PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY

The National Center for Teacher Education

College of Graduate Studies and Teacher Education Research

Nathan Jacob

MA-ELE

ED705/Thurs- 5:30-8:30

Prospectus of Thesis

Working Title: Integrating EFL Instruction in ALS

I. Rationale

Philippines is considered as one of the countries with the highest English proficiency

levels in Asia. In a blog made by the Philippine Primer last 2016, Philippines is part of the

top 15 countries with the highest English Proficiency Index (EPI) ranked #13 with an EF

EPI score of 60.33. Said data is from Education First based on test data from more than

950,000 adults who took an online English test in 2015. Wa-Mbaleka (2014) stated that

several English survey reports from both the academe (Tupas, 2000) and the business

world (Global English Corporation, 2012) are pointing more and more to the importance

that the English language and English proficiency are playing in the educational success

and economic boom of the Philippines as well as other surrounding nations.

DepEd (2016) stated in the preface of the Language Arts and Multiliteracies

Curriculum (LAMC) curriculum guide that K to 12 is founded on the belief that language,

thinking, and learning are interrelated and that language is the foundation of all human

relations. Its overarching goal is to develop communicatively competent and multiliterate

learners who are competitive in this global economy. Furthermore, K to 12 was

developed as a response to the poor performance of students across subjects. A news

article from the Business World on March 6, 2019 revealed that National Achievement

Test (NAT) scores were low during the school year 2016-2017 with Grade 6 students

recording a 40% average while Grade 10 students were graded at 44.1%. The

performance was slightly lower than the 41.5% and 44.7% averages, respectively, in the

2015-2016 school year through Senator Sherwin Gatchalian. The Department of

Education (DepEd) data cited by Mr. Gatchalian also indicate a decline in the overall

NAT average for Grade 6 and Grade 10 students since 2013-2014. NAT results of

selected public schools in Manila showed “average” to “moving towards mastery”

competencies (Dar and Go, 2016). In relation to this, Fernandez (2013) added that

according to the Department of Education, only 6 out of 10 students who entered grade 1

are able to finish Grade 6, and out of these six (6) elementary graduates, only four (4) are

able to finish 4th year high school (Marquez, 2012); and because of their low educational

attainment this may result to limited comprehension leading to unemployment.

English has always been one of the official languages of the Philippines, spoken by

more than 14 million Filipinos, and is the language of commerce and law, as well as the

primary medium of instruction in education (Cabigon, 2015). Because of this, we use

English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction in this country. Meanwhile, other

countries where English is not a native or second language such as Korea and Japan use

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction. ESL and EFL students’ respective

needs are different. According to Dunsmore (2019), ESL students need (1) hands-on

English lessons suitable for their immediate needs, (2) explicit cultural instruction, and (3)

bridges towards integration, while EFL students need (1) lots of practice using English
especially orally, (2) exposure to living English, and (3) reasons to learn English, and

motivation to stick with it. Because of this, language educators should subscribe to the

teaching strategies in accordance to the students’ needs.

EFL educators give oral activities for their learners to use the language in practical

topics such as ordering in a restaurant and asking for directions. Methods and techniques

chosen should allow him/her to use the language both fluently and accurately. These

techniques should ensure maximum exposure to the language, while in ESL, they are

taught General English which can help them communicate well in class and Academic

English that will help them be successful in other classes such as Mathematics and History

(Ramadan, 2018).

Recent trends in education in the Philippines pose new challenges in the academe for

the improvement of literacy rate among Filipinos in response to one of the challenges of the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which is to achieve universal primary education.

The Alternative Learning System (ALS) is a ladderized, modular non-formal

education program in the Philippines for dropouts in elementary and secondary schools,

out-of-school youths, non-readers, working Filipinos and even senior citizens. Unlike the

regular classroom setting where students are required to attend classes daily, ALS only

requires students to choose their schedules based on choice and availability and does not

need to take place in school but education provided can be as good as formal schooling

(Mercado, 2015). The Department of Education further claimed that alternative learning

system can help those who cannot go to school to learn or who cannot attend formal
schooling but can learn in an out of school setting. Pilar (2015) revealed that this learning

scheme also benefits those who have never gone to school due to varied reasons like

absence of a school in the community, the need to work to augment income, disability, lack

of budget for school-related expenses, gender discrimination, and different learning style.

The ALS program offers youth within urban poor communities a myriad of options for the

future, allowing them to escape the perpetual cycle of poverty that encapsulates their

family. One of the many hopes that is offered by the ALS program, aside from the

possibility of obtaining a job, is the option of future education. Sanchez (2015) emphasized

that encouraging the youth to pursue future education can open up countless options for not

only their future, but the future of their families.

English as a Second Language instruction has been a daily part of the Philippine K to

12 system. Filipinos and other second language speakers see English everywhere just like

the other native speaking English countries. However, the researcher has observed that this

type of instruction is not all the time effective and appreciated by the learners which is

reflected earlier in the news article about the results of the National Achievement Test. The

researcher thinks that inserting concepts of EFL instruction could be an effective way to

further improve their English skills. The main objective of this study is to determine what

methods of instruction in EFL can be used and integrated to the current K to 12 curriculum

in the Alternative Learning System.

With these ideas, the researcher is interested about enhancing the current ESL

curriculum of ALS from Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, a private institution

controlled by the Catholic Church. Like the most studies in ALS, the researcher has

observed that most of them are in the public school setting. This will be an important study
because this will not only add up to the new body of knowledge, but will also recognize

more issues observed in ALS specifically in English teaching and the curriculum. If the

research is a success, he will endorse or recommend the improved curriculum to be used in

the teaching profession.

II. Review of Related Literature

Asian studies talked about the status of ESL and EFL curriculum in their respective

countries especially in Hong Kong by Poon (2009) and Korea by Choi and Lee (2008). It

also discussed the differences of ESL from EFL as presented by Si (2019) and Longcope

(2009). They both agreed about the differences in terms of definition and purpose. ESL’s

purpose is to make their learners communicate naturally while EFL is simply to get

information and knowledge about the language since they do not get to see them every

time. Cullinan (2016) also presented a critical evaluation of an ESL curriculum in UAE.

Deesri (2002) also gave some games that may be effective in ESL education.

Bloemert et. al (2019) gave emphasis on EFL literature education and the use of the

comprehensive approach as their method. The results raised various issues such as the

lack of reader and text approach which are components of the comprehensive approach,

the theoretical framework for this study. The students prefer using literature education as

means of application to daily language and life as context and language approach were

highly observed in the results.

Rodrigues (2015) discussed about analyzing the curriculum design, specifically the

communication approach, presented in the textbooks used in Brazil using a QCA or

Qualitative Content Analysis as method. QCA provides the means to analyze the
meaning of qualitative material in a systematic way (Rodrigues, 2015). The analysis of

the textbooks indicates that both textbooks follow a weak version of the communicative

approach. The textbooks develop suitable controlled practices especially related to

speaking skills, and provides natural spoken data for the content of the units. However,

both textbooks failed to create conditions for freer production of language use to achieve

a communicative outcome.

Richards (2013) discussed about the types of curriculum approaches in language

teaching which are forward, central, and backward design. Forward design believes that

before decisions about methodology and output are determined, issues related to the

content of instruction need to be resolved. Meanwhile in central design, curriculum

development starts with the selection of teaching activities, techniques and methods

rather than with the elaboration of a detailed language syllabus or specification of

learning outcomes. Lastly, backward design starts with a specification of learning outputs

and to use these as the basis for developing instructional processes and input. Language

teaching has reflected a seemingly bewildering array of influences and directions in its

recent history.

Despite the great linguistic diversity of the country, English continues to receive high

functional popularity in the different areas of daily life in the nation. The instruction and

improvement in proficiency of English in the Philippines, however, have met quite some

challenges in recent years (Wa-Mbaleka, 2014).

 In the Philippines, it has been observed that a 10-year basic education curriculum

remains to be congested and that students could not legally enter into contracts for

employment and entrepreneurship when they finish high school (Calderon, 2014).

Gabaca et.al (2017) stated that one factor that can bring change into the life of an

individual is education. Unfortunately according to the Philippine Statistics Authority in

2015, not all are given the opportunity to follow or continue with formal education due to

wide variation of circumstances, such as those who have insufficient income, early

marriage, lack of interest in attending school. With the advancement of science and

technology, it is indeed that globalization and internalization of education are considered

as challenges that every country must uphold.

Barrot (2018), and Dela Rosa and Lintao (2018) presented issues about the current

English curriculum in the K-12 setting. Dela Rosa focused on evaluating the current

curriculum guide while Barrot presented the challenges given by K to 12 from a 21st

century learning perspective. Furthermore, Barrot (2018) observed that students lack

maturity and competencies in various subject areas when they graduate from high school.

Finally, Koo (2008) and Mindo (2017) presented the historical time line about how

English education, as well as the Philippine education, started.

The studies about ALS were phenomenological, narrative, and case in nature.

Atilano et. al (2016), Fernandez (2013), Gabaca et. al (2017), Mercado (2015), Pilar

(2015), and Sanchez (2015) talked about experiences of students and teachers in the

ALS setting including its curricula.

 Bassig et. al (2017) presented the 21st century skills that an ALS student should

have. They are quite similar with the 7Cs and that includes critical thinking.

In the foreign studies the researcher gathered, it is observed that there are no studies

at all about ALS curricula making it impossible for a comparison with the Philippine ALS

curriculum. Another gap can be that the information provided could not be updated

because some references gathered were as old as 17 years old. However, the foreign

studies were able to provide samples of other ESL curricula to be used as conceptual data

for the proposed curriculum in which the materials will be made. Meanwhile, the local

studies were able to give journals about K to 12 together with issues in the English

curriculum as well as various perspectives in ALS which will be helpful for points of

comparison. Gaps presented by the local studies were for the studies about the Alternative

Learning System as most of their context were in the public school or indigenous setting.

Conceptual Framework
 This research will aim to integrate EFL approaches in ESL instruction for the

Alternative Learning System. The EFL approaches unfortunately were adapted from the

ESL curriculum of Lee Academy located in Maine and Maggie Mulaj from California

State University located in the United States of America.

III. Research Questions

Using selected content from the ESL curriculum of Lee Academy in Maine, USA, a

beginning ESL syllabus by Maggie Mulaj from California State University, and the current

K to 12 curriculum, this research aims to integrate an ESL curriculum using EFL

instruction.

Based on this main objective, the research aims to answer the following questions.

1. How can EFL instruction be integrated in ALS?

2. Which of the approaches used in EFL instruction can be integrated in ALS?

3. Why are these EFL approaches effective in ALS?

IV. Methodology

This study will use a qualitative research method. This includes document analysis,

interview, and pilot testing. The research will interview and seek permission from the ALS

teachers for their students to be the respondents for the pilot testing. Meanwhile, in the

document analysis, The researcher will use the ALS ESL Curriculum which turns out to be

the same curriculum guide that our government uses, ALS 3 year program plan, and

selected ESL curricula from Lee Academy and California State University.. The research

site will be at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School- Cubao, a private, Catholic school
which initiated a 3-year transition program called “P.A.T-H”- P for Performance, A for

Academics, T for Transformation and H for Holiness. It started the improvement of the

educational system and the implementation of the K to 12 curriculum. ICCS underwent

the Preliminary Visit of the Philippine 2016 Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges

and Universities (PAASCU) for its accreditation of the Basic Education Program March

14, 2017. ICCS passed the PAASCU preliminary visit and was granted Candidate status

for Accreditation March 27, 2017. The Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC)

granted ICCS the Re-certification status for the Education Service Contracting (ESC) of

our Junior High School Program May 10-13, 2017. This time, he wants to see if there is a

replication in terms of the results in other studies if it is in a different setting. He also wants

to determine if parts of EFL instruction are effective for ALS. The research starts with

interviewing the ALS teachers about ESL instruction in ALS. The interview questions will

focus on the instruction implemented for ESL, description of the curricular goals of ESL in

ALS. After that, teachers are asked for a copy of their ALS ESL curriculum for document

analysis. The main objective of this document analysis is to identify competencies that may

be redundant and irrelevant to ESL instruction. Once done, the researcher will insert EFL

concepts in the curriculum in correlation to the learning issues given by the interviewed

teachers and the EFL learners’ needs adapted from other proven EFL curricula. After the

document analysis, the researcher will seek permission from the teachers for their students

to be the subjects for the pilot testing. They will take two tests. One uses the regular and

standard K to 12 curriculum and another will be using the enhanced curriculum. The

revised curriculum will be a success if there are signs of positive feedback such as

improved scores from the students in the assessments, and learning objectives match the
students’ needs in the eyes of the teacher through the learners’ feedback from the teachers’

instruction.

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