A CASE STUDY ON NATIVE TEACHER’S USE OF MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES IN TEACHING SPEAKING FOR FIRST YEAR FAST-TRACK STUDENTS AT FETEL-ULIS-VNU =

Abstract

In the field of foreign language learning, motivation has long been recognized as one of the key factors that determine language learners’ achievement and attainment. As the result, the teacher’s use of motivational strategies is generally believed to enhance students’ active engagement and participation in the class (Cheng & Dornyei, 2007). Therefore, using motivational strategies effectively is of great importance to teacher. However, studies on Vietnamese teachers’ use of motivational techniques have been partly dug while research on native teachers’ use is still a gap in Vietnamese teaching context.

Attempting to discover the native teacher’s strategies used when teaching, this classroom-oriented investigation focused on how frequently each type of motivational strategy used by native teacher when teaching Fast-Track students at Faculty of English language teacher education, ULIS-VNU as well as its effectiveness as perceived by both teacher and students. Through this research, some problems together with its solutions will be suggested by the teacher.

In order to achieve these aims, questionnaires, interview and classroom observations were used as data collection instruments. Two drafts of questionnaires, one for the teacher and the another for 75 students from three first year Fast – Track classes at FELTEL-HULIS were delivered. Besides, observations the class and interview the teacher helped researcher find out the answer for the whole four research questions.

The results from the analysis show that setting proper teacher’s behaviors, creating a pleasant classroom climate and recognizing students’ effort were the most frequently strategies the native teacher often used when he taught at Fast-Track group and these strategies were also evaluated effectively by both teacher and students. The teacher also pointed out some problems as well as the solutions to deal with these problems in exploiting motivation. The paper was, therefore, expected to be valuable for teachers, especially ones want to motivate students by the way a native teacher often did. Furthermore, novice teachers, and other researchers interested in the topic would gain benefits from this research. By considering the level of students’ satisfaction toward each strategy, they can make their own choices of how to best encourage their students to participate in in-class speaking activities.