Sử dụng các phương pháp tạo động lực trong lớp học tiếng Anh xã hội dạy kết hợp 4 kĩ năng nghe, nói, đọc, viết

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SỬ DỤNG CÁC PHƯƠNG PHÁP TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC 
TRONG LỚP HỌC TIẾNG ANH XÃ HỘI 
DẠY KẾT HỢP 4 KĨ NĂNG NGHE, NÓI, ĐỌC, VIẾT 
Lu Ngc Lan 
Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ - ĐHQG Hà Nội 
Tóm t
t: Chiến lược tạo động lực đóng vai trò quan 
trọng đối với các lớp học ngoại ngữ cũng như thực tế 
đã cho thấy rằng cách tiếp cận mới trong giảng dạy 
tếng Anh tại các trường FELTE, HULIS và VNU đã tạo 
thêm nhiều thách thức mới cho cả giảng viên và sinh 
viên năm nhất. Điều này chính là động lực để tác giả 
thực hiện nghiên cứu về vấn đề này. Bài viết này nhắm 
phân tích những chiến lược tạo động lực được sử dụng 
nhiều nhất từ góc nhìn của cả giáo viên và sinh viên 
năm thứ nhất chính quy trong các lớp tiếng Anh giao 
tiếp ở Khoa Sư phạm tiếng Anh, Trường Đại học Ngoại 
Ngữ, Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội. 
Để đạt được mục đích trên, chúng tôi đã đề nghị 09 
giáo viên và 223 sinh viên của 09 lớp học hoàn thành 
một bảng câu hỏi. Bên cạnh đó, chúng tôi còn tiến 
hành quan sát lớp và phỏng vấn nhằm kiểm tra chéo 
dữ liệu từ những khía cạnh khác nhau nên đảm bảo độ 
tin cậy và giá trị của kết quả nghiên cứu. 
Dựa trên dữ liệu thu thập được, kích thích khả năng 
tự sửa lỗi, thiết lập sự liên quan, sự hỗ trợ mang tính 
hướng dẫn của giáo viên, cá nhân hoá, thúc đẩy việc 
hợp tác, làm việc trong những nhóm/cặp khác nhau là 
những chiến lược tạo động lực được sử dụng nhiều 
nhất. Thêm vào đó, theo ý kiến của giáo viên, cạnh 
tranh theo nhóm, thiết lập sự liên quan, kích thích tự 
sửa lỗi hoặc sửa lỗi theo cặp, sự hỗ trợ mang tính 
hướng dẫn của giáo viên, sự tán dương hiệu quả và cá 
nhân hóa là những kĩ thuật hiệu quả nhất. Mặt khác, từ 
quan điểm của sinh viên, kích thích sửa lỗi của cá nhân 
và cặp, thiết lập sự liên quan, tán dương hiệu quả và 
làm việc trong các nhóm/cặp khác nhau là những 
phương pháp hiệu quả nhất. 
Abstract: Motivational strategies are important to 
apply in foreign language classes as well as the fact 
that new approach of teaching English in Faculty of 
English Language Teaching Education (FELTE), 
University of language and international study (ULIS), 
Vietnam National University (VNU) has raised new 
challenge for both teachers and first-year students, 
have become a great drive for the researcher to 
conduct this research. The study aims at investigating 
into the most frequently and most effective strategies 
used in social English class of first- year mainstream 
students in FELTE, ULIS, VNU, as perceived by both 
students and teachers. 
In order to achieve these aims, 9 teachers and 223 
students from 9 classes were involved in completing 
the questionnaires. Besides observations, interviews 
were employed to triangulate the data from various 
aspects and hence ensure the validity as well as 
reliability of the research. 
Based on the data collected, Elicitation of self and 
or peer correction, Establishing relevance, Scaffolding, 
Personalization, Promoting cooperation 
andInconsistent group/pair work are considered the 
most frequently motivational strategies. Additionally, 
according to the teachers, Team competition, 
Establishing relevance, Elicitation of self or peer 
correction, Scaffolding, Effective praise and 
Personalization are the most effective techniques. On 
the other hands, from the students’ perception, 
Elicitation of self or peer correction, Establishing 
relevance, Effective praise, Inconsistent group/ pair 
work are the most effective strategies. 
THE USE OF MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES 
IN SOCIAL INTEGRATED-SKILLED ENGLISH CLASS 
1. Statement of research problem and 
rationale for the study 
According to Dörnyei (1998), researchers and 
teachers from all other the world have agreed that 
motivation is one of the determinants for the 
success of second language (L2) studying process. 
Therefore, motivational strategies should be seen 
as the key for successful L2 classes. In the world, 
Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 
108 
motivational strategies have been applied 
successfully in many English as second language 
(ESL) classes, which have brought about many 
advantages. For example, the study The Use of 
Motivational Strategies in Language Instruction: 
The Case of EFL Teaching in Taiwan (Dörnyei& 
Cheng 2007) has shown advantages of using 
motivational strategies in ESL classes: 
“Promoting leaner autonomy, creating interesting 
classes, and recognizing students’ effort and hard 
work”. However, motivational strategies have not 
been widely applied in Vietnam, especially at high 
school. Grammar- Translation is still the most 
popular method used in classes at high school in 
Vietnam due to the pressure of the university 
entrance exam containing no communicative skill. 
Therefore, students in high school study English 
by learning by heart the rules and few 
motivational strategies have been used in high 
school context. This fact leads to the passive and 
ineffective way of learning of most students in L2 
classes in Vietnam. 
In ULIS context, the students have chance to 
approach totally different method of teaching, 
which is Communicative Language Teaching 
(CLT). This method requires them to be more 
active, to be the class center. Unfortunately, most 
of the students, especially the first- year ones have 
the habit of passive learning for too long period of 
time and find it extremely hard to get 
acquaintance to the new method. In this situation, 
the duties of the teachers are emphasized. 
Motivational strategies should be applied 
successfully by the teachers to help students 
change their learning method as soon as possible 
to adapt with the curriculum. 
On the other hand, it is not an easy task for 
teachers to apply successfully motivational 
strategies because “often a complex and difficult 
task that involves a multiplicity of psycho- 
sociological and linguistic factors” (Dörnye ... xtremely effective” 
but the difference among answers was big. 
Personalization seemed to be simple and 
effective because many teachers used it in their 
class. From the observation, the researcher found 
out that this strategy was so easy to apply, because 
it could be just a simple question for example: 
“Do you have any suggestion when giving good 
new or bad news? (In video 1, applied by T1), 
“What should you do in role playing?” (In video 
3- applied by T3), “What do you like most about 
that film?” (In video 4, applied by T4), “What 
kind of film do you think is the best choice? (In 
video 5, applied by T5), “In your opinions, what is 
the important thing for your happiness? What is 
the concept of happiness?” (In video 7, applied by 
T7) and so on. It was simple but also effective. 
After the teachers raised questions for the students 
to express their personal meanings, the students 
seemed to be eager to answer. 
In conclusion, from the perception of the 
teachers, Team competitionEstablishing relevance, 
Elicitation of self or peer correction, Scaffolding, 
Effective praise and Personalization are the most 
effective motivational strategies. 
2.3.3. Research questions 3: What 
motivational strategies are most effective for 
first-year mainstream students at FELTE, 
HULIS, VNU in social English lessons, from the 
perception of the students? 
With the aim of seeking comprehensive answer 
for this question, the first-year students were 
asked to give marks ranging from 1 to 5 (i.e from 
totally in effective to extremely effective) to 
signify the effectiveness of the motivational 
strategies. 
Figure 13 below illustrates effectiveness of 
motivational strategies for first-year mainstream 
students at FELTE, HULIS, VNU in social 
English lessons, from the perception of the 
students. 

 




 
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Figure 13: The effectiveness of using motivational strategies, perceived by the students 
As can be seen in the chart, the range of the 
choices was from 3.05 to 4.13, which indicated 
that almost all of the students thought that all of 
the motivational strategies were at least 
“moderately effective”. Among all the strategies, 
Elicitation of self or peer correction was the most 
effective strategy from the viewpoint of the first-
year students with the mean score of 4.13. At the 
second position, Establishing relevance had the 
mean point of 4.09. 4.06 was the average score 
among the participants’ opinions of Effective 
praise which made it become at the third position. 
After that, Inconsistent group/pair work had the 
mean score of 4.03. 
More detailed analysis of the most effective 
strategies, evaluated by the first-year students 
would be discussed in the following part. 

 Elicitation of self or peer correction 
Figure 14 below shows the effectiveness of 
Elicitation of self or peer correction, perceived by 
the first-year students. 
Figure 14: Effectiveness of Elicitation of self or peer correction, 
from the perception of the first-year students 
When according to the teachers, Elicitation of 
self or peer correction ranked third, this strategy 
ranked first according to the students. The mean 
score was 4.13, which meant in average, this 
strategy was evaluated as “effective”. The Mode 
was 5, which showed that many students thought 
that this strategy was “extremely effective”. 
However, SD was 1.03, which indicated that there 
were some differences among answers of the students. 
When being asked about the reasons why 
Elicitation of self or peer correction was effective, 
S4 said that this strategy was a good way for them 
to memorise that mistakes and avoid making it 
again in the future. In addition, S7 raised another 
benefit of this strategy, which was like what T1 
said. The idea was Elicitation of self or peer 
correction could help the students to improve 
critical thinking. 

 Establishing relevance 
The following chart describes the effectiveness 
of Etablishing relevance from the perception of 
the first-year students 


  


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Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 
118 
Figure 15: Effectiveness of Establishing relevance, 
from the perception of the first-year students 
As perceived by students, Establishing 
relevance ranked at second place, just like the 
teachers’ opinions. The mean score was 4.09, 
mode was 5 and SD was 1.02. 
In the interview session, the students talked 
much about this strategy. For example, S3, S6, S7 
and S8 found that what connected directly to real 
life topic always give more motivation for the 
students in class, instead of just theory in the 
books. Moreover, according to S4, the students 
need more chance to express themselves, to be 
more confident and creative and Establishing 
relevance is one of the best way to do so. 

 Effective praise 
Figure 16 shows us the effectiveness of 
Effective praise, perceived by the first-year 
students. 
Figure 16: Effectiveness of Effective praise, from the perception of the first-year students 
It seems that the students really want to receive 
effective praise from their teachers, therefore, they 
ranked this strategy at third place, unlike the 
opinions of the teachers ranking it fourth place. 
The mean score was 4.06, mode was 5 and SD 
was 1.01. 
The following chart shows the effectiveness of 
Inconsistent group/pair work, perceived by students. 
Figure 17: Effectiveness of Inconsistent group/pair work, 
from the perception of the first-year students 
Inconsistent group/pair work was evaluated as 
the fourth most effective strategy, from the 
perception of the students, while the teachers did 
not think that this was one of the most effective 
ones. The mean score was 4.03, mode is 5 and SD 
was 1.04. 
All in all, from the perception of the students, 
Elicitation of self or peer correction, Establishing 
relevance, Effective praise, Inconsistent 
group/pair work are the most effective 
motivational strategies. 
3. Conclusion 
3.1. Summary of the findings 
The study aimed at (1) exploring the most 
frequently strategies used by teachers at FELTE, 
HULIS, VNU in social English lessons of first-
year mainstream students and (2) determining 
most effective motivational strategies used by 
teachers at FELTE, HULIS, VNU in social 
English lessons, as perceived by the teacher and 


 




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students. After the analysis of the data collected 
from 223 students and 9 teachers via such 
instruments as the questionnaire, interview and 
classroom observation, it was found out as follows: 
Firstly, from the questionnaire of students and 
teachers and the classroom observation results, 
Elicitation of self and or peer correction, 
Establishing relevance, Scaffolding, 
Personalization, Promoting cooperation, 
Inconsistent group/pair work are considered the 
most frequently motivational strategies used by 
teachers at FELTE, HULIS, VNU in social 
English lessons of first-year mainstream students. 
Secondly, from the perception of the teachers, 
Team competition, Establishing relevance, 
Elicitation of self or peer correction, Scaffolding, 
Effective praise and Personalization are the most 
effective motivational strategies. This result was 
based on the teachers’ self report and from the 
observation as well. The questionnaire and the 
classroom observation scheme both based on the 
MOLT classroom observation scheme by 
Guilloteaux and Dörnyei (2008). From the 
observation scheme, when teacher applied these 
strategies in class, more than two thirds of the 
students actively took part in the classroom activities, 
which means, according to Guilloteaux and Dörnyei 
(2008), the students were highly motivated. 
Last but not least, from the perception of the 
students, Elicitation of self or peer correction, 
Establishing relevance, Effective praise, 
Inconsistent group/ pair work are the most 
effective motivational strategies. 
3.2. Pedagogical Implications of the study 
This study has shed some light on the use of 
the motivational strategies in social English class 
for first-year mainstream students, at FELTE, 
ULIS, VNU. The findings of the study offer some 
pedagogical implications for teachers as below. 
Firstly, as shown in the study, each of 
motivational strategies has certain effective results 
in making the students being motivated in class. 
When being interviewed, the students agreed that 
the role of the teachers to motivate the students in 
class is very important. They said that the teachers 
should be the motivators who are enthusiastic, 
friendly and caring. The teachers can make the 
students stay focus, attend actively and become 
more confident in English lessons by motivating 
them. However, when being interviewed, the 
teachers said that they have learned about 
motivational strategies in school when they were 
students, but not much. Most of them had to learn 
by themselves, through books or practical 
experiences. On the other hand, the results from 
this research have shown the importance of 
motivational strategies and the role of the teachers 
as a motivator for a class. Therefore, the 
researcher suggests that there should be a course 
teaching the teachers for the motivational 
strategies intensively, or in ELT course in the 
university, motivational strategies should be 
emphasized more as this is one of the most 
important tools for a teacher to help their students. 
Secondly, the research would serve as a source 
of reference for the teachers teaching social 
English class in the future. They can pay attention 
to the techniques that the senior teachers- the 
participants in this study claimed most effective, 
based on their teaching experiences. In addition, 
they can also notice the strategies that the students 
felt that they were effective to themselves, which 
could make them feel very excited in class. Also, 
the best choices for the future teachers might be 
the strategies which were evaluated as most 
effective by both teachers and students. Moreover, 
most frequently used motivational strategies 
shown in this study are normally the easiest 
techniques to apply in class, but could bring about 
certain positive results. As a result, the teachers 
can choose the best choices of motivational 
strategies to make their lessons better. 
3.3. Limitations of the study 
In spite of the researcher’ great efforts in 
conducting the research study, certain limitation 
could be identified in this study. Due to the time 
limit, the researcher observed one class one lesson. 
Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 
120 
One-time observation cannot reflect all the 
practices of using motivational strategies of the 
teachers. In addition, not all motivational 
strategies were shown in the lessons observed. 
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