1

INTRODUCTION

This section presents the background of the study, conceptual

framework, statement of the problem and the hypothesis of the study.

Background of the Study

The ultimate goal of language use is to achieve communicative

purposes. Language learners use language functionally in their daily life to

different extents. They usually use language to read newspapers, short

stories or even books. The most important criteria to seek for new

employment is having communication skills (Zaremba, 2006). Thus,

having the ability to communicate orally especially in English which is

considered as a global language is crucial if these learners were to

achieve success such as when attending job interviews, job training, or

fulfilling other job-related tasks which requires the use of the said

language (Osbon et al., 2008).

English is truly important in the society. It became a necessity for

people nowadays to speak the language especially to those who enter in

an international workforce. Being fluent with English is considered a key to

land a job not just in the country but also abroad.

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Working professionals today are being expected to excel in

spoken and written English. When dealing with clients and top

management as well as preparing business documents, English

is the official language of business. Being equipped with the right

amount of knowledge and skills when it comes to English

communication helps in shaping and enhancing one’s career

here and abroad (http://americanenglish.ph/english -in-the-

workplace/).

It was mentioned in Sundaytimes (2011) that every business entity,

productivity is of utmost importance. A landslide majority of 95% of

employers believed that better English would improve the productivity of

employees, as opposed to the 5% who do not. It was not surprising then

to find that 66% of employers have turned down applicants due to a bad

command of English while a further 26% would do so if necessary.

English is one of the various means of communication that is

continuous to expand. It is now one of the widely spoken languages of the

world. The number of English speakers vary widely but even the most

modest of these agree that there are well over 400 million speakers for

whom English is a native language and many more for whom English is a

second or foreign language. It has become a global language. The

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number of speakers learning English as a foreign language is growing

rapidly (Barber, et al., 2009 as cited by Bagano (2011).

In addition, Aina, et al., (2014) explained that the importance of

English language for enhancing educational attainment through improved

communication ability can never be over emphasized. Students who have

so much difficulties with their communication skill in English language may

not function effectively, not only in English language but in their academic.

He also added that when students’ proficiency in English Language is

high, it will definitely affect and improve the academic performance of such

students. Nevertheless, where the proficiency in English is lacking in any

academic setting, it will definitely lower the academic performance of such

students.

In a fast globalizing workplace, the workers of the world face stiffer

competition not only in the area of technology, competencies and

qualifications but also in the job specific language proficiency and

understanding of culture. Workplace language proficiency ensures better

job performance. Further, human relationships are enhanced between and

among work teams, thereby resulting to higher productivity and efficiency

(TESDA, 2007 as cited by Allay 2008).

Communicating using English as the language has never been

easy to some learners especially to non-degree holders. In an informal

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interview with Ma. Isabel Eustaquio (2016), the registrar of CHETS

ACADEMY, she pointed out that NCII students’ English skill is not as

proficient compared to the students taking degree courses. Furthermore,

some students lack vocabulary words and this leads them to use different

words that can offend some clients and they are sometimes hard-up with

pronunciation during their assessment.

Technical and vocational education has played an important role in

the Philippine education system for decades. The technical education

system is a service-aimed and career-oriented, with the goal of training

manpower to meet the demands of national economic growth, industrial

changes, social needs, and technological advancement (TESDA, 2004) as

cited by Macli-ing (2012). The Philippines is booming – economic growth

for 2013 could hit 7%, which is better than predicted – and with prosperity

comes the demand for education quality. Filipinos want their children to

have access to good schools, as well as opportunities in vocational and

higher education that will lead them toward employment when they

graduate (ICEF Monitor, 2013).

However, in the study of Hsu (2006), she mentioned that the

Technical students’ English ability is low as generally compared to the

students taking degree courses though those students can become major

manpower of the country in the future. In order to increase global

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competition, possessing enough English ability is important. Therefore, it

is worth considering how to promote technical college students’ English

ability.

Due to the importance of English as the language of business and

technology in the region, countries such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong,

Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia have been very concerned with the

deteriorating standards of English and have taken proactive measures to

enhance the standards of English of population (Ahmad, et al., 2013)

Since studies showed how important English is in a workplace, it is

then very important for NCII students to be proficient in English because it

is important in applying for a job here and in abroad. It is the aim of the

researcher to promote the importance of English in technical education

system. Furthermore, it appeals for giving a due care for the speaking

skills for the reason that English plays an important role in the society.

The findings of this study on the respondents’ preferences on the

communication strategies will guide the teachers to know what strategies

to use and as basis of adjustments when teaching their students for more

meaningful educational services. Lastly, the researcher aims to determine

the preferred communication strategies of NCII students as they

communicate and the effectivity of communication strategies as perceived

by the NCII students.

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Conceptual Framework

In this section, various literatures and studies are presented to

provide a better indepth and broader understanding of the issue and

components of this study.

Communication is very important in people’s daily lives. It is used

every day to express thoughts, feelings and opinions to others. It is also

important in building a good relationship with others.

Communication is a purposeful activity of exchanging information

and meaning across space and time using various technical or natural

means, whichever is available or preferred. Communication requires a

sender, a message, a medium and a recipient, although the receiver does

not have to be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at

the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast

distances in time and space. Communication requires that the

communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality. The

communication process is complete once the receiver understands the

sender's message (Wikipedia, 2015). Brown (1987) likewise pointed out

that communication may be regarded as a combination of acts, as series

of elements with purpose and intent. Communication is not merely an

event, something that happens: it is functional, purposive, and design to

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bring about some effects- some change, however subtle or unobservable-

on the environment of hearers and speakers.

The term communication strategy was introduced by Selinker in

1972, and the first systematic analysis of communication strategies was

made by Varadi in 1973.

Communication Strategies pertain to the employment of verbal or

nonverbal mechanisms for the productive communication of information

(Brown, 2002). Maleki (2007) defines it as an individual’s attempt to find a

way to fill the gap between their communication effort and immediate

available linguistic resources. Additionally, Faerch and Kasper (1983)

defined communication strategies as potentially conscious plans for

solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a

particular communicative goal. Tarone (1980) also interpreted that

communication strategies is a mutual attempt of two interlocutors to agree

on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures are not

shared. In 1977, Corder illustrated communication strategy is a systematic

technique employed by a speaker to express his meaning when faced with

some difficulty.

In communicating with someone, it is a must to use different

strategies so that the intention will be understood and will be cleared to

avoid miscommunication. Liitlemore (2003), Macaro, (2006), Rossiter,

 8

(2005) as cited by Konchiab (2015) explained that communication

strategies are effective if they have positive effects on second language

communication and learning. Com-ong (2006) also specified in her study

that wise choice of words and how they are used determined successful

communication. Therefore, speakers who want to be understood need to

use communication strategies.

Communication Strategies on Social Aspects

Tarone (1980) emphasizes social aspects of communication. Both

participants in a conversation are trying to overcome their lack of shared

meaning. She summarizes types of communication strategies under five

main categories, along with their subcategories:

First, communication strategy is paraphrase. Along paraphrase are

approximation, word coinage and circumlocution. Approximation is the use

of a target language vocabulary item or structure, which the learner knows

is not correct, but which shares semantic features with the desired item to

satisfy the speaker like “pipe” for “water pipe”. Word coinage is the

learner’s making up a new word in order to communicate a desired

concept (inventing an imaginary word “heurot” for “watch) while

circumlocution is the learner’s describing the characteristics or elements of

an object or action instead of appropriate TL structure like “air ball” for

“balloon”. The second communication strategy is transfer and along this

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are literal translation and language switch. Literal translation is the learner

translates word for word from the native language whereas language

switch is the learner use the NL (native language) term without bothering

to translate (example, “He invites him to drink: for “They toast one

another”. Third communication strategy is appeal for assistance. This

refers that learner asks for the correct term or structure (like “What is

this”?). Another communication strategy is mime. It tells about the learner

using non-verbal strategies in place of a meaning structure. An example to

this is clapping one’s hands to illustrate applause. The last communication

strategy is avoidance. Under avoidance are topic avoidance and message

abandonment. Topic avoidance is the learner bypasses concepts for

which the vocabulary or other meaning structures are not known to him.

The speaker’s reaction to this is shown by either keeping silent or

changing the topic. In the study of Avval (2009), she disclosed that topic

avoidance may be the most frequent means that students have employed

for the reason that the student who does not know the answer will just

keep silent about it and lead to the occurrence of topic avoidance. Where

message abandonment is the learner begins to talk about a concept but

stops in mid-utterance due to lack of meaning structure. It simply means to

cut short the communication. Faerch and Kasper (1983) as cited by Doll et

al., (2005) expounded on illustration for the meaning abandonment

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strategy is that, “The learner stops in mid-sentence, with no appeal to

authority to help finish the utterance.

Communication Strategies as Psychological Solving

Faerch and Kasper (1984) concentrates on the psychological

dimensions namely of what is going on in the L2 speaker’s mind. The L2

learners want to express something through the second language and

makes a plan for how to do it but he encounters a hitch.

Achievement strategies is subdivided into cooperative strategies

and non-cooperative strategies. Cooperative strategies appeal to the other

person for help, which are mostly similar to Tarone’s list. The forms of

non-cooperation is to fall back on the language when in trouble by: Code

switching which allows the first language as well as the mother tongue to

be applied in the English as a target language communication.

Foreignerization seems likely to occur when the listener knows both

language as in many situations where code switching takes place (like

“vegetables” into “green things”). Another group of communication

strategies is interlanguage wherein English learners literally transfer the

first language into second language. Among these, Faerch and Kasper

(1984) include: Substitution where speakers substitute one word for

another (“if” for “whether”). Generalization is L2 speaker uses a more

general word rather than a more particular one such as “animal” for
 11

“rabbit”. Description is where speakers describe a word he cannot

remember. For instance, a speaker cannot remember the word for “kettle”

and so describes it as “the thing to cook water in”. Exemplification is

where a speaker gives an example rather than the general term such as

“the thing to cook water in”. Word Coining is when a speaker makes up a

word when he does know it such as inventing an imaginary French word

“heurot” for “watch”. Restructuring is when a speaker has another attempt

at the same sentence as in a learner struggling to find the rare English

word “sibling”. “I have two-er-one sister and one brother” (Faerch &

Kasper, 1984).

Another subdivision of communication strategies as psychological

solving are avoidance strategies which are formal avoidance and

functional avoidance. Formal avoidance deals with avoidance of particular

L2 linguistic forms whether in pronunciation, in syntax, or in morphemes.

Functional Avoidance is a strategy which deals with avoidance of specific

types of function such as speech, topics and some modality markers (Ellis,

1994).

Another communication strategy is conceptual archistrategy.

Faerch and Kasper (1984) explained that this involved solving the problem

by thinking of meaning of the word and attempting to convey it in another

way. Poulisse (1990), as cited by Begovic (2011) shown that “the

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conceptual archistrategy reflects a decision by the learner to compensate

for missing a word by exploiting conceptual knowledge”. The conceptual

archistrategy is divided into two subcategories; analytic strategy where the

learners tries to break-up the meaning of the word into parts, and then to

convey the parts separately like “talk uh bird” for “parrot”. Holistic strategy

is when the learner thinks of the meaning of the word as a whole and tries

to use a word that is the closest approximation, for example, using “table”

to explain “desk”. The speaker who adopts a holistic strategy can refer to

a word by using a related concept, which can be a subordinate or

subordinate to the intended word (Poulisse, 1990) as cited by (Begovic,

2011).

Lastly is the linguistic archistrategy. Under this are morphological

creativity and L1 transfer. Morphological creativity is when one possibility

is to make-up a word using proper endings and hope that it works; for

instance, trying to describe the act of “ironing”, the student came-up with

the word “ironise”. The second subcategory is L1 transfer which is the

same as code-switching, meaning that learners use knowledge from their

L1 in their L2 (Begovic, 2011).

Communication Strategies of Students

Chesterfield and Chesterfield (1985) identifies repetition, memorization,

formulaic expressions, verbal attention-getter, answering in unison, talk to self,

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elaboration, anticipatory answer, monitoring, appeal for assistance, request or

clarification and role play as second language communication strategies

(Cardenas 2009).

Repetition is when students echoing or imitating a word modelled

by another or incorporation of a word or structure as used previously into

utterance. Memorization is when students recalling by rote of songs,

rhymes or sequences of numbers or related concepts. Formulaic

expressions are words or phrases which function as unanalyzed automatic

speech units for speakers, often serving the function of initiating or

continuing a conversation and giving impressions of command to the

target language. Verbal attention-getter is when students attracting the

attention of another to himself/herself so as to initiate interaction.

Answering in unison is when students giving a response by providing the

answer aloud together with others. Talk to self is when students engaging

in verbal behavior directed to himself. Elaboration is when students

recognizing and verbally correct one’s own error in vocabulary, style,

grammar, and others. Anticipatory answer is when students guessing from

context to provide responses for an anticipated questions or prematurely

filling in a words or phrase in another’s statement. Monitoring is when

students recognizing and verbally correct one’s own error in vocabulary,

style, grammar, and others. Appeal for assistance is when students

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spontaneously asking another for correct term or structure or help in

solving a problem. Request or clarification is when students attempting to

broaden understanding or knowledge of the target language by asking the

speaker to repeat or explain a previous statement. Role play is whe

students manifesting a spontaneous practice of the target language in

interaction by taking on the role of another in fantasy play.

Communication Strategies of Teachers

Mitchell (1988) and Hatch (1979) identified eleven communication

strategies of teachers namely: repetition, substitution, explanation,

contrast, clue-giving, exemplification, code-switching, student

interpretation, teacher interpretation, using illustrations/drawing/sketches

and restatement of questions.

Repetition is repeating students’ problem item. Substitution is giving

a substitute for a difficult item, Explanation is explaining a difficult item.

Contrast is contrasting the difficult item with others for the students to see

the differences which in some way belong to a similar set. Clue-giving is

providing a term associated or similar to the concept for the students to

get the meaning or idea of a concept. Exemplification is providing

examples to clarify a different item. Code-switching is using second

language, repeating messages in the L1 that were first said in the L2.

Student Interpretation is inviting the students to supply a first language

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interpretation to a problematic item. Teacher interpretation is supplying a

translation of the difficult item or interpreting the concept to the students.

Using Illustrations/drawings/sketches is making use of illustrations to

make the concept clearer. Restatement of questions to simplify them.

Maleki (2007) utilized existing textbooks teachings Iranian EFL

students to use specific communication strategies over four months. The

communication strategies were approximation, circumlocution, word

coinage, appeal for help/assistance, foreignization and time stalling

devices. The findings from both studies, revealed that teaching

communication strategies raise learner’s awareness of using

communication strategies, particularly interactional strategies. An increase

in using such communication strategies enhance learner’s language

proficiencies.

Moreover, in Nakatani’s (2010) and Chunachaisit and Prpphal’s

(2009) as quoted by Konchiab (2015) studies suggested specific types of

communication strategies which were most likely to contribute to

successful communication. Circumlocution and approximation were the

most common communication strategies contributing to improvements in

task performance, and therefore considered the most effective

communication strategies.
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In addition, Com-ong’s study (2006) using the model of Mitchell

(1988) and Hatch’s (1979) communication strategies revealed that

repetition and explanation and code-switching were the most predominant

strategies used by the content teachers while exemplification, using

illustration/drawings/sketches and clue giving were moderately used.

Substition, teacher interpretation, use of more examples to show further

concept/idea, restatement of questions, student interpretation and contrast

were used on a minimal basis.

Often, in second language classrooms, little or no attention is given

by the teacher or curriculum (including the Educational system) towards

the identity of the student. A student enters the classroom with his own

identity and culture. When acquiring a second language, it is necessary for

the student to absorb the culture of the second language too (Spackman,

2009) as stated by Barber (2012).

Brown (1987) as cited by Manogan (2012) posited that learning a

second language, however, it is not a set of easy steps that can be

programed in quick do it-yourself kit. One has to give all himself to it.

Further, he points out that total commitment, total physical intellectual and

emotional response is necessary to successfully send and receive

messages in a L2.
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In addition, Krashen (1985) espoused that adult second language

learners have two means for internalizing the target language. The first is

“acquisition,” a subconscious and intuitive process of constructing the

system of a language, not unlike the process used by a child to “pick up” a

language. The second means is a conscious “learning” process in which

learners attend to form, figure the rules, and are generally aware of their

own process.

A theory of SLA is really an interrelated set of hypotheses and/ or

claims about how people become proficient in a second language. In a

summary of research findings on SLA, Lightbown (1985) as cited by

Brown (1987) made the following claims: To begin with, adults and

adolescents can “acquire” a second language. Secondly, the learner

creates a systematic errors as the child learning the same language as the

first language, as well as others that appear to be based on the learner’s

own native language. Next is, there are predictable sequences in

acquisition so that certain structures have to be acquired before others

can be integrated. Another findings is, practice does not make perfect.

The fifth findings is knowing a language rule does not mean one will be

able to use it in communicative interaction. He also added that isolated

explicit error correction is usually ineffective in changing language

behavior. Moreover, once cannot achieve native like (or near-native like)
 18

command of a second language in one hour a day. Lightbown (1985) also

added that learner’s task is enormous because language is enormously

complex. Lastly, a learner’s ability to understand language in a meaningful

context exceeds his or her ability to comprehend decontextualized

language and to produce language of comparable complexity and

accuracy.

In the same way, Lightbown and Spada (1993) as cited by Brown

(1987) outlined some myths about SLA-what one should not conclude to

be necessarily a correct generalization. Certain claims about SLA demand

caution: the response to them might be prefaced with a “Well, it depend”

sort of caveat. Following are some of those “popular ideas” that may not

be supported by research. First, languages are learned mainly through

imitation. Second, parents usually correct young children when they make

errors. Next, people with high IQs are good language learners. Another

myth is, the earlier a second language is introduced in school programs,

the greater the likelihood of success in learning. Further, most of the

mistakes that second language learners make are due to interference

from their first language and lastly, learner’s errors should be corrected as

soon as they are made in order to prevent the formation of bad habits.

English is a foreign language which is a compulsory subject to be

taught in all schools from elementary to college level in many parts of the
 19

world including the Philippines. Executive Order (EO) No. 2010 of May 17,

2003, under the Philippine Constitution, establishes the policy to

strengthen the use of the English language as the medium of instruction in

the educational system. It also emphasizes that the Department of

Education (DepED), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and

the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) must

fully support such policy and seek to be established herein and have

favorably endorsed the issuance of this Executive Order (Macli-ing, 2013).

Education in the Philippines is managed and regulated by the

Department of Education, commonly referred to as the DepEd in the

country. The Department of Education controls the Philippine education

system, including the creation and implementation of the curriculum and

the utilization of funds allotted by the central government. It also manages

the construction of schools, acquisition of books and other school

materials, and the recruitment of teachers and staff

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Philippines).

Education in the Philippines is offered through formal and non-

formal systems. The number of years of formal schooling in the

Philippines used to be one of the shortest in the world. The educational

ladder had a 6+4+4 structure; six years of elementary education, four

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years of secondary education, and typically four years to gain a bachelor’s

degree (Delgado, 2015).

However, Barlongo, (2015) pointed out that in 2011 by the

Department of Education (DepEd), headed by Secretary Armin Luistro,

FSJ, the K to 12 Program made kindergarten a pre-requisite to basic

education. It lengthened basic schooling to include a two-year senior high

school and offered technical and vocational courses to students not

planning to go to college, thus giving them more chances of getting

employed in blue-collar work. The program replaced the 10-year basic

education curriculum, which consisted of six years in grade school and

four years in high school that concentrated on the English language and

Filipino, the sciences, arithmetic and mathematics, and the social

sciences. It also incorporated these basic lessons to include basic science

and technology, engineering, mathematics, accountancy, business and

management, humanities and social sciences, and general academic

courses such as technical-vocational-livelihood, arts and design, and

sports.

In relation to the K-12 program, “INQUIRER” (2012) published that

the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is

working on improving high school students’ academic standing by initiating

a review of its vocational training programs as part of its adoption of K+12

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(Kindergarten to 12 years), the Aquino administration’s flagship education

program.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority

(TESDA), is an agency of the Philippine government under the

Department of Labor and Employment responsible for managing and

supervising technical education and skills development in the Philippines

(Wikipedia, 2015).

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority

(TESDA) was established through the enactment of Republic Act No.

7796 otherwise known as the "Technical Education and Skills

Development Act of 1994", which was signed into law by President Fidel

V. Ramos on August 25, 1994. This Act aims to encourage the full

participation of and mobilize the industry, labor, local government units

and technical-vocational institutions in the skills development of the

country's human resources. Enrollment in tech-voc courses has in fact

increased over the years and has reached 1.98 million in 2009. Half of the

enrollees were high school graduates while 13 percent were already

college graduates. The rest were either college undergraduates (16

percent) or have previously taken other post-secondary tech-voc course

(12 percent) (http://www.slideshare.net/rajnulada/deped-ched-and-tesda,

2014). Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)

 22

helped hundreds, not hundreds but thousands of people who are capable

to learn certain knowledge in field of several courses offered by the

Authority (TESDA, 2015).

An individual need to undergo competency assessment for the

identified qualification in any of the accredited assessment centers

nationwide. Passers of the competency assessment shall be issued a

National Certificate (NC) or Certification of Competency (COC) (TESDA,

2015).

National Certificate (NC) is a certification issued to individuals who

complied with all the required units of competency for a national

qualification. National Certificate Level refers to the four qualification levels

where the worker in National Certificate I performs routines and

predictable tasks, has little judgment, and works under supervision.

National Certificate II performs the prescribed range of functions involving

known routines and procedures, has limited choice and complexity of

functionism and has little accountability (DepEd, 2012). National

Certificate III performs wide range of skills, works with complexity and

choices, contributes to problem-solving and work processes and shows

responsibility for self and others. National Certificate IV performs a wide

range of applications, have responsibilities that are complex and non-

routine, provides some leadership and guidance of others, performs

 23

evaluation and analysis of work practices and the development of new

criteria and procedures

(http://www.tesda.gov.ph/uploads/File/PHILIPPINE%20TVET%20QUALIFI

CATION%20AND%20CERTIFICATON%20SYSTEM.pdf).
 24

Figure 1 presents the stages that was done in the study. The input

presents the foundation of the study. This includes theories about

communication strategies.

Additionally, it contains the data gathering tools of the study which

is the questionnaire on the communication strategies used by the teachers

and the communication strategies perceived by the students on how

effective the communication strategies used by their teachers.

The process, encompasses the analysis of the communication

strategies. Finally, the output was to identify the communication strategies

of the teachers and the perception of the students on how effective the

communication strategies of their teachers.

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INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Analysis of: Identification of:

A. Theories
A. Preferences of
1. Communication Survey Questionnaire the NCII students
2. Communication
on the
Strategies
communication
a. Tarone’s
strategies used by
Communication
their teachers along
Strategies
the students’
b. Faerch and
program: Front
Kasper’s
Desk, Food and
Communication
Beverages Services
Strategies
and Housekeeping.
c. Chesterfields and
B. Perceptions of
Chesterfields’s
the NCII students
Communication
on the effectivity of
Strategies
d. Mitchell and the communication
strategies used by
Hatch’s
their teachers along
Communication
the short course
Strategies
e. Second program: Front
Desk, Food and
Language
Beverages Services
Acquisition
and Housekeeping.
B. TESDA
C. National
Certificates
D.NCII Students
E. Survey
Questionnaire

Figure 1. Paradigm of the study

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Statement of the Problem

1.What are the preferences of the NCII students on the communication

strategies used by their teachers along the short training programs:

a. Food and Beverages Services

b. Housekeeping

c. Front Desk Clerk?

2.What is the level of effectiveness of the communication strategies used

by teachers to NCII short training programs students along:

a. Food and Beverages Services

b. Housekeeping

c. Front Desk Clerk?

Hypotheses of the Study

The following hypotheses are put forward for testing:

1.The most preferred communication strategies among front desk clerk

students are explanation, teacher interpretation and exemplification.

Students who are taking up food and beverages most preferred

communication strategies are student interpretation, using

illustrations/drawings, sketches and restatement of the problem while the

 27

most preferred communication strategies among housekeeping students

are repetition, substitution and code-switching.

1. The level of effectiveness of communication strategies used by the

NCII teachers as perceived by students are slightly effective.

 METHODOLOGY

The chapter deals with the research design, population and locale

of the study, instruments that were used in conducting the study, data

gathering procedure and the treatment of data.

Research Design

Descriptive method using questionnaire was used in this study. The

researcher aimed to collect information regarding the communication

strategies used by the NCII teachers during the interaction process and

the effectiveness of each communication as perceived by the students.

Population and Locale of the Study

The study was conducted at CHETS ACADEMY, Baguio Holiday

Supermart, #57 Bokawkan Rd. Baguio City on April, 2016. The target

respondents was 30 students composing of 10 students taking up Front

Desk Clerk, 10 students taking up Food and Beverage Services, and 10

students taking up housekeeping.

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Data Gathering Procedure

In order to gather the necessary data, the following steps were

done. First, the conduct of the study was arranged to the concerned

school administrator, teachers and students. Second, a letter of

permission to collect the necessary data was given to the school

administrator. The questionnaire was conducted to the concerned

students after the approval of the administrator and teachers.

Data Gathering Instrumentation

The questionnaire was conducted to the students to gather the data

needed in the study.

The researcher used a questionnaire based from the

communication strategies of Mitchell (1988) and Hatch (1979) composed

of: repetition, substation, explanation, contrast, clue-giving,

exemplification, code-switching, student interpretation, teacher

interpretation, using illustrations/drawings/sketches and restatement of

questions.
 30

Treatment of Data

The data that was gathered from the questionnaire was tabulated,

analyzed and was subjected to relevant statistical treatment.

To determine the level of effectiveness of the communication

strategies, we computed for the mean which is obtained by the following

formula

where x stands for an observed value,

n stands for the number of observations in the data set,

x stands for the sum of all observed x values, and

 stands for the mean value of x.

The performance of the students will be based on the total score

based on a five -point Likert Scale following:

Score Performance Level

4.50 – 5.0 Highly Effective

3.50 – 4.49 Very Effective

2.50 – 3.49 Moderately Effective

1.50-2:49 Slightly Effective

1.0 - 1.49 Not Effective

 31

To determine the preferences of the NCII students on the communication

strategies and its significance, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used.
The data from all groups were brought together in one rank order. For
each group the sum of ranks Ti and mean rank was then computed.
Whereas the total sum of ranks is:

with
k = number of groups
N = Total Number of measurements

The test value H is computed as follows:

whereas
ni = sample size of group i
H is Chi-Square distributed with k-1 degrees of freedom

If there are tied ranks H is corrected as follows:

whereas
ti = Number of subjects sharing rank i
p = number of tied ranks
and
 32

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This section presents the results and discussion of the study.

Furthermore, it reveals the communication strategies preferred by the NCII

students used by their teachers and the highly effective communication

strategies used by the students’ teachers.

Communication Strategies Preferred by the Food and Beverages Students

Table 1 reveals the preferred communication strategies used by the

teachers of the NCII students who were enrolled in Food and Beverages

program. As seen from the table, the communication strategies preferred

by the students are code switching which ranked first, student

interpretation ranked second, followed by teacher interpretation and

substitution which were ranked third. Thus, the hypothesis that states that

the communication strategies preferred by the food and beverages

students are interpretation, using illustrations/drawings, sketches and

restatement is not accepted.

Code-switching. This is a communication strategy where the speaker uses

a second language, repeating messages in the L1 that were first said in

the L2.
 33

Table 1. Communication Strategies Preferred by the Food and Beverages

Students

COMUNICATIO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TOTA A R
N L
STRATEGIES
1.Repetition 9 3 4 2 5 1 3 2 2 4 35 3.5 10
2.Substitution 7 4 11 3 11 8 10 4 7 9 74 7.4 3.5

3.Explanation 1 1 2 1 7 2 2 3 4 5 28 2.8 11
4.Contrast 2 2 3 8 8 11 11 8 3 8 64 6.4 5
5.Clue-giving 6 8 6 4 2 5 4 5 6 2 48 4.8 9
6.Exemplificatio 8 9 5 10 3 9 1 6 5 1 57 5.7 7
n
7.Code 11 10 9 5 9 10 9 11 11 3 88 8.8 1
Switching
8.Student 10 11 7 11 4 3 6 10 8 11 81 8.1 2
Interpretation

9.Teacher 3 5 10 7 10 6 7 7 9 10 74 7.4 3.5

Interpretation

10.Using 5 6 1 9 1 7 5 9 10 7 60 6 6
Illusions
11.Restatement 4 7 8 6 6 4 8 1 1 6 51 5.1 8
of Question

Das (2012) stated in his study that in language contact situations,

code-switching between different language codes has become a very

common and inevitable consequence in everyday lives in most people.

 34

He also mentioned that code -switching is used as a strategy to achieve

the communicative intents and serve certain functions in a conversation.

Lin (2013) as cited by Johansson (2013) she mentioned that both

teachers and students code switched to a large extent in informal

situations whereas the target language dominated in formal ones. Cook

2001) also pointed out as cited by (Johansson 2013) that code switching

leads to more efficient teaching for the simple reason that the students

understand faster and more thoroughly. Hence teacher’s code switching is

an important tool for explanations and instructions.

In the study of Johansson (2013), she stated that seems that there

is an agreement on the effects of code-switching in research from

the1990’s until 2013. Both the sociolinguistic approach focusing on the

topic of conversation, the participants and the setting, and the grammatical

approach focusing on grammatical functions of code-switching

intersentential and intrasentential code-switching can be applied in second

language learning to facilitate the learning outcome.

 35

Communication Strategies Preferred by the House Keeping Students

As seen in table 2, the preferred communication strategies used by

the teachers of the NCII students who were enrolled in House Keeping

program are teacher interpretation, next is restatement of question

followed by code-switching, fourth is contrast, exemplification and student

interpretation comes next. Seventh is using illusions, eight is substitution,

ninth is repetition, tenth is clue-giving and the least is explanation. Hence,

the hypothesis that states that the communication strategies preferred by

the house keeping students are repetition and substitution is rejected but

code-switching is accepted.
 36

Table 2. Communication Strategies Preferred by the House Keeping

Students

COMUNICATIO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TOTA A R
N L
STRATEGIES
1.Repetition 2 5 3 8 2 2 4 3 5 4 38 3.8 9
2.Substitution 1 3 4 2 7 3 3 2 9 8 42 4.2 8

3.Explanation 3 6 2 1 6 1 1 4 4 1 29 2.9 11
4.Contrast 11 11 10 10 9 6 2 1 10 2 72 7.2 4
5.Clue-giving 4 1 1 3 1 4 7 9 3 3 36 3.6 10
6.Exemplificatio 10 2 5 4 8 8 8 10 6 10 71 7.1 5.5
n
7.Code 5 4 6 9 5 9 5 11 8 11 73 7.3 3
Switching
8.Student 6 8 11 11 11 5 6 5 1 7 71 7.1 5.5
Interpretation

9.Teacher 9 10 7 5 10 10 10 6 11 9 87 8.7 1
Interpretation

10.Using 7 7 8 6 3 7 11 8 2 5 64 6.4 7
Illusions
11.Restatement 8 9 9 7 4 11 9 7 7 6 77 7.7 2
of Question
 37

Communication Strategies Preferred by the Front Desk Students

Table 3 presents the preferred communication strategies used by

the teachers of the NCII students who were enrolled in Front Desk

Program. Base from the result, explanation was ranked first as the

communication strategies preferred by the students, code switching

followed and teacher interpretation was ranked third. Exemplification was

ranked fifth and restatement of question at sixth, using illusion comes next

and substitution was ranked eight, repetition ranked ninth, contrast ranked

tenth and explanation was ranked the least. Therefore, the hypothesis that

states that the communication strategies preferred by front desk students

are explanation and teacher interpretation is accepted while

exemplification is not accepted.

 38

Table 3. Communication Strategies Preferred by the Front Desk Students

COMUNICATIO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TOTA A R
N L
STRATEGIES
1.Repetition 9 7 2 9 4 3 4 4 1 4 47 4.7 9
2.Substitution 7 2 10 8 3 7 3 3 3 3 49 4.9 8

3.Explanation 1 4 1 6 2 2 1 2 2 2 23 2.3 11
4.Contrast 2 11 11 7 1 6 2 1 4 1 46 4.6 10
5.Clue-giving 6 5 4 1 6 4 11 8 8 11 64 6.4 5
6.Exemplificatio 8 9 3 3 8 1 10 9 10 5 66 6.6 4
n
7.Code 11 3 8 10 10 9 9 10 7 9 86 8.6 2
Switching
8.Student 10 10 9 5 11 8 5 11 11 10 90 9 1
Interpretation

9.Teacher 3 6 6 4 9 11 8 7 9 7 70 7 3
Interpretation

10.Using 5 1 7 2 7 10 6 6 5 8 57 5.7 7
Illusions
11.Restatement 4 8 5 11 5 5 7 5 6 6 62 6.2 6
of Question
 39

Table 4 presents the Effectivity of Communication Strategies for the

NCII Students. Overall, the communication strategies were all rated Very

Effective. Thus the hypothesis that states that the communication

strategies used by the NCII teachers are slightly effective is rejected.

Based from the result, we can still note that explanation is

perceived by the students as highly effective communication strategies

used by their teachers. This infers that the students are not aware that the

other communication strategies could also be effective in interacting with

their lecturers and in learning English. Hence, teachers who teaches NCII

students should also engage other communication strategies when they

teach for better understanding and communication. Additionally, teachers

should also apply the least communication strategies to give the students

new practices in communication.

In the study, result indicates that the students will learn more with

explanation as the communication strategy of their teachers. The outcome

corroborates the study of Mates (2010) in which the teacher explaining

carefully the meaning of a difficult item for them to understand the concept

is a very effective strategy.

Based on the result, exemplification, repetition and clue-giving were

ranked second to all the NCII students who were taking up the different
 40

programs. This confirms the identified communication strategies of the

teachers perceived by the students in the study of (Mates, 2010) in which

she identified the most communication strategies perceived by the

students used by the English, Science and Math teachers.

 41

Table 4. Effectiveness of Communication Strategies as Perceived by the

NCII students

COMMUNICATION FOOD AND RANK DE HOUSE RANK DE FRONT RANK DE

STRATEGIES BEVERAGES KEEPING DESK
1.Repetition 39 6 VE 44 2 VE 32 7 VE

2.Substitution 38 9 VE 43 4.5 VE 31 10 VE
3. Explanation 44 1 VE 45 .1 VE 35 1 VE

4. Contrast 39 6 VE 43 4.5 VE 33 4 VE

5. Clue-Giving 40 3.5 VE 41 9.5 VE 34 2 VE

6. Exemplification 41 2 VE 41 9.5 VE 32 7 VE
7. Code-Switching 38 9 VE 42 7.5 VE 31 10 VE

8.Student 40 3.5 VE 42 7.5 VE 31 10 VE

Interpretation
9.Teacher 39 6 VE 43 4.5 VE 33 4 VE
Interpretation
10. Using Illusions 35 11 VE 43 4.5 VE 33 4 VE
11.Restatement of 38 9 VE 40 11 VE 32 7 VE
Questions
Frequency Range Descriptive equivalent

4.50 - 5.00 Highly Effective (HE)

3.50 - 4.49 Very Effective (VE)

2.50 - 3.49 Moderately Effective (ME)

1.50 - 2.49 Slightly Effective (SE)

0 -1.49 Not Effective (NE)

 42

Summary

This study identified the preferred communication strategies of NCII

students and the effectivity of the communication strategies as perceived

by the students last December 2016-January 2017.

The following are the findings of the study.

1.a. The communication strategies preferred by the Food and

Beverages students is code-switching followed by student interpretation,

third is substitution along with teacher interpretation, next is contrast which

was ranked fifth, sixth is using illusions, seventh is exemplification, eighth

is restatement of questions, ninth is clue-giving, tenth is repetition followed

by explanation.

b. The communication strategies preferred by the House Keeping

students is teacher interpretation, next is restatement of question followed

by code-switching, fourth is contrast, exemplification and student

interpretation comes next. Seventh is using illusions, eight is substitution,

ninth is repetition, tenth is clue-giving and the least is explanation.

c. Explanation ranked first as the communication strategies

preferred by the Front Desk students. Code switching followed and

 43

teacher interpretation was ranked third. Exemplification was ranked fifth

and restatement of question at sixth, using illusion followed and

substitution was ranked eight, repetition ranked ninth, contrast ranked

tenth and explanation was ranked as least.

2. The affectivity of communication strategies as perceived by the

Food and Beverages, House Keeping and Front Desk students revels that

all the communication strategies are very effective to them.

 44

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the conclusions and recommendations of the

study.

Conclusions

Based on the findings, the following conclusions are drawn:

1. The communication strategies preferred by the NCII students

are code switching, student interpretation, substitution, teacher

interpretation and restatement of question and the least they

prefer is explanation.

2. The effectivity of communication strategies of NCII teachers as

perceived by the students is very effective.

Recommendation

Based on the conclusions, the following recommendations are forwarded:

1. Teachers should be willing to undergo trainings in order to update

themselves on pronunciation, grammar, the nature of the English

language for them to use when they teach their students.

2. Teachers should utilize various communication strategies

especially the least employed to make learning comprehensible

 45

and English language learning more meaningful and influential to

students.

3. Teachers should encourage students to engage in actual

classroom interaction applying communication strategies using

English in expressing their thoughts and ideas to develop mastery

of the language.

4. To make learning comprehensible to students, NCII teachers

should be aware of the appropriate communication strategies and

use various communication strategies to improve and strengthen

the student-teacher interaction in the different levels of students.

5. Using English as the students’ language during their presentation

or any various situations will certainly develop their communicative

competence.

6. Students should be motivated and should feel more confident in

using English as their language and should be willing to broaden

their English speaking skill.

7. School administrators and teachers should design their instructional

materials that are suitable to the communicative needs of students.

8. Administrators should offer seminars, workshops or trainings not

only to teachers but also students that will enhance their capability
 46

in using communication strategies and to strengthen their

communication in the use of English language.

9. Researchers may conduct a study to identify the communication

barriers in the language classroom from the students’ point of view.

10. Further research in finding out how communication strategies

affects student’s communicative competence of the target

language.
 47

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MATES, R. 2010. Communication Strategies in English, Mathematics and

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 50

APPENDIX A

COMMNUNICATION LETTER

Benguet State University

GRADUATE SCHOOL
La Trinidad, Benguet

December 3, 2016

MA. ISABEL C. EUSTAQUIO

Registrar
CHETS ACADEMY
Baguio City

Ma’am:

The undersigned is currently working on her thesis entitled

“Preferences and Effectivity of Communication Strategies to NCII Short
Training Programs”.

May she therefore ask permission to conduct the study and gather
the essential data.

Rest assured that all information to be gathered will be treated with

utmost confidentially. Your approval will surely make the research
successful. Thank you very much.

Yours respectfully,

YVONNE APILADO- PILAY

Researcher

Noted:

GABRIEL J. TANO
Adviser

SAMUEL S. POLIDEN
Dean
 51

APPENDIX B

COMMNUNICATION LETTER

Benguet State University

GRADUATE SCHOOL
La Trinidad, Benguet

December 3, 2016

NCII Students
CHETS ACADEMY

Dear Respondents:

Greetings!

I am conducting a study entitled “Preferences and Effectivity of

Communication Strategies to NCII Short Training Programs.

In line with this, I would like to request for your cooperation in

answering the survey-questionnaire I have attached.

Your positive response would highly be appreciated. Thank You!

Sincerely,

YVONNE APILADO- PILAY

 52

APPENDIX C

Name: (Optional) _______________ Gender: _______________

Course: _______________

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

The following are different communication strategies used by your

teachers. Please rank them from 1-11, with 1 being the strategy you like

most and 11 being the strategy you like least. Then, rate them in your own

perception on how effective these strategies in making you understand the

lesson better. Use the following scale below as your guide.

5-Highly Effective
4-Very Effective
3- Moderately Effective
2- Slightly Effective
1- Not Effective
1-I like most 11- I like least

COMMUNICATION STUDENTS’ EFFECTIVITY OF THE

STRATEGIES PREFERENCES COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
ON THE
COMMUNICATION
STRATEGIES
1. Repetition 5 4 3 2 1
The teacher
repeats words,
phrases or
sentences if I did
not understand the
concept.
2. Substitution
The teacher
 53

replaces terms with

its equivalent item
or the synonym if
cannot understand
the concept.
3. Explanation
The teacher
explains carefully
the meaning of a
difficult item for me
to understand the
concept.

4. Contrast
The teacher
contrasts the
difficult item with
others for me to
see the differences
which in some way
belong to a similar
set.

5. Clue-giving
The teacher
provides a term
associated or
similar to the
concept for me to
get the meaning or
idea of a concept.

6. Exemplification
The teacher
provides examples
to clarify a difficult
item.
7. Code-Switching
The teacher
switches language
or uses bilingual in
order to make the
 54

message clearer.

8. Student
Interpretation
The teacher invites
me to supply a first
language
interpretation to a
problematic item.

9. Teacher
Interpretation
The teacher
supplies a
translation of the
difficult item or
interprets the
concept to them.
10. Using
Illustrations/
Drawings/Sketches
The teacher makes
use of illustrations
to make the
concept clearer.
11. Restatement of
Questions
The teacher
rephrases the
questions to
simplify them.