Author: Mr. Binly LOUYFOUYOUNG

Advisor: Mr. Salongxay RASABUD

Academic Year: 2019-2020

Publisher: Lao-Top College

Abstract

This thesis a part of higher diploma course in the Lao-Top College, the purpose of this paper is to report the findings of investigating the motivation of the students in Phonxay Secondary School. This paper will attempt to seek answers to the following research questions: what are the students’ attitudes towards English Language and learning the language and what factors affect the students’ motivation.

The research emphasized year1 to year 4 in Phonxay Secondary School and we used only questionnaire tool was used in this research due to limitation of time, this research will use 50 samples which will comprise 50 students. Many students in Phonxay Secondary School often fail to reach their full potential as English language learners due to low motivational factors that effect to the students’ learning English as a foreign or second language. So, this paper has a main purpose to investigate the Motivation and attitudes for learning English students in Phonxay Secondary school.

The sample included 50 students from Phonxay Secondary School. There were 54% female and 46% male respondents of ages that ranged between 10-15 years old. The students were year1 to year4.

The students exhibited positive attitudes towards English and learning the language. Students stating that English was an interesting language, they liked learning English. They had strong desire to be good and successful in English. They verified that they required being good at English and liked to be doing well at English. This positive attitude towards English and the strong aspiration to master the language could be manipulated by the reality that English is second language and reflected on an important international language to be learnt.

The students’ motivation was also affected by external factors such as teachers, parents and peers. It can be seen that the students had positive perceptions of their English teachers. The majority of the students were satisfied with their English teacher. They felt that their English teacher was competent in teaching the language. They would prefer the same teachers have a positive impact on the students.

Overall, the findings of the questionnaire showed that these students appeared to have a positive attitude towards learning the English language whereby the results demonstrated that they enjoyed as well as had the interest and desire to excel in their English classes. Environmental support factors such as teacher, parent and peer support also showed favorable responses towards these students learning the English language but students had a low level of self-efficacy and lacked the effort to do well in learning the English language.