English-major students' perceptions of demotivating factors in learning reading

Abstract

Reading has been considered as an indispensable skill in helping students develop their minds as well as language competence. However, a number of students who major in English at Vietnamese colleges have not found learning reading appropriately motivated or even felt demotivated. This paper therefore reports on demotivating factors perceived by English major students in their reading classes. Using a descriptive design, a 38-item questionnaire was undertaken with 115 students who were major in applied English studies. The items were classified into four clusters of demotivating factors: teachers' negative feedback, learners, reading materials, and instruction. The findings indicate that two clusters related to teacher‟s negative feedback and learners were found to be the most influential.