Factors Affecting The Implementation Of Communicative Language Teaching Among High

School Students Of Alaminos City National High School

Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

The place of English as a global language is undeniable, and, importantly for this study, it is

gaining momentum in countries such as Philippines The significance and place of the English

language, as a global language that provides a means of communication between people as a

lingua franca when individuals do not share a first language or even a second language, are

widely acknowledged. Therefore, many people possess the ability to communicate effectively

with other speakers (native or non-native speakers of English) and know how to use and speak

English as a lingua franca in real situations (Churches 2015). As Seidlhofer (2005:339) points

out “as a consequence of its international use, English is being shaped at least as much by its non

native speakers as by its native speakers”. The significance of English is underpinned by its rapid

growth worldwide, as well as its widespread use in every scientific field. Learning English is

essential, as an ability to speak English is considered a benchmark for understanding and

knowing the outside world. In the context of this research, it is very important for all citizens in

the Philippines to learn English in order to meet the demand for involvement in the international

world. This has consequently created an urgent need to learn English in the way that will help the

people to communicate efficiently. This strong awareness of the need to learn English arose from

the Philippine government’s changing and nurturing of a new, friendly relationship with the

international community. Thus, learning English offers an opportunity to establish a channel of

form of more importantly, the change in curriculum with the introduction of a new,

communicative curriculum based on CLT principles. To promote this innovation and enable

students to use English as a lingua franca, therefore, many factors are involved. One of the most

important factors is the methodologies or techniques employed to teach the language, as many

English language learners, whether foreign or even second language learners, can only learn the

target language within a school or university environment. Similarly, in the current research

context, the classroom is the only environment in which students may gain exposure to the

English language. As Hedge (2001) notes, the methodology for teaching the language will have

an obvious impact on the learners and on improving their ability to use the language. In

Alaminos City National High School, the students are currently exposed to the CLT curriculum.

There is no doubt that the communicative approach provides a valuable tool, from which

students can benefit in order to communicate effectively by using English language in a number

of situations. As Farrell and Jacobs (2010:3) point out, “the purpose is to enable second language

learners (SLL) to be able to use language functionally, meaningfully and appropriately”.

Additionally, the students require a strong communicative ability, which will enable them to

communicate their meaning or the content of English language in real-life situations. Thus, the

communicative approach opens up a variety of opportunities to interact in different situations

(Mitchell 1994). It is striking that the communicative approach is leading teachers to alter their

views or techniques regarding language teaching. The process of learning a language is not just a

matter of learning its structures (grammar and vocabulary) but, as Widdowson (1990:159) states,

“It concentrates on getting learners to do things with language”. Learning a language is, in fact, a

creative act.
However, a number of research studies have also pointed to the issue of transferring teaching

methods from one part of the world to another (Pennycock, 1989; Holliday, 1994; Kramsch and

Sullivan, 1996, quoted in Hiep 2007). Regarding this point, it could be argued that the CLT

approach may be miss-implemented within certain foreign language contexts. In other words, the

context of language teaching, upon which the theoretical tenets of CLT were established, is

completely different and does not coincide with the criteria of foreign contexts for teaching

English. Consequently, such an inequality between the contexts creates gaps and causes

difficulties regarding CLT implementation. Thus, this study seeks to investigate the factors

which hinder the implementation of CLT in Alaminos City National High School specifically to

answer the questions: 1. How do the teachers understand and perceive the communicative

approach? 2. Is the communicative approach used in the classroom? And, if so, how? 3. What are

the problems and challenges which teachers and students face with regard to CLT

implementation?

Research Problem

This study aims to explore the factors that hinder implementation of CLT in high school students

in Alaminos City National High School specifically to answer the questions:

1. How do the teachers understand and perceive the communicative approach?

2. Is the communicative approach used in the classroom? And, if so, how?

3. What are the problems and challenges which teachers and students face with regard to CLT

implementation?

Hypothesis
Importance of the study

This research arises from the need to investigate both the implementation and non

implementation of CLT when teaching. The research emerged from both the students’ need to

improve their English proficiency and

the problems that the teachers encounter with regard to teaching the curriculum which has been

introduced, based as it is on CLT principles. In addition, this research is the first comprehensive

investigation to address the phenomenon from different perspectives, including those of the

teachers and students. More importantly, it marks the first attempt to identify and open up

opportunities to hear the students’ voices and examine their expectations and experience of

learning English. The research also provides practical recommendations for teachers, educators,

and policy makers to further improve teacher training, curriculum design, and situational

constraints to ensure success in implementing the CLT approach.

Related studies

Chapter 2

Methodology

Sample

The research population of this study is secondary English language school teachers and

students. The sample selected for the study was on the basis of purposiveness. This

deliberate intervention on the sampling process is termed as purposive sampling (Cohen,

Manion & Morrison, 2013; Silverman, 2001). The selection of schools and participants was
made on the basis of accessibility and purposively (Burton, 1996; Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Sampling technique

The sampling used by the researchers is random sampling. random sampling is the basic

sampling technique where we select a group of subjects (a sample) for study from a larger group

(a population). Each individual is chosen entirely by chance and each member of the population

has an equal chance of being included in the sample. Every possible sample of a given size has

the same chance of selection (VJ. Easton & J H. McColl's 1)

Instrument

The instruments that will be used by the researchers are through research questionnaire and

interview.

Procedure

The researcher will seek permission to the principal and head teacher of English department to

conduct an interview with the students and to let them answer research questionnaire through

letter. After seeking permission the researchers will gather data from the students.

Treatment of Data

QUALITATIVE PHASE

Analyzing data is very critical for the part of the researcher for this would mean fully to the

research. This would greatly affect the integrity and honesty of the researcher. After gathering

data, they had coded it and classified them into factors that affect the implementation of CLT.

They always look back to the goal of its research design Case Study and its sole aim is to dig
deeper into certain phenomenon. It is important in the analysis of the data that every person in the

group should cooperate and participate in the interpretation, and the researchers unite as one head.

QUANTITAIVE PHASE

In the second phase the researchers use self-made survey questionnaires and distributed it

personally to the respondents. The survey questionnaires would help the researcher to explain the

factors affecting the implementation of CLT.

Several statistical tools and procedure were used to analysed and interpreted the data gathered.

FREQUENCY COUNT

This is a simple statistical tool was used to tally items related to the factors affecting the student’s

career choice of the respondents. This tool was used to measure the number of items an event

occurs.

WEIGHTED MEAN

This is used to determine the average of every category under that factors affecting the student’s

career choice.

µ= ∑x
Tech.
Voc.
where:
n
Cours
eTech.
of
µ= where thethe
weighted mean
Voc.
Grade
Cours
∑x=sum of the12esources
of
studen
the
ts
n= the sampleGrade
size
12
studen
ts
LIKERT SCALE

This is used to assess the level of factors affecting the student’s career choice. The following are

the five Likert Scale and its interpretation.

4.21 5.00 Strongly Disagree

3.41 4.20 Agree

2.61 3.40 Neither Agree and Disagree

1.81 2.60 Disagree

1.00 1.80 Strongly Disagree