1

New Era High School

Distrito VI, Lungsod Quezon
Tandang Sora Avenue, New Era, Lungsod Quezon

AN ANALYSIS ON THE WAYS TO IMPROVE THE ORAL ENGLISH

PROFICIENCY OF THE GRADE 12 GAS STUDENTS OF
NEW ERA HIGH SCHOOL

A Qualitative Research Proposal Presented to the

Faculty of New Era Highschool

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for

Practical Research in

Daily Life 1

by

Lopez, Dhenielle D.

Caralos, Mary Joy

GAS-12
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TABLE OF CONTENT
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CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

This chapter shows the background of the study, literature review, research

problems, conceptual framework, scope and limitation of the study and the definition of

terms that are going to use in this study.

In today's generation, people think that you are an intelligent person if you do know

how to speak English in a fluent manner. What they do not know is that, English Fluently

is not a parameter of intelligence but rather a good and much effective way to

communicate especially people in abroad. Thus, it is a universal language which most of

the people in the world uses. English language competency is one of the basic

competencies which should be acquired by a university graduate in order to enter

international market and survive in the global competition (Riyandari, 2014). To do this

speaking is, perhaps, the most important language skill a student should acquire when

learning English (Rusdi, 2011). Many job vacancies in international as well as in national

level required interview in English, therefore speaking English skill is very important for

every student (Sembiring, 2017). Speaking English skill is very useful and important to

interact in international level, since its function as international language. Students need

to have communicative competence.

As an GAS student, they must be proficient in English in able to communicate well

in the near future, since they are the next generation for the Industry of Business and
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other opportunities that is given by this strand, which needed more of interaction all over

the world, in order to make the business prosper.

Acquiring this ability will help and serves as an avenue to all the students who are

willing to learn and practice their English skills. It also promotes the development of

cognitive skills and makes schooling a less threatening experience.

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Background of the Study

The importance of English Proficiency can't be overemphasized for it plays an

important role not only in our everyday lives but also in professional and corporate fields.

It acts as an amplifier in performing better in other various academic subjects and helps

ones express his or her ideas with no difficulty, leading his or her fellow group mates or

colleagues to a progressive outcome.

English is used as the primary language of instruction in most of the subject

that are being taught in school. It is also the primary and most dominant in the sciences,

most of the research and studies one finds in any given scientific field will be written in it

as well. At the university level, students in many countries study almost all their subjects

in English in order to make the material more accessible. Although a lot of students may

think that it is very hard and confusing, English is actually the easiest language in the

world to learn, since there are so many resources available may it be on the Internet and

in bookstores. According to Harmer (2014) communicative competence involves not just

language competence (grammar, vocabulary, etc) but also knowledge of how language

is used appropriately and how language is organized as discourse. Spoken language

production, learning to talk in the foreign language, is often considered to be one of the

most difficult aspects of language learning for the teacher to help the students with (Brown

and Jule, 2016: 25).Listening and reading abilities develop much more quickly than

speaking and writing and the ability to speak the second language fluently requires the

longest period of growth (NCLRC, 2014). In language using situation, the speaker has to

have interaction skill. This skill involves making decision about communication such as

what to say, how to say it, and whether to develop it, in accordance with one’s intentions,
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while maintaining the desired relations with others (Bygate, 2013). In speaking English,

students do not only study how to make sentences correctly but also they have to produce

them and adapt them to the circumstances (Bygate, 2010). Second language acquisition

learners need to practice what they have learnt to communicate in social interaction.

Therefore spoken communication becomes important for them. According to Markus

(2010) the reasons for the great value of spoken communication are as follows: (1) there

is great support of spoken language by institution, whether in politics, business or in the

private sphere (2) speaking can be pragmatically more precise than writing. Spoken

language can be understood from expression of speaker. The types of interaction, such

as the use of illocutionary potential of speech acts, personal involvement, irony, can be

more flexibly expressed in speech than in writing.

English skills will provide confidence. Confidence in them is something that many

Filipinos should have, given their current circumstances. Filipinos must not be afraid to

make mistake, their desire to improve their English skills must be stronger than their

desire to only maintain it. Speaking capability needs to be practiced and it needs some

preparations. Graham (2017) stated that speaking as a production skill appears from the

comments made by students to involve similar strategies to those employed in writing,

including planning what to say, selecting what to say, perhaps by using formulaic phrases

and a degree of translation. It is ideal that in speaking class, students get huge

opportunities to practice among their friends and even with their teachers.

The findings of this study would serve many purposes in society, as English is the

universal language. Its analysis can be used as source of information for more
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educational services, especially in resolving issues regarding the proficiency of the

Filipino students in English.

To the Students: This study could provide directions for the students in helping

themselves develop better proficiency in English and be able to apply it in their daily

activities.

To the School Administration: This way, the administration can modify their approach

and/or teaching programs in educating the students and provide guidance to develop

better language learning skills.

To the Future Researchers: They can use this study and its data as a reference or useful

database for their own research in relation to this paper's topic.

In this study, the researcher will analyse the proficiency of the students and how it

will contribute to their academic performances and how well they express their ideas to

the class. The data that will acquire shall be analysed by the researcher to arrive to a

conclusion.

Related Literatures and Studies

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Foreign Literature

Proficiency in English is lacking in any academic setting, it will definitely lower the

academic performance of such students. Vehemently, revealed that lack of proficiency in

English language is one of the factors contributing to poor performance in Mathematics.

High English Language Proficiency could also aid academic reading which is an a view

to indicate the influence of English language on students' academic performance in other

disciplines (Aina, 2013)

Because of frequent stuttering and losing of thought by finding it hard to express

ourselves in English, it always results to decreased self-confidence that progresses to a
total avoidance of this language ( Aina, 2013)

Foreign Studies

Studies into the predictive validity of IELTS have produced mixed results with some
studies not finding any evidence that English proficiency as measured by IELTS predicts
academic performance (e.g., Cotton & Conrow, 1998; Dooey & Oliver, 2002).

Other studies have found a weak but significant relationship between English
proficiency measured by IELTS and academic performance (Elder, 2013). Academic
performance is usually measured by grade point average of the first and subsequent
semesters. These studies have varied in the findings concerning the predictive power of
IELTS. One important element in reporting the predictive validity of IELTS concerns the
test itself and the changes made in recent years. Based on a validation study conducted
by Criper and Davies (2018), the original ELTS test was substantially revised to minimise
the effect of subject specialist knowledge (Clapham, 2016). Before 1995, the then ELTS
test included subject specific reading texts. These were abandoned in 1995 with the
introduction of texts of a general academic nature.
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Kerstjens and Nery (2010) conducted a study which included a sample of business
undergraduates and TAFE students. They found that the IELTS reading subtest predicted
performance for the total sample totalling to 8.4% of the total variance and 9.1% of the
total variance for the undergraduate group. This means that 8.4% and 9.1%of academic
performance may be attributed to English proficiency as measured by IELTS.
Local Literature

We are brought up in an environment designed to speak no other foreign language

but Filipino and other local dialects. Since the day we were born, we became fixated to
our mother tongue, the Filipino Language. We see English as far more complicated the
Filipino in both grammar and pronunciation. In English, "A" has various sounds (Sta. Ana,
2013)

"Many people are just too shy to speak because we have a culture of making fun

of others who are trying to learn and speak English. Instead of admiring those who are

learning a language other than their own, they would rather make a mockery out of them.

It's really a backward culture when it comes to learning and speaking English."(Dela Cruz,

2013)

Effective group problem solving depends on how well members understand and
manage such things as informational resources (Galanes, 2009)

The first, and most crucial, reason for their bad English is their negative attitude

today towards the language. The second problem is that many Filipinos feel intimidate by

someone who speaks fluently in English (Senobio, 2015)

Local Studies
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Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, introduced the Constitution, Article 14, Section

7 further provides that “For purposes of communication and instruction, the official

languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English”

the March 2006 summery showed that about 65 percent of Filipino adults say they

understand spoken English; another 65 percent say they read English; 48 percent say

they can write in English; 32 percent say they speak English; 27 percent say they think in

English; while 14 percent say they are not competent in any way when it comes to the

English language.

In September 2000, 77 percent of Filipino adults said they understand spoken

English; 76 percent also said they read English; 61 percent said they can write in English;

54 percent said they speak English; 44 percent said they think in English; while 7 percent

said they are not competent in any way when it comes to the English language. According

to Brian Lane, vice president for sales and marketing of Lane Archive & Technologies,

the drop in English proficiency threatens the Filipinos’ key competitive edge in attracting

investments in services and other sectors that rely heavily on the English language. Henry

Schumacher, vice president of ECCP, added that improvements in English proficiency

should be done in order to attract major players in the outsourcing sector, which covers

services such as business process outsourcing, call centers, medical transcription, and

global logistics - services which are based on English competitiveness. It is the duty of

the government to initiate programs which aims to improve the English proficiency of

Filipinos to ensure the continuous flow in the country of investments that rely heavily on

the use of the English.

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The related literature and studies, both local and foreign shows the importance of

Oral English Proficiency. It will serve as guide for the researchers in order for them to

come up with an accurate outcome for the research problems they have showed.

Research Problem

This study aims to analyse the ways to improve the Oral proficiency of Grade 12

GAS Students in expressing their ideas in English which will motivate them to develop

and improve their skills for academic purposes.

Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What are the different ways to improve the Oral English Proficiency of the Grade

12 GAS student?

2. How does English proficiency helps the Grade 12 GAS student in their future

career?

3. How is the Oral English Proficiency beneficial for the Senior High School

Students of New Era High School?

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Conceptual Framework

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

 The researchers  The researchers  The researchers

Will randomly will give out are expecting to
Select 30 questionnaires to find out the
students from the respondents different ways of
GAS 12. They will that they have the respodents
conduct a survey randomly on how it will
In order to gather selected. The improve the Oral
Or get the questionnaires English
needed data in are composed of Proficiency . The
their study. 10 questions. Two researchers will
of these present the
questions are result to the
open ended and respondents and
the remaining 6 teachers that
are ratings. The would benefit to
researchers will this study.
then analyze the
result.

This diagram shows that the researchers will select 30 students from each of the

class of Grade 12 particularly section GAS. They will also provide a survey questionnaire

that serves as a medium to collect information from the respondents, and also, at the end

of this, the researchers would be able to analyse and interpret the given data.

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) is often referred to as

"playground English" or "survival English." It is the basic language ability required for face-
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to-face communication, and well they express their ideas in English, where linguistic

interactions are embedded in a situational context called context-embedded language.

BICS is part of a theory of language proficiency developed by Jim Cummins, which

distinguishes this conversational form of language from CALP (Cognitive Academic

Language Proficiency).

BICS, which is highly contextualized and often accompanied by gestures, is

cognitively undemanding and relies on context to aid understanding. BICS is much more

easily and quickly acquired than CALP.

Meanwhile, According to Baker (2006) "BICS is said to occur when there are

contextual supports and props for language delivery. Face-to-face `context embedded´

[boldface in original] situations provide, for example, non-verbal support to secure

understanding. Actions with eyes and hands, instant feedback, cues and clues support

verbal language. CALP, on the other hand, is said to occur in 'context reduced' [boldface

in original] academic situations. Where higher order thinking skills (e.g. analysis,

synthesis, evaluation) are required in the curriculum, language is `disembedded´

[boldface in original] from a meaningful, supportive context. Where language is

`disembedded´ the situation is often referred to as `context reduced´ [boldface in

original]." (Baker, 2006, p. 174)

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Scope and Limitations

The main purpose of this study is to provide an analysis on the ways to improve

the Oral English Proficiency of New Era High School Grade 12 GAS students. The

researchers have formulated the scope and limitations to identify the boundaries of the

study. In order to gather the needed information/data, the researchers will randomly select

30 students from the section of grade 12 GAS.The researchers will conduct a survey by

giving out questionnaires and it is composed of four (4) questions that will satisfy the

needed information. This study will only be limited to analyse the ways given by the

selected student from the survey questions that they will answer and see on how helpful

it is to improve the Oral English Proficiency.

All the information that will be presented in this paper will only be from the data

provided by the respondents at the said vicinity.

Definition of Terms

The terms that are being used in this study were defined for the better

understanding of the readers.

BICS: Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills refers primarily to context-bound, face-

to-face communication, like the language first learned by toddlers and pre-schoolers,

which is used in everyday social interaction.

CALP: Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency refers to the ability of using a language

for formal academic purposes as opposed to social communication.

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English Language: English is the first choice of foreign language in most other countries

of the world, and it is that status that has given it the position of a global lingua franca. It

is estimated that about a third of the world’s population, some two billion persons, now

use English.

English Proficiency: It is the ability to speak English in a fluent manner, and how well a

person expresses his or her ideas in English.

IELTS: International English Language Testing System is designed to assess the

language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English is used as the

language of communication.

Language Proficiency: Capability of an individual to speak a language to measures

his/her expertise to perform in a certain language.

Primary Language: It is the language that we're often uses in our daily basis or most

commonly known as the mother tongue or the language which usually inherited from the

culture we raised from.

Universal Language: Is a most commonly used language of everyone in the world, in

order for them to communicate well with someone especially people abroad, it serves as

the unity for every people to communicate. It is also the primary language in many

countries and a second language to a number of multilingual countries and one of those

is the Philippines.
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CHAPTER 2

Procedure, Qualitative Design and Methodology

This chapter details out the procedure, research design and methodology for the

stubdy. It explains the research objectives and suitable methodology to achieve those

objectives. It contains such as a description of research design, selection of criteria and

respondents, data collection, data analysis and the role of the researchers.

This study will be designed to analyse the ways on how to improve the English

Proficiency of The Grade 12 GAS students. Through a random selection, the researchers

will choose the students that will be the respondents. These respondents will be given a

survey questionnaire that they will answer. After the completion of answering the

questionnaires the researcher will analyse the data.

The researchers will be using descriptive method, a type of qualitative research

which describe the characteristics of a population or a fact or situation that is observed to

exist that being studied. Descriptive research does not answer where, when, why the

characteristics occurred but rather descriptive research answer what, and how. It is

involved about the relationship that is being observed. This research describes the basis

of the procedure of the gathering, analysing, classifying. This research use descriptive

methodology that will represent the observation, description, and classifying phenomena.

The descriptive method research will be used on gathering the data about the Analysis

on the Ways to Improve the English Proficiency of Grade 12 of New Era High School.
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Using the descriptive method the researcher can easily find the particular problems in the

study and the important of a factor that decisively affects the nature that will be prove.

Selection Criteria and Participants

The criteria of selecting respondents of this study must be from Senior High

School, GENERAL ACADEMIC STRAND or GAS strand at New Era High School and the

following students must be from section GAS of grade 12. The number of participants is

30 from the section, and it will be filtered and/or selected randomly to answer the survey

questions that will prepared by the researchers. Each 30 students from the section will

serve as the sample or representative of the whole population. The questionnaires that

they will answer are composed of eight (8) questions that will satisfy the data needed in

this study.

Data Collection Procedure

To gather the data, the researchers will explain to the respondents about the

purpose of the study. The procedure that the researcher will be used is in the form of

survey questionnaires and it is further divided into two parts these are the: a) about the

respondents including, name and age, b) questions about their different ways to improve

their Oral English Proficiency, like how they practice their English skills and what are the

things that they are doing in able to express their ideas using English in an easy and most

effective way. The papers will be checked, tallied, interpreted and analyzed by the

researchers.

In this study, the researchers will select only one place as main sampling station

to analyze the ways to improve the Oral English proficiency of the grade 12 GAS students.
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Data Analysis Procedure

To analyse and interpret the data that will be acquired by the researcher

through the use of survey which will answer by 30 respondents from the section of grade

12 specifically,GAS. The researchers will use their reading comprehension skills to read

and analyse the given data in able to come up with an analysis about the ways to improve

the English proficiency of the grade 12 students of GBy the use of skimming GAS. the

researcher can easily interpret the answer of the selected respondents, because

skimming can tell the researchers about the general idea and the tone of the material that

was indicated in the survey questionnaires.

The researchers will employ the literature and studies above and it will serve as

the guide and basis on how the researchers must interpret the given data accordingly.

Role of the researchers

The role of the researchers is to give a survey form in able to acquire information

about this study, the researchers are the one who will collect information and the one who

will interpret the given data from the respondents. The researchers are also the one who

will answer and accommodate the following questions regarding this research. The

researchers must be responsible about the content and validation of this research study.

The researchers are the following:

The Data Collector: The information and data is from the respondents who are going to

answer the survey questionnaires. This kind of role is somehow not an easy task, as it

involves asking people to talk about things that may be very personal to them. Sometimes
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the experiences of the questions that being asked and explored are fresh in the

respondents minds. However the data are being collected, a primary responsibility of the

researchers is to guard the respondents and their data.

The Observer: Observing is the most important skill when having interview or survey to

their participants. It really help the researchers to reach the accurate data by observing

their participants, because of this it makes the data more accurate. Observing it's not

about looking and listening, it requires careful, conscious and purposeful effort to

achieve the accurate data.

The Interpreter: The interpreter adopts roles in which they attempt to gain from

participants answer to import to the research topic. It is important to reflect on the

possible implications of this procedure for the depth and quality of resultant data.
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REFERENCES
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INTERNET SOURCES

7 reasons Why Filipinos CAN'T Speak English Better. (2013).

retrieved from http://whatmichaellikes.blogspot.com/2013/09/7-reasons-why-filipinos-

cant-speak.html

Student’s Proficiency in English Language Relationship with Academic Performance in

Science and TechnicL Education. (2013).

Retrieved from http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/1/9/2/

Pursuing English Language Proficiency among Filipino Students.(n.d.)

Retrieved from https://bsuexegesis.wordpress.com/authors/language-

education/pursuing-english-language-profuciency-among-filipino-students/

English proficiency is a continuous improvement process. (2012).

Retrieved from http://www.getrealphillipines.com/blog/2012/04/englishproficiency-is-a-

continuous-impovement-process/

THESIS/DISERTATION

Aronson, J., 2014, A Pragmatic View of Thematic Analysis, The Qualitative Report,
Vol 2, Number 1, Spring, Accessed on 10 March 2014 from
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/ BackIssues/QR2-1/aronson.html.
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Brown, H. Douglas, 2017, Principles of Language Learning andTteaching, 5th edn,

Pearson Education, New York. Brown, G. and Yule, G., 2013, Teaching Spoken
Language. An approach on the Analysis of Conversational English, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.

Bygate, M., 2017, Speaking, Language Teaching, a Scheme for Teacher

Education, Candling, C.N. and Widdowson, H.G., Oxford University Press,
Oxford.

Bygate, M., 2012, Speaking in R.B. Kaplan (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook
of Applied Linguistics, pp. 27-38, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Cummins, J. (). Language Proficiency, Bilingualism and Academic Achievement.

White Plains, NY. Longman. pp. 58-70.

Racca, R. & Lasaten, R. (2016). English Language Proficiency and

Academic Philippines Science High School Students. International Journal of
Language, Literature and Linguistics, Vol. 2, No. 2.

BOOK
Galanes, A. (2009). Communicating in Groups: Application Skills. McGraw Hill. New
York. p.6
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APPENDIX B

SURVEY QUESTIONARES

An Analysis on the ways to improve the Oral English Proficiency of the Grade 12 GAS of
New Era High School

I. PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENT

a. Name: _____________________
b. Age: _____
c. Section: ____________________

II. English Proficiency

A. Please kindly shade the circle of your preferred answer.

Descriptors:

4: YES

3: SOMETIMES

2: MAYBE

1: NOT AT ALL

a. I always use English

whenever I share ideas to
the class.

b. I can speak in English Fluently

c. I am confident to speak English

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d. I want to improve my English

Skills

e. I can understand English

Language but it is hard for me to
use it

f. I can understand English

Language and it is easy for me to
use it

B. Please answer the following questions in 1 to 2 sentences.

a. What are the ways or techniques you do to improve your English Skills?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

b. Is your way effective on improving your Oral English Proficiency?

______________________________________________
______________________________________________

Thank you so much for answering! God Bless! 