PROPOSAL

FINAL YEAR PROJECT (FCE 4959A)

Exploring Motivation & Attitude towards Learning English Second Language (ESL)
among Undergraduates in Faculty of Educational Studies UPM

By
MUHAMMAD FAREEZ IRFAN BN MOKHTAR (202694)
BACHELOR OF EDUCATION IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND
LANGUAGE (TESL)

I hereby declare that this final year project proposal has been approved to be conducted by
the student as stated above.

Signature:

Supervisor:
Department:
Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Date:
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The focus of this study is to explore the types of motivation and attitudes towards learning
English Second Language (ESL) among Undergraduates in Faculty of Educational Studies,
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). In this chapter, the researcher will introduce the
background of the study, problem statement, research objectives and research questions,
importance of study, scope and limitations and the operational definitions of variables.

English is an important language in the field of academic as well as the future

professional lives of undergraduate students due to the roles played by the language in
improving their performance at work. Therefore, the mastery of English language especially
in term of their ability to integrate English into their profession seems to be a bonus point for
the undergraduates. There are two most prominent output skills that viewed as crucial to be
adapted which are speaking and writing. According to Toranno (2022), even though the
demands to be proficient in English is already a reality, the trend signals that it will become
increasingly common based on a recent study by Page Personnel shows that 60% of job
opportunities are oriented towards English-speaking candidates. According to this study, in
ten years’ time, English proficiency will stop being a competitive and advantage but rather
become prerequisite.

Architamittra (2022) stated that English is a lingua franca of not only international
business, but also of all kinds of communication worldwide especially when it comes to
business and finance. There is dual function of the English language which are as a tool of
business’s communication as well as the medium of communicating with people from
different backgrounds. Nowadays, English language does not belong to certain classes or to
people with certain educational background only, but the language now belongs to every
citizen of the world. Thus, individuals who are lack of mastery in the English language seems
to be hindered from achieving their goals to excel in the field they are working on. It is
important for the undergraduates to know that by being proficient in the English language can
help them to expand themselves in term of being successful for an interview or getting
accepted for a high-paid jobs.
 According to Rozana (2019), The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report last
year suggested that by 2020, complex problem-solving skills, critical thinking, creativity,
good people management and emotional intelligence will become very important traits in the
workplace. She also mentioned that having sophisticated language skills provides the
foundation to communicated ideas, thoughts and opinions effectively. In the same article by
(New Straits Times, 2019), British Council director Sarah Deverall said proficiency in
English has never been more important to gain employment and get ahead in the digital age.
Companies based in Malaysia and abroad are increasingly operating across geographical
boundaries, so the ability to communicate in English with internal and external stakeholders
is crucial. In its latest Job Outlook report released in January, online portal Jobstreet.com
stated that English proficiency in Malaysia continues to be of concern with 64 per cent of
employers saying that a poor command of the language was the second reason behind the
unemployment of fresh graduates.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

There are many factors that might cause the undergraduates’ low proficiency in
English which one might be attributed to the undergraduates at Faculty of Educational
Studies, UPM motivations towards the English Language. This is because learners’
motivation has been widely accepted as a key factor which influences the rate and success of
second/ foreign language learning (McDonough, 1983; Elliss, 1994) McDonough (1983,
p.142) states that “motivation of the students is one of the most important factors influencing
their success or failure in learning the language”. Another factor is learners’ attitudes. This is
because an ESL/ EFL learner’s motivation in language learning is effected by his/ her
attitudes towards learning the language. The relation between motivation and attitudes has
been considered a prime concern in language learning research. Gardner and Lambert (1972.
p.3) state that “the learner motivation to learn is thought to be determined by is attitudes
towards the other group in particular and by his orientation towards learning the task itself”.
In addition, Lifrieri (2005, p.14) assert that “attitudes are necessary but insufficient indirect
attitudinal tendencies relate to the levels of students engagement in language learning and to
attainment”.

All in all, a better understanding of students’ motivation and attitudes may assist ESL/
EFL curriculum and instruction designers to device language teaching programs that generate
the attitudes and motivation most conducive to the production of more successful ESL/ EFL
learners (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Midraj, 1998, 2003). Additionally, it can help materials
writers create and teachers select activities and tasks that tap students’ motivation and
attitudes (Midraj et al., 2008).

Given the importance of identifying learners’ motivation and attitudes towards

learning the English as Second Language ESL, this papers intends to investigate the
undergraduates at Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM motivation and attitudes towards
learning the ESL.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

In Malaysia, English is taught as a compulsory second language in all public schools.

Therefore, students are exposed to a minimum of eleven (11) years of formal education
spanning both the primary and the secondary school levels. However, even after more than
ten years of learning English in schools, a vast majority of Malaysian students are unable to
gain a good mastery of the language. In line with this, a study by Karahan (2007) unveiled
that the importance of English language was not seen during their childhood by learners and
most adult learners were forced to learn English language due to professional needs. He
further added that the lack of awareness of the importance of English resulted in poor effort
to improve in English language which caused incompetency in English language among
learners. Furthermore, speaking English in public is often negatively viewed as showing off,
being proud, reliving colonialism, having superior standard and betraying the Malay identity
and language (Lee, Lee, Wong & Azizah Ya’acob, 2010). Norhana Abdullah and Chandran
(2009) also pointed out that one needs to have cultural understanding of the context of
learning English if one wants to be competent in English language.

In addition, Biber (2016) noted that freshmen who have just entered a university face
many obstacles and changes which include learning to use English language accurately. This
is because the lack of language proficiency among students will bring difficulties when they
enter higher learning institutions as the medium of instruction is in English. Instructional
materials and reading in English language will be challenging for the students and the
majority of them are unable to adjust to the language shift. This is further supported in a
study by Kaur and Thiyagarajah (2016) in which they found that first year students majoring
in English language and literature have difficulties in reading literary texts. Moreover,
Karahan (2015) noted that even though much effort and time are spent on learning English
language, learners are still unable to be competent in the language unless they develop
positive attitude that drives self- motivation in language learning. Meanwhile, a study by
Vaezi (2017) revealed that tertiary students have negative attitude towards the learning of
English language because of the burden from their studies and time limitation. However,
according to Siti Norliana (2018), attitudes can be changed in the learning process by using
appropriate materials and effective teaching. In view of this, positive attitude towards
learning English need to be fostered among undergraduates. Besides, it is crucial for
institutions of higher learning to focus on the development of soft skills especially
competency in English language and communication skills among undergraduates for their
survival in the globalised international market (Voviana, 2016). This is because the
increasing unemployment rate and bad command of English language among undergraduates
are in a worrying state.

Thus, this study intended to identify the types of motivation and attitudes of the
undergraduates at Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM in learning English second language
in university.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i) What are the type of motivations of the Undergraduates at Faculty of Educational

Studies, UPM have towards L2 learning?
ii) What are the attitude of the Undergraduates at Faculty of Educational Studies,
UPM have towards L2 learning?

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

i) To determine the type of motivations of the Undergraduates at Faculty of

Educational Studies, UPM towards L2 learning?
ii) To identify what are the attitudes of the Undergraduates at Faculty of Educational
Studies, UPM towards L2 learning?

1.5 IMPORTANCE OF STUDY

Thus, it is hoped in this research study certain aspects of the declining factors of the English
language proficiency among the Malaysian graduates would be highlighted. It is necessary to
study the current education state under the Malaysian context, especially targeting the higher
education institution as these young adults are the pioneer of the country’s frontier
generation. Also, it is hoped that this study would shed some light on the current learners’
perception of motivation and attitudes aspects in learning English as a second language in the
Malaysian context.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY

This study is only limited to the Undergraduates of the Faculty of Educational Studies UPM
which consist of those studying bachelor’s degree in Malay Language, Teaching English as
Second Language (TESL), Physical Education, Agricultural Science, Home Science,
Guidance and Counselling, Counselling and Science of Human Resource and Development.
However, TESL students are excluded since they are not learning the English language for
the proficiency purpose but rather for teaching. This study is also limited to the scope of the
undergraduate’s motivation and attitude in learning English as their second language.

1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINTION

As mentioned before, purpose of this paper is to investigate the Undergraduates of Faculty of

Educational Studies, UPM motivation and attitudes towards learning the ESL. The definitions
of terms used in this research are as follows:

a) Motivation, according to Morin (2022) can be defined the process that initiates,
guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviour. It is what causes you to act, whether it
is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.
Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate
behaviour. In everyday usage, the term “motivation” is frequently used to describe
why a person does something. It is driving force behind human activity.

b) Attitude is defined as a set of beliefs or views held about something and is defined in
consumer psychology as an enduring inclination or tendency to respond to a brand or
product in a specific way. It is essential to mention that attitude is considered a
psychological construct. This means you can see the consequences of the attitude but
not the attitude itself. In other words, the behaviour is observed to determine the
attitude. For example, a student with a good attitude is likely someone who has
cooperative spirit in terms of complying with what they are asked to do by the
teacher.
 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter will explain the review of literature to the topic of this research. The subtopics
that will be discussed in this chapter are types of motivations, the attitudes and the theoretical
framework of this research.

2.1 MOTIVATION
The term motivation in a second language learning context is seen according to Gardner
(1985) as cited in Oroujlou (2011) as ‘referring to the extent to which the individual works or
strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in
this activity’(p10). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, motivation is defined as the
reason or reasons behind one’s actions or behaviour. It can also be considered as enthusiasm.

Motivation plays a significant role in the process of learning a language. Language teachers
cannot effectively teach a language if they do not understand the relationship between
motivation and its effect on language acquisition. The core of motivation relates to a person’s
intrinsic goals and desires.

Motivation is also defined as the force that drives a person to strive and work hard to learn
the language because of the desire of learning and the satisfaction he will get in the learning
process. (Gardener, 1985). Motivation also plays a crucial role to determine effective
language learning as Gardner (2001) puts, motivation in various aspects will make learners
eager to learn second language. Brown (2002) highlighted that there are two basic types of
motivation proposed by Gardner and Lambert in 1972.

The two basic types of motivation are instrumental and integrative motivation. Instrumental
motivation refers to the desire of a person to acquire a language to achieve instrumental goal
in his life such as becoming a translator or furthering a career while integrative motivation is
being defined as a force that drives a person to learn a particular language for the sake of
integrating himself into the culture of the second language or becoming part of the social
interchange group. Then there is the third type which was proposed by Cooper and Fishman
(1977) which deals with personal satisfaction.

Gardner (1985), Cooper and Fishman (1977) highlighted these three different kinds of
motivation further in second language learning situation as:

1. i)  Instrumental motivation – when the learner wants to acquire a language to fulfil

immediate goals, such as getting a job or passing an examination etc his/her
motivation is of instrumental kind. Instrumental motivation is defined as an urge to
get a substance from learning a second language (Hudson, 2000). The substance can
be in the form of meeting the requirement of a course in college or university, job
application, translating an article or reading materials of high technical level.
2. ii)  Integrative motivation - when the main purpose to acquire a language is to speak
and mingle with people of other communities who is able to speak the same language.
Falk (1978) states that the most successful students in learning the language are those
who admire the culture of that particular community and willing to assimilate into the
community in which the language is used.

iii)  Personal motivation - besides Gardner’s integrative and instrumental

motivations, Cooper and Fishman (1977) mentioned a third type of motivation which
is termed as personal motivation. It refers to motivation relating to personal
development or satisfaction which includes activities such as watching movies,
listening to music and travelling.

A good teacher must tap into the sources of intrinsic motivation and find way ways to
connect them with external factors that can be brought to a classroom setting. As stated by
Oroujlou (2011) ‘Since learners have different purposes for studying a language, it is
important for teachers to identify students’ purposes and needs to develop proper
motivational strategies’. (p995)

2.2 ATTITUDE

Attitude is a set of beliefs which developed over a period of time in a society. It determines
the behaviour of a person in whatever he does. The students’ participation in language
learning is determined by their attitude. Attitude towards a language can be either positive or
negative according to Youssef (2012). Study shows that if a learner has positive attitude his
learning process will be easy. On the contrary, if the learner is reluctant to learn and shows
negative attitude, his learning process will be halted. As Thang (2011) puts it students with
positive attitudes towards second language learning are more at an advantage compared to
their counterpart with negative attitude.

A learner who learns a language for the purpose of dominating the people in a society has
negative attitude while positive attitude of a learner will try to strengthen the existing
motivation in the language learning. Jain (2013) stressed that attitude is an important factor in
language learning if one is to be successful. The attitude shapes the students’ perceptions
towards class, teachers and curriculum which will be different from one another. Ultimately,
language learning is influenced by attitude and motivation.

In a study by Parilah (2002), she examined the respondents’ attitude towards ESL
experiences. In this case study, the respondents’ attitudes, motivation and individual
characteristics were examined. It was found that although the low achievers acknowledged
the importance of English for instrumental purposes, they show negative attitude towards
learning the language. The respondents spent little or no effort at all to improve their
proficiency in the language inside and also outside of the classroom. In another study by
Thang (2011), he found out that majority of Malaysian students know the importance of
learning English but they still showed little or no effort at all in learning the language. His
findings are similar to the results found by Parilah 9 years earlier. This shows that nothing
has changed in terms of attitude among Malaysian students.

2.3 THEORITHICAL FRAMEWORK

The theoretical framework of the study is based on basic model of the role of motivation and
attitudes in second language learning. This model is presented in Figure 1 as follows.

Motivation
a. Instrumental
b. Integrative
c. Personal
Learning English as a
Second Language (ESL)
Attitudes
Attitude towards
language learning
 Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of the study
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.0 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the researcher will explain the research design used in this study. The
researcher will also describe the research settings of this study. Then, the researcher will
explain the samples chosen, the sampling method and population from which the samples are
chosen. Next, the instruments used for this research would be determined and explained. The
researcher will also explain the method of testing the validity and reliability of the instrument
used in this study. Lastly, the researcher will then explain the data collection method and how
the data collected will be analysed.

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

According to Gauri and Gronhaug (2005), “the research design is the overall plan for relating
the conceptual research problem to relevant and practicable empirical research” (as cited in
Essays, 2018; p.56). the purpose of this study is to explore the motivation and attitudes
towards learning English as Second Language among Undergraduates at Faculty of
Educational Studies, UPM.

The research design used in this study is qualitative research design. According to
Hammarberg, Kirkman and Lacey (2016), qualitative research methods are used to answer
questions about experience, meaning and perspective most often from the standpoint of the
participant. These data are usually not amenable to counting or measuring. Qualitative
research techniques includes small-group discussions for investigating beliefs, attitudes and
concepts of normative behaviour such as semi-structured interview to seek views on a
focused topic or key informants, background information or an institutional perspectives.

The reason as to why this research will be using the qualitative research design is that
this research design has many strengths and benefits to it. As stated in Qualitative Research
Methods (2017), one advantage of qualitative methods in exploratory research is that the use
of open-ended questions and probing gives participants the opportunity to respond in their
own words rather than forcing them to choose from fixed responses, as quantitative methods
do. Open- ended questions have the ability to evoke responses that are meaningful and
culturally salient to the participants.

There are however a few shortcomings to this research design because it is a time-
consuming process which the main drawback of qualitative research is that the process is
time-consuming. Another problem is that the interpretations are limited to personal
experience and knowledge influence observation and conclusions. Not only that, researchers
can not verify the results of qualitative research because it is an open-needed where
participants have more control over the content of the data collected. So the researcher is not
able to verify the results objectively against the scenario stated by the respondents.

This study will be using qualitative research design due to its flexibility that is they
allow greater spontaneity and adaptation of the interaction between researcher and the study
participant because this study intends to explore the motivation and attitude of the
participants towards learning English as second language. In addition, the relationship
between the researcher and the participant is often less formal than in quantitative research.
Participants have the opportunity to respond more elaborately and in greater detail than is
typically the case with quantitative methods. With this, researchers will have the opportunity
to respond immediately to what participants say by tailoring subsequent questions to
information the participant has provided.

3.2 RESEARCH SETTING

This research will be conducted in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), which is a public
university located in Selangor, Malaysia. Located at the Peninsula of Malaysia, UPM is
among the top research universities in the country and is known for its strong roots in
agriculture. Although the university is known for its agriculture sector, it offers both
undergraduate and postgraduate studies in most other fields of study similar to other
universities. Furthermore, UPM also has a large pool of both local and a variety of
international students from around the world. The research will be conducted on
undergraduate students from the Faculty of Educational Studies of UPM which consist of
students who are taking the bachelor’s degree in Malay Language, Teaching English as
Second Language (TESL), Physical Education, Agricultural Science, Home Science,
Guidance and Counselling, Counselling and Science of Human Resource and Development.

The rationale of this setting to be chosen for the purpose of this research is that firstly,
the Undergraduates from the Faculty of Educational Studies of UPM are easily accessible to
the researcher. Other than that, the several courses offered at the Faculty of Educational
Studies allow the researcher to pick the participant among the eight courses offered.
Furthermore, lack of research has been done on tertiary level students on the topic of
exploring their motivation and attitude towards learning English second language especially
at Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM. Hence, it is more practical for the researcher to
conduct research on these respondents than on other undergraduates from other universities in
Malaysia.

3.3 RESEARCH SAMPLES AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

For the purpose of this research, the population of the study are the undergraduates at
Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM which consist of students who are taking bachelor’s
degree in Malay Language, Teaching English as Second Language (TESL), Physical
Education, Agricultural Science, Home Science, Guidance and Counselling, Counselling and
Science of Human Resource and Development.. The reason as to why these undergraduates at
Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM have been selected as the participants for this research
is because this research will discover their motivation and attitudes towards learning the
English as second language. In addition to that, this research will attempt to raise awareness
on the importance of being proficient in the English language for professional purposes.

Informants will be recruited using the purposeful sampling and informants were
invited to participate in the study on a voluntary basis. The recommended sample size for
basic qualitative research can range from three to ten persons (Dukes, 1984), five to twenty
five persons (Polkinghorne, 1989) and exactly ten persons (Creswell, 2007). In this particular
study, six informants were invited to participate in this study. The samples are from different
courses of the Faculty of Educational Studies UPM and this will help provide a wider spread
of the results.
 As the interview sessions were carried out, if after the fourth informant starts to show
a saturated and consistent point with the previous participants, the study would stop at only
four participants. The participants of the study were chosen purposely based on the most
relevant criteria and interested individuals who had experiences of the subject matter would
be preferred (Creswell, 2007).

The inclusion of participants was based on:

1. Currently an undergraduate at Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM

2. Participants are not from the Teaching English as Second Language (TESL) course
3. Have taken CEL subject (Writing Academic Texts)
4. English is not the first language

The exclusion of participants was based on:

1. Participants are not an undergraduate from Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM

2. Participants are taking bachelor’s degree in Teaching English as Second Language
(TESL)
3. Have not taken CEL subject (Writing Academic Texts)
4. Practice English as the first language

3.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

In this research, the instrument that would be used is in the form of semi-structured questions.
The rationale for this would be semi-structured interviews can be an effective method for data
collection when researcher wants to explore participants thoughts, feelings and beliefs bout
particular topic which help to delve deeply into the personal issues.

The informants will be interviewed using semi-structured format with guided topics.
The semi-structured interviews consisted of six open-ended questions. These interviews
provided opportunities for a focused and direct contact with the informants that could
facilitate further building and sustaining rapport. The semi-structured interview questions will
consist of two sections, the first section, Section A, will consist of questions regarding the
participants demographics which are made up of their age, race, gender and year of study.
The second section, Section B contains six questions directed to the objective of the study
which is about their motivation and attitude towards learning the English as second language.
Section A is made up with the purpose of finding out the participants information which will
be determine the strata they belong to (determined by the year of study). On the other hand,
the results from Section B is intended to determine their types of motivation and attitudes
towards learning the English second language.

3.5 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

During the process of conducting research, it is important to ensure that the instrument used
is valid and reliable to ensure that data collected is accurate. This is an important step in
research so as to avoid any misinterpretation or contamination of the findings. In addition to
that, the quality of the instrument used will determine the conclusion that will be drawn at the
end of the research. Hence, instruments used need to be valid and reliable to ensure that
conclusions for this research are based on information and data that is accurate.

The validity of an instrument is the degree of which data collected by the instrument
is able to support inferences made by the researcher. According to Fraenkel and Wallen
(2008), validity is the meaningfulness and appropriateness of an instrument used by a
researcher to make specific inferences based on data collected through that instrument. For
this research, the researcher will consult a field expert, a TESL lecturer to validate the
instrument for this research.

In terms of establishing reliability, the researcher conducted two processes. The

first included recording the data in a table to provide an overall assessment of the data
collection process and the updated assessment of the results, as they come. The use of the
table for recording data provided the researcher with a chance to quickly interpret the
results as per the record of every individual respondent and realize the progress of the
research.

The table also helped in a concise construction of the conclusion of the research
parameters. The reliability was also assessed through data triangulation. Among the
various model of the data triangulation such as methodological triangulation, data
triangulation, investigator triangulation and theoretical triangulation. The study adopted
the theoretical triangulation, wherein other research works in the same arena were
analysed and presented as a literature review to support the results claims of the data
collection and analysis process. Moreover, the reliability measures relating to the
triangulation of data provided an extensive understanding of the research objectives,
which provided an additional layer of reliable stamping to the research.

3.6 DATA COLLECTION

In order to collect data for the purpose of this research, the researcher will first obtain
permission from the Ethics Board of UPM to conduct this research. This step is crucial to
ensure safety, dignity and well-being of the participants and their rights are not violated in
any way and are kept in consideration at all times throughout the course of this research.
Next, the researcher would also have to obtain permission from the Faculty of Educational
Studies of UPM and also the consent of the students from the students from the faculty before
proceeding with the data collection process.

The data collection process will be carried out during the first semester of 2021/2022
through the form of physical interviews. The researcher will interview the undergraduates at
the Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM. All informants will be briefed individually about
the purpose of the study. Information sheets and interview questions were given. Each of the
informants was given the opportunity to clarify their doubt before providing their consent.
Each informant was given a pseudonym and some of their personal details were desensitized
to preserve privacy and confidentiality.

The participants would be recruited using purposeful sampling technique. Purposeful

sampling is a non-probability sample that is selected based on the characteristics of a
population and the objective of the study. They would be invited through their respective
student email formally. The researcher would also attach the consent form for all participants.
After the participants have read, agreed and signed the consent form, the researcher would set
up a date and time with the participants to conduct an interview session with them.

The interview would be conducted in English or Bahasa Melayu depending on the

participants’ preference. The interview would take place in an online setting where the
researcher would provide a Zoom meeting’s link to all participants. The interview would be
conducted separately in around 46 minutes to 1 hour. The interview session would be
recorded and transcribed by the researcher. The interviews would be focusing on collecting
the informants’ perception on learning English as the second language.

3.7 DATA ANALYSIS

The process of data analysis will take place once the researcher has completed the collection
of data through the interviews. For analysing the qualitative, data a content analysis method
will be used. In the analysis process, the interviewees’ responses for each question were
firstly translated into English and then transcribed. After that, the responses were analysed in
terms of themes related to the study objectives.

Data analysis by Data will be presented

Conduct all gathering the main in the form of writing
interviews for the points shared by the on the main points
study participants shared by the
(researcher may participants
listen to the recorded
zoom sessions)

Figure 2: Data analysis process

Firstly, the interviews would be conducted for all the participants involved. Then , the result
from the interview sessions would be analysed by gathering the main points stated by each
participant. The researcher would also generalise some of the[participants’ answers if they
share the same idea. After that, the data of analysis would be presented in the form of writing.
The data obtained then would be connected to the objectives of the study to answer the
research problems.

3.8 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

The researcher would also perform ethical investigation according to JKEUPM

(Jawatankuasa Etika Universiti Untuk Penyelidikan Melibatkan Manusia) approval and
guidelines. All methods would be approved and supervised by the researcher’s head
supervisor and JKEUPM first before the research was conducted. This was to ensure the
safety of this research as well as the participants were guaranteed.
Throughout the research, the researcher would remain professional by not showing any bias
or taking control of the whole research process to achieve the objective of the study which
was to explore the motivation and attitudes of the undergraduates towards learning English as
a second language. The researcher would also distribute the consent form to the participants a
week prior before the interview session taking place.

All informants will be briefed individually about the purpose of the study. Information sheets
and interview questions were given. Each of the informants was given the opportunity to
clarify their doubt before providing their consent. Each informant was given a pseudonym
and some of their personal details were desensitized to preserve privacy and confidentiality.

3.9 SUMMARY

In this chapter, basic qualitative research is employed as the methodology of this study. The
research design has been explained as well as the data collection procedures. Then, the
population and sampling procedure together with location of the study have also been stated.
Data collection method used in this study is through online platform which is Zoom meeting
where the whole interview sessions would be recorded by the researcher. The data analysis
process is also shown in Figure 4. Through data analysis, it would ensure the accuracy in the
phenomenon description then the researcher also explains how the procedures of the study
could be verified and the ethical consideration concerning this research had also been stated.
APPENDIX

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

SECTION A

Name :

Age :

Race :

Course & Year of Study :

SECTION B

1. What do you think is the most important factor that motivates undergraduates to learn
English ?

2. What makes you to want to learn English ?

3. Are you more or less motivated to learn English than you were in the previous years ? Why
?

4. Do you still hold the same attitudes towards learning English that you had before being an
undergraduate? If no, what makes you having a different view ?

5. Can you mention some of the most important affective factors as reasons for liking or
disliking learning English ?

6. To what extent do educational factors (teachers/lessons/curriculum) influence the students’

attitudes to learning English in our faculty ?