FACTORS AFFECTING THE SPEAKING SKILLS OF SECOND ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Abstract

As English is the Philippines Second Language, the curriculum provides adequate opportunities in order for the students to have an effective and efficient communication but despite all these, the students have to improve their skills wherein it was stated thatthere are factors that affect and hinder them to learn the second language effectively. This mixed-method survey research aimed to identify and evaluate the factors that greatly affect the speaking skill of students wherein it involved 39 Grade 7 students and nine Junior High school English teachers with the different perceptions of the two groups of participants. It was revealed that a typical English teacher is female, 41 years old, with Master’s units with 6 to 10 experience in teaching. The common student-respondent was female and is studying English for about 5 to 7 years. The teachers aimed to develop the speaking skill of the students by giving them a variety of speaking tasks with a definite time duration wherein the students are trained to correct their own grammatical errors which can be further developed through the immediate and constructive feedback from their teachers. Meanwhile, the students have poor vocabulary so they sometimes communicate using English as the medium and they know that it is very significant in their future jobs especially in communication. If they are exposed in an unannounced speaking activity, it was revealed that they are pressured so they try to prepare possible responses in advance. Furthermore, the teachers agreed that the students are motivated to learn English in their class but some were anxious while performing speaking activities. Lastly, the teachers revealed that the students were average as many can use English in conversing their ideas but still they need more practice. The main factor that affects students’ speaking skills is the affective factor such as the shyness to speak the English language and the fear of committing mistakes while their speaking performance. The study recommends that teachers may encourage the students to speak in class by giving more time for speaking practices for students to be confident so they can handle on the spot speaking performance. Teachers should give genuine feedbacks through euphemism to avoid the students’ discouragement.