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Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM
Background of the Study
“Communication is the exchange and flow of information and
ideas from one person to another; it involves a sender transmitting an
idea, information, or feeling to a receiver.”
U.S. Army, 1983
According to M.S. Thirumalai (1976), English is an international
language, spoken in many countries both as a native and as a second
or foreign language. It is taught in the schools in almost every country
on Earth. It is a living and vibrant language spoken by over 300 million
people as their native language and an additional 100 million people
use it fluently as a foreign language. As a rough estimate, 1000 million
or one billion people around the world have some knowledge of
English, either as a native language, as a second language, or as a
foreign language.
Also English contributed a big part in communication. According
to the Interpersonal Communication, effective communication occurs
only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the
sender intended to transmit. Having solid English skills is a must and to
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communicate in clear, respectful and non-judgemental ways is
important. Communication is a two way process, so improving
communication involves both how we send and receive messages.
People use English to have an effective communication. And it was one
of the reasons why English language was called as the international
language.
Also, English language gives big impact on the process of how
Filipinos communicate. Philippines embraced this language from the
American colonizers. Based on the research of the website Wikipedia,
Philippines today was the fifth largest English-speaking country in the
world and second in the continent of Asia. Filipinos should be proud of
this because English is the “world language,” the lingua franca of the
modern era. It was taught in the school of Philippines as one of the
major subject. Many college students take courses that allow them to
study the language. Many of them end up as Education and Bachelor of
Arts students majoring in English. But the question is, are those
Education students taking up the major of English are really fluent in
using English language on their way of communicating with other
people?
This paper aimed to introduce the effectiveness on the process
of communication of Education students of Urdaneta City University
taking up the major of English. With this present scenario, the
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researchers were motivated to conduct this study to know the
communicative fluency of Urdaneta City University English major
students.
Statement of the Problem
This study aimed to determine the communicative fluency of
Urdaneta City University English major students.
This study sought to answer the following specific problems.
1. What is the respondents’ profile in terms of the following
variables:
A. age;
B. sex;
C. civil status;
D. year level; and
E. grades of respondent in their English subjects last
semester.
2. What are the respondents’ assessments on determining the
communicative fluency of Urdaneta City University English major
students?
A. ability of the student to speak clearly;
B. clarity of thought; and
C. ability to response to the question?
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3. Is there a significant difference between the respondents’
assessments on the determining the communicative fluency of
Urdaneta City University English major students?
4. Is there a significant relationship between the respondents’
assessments on the determining the communicative fluency of
Urdaneta City University English major students in terms of their
selected profile variables?
Hypotheses of the Study
Based on the above stated problems, the researchers formulated
the hypotheses of the study in their operational form as;
1. there is no significant difference between the respondents’
assessments on the determining the communicative fluency of
Urdaneta City University English major students, and
2. there is no significant relationship between the respondents’
assessments on the determining the communicative fluency of
Urdaneta City University English major students in terms of their
selected profile variables.
The hypotheses were analyzed at 0.05 level of significance.
Significance of the Study
This study presents the communicative fluency of Urdaneta City
University English major students and the benefits that will give to the
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following:
Urdaneta City University. Result of this study will be an entry
point to identify the specific need for the conduct of extension
programs of English department.
Teachers . The result of this study will primarily benefit the
teachers who will be more aware to the strengths and weaknesses of
their students.
Students. The result of this study could help the students to
have an overview and more effective understanding about their skill
and course.
Future Researchers. This study will provide baseline data for
further studies and verification. The conduct of this study will also
benefit other researchers who have the same or at least related topic.
Scope and Delimitations of the Study
This study was conducted at the selected forty (40) Bachelor in
Secondary Education Major in English students of Urdaneta City
University (UCU). The selected forty (40) students had undergone
some interview and exam in conducting this study. The subjects of the
study were grouped into two categories. First categories are the
selected twenty (20) second year education students major in English
of Urdaneta City University (UCU) while the second category refers to
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the twenty (20) third year education students major in English of
Urdaneta City University (UCU).
The respondents in the first category are chosen through their
grade in their Speech & Oral Communication subject last semester, it
must be 85 and above. And the second category are chosen through
their GPA in English last semester and it must be 85 and above. This
investigation was conducted to determine the ability of the education
students major in English of Urdaneta City University to communicate
with fluency in speaking English as their language.
The study used a questionnaire personally prepared by the
researchers. The questionnaire was complemented by personal and
interviews. The questionnaire has two parts. Part I was about the
profile of the two categories of respondents; the first and second
groups were the second year and third year education students major
in English of UCU in terms of their a) age; b) sex; c) civil status; d) year
level; and e) grades of respondent in their English subjects last
semester. By the given grades of the respondent which were the
second year (2nd year student and third year student (3rd year) the
researcher can able to get the GPA of their grades; Part II contains the
specific statements for the study. It was designed to measure the
communicative fluency of Urdaneta City University English major
students. The areas included were a) ability of the student to speak
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clearly; b) clarity of thought; and c) ability to response to the question.
The period of the study will last for the whole second semester of the
academic year 2014-2015.
Definition of Terms
In order to facilitate the understanding of the discussion the
following terms are defined according to the context used in the study.
Communicative fluency. This refers to the degree of skill of
the student to communicate with English as their language.
Urdaneta City University (UCU). It is a government owned
university located at San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Philippines. In
2004, UCU became the first Character School in Region I, inculcating in
its students the need for academic excellence and, more importantly,
character transformation. It is the place where the study was
conducted.
Bachelor in Secondary Education Major in English. This is
one of the courses offered at Urdaneta City University (UCU).
Ability of student to speak clearly. It refers to capability of
the student to communicate clearly.
Clarity of thought. It refers to the ability of the student to
express his thought.
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Ability to response to the question. It refers to the capability
of the student to answer or response to the question.
Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter includes some related literatures and studies
conducted by both local and foreign researches, which have a
significant bearing or relevance on the study and which serves as a
spring board in conducting the present study. It also serves us guides
in the interpretation of its results.
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RELATED LITERATURE
Local Literature
According to Bisnar (2003), the pronunciation is a broad subject,
a very difficult one to act upon. A mispronounced word changes the
meaning of the sentence. According to the website, Using English.com
(2003) to begin with, the in-thing nowadays is unification and oneness.
The trend is to have one system of measurement, currency etc. This is
helping to bring people together and avoiding conflicts and wars
between nations. So far, ready and attempts to unify have had very
good results in recent years. But the change that is needed most
urgently has so far been neglected for rather selfish reasons. What is
needed most is better communication, and for this to happen there is
no better way than to have a common language for all. Everybody is
learning English all over the world. Flormata-Ballesteros (2003) states
that speech sounds in English are very important. They are the basis of
differences in defining a word or group of words. English sounds refer
to the sounds produced in oral communication. These sounds are
generally classified into segmental (vowels, consonants, diphthongs
and trip thongs), and supra-segmental (stress, pitch, and juncture).
Gelvanousky (2002), pronunciation has an important social
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value, which means that it is related to prestige, such as intelligence,
professional competence, persuasiveness, diligence, and social
privilege. Pronunciation can provide information about the speaker’s
geographical and social origin, and in most cases it is the most salient
characteristics of non-native speakers. Roja et.al. (1972), English well
cannot be learned in one day; it takes a good deal of time. Moreover,
the student has to master many things.
Foreign Literature
According to Nadeem Malik (2012), throughout the world and in
developing countries no one can deny the spread and success of
English language. For such purpose everyone is craving for the means
to get proper command over this language and to gain the ability to
use it properly just like its fluent native speakers. Hansen and Hanse
(2010), explain English as the universal language all over the world.
Everybody wants to learn to use the language in both its oral and
written form. Anyone who is proficient with it has a greater edge
compared to others who do not. She/he is easily more successful
career- wise. In fact, recent statistics show that proficiency and fluency
in English communication is the one skill mentioned most often by
employers that they require from the applicants they hire. In related
with that Baker and Westrup (2003) states that there is a need for
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people who speak English well not only throughout the world but also
in the developing countries as well. In regard of that many college
students take courses that allow them to study the language. Many of
them enrolled as Education and Bachelor of arts major in English.
According to Jones (2002), it is obvious that creating a stronger link
between pronunciation and communication can help increase learners’
motivation by bringing pronunciation to a level of intelligibility and
encouraging learners’ awareness of its potential as a tool for making
their language not only easier to understand but more effective.
Andrew Little John and Diana Hicks(1998,p.133) in his book Cambridge
English for schools emphasized that developing fluency is important in
building up the students confidence and maintain a sense of
achievement in being able to say something meaningful.
RELATED STUDIES
Local Studies
Evangelista (2006) found out that speaking is the most common
form of communication. The purpose is to help the audience to
understand or appreciate what is being told. Though people may be
comfortable talking with their friend, talking to a group of people who
are not at all their friends is an entirely different matter. In his
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situation, it is therefore imperative that the teacher gives exercise in
oral presentation to develop the students’ ability to speak the target
language and that they may interpret what they wanted to tell their
listeners. Carpio (1999) claimed that the way persons speak serves as
a reflection of their personality. If the respondents are introverted who
are not comfortable in speaking in front, they may manifest
nervousness during their oral speech production.
Flores and Lopez (1998) stated that some people have voice
problems because of organic defects. It is connected with the voice
because during the speaking process, the organs of speech are
coordinately integrated and involved in breathing, phonation,
resonation and articulation. But Conception et.al. (1994) found out that
the Filipino college students face communication problems,
characteristic of learners to whom English is a second language.
Observe his speech closely and chances are his English rhythm and
intonation sound like Filipino, resulting in the so-called Filipino or
vernacular English. His words often have different meanings because
he substitutes Filipino for English sounds (wife becomes wipe or keys
becomes kiss) and he places the stress on the wrong syllable (dess’ert
becomes de’sert or can’ary becomes c’annery). After college, the
Filipino may still have communication problems in the workplace.
When he delivers a report at the small sales meeting, he may not be
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understood by the salesmen in the back row. In public communication,
his manner of speaking may be frequently dull and boring thus
dissipating audience attention. His speeches may be poorly organized
that listeners find it difficult to follow his ideas. Voice improvement,
stress and intonation, the critical vowel and consonant sounds, should
be given much attention because these are crucial problems of the
Filipino communication in English.
Foreign Studies
According to Varasarin (2007), in her action research of
pronunciation training, Language Learning Strategies (LLS) and
speaking confidence states that the outcomes indicate that both cycles
(Cycle One and Cycle Two) showed the implication of the importance of
pronunciation training in the Thai context and the usefulness of
dictionary usage to help learners improve their competence and to
have more confidence to speak English. The control of the content of
pronunciation training with direct LLs is crucial to the improvement of
the students and their confidence. The indirect LLS which they
reported they used in the training had great impact on their
improvement and confidence. Furthermore, in pronunciation training,
learners were taught how to pronounce correct English sound
phonetically and how native speakers use a high and low voice in a
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sentence that is, intonation, rhythm and pitch or in a more academic
sense, segmental and suprasegmentally aspects. Reflective reports
written by teachers and students in both cycles showed that their
pronunciation was improve after they had been trained and it was
evident that they had more confidence to speak English. The problem
makes them feel shy and lessens their confidence to speak. Moreover,
they do not understand what the speaker says to them. The responses
they make are nodding and smiling. Many of the sounds used in the
English Language are foreign to them. Some English sounds are
different from Thai and they are not familiar to Thai students.
Therefore, they do not know how or what to do to produce these
sounds. As a result, they had no confidence when communicating with
foreigners for fear that the listeners will not understand what they
were saying.
In related with that Barnard (2006) cited the study of Underhill
(2005) about “Learning and Teaching Pronunciation.” Underhill invites
the readers to experience for themselves how the sounds are formed
and combined. He does so by asking them to take part in reflective
activities- not merely to read about- but to listen to the sounds that are
made, and observe ( for example, by using a mirror or a willing
colleague) the way that the external speech organs move. These
activities are supported by reference to Underhill’s own version of the
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IPA (International Phonemic Alphabet) chart, and a cd. This CD is
extended as a study aid for teachers, and contains the instructions
narrated by the author and demonstrated by other speakers. According
to Varanasarin (2003), pronunciation is vocalized in communication
and can be consider as a kind of culture. In the process of talking or
speaking, the speaker’s expression, describing or explaining can build
up his/her individual cultural space modus vivendi which the cultural
space contains the system and hierarchy of values and the individual
worldview.
Synthesis of the Reviewed Literature and Studies
The reviewed literature, local and foreign as well as foreign and
local related studies, gave the researchers knowledge, ideas and
different facts regarding levels of communicative fluency of UCU
English majors. The knowledge, ideas and facts gleaned from the
reviewed literature are deemed relevant to the present study, since
the objective of the study is to determine the communicative fluency
of UCU English majors.
Oral communication using English are very important. English
well cannot be learned in one day it takes a good deal of time .The
student should master many things. The proper pronunciation is the
most focused of this review literature the ability of the student to
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pronounce an English word is the first step to understand a foreign
language which in this case is English. Fluency in English
communication is the one skill mentioned most often by employers
that they require from the applicants they hire as stated in the foreign
literature. The study of Varasarin (2007), Evangelista (2006) and
Barnard (2006) cited the study of Underhill (2005) they all concluded
that listening is important in teaching pronunciation. There is a need to
demonstrate how the speech sound is made. Also in the study of
Varasarin (2007), Evangelista (2006), and Carpio (1999) concluded
that having a full knowledge in speaking English had a great impact on
improvement of the confidence of student.
But according to the study of Conception et.al. (1994) found out
that the Filipino college students face communication problems,
characteristic of learners to whom English is a second language. Voice
improvement, stress and intonation, the critical vowel and consonant
sounds, these are crucial problems of the Filipino communication in
English.
Theoretical Framework
Having effective oral communication is a key component as to
the reason why second language acquisition is becoming more and
more important. The teaching of language is important in an English
17
course. If the students are unable to express themselves in their
second language, which in this case is English, then education will
degrade into schooling. Therefore, it is important that teachers are
capable of helping second language students. The theory that served
as baseline of the present study is the theory of Communicative
approach. The theory of communicative approach is an approach to
language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and
the ultimate goal of study. From the above preceding discussion, the
present study is in line with the ability of the student to speak or
pronounce English correctly. Pronunciation was the prominent mode for
approaching second language teaching. When analyzing the effects of
a pronunciation, the researchers have observed that student do not
respond positively. The foreign language learning process can be
compared to the first language. Teacher should develop some activities
to help the student to develop their skill in speaking English language.
The communicative component is the most important aspect that must
be practiced most often; the best activities that the teacher can come
up with are group activities. The group setting is beneficial because it
allows the student with second language difficulty to practice with
students who are fluent in the language. Whether, the natural learning
environment, meaning surrounded by first language students, is a
better methodology than having an artificial learning environment is
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not an issue in this specific context. Also, the group setting allows the
students to practice their communicative techniques.
Also another activity that can help student to pronounce English
is by imitating the pronunciation of English-speaking persons according
to Prator (1956). But sometimes imitation does fail, however. Teacher
may pronounce a word many times, and students still may be unable
to say it exactly as he does. This may be because they are hearing and
reproducing well only a few of the most important sounds, which make
up the word. It will be of benefit to them if the teacher can write out
the word for them, sound by sound using symbols which are always
pronounced in the same way. The eye is more analytical than ear. We
can see separately all the symbols which make up a written word, but
we can hardly hear individually all the sounds which compose it as it is
normally spoken.
Conceptual Framework
This study determined the communicative fluency of UCU English
majors. As shown in the conceptual paradigm (Fig.1) on the proceeding
page the respondents, profile variables are the independent variables
in the study. The line segment in the figure means the communicative
fluency of UCU English majors is dependent on the profile of the
respondents.
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Conceptual Paradigm
Independent Variables Dependent
VariablesRespondents’ Profile in
terms of:
age
sex
civil status
school year,
grade in English last semester,
Respondents’
assessments on the
determining the
communicative fluency
of UCU English major
ability of student to speak clearly,
clarity of thought,
ability to response to the question,
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Figure 1: The conceptual paradigm showing the independent and
dependent variables used in the study.
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