THE CHANGES AND ADJUSTMENTS IN LANGUAGE USE OF

COLLEGE STUDENTS STUDYING IN METRO MANILA

A Case Study

Presented to the Faculty of

English and Applied Linguistics

DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Course Requirements for

Theories of Language and Language Acquisition

LORENZO, Mary Gertrude F.

SANTOS, Jennifer A.

December 2019
 ABSTRACT

Moving to a new environment far from home may be daunting, especially if it uses a

different variant of the local language or even a different language. For college students

coming from the province, they desire to communicate effectively with their peers from

the city and feel more at home in a place where they will be spending the next four years

in. The study identified the different learning strategies used and created, motivators and

goals, and other changes in their current language use that college students from De La

Salle University had to utilize in order to adapt to that of the university environment. The

two respondents recalled their past experiences during their first year in the university,

and three themes emerged, mainly (1) written and verbal communication struggles and

adjustments, (2) personalized learning strategies which helped them cope to the new

environment of the city, and (3) the changes in their linguistic identity and perspectives.

Both wanted to overcome their personal difficulties and barriers in verbal and written

communication with friends, peers, and professors, especially when using English within

the classroom. Both also made use of modified learning strategies that included listing

down their thoughts first, as well as exposing themselves and trying to mimic the “conyo”

accent being used in the university. With these changes both respondents realized that

though their speaking style has imbibed the accent being used by their peers, they have

become more confident speakers. Moreover, their writing styles have become more fluid

and cohesive. They may have experienced teasing and judgment from their peers at first,

but their initiative and desire to improve their skills, with the aid of their language

professors and also their close friends, have slowly eased the initial anxiety and difficulties

they had during their first time in the university.

INTRODUCTION

It is a universal desire to want to express one’s thoughts and communicate these

with others, especially when one needs to settle down in an unfamiliar place far from

home. Within the mainstream classroom setting in the city, a learner from the province’s

knowledge of additional languages or even another variant of the English language may

be viewed as irrelevant or even as a hindrance for the learner in learning or

communicating in English in this academic setting, thus affecting his or her overall

academic achievement. Students who are unfamiliar with the dynamic classroom setting

would then have to utilize learning strategies in order to ultimately change their language

use and adapt to a new educational environment. Learning strategies may be considered

as “behaviors of a learner with the intention to influence his or her information processing”

(Mayer, 1988; Macaro, 2006). According to Macaro (2006), strategies are characterized

by: (1) location, (2) size and relationship to other strategies, (3) specific goal, and (4)

situation-specific and transferable. For location, the strategies used should be identified

as mental activity that happens consciously. For the second feature, a strategy should be

more specific. For the third feature, effective goals include (a) done through the free

choice and commitment of the learner, (b) explicit and specific, and (c) attainable. In the

case of a student adapting to a new environment, the primary goal would be to apply

some changes to one’s language use in order to adapt to his or her new environment in

school. The last feature focuses on the suitability of a strategy to a task, and if it is also

applicable to other similar tasks. It is evident that in the process of language acquisition

and learning, a good language learner must learn to approach the task at hand critically
in order for it to be effective. The use of strategies, personally put together by the

determined learner, would benefit and improve language performance greatly.

Several local and foreign case studies have been conducted to analyze the

challenges faced by families migrating to another country as well as students starting

college in a university far from their hometown. However, these studies were only focused

on the general problems and broad observations on migrants and students when moving

and immersing to an urban community. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to identify

the specific changes on the vocabulary and communication styles that students from

provinces have utilized when they transferred to the city to pursue Higher Education and

the learning strategies they created in order to adapt to the new environment and culture

of the city.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Adjustment Within the University Environment

Young people who migrate from rural areas and provinces to pursue their college

degree in the city are vulnerable to being characterized as “different” from the rest of the

students who have lived within the city their entire life. An interesting cognitive adaptation

of host community members (or the students from the city) is to characterize migrants on

whether they are “more like us or different from us” (Graves & Graves, 1974). The extent

and degree of the prejudicial attitude among students from the city is still undetermined;

however, one cannot deny the need for migrant students to attune themselves to the

social norm in order to feel more at home in their new environment. In order to adapt to

the new changes in their social and work environment, migrant students may begin to
assimilate or “soften their edges” to “blend in” with the crowd. A particularly interesting

insight would be from Edward Bruner’s observation of how the Toba Batak assimilate to

the Sudanese in Indonesia. The Sudanese regarded the Batak as rather rough and

aggressive in their speech, to which the Batak people tried to eradicate these by “learning”

how to be less aggressive and talking in a lower tone of voice (Bruner, 1972). This study

showcases that language and speech behavior of a person are one of the primary

indicators of where they are from, and in order to blend in with the host community, one

feels the need to assimilate themselves to how they speak and use language. But

specifically, what are how can a student adapt to a new environment’s language norms,

and what would he or she use or do in order to imbibe the language use of the those from

the city?

Learning Strategies in Second Language Use

Based on research studies, the utilization of language strategies correlates with

various aspects in language learning success. In the context of second language use,

language processing happens through dynamic sequence of both cognitive and

metacognitive strategies interacting with each other. It is important to note, however, that

language processes are conscious but appear to be subconsciously done as they operate

quickly. Reading in one’s L2 often involves the top-down and bottom-up processes

(Macaro, 2006). Common strategies utilized in L2 language processing would be applying

one’s prior knowledge, word-level and below word-level decoding, application of common

sense, segmenting strings of linguistic units (Macaro, 2006; Harrington, 2001), which may

transform the L2 using their state or level of understanding that they may have rooted
from their L1 experience. Having roots from their L1 experience, common strategies

involved are attempting to retrieve and evaluate language chunks and breaking down a

sentence and translating it word-for-word (Macaro, 2006). Strategies are most effective

when used effectively together in order to supplement each other. There are no specific

strategies that lead to high performance; one should deploy a personal set of effective

strategies, considering one’s proficiency level and background knowledge, the task at

hand, the text being used for learning, the learner's personal goals and motivation in

learning the L2 and the learner’s own linguistic characteristics. Kormos and Csizer (2014)

were able to add valuable insight in the field of L2, wherein they found out that

motivational variables do have positive influence on the autonomous learning behavior

and self-regulation of a person’s strategies. Once these strategies have been carried out,

they are manifested in the form of language skills. Examples of language skills as

products of learning strategies include the ability to say longer sentences without pausing.

Skills increase the learner’s efficiency and fluency, as this is already a manifestation that

the deployed set of strategies have been internalized and automated in one’s system.

In the case of a student who is adjusting to a new environment due to reasons of

pursuing higher education in the vicinity, a primary language feature they need to adjust

to is the vocabulary being used. Though the community may use the same language, it

may differ greatly in the vocabulary being used, which may not be present in their variation

at home. In a study conducted by Xian Zhang and Xiao Fei Lu (2015), the study showed

that different kinds of strategies account for varying predictive prowess in vocabulary

knowledge. Mnemonic strategies connected with form and association showed more
significant relationship to a learner’s vocabulary depth and breadth over strategies that

utilize imagery, repetition, and listing.

Adjusting Language Use

When speaking about language as a whole, this is more than just mere words

being spoken or written; it is a process in itself. Language collectively includes the

intonation used, the facial expressions that accompany it, the little mannerisms, as well

as the one’s capacity to listen and comprehend the person they are reaching out to. For

instance, it is interesting to note the change in language use from the perspective of

people who have adapted a second dialect of the same language, which is basically

another version of the same language used in a remote or different place, but which may

have a local accent or vocabular. There are quite a few studies focused in this area of

language acquisition and adjustment, and most have come from over a decade ago. It is

interesting to note that a common observation in these studies is that these young people

and even kids are indeed well-acquainted with acquiring another dialect of the English

language. All respondents were successful in maneuvering in both their standard variant,

as well as the variant they were learning or being acquainted with. Early on, they were

able to mirror quite well the internal linguistic factors such as the word-medial contexts.

They were also able to develop native-like accents, however, this was acquired over a

longer period of time as these are stylistic nuances that become imbibed through longer

exposure to the vicinity (Tagliamonte & Molfenter, 2007).

In a study conducted in the Cordillera Region, respondents admitted that they do

not have much time using their L1, especially after migrating to the city to study. Many of
them expressed their anticipation each time they return to their province after each

semester. This is the only time they can be with their home group and speak their home

language with much pride and confidence. It was also found out that the medium of

instruction used in school had a major impact on their daily use of their L1 (Catama,

Wacdagan, Tigbao, Ventura, & Viernes, 2018). The situation showcases two important

factors in the language use of student migrants from the province: medium of instruction

(language teacher) and their peers. For the language teacher, this is an added

responsibility: to reach out. Teachers are supposed to recognize the need for his or her

students to communicate and comprehend effectively in class and should be able to

create situations and an environment that in which the students feel comfortable to speak,

and enable them to feel confident in their responses (Falk, 1937). Agendas such as

organizing and sponsoring language clubs in which English and the familiar language

would be spoken. The “English-Only” rule is obsolete and does not develop the fluency

of the speaker; the message of education must be conveyed to these people in an

understandable language (Covello, 1939). Moreover, aside from the influence of the

language teachers, other students in the university can also impact their language use.

According to Ramsay, et. al. (2007), there is a positive relationship between level of

adjustment for a freshman undergraduate and the number of sources of support,

depending on the type; it can be their classmates, their co-members in a student

organization, and others.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
 The research aims to identify the different learning strategies utilized, as well as

other factors such as motivators and attitudes that contributed to the college students’

adjustment in a new, urban environment with a different language use.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the learning strategies utilized by college students from provinces to adapt

with the environment and interact with the people in Metro Manila?

2. What are the differences in the writing styles (grammar, use of words) between their

compositions in their high school in province and in college in Metro Manila?

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
 Speaking Competency
(speaking style,
vocabulary, etc.)
Learning Strategies
Writing Competency
(writing style, Change in Language Use
voacabulary) of College Student from
the Province

In the Context of the

University Environment Motivation
in the City

Figure 1: Factors Affecting Change in Language Use

It is a natural phenomenon for the human mind and its learning capabilities to

constantly process information. Thus, learning strategies can be seen and applied in any

context, one of which is learning and understanding a new language, and the culture

along with it. This is mostly be evident to students growing up and learning in a rural

setting in their provinces who moved to Metro Manila, a quite different and urban

environment, to study in a university. These students have their own personally-suited

learning strategies that they may or may not have consciously created in order to adapt

in this new environment, wherein the longer the duration of their stay in the city is, the

bigger the differences are in their original speaking and writing styles back in their

provinces.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESEARCH DESIGN
 The researchers utilized the case study tradition of qualitative research. The

analysis utilized was an inductive approach and focused on providing descriptive

analyses for each respondent’s data, as well as identify the broader themes. The

analyzed data provided for a more in-depth view into the personal motivations and

strategies utilized by the undergraduates in their adjustment to the language use within

the university during the first year of their college life.

RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS

Two respondents were chosen through convenience sampling which both came

from a province and moved to Manila to study for college in the De la Salle University.

They are from different colleges and different year level but are alike in their linguistic and

geographical background.

As one of the researchers has close relations with both the respondents, the interview

sessions were comfortable and conducive for them to completely express their thoughts

and opinions regarding the topic of this research. The basic information of the

respondents is listed below:

Respondent #1

Name: Ma. Andreian Kaye Martinez

Birthdate: February 18, 1999 (20 yrs. old)

Course: AB International Studies major in American Studies (118)

Hometown: Dasmarinas, Cavite

Respondent #2

Name: Clarissa Calo-oy

Birthdate: August 10, 1998 (22 yrs. old)

Course: BS Finance (115)

Hometown: Binan, Laguna

INSTRUMENT

The study utilized a ten-item interview guide in order to fully identify and

understand the different factors, reasons, motivations, and strategies that the student

used in in order to adapt their language use to that of the new university environment

1. What are the reasons/motivations behind your decision to leave your province and

study in the city?

2. What is the culture and environment you have observed present in the city and in your

university that affected your language and your identity?

3. What are the struggles you've experienced in terms of communicating with your peers

and teachers?

4. What are the difficulties you've encountered in terms of participating in discussions and

activities in

5. What are the learning strategies you created or used in order to develop your

competency in the language variety of your university (English of DLSU)? How did you

come up with these?

6. Based on your own assessment, what are the major changes between your speaking

style and vocabulary in English and your main language variety at home?
7. Based on your own assessment, what are the major changes between your writing

style and vocabulary in English and your main language variety at home?

8. What are the areas of improvement you still have to work on your English language

competency?

9. At the current stage of your college journey, with which are you now more comfortable

or more likely inclined to use: your language at home or in school? Why?

10. In what aspects of your academic life and linguistic competency would you attest have

already successfully immersed in the culture and environment of your university?

PROCEDURE

The researchers conducted a personal interview with the two respondents

separately. During the interview, the researchers recorded the answers of the

respondents to the questions given to them wherein both respondents shared their

personal experiences in lengthy narrations. The nuances, vocabularies, accents, and

language styles were also observed and assessed.

METHOD OF ANALYSIS

With its foundation of a qualitative case study, inductive data analysis methods

were utilized while guided by research gaps and related literature. Every aspect of the

interaction with the respondents were observed, recorded, and evaluated thoroughly. The

assessment of the gathered data was categorized as (1) language and cultural

adjustment struggles in the new urban environment; (2) individual strategies created and

used to successfully immerse into the university; and (3) changes and developments in
their linguistic competency both to their first and second language and the factors that

influenced these. Every data in the three categories were scrutinized carefully by the

researchers while referring each respondent’s individual encounters, character, and

learning styles.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

As this study aims to discover all possible factors and aspects of transition from

rural high school setting to urban college environment and its effect on one’s vocabulary

and linguistic capacities, it indeed was necessary for the data to be a complete account

of each of the respondent’s own perspectives and life in order for the researcher’s

analysis and conclusions to be accurate and fruitful. Therefore, some of the interview

questions tapped on their personal lives, but still giving considerations and allowances to

whether the respondents would like to share the complete story or simply the most

valuable gist of it.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The respondents chosen for this study are both from the same university, thus

isolating the research to only the environment of their own private academic institution.

The results that were found from the data gathering of this research should not be

generalized with what other students with provincial origins studying at other public and

private schools are experiencing. The lack of representation of every college level as this

specific study has students from two-year levels only is also a factor that may affect or

simply narrow the scope of this research.

RESULTS

The findings of the data gathering, and analysis showed varying levels of struggles

and adjustments of studying in a university in the city when a student grew up in a

provincial setting. Different learning strategies were also created and utilized by the

respondents based on their immediate surroundings, culture of their peers and their

professors, and the general “standards” of life in an urban university. The answers of the

two respondents to the ten interview questions were recorded and transcribed. The

transcript is found in Appendix B.

DISCUSSION

The main themes which arose from and through the responses of the participants

were (1) written and verbal communication struggles and adjustments, (2) personalized

learning strategies which helped them cope to the new environment of the city, and (3)

the changes in their linguistic identity and perspectives.

The main motivation for the decision of both respondents to migrate to the city to

study for college is because of the general notion that employers usually consider

applicants who got a degree from known universities in the city, most especially from

Manila, backed up by the second respondent’s belief that she has “big dreams, and big

dreams require taking big risks and conquering bigger places.” They shared that

throughout their academic journey in DLSU, they have encountered difficulties in

interacting with fellow students, wherein the first respondent always has a “hit or miss”

when “approximating which language to use in conversation.”

 As the second respondent stated that she was always a “grade-conscious”

student, she found it harder to cope and adjust since her first year when she became

intimated because all of her classmates “seem[ed] to be proficient in English, which [she]

don’t normally use… back in [her] previous school.” On the other hand, the first

respondent was comfortable in using English in academic dialogues and discussions,

wherein it was in her Filipino class that she struggled with “articulating things” and more

so because her comfortable language is “Taglish.”

The overall effect of this language interchange to their character was that it made them

feel “conscious with the way [they] pronounce words to the point [that they] overthink

everything [they] want to say.” They “felt fear of being judged because [they] don’t talk

like them which… made [them] feel like [they] don’t fit in,” both in academic group projects

and casual socialization.

As they’ve realized that they both have to act upon and find a solution for the

difficulties in communicating verbally and in paper and in social interaction with friends

and peers, they have developed their own learning strategies.

For the first respondent, she uses “po and opo more often here than in [her]

province in some sort of subconscious reverse psychology stunt to make people a little

friendlier when they talk to [her].” She admitted that she didn’t have “trouble

communicating in English and Filipino conversationally… but in academic writing.” What

she does is “brush up on scholarly articles to familiarize [herself] on that specific writing

style.” She makes time to expose herself to “all forms of media” that would help her

improve her academic writing skills.

 For the second respondent, she had difficulty in maintaining conversations with

her peers. She revealed that she “used to compose the words [she] wanted to say in [her]

headfirst before [she] actually answers” or “even write it down to make sure [her] grammar

is correct” as her basic learning and adapting strategies. She also observes what and

how the people around her talk wherein she adapted the “certain conyo accent” to fit in

at first and then gradually became a “natural thing for [her].” Her “English subjects such

as ENGLCOM, ENGLRES, and SPEECOM” helped her become more “concise” and

“confident” when speaking in English, along with the “tips” her professors gave them.

At present, as they have stayed and engaged with the environment and culture of

their urban university, they definitely have noticed some changes in their speaking and

writing styles.

Both have innately imbibed the accent of most of the students in DLSU which they

tag as “conyo accent”, while their writing styles improved in terms of the “flow of [their]

paragraphs [became] smoother”, their “word count” increasing, and they can now “expand

on what [they are] saying more effectively.”

However, both respondents still prefer to use their main language at home more, which

is Tagalog. Although they can now speak more comfortably using the English language,

they still can get their “thoughts across faster [using] Filipino.”

The second respondent, being the one in a higher year level than the first

respondent, has been exposed more to the culture of the university, thus having already

many exposures to presentations and outputs. She expressed that she “used to be so

anxious before every presentation, but now, reporting feels just like a natural thing.” She

realized that “understanding is better than memorizing.” She already established a

specific standard and constant caution in every word she utters and writes that helped

her survive and successfully overcome all the difficulties she encountered throughout the

years.

In summary, the two respondents faced various struggles and barriers in the

aspect of utilizing the English language variety of DLSU in their conversations and

classroom discussions as well as the standard language in their academic papers. They

have experienced teasing and judgment from their peers, but their initiative to improve

their skills as well as the aid of their English courses and professors have slowly eased

their anxiety and hardship until they have now formed a standard upon themselves and

individual learning strategies that made their college life here in the city more manageable

APPENDIX A

REFERENCES

Bruner, E. (1972). Batak Ethnic Associations in Three Indonesian Cities. Southwestern

Journal of Anthropology, 207-229.

Catama, B. V., Wacdagan, B. D., Tigbao, J. T., Ventura, G. B., & Viernes, M. Q. (2018).

Challenges in Maintaining Heritage Language. International Journal of Research

Studies in Language Learning.

Covello, L. (1939). Language as a Factor in Integration and Assimilation. The Modern

Language Journal, Vol. 23, No. 5 , 323-333.

Falk, E. M. (1937). Adjustment through English Expression. The English Journal, Vol. 26,

No. 5 , 381-388.

Graves, N. B., & Graves, T. D. ( 1974). Adaptive Strategies in Urban Migration. Annual

Review of Anthropology, Vol. 3, pp. 117-151.

Kormos, J., & Csizer, K. (2014). The Interaction of Motivation, Self-Regulatory Strategies,

and Autonomous Learning. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 2 , 275-299.

Lu, X., & Zhang, X. (2015). The Relationship Between Vocabulary Learning Strategies

and Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge. The Modern Language Journal,

Vol. 99, No. 4 , 740-753.

Macaro, E. (2006). Strategies for Language Learning and for Language Use: Revising

the Theoretical Framework. The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 90, No. 3 , 320-

337.

Ramsay, S., Jones, E., & Barker, M. (2007). Relationship between Adjustment and

Support Types: Young and Mature-Aged Local and International First Year

University Students. Higher Education, Vol. 54, No. 2, 247-265.

Tagliamonte, S. A., & Molfenter, S. (2007). How'd You Get That Accent?: Acquiring a

Second Dialect of the Same Language. Language in Society, Vol. 36, No. 5 , 649-

675.
 APPENDIX B

TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEWS

[legend: R1 – Respondent #1 | R2 – Respondent #2]

1. What are the reasons/motivations behind your decision to leave your province

and study in the city?

R1: I finished high school in De La Salle University-Dasmariñas in Cavite, and my family

saw that it’s not much of a difference financially if I study in DLSU Manila. So we went for

it. Also in the future, employers are mostly in the Metro anyway, so I think living in the city

would prepare more.

R2: I have big dreams, and big dreams require taking big risks and conquering bigger

places.

2. What is the culture and environment you have observed present in the city and

in your university that affected your language and your identity?

R1: People around the city I would say seem more intimidating than usual. And casually

unintentionally rude. It’s not that they hate you, they just need to get their work done. So

they don’t bother with chit chat. People in my province, at least in our part, everybody

knows everybody’s business so striking up a conversation isn’t seen as weird. I guess it’s

because the city is an iron lung, people need to get to work and get everything done,

everyone is busy. I understand that. I think in Filipino, I use po and opo more often here

than in my province in some sort of subconscious reverse psychology stunt to make

people a little friendlier when they talk to me, and I think I’m more mindful here not to

waste time of the person I’m talking to.

R2: People in Manila are definitely more liberal and outspoken with their opinions. Also,

in DLSU, a lot of people normally speak in English and have this certain conyo accent. In

my previous school, only a few actually speak in English on a daily basis. Studying here

for almost 5 years, I've adapted some of these things and it has already been a natural

thing for me as well.

3. What are the struggles you've experienced in terms of communicating with your

peers and teachers?

R1: I think my main problem is approximating which language to use in conversation. It’s

always a hit or miss for me, because some people react aversely when I don’t talk to them

in English, or vice versa. I always start conversations in English, just to be safe though, if

they reply in Filipino I continue the conversation in Filipino.

R2: During my first year, I was intimidated by everyone because they all seem to be

proficient in English which I don't normally use for communicating back in my previous

school. I can speak in English but hearing some people speak with an accent made me

concious with the way I pronounce words to the point I overthink everything I want to say.

I felt the fear of being judged because I don't talk like them which sort of made me feel

like I don't fit in.

4. What are the difficulties you've encountered in terms of participating in

discussions and activities in class?

R1: I’ve had trouble expressing myself in purely Filipino. I think like most people, Taglish

is so ingrained in our lives that it’s hard imagine life not using it. Plus I suck at academic

Filipino. I had trouble participating in my GEFILI class because I couldn’t articulate things

as well I could have.

R2: I'm grade conscious which is why I participate a lot in class. However, despite being

pabibo, everytime I recited, I used to compose the words I wanted to say in my head first

before I actually answer. Sometimes, I even write it down to make sure my grammar is

correct. In short, participation in class made me anxious a lot (especially groupworks in

which I had to talk to my classmates).

5. What are the learning strategies you created or used in order to develop your

competency in the language variety of your university (English of DLSU)? How did

you come up with these?

R1: I don’t have trouble communicating in English and Filipino conversationally, and I

think that’s enough to get you by inside the university, but in academic writing, I just try to

brush up on scholarly articles to familiarize myself on that specific writing style.

R2: Our english subjects such as englcom, englres, and speecom, greatly helped me. I

really listened in class and took the tips my profs gave us.

6. Based on your own assessment, what are the major changes between your speaking

style and vocabulary in English and your main language variety at home?

R1: In our home, I speak mostly English anyway, except to my dad, so I wouldn’t say

there’s a much of a difference. I would say though, that the closer I get to school, my tone

becomes more polite and filtered than at home.

R2: I noticed that sometimes I just naturally speak in English or Taglish. Some of my

friends even mimick the conyo accent I didn't know I was already using.

7. Based on your own assessment, what are the major changes between your

writing style and vocabulary in English and your main language variety at home?

R1: My ma says that I talk on and on at home, so I guess I try to improve on that and try

to be more concise in English when I speak. When I write though, for creative purposes,

I still drone on in an exhausting length. In academic writing I still struggle to articulate my

points, because in creative writing there’s room for that ‘stream of consciousness’ style

of writing, and I’m much more careful in my choice of words to avoid accidental plagiarism.

R2: My writing style definitely improved and I noticed that the flow of my paragraphs was

a lot "smoother" compared to the papers I did before. Our main language at home is still

Tagalog though sometimes we don't notice that we speak taglish a lot already.

8. What are the areas of improvement you still have to work on your English

language competency?

R1: I just think learning English conversationally from all forms of media and exposure, I

need to learn how to become a better scholarly writer. I’m not horrible at it, but I could be

better. Also public speaking in English is an area I would like to improve on.

R2: I believe I still have a lot to improve such as being concise and being confident when

speaking in English. I am very wordy as a person because I can't seem to find the best

words to express what I really want. Hence, I tend to blabber and say excessive words.
9. At this very stage of your college journey, which are you now more comfortable

or more likely inclined to use: your language at home or in school? Why?

R1: I’m much more comfortable using English, but I think that I get my thoughts across

faster in Filipino. But I still prefer English, because I can expound on what I’m saying more

effectively.

R2: I am still more comfortable using my language at home because speaking it is just

natural for me since I grew up using it to communicate every day. But I'm getting more

comfortable with speaking in English now and I hope to get even better.

10. In what aspects of your academic life and linguistic competency would you

attest have already successfully immersed in the culture and environment of your

university?

R1: In my short stay here in DLSU my academic papers have drastically improved and

extended in word count. I think just setting a specific set of standards helped me. I also

think that my caution in what language to use stays with me, even outside of school.

R2: Being a business student, we do a lot of reporting. I used to be so anxious before

every presentation. I would make a script and dedicate time to practice everything I need

to say to make sure I don't embarass myself. But now, reporting feels just like a natural

thing. I realized that understanding is better than memorizing my script. I'm not that

anxious when reporting anymore and I can now present without a script. I can express

and explain my points on the spot without the unreasonable and excessive tension I used

to feel before.