The Critical Significance of Teaching Strategies for English

Abstract

The teaching of English in the Philippines is geared toward achieving a high level of proficiency in the English language. However, recently there is a big decline in the English proficiency of Filipinos. The overall results of the English Language Placement Tests of Holy Name University have showed that most high school graduates were ill-prepared for college work and had to be required to take and pass an English Plus, a non-credit remedial class in order to acquire the level of proficiency in English required for college level academic work. The high school graduates’ deficiency in English has a far-reaching negative effect from a pedagogical standpoint. Such deficiency is fatal because it delimits the students learning in all levels of the curriculum. Thus, this research endeavoured to find out the critical significance of the teaching strategies for English that would better meet the needs of the range of learners in the classroom. The research hoped to assist English language teachers in addressing their needs and problems in the teaching of English.  This study assessed the effectiveness of teaching strategies for English. The research employed experimental design. The research used various modes of Instrumented Team Learning and Extramural requirements. The study used standardized objective tests prescribed by the English Linguistics Project. It had three 100- item objective tests- a diagnostic test, a progress test, and an exit test. It had 50-item objective periodical tests, used as part of the prelims, midterms, and finals. The tests measured the improvement of the students during the semester. The findings revealed that the varying achievement levels of students in English were significantly affected by the type of teaching strategy applied to the respective group of respondents. Of the three teaching methods, instrumented team learning was found to be the most effective method since it generated the highest improvement on the English proficiency of the students when it was applied to the students in the second experimental group. The differences among the mean scores in the diagnostic and exit tests indicated improvement in team learning, while differences among mean scores in periodical tests indicated individual improvement.