FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNERS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE IN THE

PRIVATE SCHOOLS: ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

A Thesis Proposal
Presented to the Faculty of
Graduate School
LYCEUM OF APARRI
Aparri, Cagayan

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION
(Major in Educational Administration)

GINER R. GUERRERO
2019
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The Problem and Its Background

Nowadays, we live in the world of communication. The significance of education can be

found within the context of a human, existing as a social being. As human being manages his or

her life in the course of interaction between other members of the entire society, communication

is inevitable.

In English language teaching and learning, there are four important macro skills that a

person should master, one of them is speaking. Speaking seems to be the most important and most

commonly used macro skill especially in our daily life. Every people need to communicate with

others through speaking. Furthermore, it has become very important and essential because it plays

an important role in any life aspects. In fact, good communication skill is not only essential for

good achievement in academic life but also for a successful future career. In every organization,

leader, manager, supervisor, and employee, effective communication is an important element of

success. It does not only help you to get the job you want but also help you become more successful

in the job you have.

Through speaking, people can transfer ideas, opinion, and knowledge with others. That is

why the major goal of all English language teaching is to give learners the ability to use English

fluently, accurately, and effectively in communication. However, not all learners after many years

of studying English can communicate fluently and accurately because they lack necessary
knowledge and self-confidence in speaking English language. They tend to have low performance

when they have to communicate or speak in front of others. Therefore, it has become one of

popular issues in language learning for recent years.

In the classroom, there are speaking problems that teachers usually encounter. First, most

learners hesitate to speak in English language because they are worried to commit mistakes and

afraid of criticism. They are shy to express their ideas and opinions in front of a crowd or their

classmates. That is why, they prefer to keep quite or speak as little as possible. Secondly, learners

often complain that they cannot think of anything to say and they have no motivation to express

themselves. Learners have nothing to express because he or she doesn’t get words to express them

in English. It is also difficult for many learners to respond when the teacher ask them to say

something in English language because they might have little ideas about what to say, which

vocabulary to use, or how to use grammar correctly.

In May 17, 2003, the Executive Order No. 210 otherwise known as, Establishing the

Policy to Strengthen the Use of the English Language as a Medium of Instruction in the

Educational System was signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. According to this order,

English should be taught as a second language starting Grade 1 and should be taught as the medium

of instruction for English, Mathematics and Science from at least Grade 3. It also mandates the use

of English as the primary medium of instruction in all public and private secondary schools in

which the main objective is to develop the aptitude, competence, and proficiency of all learners in

the use of the English language to make them better prepared for the job opportunities emerging

and fast-growing local and international industries, particularly in the area of information and

communication technology.
 Our educational system is on its way in aiming to produce globally competent learners in

the use of English language. It is for this reason that this study is being conducted to investigate

the factors and problems related to learners’ speaking performance and its relationship on their

academic performance.

Statement of the Problem

This study will be conducted to determine the factors affecting learners’ speaking

performance in the private schools and its effect to their academic performance. Specifically, this

study will answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents as regards to the following variables?

1.1 Age

1.2 Sex

1.3 Birth Order

1.4 Number of Siblings

1.5 Type of School Graduated From

1.6 Parents’ Highest Educational Attainment

1.7 Monthly Family Income

2. What is the academic performance of the learners?

3. What are the factors that affect learners’ speaking performance?

4. What are the problems faced by learners in speaking English?

5. Is there a significant difference between the respondents’ speaking performance and academic

performance?

6. Is there a significant relationship between the respondents’ speaking performance and academic

performance?

Hypothesis

This study will be guided by the following hypotheses:

1. There is no significant difference in the speaking performance of the respondents when

grouped according to profile variables.

2. There is no significant difference in the academic performance of the respondents when

grouped according to profile variables.

3. There is no significant relationship between the speaking performance and academic

performance.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

According to Professor J. Cummins, one of the world’s leading authorities on bilingual

education and second language acquisition, there are distinctions between the two differing kinds

of language proficiency. First, the BICS or Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. These are
the “surface” skills of listening and speaking which are typically acquired quickly by many

students; particularly by those from language backgrounds similar to English who spend a lot of

their school time interacting with native speakers.

Second is the CALP or Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency which suggests for a

child’s ability to cope with the academic demands placed upon coming from various subjects.

Cummins states that while many children develop fluency within two years of immersion in the

target language, it takes 5-7 years for a child to be working on a level with native speakers as far

as academic language is concerned.

Cummins believes that in the course of learning one language, a child acquires a set of

skills and implicit metalinguistic knowledge that can be drawn upon when working in another

language. This common underlying proficiency (CUP) provides the base for the development of

both the first language (L1) and the second language (L2). It follows that any expansion of CUP

that takes place in one language will have a beneficial effect on the other language(s).

This theory also serves to explain why it becomes easier and easier to learn additional

languages. As Cummins (2000) states: “Conceptual knowledge developed in one language helps

to make input in the other language comprehensible.” If a child already understands the concepts

of “justice” or “honesty” in her own language, all she has to do is acquire the label for these terms

in English.

She has a far more difficult task, however, if she has to acquire both the label and the

concept in her second language According to Jean Piaget, proficiency in certain skills, including

language skills, depends on a combination of developmental readiness, social interaction and the

student’s own interpretations. His experiments have been implemented with adults as well as
children, and educators have applied many of his theories in the realm of language learning. Hence,

many ESL classrooms have discussion groups, pair work interactions and class presentations.

Many ESL instructors rely heavily on these peer-to-peer interactions because students are more

likely to experiment with each other than they are with the instructor.

How imperative it is to make English part of people’s lives. The need to learn and master

the English language is recognized by other countries as well. No one desires to be left behind

simply for lacking the English proficiency. Philippine education does not take this need for

granted. This view is supported by former President Arroyo’s promulgation on May 17, 2003 of

Executive Order No. 210 entitled Establishing the Policy to Strengthen English as a Second

Language in the Educational System.

Positive views towards mastery of the English language should lead to favorable self-

identity changes. One of these shifts is the early encounter of the students on English proficiency.

What better consequences can we expect to hear our students conclude, after being proficient in

English, that they have become more sensitive to changes in the outside world and that they have

more understanding now and can better communicate using the English language (Mojica, 2009).

It is widely accepted by educationalists and linguists that many Filipino children begin

formal schooling with zero English proficiency. Studies have shown that the struggle to English

proficiency is primarily caused through the lack of supportive home, peer group and community

environment as well as formative language-based opportunities. These deficiencies impact not

only on their ability to learn the English language but also deprive them of personal empowerment

and a capacity to facilitate verbal and written communication thus affected their academic

performance.
 Modern wisdom advocates that classrooms and school communities should become the

learner’s missing ‘supportive’ environments and that teachers are best positioned to respond to

English language deficiency. While it is accepted that learners may come from unsupportive

environments and be disadvantaged, teachers can make the difference and readily reverse the

negative resulting from such environments (Study and Teaching, 2009).

Much depends on the awareness, discernment and response of teachers at the coalface – in

the classroom, from the environment, as well as of those in support-service roles. Moreover, much

depends on the ability of a school system to create an alternative, positive supportive environment

that addresses the deficiencies brought by the learner into the classroom. To achieve this

‘environmental shift’, teachers need to recognize the importance of English proficiency. The

English language programs taught must take into account the difficulties inherent in a teacher’s

language of instruction from the learner’s aspect be it spoken or written, appreciating the learner’s

often misunderstood that English language is just a ‘teacher language’.

To achieve these outcomes, learners need to be exposed to a range of English language

skill varieties and encouraged to use them. They need opportunities to experience with different

English proficiency genres and registers in both oral and written codes. In implementing the above

strategies, teachers should acknowledge the effect English language may have on their students

especially those who come from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds (Studyard

Teaching, 2009).

While there is a plenty of teaching methods and approaches from which teachers may

choose, there are some considerations to be looked into and these are the factors which influence

the student’s academic performance in their English performance. Gender can influence while
teaching resources are applied in the learning process and can even affect the physical layout and

seating arrangement of a teaching environment. A simple factor such as age can determine the

‘sophistication’ of the teaching methodology adopted especially when members of a teaching

group vary greatly in age and maturity. Learners of English who come from different cultures often

have to contend with learner-related issues that primary English speakers never have to think

about.

Beginning with English sounds that do not exist in their native language and English words

and concepts for which there is no native language equivalent, to particular religious inhibitions,

teachers who carry the responsibility of teaching English to speakers of other languages must be

totally ‘culturally conscious’ – even to the point of ‘researching’ ethnic diversity and difference if

they are to perform their task professionally and successfully. The specific language needs of each

individual learner are of paramount importance in the planning of any English course, thus the

selection of the teaching method to be used.

The availability or lack of technology and tools will immediately decide whether many

appropriate and proven e-learning programs can be used by both teachers and learners alike. The

absence of computers, audio systems, CD players and more advanced equipment such as LCD-

power point projectors can lower the quality of teaching outcomes and can hinder accelerated

learning. The social and economic status plays a great role also in providing the needs of the

learners. Some students are deprived with technological advances that will help them improve their

English proficiency (Keith W. Wright, 2010).

One of the most important aspects of gaining proficiency in any language is speaking it

regularly. For students, the appropriate venue for them to use the language is inside the classroom
where they feel the freedom and need to say it. Self-study can improve reading and comprehension

skills, but interacting with other English speakers is essential for boosting real world

comprehension and practical use of the English language.

The community where the students grow and feel the belongingness has a great factor in

shaping them as well. Their performance in the school can also be influenced by their peers and

the kind of environment they are raised. The prevailing fad of computer games and internet could

rob the child of the time to study his lessons (Sunstar, 2005).

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

I. Profile of the Respondents

a. Age
b. Sex
c. Birth order
d. Number of Siblings
e. Type of school graduated from
f. Parents’ highest educational Academic Performance

attainment
g. Monthly Family Income
II. Factors that affect learners’
speaking performance
III. Problems faced by learners in
speaking English

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework Showing the Variables of the Study

Significance of the Study

 This research study will be regarded as significant to the following persons of concern in

education:

The findings from this study will educate the stakeholders in the educational sectors on the

factors that can influence learners’ speaking performance for better understanding and solution.

Administrators will be given a basis in making decisions as to what educational

improvements should they make along the programs in English language teaching. Furthermore,

this study will also help them to identify the appropriate quality of instruction to meet the needs

and interests of the learners.

Teachers will be given the proper guidance in creating instructional design that can help

students to develop or improve positive language learning dispositions and bases on what are the

things to do to improve the academic performance of the learners.

As the center of the educative process, learners will also greatly inform about their

speaking performance. With this, they will identify how they will certainly improve in speaking

English language and will excel academically.

Parent will give them awareness on the factors affecting their child’s speaking

performance. Thus, this will guide them in providing the essential guidance and support for their

children’s growth in speaking English language.

Lastly, this study will serve as a springboard for the other researchers who are interested

to conduct further investigation on the factors affecting learners’ speaking performance and its

relationship on their academic performance.

Scope and Delimitation

This study will focus on the factors affecting learners’ speaking performance in the private

schools in Lasam and its relationship on their academic performance. The respondents were all

Grade 10 students for the School Year 2019-2020.

The speaking performance of the respondents will be determined in terms of their

communication skills.

As regards to the academic achievement of the respondents, this study will be focused on

the grades of the learners in English subject.

Definition of Terms

To have better understanding of the study, the following terms are defined operationally:

Factors: Refer to factor that influence students’ ability and performance in speaking English.

English : It refers to the second language used in the Philippines and as a medium of instruction
in Philippine education.

Speaking Performance: The learners’ ability to convey information successfully, using the correct
pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary

Private Schools: A school that does not get money from the government and that is managed by
a group of stake holders. They can also be called, independent schools or non-government schools.

Academic Performance: Refers to respondents’ grades in English subject

English Performance: Refers to respondents’ grades in English subject

Language: It refers to the English words used by the respondents both in oral and written
communication.

Respondents: It refers to the grade 10 learners in Lasam Academy Incorporated and San Lorenzo
Ruiz Educational Institute Incorporated who are officially enrolled in academic year 2019-2020.
Age: Refers to amount of time during which the respondent has lived.

Sex: Refers to the condition of being male or female.

Review of Related Literature and Studies

The Nature of Speaking

Speaking is one of the macro skills of English language teaching and learning. It is not easy

to define what is meant by terms such as speaking skill since it has been defined in various ways

in different disciplines. In language teaching and learning itself, many definitions of speaking have

been made regarding to some experts. According to David Nunan (1991, p. 39) “Speaking is the

single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language, and success is measured in

terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language”. Moreover, Brown (1994) and

Burns & Joyce (1997) define speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that

involves producing and receiving and processing information. Furthermore, in language teaching

and learning, speaking is considered as ability to be practiced and mastered. Nunan (2003, p. 48)

puts it that “speaking is the productive oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal

utterance to convey meaning”. Finally, based on definition given by experts above, it can be

inferred that speaking is a process of expressing ideas in the spoken language, and it is one of most

important aspect of language learning. Further, Luoma (2004) stated that “being able to speak to

friends, colleagues, visitors and even strangers, in their language or in a language which both

speakers can understand, is surely the goal of very many learners” and the success of learning

English can be seen and measured from their performance in speaking and how well they present

their English in communication.

 As one of communication system, speaking play an important part in our everyday lives.

In any life aspect, either our social or personal interaction, the ability to speak has been one of

significant element of interaction process.

Furthermore, in language teaching and learning, speaking is an important part of

curriculum (Luoma, 2004). In social interaction, the ability to speak effectively supports how far

our interaction going and how well relationship can be achieved. Then, in workplace or career

lives communication skill is one of main key for career success. For instance, a leader need

communication ability to deliver information, influence, and direct others to take the actions.

Personally, we also need communication skill to show our ability and capability. Our personality,

self-image, knowledge of the world, and our ability to reason and express our thoughts is all

reflected in our spoken performance in the target language (Luoma, 2004).

Nowadays, effective speaking has received a lot of attention from the general public. It is

has been one of the prominent qualities that can help you gentle attention of other people.

Naturally, we are all a great fan of such effective speaking skill. Finally, speaking skill has been

very important, since it is one of demanded skill that mostly used in communication.

According to Richard (2008), the mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for

many second and foreign language learners. Several language experts have attempted to categorize

the functions of speaking in human interaction.

According to Brown and Yule there are three function of speaking, “…three part version

of Brown and Yule’s framework (after Jones 1996 & Burns 1998): talks as interaction: talk as

transaction: talk as performance. Each of these speech activities is quite distinct in term of form

and function and requires different teaching approaches (Richards, 2008, p. 24).”

a. Talk as interaction
 Talk as interaction refers to what we said as conversation. It is an interactive

communication which done spontaneous by two or more person. This is about how people try to

convey his message to other people. Therefore, they must use speaking skill to communicate to

other person. The main intention in this function is social relationship. The focus is more on the

speakers and how they wish to present themselves to each other than on the message.

b. Talk as transaction

In talk as transaction is focus more on message that conveyed and making others person

understand what we want convey, by clearly and accurately. In this type of spoken language,

students and teacher usually focus on meaning or talking what their way to understanding rather

than interaction.

c. Talk as performance

In this case, speaking activities is focus more on monolog rather than dialog. The function

of speaking as performance happened at speeches, public talks, public announcements, retell story,

telling story and so on.

Aspects of Speaking Performances

Speaking becomes important because speaking is a skill that can make people easily

understand to what things explained. Students’ speaking ability is expected to be good because

they have learned English since some years before and they will have many performances related

to oral skill in universities. But in fact, even college students’ speaking ability is still low. It is

difficult for them to fulfill some aspects of speaking performance. These aspects of speaking

performance included:

a. Accuracy
 According to Nunan (2015), accuracy refers to the extent to which the learners’ speech is

grammatically acceptable, with clear, intelligible pronunciation and appropriate choice of

vocabulary.

b. Fluency

Fluency is the extent to which the learner can speak at an acceptable speed with few false

starts and hesitations (Nunan, 2015). Lade (1961, p. 240) points out that speaking ability is

described as the ability to report acts or situation, in precise words, or the ability to converse or to

express a sequence of ideas fluently. Research into listener’s perception suggests that pausing is

one of the factors of fluency (Thornbury, 2005, p. 6-7). Furthermore, Thornbury (2005, p.8) states

that people can be said as fluent speakers if they fulfill the following features:

a) Pauses may be long but not frequent

b) Pauses are usually filled

c) Pauses occur at meaningful transition points

d) There are long runs of syllables and words between pauses

Foster and Skehan in Nunan (2004, p. 87) propose a model in assessing speaking in which

fluency is measured by considering the total number of seconds of silence and time spent saying

‘um’ and ‘ah’ by subjects as they complete a task.

c. Pronunciation

According to Thornbury (2005, p. 128-129), pronunciation refers to the student’s ability

to produce comprehensible utterances to fulfill the task requirements. Harmer (2001, p. 28-33)

provides more issues related to pronunciation. He suggests pitch, intonation, individual sounds,
sounds and spelling, and stress. Pronunciation becomes important because it gives meaning to

what is being said. Wrong pronunciation may cause misunderstanding or people involved in a

conversation are offended.

d. Grammar

According to Brown (2001, p. 62) “Grammar is the system of rules governing the

conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence”. In relation to contexts, a

speaker should consider the following things:

a) Who the speaker?

b) Who the audience?

c) Where the communication takes place?

d) What communication takes place before and after a sentence in question?

e) Implied versus Literal Meaning

f) Styles and Registers

g) The alternative forms among which a produce can choose.

e. Vocabulary

Thornbury (2005, p. 22) suggests three usual things used by speakers in what they are

being said:

a) When people speaking, they are involving high proportion of words and expressions that

express their attitude (stance) to what is being said.

b) Speakers usually employ words and expressions that express positive and negative

appraisal because a lot of speech has an interpersonal function, and by identifying what

people like and dislike, they are able to express solidarity.

 c) A speech also usually employs deictic language, i.e. words and expressions that point to

the place, time, and participants in the intermediate or a more distant context.

e. Interactive Communication

Thornbury (2005, p. 129) “Interactive communication refers to the ability of a candidate

to interact with the interlocutor and the other candidates by initiating and responding appropriately

and at the required speed and rhythm to fulfill the task requirements”. Brown (2001, p. 269), the

most difficulties faced by students in speaking are the interactive nature of communication. In

speaking, especially when they are having conversation they are engaging in a process of

negotiation of meaning. Thus, learners usually have problems in how to say things, when to speak,

and other discourse constants. Although they have difficulties in this aspect, assessing students

through the way they interact is good to train them to have natural speaking.

f. Appropriateness

According to Harmer (2001, p. 24), the term of appropriateness is related to some

variables. When people are communicating they have to see what effects to achieve the

communicative purpose. Those variables are:

a) Setting

b) Participants

c) Gender

d) Channel

e) Topic

h. Complexity

According to Halliday (1985, p. 87) it is wrong that written language is highly organized,

structured, and complex while spoken is disorganized, fragmentary, and simple. Brown,
Anderson, Shilock, and Yule as cited Nunan (2004, p. 86) declared that what made speaking

difficult were related to the type of information that had to be conveyed and were concerned the

scale of the task and interrelationships among the different elements involved. The spoken

language is complex in a different way.

The complexity of written language is static and dense, while spoken is dynamic and

intricate.

Types of Speaking Performance

According to Brown (2004) there are 5 basic types of classroom speaking performance,

they are:

a. Imitative

In this type of speaking assessment, the ability to imitate a word, phrase, and sentence

pronunciation is main criteria being tested and assessed. Imitation of this kind is carried out not

for the purpose of meaningful interaction, but for focusing on some particular element of language

form. The example of imitative speaking test is word repetition task.

b. Intensive

Intensive speaking goes one step beyond imitative includes any speaking performance that

is designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of language. Example of intensive

assessment task include: dialogue and sentence completion, reading aloud, directed response tasks,

and picture-cued task.

c. Responsive

Responsive assessment task include interaction and test comprehension but somewhat

limited level of very short conversations, standards greeting and small talk, simple requests and
comments, and the like. The example of responsive speaking task include: paraphrasing, giving

directions and instruction, and question and answer.

d. Interactive

Interactive speaking is similar to responsive one, the differences between them is the length

and complexity of the interaction which sometimes includes multiple exchanges and/or

participants. The interaction can take two forms of transactional language which carried out for

the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information and interpersonal exchanges which

carried out more for the purpose of maintaining social relationship than for transmission of facts

and information. For instance: interviews, role lays, games, discussions.

e. Extensive (Monologues)

Extensive oral production tasks include speeches, oral presentations, and story-telling,

during which the opportunity for oral interaction from listeners is either highly limited (perhaps to

nonverbal responses) or ruled out altogether. Language style is frequently more deliberative

(planning is involved) and" formal for extensive tasks, but we cannot rule out certain informal

monologues" such as casually delivered speech (for example, my vacation in the mountains, a

recipe for outstanding pasta primavera, recounting the plot of a novel or movie).

Factor Affecting Speaking Performance

There are many factors which have impact on language learning. These factors are divided

into internal and external factors.

Internal Factor

Internal factor refer to factor that come from learner self. It’s including physiological

aspects and learners language competence (ability).

a. Psychology

Burns and Joyce as cited in Nunan (1999); Schwartz (2005); and Thornbury (2005)

argue that psychological factors such as anxiety or shyness, lack of confidence, lack of motivation,

and fear of mistakes are the factors commonly that hinder students from speaking. Furthermore,

Brown claimed that no successful cognitive or affective activity can be carried out without some

degree of self- esteem, self-confidence, knowledge of yourself, and belief in your own capabilities

for that activity (Brown, 2002). Self-esteem represents the degree of one’s confidence and belief

in himself or herself. From the observation of classroom learning, we can find that learners with

high self-esteem manifest more confidence and give more positive evaluations on themselves

which will promote their language learning. Some students fail in oral English learning or feel less

willing and confident in speaking English in class because they have a low self-esteem.

A study conducted by Koichi Sato (2003 in Minghe & Yuan, 2013) finds that students of

English are not highly competent in speaking because of their fear of making mistakes. The same

finding is also shared by another research conducted by Ballard (1996, in Yan, 2007) who finds

that students fail to join in the English discussion because of their vocabulary problems and fear

of making mistakes resulting in their inability to speak English well. In addition, she says that

students find speaking English a stressful activity especially if they have to perform something

using English.

Moreover, Motivation is also an important factor in language learning success. Brown

(1980, p.112) defines motivation as an inner drive, impulse, emotion or desire that moves one to a

particular action. It’s known to all that proper motivation will draw learners’ attentions and arouse

their interests to learn, thus they are more likely to succeed in language learning.

b. Language Competence
 According to Chomsky (1965), competence is the ideal language system that enables

speakers to produce and understand an infinite number” of sentences in their language, and to

distinguish grammatical sentences and ungrammatical ones.

According to Wikipedia, the term linguistic performance was used by Chomsky in 1960 to

describe the “actual use of language in concrete situation”. It is used to describe both the

production as well as comprehension of the language.

In this study, language factor in speaking performance refer to ability of speaker to master

the aspects of language while communicating. These aspects included: fluency, intonation,

vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar,

c. Topical Knowledge

Topical knowledge is defined as knowledge structures in long-term memory (Bachman &

Palmer, 1996 as cited in Tuan & Mai, 2015). In other words, topical knowledge is the speakers’

knowledge of relevant topical information. The information that topical knowledge provides

enables learners to use language with reference to the world in which they live. Bachman &

Palmer (1996) state certain test tasks may be easier for those who possess the relevant topical

knowledge and more difficult for those who do not. They believe that topical knowledge has effects

on speaking performance. Huang (2015) conducted a research to explore the relationships among

topical knowledge, anxiety, and integrated speaking test performance. One of his finding shown

that topical knowledge strongly influenced integrated speaking performance though in an opposite

manner.

External Factors

a. Performance Condition
 According to Nation & Newton as cited in Tuan & Mai (2015), students perform a

speaking task under a variety of conditions, and they believe that performance conditions can affect

speaking performance. They suggest four types of performance conditions include time pressure;

planning, the standard of performance, and the amount of support (Nation & Newton, 2009 as

cited in Tuan & Mai, 2015).

b. Learning environment

In their research, Minghe & Yuan (2013) stated that “another eternal factor that affects

students’ oral English learning is the lacking of good language learning environment”. English is

a language used in communications, so a good language environment can effectively promote

learning. But for most of the Indonesian students, English is a foreign language they learn at

school, and mostly, students communicate in their everyday life in their native language and too

lazy to practice their English outside the class or teaching learning process.

c. Speaking Problems

Regarding to some experts in language teaching and learning, there are various problems

students encountered in speaking English. Sadtono (1997) stated that are two problems in language

learning and this problem divided into linguistic and non-linguistic problem.

Linguistic Problems

The linguistic problems include difficulties faced by learner in learning a language related

to the aspects of language. Linguistic problem has some categories, include;

a. Pronunciation

Pronunciation is one of the most important things that students have to master in order to

communicate appropriately and fluently. According to Fangzi (1998, p.36) pronunciation is result

in whether or not someone’s message can be passed or not by other people. Second language
learners therefore need knowledge of the language they wish to speak, an understanding of the

phonetic structure of the language at the level of individual word, and understanding of intonation

(Fulcher, 2003).

b. Vocabulary

Vocabulary is an important aspects in teaching and learning a language (Edward, and

Vallette, 1997, p.149) “vocabulary is one of the important factors in all language teaching; students

must continually learn words as they learn structure and as they practice sound system.

Furthermore, Laufer (1997, p.54) rehearse that vocabulary learning is at the heart of language

learning and language use. In fact; it is what makes the essence of a language. Without

vocabularies, speakers cannot convey the meaning and communicate in the target language.

c. Grammar

According to Jeffrey & Stacy (2003, p.171) “language grammar is a set of rules that govern

its structure, which determines how words are arranged in units forming meaningful language.”

Similarly, Michael (2005) defines grammar as “the rules that explain how words are combined,

arranged, or changed to show certain kinds of meaning.” Furthermore, according to Ur (1996),

sometimes grammar is defined as “the way words are put together to make correct sentences.”

Non Linguistic Problems

According to Ur (1996), there are four main problems faced by students in speaking.

a. Inhibition

In his book, Ur (2000, p. 111) stated that “learners are often inhibited about trying to say

things in a foreign language in the classroom. Worried about making mistakes, fearful of critics or

loosing face, or simply shy of the attention that they speech attract.”
 Moreover, Latha (2012) reported that inhibition is the most common problem faced by

students in learning foreign language. They worried to make mistake in speaking the language

because they are afraid the speaker will criticize of them. Thus, in this condition they have high of

inhibition and it causes they keep silent. Therefore, Inhibition must be reduced by thinking that

everyone has to make mistake and the mistake is an experience for going to be better.

b. Nothing to say

Even if they are not inhibited, many learners complain that they cannot think of anything

to say, they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be

speaking.

c. Low or uneven participation

Only one participant can talk at the time if he or she is to be heard and in a large group this

means that each one will have little talking only, this problem is compounded by the tendency of

some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all.

d. Mother tongue use

In classes where all, or a number of the learners share the same mother-tongue, they may

tend to use it because it is easier and it feels unnatural to speak too another in foreign language. If

they talk in small groups, it can be quite difficult to get some classes particularly the less

disciplined or motivated ones to keep to the second language.

Assessing Speaking

The term ‘assessment’ is commonly used with a variety of different meaning. Indeed, the

term has come to be used so widely in so many different was in the fields of language testing and

educational measurement. Language tests have become a pervasive part of our education system
and society. Scores from language tests are used to make inferences about individuals’ language

ability and to inform decision we make about those individuals (Bachman, 2004, p.3).

Language assessment takes place in a wide variety of situations, including educational

program and real-world settings. In educational programs, the results of assessment are most

commonly used to describe both the process and outcomes of learning for the purposes of diagnosis

or evaluating achievements or make decisions that will improve the quality of teaching and

learning and of the program itself.

Speaking is one of the productive skills in language. As one of productive skill speaking

can be directly and empirically observed. Furthermore, Brown (2003, p. 141) states as with all

effective tests, designing appropriate assessment tasks in speaking begins with the specification of

objective or criteria. The decision about which criteria to use depends on the intended use of the

test (Luoma, 2004, p. 41). According to Brown (2004), speaking has five categories which are

similar to listening. First, imitative, it is the ability to simply parrot back (imitate) a word or phrase

or possibly a sentence. Second, intensive, it is the production of short stretches of oral language

designed to demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or

phonological relationships such as: prosodic elements-intonation, stress, rhythm, juncture. The

speaker must be aware of semantic properties in order to be able to respond, but interaction with

an interlocutor or test administrator is minimal at best. Third, responsive, it includes interaction

and test comprehension but at the somewhat limited level of very short conversations, standard

greetings and small talk, simple requests and comments, and the like. Fourth, interactive,

sometimes includes multiple exchanges and/or multiple participants. Interaction can take the two

forms of transactional language, which has the purpose of exchanging specific information, or

interpersonal exchanges, which have the purpose of maintaining social relationships. In

interpersonal exchanges, oral production can become pragmatically complex with the need to

speak in a casual register and use colloquial language, ellipsis, slang, humor, and other

sociolinguistic conventions. The last category, extensive, includes speeches, oral presentations,

and story-telling, during which the opportunity for oral interaction from listeners is either highly

limited or ruled out altogether. Language style is frequently more deliberative and formal for

extensive tasks, but people cannot rule out certain informal monologues.

The focus in designing speaking assessments is often on the tasks. They are important

because the examinees’ experience of the test is based on them, but the validity of the scores

depends equally much on the rating criteria and the relationship between the criteria and the tasks.

If the criteria are developed in isolation long after the tasks have been finalized, as they often are,

there is a danger of a mismatch, which leads to a loss of information about the quality of the

performance (Grove & Brown, 2001).

According to Luoma (2004, p. 30), tasks are activities that people do, and in language-

learning contexts tasks are usually defined in terms of language use. Nunan (1993, p. 59) defines

a communicative task as: “. . . a piece of classroom work which involves learners in

comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention

is principally focused on meaning rather than form. . . . Minimally, a task will consist of some

input data and one or more related activities and procedures. Input refers to the data that learners

are to work on: it may be linguistics (e.g. a radio broadcast), non-linguistic (e.g. a set of

photographs), or ‘hybrid’ (e.g. a road map). In addition, tasks will have, either explicitly or

implicitly (and in most cases these are implicit), goals, roles of teachers and learners”
 Luoma (2004) divided the task types under two headings, open-ended and structured tasks.

The distinction builds on the relative amount of structure that the tasks provide for the test

discourse.

Open-ended speaking tasks guide the discussion but allow room for different ways of

fulfilling the task requirements.

They typically call for a stretch of talk, which can be either a number of turns between

speakers or a single long speaking turn.

Structured speaking tasks, in contrast, specify quite precisely what the examinees should

say. They typically call for limited production, and often it is possible to give an exhaustive list of

acceptable responses.

In this research, the speaking task is one of instruments used to assess student performance

and the factor that affect it. As performance being assessed in public speaking, so it is imitative

types of speaking and it refers to open ended speaking task.

CHAPTER II

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 This chapter presents the research design, locale of the study, the respondents and sampling

procedure, the instrument used, data gathering procedure and the statistical treatment used.

Research Design

This research will make use of the descriptive correlational design with questionnaire that

will serve as an instrument in gathering the data. This will determine the factors affecting learners’

speaking performance in relation to their academic performance.

Locale of the Study

The researcher will be conducted the study at two private schools in the Municipality of

Lasam namely: Lasam Academy Incorporated, located at Centro 01, Lasam, Cagayan and San

Lorenzo Ruiz Education Institute Incorporated, located at Centro 02, Lasam, Cagayan. The center

of this study will be the Grade 10 learners.

Respondents and Sampling Procedures

The participants of the study will be the Grade 10 learners, enrolled at Lasam Academy

Incorporated and San Lorenzo Ruiz Educational Institute Incorporated of the S.Y. 2019-2020. The

combined respondents are composed of 147 respondents. The numbers of respondents are shown

in the table below:

School Grade Level Number of Learners

 Lasam Academy Incorporated Grade 10 91

San Lorenzo Ruiz Educational Grade 10 56

Institute Incorporated

Total 147

Research Instruments

In this study, the main instrument in collecting data will be the questionnaire. The

researcher will use the questionnaire comprising 30 statements. For each item, five options using

a Likert-scale were used (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree).

Data Gathering Procedure

This researcher will ask permission to conduct a study to the School heads of both schools.

After the approval, the researcher will personally float the questionnaire to the chosen

respondents and explanation will be done so that accurate data will be gathered and to ensure a

100% retrieval.

In order to obtain data on student participants’ speaking performance, a survey was

administered to the participating students using untimed response. The participants were allowed

to take as much time as needed to respond to the questionnaire.

 After gathering the data about the speaking performance of the respondents, a letter will be

sent to the Registrar’s Office asking permission to get the list of respondents’ grades in English

subject they have taken.

Statistical Treatment of Data

For the profile of the respondents, frequency counts and percentages were used. Responses

of the learners in the questionnaire were computed using the weighted mean. The following

numerical scales and percentage brackets were used to describe the speaking performance of the

respondents, and so with their English Performance.

Numerical Scale Description of Attitude 4-point Likert scale

3.25-4 STRONGLY AGREE 4

2.5-3.24 AGREE 3
1.75-2.49 DISAGREE 2
1-1.74 STRONGLY DISAGREE 1

Percentage Bracket Classification

97-100 Excellent
94-96 Very Outstanding
91-93 Outstanding
88-90 Very Good
85-87 Good
82-84 Very Satisfactory
79-81 Satisfactory
76-78 Fair
75 Passing
Below 75 Failing
 To determine the difference and relationship between the given variables, the Analysis of

Variance and Pearson r were utilized. Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance and

one tailed-test had been used.

APPENDICES
 Legal Basis of the Study

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE RESPONDENTS

Part I: Directions: Please fill in the needed information.

Name: (optional) ________________________________________

Age: _________ Sex: ________ Birth Order: ________ Number of Siblings: ___________
School Graduated (Elementary): ______________________________________________

Parents’ Highest Educational Attainment

Father: ____________________________________
Mother: ____________________________________
Monthly Family Income: Php ________________

Part II: This questionnaire is designed for the investigation of “Factors Affecting Learners’
Speaking Performance”. Your help in filling the following questions would be highly appreciated.
Answer as honesty as you can, by checking the column that corresponds to your own feeling.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Statements about your speaking Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

performance Agree Disagree
(3) (2)
(4) (1)

1. I am confident in speaking English

in my English class/any subject
that uses English as a medium of
instruction.
2. I am shy; I don’t feel confident
while speaking English in
class/any subject that uses English
as a medium of instruction.
3. I am having trouble with
vocabularies.
4. I always bring dictionary to find
the meaning of the words that are
new to me.
5. I have difficulty in pronouncing
words.
6. I am not good in speaking English
with other people.
7. I love participating in my class
using English language.
8. I am afraid of committing mistake
in front of other people.
9. I have negative experiences in
speaking English.
10. My classmates do not support me
while I am speaking English.
11. I am inspired to learn and speak
English language.
12. I am motivated to learn to speak
English because of my teacher.
13. I love watching Hollywood movies
to learn to speak English.
14. I love singing English songs
because I want to learn to speak
English.
15. I read about the topic and prepare
for speaking practice in advance
and prepare ideas for it.
16. I often practice speaking English
outside the classroom.
17. I cannot think of anything to say
using English language.
18. I always try my best to express my
thoughts using English language.
19. I feel comfortable while speaking
in front of others.
20. I enjoy different English speaking
activities.
21. I often share my knowledge and
ideas through speaking.
22. I am comfortable answering
questions verbally.
23. My teacher helps me every time I
am having trouble in speaking
English.
24. My teacher encourages me to
speak English in class.
25. There is no pressure from the
teacher when I am doing the
speaking activity.
26. My teacher introduces the idea of
the lesson and gives us enough
vocabulary to use for our speaking
activity.
27. My teacher gives us enough time to
prepare for the speaking activity.
28. My teacher corrects my speaking
mistakes all the time while I am
speaking.
29. My teacher waits until I finish what
I am saying then correct it for me.
30. My teacher always gives us group
work, role playing, and
presentations in English.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baker, J., & Westrup, H. (2003)
Essential Speaking Sills: A handbook for English language Teachers
London: Continuum
Bashir, M., Azeem M., & Dogar, A. H. (2011)
Factors Effecting Students’ English Speaking Skills
British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2(1), 34-50
J. Cummins
Language Proficiency, Bilingual and Academic Achievement
White Plains, NY: Longman, 1992, pp. 58-70
J. K Aina, A. G. Ogundele, and S. S. Olanipekun
Students’ Proficiency in English Language Relationship with Academic Performance
in Science and Technical Education
American Journal of Educational Research, vol. 9, pp. 355-358, September 2013
Latha, B. M. (2012)
Teaching English as a Second Language: Factors affecting learning speaking skills
India International journal of engineering research & technology (IJERT), 1(7),
September – 2012
Mahripah, S. (2014)
Exploring Factors Affecting EFL Learners’ Speaking Performance: From Theories
into Practices
Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia