reading strategies and in different ways. However, students
at HaUI have never been taught reading strategies. They are usually asked to read the text
then do some tasks. The teachers may or may not instruct students about these reading
strategies. Therefore, students often find it difficult to fulfill the tasks, which may
demotivate them to learn reading.
2.2. Sample and Sampling
The sample was drawn from two sources: from 1,000 first-year students and from
10 teachers teaching in the Non-major English Division 2, English Department, at Hanoi
University of Industry.
The first-year students were assigned to 20 different classes. Six students in each
class were randomly selected to fulfill the questionnaire. Totally, 120 students (12 % of the
first-year students) answered the questionnaire.

17
Ten teachers (100 % of the teacher population) who have been teaching English at
the Department for at least one year were invited to join the research. Their ages ranged
from mid-twenties to mid-thirties. There were four male teachers and six female teachers.
2.3. Instrumentation
The instruments used to gather the information for the study will be described as
follows:
2.3.1. Instrument 1- Survey Questionnaire
Two set of survey questionnaire were completed with the assistance of 120 first-year
students and 10 teachers in the Non- major English Division 2. This method allowed the
researcher to collect the data needed in quantitative form. A good point of this method is
that it is quite easy to summarize, analyze and report the collected data as all informants
submit the answer to the same questions. In addition, the informants can express their
opinions on teaching and learning the reading skills in a free way as their personal
information is not included in the questionnaire.
2.3.1.1. The Questionnaire for the Students
The questionnaire for the students (Appendix 1) was designed with two parts. Parts one
consists of four questions to find out about the students sex, which department they belong
to, where they come from, how long they have learnt English and what mark they got in
their English subject last semester. Part two includes five questions with which the
researcher desires to explore the students kind of motivation in learning the reading skills
and the factors affecting their motivation. Questions 3 and 4 attempted to ask students
about the ways they would like to participate in the reading lessons and their preferences
for activities and techniques used by the teacher during the reading lessons. Question 5
tried to find out the causes to the students difficulties in dealing with the reading lessons.
2.3.1.2. The Questionnaire for the Teachers
The questionnaire for the teachers (Appendix 2) consists of two parts (with 8
questions). Part 1 asks about their opinions on teaching the reading skills, the things they
often do in their reading lessons. Part 2 is about their comments on the reading texts in the
textbook.
2.3.2. Instrument 2-Class Observation
It was an on-the-spot observation in which the researcher watched, and recorded all
activities as they were performing in the real classroom settings. The observation enables
the researcher to elicit reliable data. In other words, it is a means to check the reliability of
the data collected from the questionnaire. More importantly, the researcher intended to

18
observe the impact of teachers teaching methods, teachers personality and teachers
rapport with students on students motivation.
The author of the study observed two classes (DHK2 D1 and DHK2 KHMT2). The
reason for choosing those classes is that they belong to different faculties (Electricity and
Computer Science). Each class was picked up randomly from its group. The observation
was carried out in two different lessons in these classes. For each lesson, the researcher
observed for 45 minutes.
Two teachers under the authors observation are the teachers in Non-major English
Division 2, who have been teaching English at this university for at least one year. They
were the teachers in charge of these classes from the beginning of the semester. There are
some differences between the teachers. In the first place, one of them is 23 years old and
the other one is in the mid-thirties. Consequently, their teaching experience must be
different.
Two units were chosen to be observed are unit 5 and unit 9. The purpose for
choosing these units was that they contained rather long reading passages with many
unfamiliar words, which may make the readers bored. Therefore, the researcher intends to
observe how the teachers dealt with the long texts, how they explained the new words and
what techniques they used to motivate students.
Conclusion
This chapter has presented the methodology employed in the research. The next
chapter will offer a descriptive data analysis of the collected data.

19

Chapter 3: Data Analysis

Introduction
This chapter will present a comprehensive analysis on the data collected from the
survey, and the class observation with remarkable findings
3. Data Analysis
This part of the thesis is the treatment of all the data collected from the survey
questionnaires conducted on 120 first-year students and 10 teachers and from the authors
observation in two classes. The analysis of the data is presented in two parts: the first part
is the results of the questionnaires for students and teachers and the second part is from the
researchers observation.
3.1. Data Analysis of the Students Survey Questionnaire
3.1.1. Personal Information of the Students Taking Parts in the Survey
According to statistics, more than two thirds (71%) of the students participate in the
survey are male, female is 29%. The majority (83.3%) is from the countryside whereas
16.7% is from cities. Only 6.1% has been learning English for less than 3 years, in
contrast, 93.9% has more than 4 years of studying this subject. However, one third of them
got marks 5, only 2 students got marks 8, none of them had marks 9, and the rest got marks
6 or 7.
3.1.2. Students Motivations for Learning Reading
Question 1: What is the students main incentive for learning reading?
This question is to seek answers to the kinds of motivation that most of the nonmajor first-year students possess.
Types of Motivation
Integrative

Main incentives for learning reading

Wanting to know about the people and

Percentage
5%

Intrinsic
Instrumental
Instrumental
Global
Resultative

cultures of English speaking countries

Being interested in reading lessons
Wanting to pass the exam
For future career
For social trend
Having good result in English last

15.8 %
10 %
66.7 %
2.5 %
0%

semester
Table 1: Students Incentive for Learning Reading
Table 1 indicates that more than half (66.7 %) of the student population learn
reading in English for their future career. This means that they are aware of the importance
that reading plays in their future job or career development or personal success. It is

20
noticeable that the students result in English can not increase their motivation in learning.
As a matter of fact, most of the students got marks 5, 6 or 7 in their English exam last
semester. On the whole, most of the students (76.7 %) seem to be instrumentally motivated
(66.7 % for future career, and 10 % for the exam).
3.1.3. Students Attitudes towards the Reading Lesson
Question 2: Do the students like the reading lesson?
Item

Percentage
18.3 %
81.7 %

A. Like
B. Dislike

Table 2: Students Attitudes towards the Reading Lesson

It can be seen from the table that only 18.3 % of the student population says they
like the reading lesson. In contrast, the majority (81.7 %) admits that they don not like the
lesson.
3.1.3. Students Preferences for Taking Parts in the Reading Lesson
Question 3: What is the students preferable way of taking part in the reading
lesson?
Item
A. Working individually
B. Working in pairs
C. Working in groups

Percentage
15.8%
52.5%
31.7%

Table 3: Students Preferable Way of Taking Part in the Reading Lesson

As can be seen from Table 3, more than half (52.5%) of the students prefer working
in pairs. Weaker students can feel safer with pair work. They can rely on their partner when
they have difficulties in dealing with the matter. Working in groups is chosen by nearly one
third (31.7%) whereas only 15.8% of the students like working individually.
3.1.4. Students Preferences for Activities in the Reading Lesson
Question 4: In the reading lesson, which activities do the students like?

Question 4.1 asks about the activities the students like in the pre-reading stage
Teachers Activities
A. Asking students to read immediately

Preferred
0%

21
B Providing new key words and structures

40%

C. Briefly introducing the topic of the text

20%

D. Using visual-aids to introduce the topic of the text

E. Using games to introduce the topic of the text

60%

F. Using music to introduce the topic of the text

17%

G. Telling a short story to introduce the topic of the text

28%

H. Encouraging students to guess the content of the text by its title

3%

I. Introducing the organization of the text

3%

K. Introducing the topic of the text and asking students to discuss it

5%

L. Encouraging students to ask questions about the text

0%

M. Giving pre-reading questions

20%

45%

Table 4: Students Preferences for Activities in the Pre-reading Stage

Table 4 indicates that the most preferable pre-reading activity done by the teachers
is introducing the topic of the text by visual-aids. Next falls on games, pre-teaching new
words and structures, telling a short story to introduce the topic of the text. Teachers
briefly introducing the topic of the text or giving pre-reading questions each catches 20%
of the students. Students are not favorable of such activities as reading immediately
without preparation or asking questions about the text. Only few students like guessing the
content of the text based on its title or listening to the teacher introducing the structure of
the text. Only 5% of the students like discussing the topic of the text.
Question 4.2 asks about the students reaction to unknown words they
encounter while reading.
Item

Preferred

A. Teacher explains all the unknown words

70%

B. Students guess the meanings of unknown words in context

30%

Table 5: Students Reaction to Unknown Words They Encounter while Reading

As can be seen from Table 5, more than two thirds (70%) of the students rely on the
teachers with every unfamiliar word they encounter while reading. This reveals that these
students are not effective readers. They tend to pause their reading every time they come
across a new word and can not understand the text without knowing all the words.
Obviously, that habit slows down their reading comprehension.
Question 4.3 is to seek students preferences for the post-reading activities

22
Item
A. Answering teachers questions about the text.
B. Answering other students questions on the text he/she read and asking
the others about the text they read.
C. Summarizing the text
D. Doing exercises on vocabulary
E. Discussing the subject matter of the text
F. At home, writing their opinions on the text

Preferred
20%
10%
10%
28%
30%
3%

Table 6: Students Preferences for the Post-reading Activities

The table shows that no activities can catch the majority of the students. The two
more preferable activities are discussing the subject matter of the text (30%) and doing
exercises on vocabulary (28%). Answering other students questions on the text he/she read
and asking the others about the text they read or summarizing the text interest only 10% of
the student population. The fact is that these tasks are considered difficult for them. They
prefer the easy tasks.
3.1.5. Elements Causing the Students Difficulties in Learning Reading Skills?
Question 5: What are the elements causing the students difficulties in learning
reading skills?
Causes to students difficulties in learning reading skills
A. Lack of background knowledge
B. The texts are full of new words and structures
C. Lack of reading strategies
D. Uninterested in the topics

Percentage
60.8%
56.7%
50%
8.3%

Table 7: Elements Causing the Students Difficulties in Learning Reading Skills

As can be seen from Table 7, three main elements which cause difficulties to
students reading comprehension are the students lack of background knowledge and
reading strategies and the texts are full of new words and structures.
3.2. Data Analysis of the Teachers Survey Questionnaire
3.2.1. Teachers Attitudes towards the Importance of the Stages of the Reading Lesson in
Motivating Students
For the first question of the survey, most of the teachers (8 out of 10 teachers) think
that it is in the pre-reading stage that most necessary to motivate students to participate in
the reading lesson. Only one teacher thinks that it is most necessary to motivate them both
in the warm-up and the pre-reading stage. And one thinks that it is necessary to motivate
them throughout the whole lesson, from the very begin to the end. It appears that all of the

23
teachers are aware of the role that motivation plays in reading lessons and that motivation
needs enhancing right from the very first stage of the lesson, especially from the prereading stage.
3.2.2. Teachers Attitudes towards the Interrelationship between the Reading Skills and
other Language Skills
Question 2 refers to the teachers attitudes towards the interrelationship between the
reading skills and other language skills. All of the teachers admitted that there exists an
interrelationship among the four language skills; students can not learn one well without
the knowledge of others. This means that all the teachers are aware of Communicative
Language Teaching in which reading is not an isolated skill but in the interrelationship
with other language skills.
3.2.3. Situation of Teaching Reading in a Reading Lesson at HaUI
The situation of teaching reading at HaUI can be seen by examining the things that
the teachers often do in their reading lessons. This refers to question 3, question 4, question
5 and question 6
Question 3: What are the teachers most and least frequent ways of organizing
students reading activity?
Ways of organizing reading

Percentage
Most frequently used
Least frequently used

activity
A. Individual work
20 %
30 %
B. Pair work
60 %
10 %
C. Group work
20 %
60%
Total
100 %
100 %
Table 8: Teachers Ways of Organizing Students Reading Activity

As can be seen from the table, 60 % of the teacher population frequently asks the
students to work with their partners in the reading lessons. When asking why doing so, the
teachers say that their students prefer pair work because weaker students feel safer and
more confident. Only 10 % of them usually organize the students into groups while 20 %
frequently lets students work individually.
The least frequently used way of organizing students reading activity is group
work (answered by 60 % of the teachers). They found it difficult to control the class.
Question 4: In the pre-reading stage, how often do the teachers do the following
things?
Teachers activities

Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

A. Asking students to read

0%

0%

0%

0%

100%

24
immediately
B. Pre-teaching new words and

30%

50%

10%

10%

0%

50%

50%

0%

0%

0%

50%

30%

20%

0%

0%

0%

0%

10%

10%

80%

0%

0%

20%

30%

50%

0%

0%

0%

20%

80%

0%

0%

10%

40%

50%

0%

0%

10%

30%

60%

0%

0%

20%

30%

50%

0%

0%

20%

40%

40%

0%

0%

0%

20%

80%

structures
C. Giving a brief introduction to
the text
D. Giving pre-reading questions
about the text
E. Using visual-aids to introduce
the topic of the text
F. Using games to introduce the
topic of the text
G. Telling a short story to
introduce the topic of the text
H. Using music to introduce the
topic of the text
I. Asking students to predict the
content of the text by its title
K. Introducing the structure of
the text
L. Introducing the topic and
letting students discuss it
M. Encouraging students to ask
questions about the text
Table 9: Teachers Habitual Teaching Activities in the Pre-reading Stage
The table indicates that none of the teachers asked their students to read
immediately, they all tried to arouse their students interest in reading the text by using
some techniques. However, these techniques are not very various. The teachers tended to
mainly employ such techniques as pre-teaching new words and structures (30% always,
50% often), giving a brief introduction to the text (50% always, 50% often), and giving
pre-reading questions about the text (50% always, 30% often). It is clear that most of them
used these techniques very often. While other techniques like using visual-aids, telling a
short story to introduce the topic of the text, asking students to predict the content of the
text by using titles, introducing the structure of the text, introducing the topic and letting

25
students discuss it, encouraging students to ask questions about the text were rarely or
never used by the teachers.
Question 5: During the while-reading stage, how often do the teachers do the
following teaching techniques?
Activities

Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

A. Explaining unknown words and

0%

20%

40%

40%

0%

0%

30%

50%

20%

0%

structures
B. Encouraging students to guess the
meaning of unknown words in the
context
Table 10: Teachers Response to Students unknown Words in the Whilereading Stage
As can be seen from the table, only 20% of the teacher population often explains
unknown words and structures to the students. 40% does it sometimes while the same
percentage rarely does.
It is noticeable that 30% of the teacher population often encourages the students to
guess the meaning of unknown words in context. Half of the population sometimes does it,
whereas 20% rarely does.

Question 6: During the post-reading stage, how often do the teachers do the
following things?
Activities

Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

reading

10%

0%

0%

0%

0%

B. Asking students to summarize the

0%

0%

40%

30%

30%

0%

0%

60%

40%

0%

30%

50%

20%

0%

0%

A.

Checking

students

comprehension
text
C. Asking Ss to do exercises on
vocabulary
D. Asking students to discuss the

26
information in the text
E. Asking Ss to write about the topic

30%

40%

30%

of the text as home work

Table 11: Teachers Habitual Teaching Activities in the Post-reading Stage
In the post-reading stage, all the teachers always check students reading
comprehension. Obviously, it is necessary to do so. The second most frequent technique
used by the teachers is asking students to discuss the information in the text. Once more, it
can be seen that the teachers often employ very few techniques. Therefore, reading lessons
are very monotonous. Other techniques, such as asking students to summarize the text, to
do exercises on vocabulary, and to write about the topic of the text at home, are sometimes,
rarely or never used.
3.2.4. Teachers Opinions on the Reading Texts in the Textbook
Question 7: What do the teachers think about the reading practice section in the
textbook?
This question is to seek the teachers comments on the topics, the language, the
photos and pictures available in the reading sections, the pre-reading activities and the
tasks given after the texts.

Comments
7.1. The topics are interesting
7.1. The topics are boring
7.2. The language of the text is suitable for the students' level
7.2. The language of the text is full of new words and structures
7.3. The photos and pictures are good
7.3. The photos and pictures are not very good
7.4. The pre-reading activities are interesting
7.4. The pre-reading activities are monotonous
7.5. The follow-up tasks are suitable for the students' language competence
7.5. The follow-up tasks are too difficult for the students to complete
7.5. The follow-up tasks are sufficiently varied
7.5. The follow-up tasks are monotonous
Table 12: Teachers Comments on the Reading Material

Percentage
60%
40%
40%
60%
60%
40%
10%
70%
40%
60%
20%
80%

27
Question7.1
About the topics of the text, more than half of the teachers (60%) think that the
topics of the text are interesting. They are about adventures, food, museums, work,
cultures, China, and life expectancy.
Question 7.2
Concerning the language of the text, about three-fourths (60%) of the teachers think
that the language of the text is suitable for students level. 40% say that the texts are full of
new words and structures.
Question 7.3
The photos and pictures available in the text are considered good by 60% of the
teachers. However, 40% of them think it is very poor.
Question 7.4
Commenting the pre-reading activities, only 1 teacher (10%) says that they are
interesting, whereas 70% of the teachers think that they are monotonous. Actually, most of
the pre-reading activities are matching the words and their meanings, which caused
boredom to the students.
Question 7.5
About the difficulty level of the follow-up tasks, none of the teachers think that the
tasks are too easy for students. The tasks are considered suitable for students language
competence by 40% of the teacher population and considered too difficult by 60%.
The tasks are commented to be sufficiently varied by only 20% of the teacher
population, whereas 80% say that they are monotonous. Actually, the follow-up tasks
usually require students to ask and answer questions with their partners, and then discuss in
groups the topic of the text.
3.2.5. Teachers Suggestions on Improving the Reading Section in the Textbook
Question 8: What should be done to improve the reading section in the textbook?
Teachers Suggestions
A. Add more various kinds of activities
B. Provide pre-reading questions regularly for each lesson
Table 13: Suggestions to Improve the Reading Material

Percentage
100%
80%

28
The chart indicates that the teachers in the survey agree that adding more various
kinds of activities (100%) and providing pre-reading questions regularly for each unit
(80%) are the first two things that need to be done for improving the material. As a matter
of fact, many reading sections in the textbook are designed without pre-reading questions.
The teachers are willing to share their ideas and effort to design more activities and prereading questions in order to increase students motivation in reading.
3.3. Results from Class Observation
As mentioned above, two classes (DHK2 D1 and DHK2 KHMT 2) with two
different teachers were observed. The first noticeable thing is that both of the teachers
employed pre-reading techniques in their lessons. It appears that the teachers have high
opinion of the impact of activities done in the pre-reading stage on the students
motivation.
The first observation was taken from DHK2 D1 with the text Slow down and Enjoy
Life in unit 5. The text is about slow food. It is a rather long text with many unfamiliar
words. These words may affect the students understanding if they are not taught in
advance. The teacher greeted her students, and then asked them about the weather. In the
researcher view, this is a good technique as it sets up a free-anxiety atmosphere for the
class. The teacher employed pre-teaching new vocabulary technique for the first stage of
the lesson. She told her students that they were going to read a text about food with some
new words. At this point, the researcher saw that there was no link between the warm-up
stage and the pre-reading stage. The students were not well prepared to move to the prereading stage. The teacher prepared a list of words, for example, outlet, in protest,
movement, inhabitant, publish, destroy, psychologist, human being, citizen, reduce, ban,
invasion, etc. She taught them by simply translating into the students mother tongue,
Vietnamese. This is a very quick way of making the students understanding the meaning of
these words. However, teaching new words in this way may lower the students capability
of thinking because they do not need to call up their existing knowledge to make sense of
the new words. Moreover, it makes the students inactive. They just listened to the teachers
mono talk in their mother tongue, which is not very helpful in building up their English
vocabulary. Not all the students listened to the teacher. Some of them already knew these
words. In the researchers opinion, it could be better if the teacher asked if any student
could make sense of the words. Those who listened wrote the words down in their
notebook. The teacher then pronounced the new words just once time as a model for the
students. Her voice was loud enough. The activity lasted ten minutes. The teacher asked

29
her students to read the information to answer the four questions given in the textbook. She
did not ask the students to work in pairs or in groups. From the researchers observation,
many students reluctantly read the text. It seemed that the teachers pre-reading technique
was not effective in boosting her students motivation in reading the text. Some students
could not answerer the questions. The teacher checked the students answers simply by
asking the questions to the whole class. She did not point at a certain student. Thus, few
active students spoke out their answers to the questions while others gave no answers. The
teacher then corrected these students answers and then divided the class into two groups.
Each group read a paragraph then had to write five questions to ask the other group. The
students had difficulty in making questions. So the teacher herself put the questions for the
two groups. Her students just answered her questions. In the post-reading stage, the teacher
allowed discussion about popular food in Vietnam. The students seemed to be more active
when discussed it. In short, the researcher saw that the teacher of this class was
enthusiastic. However, her way of teaching did not create students activeness in learning.
For unit 9, the researcher observed DHK2 KHMT2. The text is about the changes
in China. It has a lot of unfamiliar words about socio-economic issues. The teacher of this
class started the lesson by playing music then asked his students to tell its nationality. The
students immediately recognized that it is the Chinese music in the film T tng Lu g.
The teacher then encouraged his students to call up their knowledge about this country in
today life. He organized his students in groups of 5 to give their opinion on the statements
about China. Basing on existing knowledge, the students had to decide which statement is
true and which is false. The teacher pre-taught his students the new words by several ways:
translating into Vietnamese the difficult words, explaining, giving examples, using
synonyms and antonyms. The students listened to him carefully then did the task. As far as
the researcher observed, the students were very eager to do this task. The pre-reading stage
lasted 15 minutes. The teacher then asked his students to read the article The Worlds
Fastest-Growing Economy. The students had to decide which of the statements they read
in the pre-reading stage are true or false according to the author of the article. Students
read together in groups, helping one another with unknown words. They had no difficulty
in doing the task. The teacher then checked the students answers. He continued by asking
his students to read again to find the words and phrases in the article that have the
meanings mentioned in a list. The students were interested in doing the task. Many of them
gave correct answers. Next, the teacher extracted some numbers and phrases from the
article and asked his students to find the reference. Most students answered correctly. This

30
task helped the students to remember the main points of the article easily. Lastly, the
teacher spent 5 last minutes for group discussion about the impact of China
industrialization on the environment. Some active students spoke out their opinions while
many others gave no ideas. In general, the researcher saw that this lesson was fairly good
as it attracted most of the students in the activities. The teachers loud clear voice and good
eye contact with students, especially, his humor contributed a lot to students attention
during the lesson.
In short, the observation helps the researcher confirm the fact that pre-reading
techniques applied by the teacher greatly affect the students motivation before they start to
read and that in order to keep students high motivated, the teacher needs to employ various
activities during the lesson.
Conclusion
This chapter has presented the data analysis from the two survey questionnaires and class
observation. Major findings and suggestions will be in the next chapter of the study.

Chapter 4: Major Findings and Suggestions

4.1. Major Findings and Discussions
4.1.1. Type of Motivation Possessed by the Non-English major first-year Students at
Hanoi University of Industry
The students seem to possess instrumental motivation (76.7%) rather than intrinsic
motivation (15.8%) or integrative motivation (5%). The main reason for their English
study in general and learning reading in particular is for their future. However, 10% of the
students do not have a long-term goal. They just want to pass the end-of-term exam. From
this fact, it is necessary to help these students to set clear realistic as well as long term
goals. The teachers should give their students examples of the real life situations in which
English is used as an indispensable and effective means of communication. Another thing
should be paid attention to is only 18.3% of the students is interested in the reading lesson,
which raise the question of how to increase the students intrinsic motivation in the lesson.
The result of the survey also reveals the reasons for the situation.
4.1.2. Factors Affecting the Students Motivation in Learning the Reading Skill
4.1.2.1. Students Factors
4.1.2.1.1. Limited Background Knowledge

31
When learning the reading skill, the non-English major first-year students have
many difficulties. First of all, their background knowledge is limited. They have just left
high school, so they do not have much knowledge of social life. Moreover, the majority
come from the countryside with limited conditions for access to information on different
aspects of life. This fact makes the students find it difficult to read the topics beyond their
knowledge. The survey showed that 60.8% of them blamed their reading difficulties on the
lack of background knowledge.
4.1.2.1.2. Language Problems
The students knowledge of vocabulary is still limited. They often come up with
unfamiliar words and phrases, which are obstacles to their understanding of the ideas of the
text.
4.1.2.1.3. Lack of Reading Strategies
The students do not have necessary reading strategies. Most of them use bottom-up
reading strategy. They often need to know every word in order to understand the reading
text. They rely so heavily on the teacher with unknown words. As a result, they become
inactive readers.
4.1.2.2. Teachers Factors
Teacher Teaching Methods
In the reading lesson, the teachers often organize rather few activities. They do the
same things lesson by lesson, which causes boredom to the students. In pre-reading stage,
they mainly use such techniques as pre-teaching vocabulary, briefly introducing the topic
of the text and giving pre-reading questions. Music, visual-aids, telling short stories, and
games which the students prefer are not frequently used. This reveals that the teachers tend
to do things which do not need much preparation.
The data analysis of the survey indicates that the teachers teaching methods
mismatched the students preferences. Firstly, in the pre-reading stage, the students like the
teachers who instruct them to read the reading text by various techniques like using visualaids, games, music and short stories besides pre-teaching new key words or structures.
However, the teachers often employ only three techniques: pre-teaching new words,
introducing briefly the topic of the text and giving pre-reading questions. Secondly, the
students prefer to work in pairs or in groups rather than work individually. Yet organizing
the students to work in groups is used the least by the teachers. Moreover, in the post
reading-stage, all of the teachers require the students to answer comprehension questions
then discuss the subject matter of the text. However, these activities interest only 20% and

32
30% of the students, respectively. In short, in order to make the students interested in the
lesson, the teachers need to vary the class activities.
4.1.2.3. Reading Material Factors
The reading material itself reveals some problems. 40% of the teachers say that the
topics of the reading passages can not interest the students. 60 % of the teachers and 56.7%
of the students agree that the reading passages usually contain many new words and
structures, which causes difficulties for the students to understand the ideas stated in the
texts. The pre-reading and the post-reading tasks are considered monotonous by 70% and
80% of the teachers respectively. 60% of the teachers comment that the follow-up tasks are
too difficult for students language competence.
4.2. Suggestions
The major findings help the researcher to have an overview of the situation of
teaching and learning the reading skill at Hanoi University of Industry. The findings enable
the researcher to give some recommendations to better the situation for the sake of the
students.
1. Varying pre-reading techniques
The findings from the survey indicate that if various techniques for different
reading texts are employed it will be necessary and beneficial for the students. The teacher
should not follow the steps of the pre-reading stage available in the texts rigidly without
considering they are interesting to students or not. Visual-aids, games, telling short stories
should be used more often in the pre-reading stage because they are favored by a large
number of the students.
In addition, the students like to work in pairs and in groups rather than working
individually. Thus, the teachers should organize pair work and group work more often for
the students to participate, especially in the pre-reading and post-reading stages with some
activities like games and discussions.
2. Encouraging the development of reading strategies
As it can be seen from the findings that the students lack of reading strategies, the
teachers should spend time and efforts to provide students with reading strategies. Firstly, it
is the teachers job to help the students identify their purpose in reading. Efficient
reading consists of clearly identifying the purpose in reading something. By doing so,
students know what they are looking for and can weed out potential distracting
information. Secondly, the two most valuable reading strategies for learners (skimming

33
and scanning) should be trained to students. The next strategy that the students need to
employ is using semantic mapping or clustering. Readers can easily be overwhelmed by
a long string of ideas or events. The strategy of semantic mapping, or grouping ideas into
meaningful clusters, helps the reader to provide some order to the chaos. Making such
semantic maps can be done individually, but they make for a productive group work
techniques. Added to this, the teachers should encourage the students to guess when they
are not certain. One way for learners to make guessing pay off when they do not
immediately recognize a word is to analyze it in terms of what they know about it. Several
useful techniques are looking for prefixes or suffixes, looking for roots that are familiar,
etc. Last but not least, the teachers should help the students to capitalize on discourse
markers to process relationships. For example, markers such as first(ly), second(ly), a, b,
c, next, then, etc, introduce the sequence.
3. Improving the activities in the material
The findings from the survey questionnaire show that the activities available for the
pre-reading stage and the post-reading stage in the textbook are monotonous and unable to
enhance the students motivation. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the activities in the
material.
Firstly, more various kinds of activities should be added so that the teachers can
make use of the techniques appropriately and flexibly. The reason for this lies in the fact
that most activities available in the pre-reading stage are in the form of matching the words
and their meanings. As a matter of fact, the reading texts are full of new words. This kind
of activity surely can help the students to get the meanings of key words, which is very
important for reading comprehension. However, many students often prepare for the new
words at home before attending the lesson. So, they feel bored when the teacher lets them
do this matching in class. The students will be more motivated and involved if more
various kinds of activities are provided.
Secondly, pre-reading questions should be provided for each reading text. The texts
in units 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 do not have pre-reading questions. The students will be more eager
to read the text when they have the reason for reading it. It is necessary for the teachers of
Non- major English Division 2 to work together to design pre-reading questions.
Thirdly, the teachers are encouraged to provide more activities that are of the
students interests. The students like to do exercises on vocabulary, so the teachers should
design more exercises of this kind.

34

Part III: Conclusion

1. Summary
The teachers and students at Hanoi University of Industry often encounter several
difficulties when dealing with the reading skill. Teachers often find it hard to get students
actively involved in their reading activities, the students are not always highly motivated
by the techniques their teachers employed in the lesson.
There are several factors affecting the students motivation in learning reading.
From the data analysis, they are the students factors, the teachers factors and reading
material factors. What is more, there exist a difference between the teachers habitual
teaching activities and the students preferences for these activities.
In order to better the situation, the teachers should take into account things such as
the reading material, reading activities, learning strategies and students preferences.
2. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Study
Due to the time limitation, the study can not focus on other factors affecting the
students motivation in learning reading in general and in reading the text in particular.
They can be: general intelligence, language aptitude, personal feelings, class size, time

35
table for formal instructions, teaching facilities, cultural bias, etc. These call for further
research.
Moreover, the current textbook for the first-year students is used without a survey
on the students needs and interests. Obviously, it reveals some problems concerning the
students interests and familiarity to the topics. Therefore, recommendations to improve the
textbook may be another direction for further study.

References
1. Aebersold, A. J. and Field, L. M. (1997). From Reader to Reading Teacher: Issues and
Strategies for second Language Classrooms. Cambridge University Press.
2. Bamford, J. and Day, R.R. (1998). Annual Review of Applied Linguistics: Teaching
Reading, 18, 124-141.
3. Broughton, G. (1984). Teaching English as a Foreign Language. University of London.
4. Brown, H.D. (1990). Principles of Teaching and Learning. Prentice Hall Regents, New
Jersey.
5. Crookes and Schmidt (1989). Motivation: Reopening the research agenda. Language
Learning, 41, 469-512.
6. Duffy, G. (1993). Rethinking Strategy Instruction: For Teachers' Development and their
Low Achievers' Understandings. Elementary School Journal, 93, 231-127.
7. Ellis, R. (1997). Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
8. Garner, R. C. and Lambert, W.E. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in second language
Learning. Roley, Mass-Newsbury House.
9. Girard, D. (1997). 'Motivation: The Responsibility of the Teacher', ELT Journal.

36
10. Grellet, F. (1990). Developing Reading Skills- a Practical Guide to Reading
Comprehension Exercises. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11. Harmer, J. (1989). The Practice of English Language Teaching. 1st ed. Longman.
12. Harmer, J. (1999). The Practice of English Language Teaching. 2nd ed. Longman.
13. Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd ed. Longman.
14. Lewis, M. and Hill, J. (1992). Practical Techniques for Language Teaching.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15. Lightbown, P.M. and Spada, N. (1999). How Languages are Learnt. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
17. McKay, H. and Tom, A. (1999). Teaching Adult second Language Learners.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18. Naiman et al. (1978). The Good Language Learners. Toronto: Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education.
19. Nga, T.T.N. (2004). Pre-reading Techniques to Motivate second- year Students to
Improve their Reading Skills at the English Department, VNU-CFL. Unpublished MA
Dissertation.
20. Nuttall, C. (1982). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. 1st ed. Oxford:
Heinemann.
21. Nuttall, C. (2000). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. 2nd ed. Oxford:
Heinemann.
22. Oxford, R. and Shearin, J. (1996). Language Learning Motivation in a New Key. Inr.
Oxford.
23. Resnick, J. and Lester, L. (2000). Text and Thought-an Interesting Rated Approach to
College Reading and Writing. Longman.
24. Teaching Reading. The Essentials of Language Teaching. Retrieved October 8, 2007,
from http://www. nclrc.org./essentials/reading/reindes.ntml
25. Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
26. Wassman, R. and Rinsky, A. L. (1993). Effective Reading in a Challenging World.
Prentice Hall.
27. Williams, M. and Burden, R. L. (1997). Psychology for Language Teachers: a Social
Constructivist Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28. Williams, E. (1984). Reading in the Language Classroom. New York: Macmillan.

37
29. Woolfolk, A. (2001). Educational Psychology. 8th ed. A Pearson Education Company,
United States.