PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA

Poblacion II, Malinta, Valenzuela City

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Local Literature

There are times that students want to speak English but choose not to do

it. Filipino nowadays have a wrong idea about those people who uses English as

their medium. Chinof (2015) stated that Filipinos used to think that only rich can

speak English based on what he hear on the environment. He added that if you

are a poor man trying to speak English, you are violating some sacred social tenet.

Sometimes, Filipino people uses English language to belittle other Filipino.

In contrary on what English language objective is to unite a country. But in an

article by Claro (2012), he ask why we use English to intimidate other who cannot

speak English fluently.

In addition, why many of the students are struggling in speaking English are

because of fear. As cited by Remoto (2017), Dr. Martin said that English is the

most feared language. Martin, state some situation wherein he see how people

reacts on English. Some of them are joking that their nose will bleed after they

speak English. Others became a fluent speaker when they are drunk. Also. he

added how his doctor change its medium in speaking when he heard Dr. Martin’s

occupation as a teacher of English.

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There are many reasons why Filipinos choose not to use English when

speaking. Some Filipinos other Filipinos are using their trait of being patriotic as

an excuse for not using English as their medium in speaking as stated by Senobio

(2015) in his article “Why is English is so very hard to teach and learn”.

For us Filipinos, speaking in English is hard. According to a statement made

by Gobantes (2013) as cited by Sta. Ana (2013) in his article titled “Why Filipino

CAN’T Speak English Better” exposure in the English language at the early age

affects a person’s usage of it.

For us to like English, Krashen calls affective filters as cited by Remoto

(2017) in his article “English only, Please”. He explain this idea as an emotional

barrier that prevent one from loving a language. And logically, it will only be gone

when you like or love the language.

Despite all of the hate, according to Department of Education as cited by

Ronda (2009) English proficiency among public school students are improving if

students’ performance in achievements tests are to be considered.

For continuous improvement in use of English, Suelto (2012) stated that

encouraging students to speak English regularly especially within the school

premises will help. Also, there are schools which requires students to speak

English whenever they are inside the classroom. But development must start within

oneself, she added. Self – study and practice will help to improve their skills in

English.
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Foreign Literature

According to Gillis (2013) speaking is the second of the four language skills.

Mastering this ability provides the speaker with advantages. Having the capacity

of putting words together in a useful way to reflect thoughts, opinions, and feelings

are one of these advantages.

There are several foreign articles on the topic of language are seen.

According to Mei et. al. (2013), learning English is difficult due to lack of interest of

the students. Also, students are demotivated, dishearten, and does not have any

good learning strategy. In addition to this, students do not use or practice it

regularly, which affect the students' perception about using English.

In addition to this, according to Brown (1994) in his work “Principles of

Language Learning and Teaching” as cited in an article made by Esghinejad

(2016) at tandfonline.com titled “EFL students’ attitudes toward learning English

language: The case study of Kashan University students”, attitudes, like all aspects

of the development of cognition and affect in human beings, develop early in

childhood and are the result of parents’ and peers’ attitudes, contact with people

who are different in any number of ways, and interacting affective factors in the

human experience

Also, in an article titled “Speaking Difficulties Encountered by Young EFL

Learners” by Samira Al Hosni (2014), the use of foreign language in oral

communication is one of the most common, but a highly complex activities

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necessary to be considered when teaching English. Nowadays, we are currently

living in a world where learning English is required, especially for the people who

wants to progress in a specific field of human activities.

Oxford-royale.co.uk (2014) made an article titled “4 Difficulties English

Poses for EFL Learners, and How to Overcome Them” listed 4 difficulties in

English. First is English has one of the biggest, trickiest vocabularies there is.

There are too many words you must know in order to successfully speak or learn

English. Next is, the English grammar is full of subtlety. In English grammar, there

are many rules you should consider in using the said language. Example are the

subject-verb agreement. Third one, its pronunciation is difficult and inconsistent.

In some times, letter a can be read as /ey/ and sometimes /ah/ depending on how

it is use in a word. Lastly, there are many variations of English. Some of these are

Filipino English, American English and British English which vary on how the words

are pronounce and how the grammars are use.

In the website scotenglish.edu.au, they have their own list of difficulties.

They titled it as “Four Difficulties with Speaking English (with Solutions)” published

on year 2017. They listed listening, pronunciation, vocabulary and lastly

confidence. Listening in terms of how they understand what the other person are

talking. They must truly understand it to reply easily. Next is pronunciation, it is

said that we can’t just consider what the pronunciation of each word. We must

consider the rhythm and intonation of the whole sentence. Third is the vocabulary.

We should know a compilation of words to speak it clear and precise. Finally, the
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last one which is confidence. Being nervous while speaking is one of the struggles

face by everyone not just by the students.

In an article made by Anthony (2016) entitled “5 Biggest Challenges of

Learning English” at myenglishclub.com, she said the 5 biggest challenges are

grammar, vocabulary, slang and colloquialism, pronunciation and variations. As

listed by scotenglish.edu.au and oxford-royale.co.ul, grammar, vocabulary and

pronunciation are a challenge on learning English. In Wilson (2006) article she

added slang and colloquialism. In this challenge, students are exposed to slang

words that English speakers use in an everyday conversation.

To avoid struggles, there are many written articles across the internet how

manage those struggles. According to Maclntyre (2007) as cited in an article titled

“Methods of Enhancing Speaking Skills of Elementary Level Students” by Yulia

Morozova, he drew the attention to the learner’s decision to voluntarily speak the

language quite often.

For Collie and Slater (1990) as cited in Aghdam et. al. (2014) work entitled

“Cultural Issues and Teaching Literature for Language Learning” when selecting

literary texts that will be used in language classes, teachers must consider needs,

motivation, interests, cultural background and language level of the students.

For these idea to work every classroom should be complete in equipments.

Also teachers and students must work together to achieve it. But classrooms

have many problems. Davis (2016) listed some of the problems in a classroom
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which affect learning of the students in his article titled “10 Common Problems in

the Classroom” First problem is that students become overly dependent on the

teacher. Some students do not seem to study on their own. They just depend on

what the teachers are going to teach them. Second problem is the persistency of

using the first-language. Third problem, student is defiant, rowdy, or distracted of

others. They refuse to obey something. Fourth problem, students "hijack lesson"—

The lesson doesn't go where you want it to. Sometimes students are not with the

teacher everytime they are discussing something in front of the class, either the

students don't seem to care about the discussions or they are bored. So students

do what a student always do. They bring something out of the topic. In the end, the

teacher never finish his/her lesson. Fifth problem, personalities clash. Some

students who were raised on different culture, normally will experience

misunderstanding with someone who is actually the counterpart of his/her beliefs.

So there will always be a personality clash inside a classroom. Sixth problem,

students unclear what to do, or do the wrong thing. Seventh, students are bored,

inattentive, or unmotivated. Eighth problem, strong student dominance. Ninth,

students are unprepared. And lastly, tardiness. Tardiness is one of the most

common problem of the students. They tend to finish something late and never

care about the deadline. As a result of these problems, the learning of the students

will be affected.
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Local Study

There are many various reasons and factors why students struggle in

speaking English. Aquino et. al. (2016) give one reason in there study

“Demotivating Factors in Learning the English Language” they said that lack of

motivation affects learning of the students. They said that there are countless

demotivating factors in students learning. Confidence, fear of committing mistakes,

demotivated teachers, and lack resources are some demotivating factors in

students learning. To lessen these factors, the roles of the teachers are to lessen

the anxiety and pressure to students. The students will be able to feel it through

the teachers’ customized teaching strategies. Teachers can engage their students

by giving activities that they will enjoy in class. This will turn the fear of students as

a challenges. In addition to this, students will become more productive.

Also, interest in the language plays a big role. In a study conducted by Laxa

and Opetina (2008) in there research titled “Factors Influencing English Language

Proficiency of TIP Manila” they added that lack of interest in speaking and writing

results in having difficulties for the students. Also less exposure is also a factor

that result in difficulties in speaking.

Text messaging is also a factor which can be correlated with English

proficiency. People tend to use shortcut to send message quickly. This habit of

using shortcuts can influence English proficiency of pupils. Also, when it comes
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classroom setting, pupils tend to use and adopt shortcuts that could greatly

influence their grammar, vocabulary as well as spelling.

Sandoy (2017) added spelling, fragment, preposition, punctuation marks,

redundancy, linking verbs, subject – verb agreement, adverb, contraction, lack of

vocabulary, wrong point of usage and code switching that she seen in her study

on Cebuano teenagers as a factors contributing in the struggles faced by students

in speaking English.

But according to a study conducted by Solis et. al. (2013) in there study

“Factors Associated with the English Proficiency of Elementary Pupils at Central

Philippine University” factors such as age, income of parents, educational

attainment of parents, perception towards teacher, extent of television viewing, text

messaging, extent of use of online social networks and computer games have no

significant relationship with the English proficiency of their respondents.

Despite all of this, based on the findings by Lasala (2013) it is stated that

communicative competence of the students both in speaking and writing skills is

acceptable. In contrary, their communicative and sociolinguistic competence could

still be improved.

It was seconded by Magbanua (2016) in her study “English Proficiency of

College Students”. She said that college students are very satisfactory in terms of

spelling and reading comprehension but are not proficient in terms of vocabulary.
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For the teachers become a help to their students, Cekiso (2012) stated that

a well – developed reading strategy instruction program can have a strong positive

effect as he seen on his study on Grade 11 ESL learners’ reading comprehension

and reading strategies development. In short, reading strategy instruction can and

does make a contribution in increasing the reading comprehension and reading

comprehension and reading strategy choice as indicated in the results of his study.

Foreign Study

According to a Liu and Jackson (2008) as cited in study conducted by Gan

(2012) about Understanding L2 Speaking Problems: Implications for ESL

Curriculum Development in a Teacher Training Institution in Hong Kong, he

observed that lack of vocabulary was regarded as a main hindrance for spoken

communication by English learners. In the present study, inadequate vocabulary

was also reported as a prevalent concern among the students although they are

exposed to range of words and phrases at this stage. But when it comes to

speaking, these words and phrases never come to their mind, so the expression

they deliver intended meaning precisely. This also contributed directly to a lack of

fluency in their speech.

In addition to that, Krůpová (2015) on her study about Teaching English

Language and Literature for Secondary Schools, she stated that former learning
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experience can influence speaking anxiety to the students, especially when the

said experience is bad. When the present adult participants asked about their

comment on their former teachers and the teaching methods used in their former

classes, most of them seemed dissatisfied, expressed discontent about the

amount of speaking practice and attributed their poor results in English to the low

standard of English language teaching at the Czech secondary schools. Thus, it is

important that the teacher explains students the nature of language learning to

prevent them from forming misconceptions and unrealistic expectations of their

proficiency, especially among beginner students.

Stefanson (2012) conducted a study about Factors Affecting English

Language Learners’ Literacy in US Schools. Its objective is to help the schools and

teachers increase the level of proficiency of the students who are English language

learners. According to the Zehler et. al. (2003) as cited in Vanderwood and Nam

(2008), three of every four third grade English language learners were below

average in their ability to read in English. Focus must be brought to these students

because of the need to increase the literacy of language learners in school. For

the teachers, they must think how they will be able to teach the students with the

most effective strategy. This focus must be based in research – supported

interventions that include skills that are generalizable across the nation to students

of different age, race and linguistic backgrounds. To be able for the school to help

their students, they must have a generalizable pool of interventions and skills. This

will help the students to perform at the level of proficiency.

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But according to Gee (1996) as cited by Li (2004) in his study entitled

“Perspectives on Struggling English Language Learners: Case Studies of Two

Chinese – Canadian Children, it is said that student’s failure can be a result of

mismatch between learners’ main or primary discourse of home and the second

discourse of school. It includes the differences in language, literacy beliefs, and

international patterns. According to Li (2004) having a familiarity with schooled

literacy discourses is a mark of school success. But for the students which came

from non – mainstream cultural backgrounds, they need to learn a different set of

literacy conventions. Also, they are often experience difficulties with schooling.

In addition, according to a study conducted by Miao (2011) at

Suwanplubplapittayakom School about English communication problems between

Thai students and foreign English teachers he people from different places have

different accents and English slang which is very difficult. It is a reason accent

sometimes become hard to understand.

Aside from accent, in the study titled “Phonological Difficulties Faced by

Students in Learning English” by Renaldi et. al. (2016) the researcher discover

from the data they analyzed that there are difficulties on consonant sounds in the

phonology. It is said that it was caused by linguistic background of the second

language learners.

Based on Rababa’h (2005), he pointed out that there are many factors that

cause difficulties in speaking English among EFL learners. Some of these factors
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are related to the learners themselves, the teaching strategies, the curriculum, and

the environment. For example, many learners lack the necessary vocabulary to

get their meaning across, and consequently, they cannot keep the interaction

going. Inadequate strategic competence and communication competence can be

another reason as well for not being able to keep the interaction going. Some

learners also lack the motivation to speak English. They do not see a real need to

learn or speak English.

For these difficulties we need to overcome Von Worde (2003) as cited by

Tinjaca et. al. (2008) stated that a relaxed classroom atmosphere or environment

is significant in reducing anxiety. In this pedagogical practice, teacher personality

and relationship to its student are in need to be consider.

Teaching speaking skills through group work activities according to Hamzah

and Ting (2009) gives better result. It is said that participating in group activities it

highlights motivation, interest and they demonstrate contributions in team work as

well as improvement in individual speaking activities.

Synthesis of the Related Literature and Studies

In the listed literature and studies, we can see different struggles that

students encounter. According to the researchers and authors, demotivating

factors, lack of interest, spelling, fragment, preposition, marks, redundancy, linking

verbs, subject – verb agreement, adverb, contraction, informal use of words,

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capitalization, lack of vocabulary is some factors affecting the condition of speaking

to the students.

In additional to this, reasons and wrong perceptions towards English

speaker affects the students Such as being patriotic is used to become an excuse

to not use English as medium in speaking English. Also, some students may feel

bad using English knowing some of Filipinos use this language to belittle other

Filipinos. Lastly, I think the wrong idea which only rich can use the language

became a factor which hinders the student to use it. They are afraid that someone

will laugh at them because of a wrong grammar.

Despite of these struggles, some researchers are able to find positive things

that can be a basis to this study. DepEd (2009) said that there are improvements

in students proficiency. Also, the researchers are able to find ways to resolve those

problems. It includes the change on teaching strategy and how development must

start from ourselves.

Others try to list some ways to manage or deal with these problems. Some

authors involves school to completely resolve the said problems. Implementing

projects are one of the ideas. Also, resolving some issue inside the classrooms will

become a great help to.

With all of these, the researchers will be able to have an idea about the

reasons and factors which affects the struggles of every student. The researchers

can add some ways how to face the problems and how a student improve their
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speaking skills. Not just for the students, the researchers may be able to find better

teaching strategies with the help of listed strategies. The researchers can improve

how teachers communicate to its students. Lastly, the research can be a basis for

the future school programs that will help students cope with their struggles in

English.