A STUDY ON ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS MOTIVATING ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY

Abstract: Motivation has been proved to be an extremely important factor in inspiring the learners of English as the foreign language (EFL). This paper aims at investigating environmental factors that motivate English-majored students in learning speaking skills. Data collected from questionnaire with 130 English majored-students and focused-group interviews with eight participants were thoroughly analyzed with Descriptive analysis in SPSS software and thematic analysis method, respectively. The findings indicate that textbook is the most motivated factor for English-majored students to acquire English speaking skills. On the other hand, class atmosphere was determined to be the least motivated factor, which means while a positive environment may support learning, it does not have as significant impact on students’ motivation compared to other factors. Therefore, it is suggested that lecturers should integrate multimedia to make the learning experience more practical and enjoyable, provide students with clear insstructions to help them generate ideas for the speaking topics and get them more engaged. Moreover, the students are adviced to develop self-learning skills, review course materials thoroughly, and use additional resources to enhance their understandings of the textbook. Furthermore, it is proposed that other researchers can use those findings as a basis to carry out research on motivation factors in other research contexts with larger population.