CHAPETR 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale It is undeniable that English is one of the major languages in the world.

It li nks people in many fields: science, technology, business, communication, educati on, 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 e very country. In Vietnam, English is one of the foreign languages that are compulsory from pri mary school to university. However, there are differences in English learning re sults among students from different minorities as well as different areas. Teach ing English to ethnic minority students in the remote and mountainous areas of N orthern 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 i n mountainous areas. . Minority students in mountainous schools are considered t o learn English not so well as those in towns. What factors can affect their lea rning process is my question for that problem. Hence, I have chosen that topic f or my thesis namely A study on some major factors affecting English learning of g rade 6 ethnic minority students of a mountainous secondary school to help them l earn better . I hope that this research can give a few benefits to teachers, stude nts and people concerned about this field. 2. Hypothesis Up to now, there are many factors affecting English learning of grade 6th mino rity 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 a nd grade 6th minority students at Ph?ng L?p 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 learner s 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 carrie d out on some teachers of English in this school which can help us to see some m ajor 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 minori ty 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