Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Rationale

Speaking is the most important form of communication and what keeps the

world working. Perhaps, having the ability to speak the second language makes

people learn how to communicate well. Consequently, speaking is a broad road to

appropriately practice individual speaking skills, through this, people can be able

to communicate well and can smoothly transfer the messages as possible. People

have lesser possibility to progress in the working world and in life, itself without

communication. Communicating people fluently and effectively in the Second

Language (L2), would give us Filipinos the edge to become globally competitive

one. Only in that way, people could express themselves and learn how to follow

the social and cultural rules. This can be possible if people will collaborate with

each other to improve their speaking ability. Moreover, people who have the ability

to speak well would be better in transmitting ideas and could somehow understand

others perspective.

In school, speaking activity is very necessary and useful strategy to improve

students’ speaking ability. Through this, students could adopt the language easily

and would tend to speak the language in real life situations. Apparently these days,

the core aspect of employability is considered to be oral communication, and

English as the second language becomes the platform. However, most of the

students still face a major challenge to speak the English language. According to
 2

the article of Kenneth Rapoza (Countries with the Best Business English), it shows

that only 13 percent of graduates from emerging countries are suitable for

employment in global companies, and the number one reason is the lack of English

skills. In addition to this, some researchers have found out that there are lots of

factors that underlie students’ ability to speak well in the language. Some students

have poor speaking skills because they are lack of willingness to communicate

(Morozova, 2014). They prefer to stay inexpressive and hesitant to speak because

they fear to commit mistakes (lathophobic aphasia).

In fact, The Self-Assessment Test in English administered by the National

Education Testing and Research Center (NETRC) in Science, Math, and English

for Secondary School Teachers under the National English Proficiency Program

revealed that out of 51,000 teachers tested, only ten thousand passed (Yarcia,

2008).

Thereupon, uncloaking the causes and reasons of those problems, the

researchers felt the importance to conduct a study that would determine the factors

underlying the speaking ability of the students to help language instructors know

the factors that affects speaking difficulties of the students and provide them with

some appropriate guidelines to their teaching. Besides, it aids language learners

with the chance of checking their speaking strategies and upgrade their speaking

ability.
 3

Literature Background

Every student has their own factors that influence their speaking ability.

They also have different ways to develop their fluency in speaking. This is similar

to Hidayat and Herawati finding (2012) which exposed some factors that affected

students speaking fluency. The students who can find their own ways for their

learning are categorized as “good language students”. Moreover, it is stated that

students who have a variety of learning strategies are qualified to become good

language learners. It is because they can develop their ability to speak English

fluently. Similarly, Derakhsan, Khalili, and Behesti (2016) found that students’

fluently affected by some materials provided. It means, to make students enjoy and

interest to learn English speaking, the educators have to master the variety of

learning approach.

Speaking is the basic communication and the most important skill among

the other language (Powers, 2010). Therefore, speaking is important in second

language learning because it plays important part of everyday interaction and

most often people might get to know each other based on his/her ability to speak

comprehensibly. Thus, speaking must have to be mastered and learned because

most people might spend their everyday life in communicating with other.

Act no. 74 of the Philippine Commission (January 21, 1901) is an act which

created the Department of Public Instruction and laid the foundations of the

Philippine public school system. Furthermore, the said act made English as the

language of instruction (San Mateo, 1997). The statement assuredly means that
 4

the school has the greater responsibility in promoting English language since it is

accustomed for the communication and being used as our second language.

As embodied in Article XIV, Section 7 in the 1987 Constitution, states that

for the purpose of communication and instruction, Filipino shall be used and

provided by law, English. Thus, English is part of our program because it helps

students to enhance their speaking ability in the language and English has the

greater impact in our society. Teachers must also possess speaking skills to give

certain and clear instruction and explanation of the subject-matter. This will be in

line with the goal of developing and maintaining globally competitive students.

For the schools to carry out the task of providing quality education to all,

Executive Order 210, series of 2003, establish the policy to strengthen English as

medium of instruction in the educational system in the Philippines. This is to keep

the Filipinos competitive and well educated (Martin, 2008). Through this, Filipinos

could improve and emerge successfully in spite of challenging local and

international industry.

The need to learn and master the English language is recognized by other

countries as well. No one desires to be left behind simply for lacking the English

proficiency. Philippine education does not take this need for granted. This view is

supported by former President Arroyo’s promulgation on May 17, 2003 of

Executive Order No. 210 entitled Establishing the Policy to strengthen English

language in the Educational System.

 5

In the Philippine education system, high school students with ages ranging

from 12 to 17 are expected to have already basic knowledge of English and the

four communication skills which will enable them to function effectively in any

situation which requires the use of English particularly in a classroom setting that

challenges their academic performance. They need to be able to express their

ideas and opinions in speech and in writing as well. They need to think

independently, critically, and creatively, hence, they should be given opportunities

to enhance higher order thinking skills like analysis and evaluation (Proficiency in

English 1, 2010).

This study is guided by “Communicative Competence Theory”, which is a

theory by Dell Hymes in 1966. Communicative competence means having the

knowledge and the ability to use the language appropriately. As Hymes observes

that a normal child learns how to construct a sentence not only with the guidance

of grammatical rules but also with the appropriateness of its words. He can acquire

the competence of knowing when to speak or when not, also with what to talk and

up until with whom, when, where and in what manner. In short, a certain child can

have the capacity to obtain a set of speech act that can take part with speech

events, and can evaluate their accomplishments by others” (Lin 2004).

Communicative competence should be given high attention, for it has a great

importance in society. It is an essential element to achieve effective

communication (Geronimo, 2010).

Howard Giles’ Communication Accommodation Theory also asserted that,

“when people interact, they adjust their speech, their vocal patterns and their
 6

gestures to accommodate to others” (Turner & West, 2010). This theory explains

that when people communicate to one another, they adapt to their receiver. They

also adjust their speaking style in order to convey the idea in the most effective

way.

In addition, Interpersonal Communication Competence Theory by

Communication theorists Brian H. Spitzberg and William R. Cupach (2009) defined

that communication competence is a social behavior that is perceived as relatively

appropriate and effective for a given context. As implied, Spitzberg defined

communication competence as “the ability to interact well with others”.

Communication competence is also an impression of appropriateness and

effectiveness, which is functionally related to individual motivation, knowledge,

skills and contextual facilitators and constraints (Spitzberg, 2013).

The theory of Matsumoto (2011) also mentioned that the components of

speaking are social unit, participants, and interactions. It explains that doing

speaking interaction is like doing social interaction and an interaction that has been

done by them will be included in communication process. Therefore, speaking is

not just something that is done as work or for a particular purpose, either an activity

but also an intricate unit of human interaction.

Morozova (2014) added the concept that the four macro skills are required

for effective communication in any language according to most research and

speaking is one of it. People uses English as a means of communication in our

daily activities, especially on the Internet, speaking English should be developed

 7

along with the other 3 parts of the macro skills in the efficient enhancement of the

communication competence. Moreover, Speaking is becoming more important for

the students that must be developed. There are many means to support speaking

like watching TV or English films and practicing with partners or peers.

Efrizal (2012) and Pourhosein Gilakjani (2016) expressed that speaking is

of great significance for the people interaction where they speak everywhere and

every day. Speaking is the way of communicating ideas and messages orally.

Speaking skills were also usually plays a big role as a criteria for recruitment for

employment. Hen (2011) stated that many local graduates are still unemployed

due to their lack of fluency in English as most job sectors demand those with the

capability to communicate in English effectively As Patil (2008), Trent (2009),

Zhang (2009), have said, that promoting speaking confidence, together with

appropriate task design, was recommended for the English skills development of

EFL/ESL learners.

Both speakers and business organizations are benefited through having an

effective communication by means of speaking. Like, effective speaking skills

result in achievements during ceremonial speaking activities, job training activities,

job interviews and many other business purposes (Osborn et al., 2008). Thus,

effective communication could hardly affect the life and career of humans, through

this, people can be able to achieve the goal he/she have planned. For instance,

you are a business professional. Your business will probably get more substantial

if you can communicate effectively.

 8

Hence, Hamzah and Ting (2009) presented a study on teaching speaking

skills using group work activities in the classroom, where the students are more

exposed, being motivated and can substantiate teamwork and contributions that

may help them improve in individual speaking activities. So, this activity would

encourage students to speak out of what they want to express. The ability to speak

effectively is not an ordinary ability. Many people are deathly afraid of public

speaking, and others have little ability to form thoughts into sentences. That’s why

several researchers had the interest to look for the significant factors that most

probably became the reason for this common problem.

Bashir and Dogar (2011) explained that learners need a lot of practice to

learn to speak. Through listening and repeating, learners can be able to improve

their speaking skills. Likewise, teachers have also a role to develop students’

speaking skills. Furthermore, Teachers should practice and implement short

questions and short dialogues that can help remove learners’ shyness. Teacher

must also select appropriate activities for his/her student that is related to the

teaching of speaking. And encourage them to develop their vocabulary skill at the

same time. In addition to this, teachers need to use English orally daily as a role

model for their students. It is very necessary for them to be competent in using

English in order to be able to interact with students during the teaching and learning

process. They also need to design a classroom activity that supports to develop

their fluency when using English orally.

 9

According to Haynes and Zacarian (2010), speaking is retell, summarize,

discuss, share, tell, persuade, argue, report, recite, describe, comment, explain,

sing, echo, repeat, read aloud, present, talk, say, whisper, announce, ask and

answer. It implies that language is a result of the production of sounds we formulate

according to the ideas and feelings we want to express. We can communicate to

the people around us, we can report, inform, etc. by manipulating the language

existing. In addition to this, students would engage in conversational strategies like

role playing and even discussion to better improve their speaking ability.

Urrutia and Vega (2010) demonstrated that learners’ oral performance was

influenced by their lack of vocabulary, diffidence, and fear of being despised. It

was also indicated that learners’ cooperation, self-confidence, vocabulary,

knowledge, and the class environment encouraged them to improve their speaking

skills. They have no courage to express themselves because they are not certain

with their answer and maybe because they could not think of anything to say.

The habits that are developed however are not guaranteed to be adequate

in achieving proficiency. There are many cases on why students could not give a

broader perspective about their speaking performance. Abidin et al., (2012) have

said that the ability of students to master a second language is not only influenced

by the mental competence of language skills but also on the students’ attitudes

and perceptions towards the target language.

It is supported by Tella, Indoshi and Othuon (2010). They investigated that

negative attitude towards English is the most affective and psychological factor
 10

that results in the students’ poor performance in English. It means negativity can

affect how they perform the task and formidable to show off the skills they

possessed. This is not just only the factors that could somehow affect learners’

speaking skills, Tornqvist (2008) found out that there were some factors that

influence students’ speaking fluency during classroom process. For instance, a

comfortable classroom atmosphere, students’ self- esteem, group work,

meaningful lesson, students’ enthusiasm, and teachers’ motivation toward

students.

Another factor was presented by Middleton (2009) saying, most EFL

learners are having the feeling of fear when using their newly learned language

because they are afraid to look foolish in front of everyone if they commit mistakes

while using it. Having this feeling of fear, students might not feel the courage to

face people in front the reason why most students have no chances to learn to

speak.

In support to the above statement, Saurik (2011) also identifies that most

of English students feel shy when they speak the language because they thought

they will make mistakes when they talk. They are also afraid of being laughed at

by their peers. The fear of speaking English is pertinent to some personality

constructs like anxiety, inhibition, and risk taking. Speaking a language sometimes

results in anxiety. Extreme anxiety may lead to despondence and a sense of failure

in learners (Bashir, Azeem, & Dogar 2011). Hence, speaking in public is a phobia

of the students that lead them to panic and negative mindset.

 11

Trent (2009) also added that one among many reasons to take into

consideration might be a lack of confidence in terms of anxiety about making

errors. As a result of this, students might stay in their unsatisfying situation

because they’re lack of confidence. Students might think that they can receive

negative evaluations from their peers if they make mistakes in speaking.

Pesce (2011) says that it is urgent that teacher creates a friendly and open

classroom environment. By doing this, shy students are hoped to feel fine of

making mistakes in their learning. This way, students will not worry of their

imperfect pronunciation and grammar. As a result, they dare to speak in their

speaking class. Most importantly, how teachers work with boys and girls, how they

motivate speech activities, and relate them to their personal interests and on-going

life of the school day, are vital factors for the improvement of speech (The

commission on English Curriculum, 2009). Through this, both student and teacher

will be able to know about the strategies on how to improve their speaking ability.

Boonkit (2010) carried out a study on the factors increasing the

development of learners’ speaking skills. The results presented that the use of

appropriate activities for speaking skill can be a good strategy to decrease

speakers’ anxiety and to make the students feel comfortable and increase their

speaking confidence and also persuade to speak English. On the other hand, to

get a good achievement in speaking competence the students should need to be

treated their ability in different ways. Such as listening to an English song every

day, watching English movie without subtitle to increase students’ vocabulary and
 12

practicing English speaking also a strategy to be used by students to shape their

speaking ability. Besides, by sparing their time reading books also a need to

enhance their vocabulary.

Tuan and Mai (2015) also expound some problems for speaking skill that

teachers can come across in helping students to speak in the classroom. These

are inhibition, lack of topical knowledge, low participation, and mother-tongue use.

According to the Cambridge A.L. Dictionary (2008), inhibition is a feeling of worry

that stops people from telling or performing what they want. Risk-taking is pertinent

to inhibition and self-respect. EFL learners who have a low self-respect tend to

stop taking a risk of committing mistakes in their speaking tasks which resulting in

the inhibition to the betterment of their speaking skills (Mahripah, 2014). These will

be the reason why most of the students can’t feel free of expressing their ideas in

public.

Another factor is pertinent to performance conditions. Learners carry out a

speaking activity under different conditions. Performance conditions impact

speaking performance and these conditions involved time pressure, planning,

quality of performance in the amount of support (Nation & Newton, 2009). While

on the study of Mekonge, Kerubo Verah (2012) on the factors affecting students’

acquisition of speaking skills, they found out that the mother tongue influence and

the learning resources greatly affect the students.

In addition of the above, some researchers observed that not enough time

is given to various exercises and opportunities for the improvement of speaking

 13

ability. Students often complain of scolding, and discouraging by their teachers for

not speaking correctly. Although both teachers and students are responsible for

the poor speaking ability of the latter, the teachers, who have the professional

knowledge and skills, bear a greater responsibility (Morozova, 2014). To improve

the speaking ability, more stress on the quality of books at the basic level, enough

time given to speaking and phonetic drills of students, no scolding but provision of

friendly environment, making practical and applicable strategies by teachers for

students while speaking most of the time in English, develop boldness and

confidence in students for asking questions from their teachers, no overcrowded

classes, awards and motivation for students, the role of media, up to-date and

constant training of teachers, arranging various activities and balance in the

courses with respect to literature and language should be there to provide

opportunities to improve the language competency of students. Other than

investigating the possible influencers that may affect the speaking ability of

students, the researchers attempt to see if gender, age and major has a role to

play in the speaking ability of the students.

As mentioned above, Caroll (2008) believes that, second language will be

easily learned by the young children more than the older one or the adults. He

quoted that older learner seem to do better initially but they reach a plateau;

younger learners eventually catch up and pass them. This means that the ability

and needs of the young children must be taken into consideration in the selection

and organization of school programs or activities. As Byoung-suk, K. (2012) added

that children need safe, healthy and stimulating environment in which to grow and
 14

learn. Kolawole (2011) also claims the issue of the failure in English language is

because of the lack of basic infrastructures for instance conducive classrooms,

unequipped libraries and laboratories and negative attitude on the part of students.

In addition, Gorjian, Moosavian and Sharamiri (2011) conducted a study on

the effect or oral summary of short stories on male and female learners’ speaking

proficiency. The result of their study showed no significant difference between the

two genders, although females slightly outperformed males.

On the other hand, the study of Liu (2015) on the factors affecting English

listening and speaking abilities of non-English major students shows that students

especially those students who are taking engineering courses prefer to engage

with mathematical and logical activities rather than learning a foreign language

itself. This results in giving much importance to grammatical competence rather

than pragmatic competence, so they become better in English reading and writing

more than listening and writing. In addition, these students are more likely reading

an English text rather than listening to an English speaker that results to lesser

opportunities to communicate verbally in English.

Another analysis arises researched by Leong & Ahmadi (2017) that focuses

to determine the factors influencing learners’ English speaking skill that results with

having vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, fluency, and accuracy as the main

factors that influenced the speaking skill of the students.

 15

In relation to the above statement, Yang (2014) conducted a research that

aimed to find out how the EFL teachers and students treated the development of

speaking fluency. 40 students were randomly selected from different majors. Two

types of questionnaires were gained from some relevant theories of speaking

fluency that discussed in literature review like speech rate described on the whole

fluency of speaking. The obtained results indicated that the teachers’ willingness

to develop students speaking fluency is not sufficient. As a result, the students

were unfamiliar to the way of practicing the speaking fluency. Besides, students

also experienced a lack of time, activity, effort, and a relevant principle of guiding

in the current EFL class.

Similarly, Diyyab (2013) investigated a research on the use of Multimedia-

Based Program for developing students’ teachers EFL speaking fluency.

Therefore, this study was designed in a quantitative method. Regarding this, 30

students at Sadat Faculty of Education, Minufiya University, Egypt decided as the

participants. There were pre-test and post-test in this research. Pre-test designed

to measure students’ speaking fluency performance with a rubric. After the

experiments, it was found that students’ speaking fluency skills were increased

after using the program. Briefly, the Multimedia-Based program affected learners’

speaking fluency and this program could be an effective method of speaking

lesson.
 16

Theoretical – Conceptual Framework

Figure 1 illustrates the theoretical-conceptual framework of the study. This

study anchored mainly on the theory of Dell Hymes that highlights the

Communicative Competence. Howard Giles Communication Accommodation

Theory also introduced that when people communicate to one another, they adapt

to their receiver and adjust their speaking style to bear the message effectively

(Turner & West, 2010). In addition, the study is also backed-up by Act No. 74 of

the Philippine Commission that made English as the language of instruction in the

Philippine public school system and Executive Order 210, series of 2003 which

mandates the use of English language as the medium of instruction in the

institutions of higher educations. The independent variables are the factors

underlying the speaking ability while the dependent factors is the speaking ability.
 17

Legal Bases Theories

Act No. 74 of the Communicative

Philippine _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Competence Theory
Commission “The ability to use and
“Made English as the manipulate the
language of language appropriately
Factors Underlying Speaking
instruction in the by having the control
Ability of the Students.
Philippine public of its rules.”
school system”  Student’s Language Communication
Anxiety Accommodation
Executive Order
 Teacher Factor Theory
210, series of 2003
 English Fluency
“Encourages the  Student’s Attitude “A social identity
institutions to use Towards English theory, about people
English as a medium Language adjusting to
of instruction in the  Learning Environment communicate by
institutions of higher minimizing social
education”. differences.”

All 1st year to 3rd year students

of College of Teacher
Education

 Age
 Sex
 Course Specialization

Figure 1.Theoretical-Conceptual Framework of the Study

 18

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to determine the factors underlying the speaking ability of

the students during the 1st semester of the school year 2018-2019 of Bohol Island

State University-Bilar Campus.

Specifically, this study sought answers to the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 age;

1.2 sex; and

1.3 course specialization?

2. What are the significant factors underlying the speaking ability of the

respondents?

Significance of the Study

The researchers believed that the results of this study provide a valuable

information to the following individuals:

Students. This study would give the students’ awareness in their speaking

ability. This could be an avenue in identifying the factors that mostly affected their

speaking ability and somehow find means on how to deal with it and seek

improvement by knowing their strengths and weaknesses.

 19

Instructors. They would know how to be an effective facilitator of the

development of the students by knowing the possible cause of the students’

inefficient speaking performance as well as their strengths and weaknesses. For

them to easily pin-point the factors that became the cause of the problem and focus

on that certain factor in making enhancement activity.

College of Teachers Education. The results of this study would encourage

the college to create appropriate programs and activities in catering the different

factors that underlies the student’s speaking ability.

Student Researchers. The study would be a basis for the next student-

researchers who would conduct a research related to the study. It could be used

as their reference.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Design

To achieve the purpose of this study, descriptive research was employed

with the use of a questionnaire. Three hundred (300) CTE students from first year

to third year were utilized in the study. The data was gathered using a modified

questionnaire aided with an interview. After the data gathering, an SPSS

application was used in analyzing the data from the respondents.

 20

Environment and Participants

The study was conducted at Bohol Island State University- Bilar Campus

which is situated in Zamora Bilar, Bohol. Specifically it took at the College of

Teacher Education. CTE offers Bachelor in Education (General Content Course),

Bachelor in Secondary Education Major in English, Math, Filipino and Bachelor in

Technical- Vocational technology Education Major in AP, ACP and FSM courses.

The subjects of the study were all the freshmen, sophomore and junior

students of all the courses in the College of Teacher Education. The research

came up with 300 respondents enrolled during the second semester of school year

2018-2019. The total number was broken down into the following: 31 Bachelor in

Elementary Education students, 81 Bachelor in Secondary Education major in

English, 39 from Math, 25 from TLE and 34 Filipino major together with the 44

Bachelor in Technical- Vocational Technology Education Major in FSM, 16 AP,

and 30 ACP. There were 37 males and 263 females.

Instrument

A modified questionnaire from University of Eastern Africa, Kenya was used

to collect the data for the study. It contained 59 statements that represent the

factors underlying the speaking ability of the students. The statements were

jumbled to meet the validity of the instrument. Each item will be scored using Likert

scale with the following numerical values to indicate the degree to which

respondents agreed or disagreed with the statements as follows:1 = Strongly

 21

Disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4 = Agree; and 5 =

Strongly Agree.

After the questionnaire was secured, a pilot testing was done in order to

validate and check the reliability of the instrument to the thirty (30) first year

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science students. Necessary changes were

made to improve the questionnaire.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers secured first a letter to the Dean of the College of

Technology and Allied Sciences seeking permission to administer a pilot test to

the thirty (30) students from BSCS 1 of BISU-Bilar.

After finalizing the instrument of the study, the researchers sent another

request letter to the Dean of College of Teachers Education requesting for the

approval to administer the questionnaire to the students of the college. After the

permission was sought, the researchers personally administered the

questionnaires to the respondents depending on the availability of the

respondents.

Upon the conduct of the study, a consent form was distributed and filled out

by the respondents. This was done in order to ask them of their permission to be

part of the study as well as informing them of the mechanics of the survey. The

researchers waited for the students to finish answering the questionnaire and

retrieved them later for tallying purposes.

 22

Statistical Treatment

Frequency counts and simple percentage were used to describe the profile

of the respondents and their performance. This formula was utilized:

𝑓
𝑝 = 𝑛 𝑥 100

Where: P = Percentage

f= frequency of the respondents

n= total scores

In finding the maximum number of factors extracted, the equation below

was used:

𝑎≤𝑏

𝑚(𝑚+1)
Where: 𝑎 = 𝑝𝑚 + + 𝑝 − 𝑚2
2

𝑝(𝑝 + 1)
𝑏=
2

Where: p= number of observed variables

m= number of factors
 23

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Attitude towards English Language. Behavior of a person when it comes

to English related things.

English Fluency. The ability to speak the English language easily and

smoothly.

Factors. A circumstance, attitudes, and influencers that contribute to the

speaking ability.

Language Anxiety. The feeling of uneasiness, worry, nervousness and the

fear to get negative criticism when speaking.

Learning Environment. The environment where the learning takes place,

like laboratories, libraries, classrooms and etc.

Speaking. The act of conveying information or expressing one’s feelings

verbally.

Speaking Ability. Having the capacity to convey message orally in an

understandable manner without pronunciation, diction, usage and grammar

considerations.

Teacher Factor. Teacher’s positive attitude in developing learner’s interest

towards English language.

 24

Chapter 2

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of the gathered data

from the survey of the students from the College of Teacher Education at Bohol

Island State University- Bilar Campus.

Table 1 presents the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of

age, major and sex.

Age. Data showed that 276 (92%) of the respondents were 18-22 years old

while 8 (2.7%) students were 28-32. This implies that most of the respondents

were fresh graduates from their high school.

Major. Based on the result, out of 300 respondents, 81 (27%) were from

BSEd English while 30 (10%) came from the ACP major which got the least

students. The number of BSEd English students dominates the frequency of the

respondents number, as shown by the table below, the Math majored students that

ranked 2nd has only 39(13%) respondents that is just half way compared to the

English majored respondents.

Sex. In terms of sex, 37 (12.3%) were males and 263 (87.7%) were

females. This result simply implies that females outnumbered the males in the

college. According to the study Tasher V. et. Al, 2017, there was a predominance
 25

of women in the teaching profession. The reasons for this can be found in the

harmonization of the female respondents and the field they are entering.

Table 1

Profile of the Student-Respondents

N= 300

Age Frequency Percent

18-22 276 92.0

23-27 16 5.3
28-32 8 2.7
Total 300 100.0

Major

English 81 27.0
Math 39 13.0
Filipino 34 11.3
TLE 25 8.3
Beed 31 10.3
FSM 44 14.7
AP 16 5.3
ACP 30 10.0

Total 300 100.0

Sex

Female 263 87.7

Male 37 12.3

Total 300 100.0

 26

Table 2 reflects the main factors that influenced the speaking ability of the

students. The student’s language anxiety ranked first based on the loading factor

from the rotated component factor (see appendices). This result goes with the

study of Saurik (2011) which focused on student anxiety in learning speaking,

which discovered that English students feel shy when they speak the language

because they thought they will make mistakes when they talk.

The second factor was the teacher factor. This result affirms with the

findings of the study of Bashir et al (2011) entitled Factors Influencing Learners’

English Speaking Skill which says that the need of the teacher to create a

classroom activity motivates students and develops their own self in speaking the

language well.

Table 2

Main Factors Underlying Speaking Ability of the Students

Highest Factor
Factors that Influenced
Loadings

1. Student’s Language Anxiety 0.808

2. Teacher Factor 0.735

3. English Fluency 0.707

4. Student’s Attitude Towards English

0.702
Language

5. Learning Environment 0.643

 27

English fluency was the third factor. This factor affirms with the information

on the study about the factors influencing learners’ English speaking skills by

Leong and Ahmadi (2017) that included fluency as one of the factors that influence

speaking ability that come with vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and accuracy.

Student’s attitude towards English language was the fourth factor. This

result is in accordance with the study of Abidin et al (2012) in his research EFL

students’ attitudes towards learning English language: The case of Libyan

Secondary School students that shows students’ attitudes and perceptions

towards the target language as a factor that influenced the mastery of the second

language.

Lastly was the learning environment. Same result was gathered in the study

entitled The School Learning Environment and Students’ Attitude and

Achievement in English Language by Kolawole (2011), states that failure in English

language is caused by basic infrastructures like conducive classrooms,

unequipped libraries and laboratories.

 28

Chapter 3

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter focuses on showing the findings, giving summaries and

recommendations. The gathered data from the previous chapter were tabulated,

analyzed and interpreted. Those were summarized as basis in making

recommendations afterwards.

Summary of Findings

After the keen analysis made by the researchers, they formulated the

following findings.

Most of the respondents were 18-22 years old, Bachelor in Secondary

Education major in English and females.

Students’ language anxiety, the teacher, students’ attitude towards English

language, English fluency, and learning environment were the factors underlying

speaking ability of the students.

Conclusions

Based on the result of the study, the following conclusions are drawn:

The students’ anxiety in speaking English, teacher factor, ease of using

the English language, the student’s attitude towards English, the learning

environment, the students’ anxiety in speaking English, the teacher factor, the
 29

ease of using the English language, the student’s attitude towards English and the

learning environment affect the speaking proficiency of the College of Teacher

Education students.

Recommendations

Based on the findings, and conclusions, the researchers have drawn the

following recommendations:

1. Students must continuously practice speaking the language because

anxiety comes from lack of confidence. Thus, practice is a great help in

eliminating language anxiety.

2. Students must continue reading English books or watching English

movies to enhance their vocabulary and improve grammar.

3. Students must spend more time using the language because English

language is an inevitable part of the society specially in applying for job

positions and aside from that this language is the official second

language of the country.

4. Teachers must maintain an accommodating attitude for the students for

them to be not intimidated when conversing using the English

language.

5. The administration must allot enough budget in improving the facilities

of the school for it to become conducive in learning.

30