1

FACTORS AFFECTING THE ENGLISH ORAL FLUENCY OF THE TERTIARY

EDUCATION STUDENTS OF SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

JODELYN MAE S. CANGREJO

KAREN JOY C. LEJARZO
REINA RICA N. NERGUA

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF

THE COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION, SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN
COLLEGE, MIDSAYAP, COTABATO IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE

BACHELOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

(ENGLISH)

DECEMBER 2023
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CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the gathered data with their corresponding interpretations

and analyses.

Profile of the Respondents

Table 1 presents the frequency and percentage distribution of the demographic

profile of tertiary students namely; degree program, ethnicity and sex.

Table 1. Frequency and percentage distribution of the demographic profile of tertiary

students.

Variables Categories frequency Percent

Degree Program BECEd 7 23.3
BEED 6 20.0
BSED Science 3 10.0
BSED English 3 10.0
BSED Math 3 10.0
BSED Social Studies 3 10.0
BLIS 2 6.7
BSED Filipino 1 3.3
AB English 1 3.3
BSSW 1 3.3
Total N = 30 100%

Ethnicity Ilonggo 12 40.0

Cebuano 10 33.3
Islam 6 20.0
IP 2 6.7
Total N = 30 100%
\

Sex Male 2 6.7

Female 28 93.3
Total N = 30 100%
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Degree Program

Degree program refers to the program enrolled by the tertiary students. In this

study, this study refers to Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (BECEd), Bachelor of

Elementary Education (BEED), Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSED majors in

English, Filipino, Mathematics, and Social Studies), Bachelor of Science in Social Work

(BSSW), Bachelor of Library and Information System (BLIS), and Bachelor of Arts in

English (AB English). Table 1 shows that in terms of degree program, among the 30

respondents, seven or 23.3% were from BECEd program, six or 20.0% were from BEED,

three or 10.0% were from BSED Science, English, Math and Social Studies, two or 6.7%

were from BLIS, and there was one student or 3.3% were from BSED Filipino, AB

English and BSSW programs. This data shows that most of the students were BECEd.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity, in this study, refers to the social group of the respondents either

Ilonggo, Cebuano, Islam, and Indigenous people (IP). The table shows that among 30

respondents, 12 or 40% were Ilonggo, 10 or 33.3% were Cebuano, six or 20% were Islam

and two or 6.7% were IPs. This means that in the sample data, majority of the

respondents were Ilonggo.

Sex

Sex refers to the biological differences of the respondents either male or female.

The table shows that among the 30 respondents, two or 6.7% were males and 28 or

93.3% were females. These data show that majority of the respondents were females.
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Affective Factors

Table 2 presents the findings on affective factors impacting the oral fluency in

English of the respondents. Affective factors refer to the students' emotions and feelings

that hinder their ability to speak English fluently such as shyness, lack of self-confidence,

fear of mistake and anxiety. In Table 2, indicators 1-5 are on shyness, indicators 6-10 are

on Lack of Self-confidence, indicators 11-15 are on Fear of Mistake, and indicators 16-20

are on Anxiety. Overall, Table 3 presents the breakdown of the affective factors affecting

the English oral fluency of tertiary students, organized by mean scores, standard

deviation and its corresponding description and interpretation. In this study, respondents

were asked to rate which of the affective factors greatly affected their English oral

fluency.

Table 2. Mean and Standard Deviation of the affective factors affecting the English oral
fluency of tertiary students.

Indicators Mean SD Description Interpretation

1. I talk less during recitations because I am shy. 2.50 1.04 Often Moderate
2. I feel shy when speaking English in class. 2.90 0.96 Often Moderate
3. I feel shy to express my ideas if someone requires me 2.73 1.01 Often Moderate
to speak in English during class discussions.
4. I feel shy when meeting someone of the opposite sex. 2.23 1.04 Sometimes Low
5. I feel shy when meeting new people. 2.27 1.08 Sometimes Low
6. I do not feel confident speaking in 2.83 0.99 Often Moderate
English.
7. I feel conscious when I am around strangers. 2.70 0.84 Often Moderate
8. I lose self-confidence when I make mistakes, and 2.57 0.97 Often Moderate
someone corrects my English.
9. I experience trouble looking at someone right in the 2.33 0.80 Sometimes Low
eye and maintaining eye contact.
10. I do not feel confident when presenting a speech in 2.47 0.86 Sometimes Low
front of an audience.
11. I fear criticism from others while speaking. 2.73 0.94 Often Moderate
12. I am afraid that people will laugh at me if I make 2.93 1.34 Often Moderate
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mistakes while speaking in English.

13. I worry about being teased when I speak in English. 2.60 1.10 Often Moderate
14. I am afraid to participate in English class because I 2.67 0.96 Often Moderate
fear making mistakes.
15. I am afraid that I will look foolish when I speak 2.40 0.97 Sometimes Low
English.
16. I feel pressured when giving a speech. 2.80 0.85 Often Moderate
17. I feel anxious before performing a speaking task. 2.87 0.78 Often Moderate
18. I feel nervous when the teacher asks me to speak in 2.83 1.05 Often Moderate
English.
19. I feel tense when I am with people who are fluent in 3.03 0.89 Often Moderate
English.
20. I always get nervous when speaking English in 2.93 0.83 Often Moderate
public; it seems like I lose all the ideas I have
prepared in mind.
OVERALL Mean 2.67 0.97 Often Moderate
Legend:
Mean Range Scale Description Interpretation
3.50 - 4.00 4 Always To a high extent
2.50 - 3.49 3 Often To a moderate extent
1.50 – 2.49 2 Sometimes To a low extent
1.00- 1.49 1 Never Not at all

Based on the results, out of 20 statements, item 19 (I feel tense when I am with

people who are fluent in English) had the highest mean of 3.03 and standard deviation of

0.89 indicating that the students were often affected by anxiety to a moderate extent. The

findings reveal that students feel tense when talking to people who are fluent in English

which is why their fluency is affected. This is supported by the study of Saurik (2011)

which says that students lack their confidence and often feel tense and anxious mainly

because they find it quite intimidating to speak English in front of their friends and

teachers who are good in speaking English. They are afraid to be criticized and laughed

out by them.
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Item 12 (I am afraid that people will laugh at me if I make mistakes while

speaking in English) and item 20 (I always get nervous when speaking English in public;

it seems like I lose all the ideas I have prepared in mind) obtained the higher mean of

2.93 and a standard deviation of 1.34 the former and 0.83 the latter which describe as

“often” and interpreted as affecting the oral fluency to a moderate extent. The findings

reveal that students often afraid to commit mistakes and feel nervous when they speak in

English in public which supported by the study of Robby (2010) which states that Fear of

making mistakes is one of the significant factor contributing to students’ hesitation to

speak in English within the classroom. This fear is particularly prevalent in the English as

a Foreign Language (EFL) context in Indonesia. Students are often reluctant to engage in

spoken English activities due to concerns about appearing foolish in front of their peers.

Additionally, students are afraid to perceived negative impact of their potential errors and

worry about how their spoken English might sound and fear the possibility of sounding

silly and funny. And the study conducted by Baldwin (2011), which says that speaking in

front of the class is a common fear among students. The feeling of anxiety often causes

their minds to go blank, and they worry about forgetting what to say that attribute to their

difficulty in showcasing their speaking skills.

Consecutively, item 2 (I feel shy when speaking English in class) had the high

mean of 2.90 and standard deviation of 0.96 indicating that students were often affected

by shyness to a moderate extent. The findings showed that students are not fluent in

English because they are ashamed to speak English in class. This is supported by the

study of Baldwin (2011), which says that speaking in front of the class is a common fear

among students. The feeling of shyness often causes their minds to go blank, and they
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worry about forgetting what to say. This theory is supported by the findings of this

research, where many students struggle to perform well in speaking tasks. They attribute

their difficulty to their shyness, stating that feeling shy significantly affects their ability to

showcase their speaking skills. In simpler terms, shyness plays a crucial role in how

students perform in speaking tasks.

Notably, out of 20 statements, item 4 (I feel shy when meeting someone of the

opposite sex) had the lowest mean of 2.23 and standard deviation of 1.04 indicating that

the students were sometimes affected by shyness to a low extent. This findings reveal that

students sometimes feel shy when meeting someone in an opposite sex which is

supported by the study According to Berlin (2019) which states that college students

experiencing shyness mostly encountered challenges in starting new relationships,

including romantic connections.

Followed by the lower in mean which is the item 5 (I feel shy when meeting new

people) had the mean of 2.27 and standard deviation of 1.08 indicating that students were

sometimes affected by shyness to a low extent. The findings showed that students feel

shy to speak in English when they meet new people. This is supported by the study of

Caspi, Elder, and Bem (2018) which stated that people who feel extremely shy might

miss chances to connect with others who share similar interests and establish close

relationships with new met people.

The low in mean is the item 9 (I experience trouble looking at someone right in

the eye and maintaining eye contact) with a mean of 2.33 and a standard deviation of 0.80

indicating that students were sometimes affected by lack of self-confidence to a low

extent. This findings shows that students cannot make an eye contact when speaking in
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English in class. This is supported by the study of Argyle (2010) which states that

without the eye contact with people when speaking, people think that they are not fully

engaging in communication where English language is being used.

The overall mean score of the affective factors is 2.76 and standard deviation of

0.97 indicating that the English oral fluency of the tertiary students were often affected

by affective factors, specifically by anxiety and fear of mistake to a moderate extent.

Consecutively, among the four sub categories of affective factors, tertiary students

believe that shyness and lack of self-confidence only affected their oral fluency to a low

extent. Therefore, the table 2 illustrates that affective factors moderately affects the

English oral fluency of tertiary students as reinforce by the mean score. The findings is

closely aligned with the study of Yurong and Nan (2008) which showed that affective

factors affect College English students on their oral English fluency. However, the

limitation of the study was that these factors were studied individually. In actuality, they

often cooperate together to influence oral communication. Similar study supported this

findings conducted by Rasmodjo's (2011) which revealed that most students had

moderately affected both before and during the English oral speaking of students.

Cognitive Factors

Table 3 presents the findings on cognitive factors impacting the oral fluency in

English of the respondents. Cognitive factors refer to the mental processes and ways of

thinking that could affect the learners’ speaking difficulties such as limited vocabulary,

pronunciation, limited knowledge of grammar, and lack of knowledge about the topic. In

Table 3, indicators 1-5 are on Limited Vocabulary, indicators 6-10 are on Limited
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Knowledge of Grammar, indicators 11-15 are on Poor Pronunciation, and indicators 16-

20 are on Lack of Knowledge about the Topic. Overall, Table 3 showed a comprehensive

breakdown of the cognitive factors affecting the English oral fluency of tertiary students,

organized by mean scores, standard deviation, description, and interpretation.

Table 3. Mean and Standard Deviation of the cognitive factors affecting the English oral
fluency of tertiary students.

Indicators Mean SD Description Interpretation

1. I hold back from speaking English because I have a 2.83 0.83 Often Moderate
limited vocabulary.
2. I find it difficult to speak English naturally without 2.83 0.79 Often Moderate
using filler words. (e.g. “um”, “ah”, and “hmm”)
3. I hold back from speaking English when I have no 2.80 0.85 Often Moderate
idea of the correct and appropriate words to use when
speaking.
4. I struggle to speak English naturally without switching 2.87 0.82 Often Moderate
to my native language.
5. I hold back from speaking English because I might 2.67 0.92 Often Moderate
use the wrong words or phrases.
6. I hold back from speaking English because my 2.77 0.97 Often Moderate
grammar is not good.
7. … because I feel that I commit grammatical errors. 2.87 0.82 Often Moderate
8. … because I experience difficulty in organizing my 2.77 0.90 Often Moderate
ideas properly when speaking.
9. … because I find it difficult to use prepositions (e.g., 2.77 0.77 Often Moderate
in, at, on).
10. … because I keep repeating words and subjects when 2.73 0.78 Often Moderate
I feel confused and/or uncertain about what to say.
11. … because my pronunciation is bad (e.g., accent, 2.60 0.72 Often Moderate
specific words).
12. … because I speak without using proper intonation 2.40 0.81 Sometimes Low
and stress (e.g., monotone voice)
13. … because I struggle to say certain sounds or words 2.33 0.92 Sometimes Low
(e.g., "th").
14. … because my speech articulation is affected by my 2.33 0.80 Sometimes Low
regional or local accent (e.g., The Filipino
pronunciation of chocolate is ‘Cho-co-leit’ instead of
tʃɑk·lət/ chack-luht)
15. … if I do not know how to pronounce a particular 2.33 0.92 Sometimes Low
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word.
16. …because I am unsure of my understanding of the 2.60 0.72 Often Moderate
topic/lesson.
17. … because I might forget the ideas in my mind. 2.53 0.73 Often Moderate
18. …because I have poor comprehension. 2.63 0.93 Often Moderate
19. …because I am unsure how to interpret the topic. 2.53 0.86 Often Moderate
20. … when the topic is unrelatable or unfamiliar (e.g., I 2.67 0.84 Often Moderate
have not yet encountered the lesson/ situation)

Mean 2.50 0.84 Often Moderate

Legend:
Mean Range Scale Description Interpretation
3.50 - 4.00 4 Always To a high extent
2.50 - 3.49 3 Often To a moderate extent
1.50 – 2.49 2 Sometimes To a low extent
1.00- 1.49 1 Never Not at all
Based on the results, out of 20 statements, items 4 (I struggle to speak English

naturally without switching to my native language.) and 7 (I hold back from speaking

English because I feel that I commit grammatical errors.) had the highest mean of 2.87

and standard deviation of 0.82 indicating that the students were often affected by limited

vocabulary and limited knowledge of grammar to a moderate extent. The findings

presented had aligned closely with the study conducted by Lestari (2018) entitled

“Exploring the Factors Affecting Students’ English Speaking Fluency” which revealed

that there are two main categories that affect the students' English fluency and these are

the linguistic or cognitive and affective factors. Under the linguistic or cognitive factors

are students’ vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Thus, the cognitive factors that

moderately affected the tertiary students’ English oral fluency are limited vocabulary and

limited knowledge of grammar.

Followed by the statements with the highest mean, items 1 (I hold back from

speaking English because I have a limited vocabulary.) and 2 (I find it difficult to speak
 11

English naturally without using filler words.) obtained the higher mean of 2.83 and

standard deviation of 0.83 for the former and 0.79 for the latter emphasizing that the

students were often affected by limited vocabulary to a moderate extent. This is

supported by the study conducted by Khan et al. (2018) entitled “The Role of Vocabulary

Knowledge in Speaking Development of Saudi EFL Learners” which revealed that,

according to both teachers and students, lack of vocabulary is one of the main reasons

why students struggle to speak English.

Consecutively, item 3 (I hold back from speaking English when I have no idea of

the correct and appropriate words to use when speaking.) obtained the high mean of 2.80

and standard deviation of 0.85 emphasizing that the students were often affected by

limited vocabulary to a moderate extent. This is also supported by the studies conducted

by Khan et al. (2018) and Manurung and Izar (2019) that showed lack of vocabulary as

an internal factor that dominated the difficulties in speaking. In summary, limited

vocabulary moderately affected the tertiary students’ English oral fluency.

Notably, out of 20 statements, items 13 (I hold back from speaking English

because I struggle to say certain sounds or words.), 14 (I hold back from speaking

English because my speech articulation is affected by my regional or local accent.), and

15 (I hold back from speaking English if I do not know how to pronounce a particular

word.) had the lowest mean of 2.33 and standard deviation of 0.92 for items 13 and 15,

and 0.80 for item 14. Similarly, the lower mean of 2.40 with a standard deviation 0.81

was obtained by item 12 (I hold back from speaking English because I speak without

using proper intonation and stress). These statements indicated that the tertiary students

were sometimes affected by Poor Pronunciation to a low extent. These results are
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consistent with that of Gul et al. (2022), who found that poor pronunciation has no impact

on oral fluency.

Consecutively, items 17 (I hold back from speaking English because I might

forget the ideas in my mind.) and 19 (I hold back from speaking English because I am

unsure how to interpret the topic.) obtained the low mean of 2.53 with a standard

deviation of 0.73 for the former and 0.86 for the latter indicating that the students were

often affected by lack of knowledge about the topic to a moderate extent. The findings

presented had aligned closely with several studies. The study conducted by Genelza et al.

(2022) entitled “Problems in Speaking Performance of Grade 8 Jade of Tagum City

National High School” revealed that topical knowledge is a least problem in speaking

performance. In addition, Cowdhury (2014 as cited in Komariah, 2018) showed that lack

of knowledge in a particular topic is moderately responsible for the students’ English oral

fluency.

The overall mean score of the cognitive factors is 2.50 and standard deviation of

0.84 indicating that the English oral fluency of the tertiary students were often affected

by cognitive factors. Therefore, the table succinctly illustrates that cognitive factors

moderately affects the English oral fluency of tertiary students as reinforced by the mean

score. The findings presented in the table aligned closely with an existing body of

literature on the influence of cognitive factors to speaking ability. Through the use of

Spearman Rank correlation, Sudarman and Mangunsong (2022) found that a p value of

0.003 (p 0.05) and a correlation coefficient of 0.455 revealed a notable correlation

between cognitive factors and speaking abilities of children, as per statistical findings.
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The correlation coefficient of 0.455 denotes that cognitive variables have a moderate

influence on speaking ability.

Significant Difference in the Factors Affecting Oral Fluency

Affective Factors

To determine the significant difference of the factors affecting the respondents’

oral fluency when grouped according to sex, t-test was used. Meanwhile, A One Way

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant difference when

grouped according to degree program and ethnicity.

Table 4 shows difference in the affective factors affecting the oral fluency of the

tertiary students when grouped according to degree program, ethnicity and sex.

Table 4. Difference in the affective factors affecting the oral fluency of the tertiary
students
when grouped according to degree program, sex and ethnicity
Variables Categories Mean Computed p- Interpretation Decision
Test value
Statistic
BECEd 2.86
BEED 2.67
BSED 2.33
Science
BSED 2.70
Degree English F = 0.879 0.559 Not Significant Accept Ho1
Program BSED Math 2.30
BSED Social 3.32
Studies
BLIS 2.87
BSED 2.30
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Filipino
AB English 2.35
BSSW 1.85
Ilonggo 2.55
Cebuano 2.51
Ethnicity Islam 2.90 F = 1.773 0.177 Not Significant Accept Ho3
IP 3.48
Sex Male 3.33 t= 1.525 0.139 Not Significant Accept Ho2
Female 2.62

In terms of degree program, the computed f-value is 0.879 and the associated p-

value is 0.559. In terms of ethnicity, the computed f-value is 0.1773 and the associated p-

value is 0.177. In terms of sex, the computed t-value is 1.1525 and the associated p-value

is 0.139. This p-value which is higher than 0.01 indicates no statistical significance.

Overall, the study accepts Ho revealing that there is no significance difference in the

affective factors of the oral fluency when the respondents are grouped according to

degree program, ethnicity and sex. This means that irrespective of their profile, the

affective factors influencing their oral fluency did not vary.

The findings in this study was aligned with the literature as presented by “Factors

Affecting the Level of English Proficiency among IIUM Students”. This study revealed

that the factors affecting the level of English proficiency among International Islamic

University Malaysia “IUMM” undergraduate students were not affected by gender but

were affected by the duration of learning English. This study showed that gender did not

affect to English proficiency level among 75 IUMM undergraduate students (Rahman,

2016). Another study by Canceran (n.d.) found out that there is no significance difference

in the attitude of students towards speaking in English when grouped according to strand

and sex. Kooshe et al. (2011) explored no statistically considerable relationship between

speaking skills and gender. Likewise, Liu (2015) did not find significant gender
 15

difference with 150 first year engineering students in engineering majors. These

abovementioned studies were evidence that English academic achievement do not

depends on students’ sex.

In terms of ethnicity, a study conducted by Parangan and Buslon (2020)

entitled, ‘The Construct of Gender and Ethnicity in Language Proficiency of Post-

Colonial ESL Learners’ revealed that there is no significance difference on the English

Proficiency of the respondents when they are grouped according to ethnicity. This reveals

that ethnicity is not a variable affecting the students’ English Proficiency.

Cognitive Factor

Table 5 shows difference in the cognitive factors affecting the oral fluency of the

tertiary students when grouped according to degree program, ethnicity and sex.

Table 5. Difference in the cognitive factors affecting the oral fluency of the tertiary
students
when grouped according to degree program, sex and ethnicity

Variables Categories Mean Computed p- Interpretation Decision

Test value
Statistic
BECEd 2.64
BEED 2.75
BSED 2.57
Science
BSED 2.25 F = 0.375 0.934 Not Significant Accept Ho1
Degree English
Program BSED Math 2.35
BSED Social 2.88
Studies
BLIS 3.02
BSED 2.38
Filipino
AB English 2.20
BSSW 2.65
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Ilonggo 2.58
Cebuano 2.48
Ethnicity Islam 2.73 F = 2.479 0.083 Not Significant Accept Ho3
IP 3.60
Sex Male 3.15
Female 2.61 t = 1.284 0.210 Not Significant Accept Ho2

In terms of degree program, the computed f-value is 0.375 and the associated p-

value is 0.934. In terms of ethnicity, the computed f -value is 2.479 and the associated p-

value is 0.083. In terms of sex, the computed t-value is 1.284 and the associated p-value

is 0.210. This p-value is higher than 0.01 indicates no statistical significance. Overall, the

study accepts Ho which reveals that there is no significance difference that cognitive

factors affect the oral fluency when the respondents are grouped according to degree

program, ethnicity and sex.

The results are consistent with several related studies. Asio and Quijano’s (2023)

research, for instance, revealed that there is no significant difference of the respondents’

Level of English Proficiency when they are grouped according to their profile: course,

age, sex and dialect spoken. In terms of course, the results reveal that courses of the

respondents do not influence their English proficiency level along stress/intonation and

logical organization. In addition, results also reveal that the sex of the respondents do not

influence their stress/intonation, verbal abilities, spelling and punctuation and logical

organization. Moreover, in terms of profile dialect or ethnicity, it does not significantly

affect the English proficiency level of the respondents in terms of stress/intonation,

verbal abilities, correct usage, identifying error, spelling and punctuation, and logical

organization.
 17

The findings in this study was also aligned with the literature as presented by

Sijali (2016) in Nepal. The study aimed to investigate the English language proficiency

level of higher secondary level students with respect to gender, type of institution, both

an educational and streaming media. The results regarding gender revealed that the

English language proficiency level of male and female ELT students did not differ

statistically significantly. Another study by Hariri (2012) showed that gender does not

influence pronunciation accuracy of learners considerably and the pronunciation accuracy

of vowels for both males and females is not of significant difference and are almost the

same.

Other Factor Affecting Oral Fluency

There was one additional factor that was found from open-ended question.

These are narratives of the respondents that revealed one theme which is the mother

tongue.

In the open-ended question, “What other factors do you think affect your oral

fluency in English?” the respondents shared that:

Mother tongue

The use of mother tongue in daily life. (R4)

The factors that affect my oral fluency is that my mother tongue language. (R5)

Other factor that I think could affect my oral fluency in english is the medium that
I'm using while communicating to the institutions. (R12)

“Kaya hindi ako maka pag salita ng deritso sa English ay siguro sa aking
tribo/ethnicity na islam. Sa bahay namin hindi po kami naga salita ng English
dahil ang gamit namin na salita ay iranon salita ng tribong islam.” (R15)
 18

(That's why I can't speak straight in English, maybe it's because of my

tribe/ethnicity which is Islam. In our house, we don't speak English because the
language we use is Iranon, the dialect of the Islamic tribe.)

This aspect notably influence students' confidence, especially for those who are

not native English speakers and predominantly communicate in their mother tongue. In

addition to this, Alshayban & Alghammas (2020) reveals that students tend to be more

expressive and engaged when using their mother tongue compared to speaking solely in

English. Overall, the responses of R4, R5, R12 and 15 delve emphasis on environmental

factor wherein reflects the students' capacity to learn and use a language.

The findings supported by the study of Samah et.al, 2013 which showed that there

are number of factors that causes students' weaknesses in mastering speaking skills.

Among these reasons is due to lack of a strong culture and language environment to

support students who speak Arabic or mother tongue at school (Samah et.al, 2013).

CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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

study.

Summary
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This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the oral fluency of the tertiary

students of Southern Christian College during the academic year 2022-2023. Specifically,

it sought to determine the profile of the 30 tertiary students enrolled in the JEEP-Start

course in the first semester of the school year 2022-2023 in terms of degree program, sex,

and ethnicity, the factors affecting their English oral fluency, the significant difference in

these factors when grouped according to their profile, and other factors affecting their

English oral fluency.

A descriptive design was employed. Respondents completed an adapted survey

questionnaire divided into three parts. Part I of the questionnaire collected the

demographic profile of the respondents identifying their degree program, sex, and

ethnicity. Part II- A of the questionnaire was adapted from the research entitled Factors

Influencing the Speaking Skills by Licaros et al. (2022), which contained 20 statements

about the affective factors and another 20 statements about the cognitive factors affecting

oral fluency with a total of 40 statements for the quantitative method. These were

answered through four-point Likert-type scale responses: never (1), sometimes (2), often

(3), and always (4). The last part of the questionnaire was an open-ended question that

looked into other factors affecting the oral fluency for qualitative design. The whole

instrument was content validated by three experts and had been pilot tested. To determine

the respondents for the study, the researchers gathered the data about the tertiary students

enrolled in JEEP-Start course in the first semester of the school year 2022-2023 who had

garnered a score of 49% and below in the speech recognition test. A total of 30 students

participated in the study, with seven students from BECeD, six students from BEED,

three from BSED-Science, three from BSED-English, three from BSED- Math, three
 20

students from BSED Social Studies one from BSED-Filipino, two students from BLIS

and one student from AB English and BSSW making a total of 30 students. All of the

respondents had answered the survey questionnaire via google form.

The study revealed that the respondents’ oral fluency when they were grouped

according to their demographic profile, has three categories with corresponding

percentage distribution: degree program sex and ethnicity. In degree program, the data

showed that most of the respondents were from BECed (23.3%). In terms of sex,

majority of the respondents were female (93.3%) and as for the ethnicity, the result

showed that majority of the respondents were Ilonggo (40%). On the other hand, the

study revealed that the Oral fluency in English of the respondents is highly affected by

the pre-determined factors, namely affective and cognitive factors. The affective category

has the following accounts or statements with their corresponding means. The highest in

mean, had the mean of 2.93 and standard deviation of 1.34 indicating that the students

were often affected by fear of mistakes to a moderate extent while the lowest in mean had

the mean of 2.23 and standard deviation of 1.04 indicating that the students were

sometimes affected by shyness to a low extent. The mean suggests that the English oral

fluency of the tertiary students are affected by affective factors to a moderate extent. This

study also presents the cognitive factors affecting English oral fluency. It has the

following accounts with corresponding means. The highest in mean, had the mean of 2.87

and standard deviation of 0.82 indicating that the students were often affected by limited

vocabulary and limited knowledge of grammar to a moderate extent. The lowest in mean,

had the mean of 2.33 and standard deviation of 0.92 for items 13 and 15 and standard

deviation of 0.80 for item 14 indicating that the tertiary students were affected by poor
 21

pronunciation to a low extent. The mean suggests that, on average, the English oral

fluency of the tertiary students are affected by cognitive factors to a high extent.

Moreover, the study revealed that the affective factors affecting students’ English

Proficiency has no significance difference with that of the respondents when they are

grouped according to degree program, sex and ethnicity. This reveals that degree

program, sex and ethnicity is not a variable affecting the English Proficiency. Overall,

this study accept Ho1, Ho2 and Ho3 which it indicates that there is no statistical difference

affecting oral fluency when grouped according to degree program, ethnicity and sex.

Based on the result of the study gathered from the qualitative design, the

narratives of the respondents revealed one theme which is the mother tongue under the

environmental factor affecting oral fluency. Based on the viewpoint of the respondents it

gave the researchers the idea on what particular aspects takes light into the other factors

on the English oral fluency of students.

Conclusion

Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the English oral fluency

of the tertiary students are moderately affected by both the affective and cognitive

factors. Specifically by Anxiety for the former, and limited vocabulary and limited

knowledge of grammar for the latter. Since the result shows that affective and cognitive

factor moderately affects oral fluency, this means that there might be other factors

affecting oral fluency. The cognitive and affective factors as well as the other factors play

crucial roles. However, no significant differences were found with respondents when

grouped by degree program, sex and ethnicity. This suggests that, despite individual
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variations in these demographic factors, the overall impact on oral fluency remains

consistent among the students in the study. Further exploration into the intricate of

anxiety under cognitive factor, limited vocabulary and limited knowledge of grammar

under affective factor and mother tongue under environmental factor are recommended

for a comprehensive understanding of oral fluency development.

Recommendations

Based on the results and conclusion of this study, the following recommendations

are made:

1. For the English teachers to design and implement teaching approaches and

strategies that can encourage and motivate students to learn and use English

language in the classroom especially during speaking activity.

2. For students to take into account the factors that affect their speaking

performance and take extra initiative to acquire oral communicative skills in

English.

3. For future researchers to conduct a similar study and consider broadening the

scope by utilizing a large number of respondents and exploring the other

factors affecting oral fluency.

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Abstract

English language is the medium of instruction in classroom setting in which the

proliferation of information is pivotal in the development of communication skills, which

is why this research study will determine the factors affecting the English oral fluency in

tertiary education students of Southern Christian College. At this aim, a quantitative and

qualitative approach is applied to identify and measure the factors affecting their oral

fluency when grouped according to profile and the other factors affecting their English

oral fluency. In categorizing factors, a descriptive research is applied. To this effect,

survey questionnaire had been administered to the respondents. The results revealed that

there is no significant difference on oral fluency when grouped according to their profile;

degree program, sex, and ethnicity. Moreover, it has been proven that the affective,

cognitive and environmental were the factors that affect the English oral fluency of

students.