CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Rationale In todays society, it is important that people can express themselves, not only in writing but also in speaking. Through language, people can express their opinions, influence other people and make statements. Communication gives people an opportunity to reflect on and analyze their impressions. Speaking is a potent tool to communicate and enrich all areas of development. It guarantees all beings to vocalize views and principles of life. During social interactions, it transforms mans abstract thoughts and feelings into something comprehensively audible or visible. In addition, verbal communication has to develop discipline to have good interactions with different individual beings. To speak is the ability that only humans are gifted with. We are given the privilege to speak and given the chance to improve and develop our speaking skills in communication most especially in school where formal education takes place. It is important to know ways on how to deal speech and be able to learn essential growth for improving ones speaking abilities. Oral language according to Lado (1964:50), is the basis of communication. Littlewood (1983:12) also emphasizes that the development of oral skills is the main focus of communicative language class in order to prepare the learners to be able to communicate socially in everyday matters with people, especially those from other

countries, and to enable them to adjust to a more reasonably normal life if they ever have the chance to visit another country. Effective speaking is one of the most valuable assets a person can have. Such speaking ability builds ones self-confidence and assurance, (Martinez, 1975:34). According to Caroll, Effective communication in English is attainable not only through the words the speaker says, but also through the manner by which he speaks them. In other words, it is the persons speaking skills that give force or impact to the thoughts and feelings that he conveys. Caroll also states that whereas grammatical patterns play a crucial role in communication, the prime need of the learner is not for theoretical and analytical knowledge of the target language but for an ability to understand and be understood in that language. Devoid of the natural learning context and due to the dearth of model users, the English students are also left to confront some trying situations in the classroom. Over the years, they have been continuously drilled with workbook exercises, aimed at developing just their grammatical knowledge. It is certainly about time that communication arts be brought down from its pedestal and be set juxtaposed with the other language components. After all, language is used as a whole during communication. It may also require the language teachers to present their lessons through meaningful and interesting activities, for these offer students multiple ways of learning and demonstrating their knowledge, (Kumravadivelu, 1993: 14). Based on the data and contentions of linguistic experts that age, gender and language exposure affect the verbal ability of the students, the researcher is determined

to find out whether these variables have direct relationship with the academic performance of the high school students in Cebu Mary Immaculate Colege. Theoretical Background Related Theories The level of verbal communication skills of the learners is anchored on the theory of Communicative Competence by Dell Hymes. He defined four different categories within communicative competence, grammatical competence, that is, to understand that besides grammatical rules, usage of social function exists, feasible, to know if an utterance is possible even if it happens to be grammatically correct, appropriate usage, which means to know if an utterance is appropriate in the current social situation, and accepted usage, to know if an utterance that is both correct and appropriate is used. The first two categories reflect the use of the linguistic system and the last two categories define the functional aspects of communication. (Tornberg 1997:40) Hymes also attempts to explain how language differs from one context to another across geographical borders and how people in one context communicate with people in other context. Children evolve into more confident language users and in the end, they manage to use different strategies depending on the current social situation. This development, which starts at home and continues in school, happens more or less automatically. If the level of knowledge and skill is sufficiently high, then one may be able to infer that an individual is competent. Students benefit from a safe and also to

speak during longer periods of time, and that they should be given opportunities to speak to each other, no matter how limited their language knowledge may be. Narrowing the concept on communicative competence, Hymes supports that the level of verbal communication skills of a student really varies on his speaking performance, exposure at home and gender. The Theory on Multiple Intelligences advanced by Howard Gardner, resonates the linguistic competence of each individual. He claims that all children are gifted but in different ways. He points out that the Linguistic Intelligence is the intelligence which is most equally shared among humans. Not everyone is equally talented, but all people have a language. Gardner believes that the language acquisition process is an independent process not dependent on the childs development. He bases this assumption on the fact that all normally gifted children, and also many children with disabilities learned a language in the same way and undergo the same stages. (Gardner 1983:78ff) Stephen Krashen noted in his Second Language Acquisition Theory that Acquisiton-Learning Hypothesis (ALH) is the most fundamental and the most widely known among linguists and language practitioners. According to him, there are two independent systems of second language performance: the acquired system and the learned system. The acquired system or acquisition is the product of subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language-natural communication- in which

speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances but in the communicative act. The learned system or learning is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge about the language, e.g. knowledge on grammar rules. Krashen further explains that learning is less important than acquisition.

Related Literature Even though the human language is very complex, young children are able to break the code and learn how to speak properly. This phenomenon has nothing to do with literacy. Millions of people around the world never learn to read or write, still they learn how to speak and are able to communicate just as well as those who can read and write. How do people learn a language and it is harder to learn a first language than it is to learn a second language? Throughout the years, the studies of language acquisition have been many just as theories. Even far from all theories have received much attention some of them have received approval and are well known. (Ekstrom 2001:4ff) Since the mid-1900s, several scholars in the fields of language education, second language acquisition and bilingualism have addressed the influence of gender on access to linguistic and interactional resources on the dynamics of classroom interaction and on language learning outcomes. (Ehrich 1997; Norton;2000; Pavlenko Blackedge, Piller & Teutsch Dwyer, 2001Sunderland 2000). The field of TESOL has also exhibited a growing interest in the impact of gender of ESL and EFL learning, seen

in the increasing number of plenaries, panels, discussion groups and papers on the topic. Yet the nature of the connection between gender and language learning remains elusive, or rather different scholars and educators approach it from diverse perspectives. Some studies continue to appeal varied and are treated through international sociolinguistics methodology. Treating gender as a variable where as others grounded in critical, poststructuralist and feminist theory approach gender as a system of social relations and discursive practices. According to McDonough & Shaw(1993), speaking is linguistic knowledge that creates an oral message for communication and self-expression. Bygate (1987) points out that speaking has two types of skills: lower level motor skills to do with pronunciation and production of speech, and the decisions and strategies used in communicating ideas and information to do with choice of words. Arnold (2003) identifies other types of speaking. Firstly, test-speak, when teachers use display questions to concentrate on grammar and correct errors but do not give learners opportunities to speak for themselves. Secondly, talk-to speaking, when teachers speak constantly to explain grammar and vocabulary but do not give learners opportunities to participate. Arnold (2003) suggests teachers should use talking with and real-speak to develop interactive speaking skills. She emphasizes real speaking for expressing learners ideas and practicing structures in personalized contexts and suggests that this is essential for spoken fluency. She notes, however, that all this depends on the learners willingness (i.e. their motivation) to participate; they may withdraw and refuse to speak. Consequently, interesting learners in speaking materials and activities is very important for developing their fluency.

Howarth (2006) discusses the problems facing teachers trying to increase oral interaction among learners. The first one is learner resistance : learners in monolingual classes may feel that group work and pair work are not authentic and that is unnatural to speak a language with partners who speak the same first language. Second problem is self-consciousness, when learners feel nervous and embarrassed when asked to speak English. Next, Howarth (2006) points out the fact that it is difficult to monitor large classes who are doing pair or group work. There are also the associated risks of noise, bad behavior and the use of the mother tongue. He also identifies two further factors that apply to the classroom. First is lack of motivation, so if the learners do not want to interact, they will not. Second, insufficient language, so if the learners do not have enough English language, it will be difficult for them to interact. Several linguists contended that a person is considered to be a fluent speaker of a language when he is able to use its structures accurately while concentrating on the content rather than form, using the units and patterns automatically at normal conversational speed when they are required.

Related Studies Several studies have been conducted in relation to the verbal ability of the children.Language processing is more sensory in boys and more abstract in girls - could have major implications for teaching children and even provide support for advocates of single sex classrooms, said Douglas D. Burman, research associate in Northwesterns Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

The researchers found out that girls still showed significantly greater activation in language areas of the brain than boys. The information in the tasks got through to girls language areas of the brain areas associated with abstract thinking through language. And their performance accuracy correlated with the degree of activation in some of these language areas. To their astonishment, however, this was not at all the case for boys. In boys, accurate performance depended when reading words on how hard visual areas of the brain worked. In hearing words, boys performance depended on how hard auditory areas of the brain worked. If that pattern extends to language processing that occurs in the classroom, it could inform teaching and testing methods. Given boys sensory approach, boys might be more effectively evaluated on knowledge gained from lectures via oral tests and on knowledge gained by reading via written tests. For girls, whose language processing appears more abstract in approach, these different testing methods would appear unnecessary Through 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. Baker and Westrup (2003) says that there is a need for people who speak English well not only throughout the world but also in developing countries as well. In most of the countries, college education is carried out in English. Employees who are fluent enough in English are high in demand. So it has become important for students to

learn how to speak English well and for the teachers to know how to teach the speaking skills very well that would incorporate fluency and accuracy. Filmores (1979, p.93) establishes four abilities that might be embodied under the term fluency, the first ability to talk a length with few pauses. The other three abilities are to talk on coherent, reasoned and semantically-densed sentences, the ability to have appropriate things to say in a wide range of context and the ability of being creative and imaginative in use of a language. Many studies (Upshur, 1968; Mason, 1971, Saegert, Scott, Perkins and Tucker, 1975) cited by Alison d Anglejan (1978) appear to indicate that the number of hours or years which are spent on formal second language study is not in itself a strong predictor of second language achievement as measured by proficiency tests, particularly ones measuring oral fluency. He further says that the words and structures learned in the classroom may be sometimes unrecognizable when they occur in the normal discourse of native speakers. This lack of transferability of classroom learning to unstructured situation is one of the prime criticisms of second language instruction. He points out that if students have not attained functional oral fluency after many years of formal study, and then there is a need to look elsewhere for opportunities to develop this skill. Dimitra Hartas (2005,p 27) in his book Language and Communication Difficulties , emphasized upon the childrens need to acquire both linguistic and social knowledge in order to become effective communicators. He viewed that childrens undertaking of the context and the connections between the context and speech is Zaremba and Zhang hypothesize that, of the four macro English skills, speaking seems

to be the most important skill required for communication (Zaremba, 2006). Students who study English as a foreign language usually have limited opportunities to speak English outside the classroom (Zhang, 2009) and also limited exposure to English speakers or members of the international community. This might be one reason for teachers to provide more situations and activities for students to strengthen their speaking competence. Thus, knowledge is acquired through experience. What the children learn about language is determined by what they already know about the world. (Brown 2000;28)

In addition, there are a number of factors relating to speaking skills to be considered for effective English speaking performance. Confidence and competence usually reinforce English speaking skills. Patil (2008) asserted that building up the learners confidence to eliminate their fear of making errors was a priority that a teacher should consider in order to make learners feel comfortable with their language use. Confidence and competence in speaking could be developed from appropriate syllabus design, methods of teaching, and adequate tasks and materials (Bailey, 2005; Songsiri, 2007).

Regarding speaking effectiveness, Shumin (1997) pointed out a number of elements involved, including listening skills, sociocultural factors, affective factors, and other linguistic and sociolinguistic competencies such as grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence. Grammatical competence enables speakers

to use and understand English language structures accurately and unhesitatingly, which contributes to their fluency, which, in turn, develops confidence in communication.

Conceptual Framework The schematic diagram of the theoretical background which shows the conceptual framework of the study is shown in Figure 1.

The study was grounded on three theories, namely: Communicative Competence Theory, Multiple-Intelligences Theory and Second Language Acquisition (Acquisition-Learning) Theory. The Communicative Competence Theory as advanced by Dell Hymes, supports that the level of verbal ability of the students varies on the speaking performance, exposure at home and gender. The Theory of Mutliple Intelligences founded by Howard Gardner resonates the linguistic competence of each individual and that is equally shared among humans. Lastly, the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis proposed by Stephen Krashen supports that meaningful interaction in the target language is required in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances but in the communicative act. A scale to measure the verbal ability and a survey-questionnaire were given to the high school students of Cebu Mary Immaculate College in order to determine their level of verbal communication skills. Results were analyzed to determine the correlation of these variables to their academic achievement in English. Based on the findings of the study, an intervention program was proposed to improve the verbal communication skills of the students.

The Problem Statement of the Problem This study was designed to determine the relationship between the verbal ability and the academic achievement of the high school students of Cebu

Mary Immaculate College. Specifically, this sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of the following:

1.1 Age;

1.2 Gender;

1.3 Activities engage during leisure time; and

1.4 Exposure in the use of English?

2. What is the respondent's level of verbal communication skills?

3. What is the respondent's academic achievement in English?

4. Is there a significant relationship between verbal communication skills and

the following:

4.1 Age;

4.2 Gender;

4.3 Activities engage during leisure time; and

4.4 Exposure in the use of English?

5. Is there a significant correlation between respondents' verbal communication skills toward their academic achievement?

6. What instructional interventions maybe proposed?

Statement of Hypothesis Ho1: There is no significant relationship between the students verbal ability and their

1.1 Age; 1.2 Gender;

1.3 Activities engage during leisure time; and

1.4 Exposure in the use of English

Ho2: There is no significant correlation between the students verbal ability and their academic achievement.

Significance of the Study This study was designed to benefit all those who are concerned in the development of the childrens ability in speaking. These were the following: Teachers of Reading or Language. This would guide them in determining whether age, gender and exposure at home in the use of English affect the students academic performance. If so, counter measures may be devised. Students. This study would enable them to know their level of verbal ability that would help them which variable affect in their academic performance. This may encourage them to improve their speaking skills. School Administrators. This would inspire them in crafting curriculum that would help in developing verbal ability in children. Further, this would aid them in appropriately and abundantly providing the students with enough resources so as to develop their speaking skills. Parents and Guardians. As partners of school in preparing the children to a better future, this study would help them understand the role of the variables being tested in relation to the verbal ability of their children. As such, they may find ways to help their children advance themselves in the field of oral communication for a better academic achievement.

Prospective Researchers.

This study would encourage them to go

deeper into seeking a topic relevant to speaking as this is seen to be affecting the performance of the children in school.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study This study was purposely designed to look into the level of verbal communication skills of the students in terms of age, gender, activities engaged during leisure time and exposure to the use of English at home. This sought to find out whether these variables correlate with their academic achievement. The respondents were the high school students of Cebu Mary Immaculate College. To come up with the investigation, the researcher gathered the data using the survey-questionnaire designed to obtain results in age, gender and language exposure of the learners. In determining the level of verbal communication skills, the TOEFL speaking test was being devised. Lastly, a formative exam utilizing the first periodical exam in English was administered to find out the impact of speaking skills to their academic achievement. Definition of Terms: Verbal Ability. It refers to the way how the learners communicate orally developing the three components in communication process - input, process and output. Communication. It refers to the process that makes a man exchange thoughts and feelings with others. It involves several communication components or elements

that work interactively and complementarily with one another to complete a communicative act. Level of Verbal Communication. It refers to the categorization of the respondents according to their scores obtained in the speaking test. The categorization were poor, fair, average, good and very good.

Communicative Competence. It is competence for language use and not only the tacit knowledge of language structure. It is competence of language use appropriate to the other participants of the communicative interaction and appropriate to the given social context and situation.