CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents and concepts and findings both foreign and local

related to the discussion of the present study and the Level of English Language

Skills in Speaking and Academic Performance of Second Year English Major

Students in Ema Emits College Philippines S.Y. 2021-2022.

Foreign Literature

With the unique and complex nature of knowledge. It is defined as the

idea, reason and explanation about a common problem of a students in which

others are giving up on their career. Thus, it is crucial implication of for the

Second year College Students, College School Teachers, Principal and also the

Parents to relate, and the entire security for the youth can never be undervalued

to the studies. It is also beneficial because it takes us to another conclusive idea

about how they valued their career and they handled it themselves as they

experience.

According to Kurudayioglu (2011) speaking is considered as fundamental

and basic in language learners’ performance both individually and socially since it

is a tool for human communication to interact on a daily basis. Speaking is

sending the message which is desired to be transferred to another one with vocal

organs and produced by complicated operations in the brain. Speaking, which is

a complicated process, is the most common and important means of

communication among people. It has essential place both individually and

socially, affects success and failure in people's lives. In this study, fluency,

vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation; which are the variables of speaking,

are emphasized and will be basis for their knowledge and skills.

In the view of psycholinguist Pawlak (2011), speaking involves the

collaboration of many different processing mechanisms, components and

exertion to arrange the words in motion to speak language fluently. Fluency in

any language means to speak easily, quickly and without having to pause a lot in

between your words or sentences. Good speakers always try to get their message

across clearly, even if they do make mistakes throughout. Communication is

always an important part of speaking in any language and its important to

communicate your ideas naturally.

In addition, Vocabulary knowledge is also vital for English academic

learners to be able to succeed in technical subjects. it is evident that they would

struggle when having to comprehend such texts. However, despite the clear

need for vocabulary knowledge across grades and subjects, it is still unclear to

what degree discrepancies in the vocabulary knowledge of learners will impact

their ability to succeed academically in the classroom. Real communication is a

result of suitable and adequate vocabulary learning as compared with learning

grammar rules only (Cook, 2013). However, most learners claim that they

understand the new vocabulary items during the lecture but they tend to forget

newly learned words after a short period of time. Perhaps this is because of the

lack of the opportunity to use these words in their conversation. Learners who

have limited vocabulary take more time to learn new vocabulary items and are
less able to involve in comprehending text and lack involvement in oral

communication with their peers. As a result, such learners are more likely to get

lower achievement in language learning assessments and are at the edge of the

risk of being indicated as disabled in learning.

Furthermore, (Gregg McMillan, 2017) state that grammar provides the

rules for the common use of both spoken and written language so we can more

easily understand each other. Using incorrect grammar can lead to sentences

being meaningless and the message unclear, which in turn can lead to

misinterpretation by a communication partner. Also, Admin, B. (2017) – Bodhi

wrote that grammar lays the groundwork for effective communication and

grammar is very important because it helps enhance accuracy. This means

grammar rules can help learners develop a habit of thinking logically and clearly

and will become more accurate when using language.

In the other hand, pronunciation has the important role in speaking activity

and intelligible pronunciation is an important part of communicative competence.

At the advanced level, pronunciation goals can focus on elements that enhance

communication: intonation features that go beyond basic patterns, voice quality,

phonetic distinctions between registers, and other refinements that are far more

important in the overall stream of clear communication. According to

(Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2016). If learners do not have perfect pronunciation skills

they will not be able to communicate effectively. It can be concluded that learning

English pronunciation is the way that will guide the students to understand the
sounds produced by native speakers and also make the learners to master

pronunciation well.

Local literatures

English is the Philippines Second Language, the curriculum provides

adequate opportunities in order for the students to have an effective and efficient

communication but despite all these, the students have to improve their skills

wherein it was stated that there are factors that affect and hinder them to learn

the second language effectively.

According to A. Francisco (2019), the focus on fluency may work to

English learners who are just starting since English is the second language here

in the Philippines, it is important that confidence is developed among the

learners. One way of doing this is to just let them express their ideas without the

fear of being corrected or being criticized for their grammar. This entails that

Confident English speakers tend to speak more, meaning that they improve more

quickly. When you are more confident in your own abilities and you learn that

your mistakes don't matter, speaking English becomes more enjoyable, and

you'll do it more.

Moreover, having a knowledge about English vocabulary is important

component to be a good English speaker. According to Santillan (2011)

Vocabulary knowledge enables language use, language use enables the

increase of vocabulary knowledge, knowledge of the world enables the increase

of vocabulary knowledge and language use and so on. Therefore, vocabulary

size is a reflection of how educated, intelligent, or well read a person is. A large

vocabulary size is seen as being something valuable.

Similarly, Baustista (2013), state that grammar plays an important role in

speaking English language, it is not just about learning how to use words

correctly; it’s also about understanding the patterns in languages worldwide and

even in our own country. If learners see how these patterns work, they can use

them and form sentences without worrying about forgetting rules. Understanding

grammar can be one of the essential skills learned as an English language

student. Grammar helps one understand the English language by helping them

understand the way words work together as a system.

According to Zuliati (2013) Speaking is an important language skill, in

which communications take an important role in the world of information, speaking

is a spoken language that is taught in the era of globalization. Because of

speaking, students can communicate with other students in our country or different

countries, we can share ideas and opinions. There are some people who see the

skills of the student based on their speaking skills and not of language skills.

Students can effectively use speaking skills.

Additionally, De Guzman (2014) that improving English pronunciation by

using recordings enhanced the students’ English-speaking abilities through

listening exercises to improve pronunciation. Students must help themselves to

learn how to speak and read English. Recording words with the correct

pronunciation will help students develop their fluency, improve their

pronunciation, extend their vocabulary, deal with everyday situations in English

correctly, and understand and use informal or idiomatic English.

Foreign Studies

Speaking Skill According to previous studies being done by many

researches, speaking is defined as an action of producing vocal sounds. We can

say that speaking is when we are able to converse or express our thoughts and

feelings in spoken language. English, on the other hand, is the world’s global

language that unites us all in communicating to anyone without a single barrier.

A study conducted in foreign institutions reported that weak English

fluency level was perceived as one of the reasons why students were not actively

involved in class and isolated from faculty members (Wongtirat, 2010). These

findings indicate that English fluency can directly affect learning engagement

through its impact on other factors such as socio-cultural factor and

psychological factors. In language fluency and learning engagement, students

with higher level of fluency were more engaged in the classroom.

Further, the latest study conducted by Rohmatillah (2017) revealed that

without learning the vocabulary communication in the second language becomes

harder. vocabulary knowledge is an integral part of the language; it is central to

communicative competence. Low vocabulary knowledge poses severe problems

to its learners, which consequently impedes the learning of English language.

Learning vocabulary is useful for developing knowledge and skills in multiple

aspects of language and literacy..Without learning the vocabulary, it is difficult to

attain any language proficiency.

Moreover, Almusharraf (2020) found out in his study that the

independence given to the learners allowed them to realize their weaknesses

and inspired them to reshape their learning attitudes and develop their learning in

vocabulary and grammar knowledge in a significant way. It is quite inevitable,

therefore, that struggling language learners are given enough time and space to

reflect on their learning difficulties and possess a sort of autonomy to find their

own solutions to them. This kind of collaborative and of self-directed language

learning provides learners with a substantial impetus and motivation to involve

themselves in the language classrooms. Stressing on the importance of

collaboration and teacher-student interaction in language learning contexts.

Another study done by Alkhuli (2016) show that the main problem in

teaching and learning English pronunciation result from the differences in the

sound system of English and the native language. These differences between

the sound systems are regarded as a barrier against competence in the

pronunciation of English, because the new sounds still remain strange for their

organs of speech specially if they start learning English after the age of

adulthood, but this problem is expected to be solved after a long time of regular

practice and hard work.

Local Studies
 Rao (2016) emphasized in her study that proficiency equates with fluency,

but there is a distinction between both of them. It is possible to be fluent without

being highly proficient, as it is also possible to be highly proficient without being

fluent. She further mentioned that when it comes to second language learning, a

few major aspects of fluency lay in the prosody of the language, pronunciation,

and the timing of dialogue. Fluency is impossible to attain without engaging in

dialogue with a fluent speaker of the language. Proficiency, on the other hand, is

the primary focus of your ability to understand and communicate precisely in the

language. Proficiency is best practiced through reading and writing.

Moreover, according to the study conducted by Ramos (2015) it indicates

that vocabulary learning is a non-stop process. It is a continual process of

encountering new words in meaningful and comprehensible contexts. It is not

something that can be mastered, instead, it is something that continuously

develops over time. It does not only involve consulting the dictionary to look up

for the meanings of unfamiliar words, but more of indirect exposure and explicit

instruction of words and word-learning strategies.

In the other hand, in the study done by the researcher of Davao Oriental

State University (2015), shows that it is essential to integrate some form of

grammar instruction within a communicative framework if students are to attain

high levels of target language accuracy. As an alternative to delivery of a formal

grammar lesson, the communicative task has been recommended to supply

students with communicative use of target grammar points. Moreover, the use of

purely communicative tasks which nonetheless require comprehension and

production of target grammar points has been recommended. It is important,

therefore, to have a wide range of resources in the classroom so that the

students can have a rich base and stimulus for grammar and speaking

development, and one of these resources must include pictures intended to

motivate students to apply their grammatical skills in speaking.

In addition, the study conducted by Gonzaga (2011) revealed that one of

the problems that the learner of a foreign language faces is how to utter the

speech sounds of a language reasonably accurately. We speak a language in

order to be able to communicate with others. But if we cannot use the

phonological features used by native speakers of the language, the message will

not probably be understood and communication may even break down. The

ability of speaking English embodies the correctness of pronunciation and

intonation and directly affects the appropriate communication in conversation.