[FONT=Times New Roman]INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale

It is undeniable that English is one of the major languages in the world. It links people in many fields: science, technology, business, communication, education, etc. Nowadays, English is popular enough to be spoken at every corner of the world. Therefore, teaching and learning English have become the necessity in every country.

In Vietnam, English is one of the foreign languages that are compulsory from primary school to university. However, there are differences in English learning results among students from different minorities as well as different areas. Teaching English to ethnic minority students in the remote and mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam has long been a controversial issue. In Sonla, it is a fact that there exists a big gap between students in towns and students from minorities in mountainous areas. . Minority students in mountainous schools are considered to learn English not so well as those in towns. What factors can affect their learning process is my question for that problem. Hence, I have chosen that topic for my thesis namely “A study on some major factors affecting English learning of grade 6 ethnic minority students of a mountainous secondary school to help them learn better”. I hope that this research can give a few benefits to teachers, students and people concerned about this field.

2. Hypothesis

Up to now, there are many factors affecting English learning of grade 6th minority students, and different factors affect them in different ways and different levels.

3. Objectives of the study

The main objectives of this study are as follows:

• To identify the present situation of teaching and learning English of teachers and grade 6th minority students at Phỏng Lập secondary school.

• To find out some major factors affecting their English leaning .

• To find out which the most important factors are and which the least ones are.

• To give some suggested solutions, which could be useful for teachers and learners in teaching and leaning English at mountainous secondary schools.

4. Scope of the study

For the limitation of time, conditions, and materials, this study only focuses on some major factors affecting English learning of some grade 6 ethnic minority students at Phong Lap secondary school. In addition, this thesis is also carried out on some teachers of English in this school which can help us to see some major factors affecting English learning to grade 6 students in this school more obviously.

5. Methods of the study

Carrying out this research, the following methods have been used:

• Theoretical study

• Survey (questionnaire)

• Interview

• Class observation

6. Research questions

In the thesis, the following questions will be answered.

1. What is the present English learning situation of grade 6 ethnic minority students at Phong Lap secondary school?

2. What are some major factors affecting their English learning ? What are the most and the least important ones?

3. What are suggested solutions to the study?

7. Overview of the study

The study concludes five main following chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review

Chapter 3: Data collection and analysis

Chapter 4: Major findings and discussions

Chapter 5: Conclusion