English Language Proficiency in Secondary Schools: Its Contribution to Students' Academic Performance in English

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

There is a low performance in the English proficiency level among high school students enrolled in public schools in the Philippines. Most of them have low mastery level in English and have difficulties in using the language in oral and written communication (Ramirez of Department of Education.net). Hence, this study was conducted to assess the level of English language proficiency among teachers and students. The study also assessed the factors that contribute to the academic performance of students in English in the five (5) secondary schools of Cortes.

METHODS

This descriptive method of a correlation type was employed to two groups of respondents comprising one hundred seventy-five (175) students and thirteen (13) English teachers who were cross-examined using standardized test questionnaires adapted from Department of Education, Division of Surigao del Sur. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Results revealed that the level of students' English language proficiency in the four macro skills provides evidence that students performed better in listening skill than speaking, reading and writing were classified as having "Developing" level. Majority of the teachers' level of English language proficiency belong to "Approaching Proficiency" level while two (2) teachers demonstrated developing the level of performance in two other language areas: Logical Organization of Ideas and Identification of Errors. Four (4) of the secondary schools in Cortes performed better in English with a "Nearing Mastery" level while one (1) school was rated in the "Below Mastery" level in English with a score of 46% MPS. Further results showed that teachers' proficiency in the English language was strongly related to the students' academic performance in English with computed r 0.211 and p-value of 0.005. Based on the results, the majority of the students belong to the same level of proficiency and have the same specific language needs. The insufficient knowledge and skills in speaking, reading, and writing are attributed to the poor performance in the teaching-learning process and have not been enhanced in an appropriate intervention program.

DISCUSSIONS

Based on the findings and conclusions, secondary English teachers of Cortes are highly recommended to undergo an enhancement training program on English language proficiency so that the students can also be benefit from the same program. This proposed three-day enhancement training program is suggested to be institutionalized in all of the secondary schools of Cortes.