Journal of English as A Foreign Language Teaching and Research

English Communication Skills (ECS) of Grade 9 Learners: The Basis for Designing an ECS Intervention Program

Angelyn Garcitos — 2024-09-30

English Communication Skills (ECS) are crucial in the globalized context, yet the Philippines' ranking of 77th out of 81 countries highlights a significant proficiency gap. Consequently, there is an urgent need for targeted intervention programs to address these challenges among Filipino students. This research aimed to evaluate the English Communication Skills (ECS) of Grade 9 students at High School in Philippines, focusing on speaking and writing proficiency levels and the relationship between them, to develop an intervention program. Utilizing a descriptive research design with a quantitative approach, the study involved 40 Grade 9 students selected through random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-made survey questionnaire, complemented by tests employing the WIDA Speaking and Writing Interpretive Rubrics for a detailed analysis of speaking and writing capabilities. The analysis was conducted using statistical methods to yield descriptive statistics and the Pearson R correlation for assessing the relationship between speaking and writing skills. The results indicated that while students perceived their ECS as satisfactory, the actual assessments did not meet the expected standards, and a very low correlation was found between speaking and writing proficiency. This gap emphasizes the necessity for targeted intervention programs tailored to the specific needs of students to enhance their ECS. The study concludes with the recommendation for developing pedagogical strategies that focus on the identified areas of improvement in ECS among Grade 9 learners.

Brewing Terminologies Used by Baristas: Contextualized Instructional Material for Technical, Vocational, and Livelihood Students

Pearlene L. Serviano — 2024-09-30

As coffee industries grow, the demand for good coffee is not simply enough nowadays. As a result, lexicons related to coffee, coffee beans, flavors, tools and equipment, and its processes are ever growing; hence, it can be considered “alive”. This study aims to gather coffee-related lexicons to create contextualized learning materials for Technical Vocational Learning (TVL) students, addressing the shortage of resources needed to enhance their coffee brewing skills. This study utilized two methods of acquiring data: 17 baristas from selected traditional coffee shops in the Philippines as participants of the study and books, articles and websites as the corpus of the study. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify common terminologies and their contextualized conceptual and operational definitions, as well as unique lexicons used by local baristas, which were then categorized into flavors, tools and equipment, and processes. After collecting 76 terminologies, it underwent thematic analysis and was categorized according to themes, such as coffee beans, flavors, serving sizes, tools and equipment, and processes. By incorporating these lexicons in the context of education, it will enhance students’ knowledge about coffee culture, industry practices and professional terminology, all of which are necessary for effective communication. This study contributes to the continuous evolution of language in the coffee industry by documenting and analyzing the diverse terminologies used.

Gender Representation in English Language Textbooks of Primary Education

Ankur Nandi — 2024-09-30

Textbooks are carriers of social change. It is through textbooks and classroom experiences that from the stage of childhood in the school itself, students start learning to accept gender socialization, social norms, beliefs, gender roles, inequality, and bias. Hence, the need to make the textbooks gender neutral arises becausetheir analysis is necessary for this; it is in this light that the present study has analyzed English textbooks at the primary level of education in India toexaminethe incubation of gender stereotypes and bias. These were coupled with content analysis and qualitative and documentary research. The major findings reflect that gender patriarchy and bias are reflected in English textbooks.Overall, the results indicated that males were more prominently featured in textbooks, both in images and in text. Females were still underrepresented, had fewer diverse occupations, and were often depicted doing household chores in three textbooks. However, there were some positive portrayals and efforts to challenge stereotypes, with examples of gender-neutral language and activities shared by both genders.The findings of this study can also be used to shape policies at the state or national level in creating and applying guidelines for gender-neutral content in educational materials. These guidelines would guide the efforts of a textbook development agency,writers, and teachers in creating gender-sensitive curricula and textbooks.

Linguistic Chameleon: Syntactic Functions of “Kuan” (Cebuano language filler) in Social Media Conversations

Rose Carmel Tabotabo — 2024-09-30

The study explored the syntactic functions of “kuan” in social media conversations and in the logs, reels, and shorts of various Cebuano content creators. Taking into account related studies on fillers, the researchers discovered that there is still no known study of its syntactic functions. Hence, the researchers will analyze the syntactic functions of filler words, specifically the Cebuano filler “kuan” used by content creators. Understanding the syntactic functions of these words contributes to the body of language research by offering some insights into people’s communication patterns on social media. This contributes to our understanding of the versatility of “kuan” within the context of social media use. The researchers will be using content analysis to examine how Cebuano content creators used ”kuan” in their logs, shorts or reels and analyze their syntactic functions. The researchers have concluded that "kuan" has various syntactic functions: subject, verb, object, subject complement and object complement.

Effects of Game-Based Learning on Improving Grammar Skills of Grade 9 Students

Marko L. Aratea — 2024-09-30

As the educational system transcends to 21st-century learning, various methods in the teaching-learning process are used to motivate students, one of which is game-based learning. This study explores the effects of game-based learning in improving the grammar skills of grade 9 students at Regional Science High School-III, Philippines. The results from the 1st quarter item analysis elicited the least learned competency, which allowed researchers to examine and determine the effects of game-based learning in improving the English grammar proficiency of the 143 grade 9 students, particularly in the use of modals. The study used a quasi-experimental research design, where the researchers adopted an assessment tool to determine the students’ English grammar proficiency level. The teachers assigned the experimental group with 8 game-based lessons and the control group who experienced the traditional lessons. The researchers used a paired sample t-test using the Jamovi software. The study found that there is a highly significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the respondents before and after the integration of game-based learning lessons, resulting in the rejection of the null hypothesis. Furthermore, for English teachers, the intervention is perceived as beneficial in improving the English grammar skills of the learners. The study presented the description of various game-based lessons and determined the respondents’ proficiency levels. It was found that students progressed from being developing proficient to proficient when game-based lessons were applied. Thus, game-based learning is effective as it also makes the learning environment fun, conducive, exciting, and learner-centered.

Evaluation of Reading Empowerment Asserting Connection at Home (REACH): Performance of Grade 7 Learners

Aira Nina Bautista Cosico — 2024-09-30

In the Philippines, reading is a persistent challenge that requires continuous remediation with the results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) from both 2018 and 2022, and the country has been at the bottom of the rankings. Thus, the goal of this study is to strengthen reading remediation. This study focused on the evaluation of a reading program implemented; the Reading Empowerment: Asserting Connection at Home (REACH), and its relationship to the performance of Grade 7 learners in relation to reading. The participants of this study were 96 secondary school English teachers because they are field implementers of the reading program and were selected through a proportional stratified random sampling to ensure that each cluster was represented. The study collected MPS results from three successive school years and evaluated the implementation of the reading program. The questionnaire was validated and researcher-made. Based on the findings, the hypotheses were partially supported. It was revealed that there was a significant relationship between the REACH evaluation and the school’s reading performance, particularly between the Product evaluation and the school’s reading performance during SY 2022-2023, and between the overall REACH evaluation and the school’s reading performance during SY 2023-2024. Furthermore, there was a positive relationship between the REACH Evaluation in terms of Context and Psychological Component. It was recommended that curriculum implementers continue the implementation of Reading Empowerment: Asserting Connection at Home (REACH), but this time, we focused on strengthening the other components of the CIPP Evaluation to improve the results of the reading program.