English Proficiency of Public Elementary School Teachers in Region III

Abstract

Introduction

The improvement of the English language instruction remains a priority concern of the country, especially now that we are currently experiencing an erosion of the English language among our students and professionals. To address this situation, appropriate measure is needed, one of these is through research.

Methods

This study determined the profile and the proficiency of the respondents in English in Region III based on the result of the 50-item test along the area of Subject-Verb Agreement, Logical Arrangement of Sentences, Reading Comprehension, Using Context Clues and Word Association/relationship; Phrase (s) related to the keyword and between word pairs. Furthermore, the test result was tested using the chi-square test to determine whether there was a significant difference between the scores obtained by the teachers in the different divisions.

Results

The Results of the analysis showed that the respondents were between 21 to 65 years old with a mean age of 38.60 years. The majority (152 or 72.38%) were females and married (166 or 79.05%). Two-thirds (69 or 32. 86%) of the respondents were masters' degree holders and all the 210 English teachers were eligible. The Teachers had been teaching for at least 14.12 years, especially English. Revealed further in the findings was the fact that the respondents were assigned to intra and extracurricular activities and participated in varied competitions that made them earned awards and winning in contests aside from being demonstrators of English lessons or as a judge in different competitions. With regards to the 50-item test, the result showed that the respondents in the different divisions were competent in all items. Furthermore, the result of the test showed no significant difference in the test scores obtained by the teachers from the different divisions.

Discussions

Since the teachers were proven proficient at least on the basic aspects of the English language required to teach in the elementary level, still there is a need for DepEd to come up with more regular contest, training specifically in the national level and test to encourage or spur the teachers to improve their proficiency and their best to teach pupils. However, the tools to be used in the test should undergo an item analysis to make it more reliable. Research conducted should be directed to pinpoint where the declining proficiency in English of elementary school pupils lies because if the teachers are proficient then the problem might be due to pupil factors or to school factors.