MOTIVATION IN LEARNING WRITING SKILLS OF INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT NHA TRANG UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to find out motivation of non- English major students in writing skills, including the internal and external motivations. From the results of the survey and interviews, some suggestions are recommended to increase their motivation in writing skills so that they can have better marks in their final exam. The research population was 156 non-English major students of different majors who were studying English B1 (CEFR) and 6 lecturers who are teaching English classes of intermediate level at Nha Trang University. Both qualitative methods (interviews) and quantitative methods (online survey) were utilized in this paper. Research results showed that the students’ internal motivation was interest in writing skills, confidence, learner autonomy, preparation before the exam and memorizing paragraphs before the exam. The external motivation were lecturers, necessity for future jobs, the final exam, success in their life and obligatory skills. From the results of this study, it is hoped that lecturers will pay more attention to improve students’ motivation and help them to learn writing skills better.