CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
2. Faculty Assessment of the Students’ English Language Micro-Skills Performance
Teacher respondents from Thai Nguyen University were evaluated for their perceptions regarding how they assess their student’s linguistic micro- skills. Fifty three teacher respondents were administered with a survey questionnaire as previously described and the results were tallied and analyzed. A set of 20 items on English micro-skills were included in the survey
cv
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
questionnaire for validation. The items include three items each on motor- perceptual skills, conceptual skills, intrasentencial structure and semantic relations skills, and information transfer skills, and two items each on intonation skills, deductive skills, perceptual- communicative skills, and discourse coherence skills. The result of this survey is shown in Table 6.
It can be observed that all of the 20 items obtained an agree score of
>84.91 percent. In fact, there were six items that recorded a score of 84.91 percent. This means that the teacher respondents unanimously agree that the list presented are valid language micro-skills that can be used to assess students’ linguistic proficiency. The micro-skill with the highest agree score is perceptual- communicative skills while the lowest is the conceptual skills.
This means that the teacher respondents are in an agreement that the skill to explicitly understand and express an explicit response are the more commonly expected micro-skills and those that pertain to a deeper understanding with correct and depth of emotion attached to the response as the least expected.
This also means that the teachers expect the basic micro-skills to be saliently demonstrated by the students and later followed by the more advanced micro-skills.
cvi
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
Table 6
English Language Micro-Skills of Students Utilized in the Basic English Course
Student Skills Agree % Rank
Motor-Perceptual Skills
1. The student is able to correctly articulate sounds in
isolated word forms. 45 84.91
2. The student is able to correctly articulate stress
patterns within word. 53 100.00
3. The student is able to correctly recognized and
manipulate the use of stress in connected speech. 46 86.79
Subtotal mean 48 90.57 4.5
Intonation Skills
4. The student is able to understand and correctly
produce intonation patterns. 45 84.91
5. The student is able to correctly interpret and
express meaning through pitch and pause 49 92.45
Subtotal mean 47 88.68 7.0
Deductive Skills
6. The student is able to understand and correctly
produce word formations. 49 92.45
7. The student is able to correctly recognize and
apply context clues. 45 84.91
Subtotal mean 47 88.68 7.0
Perceptual-Communicative Skills
8. The student is able to understand explicitly stated
information. 53 100.00
9. The student is able to express information
explicitly. 46 86.79
Subtotal mean 50 93.40 1.0
Conceptual skills
10. The student is able to demonstrate high degree of
understanding. 50 94.34
11. The student is able to deliver his message in
correct timing and facial expression 45 84.91 12. The student is able to deliver the information in
the correct direction. 45 84.91
Subtotal mean 47 88.05 7.0
cvii
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
Table 6 (continuation)
English Language Micro-Skills of Students Utilized in the Basic English Course
Student Skills Agree % Rank
Intrasentential Structure and Semantic Relations
Skills
13. The student is able to understand /express relations in sentences: elements of sentence structure, modal auxiliaries, negation
49 92.45
14. The student is able to understand/ express relations between parts of text through lexical
cohesion devices: synonyms, homonyms, apposition.
49 92.45
15. The student is able to understand/ express
relations between parts of a text through grammatical cohesion devices: reference, logical connectors.
49 92.45
Subtotal mean 49 92.45 2.5
Discourse Coherence Skills
16. The student is able to recognize/use indicators in discourse: develop an idea, transition to another idea, conclude an idea
53 100.00 17. The student is able to distinguish the main idea
from supporting details: statement from example, fact from opinion
45 84.91
Subtotal mean 49 92.45 2.5
Information Transfer Skills
18. The student is able to complete a diagram, table,
and graph 49 92.45
19. The student is able to construct table, diagram,
and graph 49 92.45
20. The student is able to paraphrase 46 86.79
Subtotal mean 48 90.57 4.5
Composite Mean:
48.13
90.81
The teacher respondents were also made to rate the micro-skill items depending on how they perceived the students frequently apply these skills.
The result is shown in Table 7.
cvii
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
Table 7
English Language Micro-Skills of Students as to Frequency of Use
Student Skills Mean
Score Rank Rating
Motor-Perceptual Skills
1. The student is able to correctly articulate
sounds in isolated word forms. 4.0 O
2. The student is able to correctly articulate stress
patterns within word. 3.9 O
3. The student is able to correctly recognized and
manipulate the use of stress in connected speech. 3.8 O
Subtotal mean 3.9 4.0 O
Intonation Skills
4. The student is able to understand and correctly
produce intonation patterns. 3.5 O
5. The student is able to correctly interpret and
express meaning through pitch and pause 3.7 O
Subtotal mean 3.6 8.0 O
Deductive Skills
6. The student is able to understand and correctly
produce word formations. 3.9 O
7. The student is able to correctly recognize and
apply context clues. 3.8 O
Subtotal mean 3.8 6.5 O
Perceptual-Communicative Skills
8. The student is able to understand explicitly
stated information. 4.1 O
9. The student is able to express information
explicitly. 3.9 O
Subtotal mean 4.0 1.5 O
Conceptual Skills
10. The student is able to demonstrate high
degree of understanding. 3.9 O
11. The student is able to deliver his message in
correct timing and facial expression 3.7 O
12. The student is able to deliver the information
in the correct direction. 3.9 O
Subtotal mean 3.9 4.0 O
cix
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
Table 7 (continuation)
English Language Micro-Skills of Students as to Frequency of Use
Student Skills Mean Score Rank Rating
Intrasentential Structure and
Semantic Relations Skills
13. The student is able to understand /express relations in sentences:
elements of sentence structure, modal auxiliaries, negation
3.9 O
14. The student is able to understand/
express relations between parts of text through lexical cohesion devices:
synonyms, homonyms, apposition.
4.0 O
15. The student is able to understand/
express relations between parts of a text through grammatical cohesion devices:
reference, logical connectors.
4.0 O
Subtotal mean 4.0 1.5 O
Discourse Coherence Skills
16. The student is able to recognize/use indicators in discourse: develop an idea, transition to another idea, conclude an idea
3.9 O
17. The student is able to distinguish the main idea from supporting details:
statement from example, fact from opinion
4.0 O
Subtotal mean 3.9 4.0 O
Information Transfer Skills
18. The student is able to complete a
diagram, table, and graph 3.7 O
19. The student is able to construct
table, diagram, and graph 4.0 O
20. The student is able to paraphrase 3.7 O
Subtotal mean 3.8 6.5 O
Composite Mean: 3.86 O
cx
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
It can be noted from the table that all of the items got ratings >3.6 which is verbally equivalent to often. This means that the teachers generally perceived all the micro-skills to be practiced often by the students. The item with the highest score is a tie between perceptual- communicative skills and intrasentencial structure and semantic relations skills both with a mean frequency score of 4.0. It is interesting to note that the same high scoring item in the frequency assessment is the same item in the validity assessment.
Furthermore, the appearance of the item on intrasentencial structure and semantic relations skills as a top scoring item in terms of frequency reflects on the grammatical prioritization that linguistic courses are offered under this setting. The item with the least score is on Intonation skills with a frequency score of 3.6. This indicates that among the micro-skills, intonation could be perceived as the least frequently practiced. This can be expected as intonation and pitch and pause patterns in English language are apart from Vietnamese language and would require the appropriate setting for it to be frequently practiced and such may not be available frequently in the classroom setting, as indicated by the a low frequency of observation.
The teacher respondents also rate the micro-skill items according to their degree of importance. The result is shown in Table 8.
cxi
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
Table 8
English Language Micro-Skills of Students as to Degree of Importance
Student Skills Mean
Score Rank Rating
Motor-Perceptual Skills
1. The student is able to correctly articulate sounds
in isolated word forms. 4.5 VI
2. The student is able to correctly articulate stress
patterns within word. 4.5 VI
3. The student is able to correctly recognized and
manipulate the use of stress in connected speech. 4.6 VI
Subtotal mean 4.6 4.5 VI
Intonation Skills
4. The student is able to understand and correctly
produce intonation patterns. 4.6 VI
5. The student is able to correctly interpret and
express meaning through pitch and pause 4.7 VI
Subtotal mean 4.7 1.5 VI
Deductive Skills
6. The student is able to understand and correctly
produce word formations. 4.8 VI
7. The student is able to correctly recognize and
apply context clues. 4.4 MI
Subtotal mean 4.6 4.5 VI
Perceptual-Communicative Skills
8. The student is able to understand explicitly stated
information. 4.6 VI
9. The student is able to express information
explicitly. 4.7 VI
Subtotal mean 4.7 1.5 VI
Conceptual Skills
10. The student is able to demonstrate high degree
of understanding. 4.5 VI
11. The student is able to deliver his message in
correct timing and facial expression 4.6 VI
12. The student is able to deliver the information in
the correct direction. 4.6 VI
Subtotal mean 4.6 4.5 VI
cxii
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
Table 8 (continuation)
English Language Micro-Skills of Students as to Degree of Importance
Student Skills Mean
Score Rank Rating Intrasentential Structure and Semantic
Relations Skills
13. The student is able to understand/ express relations in sentences: elements of sentence structure, modal auxiliaries, negation
4.5 VI
14. The student is able to understand/ express relations between parts of text through lexical cohesion devices: synonyms, homonyms, apposition.
4.5 VI
15. The student is able to understand/ express relations between parts of a text through
grammatical cohesion devices: reference, logical connectors.
4.3 MI
Subtotal mean 4.4 8 MI
Discourse Coherence Skills
16. The student is able to recognize/use indicators in discourse: develop an idea, transition to
another idea, conclude an idea
4.6 VI
17. The student is able to distinguish the main idea from supporting details: statement from example, fact from opinion
4.6 VI
Subtotal mean 4.6 4.5 VI
Information Transfer Skills
18. The student is able to complete a diagram,
table, and graph 4.5 VI
19. The student is able to construct table,
diagram, and graph 4.5 VI
20. The student is able to paraphrase 4.4 MI
Subtotal mean 4.5 7 MI
Composite Mean: 4.59 VI
It can be noted from the table that all of the items had ratings >4.4 which means that the items could range from moderate to very important. This
cxii
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines
indicates that the teacher respondents generally perceived all the micro-skills to be of a high degree of importance and thus, must always be included in the teaching scheme and competency assessment of freshman students.
The item with the highest rating in terms of degree of importance is a tie between perceptual-communicative skills and intonation skills. The lowest scoring item is intrasentential structure and semantic relations skills.