Struggles Encountered by Tingloy Senior High School Students on the Use of English Language in Classroom Instruction

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Most of the subjects in the K-12 curriculum use the English language as medium of instruction. Hence, it is required that students should converse in English but the language is usually hard for the students to use and understand. This study highlights the instances when the language is used in classroom instruction, the struggles faced by students in using it, and their effects on the students' performance.

METHODS

An interview was done by the researchers to gather data from the respondents consisting of open-ended questions to allow for free and more complete responses. Respondents consisted of Grade 11 and 12 students. Data gathered were analyzed qualitatively as thematic ideas were formulated based on the responses. This case study-type of research focused on a specific case, on the occurrence of problems inside the classroom only and is also therefore phenomenological.

RESULTS

After the interview, it was found that students use the English language when the teacher asks them to. They mostly use the language during presentations such as reporting, group activities, and recitations. The study further revealed that the most common struggle encountered by the students in using the English language in the aforementioned instances is losing of self-confidence due to being humiliated because of grammatical errors, mispronunciations, and incorrect use of words due to low vocabulary. Thus, it was gleaned that their academic performance becomes poorer due to lack of participation and inability to meet the academic standards. In terms of their attitude and behavior, they were not able to socialize and prefer to keep distant. And generally, their attention span become affected as they easily get distracted because they became more conscious on the words to say and missed the goal of focusing on the content of what to say.

DISCUSSIONS

The result, therefore, reflects the need to implement an English-friendly environment inside the classroom through activities such as peer-tutoring during vacant hours where students will read, listen, view, write, and view English words to introduce and familiarize themselves in the language. Students' active involvement in the program is highly required. With the success of the proposed activity, students' fear in using the language will be lessened and their love for learning will be further enhanced.