CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
8.10 Promoting group cohesiveness and group norms
This macro-strategy was rated lowest, showing the respondents‟
least endorsement toward this cluster in motivation strategy. While the micro-strategy encourage students to share personal experience is well- agreed as motivational, at 94 percent, the others do not have high level of agreement. To be more specific, the technique let students suggest class rules has the lowest figure (43%), which reflects the respondents‟ views
toward the classroom management. More than a half of the respondents believed that rules should be given by teachers. This shows the preference of teacher-centered approach influenced by Confucian culture that teachers have the most power in class. This result is in line with that of Rahma Al-Mahrooqi, Abra-ul-Hassan & Asante (2012) when this cluster was rated ninth in terms of importance.
There is little disagreement among the respondents that the macro- strategy recognize students’ effort is motivational whereas much difference can be seen in the consideration of promoting group cohesiveness and group norms as a motivating technique.
In conclusion, It is notable that the scores such as agree or disagree score of the different motivational techniques constituting any macro- strategy are heterogeneous. This implies that even if the scores of the individual motivational technique is high, it does not automatically place it in the next rank, as the high score can be compensated by the low score of another constituent motivational technique like for instance items (17) Showing your enthusiasm for teaching, (1) Bringing in and encourage humor and (21) Using a short and interesting opening activity to start each class which belong to macro-strategies with rank 3.5 instead of 2.
The respondents were made to rate the frequency at which they employ the 48 motivational techniques. Table 9 presents the list of motivational techniques according to the frequency of use by the respondents.
Table 9
List of 48 motivational techniques, their frequency of use by the respondents and grouping into macro-strategies. Score rating is
based on a Likert scale where) 5-Always (A), 4-Often (O), 3- Sometimes (S), 2-Rarely (R) and 1-Never (N)
Motivational Technique Mean Score
Std
Deviation Rank EquivRating 1. Recognize students' efforts
(Cronbach alpha=0.31) 3.8 1.0 2 O
(46) Recognize students‟ effort and
achievement. 3.9 0.9
(42) Promote effort attributions. 3.8 1.0 (15) Make sure grades reflect
students‟ effort and hard work. 3.8 1.0 (8) Monitor students‟ progress and
celebrate their victory. 3.5 1.0
2. Promote learners‟ self-confidence
(Cronbach alpha=0.52) 3.9 1.0 1.5 O
(28) Encourage students to try harder. 4.4 0.9 (34) Provide students with positive
feedback. 4.0 0.9
(36) Teach students learning
techniques. 3.9 1.0
(11) Design tasks that are within the
students ‟ability. 3.8 0.9
(33) Make clear to students that communicating meaning effectively is more important than being
grammatically correct.
3.7 1.1 3. Proper teaching behavior
(Cronbach alpha=0.27) 3.9 1.0 1.5 O
(2) Show students you care about them. 4.3 0.9 (17) Show your enthusiasm for
teaching. 4.1 1.1
(47) Be yourself in front of students. 4.0 1.0 (40) Share with students that you
value English as a meaningful experience.
3.7 1.0 (23) Establish good rapport with
students. 3.6 1.2
4. Creating a pleasant classroom
climate (Cronbach alpha=0.38) 3.7 1.1 3 O
(1) Bring in and encourage humor. 3.9 0.9 (21) Use a short and interesting
opening activity to start each class. 3.8 1.0 (41) Avoid social status comparison. 3.8 1.3 (30) Create a supportive classroom
climate that promotes risk-taking. 3.4 1.0
Motivational Technique Mean Score
Std
Deviation Rank EquivRating 5. Present tasks properly (Cronbach
alpha=0.38) 3.6 1.0 4 O
(6) Give clear instructions by
modeling. 3.8 1.1
(25) Give good reasons to students as
to why a particular task is meaningful. 3.5 1.0 6. Familiarize learners with L2-related
values (Cronbach alpha=0.49) 3.2 1.1 6.5 S
(9) Remind students of the benefits of
mastering English. 4.0 0.9
(39) Increase the amount of English
you use in the class. 3.9 1.0
(38) Encourage students to use
English outside. 3.7 1.0
(4) Familiarize students with the cultural background of second language learners.
3.4 1.0 (32) Introduce authentic cultural
materials in the classroom. 3.1 1.2 (7) Invite senior students to share
their English learning experiences. 2.6 1.3 (19) Invite English-speaking
foreigners to class. 1.6 1.1
7. Increase learners‟ goal-
orientedness (Cronbach alpha=0.34) 3.2 1.4 6.5 S (10) Encourage students to set
learning goals 3.8 1.0
(20) Help students develop realistic
beliefs about English learning. 3.3 1.1 (26) Find out students‟ needs and
build them into curriculum. 3.2 1.2 (31) Display the class goal in a wall
chart and review it regularly. 2.4 2.2 8. Make the learning tasks stimulating
(Cronbach a=0.54) 3.4 1.1 5.5 S
(27) Encourage students to create
products. 3.8 1.0
(12) Introduce various interesting
topics. 3.6 1.0
(45) Present various auditory and
visual teaching aids. 3.6 1.0
(18) Break the routine by varying the
presentation format. 3.2 1.0
(13) Make tasks challenging. 3.2 1.0 (43) Make tasks attractive by
including novel and fantasy element. 3.0 1.4
Motivational Technique Mean Score
Std
Deviation Rank EquivRating 9. Promote learner autonomy
(Cronbach a=0.51) 3.1 1.1 7 S
(48) Allow students to assess
themselves. 3.7 1.0
(37) Adopt the role of a „facilitator‟. 3.5 1.0 (24) Encourage peer teaching and
group presentation. 3.5 1.1
(14) Teach self-motivating strategies 3.3 1.1 (29) Give students choices in deciding
how and when they will be assessed. 2.7 1.3 (22) Involve students in designing and
Implementing the English course. 2.2 1.2 10. Promote group cohesiveness and
group norms (Cronbach alpha=0.19) 3.4 1.1 5.5 S (3) Allow students to get to know each
other. 3.8 0.9
(44) Encourage students to share
personal experiences. 3.7 0.9
(5) Explain the importance of the
classroom instruction. 3.5 1.2
(35) Ask students to work toward the
same goal. 3.5 1.1
(16) Let students suggest class rules. 2.5 1.3
As shown in the table, the frequency mean scores for all the motivational techniques were below 5.0 which means that majority of the respondents do not always employ motivational techniques. The highest mean score was 4.4 which is close to the scale value of 4.0 with equivalent rating of “often” and was obtained by the motivational technique (28) Encouraging students to try harder.
This indicates further that respondents might not have enough time to use motivation techniques in presenting their lessons as they have other concerns or perhaps respondents may not have equipped with varieties of techniques or strategies to employ in their teaching. This is
contrary to the idea of De Cenzo (1996) regarding motivation as willingness to do something conditional by actions and ability to satisfy some need as well as the reasons for engaging in human behavior such as drive, a need, a desire to achieve a goal, a state of
This macro-strategy ties in rank with macro-strategy no. 3 on proper teaching behavior, which includes the constituent motivational techniques (2) Showing students you care about them with mean score of 4.3, (17) Showing your enthusiasm for teaching with 4.1 mean score, and (47) Being yourself in front of students with mean score 4.0.
The ranking of the macro-strategies based on the average frequency of use of constituent motivational techniques include promoting learners‟ self-confidence and ranked 1.5 comprise items (36) Teaching students learning techniques,(11) Designing tasks that are within the students‟ ability, (34) Providing students with positive feedback, (28) Encouraging students to try harder, and (33) Making clear to students that communicating meaning effectively is more important than being grammatically correct., and proper teaching behavior also ranked 1.5.
Items comprising this macro strategy include: (17) Showing your enthusiasm for teaching, (2) Showing students you care about them, (40) Sharing with students that you value English as a meaningful experience, (23) Establishing good rapport with students, and (47) Being yourself in front of students.
Further, in the macro strategy of recognizing students' efforts and ranked 2, it includes items (15) Making sure grades reflect students‟ effort and hard work, (46) Recognizing students‟ effort and achievement, (8) Monitoring students‟ progress and celebrate their victory, and (42) Promoting effort attributions. Ranked 3 macro strategy creating a pleasant classroom climate on the other hand consists of items (1) Bringing in and encourage humor,(21) Using a short and interesting opening activity to start each class, (30) Creating a supportive classroom climate that promotes risk-taking, and (41) Avoiding social status comparison.
In presenting tasks properly ranked 4 macro strategy, items include: (6.) Giving clear instructions by modeling, and (25) Giving good reasons to students as to why a particular task is meaningful; while in the macro strategy making the learning tasks stimulating ranked 5.5, items covered are (12) Introducing various interesting topics, (27) Encouraging students to create products, (45) Presenting various auditory and visual teaching aids, (18) Breaking the routine by varying the presentation format, (43) Making tasks attractive by including novel and fantasy element, and (13) Making tasks challenging. The macro strategy promoting group cohesiveness and group norms also ranked 5.5 is composed of the following items (44) Encouraging students to share personal experiences,(3) Allowing students to get to know each other, (5) Explaining the importance of the classroom instruction, (35) Asking
students to work toward the same goal, and(16) Letting students suggest class rules.
In addition, ranked 6.5 is the macro strategy familiarizing learners with L2-related values. This comprise items (38) Encouraging students to use English outside, (9) Reminding students of the benefits of mastering English, (19) Inviting English-speaking foreigners to class, (39) Increasing the amount of English you use in the class, (32) Introducing authentic cultural materials in the classroom, (4) Familiarizing students with the cultural background of second language learners, and (7) Inviting senior students to share their English learning experiences.
As to increasing learners‟ goal-orientedness macro strategy and ranked 6.5, it consists items (10) Encouraging students to set learning goals, (20) Helping students develop realistic beliefs about English learning, (26) Finding out students‟ needs and build them into curriculum, and (31) Displaying the class goal in a wall chart and review it regularly;
while ranked 7 macro strategy promoting learner autonomy, comprise items (48) Allowing students to assess themselves, (37) Adopting the role of a facilitator, (24) Encouraging peer teaching and group presentation, (14) Teaching self-motivating strategies, (22) Involving students in designing and implementing the English course, and (29) Giving students choices in deciding how and when they will be assessed.
Notable is the rearrangement of the ranking of the macro-strategies where nos. (2) Showing students you care about them and (3) Proper
teaching behavior have now positioned as rank 1.5 and macro-strategy (1.) Recognizing students' efforts have now positioned as rank 2. This means that the respondents used these two macro-strategies namely promoting learners‟ self-confidence, and proper teaching behavior more often than macro-strategy (1.) Recognizing students' efforts. The same rearrangement pattern is observed for nos. (8.) Making the learning tasks stimulating and (10.) Promoting group cohesiveness and group norms which have now positioned as rank 5.5 respectively, while nos. (6.) Familiarizing learners with L2-related values and (7.) Increasing learners‟
goal-orientedness, have now ranked as 6.5. This implies that the respondents used the macro-strategies 8 and 10 that is Making the learning tasks stimulating, comprising items, and Promoting group cohesiveness and group norms, respectively more frequently than nos. 6 and 7 which is Familiarizing learners with L2-related values, and Increasing learners‟ goal-orientedness, respectively.
Cronbach alpha measures the internal consistency of the scores of the constituent motivational techniques and is commonly used as an estimate of the reliability of a psychometric test for a sample of examinees (Cronbach, 1951). The acceptable value for Cronbach alpha is >0.6, the value of 0.5 to <0.6 is considered poor, while the value of
<0.5 is considered unacceptable (George & Mallery, 2003; and Kline, 2000). It is interesting to note that none of the macro-strategies obtained a Cronbach alpha of 0.6; and only three obtained a value of >0.5 to <0.6
or equivalent to a rating of “Poor”. These are macro-strategies no. (2.) Promoting learners‟ self-confidence (Cronbach alpha=0.52); (8.) Making the learning tasks stimulating (Cronbach a=0.54); and (9.) Promoting learner autonomy (Cronbach a=0.51).
This finds support in the study conducted by Cheng & Dornyei (2007) for Taiwanese respondents and Dornyei and Csizer (1998) for Hungarian respondents, where all the 10 macro-strategies obtained Cronbach alpha values above 0.5. In Cheng & Dornyei (2007), only two macro-strategies have Cronbach alpha values of >0.5 to <0.6 or equivalent to a rating of “Poor” that is Creating a pleasant classroom climate (Cronbach alpha=0.59) and Present tasks properly (Cronbach alpha=0.55)).
This indicates that in this study involving Vietnamese respondents;
only 3 macro-strategies are consistent with the earlier studies. This means that Vietnamese respondents use the constituent motivational techniques of these three macro-strategies more consistently than the constituent motivational techniques of the other macro-strategies. This also implies that although the Vietnamese respondents agree that these macro-strategies and their constituent techniques are motivational, they are not consistent in using them to motivate their students in learning Basic English except for the three macro-strategies such as (2.) Promoting learners‟ self-confidence, (8.) Making the learning tasks stimulating, and (9.) Promoting learner autonomy.
Further, teacher respondents were also made to rate the motivational techniques according to their degree of importance. The results are reflected in Table 10.
Table 10
List of 48 motivational techniques, their degree of importance to the respon-dents and grouping into macro-strategies. Score rating is based on a Likert scale where) 5-Very important (VI), 4-Moderately important (MI), 3-Slightly
important (SI), 2-Less important(LI) and 1-Not important (NI)
Motivational Technique Mean Score
Std
Deviation Rank EquivRating 1. Proper teaching behavior (Cronbach
alpha=0.45) 4.1 0.9 2.5 MI
(2) Show students you care about them. 4.4 0.7 (17) Show your enthusiasm for teaching. 4.2 1.2 (40) Share with students that you value
English as a meaningful experience. 4.0 0.8 (23) Establish good rapport with
students. 3.9 1.0
(47) Be yourself in front of students. 3.8 1.0 2. Recognize students' efforts (Cronbach
alpha=0.55) 4.0 1.0 4 MI
(46) Recognize students‟ effort and
achievement. 4.2 0.9
(42) Promote effort attributions. 4.0 0.9 (15) Make sure grades reflect students‟
effort and hard work. 3.9 1.1
(8) Monitor students‟ progress and
celebrate their victory. 3.9 0.9
3. Promote learners‟ self-confidence
(Cronbach alpha=0.60) 4.4 0.8 1 MI
(36) Teach students learning
techniques. 4.5 0.8
(34) Provide students with positive
feedback. 4.4 0.8
(11) Design tasks that are within the
students ‟ability. 4.4 0.7
(28) Encourage students to try harder. 4.4 0.8 (33) Make clear to students that
communicating meaning effectively is more important than being grammatically
correct. 4.2 0.8
4. Creating a pleasant classroom climate
(Cronbach alpha=0.12) 4.0 1.0 4 MI
Motivational Technique Mean Score
Std
Deviation Rank EquivRating (1) Bring in and encourage humor. 4.3 0.8
(21) Use a short and interesting opening
activity to start each class. 4.2 0.8 (30) Create a supportive classroom
climate that promotes risk-taking. 3.8 1.1 (41) Avoid social status comparison. 3.7 1.1 5. Present tasks properly (Cronbach
alpha=0.88) 4.1 0.9 2.5 MI
(6) Give clear instructions by modeling. 4.3 0.9 (25) Give good reasons to students as to
why a particular task is meaningful. 3.9 0.9 6. Increase learners‟ goal-orientedness
(Cronbach alpha=0.43) 4.0 0.9 4 MI
(10) Encourage students to set learning
goals 4.6 0.7
(20) Help students develop realistic
beliefs about English learning. 4.3 0.9 (26) Find out students‟ needs and build
them into curriculum. 3.9 0.9
(31) Display the class goal in a wall chart
and review it regularly. 3.2 1.0
7. Make the learning tasks stimulating
(Cronbach a=0.60) 3.7 0.9 6.5 MI
(12) Introduce various interesting topics. 4.2 0.8 (27) Encourage students to create
products. 4.1 1.0
(45) Present various auditory and visual
teaching aids. 3.7 0.9
(18) Break the routine by varying the
presentation format. 3.7 1.0
(13) Make tasks challenging. 3.5 1.0 (43) Make tasks attractive by including
novel and fantasy element. 3.1 1.0 8. Familiarize learners with L2-related
values (Cronbach alpha=0.68) 3.8 0.9 5 MI
(9) Remind students of the benefits of
mastering English. 4.3 0.8
(39) Increase the amount of English you
use in the class. 4.3 0.7
(38) Encourage students to use English
outside. 4.2 0.8
(4) Familiarize students with the cultural background of second language
learners. 3.8 0.9
(32) Introduce authentic cultural
materials in the classroom. 3.6 1.1 (19) Invite English-speaking foreigners 3.3 1.1
Motivational Technique Mean Score
Std
Deviation Rank EquivRating to class.
(7) Invite senior students to share their
English learning experiences. 3.2 1.0 9. Promote learner autonomy (Cronbach
a=0.61) 3.6 1.0 7 MI
(24) Encourage peer teaching and group
presentation. 4.2 0.7
(14) Teach self-motivating strategies 4.0 0.9 (37) Adopt the role of a „facilitator‟. 3.8 1.0 (48) Allow students to assess
themselves. 3.8 1.0
(29) Give students choices in deciding
how and when they will be assessed. 3.2 1.2 (22) Involve students in designing and
Implementing the English course. 3.0 1.2 10. Promote group cohesiveness and
group norms (Cronbach alpha=0.29) 3.7 1.0 6.5 MI (44) Encourage students to share
personal experiences. 4.0 1.0
(5) Explain the importance of the
classroom instruction. 3.9 1.0
(3) Allow students to get to know each
other. 3.8 0.8
(35) Ask students to work toward the
same goal. 3.8 1.0
(16) Let students suggest class rules. 2.8 1.3
As shown in the table the motivational technique (10) Encouraging students to set learning goals; topped the list with a score of 4.6 or equivalent to the scale of Very important. This constituent motivational technique however belongs to macro-strategy no. 6 that is Increasing learners‟ goal-orientedness with a rank of 4. Surprisingly, the succeeding motivational techniques (36) Teaching students learning techniques with mean score of 4.5; (34) Providing students with positive feedback with mean score of 4.4; (11) Designing tasks that are within the students‟
ability with mean score of 4.4; and (28) Encouraging students to try
harder with mean score of 4.4); all belong to macro-strategy no. (3.) that is Promoting learners‟ self-confidence with a rank of 1
The ranking of the macro-strategies based on their degree of importance are promoting learners‟ self-confidence ranked 1 which comprise items (36) Teaching students learning techniques, (11) Designing tasks that are within the students‟ ability, (34) Providing students with positive feedback, (28) Encouraging students to try harder, and (33) Making clear to students that communicating meaning effectively is more important than being grammatically correct; followed by proper teaching behavior ranked 2.5 comprising items (17) Showing your enthusiasm for teaching, (2) Showing students you care about them, (40) Sharing with students that you value English as a meaningful experience, (23) Establishing good rapport with students, and (47) Being yourself in front of students as well as presenting tasks properly ranked 2.5 also comprising items (6) Giving clear instructions by modeling, and (25) Giving good reasons to students as to why a particular task is meaningful.
Ranked 4 is recognizing students' efforts which consists of items (15) Making sure grades reflect students‟ effort and hard work, (46) Recognizing students‟ effort and achievement, (8) Monitoring students‟
progress and celebrate their victory, and (42) Promoting effort attributions. Creating a pleasant classroom climate which also ranked 4 comprise items (1) Bringing in and encouraging humor, (21) Using a short and interesting opening activity to start each class, (30) Creating a
supportive classroom climate that promotes risk-taking and (41) Avoiding social status comparison. Increasing learners‟ goal-orientedness also ranked 4 comprise items (10) Encouraging students to set learning goal, (20) Helping students develop realistic beliefs about English learning, (26) Finding out students‟ needs and building them into curriculum, and (31) Displaying the class goal in a wall chart and review it regularly.
Further, familiarizing learners with L2-related values and ranked 5 include items (38) Encouraging students to use English outside, (9) Reminding students of the benefits of mastering English, (19) Inviting English-speaking foreigners to class, (39) Increasing the amount of English you use in the class, (32) Introducing authentic cultural materials in the classroom, and (4) Familiarizing students with the cultural background of second language. Ranked 6.5 making the learning tasks stimulating on the other hand consists of items (12) Introducing various interesting topics, (27) Encouraging students to create products, (45) Presenting various auditory and visual teaching aids, (18) Breaking the routine by varying the presentation format, (43) Making tasks attractive by including novel and fantasy element, and (13) Making tasks challenging.
In addition, promoting group cohesiveness and group norms ranked 6.5 also include items (44) Encouraging students to share personal experiences, (3) Allowing students to get to know each other, (5) Explaining the importance of the classroom instruction, (35) Asking students to work toward the same goal, and (16) Letting students suggest
class rules while ranked 7 promote learner autonomy comprise items (48) Allowing students to assess themselves, (37) Adopting the role of a
„facilitator‟, (24) Encouraging peer teaching and group presentation, (14) Teaching self-motivating strategies, (22) Involving students in designing and implementing the English course, and (29) Giving students choices in deciding how and when they will be assessed.
It can be noted that the ranking based on the importance of the 10 macro-strategies have maintained some of their positions like for instance no. 3 macro-strategy promoting learners‟ self-confidence ranked 1; also no. 1 macro-strategy, proper teaching behavior ranked 2.5; and no. 9 macro-strategy promoting learner autonomy ranked 7 while others have rearranged such as no. 5 macro-strategy presenting tasks properly; now Rank 2.5 from Rank 4 in Table 8 and no. 2 macro-strategy recognizing students' efforts; now Rank 4 from Rank 2 in Table 8. This shows the disparity in the perception of importance of the motivational technique and the frequency of use by the respondents. In other words, perception differs from practice.
Looking at the Cronbach alpha values, six out of ten macro- strategies have α>0.5. These macro-strategies are) 2. Recognizing students' efforts (Cronbach alpha=0.55); 3. Promoting learners‟ self- confidence (Cronbach alpha=0.60); 5. Presenting tasks properly (Cronbach alpha=0.88); 7. Making the learning tasks stimulating (Cronbach a=0.60); 8. Familiarizing learners with L2-related values