I.

Rationale

Academic instruction in oral classroom activities does not fully maximize

student participation. While some students enjoy their speaking potentials

who Delaney (2012) believed that have likely to make greater proficiency

gains, it is noticeable that some individuals give less attention and the worst

are those around the corner - avoiding to get in touch with the activities.

The level of influence of the subject to its learners is not sufficiently

substantial to get their interest, an overrated and unending issue that

should be addressed by their teachers.

"No shame, no fear, no guilt, speak English." This quotation

screaming above every blackboard in English classrooms reiterates the

global competence in learning the second language. However, what

underlies in the perception of the students is that when the teacher asks

using the English tongue, the use of other languages is prohibited, a link to

Monolingual Fallacy (Ismail, 2012).

As the lingua franca of the globalized world, classroom interaction

using the English language is a massive struggle to English as a Second

Language (ESL) teachers for they need to stimulate their students' interests

using outnumbering ways. This is due to the belief that teachers often view

oral participation as a measure of learner involvement (Delaney, 2012). He

also stated on his article, “Quality and Quantity of Oral Participation and

English Proficiency Gains,” that participation of learners is an indication of

receptivity to learning the target language. In America, many college

instructors require and/or grade oral participation because it is often

thought to be a good indicator of students' engagement in learning (Frymier

et al, 2016).

1
 However, a lot of issues slow the potential of a learner to talk.

According to Eustaquio (2015) in her thesis entitled, "Second Language

Learners' Proficiency Level and The Factors Affecting their Speaking

Ability," most students are weak in oral means because other students

may laugh at them when they utter the wrong word while some do not

want to speak at all because they lack vocabulary. She also emphasized

that most of the time, these students do not speak the target language

because of the combination of negative and positive factors existing in

the environment. As an alarming result, most of the students who are

in their graduating years are orally incompetent.

Mustapha & Rahman (2010) on their study entitled “Factors

Influencing Classroom Participation: A Case Study of Malaysian

Undergraduate Students” revealed that negative classmate traits ranked

the highest in the list of most frequent factors mentioned in discouraging

students’ participation. Many of the students interviewed expressed

their displeasure regarding having classmates who show negative

attributes during classroom activities.

Meanwhile, in US university classrooms in the early 2000s, the most

frequent in-class activities in English lessons included listening to

instructors, writing essays, and working on reading comprehension and

not in practicing English conversational skills (Lee, 2007). And though

standardized tests from both TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign

Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

were used, Lee still found out that these evaluation tools do not

accurately reflect non-native speakers' oral communication skills,

especially articulation. Correlated studies showed by Lee that language

speaking anxiety is a factor in speech reluctance for speakers of the

2
language as a non-native one. Indeed, speaking is cited as the most

anxiety-provoking element of oral apprehension in class participation.

Like what Eustaquio stressed, Lee reiterated that the fear of negative

evaluation is much a concern as non-native speakers are more self-

conscious and sensitive about others' evaluation of their oral

performance and likely feel uncomfortable.

With these alarming reasons, a huge step should be done to elevate

the oral participation among ESL students. No doubt, teachers’

involvement is a fundamental and interdependent key to solve the

unending issues.

In the study entitled, "Group work oral participation examining

Korean students' adjustment process in a US University," Jung Yin Kim

(2016) emphasized that students slowly adapt an approach that is more

student-centered where learning in groups becomes easier.

Harmer (2007), mentioned by Divya (2017), strengthening the claim

that group work increases the number of speaking opportunities as it

provides a space for speakers to give their opinions; encourages

cooperation and negotiation skills; and promotes learner autonomy.

Also, a good discussion is one in which most students speak as much as

possible and when the participants are motivated, if their expressions

are alive, if they react to the ideas of the speaker, and if they can use

the language as they require, then it is a proof that the discussion is

going well (Ur, 2011). Therefore, motivation in instruction is the key

factor to practice students’ oral fluency and communicative competence

(Hess, 2001).

Yang (2005) suggested in her dissertation that combining

cooperative learning and the traditional teaching methods in ESL

3
 classrooms may create a third pedagogical method to benefit ESL

students’ oral participation and motivation toward learning which she

believed that may solve some teaching problems.

On the other hand, Lin and Hwang (2018) found that the online

community-based flipped instruction using mobile devices can enhance

students’ English oral performance as they learn to become

autonomously motivated in learning and speaking the language inside

and outside the classroom. While Wu (2017) brought Small Private

Online Course (SPOC) as tool in deviating switching traditional language

teaching to web-assisted pedagogy.

More than the various teaching-learning strategies abovementioned,

there is a pool of pedagogical conducts that a teacher can use in

motivating his students to become active oral participants. But which

one to use? The specificity is still unsure until he diagnoses his learners

and their demographic contexts. Psychological matters are also around

the corner waiting to tackle. This brings a clear intent and emphasis on

the call of a teacher’s sensitivity to students’ needs and diversity of ideas

motivate every single learner in his seat.

In this era where attention span is elusive, academic reluctance is

caused by both intrapersonal and technological debacles, the researcher

was moved to seek how to enhance the oral participation of the grade

9 students at Damortis National High School through various teaching-

learning strategies. Because of this objective, this research was taken.

II. Review of Related Literature

Local

4
 According to Cantoy et al. (2017), students who have higher

academic ratings are most likely to perform in any activity. Also, Falsario

(2003) revealed in his study that with the better comprehension skills of

a student, he can interact more in classroom discussions and receiving

high remarks in the end of the school year.

The correlation between self-confidence and academic achievement

is directly proportional. As levels of self-confidence rise, academic

achievement increases while as learners suffer from low self-confidence,

academic achievement decreases as cited by Fook et al. (2011) in the

study entitled, “Confidence Level in Oral Participation in Second

Language Classroom of Freshmen College Students in The College of

Education of Capiz State University- Burias Campus.”

In the study of Cristobal and Lasaten (2018) discloses that if students

experience a significant level of oral communication apprehension, they

are more likely to have lower academic performance. They both stressed

that teachers should employ varied oral communication activities to

reduce the students’ oral communication apprehensions. Also, they

should employ engaging and interesting speaking activities that could

maximize students’ participation to further enhance their communication

skills.

In the study conducted by Racca and Lasaten (2016) at Philippine

Science High School, they found out that the more language proficient

the students are, the better they perform in their core subjects and have

the tendency to achieve high GPAs.

Castolo and Rebusquillo (2008) found out that socio-economic status

plays as to proper attention in supporting the learner’s needs. As their

finding, Php 5,001- Php 10,000 gain is a stable support to provide the

5
academic needs of the students. This statement is also evident as

Misbah, et al. (2017) found that aside from the lack of English

vocabulary and the influence of the first language, socio-economic

status of the family is one of the major themes that contribute to the

students’ difficulties in the English language learning.

Foreign

Student engagement in classroom activities is simply easy to

comprehend but an unending dream to happen in the part of teachers.

As instruction goes forth, student silence begins to kill the lesson which

forces the teacher to use participatory grades to make them speak

(Meyer, 2009). Since a lot of teachers in near 2000s have focused on

the principles of encouraging students to orally participate in their

discussions, Meyer cited that most of research products brought many

methods in bringing up the speaking potentials of the students.

By maximizing their potentials inside the classroom, Moore (2011)

thinks that classroom activities can (1) engage students in learning

activities, facilitate learning by doing, and practice communication skills;

(2) provide many benefits, give immediate feedback to students, arouse

a high degree of students’ interest and enthusiasm, meanwhile allow

teachers to work with a wide range of student capabilities, and allow

experimentation with a model of the real environment.

With the high reluctancy during discussions, Hwang and Hu (2015)

stated that using games in classroom could sustain the activity of the

students. In their study, they enumerated that games add interest to

what students might not find very interesting and the variety and

intensity that games offer may lower anxiety (Richard-Amato, 1988) and

6
encourage shyer learners to take part (Uberman, 1998), especially when

games are played in small groups.

Oradee (2012) revealed that there is a significant and positive effect

of integrating three communicative activities and games including

discussion, problem-solving and role-play among learners.

Bridging to the needs of the students in keeping their oral

participatory in class discussions, Moore (2011) classified five categories

of learning strategies that would promote student engagement. They

are competitive activities, recreational activities, conversational

activities, cooperative activities and simulation.

Competitive activities refer to a competition between groups. These

activities take full advantage of students’ ambitious psychology and

generate the enthusiasm of students so as to achieve the purpose of

improving their language skills. Recreational activities are

entertainment-oriented, aiming at helping students to practice English

in a relaxing environment. Conversational activities are two-way or

multi-way activities, which give learners an opportunity to communicate

with their partners. Cooperative activities are undertaken through group

efforts. Students develop their respective advantages and draw upon

others’ strengths to overcome their own weaknesses. Simulation is the

imitation of a real-world situation or event that represents reality but

removes risk to the individual in the activities. Simulation requires a

model of what exists or might exist under manageable and controlled

conditions.

In the study of Frymier and Houser (2015), they cited Velez and

Cano’s (2008) argument that to encourage students is to open their

thoughts into engagement, Andersen and Guerrero (1989) suggested

7
 that teachers should be attentive of their nonverbal behaviors by

roaming around in the class to lower their defensiveness. Behaviors as

indicators of consistent engagement to classroom activities are such as

note taking, eye contact, and an attentive posture (Fredricks et al.,

2004; Harris, 2011; Martin, 2009).

To foster a continuing oral participation inside the classroom, Divya

proposed a 5D procedure, which includes Direct where the teacher

directs the students how to go about the group work; Discuss where the

students discuss among themselves; Develop where the students

develop the content for presentation; Deliver where the students deliver

the content in front of the class; and lastly, Document where the teacher

documents the feedback.

III. Research Questions

This study seeks to enhance the oral participation of the Grade 9

Students at Damortis National High School through various teaching-

learning strategies for the school year 2019-2020.

Specifically, it will answer the following problems:

1. What is the demographic English learner profile of the respondents

along:

a. English grade last academic year;

b. Family monthly income;

c. Language most frequently used; and

d. Language enhancing materials used?

2. How often do students participate during discussion?

3. What teaching strategy makes the students more participative during

class discussion?

8
 Assumptions/ Hypothesis

Based on the problems stated, the researcher hypothesized that

there is a need for a more constructive and participative teaching-learning

strategies to encourage students to contribute in the teaching-learning

process.

The researcher also hypothesized that an intervention program

should be done to reiterate the efficiency of cooperative activities as one of

the most effective teaching-learning strategies in enhancing the oral

participation of the students.

IV. Scope and Delimitations

This study was conducted at Damortis National High School, Damortis,

La Union during the 1st Quarter of the academic year 2019-2020. The

respondents were forty (40) Grade 9 students from two sections. These

learners were evaluated based only on their oral participation during English

class discussions.

This study is primarily concerned with the probable oral or speaking

apprehensions and teaching-learning strategies that could be integrated by

the researcher in enhancing the oral participation of the students.

V. Significance of the Study

The result of this study will serve as baseline information about the oral

participation of students through various teaching-learning strategies. The

results of this study will benefit the following important groups of

individuals:

9
 Students. The result of this study will be a great benefit to the students

as it provides reliable assessment and status on their oral classroom

participation. Also, this study will give them additional knowledge on how

they can actualize an active and comprehensive oral participation in class

discussions.

Teachers. The outcome of this study would open a variety of strategies

to use in teaching and learning process and to further develop their

effectivity in enhancing oral participation of the students.

School Administration. The result of this study can be a great help

to the school administrators because this would enable them to design new

classroom policies and guidelines which will accompany the needs of the

students in improving their macro skills, especially in speaking. Also, this

study can be an inspiration to create intervention programs like conducting

seminars in speaking and self-development among students. Moreover,

training-workshops for communicative approaches to address and resolve

the issues and updating the teaching and learning process with the newest

trends are essentially important to disclose among teachers.

Future Researchers. The result of this study can be a great help for

the future researchers as for the foundation of their studies with the same

or related subjects, specifically in oral participation and oral proficiency.

VI. Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined operationally for the better

understanding of the study.

Competitive Activities. These are activities which require competition

between groups. These activities take full advantage of students’ ambitious

10
 psychology and generate the enthusiasm of students so as to achieve the

purpose of improving their language skills.

Conversational Activities. These are activities which are two-way or

multi-way activities, which give learners an opportunity to communicate

with their partners.

Cooperative Activities. These are undertaken through group

efforts where students develop their respective advantages and draw upon

others’ strengths to overcome their own weaknesses.

Oral Participation. In the context of second language classes, it is

the speaking in the Target Language while engaging in instructional tasks

or activities.

Recreational Activities. These are entertainment-oriented

activities, aiming at helping students to practice English in a relaxing

environment.

Simulation. This is the imitation of a real-world situation or event

that represents reality but removes risk to the individual in the activities.

Teaching-learning strategies. These refer to the system of

procedures, methods and processes that a teacher uses during instruction.

VII. Research Methodology

Descriptive research design was used in this study. Hale (2018)

emphasized that it is a direct and prompt process of knowing the needs of

the respondents based on the survey strategies, including interviews and

questionnaires.

In this design, after participants answered the questions, the researcher

describes the responses given. In order for the survey to be both reliable

11
 and valid, properly constructed questions are imperative to apply.

Generally, in a short time, the ease of administering a survey makes it easy

to collect data from a large number of people.

VIII. Resources of Data

The researcher used a survey-questionnaire in order to answer the

research questions of the current study. A scale developed by Frymier et.

al (2011) and was anchored by Never (1) and Always (4). In the adapted

oral participation scale, the researcher revised some of the indicators and

omitted statements which have the same meanings and characteristics.

The questionnaire in determining the teaching-learning strategies that

make learners more participative during discussion was adopted from the

study conducted by Huang et. al (2015). Huang et. al on their studies

identified five categories of teaching-learning strategies 1.) competitive, 2.)

recreational, 3.) conversational, 4.) cooperative, and 5.) simulation) which

is reflected on the 4- interval scale anchored with Strongly Disagree (1) and

Strongly Agree (4). The researcher made the presented strategies be stated

in complete sentences and omitted descriptors which have the same

meaning.

Frequency counts and percentage were used in getting the demographic

profile while average weighted mean was used to determine the frequency

of oral participation of the respondents and their preferred teaching-

learning strategies.

12
 IX. Gannt Chart

June
Week 1 (June 8-14, 2019) Week 2 (June 15-21, 2019)
Formulation of Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday
title
Formulation of Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday
Rationale until
Methodology

Formulation of Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday
Questionnaire
Gathering of data Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday

Formulation of Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday
Results and
Discussions

Formulation of Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday
Summary,
Conclusions and
Recommendations

Final Oral defense Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday

Revision of Paper Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday Sat Sun Mon. Tues. Weds. Thurs. Friday

X. Presentation of Data

This section presents the data gathered, analyses and explanations of

results which seek to answer the specified problems of the present study.

Table 1

Demographic English Learner Profile

N=40
English Grade Last Academic Year (2018-2019)

English Grade last Academic Year (2018-

Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
2019)
75-77 0 0%
78-80 2 5%
81-83 4 10%
84-86 10 25%
87-89 17 42.5%
90-92 6 15%
93-95 1 2.5%
96-98 0 0%

13
 As shown in the Table 1 above, 33 respondents landed in the three topmost

sets of grades ranging from 84 to 92. Getting almost half of the population, 17

respondents said that they received an average grade of 87-89 (42.5%) during

the last school year. While, 10 (25%) respondents revealed that they attained 84-

86 English remarks and only 6 respondents 90-92 passing grade.

Based on Cantoy et al.’s (2017) study, these students who received an

average grade are likely to perform with satisfactory results during class activities.

They can be also considered as “self-confident learners” as they can participate

very well in class discussions (Fook et al., 2011) and language proficient as they

can communicate with well-crafted statements (Racca and Lasaten, 2016).

Meanwhile, it can be seen that there are still communicatively apprehended

learners who tend to seat and to remain silent in the corner.

Table 2

Demographic English Learner Profile

N=40
Monthly Family Income

Monthly Family Income Frequency (f) Percentage (%)

Php 4,000-6,999 15 37.5%
Php 7,000-9,999 5 12.5%
Php 10,000-12,999 6 15%
Php 13,000-15,999 7 17.5%
Php 16,000-18,999 3 7.5%
Php 19,000- 3 7.5%
21,9999
Php 22,000-24,999 0 0%
More than Php 1 2.5%
25,000

Regarding monthly family income, it is noticeable that 33 respondents

belong in the lower brackets of Table 2 wherein the 2 lowest series of income

comprise 50% of the whole population.

14
 15 students (37.5%) responded that their monthly family gain is ranging

from Php 4,000-Php 6,999 while 5 students (12.5%) said that their family gain

better with Php 7,000-9,999 family income. Out of 40 respondents, only 1 (2.5%)

stood that his family is earning more than 25,000.

In 2008, Castolo and Rebusquillo mentioned that Php 5,001- Php 10,000 is

quite considerable in maintaining all expenses, including academic, in the house.

The present data indicates that as time changes, the needs of individuals are

becoming more demanding and more expensive considering that household bills

are prioritized than education.

It can be remembered that National Economic Development Authority

released a statement on June 6, 2018 that a 5-man Filipino family can attain a

decent living with a 10,000-peso monthly budget. Meaning, a massive number of

students cannot exercise their academic potentials as their parents are more

concerned with their daily living.

Table 3

Demographic English Learner Profile

N=40
Language Most Frequently Used

At Home Language most frequently At School

f % used f %
0 0% English 1 2.5%
18 45% Tagalog 37 92%
4 10% Pangasinan 0 0%
18 45% Iloko 2 5%
0 0% Others 0 0%

At home, 36 student-respondents (90%) are comfortable to speak in

Tagalog (45%) and Iloko (45%) while only 4 students (10%) are conversing in

Pangasinan. However, when they go to school, 37 (92%) of them unify to talk in

15
Tagalog as their societal language and only 1 (2.5%) of the respondents use

English as a medium of communication.

In learning and soon interacting using the target language (English),

Derakhshan and Karimi (2015) inferred that if two languages, including the

vernacular and target language, shave more differences then, it would be difficult

for the learner to learn TL but if both languages have similarities then the likelihood

to learn and communicate in TL is easy.

From the table above, it can be interpreted that Tagalog-speaking students

tend to translate their thoughts first from Tagalog in English which enable them

to orally participate in class activities. Behind this process is the word-for-word

translation as stated by Derakhshan and Karimi (2015) in their study. Misbah et

al. argue that for a person to speak or orally participate, he should have a rich

vocabulary and a good sentence construction.

Table 4

Demographic English Learner Profile

English Language Enhancing Materials Used

English language enhancing materials

Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
used
Videos from Social 14 11.67%
Media
Movies 28 23.33%
Television Talk Shows 2 1.67%
News and Magazine 7 5.83%
Stories
Music and Songs 29 24.17%
Books 21 17.50%
Dramas (Spoken 10 8.33%
English)
Video Games 8 6.67%
Others (Wattpad) 1 0.83%

Table 4 shows that music and songs are the most used materials to improve

English speaking picked by 29 student-respondents (24.17%) followed by

watching English movies preferred by 28 respondents (23.33%). Even though

16
Generation Z students are well-educated with technological advancements, 21 of

the total population (17.50%) say that books are still good language enhancers

while 14 students (11.67%) prefer to watch video contents in their social media

accounts.

From the top four most used language enhancing materials, it can be seen

that portability of technological equipment is a great leeway to entertain

themselves and they unnoticeably adapt and improve the use of English language.

Kuśnierek (2016) cited Krashen’s Affective Filter stating that an existence

of a positive atmosphere is favorable to learning. This is true to music and songs

are the easiest way to release negative feelings and at the same time, enhances

vocabulary and memorization. Social context of a music in its era can be relatable

to the trends experienced by learners which gives them an opportunity to express

their thoughts about such.

Mingaracal (2015) found out that since books are highly available in both

homes and schools, learners often use them for vocabulary, grammatical

structures, sentence structures, and so on. He also cited Garcia (2013) that one of

the best ways to improve one’s communication skill is to read as much as possible.

Students who read books are the ones who have more knowledge in writing and

oral.

Al Saleem (2018) confirmed that his research hypothesis is correct as he

found out that Facebook activities were effective on improving participants’ oral

communication skills. Then the study recommended that Facebook activities may

be utilizing on improving other skills such as speaking and listening or even English

language pronunciation. This links to the integration of watching videos and other

oral communication content in social media. Also, in the of Mushtaq (2018), he

instituted that the positive impacts of using social media among the

17
undergraduates appeared to be higher as compared to negative impacts,

therefore, this tool can is a helping tool in enriching informational and

communicational learning. With the easy access to social media nowadays, movies

can be also viewed and enjoyed by the learners for both leisure and academic

motives.

Table 2

Oral Participation of the Grade 9 Students

Indicators AWM DE

1. I volunteer when I know the 2.55 O

correct response or answer.

2. I express my personal opinion in class. 2 S

3. I ask follow-up questions until I fully 2.55 O

understand someone.

4. I ask questions that solicit the teacher’s 2.48 S

opinions about the content.

5. I speak out without being called on in 2.2 S

my class.

6. I avoid expressing disagreement in my class. 2.33 S

7. I make recommendations in my class. 2.4 S

8. I ask for clarifications when issues discussed 2.4 S

in class are unclear.

9. I avoid arguing in my class. 2.4 S

OVER-ALL: 2.39 S

Legend: AWM= Average Weighted Mean; DE= Descriptive Equivalence; 4.00-3.25 =

Always (A); 3.24-2.50 Often (O); 2.49-1.75= Sometimes (S); 1.74-1.00 = Never (N)

18
 Table 2 shows the frequency of students’ participation during class

discussions. Based on the results, indicator 2 stating, “I volunteer when I know

the correct response or answer” and indicator “I ask follow-up questions until I

fully understand” acquired the highest weighted mean of 2.55 with the descriptive

equivalence of Often (O). It can be perceived in indicator 2 that students’

confidence increases whenever they know that they answer is correct.

Bloom and his colleagues defined learning as consisting of the affective,

cognitive, and psychomotor domains. Affective domain refers to the attitudes,

values, and appreciation. These factors under this domain develop when students

have the confidence and initiative to answer the questions given by the teacher by

wearing a positive attitude towards it.

Meanwhile, Hopkins (2014) dissertations on “Encouraging student initiative

and involvement in group discussion through functional group interdependence”

emphasized that students’ initiative and volunteerism to participate in classroom

activities increases during group discussion.

The indicator which focuses on the asking of follow-up questions during

discussion is anchored with the study conducted by Bello (2013) wherein she

reiterated that questioning has remained one of the best tools in promoting

effective learning. It has been revealed on her study that whenever teachers gave

positive and encouraging remarks and welcomed students’ questions graciously, it

encourages students to ask more questions without any apprehensions. The

respondents of the current study always ask questions to their teacher until they

fully understand the lesson. Thus, their learning environment endorses positive

and encouraging atmosphere in dealing with the questions of the students.

Obtaining the least frequency is indicator 6 which states, “I express my

personal opinion in class” getting an average weighted mean of 2.00 with a

19
descriptive equivalence of Sometimes (S). Students are hesitant to share their

personal opinions in the class because of many factors. They usually have the

notion that their answers are incorrect even if the teacher would only ask their

personal opinion. Furthermore, some students tend to have negative behavior

towards their classmates whenever their answers were incorrect. Mustapha (2010)

on her study entitled, “Factors Affecting Classroom Participation”, reported that

negative classmate traits ranked highest in the list of most frequent factors

mentioned in discouraging students’ oral participation. Many of the students

interviewed expressed their displeasure regarding having classmates who are

teasing them during class discussions and participation.

The over-all weighted mean on the frequency of oral participation of the

respondents is 2.39 with the descriptive equivalence of Sometimes (S).

20
 Table 3

Teaching- Learning Strategies

Teaching-learning Descriptors AWM DE

Strategies
I enjoy time-pressured word-guessing activities 2.73 A
because they push me to think fast.
Competitive I like rearranging challenging letters to create 2.7 A
Activities new words on the board.
I enjoy following exciting instructions from my 3 A
group leader.
I love guessing person’s name using the 3 A
speaker’s hints.
Recreational It excites me to dub a certain part of a video 3 A
Activities clip.
I love listening to a part of a song and take turns 2.7 A
in writing the lyrics on the board and deliver this
song in front of the class.
I enjoy playing a certain role on a play or drama 2.7 A
and exchange dialogues with others.

Conversational It thrills me to defend my side and exchange 2.8 A

Activities thoughts and ideas about a certain topic in the
class.
I enjoy to report and lecture a certain topic 2.3 D
assigned to me for in 3 to 5 minutes.
I am fond of retelling stories in the class after 2.6 A
listening to it.
Cooperative It gives me confidence to talk in front when I 3.1 A
Activities have a partner.
It is fun when I mime a familiar then my 2.83 A
classmates would try to guess it correctly.
It excites me to continue and twist my 2.6 A
classmate’s given story line and pass it to others
I can express my ideas when I’m in a group. 3.1 A
Simulation Like a boss, I am fluent in interviewing my fellow 2.33 D
student-applicants.
I am confident to reveal how to cook the best 2.65 A
Adobo or other dishes.
I like to imitate and host mock game shows in 2.53 A
our classes.
I like to lead a group and give directions. 2.45 D
Over-all 2.7 A

Legend: AWM= Average Weighted Mean; DE= Descriptive Equivalence; 4.00-3.25 = Strongly
Agree (SA); 3.24-2.50 Agree (A); 2.49-1.75= Disagree (D); 1.74-1.00 = Strongly Disagree (SD)

Table 3 presents the different teaching-learning strategies which encourage

learners to participate in their classes. It could be gleaned from the results that

the descriptors under Cooperative Activities acquired the highest weighted mean.

The descriptors, “It gives me confidence to talk in front when I have a partner”

21
and “I can express my ideas when I’m in a group” share the same weighted mean

of 3.1 and descriptive equivalence of Agree (A). Thus, the learners perceived to

participate better when they are in groups or paired with their classmates and

peers. Cooperative Activities as defined by Huang (2015), are undertaken through

group efforts. Students develop their respective advantages and draw upon others’

strengths to overcome their own weaknesses.

The result is in parallel with the outcome of the study conducted by Jung

Yin Kim (2016) entitled, "Group work oral participation examining Korean students'

adjustment process in a US University," which emphasized that students slowly

adapt an approach when learning in groups.

Furthermore, Harmer (2007) as mentioned by Divya (2017), stresses that

group work increases the number of speaking opportunities as it provides a space

for speakers to give their opinions; encourages cooperation and negotiation skills;

and promotes learner autonomy.

Meanwhile, Chiriac & Frykedal (2017) study on “Students collaboration in

group work- Inclusion as participation” emphasized that group work is an

educational mode that promotes learning and socialization among students. On

this study, the researchers focused on the inclusive processes when students work

in small groups. The results suggest that students’ active participation in the

discussions around the group work structures and analytical discussions, together

with the teacher’s more defined feedback and avoidance of the traditional

authoritative role, are examples of prerequisites for group work to be enacted in

an inclusive manner.

Hernandez (2012) conducted a study on ”Collaborative Learning: Increasing

Students’ Engagement Inside and Outside the Classroom” wherein it has been

reported that collaborative work was marked positive by 30% of the respondents.

22
Positive attitudes to collaborative work were often reflected on the group journals.

Comments were made in relation to how the groups worked on strategies for team

building, about the preparation for the group meetings and about decisions taken

on the selection of topics that were of interest to all members of the group. Groups

that worked well reflected on how beneficial the collaborative work was.

The indicator that obtained the lowest weighted mean falls under the

descriptor, “I enjoy to report and lecture a certain topic assigned to me for in 3 to

5 minutes” with the weighted mean of 2.3 and a descriptive equivalence of

Disagree (D). Students tend to have public speaking anxiety as reflected on the

study conducted by Whai (2016) wherein it revealed that the main causes of oral

presentation difficulties faced by the students were lack of practice and stage

fright.

The over-all weighted mean of the teaching-learning strategies presented

with the five categories of activities is 2.7, having the descriptive equivalence of

Often (O).

XI. Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

This section presents the summary, conclusions, and recommendations of the

study entitled, “Enhancing the Oral Participation of the Grade 9 Students at DNHS

through various teaching-learning strategies”.

Summary

The restatement of the problems, a description of the research

methodology and a summary of the salient features in the findings are in this

section.

The study sought to determine the teaching-learning strategies that make

students more participative during class discussions. Statement of the problem

23
number 1 dealt on the demographic English learner profile along their English

grade last academic Year (2018-2019), monthly family income, language most

frequently used, and lastly, language enhancing materials used. Problem number

2 focused on how often do students participate during discussion while Problem

number 3 tackled on what teaching strategy that makes students more

participative during class discussions.

The study involved one forty (40) Grade 9 students from Damortis National

High School. A descriptive survey research design was employed and was used in

this study. The data gathering instruments used were a demographic profile

questionnaire and an oral participation scale checklist. Frequency counts and

percentage were used in getting the demographic profile while Likert Scale was

applied in getting the average weighted mean (AWM) of the checklists’ results and

interpreted using descriptive equivalence as “always,” “often,” sometimes,” and

“never. Also, a Likert Scale was used in in the getting the AWM from the responses

in Teaching-Learning Strategies and described as “strongly agree,” “agree,”

“disagree,” and “strongly disagree.”

Salient Findings

Based on the analyzed data that the researchers gathered, this studied the

following:

1. Most of the respondents had an average English grade of 87-89 (42.5%) last

school year, having monthly gain ranging from Php 4,000-Php 6,999, had

frequently using Tagalog (45%) and Iloko (45%) at home while conversing in

Tagalog (92%) at school, and listening to music and songs (24.17%) to enhance

their English language skills.

2. The Grade 9 students often participate during class discussions on instances

such as volunteering when they know the answer and in asking follow-up questions

24
until everything is understood. These two share the same weighted mean of 2.55

with the descriptive equivalence of Often (O).

3. In terms of the teaching-learning strategies that would make the respondents

more participative during class discussions, indicators under the cooperative

activities category got the highest weighted mean of 3.10 and having the

descriptive equivalence of Agree (A).

Conclusions

Based on the results and findings of the study, the researcher arrived at the

following conclusions:

1. Even though their families gain low to moderate income per month and are

frequently talking in Tagalog, students are still performing well and effective in

gaining better grades because they are motivated to learn while listening to music

and songs.

2. What drives the students to participate in is when they can relate to the topics

and interesting discussions. If both teacher and content are not motivating, then,

expect that silence would reign inside the classroom. Also, learning the subject

matter, specifically the English language, can be compromised.

3. Though they enjoy group activities, students avoid to initiate and to lead their

groups. When assigned, they are reluctantly doing the discussions in front since

they have a low confidence level in speaking in English.

Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions made in this study, the following

recommendations were offered.

25
1. Students should always engage themselves speaking in English through the aid

of audiovisual and internet-based learning materials and seeing the academic

benefits of social media in enhancing their oral communication skills.

2. In this information age, being outdated means disconnection to learners.

Therefore, it is imperative that millennial teachers should keep on engaging

themselves in the latest trends which are relatable to their learners. Localizing

such contexts would result in active oral participation.

3. Aside from employing appropriate short-term group activities, teachers should

conduct oral enhancement classes, which will focus on the individual performance

to boost the confidence of their students.

4. A week-long action plan plotting the probable simultaneous group and individual

activities for both English grammar and literature topics should be considered. For

comprehensive and exciting discussions, such activities are recommended to be

applied on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only.

Integrating the list of activities given by Huang and Hu (2015), this proposal

will only allow 10-20 minutes for oral group activities while 10 minutes for limited

oral individual tasks for daily meetings. Combining both types of activities are also

considered. Here, the teacher’s task is only to (1) motivate the students, (2)

explain the tasks, and (3) evaluate their outputs. The introduction of the topic, its

concepts and examples are done by the students.

At the end of the week-long plan, a feedback checklist is answered by both

students and the subject teacher. This aims to monitor the progress of the

students’ oral participation, modification in approaches in instructions, and

innovation in assessment tools.

26
 XII. References

Al Saleem, B. (2018). The Effect of Facebook Activities on Enhancing Oral

Communication Skills for EFL Learners. International Education Studies; Vol. 11,
(5)
Caintoy, et al. (2017). Confidence Level in Oral Participation in Second Language
Classroom of Freshmen College Students in the College of Education of CapSU-
Burias. Capiz State University Burias Campus, Capiz.
Castolo, C. L. & Rebusquillo, L. R. (2008). Learning Styles of Sophomore Students of
PUP Laboratory High School (S.Y. 2006-2007). I-manager’s Journal of
Educational Pscyhology, Vol. 1. (3).
Chiriac, E.V. & Frykedal, K.F. (2015). Student Collaboration in Groupwork- Inclusion as
participation. Retrieved from [Link]
[Link]/smash/get/diva2:1139426/[Link]
Cristobal, J. A. & Lasaten R. S., (2018). Oral Communication Apprehensions and
Academic Performance of Grade 7 Students. Asia Pacific Journal of
Multidisciplinary Research, Vol. 6, (3).
Derakhshan, A. (2015). The Interference of First Language and Second Language
Acquisition. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 5, No. 10, pp. 2112-
2117. doi: [Link]
Delaney, T. (2012). Quality and quantity of oral participation and English proficiency
gains. Language Teaching Research. 16(4) 467 –482. doi:
10.1177/1362168812455586
Divya, J. (2017). Employing Group Work to Foster Speaking Skills: A Study of Success
and Failure in the Classroom. MEXTESOL Journal, Vol. 41, (3).
Eustaquio, M. (2015). Second Language Learners' Proficiency Level and the Factors
affecting their Speaking Ability. Researchers World: International Refereed
Research Journal Vol.–VI, Issue 3.
Frymier, A. B. & Houser, M. L. (2016). The Role of Oral Participation in Student
Engagement. Graduate School, Miami University, Oxford. Abingdon Vol. 65, (1)
83-104. doi:10.1080/03634523.2015.1066019
Hale, J. (2018). The 3 Basic Types of Descriptive Research Methods. Retrieved from:
[Link]
Hernandez, R. (2012). Collaborative Learning: Increasing Students’ Engagement. David
Publishing. Retrieved from [Link]
Huang, X. & Hu, X. (2015). Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Activities
Commonly Used in English Speaking Classes. Higher Education Studies; Vol. 6,
(1) doi: 10.5539/hes.v6n1p87 ISSN 1925-4741.
Introduction to Psychology. What you’ll learn to do: describe the strengths and weaknesses
of descriptive, experimental, and correlational research. Retrieved from:
[Link]
Jung Yin, K. (2016). Group work oral participation: Examining Korean students’
adjustment process in a US university. Australian Journal of Adult Learning
Volume 56, (3).

27
Kho, M.G.W. & Leong, L.M. (2015). Causes of Academic Difficulties Faced by Students
at a Polythecnic at Sarawak.. The English Teacher, 44(3), p. 132-142
Kuśnierek, A. (2016). The Role of Music and Songs in Teaching English Vocabulary to
students. World Scientific News. WSN 43(1) pp. 1-55.
Lee, E. (2007). Linguistic and Cultural Factors in East Asian Students’ Oral Participation
in U.S. University Classrooms. International Education; Spring 2007; 36, (2) p.
27
Lin, C. J., & Hwang, G. J. (2018). A Learning Analytics Approach to Investigating Factors
Affecting EFL Students’ Oral Performance in a Flipped Classroom. Educational
Technology & Society, 21 (2), 205–219.
Misbah, et al. (2017). Identifying the Factors Contributing to Students’ Difficulties in the
English Language Learning. Scientific Research Open Access. Vol.08,13. p. 10
doi: 10.4236/ce.2017.813136
Meyer, K. (2009) Student Classroom Engagement: Rethinking Participation Grades and
Student Silence. Dissertation. Scripps College of Communication of Ohio
University. Ohio, Illinois.
Mustapha, S.M. [Link]., (2010). Factors Influencing the Classroom Participation: A Case
Study of the Malaysian Undergraduate Students. Procedia- Social and Behavioral
Sciences, Vol. 9, pp. 10-79-1085. doi: 10.1016/[Link].2010.12.289
Moore, D. (2011). Effective instructional strategies: From theory to practice. Calif: SAGE
Publications, Inc.
Mushtaq, A. (2018). The Effects of Social Media on the Undergraduate Students’
Academic Performances. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal).
[Link]
Niño, D. (2010). The Role of Music in Young Learners’ Oral Production in English.
PROFILE Vol. 12, No. 1, 2010. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogotá, Colombia. Pp. 141-157
Oradee, T. (2012). Developing speaking skills using three communicative activities
(discussion, problem-solving, and role-playing). International Journal of Social
Science and Humanity, 2(6), 533-535.
Racca, R. B., & Lasaten, R. S. (2016) English Language Proficiency and Academic
Performance of Philippine Science High School Students. International Journal
of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, Vol. 2, No. 2.
Wu, R. (2017). A Study on SPOC Assisted College Oral English Teaching Strategies.
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 7, (9) pp. 756-763, September 2017
doi: [Link]

28
 XIII. Appendices

Appendix A

Letter to the Principal

LYCEUM NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Tapuac District, Dagupan City
Institute of Graduate and Professional Studies

June 19, 2019

Florante T. Lachica
OIC, Office of the Principal
Damortis National High School
Damortis, Sto. Tomas, La Union

Sir:

The undersigned is currently conducting a research study entitled “Enhancing

the Oral Participation of the Grade 9 Students at Damortis National High
School through various teaching-learning strategies, S.Y. 2019-2020”.

In connection to this, may you allow the undersigned to conduct her study by
letting your selected Grade 9 Students accomplish the attached questionnaire
needed for this study. Rest assured that the respondents’ responses will be dealt
with outmost confidentiality.

Hoping for your favorable reply. Thank You and God bless.

Respectfully yours,

Rosalie J. Mejia

Noted:

Dr. Valeriano Daguros, Jr.

Dr. Rodrigo De Vera, Jr.

29
 Appendix B

Research Questionnaires

LYCEUM NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Tapuac District, Dagupan City
Institute of Graduate and Professional Studies

Dear Respondents,

The undersigned is currently conducting a research study entitled “Enhancing

the Oral Participation of the Grade 9 Students at DNHS through various
teaching-learning strategies for the SY 2019-2020”.
In connection to this, the undersigned requests your time and cooperation by
honestly accomplishing the attached questionnaire needed for this study. Your answer
will help in the realization of this study. Rest assured that your responses will be dealt
with outmost confidentiality.
We thank you for your effort and time you spend to provide the needed
information. Thank you and God bless!

Very respectfully yours,

Rosalie J. Mejia

QUESTIONNAIRE

I. Demographic English Learner Profile

Direction: Supply the needed information and put check on the on the space provided.
Name: (Optional) ________________________________________________________

1. English Grade last Academic Year (2018-2019)

___ 75-77 ___ 81-83 ___ 87-89 ___ 93-95

___ 78-80 ___ 84-86 ___ 90-92 ___ 96-98

2. Family Monthly Income

___ Php 4,000-6,999 ___ Php 16,000-18,999

___ Php 7,000-9,999 ___ Php 19,000-21,9999
___ Php 10,000-12,999 ___ Php 22,000-24,999
___ Php 13,000-15,999 ___ Php More than 25,000

3. Language most frequently used

At Home At School
___ English ___ English

30
 ___ Tagalog ___ Tagalog
___ Pangasinan ___ Pangasinan
___ Iloko ___ Iloko
___ Others: (specify) _____________ ___ Others: (specify) _____________

4. English language enhancing materials used (you can check more than one)

___ Videos from Social Media ___ Music and Songs

___ Movies ___ Books
___ Television Talk Shows ___ Dramas (Spoken English)
___ News and Magazine Stories ___ Video Games
___ Others (specify) _____________

II. Oral Participation Scale

Directions: Put a check (√) on the column representing your degree of agreement to the
statement given.

Please use the following description as guide to your rating:

4 - Always 2 - Sometimes
3 - Often 1 - Never

Indicators 4 3 2 1
1. I volunteer when I know the correct response or answer.
2. I express my personal opinion in class.
3. I ask follow-up questions until I fully understand someone.
4. I ask questions that solicit the teacher’s opinions about the
content.
5. I speak out without being called on in my class.
6. I avoid expressing disagreement in my class.
7. I make recommendations in my class.
8. I ask for clarifications when issues discussed in class are unclear.
9. I avoid arguing in my class.

III. Teaching-Learning Strategies

Directions: Put a check (√) on the column representing your degree of
agreement to the statement given.

Please use the following description as guide to your rating:

4 - Strongly Agree
3 - Agree
2 - Disagree
1 - Strongly Disagree

31
Teaching-learning Descriptors 4 3 2 1
Strategies
I enjoy time-pressured word-guessing
activities because they push me to think
Competitive fast.
Activities I like rearranging challenging letters to
create new words on the board.
I enjoy following exciting instructions from
my group leader.
I love guessing person’s name using the
speaker’s hints.
Recreational It excites me to dub a certain part of a
Activities video clip.
I love listening to a part of a song and take
turns in writing the lyrics on the board and
deliver this song in front of the class.
I enjoy playing a certain role on a play or
drama and exchange dialogues with others.

Conversational It thrills me to defend my side and

Activities exchange thoughts and ideas about a
certain topic in the class.
I enjoy to report and lecture a certain topic
assigned to me for in 3 to 5 minutes.
I am fond of retelling stories in the class
after listening to it.

Cooperative It gives me confidence to talk in front when

Activities I have a partner.
It is fun when I mime a familiar then my
classmates would try to guess it correctly.
It excites me to continue and twist my
classmate’s given story line and pass it to
others
I can express my ideas when I’m in a
group

Simulation Like a boss, I am fluent in interviewing my

fellow student-applicants.
I am confident to reveal how to cook the
best Adobo or other dishes.
I like to imitate and host mock game shows
in our classes.
I like to lead a group and give directions.

32
 Appendix C

CURRICULUM VITAE

Name: Rosalie J. Mejia

E-mail: rjmejia1515@[Link]

Address: 109 Bari, Mangaldan, Pangasinan

Birthdate: March 15, 1996

Age: 23 years old

Civil Status: Single

Height: 5’1

Weight: 55 kilograms

Nationality: Filipino

Religion: Born Again Christian

Father’s Name: Alejandro B. Mejia

Mother’s Name: Luisa J. Mejia

Educational Background

Tertiary: Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

Secondary: Mangaldan National High School

Primary: Bari Elementary School

33
34