Communicative Competence in Spiral Progression Curriculum: A Study Reinforcing the Implementation of MATATAG Curriculum in the Philippines

Abstract

The Philippine English curriculum aims to produce communicatively competent individuals, considering that Filipinos are known to be proficient in the use of the English language. However, there has been a poor performance of Filipino learners in international assessments, and their English proficiency has been declining over the recent years. The English curriculum in the Philippines plays a crucial role in the development of communicative competence of students. One of its principles that is said to be disjointed and is presumed to have affected the communicative competence of students is the spiral progression approach. Accordingly, this research aims to identify and to interpret the teachers’ implementation of the spiral progression approach in junior high school English in selected public schools in the second district of Ilocos Sur that could have influenced the communicative competence of students that prompted the Department of Education to revise the current Philippine curriculum. Findings revealed that teachers implemented the said approach. This was later substantiated through a documentary analysis and a semi-structured interview with the school managers. However, findings also revealed that there is an inconsistency in its implementation that can be linked to the poor performance of Filipino learners in international assessments. From these findings, it was concluded that teachers shall equip themselves with strategies and techniques through a series of training, and the reduction of learning competencies can address the broken continuity to ensure mastery. Hence, curriculum change is supported.