University of Southeastern Philippines

College of Agriculture and Related Sciences

Concept Paper

Prepared by:

Jeffer John Lagangga, Kate Shantel Sugue, Arcie Mae Cagas

JamesSomollo, Veah Ramos, Krystian Bonghanoy
Isabel Jane Peloriana, Calvin Jay Pedro, Hazel Mamontuan

1. My research problem is the

2. The conditions which give rise to my research question are the following:

 In the spectrum of secondary education in the country, the main and common
focus has always been Language Teaching within the four walls of the formal
classroom, neglecting the non-formal side of language education, resulting to
the struggles of English language teachers.

 The other side of the educational coin—the perspective of Language

Teaching through the lens of Adult Learners of Non-Formal Education, the
Alternative Learning System is either left behind or not yet explored.

 As teachers in field strive to provide quality language education to adult

learners, most education graduates are honed with pedagogical approaches
and methodologies in language teaching but are not even introduced to
andragogy and teaching English to adult learners.

 Most of the mobile teachers who are teaching English and communication
skills are not a graduate of BSEd English. Commonly, some of these teachers
are second degree earners whose first baccalaureate degree are not aligned
with language education.

 Providing pedagogical instructions to adult learners of non-formal education is

a little more challenging, particularly in Language Teaching. Challenging in a
way that, as a Secondary Education major in the English language, these
teachers are well-equipped with strategies for Teaching English in a
pedagogic way and not in the use of Andragogy for Adult Learners. Arpilleda
(2018) further validated this dilemma when she investigated the teacher’s
performance and the problems that they have encountered in teaching the
adult learner. The finding of the study validated that most mobile teachers
 University of Southeastern Philippines
College of Agriculture and Related Sciences

have inadequate knowledge of teaching adult learners in the Alternative

Learning System, given the limited and insufficient training and seminars they
had. However, the researcher mainly focused on the teacher’s perspective
and neglected the learner’s aspect. Moreover, the researcher could have
taken both problems faced by the Mobile Teachers and Adult learners
[Link] ideal situation would have been:

 Adequate number of training and workshops highlighting the different English

language teaching strategies to adult language learners is provided to adult
language teachers.

 Mobile Teachers whose undergraduate degrees are aligned to language

education or language teaching should teach language subjects and topics to
adult learners.

 The teaching of English language in adult learners complementing andragogy

should be part in the curriculum (course syllabus) of teacher education
programs in all Higher Education Institutions.

 A manual of varied language learning strategies applicable to a generic adult

learner that English and non-English teachers can utilize

 The Teaching of Alternative Learning System is a course subject in the

curriculum of the teacher education programs in all Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs).

 There should be a baccalaureate program in education with Alternative

learning system as a specialization.

4. The possible reasons for the discrepancy between 2 and 3 are:

 Limited number of mobile teachers whose undergraduate degrees are into

language education and language teaching has chosen to teach in the
alternative learning system.

 The trainings conducted by the Department of Education in a short number of

days is inadequate to cover both minor and major courses and its appropriate
intended learning outcomes compromising the significant details on the
appropriate English language teaching strategies to utilize in the ALS.

 The sudden shift of the educational curriculum in basic and tertiary education
has challenged the HEIs to integrate the teaching of English language to
adult learners in the curriculum of their teacher education programs.
 University of Southeastern Philippines
College of Agriculture and Related Sciences

5. The following intervention have been done to solve the problem and the
outcomes were:

 Selected HEIs in the country included the language learning and teaching
strategies to adult learners in their teacher education curriculum. In Region XI,
the Davao del Norte State College has included the Teaching of Alternative
Learning System as one of their course subjects in all of their teacher
education programs.

 The Department of Education has provided seven to ten days training on

handling adult learners in teaching different learning strands (including the
teaching of English language in Learning Strand 1 English) to mobile
teachers, instructional managers and literacy volunteers.

6. The following facts/findings have been reported in related studies about the
problem:

 The study of Pilar (2015) which explored on the ALS Teachers Lived
Experiences in Teaching Basic English Grammar mainly focused on updating
the curriculum of the alternative learning System in teaching Communication
skills in English and was not able to reveal how inadequacy of andragogic
trainings have significantly affected the students learning process in learning
the English Language.

 Arpilleda (2018) further validated this dilemma when she investigated the
teacher’s performance and the problems that they have encountered in
teaching the adult learner. The finding of the study validated that most mobile
teachers have inadequate knowledge of teaching adult learners in the
Alternative Learning System, given the limited and insufficient training and
seminars they had. However, the researcher mainly focused on the teacher’s
perspective and neglected the learner’s aspect. Moreover, the researcher
could have taken both problems faced by the Mobile Teachers and Adult
learners.

 Delmo and Yazon (2020) subsequently determined the status of the

Alternative Learning System in the Schools Division of Cabuyao. Despite the
highly competent implementation of various ALS Program and improvement in
their communication skills in the English and Filipino Languages, scientific,
critical, mathematical, life and career skills, the researcher recommended to
improve and strengthen the teaching competence of the ALS teachers and
are encouraged to come up with appropriate teaching strategies, techniques
and methodologies in further enhancement of the skills of the ALS learners.
 University of Southeastern Philippines
College of Agriculture and Related Sciences

 In the study of (Wu et al., 2014) where he looked into the difficulties of
Chinese Adult Learners learning English, the researcher was not able to dig
deeper on discovering teaching methodologies and learning strategies which
has a practical application on real life situations.

 Csepelyi (2010) focused on the nature of adult learning and the role of ESL
students in Adult Basic Literacy where highlighted that future researchers
should necessitate to develop a literacy program which highly focuses on
adult Learners. Despite configuring several relevant points in ABE ESL
literacy instruction, the said study was not able to cover the holistic Adult
Learning point.

7. The following questions about the problem, however, still remain

unanswered:

1. What are the challenges of the English major mobile teachers in teaching
English to alternative learning system adult learners?

2. How do adult learners view the language classroom with an English major
mobile teacher teaching the subject matter?

3. What are the challenges of the non-English major mobile teachers in

teaching English to alternative learning system adult learners?

4. How do adult learners view the language classroom with a non-English

major mobile teacher teaching the subject matter?

5. What are the English language learning and teaching strategies employed
to the alternative learning system adult learners?

REFERENCES:

Arpilleda, J. M. (2018). Problems Encountered by Mobile Teachers Assigned in

Tandag City Division, Surigao del Sur: A Case Study. International Journal of
English Literature and Social Sciences, 3(5), 808–813.
[Link]

Csepelyi, T. (2010). Their Words and Worlds: English as a Second Language

Students in Adult Basic Education Literacy Programs. The CATESOL Journal,
21, 125-147.

Delmo R. & Yazon A. (2020). STATUS OF ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM

(ALS) AT THE CITY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF CABUYAO: A BASIS FOR AN
IMPROVED PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION. International Journal of
Advanced Research, 8(7), 313–330. [Link]
 University of Southeastern Philippines
College of Agriculture and Related Sciences

Pilar, J. G. A. (2015). Education Beyond Borders: Lived- Experiences in Teaching

Basic English Grammar among ALS Teachers in Bacolod City, Philippines.
3(4), 9.

Wu, R., Wu, R., & Le, V. T. (2014). Challenges of Adults in Learning English as a
Second Language: Focus on Adult Education in China. Journal of Language
Teaching and Research, 5(5), 1132–1138.
[Link]