Presented to the Department of English and Applied Linguistics

De La Salle University - Manila

Term 2, A.Y. 2017-2018

In partial fulfillment
of the course
ENGRESH L85

Code-Switching in Performance Activities in Improving Motivation and Participation

Submitted by:
Arceo, Wren Bernard A.
Blancaflor, Renee Julia D.

Submitted to:
Ms. Aileen Bautista

August 18, 2018

CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION 1

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 3

1.1 Background of the Study 3

1.2 Assessment of the Current Situation Study 4
1.3 Identification of Root Cause/s 4
1.4 Review of Related Literature 5
1.5 Theoretical Framework 9
1.6 Conceptual Framework 10
1.7 Statement of AR Problems 11
1.8 Development of Action Plan 11
1.9 Reflections 13
2.1 The Research Design 15

2.2 Research Participants 16

2.3 The Research Instruments 17

2.4 The Implementation 18

2.5 Analysis of Evidences 19

2.6 Reflection 19

Reference List 21
Appendix 24
CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION 2

1.1 Background of the Study

A fast-moving worldwide shift is apparent in non-anglophone countries where English

“being taught as a foreign language (EFL)” is becoming English as “the medium of

instruction (EMI) for academic subjects” (Dearden, 2015, p. 2). EMI is generally used in

countries where the first language (L1) of the population is not English. “This phenomenon

has very important implications for the education of young people and is increasingly being

used in universities, secondary schools and even primary schools” (Dearden, 2015, p. 2).

While also taking on the concept of EFL learning, the 1935 Commonwealth Constitution

declared English as an official language in the Philippines.The most recent declaration is the

1987 Constitution that made Filipino and English the official languages. The definition of

‘official languages’ was modified by the Members of the Constitutional Commision to

specify “what the domains of official languages are: ‘for purposes of communication and

instruction” and “thus, the medium of instruction in the educational system is one domain of

the official languages of the Philippines” (Gonzales & Villacorta, 2001, p.14).

As most educational institutions of the Philippines use English as the medium of

instruction (EMI), it is established that Philippine students are no longer EFL learners, but

rather English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. According to Gonzalez and Villacorta

(2001), “the use of two languages (Filipino and English) has been accepted to a large extent

by parents, teachers, administrators of GO’s and NGO’s, and students” (p. 14). There have

been more disagreements on the use of Filipino at the secondary level as “compared to the

elementary level and there are widespread reservations about its wide use at the tertiary

level” (Gonzalez & Villacorta, 2001, p. 14). Gonzales and Villacorta (2001) argue that there
CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION 3

are viability problems in the secondary and tertiary levels “because of the relative

underdevelopment of Filipino thus far for academic use and scholarly work” (p.16).

Since Filipino is being regarded as Underdeveloped in terms of being used for academic

and scholarly work, it may have further implications on the studies of Filipino students

including those on the topic of motivation. Motivation, which is “the process whereby goal-

directed activity is instigated and sustained” (Schunk, Pintrich, & Meece, 2008, p. 22). It has

been an issue in many classrooms around the globe and the Philippines is no exception.

There are many theories in relation to motivation, but this paper will specifically focus on

one by Stephen Krashen. Krashen’s (1982) theory on second language acquisition (SLA)

deals, in part, with five hypotheses: the acquisition-learning distinction, the natural order

hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, the input hypothesis, and the affective filter

hypothesis. Focusing on the affective filter hypothesis, Mohamed Khalifa (2017) explains Commented [1]: cite this in references
Commented [2]: https://books.google.com.ph/books?i
Krashen’s hypothesis by saying it is “an impediment to learning (or acquisition) caused by d=LV0pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=an+imp
ediment+to+learning+(or+acquisition)+caused+by+neg
ative+emotional+(%E2%80%9Caffective%E2%80%9D)
negative emotional (“affective”) responses to one’s environment” (p.65). This hypothesis is +responses+to+one%E2%80%99s+environment&sour
ce=bl&ots=aN0S27BiNl&sig=Ore7dyPvd-
tied to motivation because in theory, Philippine students will likely be less motivated in the ijyMFgQgKqbP1jMoY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHt
_mQvOzcAhUJBIgKHVlbDsQQ6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v
=onepage&q=an%20impediment%20to%20learning%2
classroom if they are not comfortable with speaking English. 0(or%20acquisition)%20caused%20by%20negative%2
0emotional%20(%E2%80%9Caffective%E2%80%9D)
%20responses%20to%20one%E2%80%99s%20enviro
1.2 Assessment of the Current Situation nment&f=false

The information gathered from the triangulation of data is broken down into three main parts,

these being; the Teacher interview, the student survey, and finally, researcher based

observations. According to the teaching interview, these students coming from a new class were

all from the ABM (Accounting and Business Management) class since their entrance into high

school. As guided by the main source of this information, that being the teacher, it should be

noted that this could possibly be a factor that affects the students motivation in terms of learning
CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION 4

English, as English is not a main subject in their course, other than that, the class was also said to

have been able to understand a “decent amount” of English, however did prefer to speak in their

L1, which is Filipino. As for the student survey, the researchers were unfortunately unable to use

the class from the original observation during the implementation period, and thus, the student

survey data was found to be of no use in assessing the situation of the class that had actually

been implemented. Lastly, based on the findings of the researchers’ observations, it was clear

that the students seemed to be quite understanding of the English language, however, it was

obvious that their preference and comfortability was when they were able to speak in their L1.

1.3 Root Cause/s

After a short meeting with the teacher of the class, the researchers had found that the

problem being seen by the teacher deals in motivation. The teacher feels that students are not

participative, nor are they engaged enough, to answer questions about their given topic, the

teacher attributed this to the fact that the block is a S.T.E.M (Science, Technology,

Engineering, and Mathematics) block, and that her class is an English class. To further assess

the information given to us by the teacher, an observation was held, and the teacher’s

hypothesis was proven. Students lacked interest and half of the class was completely quiet

and or not participating at all. During the observation it was quite evident that there was a

lack of motivation in the class due to some of the students falling asleep, on their phones, or

otherwise just chatting with their classmates. It should also be noted that most students are

having difficulty concerning speaking and reading lines of English during class, and shows

that most of these students could possibly be ESL (English as a Second Language) learners.

1.4 Review of Related Literature

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With a topic of Code-switching versus English activities, the researchers of the study

investigated whether code-switching activities improved the motivation of students to

participate in the English classroom. Regrettably, there is a limited amount of literature when

dealing with motivation and code-switching in local studies. Fortunately, however, there

were international studies that were loosely related to this topic. The following studies were

beneficial to the present research.

Background of ESL/EFL Learners

Gonzales and Villacorta (1981) wrote a journal article entitled Traditional Reading

Problems in English in a Philippine Bilingual Setting which reviewed the problems of

bilingual education in the primary grades in the Philippines (Gonzalez & Villacorta, 1981,

p.3). Although there is no specific theory to which the study is based, it seems as though he is

following Kachru’s Circles of English as they used observation and review of literature as the

instruments for gathering research. In their research, it was discovered that many of these

difficulties “arise from graphic interference between Pilipino as the first language of the

country and English as the second” (Gonzales & Villacorta, 1981, p. 3).

In line with the difficulties of learning using two languages and the learners that were

produced during this process; which were ESL/EFL learners, Bostad, Cwikla, and Kienzle

(2015) have a study that was made to show better strategies about building success for ESL

learners by mostly focusing on understanding, and the level of confidence the teacher has in

their student. The study found that while a small number of teachers feel competent in their

students’ background, the majority felt that most of their students lacked understanding. In

order to clarify and quantify this pattern, the survey also asked teachers their level of

familiarity with different cultural concepts commonly attributed to ELL students.

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Second Language Acquisition

Another study related to ESL/EFL learners was published in 2015, but focused on the

acquisition of a second language as opposed to the ESL learners themselves. Shvidko, Evans,

and Hartshorn (2015) are following Krashen’s Second Language Acquisition Theory and

their study was modeled to collect student perspectives about their first language (L1) use

outside the classroom. Their respondents included students in an English Language Center

based in the United States and their instruments consisted of interviews, focus groups, and

questionnaires. It was discovered that four factors influenced students’ L1 use outside of the

classroom namely “sociocultural factors, linguistic factors, individual factors, and affective

factors” (Shvidko, Evans, & Hartshorn, 2015, p. 11). They propose, based on their findings,

that although many schools have language use policies, those schools should, instead, evolve

to language use plans to maximize the language development among the students.

Other than factors that affect the students L1s, Second language acquisition has been an

intriguing topic for some other researchers including McCann, Hecht, and Ribeau (1986)

whose study was covers the role of communication in acquiring a second language.

Following the varying hypotheses of Krashen, McCann and her group agree that

“comprehensible input in the second language is critical to acquisition” (McCann, Hecht, &

Ribau, 1986, p. 33). Their study specifically offers support to Krashen’s Affective Filter

hypothesis as seen through their use of the questionnaire among Mexican and Vietnamese

college students in southern California. As stated by Krashen (1982), the affective filter

hypothesis “predicts that input will be blocked or rendered useless unless the second

language student has a lowered or weak affective filter” (p. 33). The results of their study

significantly supported the affective filter hypothesis and two more of Krashen’s hypotheses
 CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION 7

“if the traditional .05 level of significance is used as the criterion. However, the support for

the hypothesis is tempered by the small amount of explained variance” (McCann, Hecht, &

Ribau, 1986, p. 36).

In this next study, Crookes, (1992) discusses “areas associated with critical language

pedagogy” and covers the role of action research, as well as the two differing types of action

research that should be taken into account when conducting ESL research studies. This study

aims to show exactly what extra work must be done to improve L2 learning and also

highlights the practicality of the subject itself; how beneficial L2 learning can be, as well as

how much it must be changed for the better. The featured results show that ESL classrooms

and students can have certain reactions to taking part in an Action Research, and this can

negatively impact or change the Data gathered.

While discussing points of which he thinks are important to note when it comes to doing

research on L2 learners, Silva, (1993) highlights certain aspects that can completely affect

research data among the research community. One of these aspects is second language

acquisition because second language learners are subject to develop their own interpretations

of text based on their culture. The paper finds that in most cases of L2 learners there is fairly

strong evidence to suggest that L2 writing and speech are less fluent processes and contain

generalizable text patterns.

Motivation and Self-Confidence

In terms of motivation in the classroom, there are numerous studies dealing with the

motivation of ESL/EFL learners. Lihong Shi (2017) conducted a study that aimed to portray

the degree “to which self-efficacy research in ESL/EFL has covered” (p. 2). Her research

seems to be based on Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy as seen in his use of other journal
CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION 8

articles and studies as his research instruments. Shi (2017) specifies that the aspect of self-

efficacy requires further probing. Regardless, she ends her study with the idea “that self-

efficacy has a significant role in second/foreign language learning”, and there is an

implication about learners and how they could “achieve better academic results, use more

learning strategies, maintain low language anxiety and keep healthy attributions if they had

high self-efficacy” (Shi, 2017, p. 454). Shi concludes the paper by suggesting that, “it is

important for teachers to help the students maintain properly high but accurate self-efficacy

beliefs”(Shi, 2017, p. 463).

Another researcher based in Japan, Setsuko Mori (2004), also conducted a study related

to motivation. Her study, based on the socio-educational model of language learning by

Howard Gardner, investigated the relationship between the motivation of students when it

comes to reading in English and the amount of time spent reading outside of class. These

students that Mori refers to are Japanese EFL students whose major is not English. After

gathering data from tests and questionnaires, Mori concluded with the results that “two

motivational constructs were significant predictors of the amount of reading: (1) a factor

indicative of students’ study habits, and (2) a factor of task-specific motivation indicative of

students’ lack of intrinsic value of stories” (Mori, 2004, p. 63). This goes to show that

motivation plays a huge role on EFL/ESL student participation in an English class.

Although there are many international studies on the topic, the researchers were able to

find a more local study, that found what most ESL students in the Philippines are struggling

with, in regards to motivational issues, and deeply explores the nature of motivation in ESL

students, not only with psychological background studies, but also themes such as; Intrinsic

and Extrinsic motivation was conducted by; Pulido, Mariflores, Ignacio, Tacay, and Lao,
CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION 9

(2010). They base their study most on Gardner & Lambert's theories of Language Learning

Motivation. The results of the study show that students who are intrinsically motivated to

learn certain communicative skills show their motivation differently according to whatever

intrinsic motivation drives them the most.

Additionally, there is a study that shows how motivation in ESL classrooms are quite

low, but how this can be remedied by positive goal setting and other goal setting methods,

most of which are quite simple, however quite effective was created by Leslie, (2013). As

shown in the aforementioned study, students generally reacted very positively about setting

goals and using self-assessments, the results of which show with almost two thirds of

learners agreeing that they spoke more English in class because they set goals for speaking.

The theory she centers her research on is Clement, Dörnyei and Noel's (1998) linguistic self‐

confidence. The obvious research gap when it comes to using this study is definitely that of

the time or year gap from each of the studies, unfortunately, there is a limited amount of

studies that focus on the same topic, thus there is a huge leap in the range of year.

1.5 Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on Krashen’s theory of Second Language Acquisition which is

centralized upon the distinction that Krashen himself makes of Second Language Learning

(SLL) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This distinction has been noted by many

researchers in the field as a ground breaking. According to Krashen, acquisition of language

is a subconscious process, while learning language is a more conscious process. He

emphasizes that acquisition is far more important in developing second language

competence; this is because the competence developed through acquisition is what is

responsible for generating language, and therein, it should account for development of
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10

language fluency as well. He continues by saying; competence gained through learning can

only be as limited as what has been acquired.

The main concept of the researchers’ study is, that developing one’s language fluency

should affect one’s motivation, as it is likely that if one is more sure that he/she is capable of

speaking in a certain language, they will be more drawn to use it in everyday conversation, or

in the classroom setting.

1.6 Conceptual Framework

The concept behind the action research follows Figure 1 (see Appendix A) as seen below.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework based on Krashen’s hypothesis

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As seen in this figure, the concept simply embodies the entirety of what this study focuses on

which is the use of code-switching in performance activities to improve the motivation and

participation of students in the English classroom.

1.6.1 Performance Based Activities

In order to carry out this concept in the implementation, the researchers focused on

activities such as brainstorming, peer-review, homework, and group discussions. The

performance activities were chosen because they can easily be used to facilitate the use of code-

switching among students. Another reason why the researchers chose to focus on performance

activities is because it is easy to monitor the conversations among students to see if they are

actually code-switching during this portion of the lesson proper as can be recorded through audio

recordings, written outputs, and observation.

1.6.2 Code-Switching

Although many schools do not allow students to use their L1 during performance

activities so as to enforce the practice of using straight English, the researchers felt that in

performance activities, students will be able to give more genuine responses if they use their L1

and have their peers aid in rewording their ideas in English. The researchers hypothesize that the

students may feel more comfortable in using their L1 as a scaffolding tool alongside English in

the classroom and will also feel more motivated to participate in the class.

1.6.3 Motivation and Participation

If students are motivated in the classroom, it usually follows that they will participate. On

the other hand, if students participate, it does not necessarily follow that the students are

motivated. This is why the concept of participation is under motivation in Figure 1 above (see
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12

Appendix A). The motivation and participation was measured and monitored separately as will

be discussed in chapter three.

1.6.4 Assessments

The motivation and participation of the students are very important to the researchers as

that was the main issue they observed in the classroom. However, through the student

assessments that include the pre and post tests, the researchers were able to monitor genuine

participation and motivation through the results. The assessment that the researchers developed

is explained in chapter two, but this assessment was modeled to measure the growth of the

students in terms of their use of English after using code-switching as a scaffolding tool. This is

the main flow of the conceptual framework.

1.7 Statement of Action Research Problems

The objective for this action research is to see if code-switching in performance based

activities will improve students’ participation and motivation in the English classroom. The

students may not be aware of how helpful code-switching could be in building their

confidence to participate in the English class. It is important that students recognize that there

is a likely factor affecting their motivation in the classroom, which inhibits their

participation. The factor observed by the researchers was the uncomfortability of the students

to speak in straight English due to the fact that they are ESL learners. Therefore, the research

questions that are parallel with this objective for the action research are: Will code-switching

in performance based activities improve students’ participation and motivation in the English

classroom as seen in their assessments? What are the effects of using code-switching in

performance based activities among students?

1.8 Development of Action Plan

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The researchers developed the action plan from the data in the following sections:

Theoretical Framework, Conceptual Framework, Needs Analysis, and Review of Related

Literature (RRL). More specifically, this section of the paper will focus on the unfolding of

the study from the proposal stage, until the final steps of the implementation.

1.8.1 Theory

As previously discussed, the action research is based on Stephen Krashen’s Second

Language Acquisition theory. This theory discusses multiple hypotheses that explain how

SLA works. This study focuses specifically on the affective filter hypothesis. With that, it

can be said that this theory and hypothesis have two types of implications—implications to

teaching and implications to learning. These implications include that the performance of the

students may not be what the teacher expected, that the teacher may have to modify lessons

as necessary for the SL learners, and that the motivation of the students may be affected or

lowered. SLA and motivation have been discussed in varying studies, with Krashen as a

theoretical base, that the researchers have incorporated in their RRL. The theory was used as

a basis of incorporation for the researchers’ activities, the materials that the researchers used,

and finally the lessons and worksheets or handouts that the researchers created.

1.8.2 Methodologies

The researchers conducted a review of related literature by allocating resources with

similar or related topics. The general nature of many of the studies are related to Krashen,

motivation, and SLL. However, these studies do not correlate SLA and motivation with code-

switching. Thus, the importance of this research paper was to be able to fill that gap. The

local studies lack in addressing the real need of the proponents to incorporate and use their

L1 to improve their motivation to use their L2. which prompted the researchers
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1.8.3 Population

The initial proponents of this action research were eleventh grade students enrolled in the

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program, under section A. In terms of

the students’ needs, English is their second language, and subjects in STEM were taught

mainly in the students’ L1, which is Filipino. Another need of the students was for the

teacher to use code switching to clarify some aspects of their English class. It should be

noted that the original population, which was the class of students that the researchers’

observed that is being described above, was not the same population that the researchers

conducted their final implementation on. The final population of the study was actually an

ABM (Advertising and Business Management) class, who were also from Grade 11. The

final population of students that the researchers observed displayed some similarities in terms

of the motivational issues in regards to their participation during their English class. This led

to the researchers eventual choosing of this class.

1.8.4 Variables

The variables in this action research were as stated in the conceptual framework. In hopes

to better the motivation and participation of Philippine students, whose major is not in

English, in the English classroom, the researchers proposed to incorporate code-switching

(the use of both the students’ L1 and L2 in forming sentences) in performance based

activities such as brainstorming, peer-review, homework, and group discussions. This

allowed for the students to slowly become more comfortable in using English alongside their

L1 and eventually just English. Because the class is an English class and the students are not

allowed to have their final projects or assignments in any language except English, the

researchers chose to have the students use code-switching in the performance based tasks so
 CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION
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that their planning stages and minor assignments with encourage them to participate more in

English in their assessments. The researchers monitored any changes in the students’

performance through their assessments such as oral recitation, quizzes, and paper

presentations.

1.8.5 Planning

The researchers initially planned to follow the timetable (see Appendix D-1) below

wherein they would have one day for each major activity and at least three days of

implementation.

Figure 13. Proposed Timetable for Implementation

Unfortunately, the researchers were unable to follow this schedule due to lack of time from the

issues in finding a class to conduct the implementation in. This issue will be expounded on in

chapter four. The class that the researchers ended up with would only be able to meet the

researchers on their blended learning days which were once a week for two hours, so the

researchers ended up compressing the timetable into three days of implementation. The actual

timetable can be seen in the figure below (see Appendix D-2).

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Figure 14. Actual Timetable for Implementation

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1.9 Reflections

The main issues that the researchers faced when performing the research, was undoubtedly,

securing a class to perform an action research on, as well as securing a topic for our action

research itself, since both issues come hand in hand. Many complications and difficulties arose

during the “hunting period” for the class, such as schedule problems, sudden cancellations, and

more, all whilst following a strict deadline. The researcher’s first of many complications arose

during the first week of the hunting period, when their first initial class, that the researchers had

already been granted access to, observation wise, had to suddenly be cancelled due to the

researchers finding out that the class itself was a Ph.D class, this lead to complications in looking

for any problems to solve in the class, and thus, the researchers could not come up with a suitable

topic or problem to be solved by course of conducting an action research, and so the class was

dropped. This flustered the researchers as they were unsure as to how they would fulfill their

requirements for their research class. In hindsight, the researchers should have other classes in

mind as alternatives in the event that this issue could happen again.

The next class that the researchers had in mind, was filled with miscommunications during

the contacting of the professor for the class. The professor had initially allowed the researchers to

observe the class, but when given a set of interview questions, regarding the “problems in the

class and its students,” an unexpected response, which can only be described as either confused

or sarcastic, came to the researchers in an email expressing that “should you want to ask about

my students, you must ask them yourself, as I am not to divulge their personal lives to strangers

for a research.” It is quite commonplace for misunderstandings like this to happen, and the

professor did have the right response even through the misunderstanding. It is important to take

note of the teacher and student consent on any matters going on during research. The researchers
 CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION
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after many failed attempts to further clarify and reason the situation with the professor, decided

to cancel the class, as the deadline was drawing near, and the situation was not getting any better.

Reminiscing, the researchers should have conducted a face to face interview instead so as to

avoid any miscommunications. It is a given that not all professors will be able to accommodate

student researchers with their requirements, but the effort should not stop if there are still

requirements to obtain. The researchers learned that they should really be in constant

communication with multiple teachers before solidifying their choice to classroom that still has a

possibility of withdrawing their participation.

With the deadline only days away, the researchers had contacted many different teachers, but

were unable to meet the requirements for the deadline. This resulted in the researchers to become

severely delayed, however after a few more days of hunting for more classes, the researchers

were able to get a response from another professor willing to accept them into the class. The

professor was very cooperative, especially in the problems that they had noticed in the

classroom, and even gave the researchers possible theories to work with when it comes to

developing their action research, within the next few weeks, the researchers were back on track

and were able to conduct the necessary observations and collect the relevant data for the study.

Given all the challenges the researchers encountered, the researchers have reflected that

gathering data is quite difficult and may be met with many issues, but they should always be

faced with backup plans and positive attitudes.

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2.0 The Research Design

Action research, as defined by the glossary of education reform (Edglossary.org, 2015),

“is an investigative, evaluative and analytical research method that aims to provide solutions to

diagnosable problems or weaknesses found in an academic classroom” (para. 1). With the

definition established, action research can be seen as a teacher friendly tool used to address

issues in the classroom that can be problematic, and can be very useful to anyone in the teaching

profession. Having said that, action research is a perfect approach to help improve the classroom

standards of a class struggling with motivation and performance issues. During the course of the

researchers’ study, the problem that the researcher’s faced and tried to provide a solution to, was

the students’ performance in an English class, which appeared to be suffering due to their lack of

motivation to use strictly English in the classroom as most students are second language learners

and are unable to fully comprehend lessons in the classroom. Due to the previously mentioned

issue, the researchers hope to implement certain discussions allowing students to loosely

speaking in their native tongue, with a combination of English, in hopes that students will gain a

better understanding and motivation in the classroom.

Motivation in relation to Krashen’s SLA theory is important to study because it goes back

to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow (1943) states that the fourth level in the

hierarchy is esteem which is “the need to feel confident and respected by others” (p. 381). This is

related to second language learning in that the motivation and participation of students in the

English classroom may decrease because they do not feel completely confident in using English

in front of their peers. This emphasizes the importance of this research paper in educational

background of L1 and L2 learners, or of ESL learning in the Philippines. The process in the

writing of the Action Research paper itself that could help find a possible solution to the given
 CODE-SWITCHING IN IMPROVING MOTIVATION
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problem would most likely be the implementation, as this is where the researchers can actually

observe the changes and progress of students when it comes to students’ capacity to learning in

English.

2.1 Research Participants

The following section is an elaboration of the participants’ background, school life, and

issue.

2.1.1 Background of participants

According to the needs analysis survey that was initially conducted, most students would

prefer to Filipino more often than English. As seen in Figures 5 and 6 (see Appendix B), these

students are ESL learners and majority of them seem to be split between using straight Tagalog

and using Taglish at home with a small 12.8% that use straight English. It is also seen that 69.2%

of the students use Taglish with their peers making Taglish the language that is more commonly

used.

Generally, the students in the English class that the researchers are working with are from

ages fifteen to seventeen. According to the interview with the professor, De La Salle University

Senior High is comprised of two grades—eleventh and twelfth grades. The senior high was

introduced as part of the newly implemented K-12 system.

2.1.2 Participants in school

Both sets of students were all a part of De La Salle University’s Senior High School

under the K-12 curriculum. The first group in particular were all enrolled in the Science,

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students whose course has little to no use

for pure English. However, the school itself is an English speaking campus. However, the actual

students in the research implementation that mirrored the first set were students of the
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Accounting, Business, and Management (ABM) course. Results from the initial needs analysis

show that the students say they are often comfortable in the English classroom, but if they could,

they often prefer to use Filipino. Also, when asked in class to use straight English, the students

only participate sometimes as seen from 21 of our 39 respondents in Figure 8 (see Appendix B).

During a class observation, the researchers noticed that most students were either not

participative or just dozed off. Most students have to be called upon as opposed to them

voluntarily raising their hands.

2.1.3 Issue of participants

Among many other issues that the students have, the researchers concluded that the

major issue in the classroom dealt with motivation. The students were characterized as having

some issues in terms of reading aloud, but the main issue that was identified by the researchers

was their lack of participation and motivation in the English classroom. Most students were

hesitant to respond or even raise their hand to answer the professor, and a few of the students

even dozed off, or fell asleep. This was seen through the survey responses, the observation, and

the teacher-interview conducted. This action research aimed to solve this issue by addressing the

needs of motivation and participation of the students.

2.2 The Research Instruments

The researchers’ instruments and tools was used mainly to monitor and record data in the

field, as well as compute data that has been gathered. The main tool that we have used in

gathering data in the field, was by means of our triangulation of data. The first aspect of the

triangulation, is the teacher interview, which was conducted by means of recordings, this

interview was meant to gather a background on the students, and their possible behaviors, or

their level of understanding in terms of English. Another aspect that the researchers used to
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22

develop the triangulation is the survey given to the original batch of students, which was

conducted to gather students insights and develop a better, more personalized understanding of

the background of the students in the study. The final aspect used in the triangulation of our

data, was the researchers’ observation, the researchers used their observation to create the

problem and main focus of the action research. Other than that, the researchers used student tally

marks to measure student motivation, and Microsoft Excel, to produce the final computations of

the testing.

Continuing to the pre and post testing phase, the researchers initially proposed to have a

prepared audio test, modeled loosely after that of the TOEIC (The Test of English for

International Communication). An audio or listening test requires students to be fully attentive

and aware of a certain material that tests their understanding. The audio test that would have

been prepared is strictly to be spoken or answered in English, with no exceptions. However, the

actual pre-test that the researchers administered to the students, was a group synthesis

presentation on a poem that was provided by the researchers. Wherein groups were tasked to

converse with each other, strictly using English, then present their ideas in front of the class

afterwards. The researchers had also prepared a post-test that works similarly to the pre-test,

however did not use the strict English barrier in the conducting of the test during the group

conversation. This means that students were allowed to code-switch during the post test, to test

whether the students’ performance had increased or stayed the same.

2.3 The Implementation

Prior to the actual implementation of the action plan, the researchers were supposed to

conduct a pilot testing with a similar class to smooth out the rough edges of the action plan,
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however the researchers were unable to do so, due to time constraints and class suspensions. Of

course, the actual implementation of the action plan included the orientation and pre-test on the

same day for reasons that were self-explanatory because the orientation served as a briefing for

students on the study they were about to partake in, and the pretest showed the researchers how

the students performed prior to the implementation. In order to have tangible evidence of

participation, the researchers will have the students tally their participation in class so as to have

an accurate idea of the individual student participation. The researchers also planned to create

daily tests to supply the formative data, however for the same reasons that the pilot testing did

not take place, the researchers did not distribute the tests. Next, the researchers conducted a pre

and post-test, to compare and quantify the results. The researchers analyzed the evidence from

the implementation by using the t-test formula to see if there were any significant changes

between the results of the two tests. Lastly, the researchers planned to have a student interview or

a focus group discussion to have the students’ perspectives on the implementation, but instead,

due to time restrictions, the researchers decided to give the class a post-implementation

questionnaire that would still be able to portray the students’ perspectives on the implementation.
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2.4 Analysis of Evidences

During the course of the study, the researchers gathered data in regards to two main

aspects of student activity these being, their motivation and their performance in class. These two

sets of data will be monitored quantitatively through the use of tallying, and testing respectively.

The researchers will be using the gathered data to find out if there is a significant difference in

the mood and performance of the class when it comes to the level of strictness of English use in

the classroom. It should be noted that on the first day, the students who responded were generally

the same people all throughout the class. However, on the second day, there was more variety in

the students who responded and participated. In regards to the motivational aspect, the

researchers conducted a participatory experiment, wherein the class was taught with a low level

of strictness, concerning the use of English in the classroom, This data showed how much more

motivated students were to give answers in class, as they were allowed to use code-switching.

The next set of data, which is student performance, was measured by using a pre-test and post-

test which determined how using their primary language affected how they perform in graded

performance, the students scored more positively on the graded performance wherein code-

switching was used, therefore it could be concluded that the students’ performance is affected by

their level of understanding in English.

2.5 Reflection

The researchers had a difficult time planning the implementation due to the many time

constraints as well as the unexpected difficulties that arose in regards to the writing of the paper

itself. The most difficult aspects of the first half of the paper for the researchers were not just the

time constraints, but also the compilation of the collected data, and the encoding of said data

onto an online database to prepare for processing. Another factor that affected the researchers in
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the writing of the research paper was the mental state of the researchers, where some days the

researchers believed that they could not produce a substantial output due to the stress of the

requirements of other classes or the attitude of other professors on certain days.

Reflecting on all the completed parts of chapter two in this action research, the

researchers realized that writing the paper grows simpler after all the processes have been

completed. Since the researchers knew all the facts necessary to put into words on this paper, it

was simple to condense the ideas into coherent paragraphs that are easy for the reader to follow.

Areas in which the researcher thought they could improve on, were mostly on how to manage

time, as well as scheduling and planning.

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References

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Appendix A

Figure 1. Conceptual framework based on Krashen’s hypothesis

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Appendix B

Figure 2. Student gender survey responses

Figure 3. Student age survey responses

Figure 4
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Figure 5. Language used at home by students

Figure 6. Language used with friends and peers by students

Figure 7. How often students use English in the classroom

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Figure 8. How often students feel comfortable using English in the classroom

Figure 9. How often students would prefer to use Filipino in the English classroom

Figure 10. How often students participate in class when expected to answer in or use straight English
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Figure 11. How often students code-switch in the classroom

Figure 12. How often has code-switching helped students in their English class

Figure 13. How often students code-switch during performance based activities