Enlish language macro skills of freshman vietnamese students in selected colleges in bac giang city input to intervention measures

In addition, the course outline of General English I course is divided into five units where each unit has six components namely: grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking and list

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines

ENGLISH LANGUAGE MACRO-SKILLS OF FRESHMAN

VIETNAMESE STUDENTS IN SELECTED COLLEGES

IN BAC GIANG CITY: INPUT TO INTERVENTION MEASURES

A Dissertation Presented To The Faculty Of The Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment

Of The Requirements For The Degree

Of Doctor Of Philosophy Major In English

By:

NGO THI THU HUONG

April 2015

APPROVAL SHEET

This dissertation entitled “ENGLISH LANGUAGE MACRO-SKILLS OF

FRESHMAN VIETNAMESE STUDENTS IN SELECTED COLLEGES IN BAC GIANG CITY: INPUT TO INTERVENTION MEASURES” prepared and

submitted by NGO THI THU HUONG in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy major in English has been examined and is recommended for Oral Examination

Comprehensive Examination:

Date Dean, Graduate Studies

College of Arts and Sciences

ABSTRACT

Students in Selected Colleges in Bac Giang City: Input to Intervention Measures

Author : Ngô Thị Thu Hương

Summary

Knowledge regarding the four-macro skills that are needed by learners

to communicate effectively which include listening, speaking, reading, and writing is of vital importance Consistently seeking improvement along these macro skills will contribute to the self-development, effective communication

and success in many different environments and contexts of the learners

Macro skills integration in lessons should come naturally from the teacher as well as the listener When one listens, writing opportunities emerge; when one reads, opportunities for speaking emerge Learners are motivated to have opportunities relative to learning the skills to allow the skills

subconsciously to grow naturally within them

This study focused on the Freshman Vietnamese students’ English Language Macro Skills among selected Colleges in Bac Giang City It utilized the descriptive method of research The subjects of the study are composed of

299 first year college students taking up Basic English course in the three colleges in Bac Giang namely Ngo Gia Tu College, Industry and Technology College and Vocational College The data gathering instruments used in the study are the documentary analysis and teacher-made test

Findings of the study revealed that the learning contents of a General English course offered to Freshman students in Bac Giang was determined through literature and detailed outline of the course General English I for Diploma Degree Program with English Language as field issued by the Ministry of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam It is given four units credits with 60 hours- time allocation for the first semesters English I has the learning objectives of providing students with guidance in the study of English Alphabet, vowels, consonants, stress, intonation and basic structures; developing their ability to use these structures in different contexts; enriching their knowledge in vocabulary and grammar and improving their ability to communicate effectively by providing comprehensive re-enforcement

activities in the four macro-skills of English language

In addition, the course outline of General English I course is divided into five units where each unit has six components namely: grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking and listening Each unit also comprises overall objectives In unit I, the overall objectives are for the students to get to know

to each other and introduce themselves and other people In Unit II, the overall objectives are for the students to be able to ask for personal information, talk about their family, family members, class, jobs and engage in conversation about class, friends and family members

For Unit III, the overall objectives are for the students to be able to use the present simple with personal pronouns to talk and to write about work and daily activities; and to tell time and date For Unit IV, the overall objectives are for the students to use the present simple, to talk and to write about shopping, likes and dislikes, free time and leisure activities and for the students to be familiar with situations in an English class Regarding Unit V, the overall objective is for the students to describe the place where students live and for them to ask and to give directions, as well as to report In speaking, the focus

is on taking about stories and practice police interview while in listening the focus is on listening for specific information

Further, results of the study as to the level of students’ performance in the macro-skills in reading, writing listening and speaking the English language were all of average level of the given student population There were significant relationships existed in the students’ performance among the macro-skills in English language It was only the reading versus listening pair that showed no significant relationship Students encountered difficulties in comprehension for macro skills in reading and listening; while sharpening writing skill is the difficulty students encountered for macro kill in writing; and pronunciation for the macro skill in speaking The most serious among the difficulties in macro-skills are those that pertain to comprehension skills in reading and listening The intervention measures proposed were composed of select strategies designed to improve skills where students demonstrated poor performance

The following are the recommendations of the study that English teachers have to be encouraged to provide more language exercises for their students to improve their language deficiencies; proposed intervention measures must be utilized to validate their usefulness; similar studies on English language macro skills be conducted on universities to determine their students language performance

Dr Corazon Cabrera and Dr Myrna Sulit, external panel members for their excellent comments and detailed suggestions;

Dr Felix M Panopio, statistician, for his kindness in sharing his mathematical expertise;

Dr Amada G Banaag and Dr Maria Luisa Valdez members of the panel for their contributions in providing insightful suggestions;

Dr Remedios Magnaye, the recording secretary for writing down all the comments and suggestions of the panel;

Bac Giang Ngo Gia Tu College, for the financial assistance and moral support;

The teachers of English Department from three Colleges: Bac Giang Ngo Gia Tu college, Industry and Technology College, Vocational College in Bac Giang province for their valuable insights that inspire her to carry out this research endeavor; and

The first year college students from three the Bac Giang Colleges for their cooperation in accomplishing the questionnaires

The researcher is also very grateful for the wholehearted support and love of her husband – Mr Trong and her three children Quyen, Diep and Quan along with all the members of her family during the writing process

DEDICATION

This piece of work is wholeheartedly dedicated to my loving and ever- supportive husband, Mr Trong and to my children Sincere thanks are also afforded to all the members of my family and to all colleagues in Bac Giang

College who made this work possible

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ……….i

APPROVAL SHEET ………ii

ABSTRACT ……… iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ……… vii

DEDICATION ……… ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS .x

LIST OF TABLES .xiii

LIST OF FIGURES .xiv

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction .1

Statement of the Problem ……… 9

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study ………10

Significance of the Study ……… 11

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature ……… 13

Research Literature ……… 64

Synthesis ……….70

Theoretical Framework……… 75

Conceptual Framework ……… 78

Hypothesis ……… 81

Definition of Terms ……… 81

III RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE Research Environment 84

Research Design ……… 87

Subjects of the Study ……… 87

Data Gathering Instrument ……… 89

Data Gathering Procedure ……… 92

Statistical Treatment of Data ……… 93

IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA……… 94

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings ……… 144

Conclusions……… 156

Recommendations……… 157

BIBLIOGRAPHY……… ………….158

APPENDICES

A Questionnaire on English Language Macro-skills 169

B Validation Letters of Teacher-Made Test and Survey

Questionnaires for Students and Teachers ……… 178

C Request Letters

(1) To the Head of Institution of Vocational college 181

(2) To the Head of Institution of ITC 182

(3) To the Head of Institution of BG Ngo Gia Tu College 183

D Documentations

(1) Photographs of the Study Sites….………… ….… 184

(2) Validation of Questionnaires in

Batangas State University ……… 185

(3) Administration of Teacher-Made Tests

in Bac Giang Colleges……… 186 (4) Administration of Questionnaires in Bac Giang College 187 (5) The Researcher with the Heads of Bac Giang Colleges

Retrieving the Response Letters to Requests………… 188

E Psychrometric Conversion Table 189

CURRICULUM VITAE

LIST OF TABLES

1 Distribution of Student Respondents in the

Three Colleges 88

2 Performance of Students in the Skill Area of Reading Test 100

3 Performance of Students in the Skill Area of Writing Test 105

4 Performance of Students in Listening Skills 108

5 Performance of Students in Speaking Test………… 110

6 Percent of Each Pair of Test Groups 112

7 Difficult Items in the Teacher-Made Test ……… … 114

8 Most Difficult Items in the Teacher-Made Test 119

9 Skills to be Used as Bases for the Design of Intervention Measures 121

LIST OF FIGURES

1 Research Paradigm on the English

Language Macro-Skills of Freshman Vietnamese Students 80

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction

In learning, there are five macro skills that are needed by learners to communicate effectively and these are listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing In communication process these skills are very essential These skills may approach or solve future problems in communication most especially

in our day to day tasks such as in learning or gaining information, presenting,

or holding a successful meeting A combination of micro skills like in writing which consists of spelling, speaking vocabulary, made up of macro skills which refer to the primary key, main and largest skill relative to a particular context

In English language, each skill which comprised the macro-skills has its own features The knowledge regarding the use of these five macro skills is of vital importance Consistently seeking improvement along these macro skills will contribute to the self-development, effective communication and success in many different environments and contexts of the learners Absence of these macro skills to a person pose difficulties on his movement through life and to thrive in the varied areas such as religion, politics, business education and career Learning the five macro- skills is not easy In communicating, being good only in one of these skills will not ease away difficulties Knowledge of

these macro skills can make a big difference in the sound and personal achievement of that person Seeking improvement of the macro skills consistently may help learners become successful in different perspective Macro skills integration in lessons should come naturally from the teacher as well as the listener When one listens, writing opportunities emerge; when one reads, opportunities for speaking emerge Learners are motivated to have opportunities relative to learning the skills to allow the skills subconsciously to grow naturally within them The use of the macro skills serve as a vehicle for developing critical thinking as well as metacognitive strategies used to evaluate learners' own thinking

In language teaching, the five macro skills in communication are considered the most important For teachers and learners, these five macro skills are indispensable in the learning process and teaching performances as these serve as the main tool in obtaining a certain language at the same time establishing a link on the interrelatedness of communication and global community.In early language acquisition, knowledge on sentences and syntax

in speaking as manifested by learners is considered an interesting feature The indication of an effective teacher is when the learner’s ability to communicate

is excellent and has mastery in other areas of learning with the involvement of the five macro skills In teaching the five macro skills involved in communication

skills are speaking, reading, listening, writing and viewing

Speaking, as the most direct and useful form of communication is used

by people having face-to-face conversation, over the phone, webcams, and video calling Talking to someone or making conversation either intentional or unintentional or a discourse pertains to speaking Literary works, artistic communications like daily recitations and poetry engaged by people through spoken language are also included Speaking involves two persons or more and has these features such as a decoder, an encoder, the message, the channel and the feedback Situations can be designed by teachers where learners could exercise their ability for oral expression

In listening, students develop the skill of prediction and anticipation Before texting, students recall previous experiences They will recall in the listening text cause and effect relationship This shows the importance of listening because without it, there will be no communication that will transpire for listening is most important in communication as it involves processing sound waves, meaning interpretation, meaning storing in memory in its mental operation Listening requires the listener to understand, interpret and evaluate what they hear which makes listening a communication technique

Further, there are difficulties second language learner encountered in listening like becoming distracted by the errors which the speakers learn to

ignore or tolerate in spontaneous conversation where it contains language structures that may not be grammatical such as unfinished utterance, pauses and moments of silence Another difficulty is that on the learner’s lack of socio cultural, factual and contextual knowledge of the target language thereby affecting their problem on comprehension as well as their difficulty to concentrate on sounds, unfamiliar words, sentences for a long period of time

Reading as an important skill in communication is thought of by many people as a skill intended only for students who are studying their first years Unknowingly, reading makes a person thinks and explore the mysteries of the world, gain knowledge and ponder on the unknown Aside from being a multi-faceted process where word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation are involved, it is also a way where information from written letters and words can

be accessed by people

Second language learners encountered difficulties in reading These include pronunciation difficulties most especially in contrastive analysis where learners tend to use the native language habits acquired in them and ingrained

in them in articulating English and word recognition where though the same printed words are used in the vernacular and English, the same symbols do not stand for the same sound Another is the inability of learners to group words into units wherein the groupings and pauses in the flow of English speech is not

always represented in writing Learners either string all the words together or pause after every word Non-comprehension is also considered one among the difficulties encountered in second language learners in reading Finally, unfamiliar vocabulary in reading content can be a source of discouragement to learners if its difficulty interferes in the thought getting process

In writing most people rely on it because they have difficulty of expressing verbally what they put in written words and what’s on their thoughts

to communicate effectively Writing has close relationship with reading, speaking and listening for each has its respective functions to play to ensure successful communication Writing skills need to be practiced all the time It is not just merely using orthographic symbols, but it also involves thinking characterized by purposeful selection and organization of thoughts or ideas Beginning learners are given exposure to writing for them to be able to write of which they regarded in turn their writing with profound value

The latest addition to the macro skills in language is viewing which is also one of the most important in communication skills It is a way of portraying information in the data base, where the importance of mental faculty that allows a perceiver to delineate or give details about a target that is inaccessible to normal senses due to time and distance are given more emphasis Media as a form of printed page or illuminated TV set must be a

venue for an active reader and viewer to analyze, react to challenges, explore and understand them Through viewing, favorite shows either in movies or television as well as other forms of viewing devices can be watched by global audience

Students who experienced varied difficulties in learning participated fully

in any given learning activities as provided in the outcomes and contents found

in the syllabus Among the difficulties second language learners experience in learning are having difficulties with reading, writing and spelling; pronouncing

or reading multi-syllabic words; having reduced or limited vocabulary and word knowledge in comparison to their peers; having poor retrieval of information due to problems with meaning; and having poor literacy in their first language The behaviors manifested relative to these deficiencies of learners relative to being easily destructed include: poor organizational skill; show reluctance to learn or get involved in classroom activities, work slowly or too quickly and inaccurately; demonstrate lack of motivation and have poor self- esteem

Explicit teaching of new concepts and skills by teachers offer advantage

to students experiencing difficulties It provides students with varied learning opportunities Effective lessons of teachers must contain clarity review of their previous work and their lessons must be based on the previous lessons Further, new skills and concepts must be presented clearly and modelled by

the teacher and students must be guided through their practice with accompanying feedback to individual students and independent student practice with the application of knowledge, skills and opportunity as well as systematic consultation and revision of work previously covered

As early as elementary grade, learners should be given rigid training as part of their education on the use of the language appropriately in learning English language The problem of each of communication skills among learners are pinpointed to insufficient training of teachers to learners starting from the kindergarten as regards to macro skills in teaching the language Further, as part of the rudimentary task and professional work of the teacher, it is required for them to teach learners with the principles and practice of writing On the part of the teacher, mastery of the elements or features of a language is significant in the second language situation since it helps assess the needs of the learners on the aspect of communication skills

The act of speaking in a distinct or strategic way is also another problem

of the learner that needs to be addressed Learners have the fear in speaking

in class or with peers in the second language or in the public Teachers must engage learners with constant practice, through recitations, presentations and reports inside the classroom Profound knowledge of teachers in English with just knowing what structured lessons can be used with the macro skills in

language teaching paved the way to actual performance or use of macro skills

in structured lessons, thus achieving more developments and improvements

on the intellectual aspects and acquisition of language of the learners

Attaining the language skills on the part of the learners need mastery of the language which takes years to learn But, it can be attained for teachers are required to note the oral and written difficulties encountered by learners and address the difficulties by energizing students to varied learning activities gearing towards enhancing language proficiency

Learners can only benefit the outcome of individual societal integration if they have attained the required level of proficiency in the English language If this level is attained, learner experiences personality adjustments and more social participation which is contributory to his future professional development Teacher’s teaching must address the needs of the learners It

is of vital importance for teachers to determine the needs and difficulties of students for her to design appropriate instructional materials for the enhancement of learner’s language proficiency

As a college instructor teaching Basic English Course at Bac Giang College, the researcher is interested to investigate the English Language Macro Skills of Freshmen students with the end view of proposing an intervention measures to enhance the macro skills of freshmen students

Statement of the Problem

This study focused on the Freshman Vietnamese students’ English Language Macro Skills among selected Colleges in Bac Giang City

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1 What are the learning contents of a general English course offered to Freshman Vietnamese students?

2 What are the levels of students’ performance in the macro-skills of:

2.4.1 pronunciation;

2.4.2 comprehension; and 2.4.3 grammatical accuracy?

3 Are there significant relationships between pairs of macro- skills in English language?

4 What difficulties do students have in the following macro-skills:

4.1 Reading;

4.2 Writing;

4.3 Listening; and 4.4 Speaking?

5 Which among the difficulties appear to be more relatively serious?

6 What intervention measures maybe proposed to enhance macro- skills of students?

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation

This study was focused on the English Language Macro skills of First Year College students among selected Colleges in Bac Giang City It covered the learning contents of a general English course offered to Freshman Vietnamese students as well as the level of students’ performance in the macro-skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening This also determined the significant differences among the macro-skills in English language and the proposed

intervention measures to enhance the macro-skills of the First year students among the selected colleges in Bac Giang Province

The study covered the three (3) colleges in Bac Giang City namely: Vocational College, College of Technology and Industry, Bac Giang Ngo Gia

Tu College This study was limited on the results of the data gathered Results

of the study were limited on the information from the respondents in the Academic year 2013-2014

Significance of the Study

The study is beneficial to the Administrators of Bac Giang College, English teachers, First Year students, Parents and and Future researchers

Administrators of Bac Giang College This study can guide them in

the Curriculum development by evaluating the different English proficiency enhancing activities This study will serve as a guide for the realignment of the existing curriculum of Basic English to meet their institutional goals and objectives

Faculty of Basic English This study will serve as a guide to the faculty

teaching Basic English as they may be aware of the present level of students’ performance in macro-skills This study will provide them insights on what classroom learning activities will be appropriate to enhance the Language

proficiency of their students

First Year Students The findings of this study will make them aware of

their present level of macro skills This would give them a challenge to improve

their weak points and enhance their over- all performance in Basic English

Parents Through this study, parents of the first year students will become

aware of the English performance of their children They will be more supportive and cooperative relative to their children’s school activities specifically on the

improvement of the skills in the Basic English of their children

Researcher Herself This study can motivate the researcher to study and

develop other exercises, which will serve the purpose of enhancing language

proficiency

Future Researchers This study will serve as reference for their

undertaking

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter covers the conceptual and reviewed literature to attain a clearer perspective and direction in the conduct of the study and to arrive at an adequate background of the study It also presents theoretical and conceptual frameworks of this study, synthesis, hypothesis and definition of terms

Conceptual Literature

The following topics are discussed in the conceptual literature: College Freshman English, macro-skills in English, English language competencies and intervention measures

College Freshman English This is one of the courses that first year

college student is required to take since high competency in the English language

is expected for college students to have a good career start

College English courses most especially in the area of writing such as persuasive essay, research papers, argumentative styles and commentaries are considered valuable to learn Learning about the writing process that include formulating a topic or idea for a presentation, drafting, writing, editing and finalizing work is the focal point of college English Reviewing major works

of literature as well as identifying specific writing styles are also included Considered as well as hallmarks of College English courses are writing

research papers and other writing assignments Students taking college English courses must be prepared in doing library research, learning about online resources, drafting several versions of research papers and editing theme to produce final project

General English courses on the other hand are designed to give students confidence to communicate effectively in real life Skills such as speaking, listening, reading and writing are the foci of the General English courses and cover essential vocabulary, idioms and colloquial language Further, students under these courses are provided with effective training in English for work, study and travel

As regards to the basic goals of college English teaching, these include helping students to establish the concept of self-learning, creating the environment of self-learning, providing guidance in English learning strategies and cultivating students’ ability of self-learning (Liu et al., 2003) Likewise, the ability to have independent learning is being demanded to most college students in the modern society

Student’s learning English in the classroom is affected by such factor as the availability of pedagogical materials One of the principles that guide the learning process of students as pointed out by Kapunan (2000) is through careful selection of instructional materials like books, visual aids and other school

facilities that provide better background for learning

Over supply of books not needed for the course are observed by Lucas (2002) as well as most of the textbooks, guides, stationary and standard forms for various school reports are not inspected periodically So that there is a need for re-evaluation of the books and facilities available in the classroom for language learning as suggested by Danilo (2004) to provide students with innovative, timely and relevant knowledge and skills

Ability of teachers to encourage students to actively participate in large classes affects the English language learning of most college students As observed in big classes, most students have little opportunity to engage in classroom conversation as compared to small classes wherein students have sufficient time to engage in speaking and participate in language activities Students should be given opportunity to learn from each other whether they belong to small or big classes as well as participate in classroom activities by giving them chance to express their ideas freely

According to Bolton (2000), teachers encounter difficulty in dealing with college students especially in enhancing their oral and written communication skills due to fewer opportunities for classroom language practice for each student This scenario is often observed in large classes where there is inadequate venue for exchange of ideas as well as in written and oral exercises

thereby affecting the English language performance of students

In Bac Giang Colleges, based on the Detailed Outline of General English

I for Diploma Degree Program with English Language as field issued by the Ministry of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, General English 1 is given four units credit with 60 hour time allocation for the first semester English I has the learning objectives to provide students with guidance in the study of English Alphabet, vowels, consonants, stress, intonation as well as English basic structures; develop student’s ability to use these structures in different contexts; enrich their knowledge in vocabulary and grammar and improve their ability to communicate effectively by providing comprehensive re-enforcement activities in the four macro-skills of English language

Students are expected to develop competencies in these skills under this course In listening, it is expected that students can listen and understand basic words or phrases and answer simple questions to oneself such as giving their names, age, hometown, hobby, job and marital status As for speaking, students are expected to communicate, ask and respond to questions regarding familiar topics like personal information such as student’s friends, family, family members, leisure activities, daily routine, past events and memories In terms of reading, it is expected that students can employ

scanning and skimming in searching for main ideas or details in varied reading materials like magazines, emails, reports on familiar topics such as friends, oneself, family, family members, leisure activities, shopping, past events or memories With regards to writing, expressing in written language on topics such as completing a form, informal email, letter about oneself, class, family, holidays, friends are expected to students

In addition, the course outline of General English I course is divided into five units where each unit has six components namely: grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking and listening Each unit also comprises overall objectives In unit I, the overall objectives are for the students to get to know

to each other and introduce themselves and other people The learning contents of Unit I include verb to be focusing on positives and questions, personal subject, pronouns, possessive adjectives, articles a and an, demonstratives and number in nouns for grammar; vocabulary relating to countries and nationalities, numbers 1-20, days of the week, personal information, classroom language and common objects for vocabulary

For reading, it focuses on reading and understanding short emails about other people while in speaking, it zero in on talking about themselves and other people saying hello and goodbye In listening on the other hand, asking and telling numbers and listening and completing the dialogues as well as listening

and understanding other people saying their names are covered in this area

In Unit II, the overall objectives are for the students to be able to ask for personal information, talk about their family, family members, class, jobs etc and engage in conversation For grammar focus, the following are included: verb to be centers on questions, negatives and short answers; contracted form

of not such as isn’t and aren’t; question words like what, where, who, how old, how much as well as possessives For vocabulary, the following are included: family words, common adjectives and their opposites, food and drink vocabulary Reading and understanding an informal email covers the reading lesson while in writing, it includes writing email, as well as composition writing about class and family For speaking lesson, it focuses on practicing the language used in coffee shops and talking about famous people and making conversation at a hotel In the case of listening, understanding people talking, ordering and saying prices in cafes as well as talking about class, friends and family members are the coverage

The overall objectives of Unit III are for the students to be able to use the present simple with personal pronouns as She, He, It; to talk and to write about work and daily activities; and to tell time and date Foci of grammar lessons are

on adjectives and personal pronouns; for vocabulary, it is on daily activities such

as job and job duties In reading, the focus includes reading and understanding

the text while in writing it covers writing about a person’s job and daily routine Speaking on the other hand delves on talking about a person’s job and daily routine as well as telling the time and date; and for listening, it covers on the understanding of other people talking about the same topic as those of writing and speaking

For Unit IV, the overall objectives are for the students to use the present simple, to talk and to write about shopping, likes and dislikes, free time and leisure activities and for the students to be familiar with situations in an English class The lessons covered in this unit are as follows: grammar dealing on object and possessive pronouns; vocabulary which covers meaning of verb phrases and love story phrases, reading which focuses on newspaper article and story’s books In writing, it covers on describing a friend to other person; while in speaking it zero in talking about famous actors and actresses As to asking, answering as to types of music as well as getting to know how to use some common and social expressions used in short dialogues are given emphasis and in listening, understanding other people talking about topics related to speaking is the focus of this skill

Regarding Unit V, the overall objective is for the students to describe the place where students live and for them to ask and to give directions The learning contents of this unit include grammar, past simple of the verb be and

past simple of regular and irregular verbs; vocabulary, word formation, past time expression and adjectives use for describing rooms or a house Reading covers the practice of scanning for specific information; writing gears toward describing a holiday through a written report while speaking focuses on talking about stories and practice police interview The focus for listening is for specific information

The course, General English I required students to attend, participate in all class activities and do homework and were given ten percent weight in progress test in the areas of grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing and twenty percent weight in the midterm test in the same areas

Macro-Skills in English The understanding of words together on what

is being said is referred to as Macro Skills It deals with the primary, key and main largest skill set relative to a particular context and commonly referred to

in English Language (Sarmiento,www.sribd.com) To communicate effectively, the four macro skills namely; reading, writing, listening and speaking are needed in learning These macro skills are important in communication process or approach or in solving problems of successfully achieved objectives from communication such as learning, presenting or holding a successful meeting Each skill is interrelated aside from being equally vital Combination

of these micro skills comprised each macro skills

Considered important in learning is the consistent seeking of the four- macro skills for self -development, effective communication and success in many different environment and contexts (King.www.blurtit.com) A person may find difficulty to move through life and thrive in key areas such as relationships, education and career with- out these important macro skills

Since these skills are essential in communication, it is difficult to maintain or study a balance of the four- macro skills Being good at one among these communicative skills will not help solve the difficulties encountered in communication With these four macro skills, these can make a difference in the workplace, in social situations and personal achievement It is important to learn and consistently seek improvement along these macro skills for effective communication and to be successful in many different perspectives

An important English language skill for the growth of an individual in many aspects in life is reading Part of the everyday life of a person is reading newspapers, reports, messages, books, notes and many others, that is why reading skills in English are taught in schools English teachers need to know the nature of reading to facilitate students’ learning of reading skills

Being taught to young learner as essential for learning and development reading is a complex skill It is an activity rendering aloud written or printed material In scanning information and understanding what the writer want to tell

and evaluate, what information they read and incorporate from multiple sources are covered in reading skill There are many advantages associated with reading These include learning vocabulary in context, seeing correct structure in English as well as improving personal interest in reading New words and things are encountered in reading It can help improve vocabulary and apply in communication as well

Decoding symbols with the intention of deriving meaning from the text is involved in reading comprehension Other micro skills that are significantly improved by reading including spelling, evaluative processes and the imagination Reading a lot will expand vocabulary especially a workplace

Reading as one of the most important skills one can acquire, helps a person to understand the world by enabling him to learn about his past and plan for the future (Grove et al , 1982) Reading as critical skill both with and beyond the walls in the classroom is important for academic success since school is where people stayed In the educational system, reading is well -integrated that either educational or academic success is synonymous to reading success

Hedge (2000) emphasized that reading as a receptive skill of morphologic form of the language is about making sense of text and is an astounding complex process There are five aspects or components in the

reading process that work together to create the reading experience of the learner that develop his skill in order for him to become successful These include phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension and fluency

The connection between sounds and letter symbol is termed phonics The combination of this sound symbol to creating words pertains to phonics and without it words are just simply a bunch of squiggles and lines on page Phonics comprised of letters and are used only in written language Thinking how written language is created is involved in the understanding of phonics and the purpose of phonics instruction These are set of rules that determine the relationships of letters in the spelling of words and the sounds of the spoken language

These relationships are predictable in the English language but not completely consistent For understanding on the use of alphabetic principle is the purpose of phonics instruction Learners learn to use these relationships

to read and speak words accurately and rapidly through effective phonics instruction It also serves as memory aid that help students remember and

(www.earningpt./org.pdfs/literacy component/pdf)

When reading, there are varieties or ways phonics can be taught and

can be applied One of these is synthetic phonics that builds words from the ground up where readers are taught to first connect letters to the corresponding phonemes or sound units In creating a word, letters are blended and the top down identified a word as a whole unit and parsed out letters and sound connection Another is analogy phonics that uses familiar parts of words for new words to be discovered Connecting sounds with letters

in writing is the focused of phonics in spelling All these approaches can help young learners to discover and can be taught and can be used independently

As for phonemic awareness, involvement in the connection between sounds and words are true for both since they are closely related with each other Phonics connects sounds and letters while phonemic awareness refers

to the understanding that from phonemes which is the small units of language

is the source of created words Phonemes are represented by using letters or they can also be simply the auditory sounds of words, thus phonemes pertain

to sounds only Before a learner begins to read, phonemes are not often learned because they are centered on the sounds of language rather than written words

In vocabulary, it is stated that throughout one’s reading life vocabulary development is a continuous and on -going process There are two primary ways of teaching and learning new vocabulary words Explicit instruction is the

first one It involves somebody who will be teaching pronunciation and meaning and it might be a teacher, a dictionary, a vocabulary guide and other resources offering definition and pronunciations Another method for discovering new words is through context clues There are hints contained in

a text It help readers figure out meanings of unfamiliar words, in a sentence or paragraph, text feature, illustrations, graphs and chart Any item in the text that points out to the definition of a word is a context clue

Vocabularies are words that speakers need to know in order to communicate with others There are four types of vocabulary and these include: listening, speaking, reading and writing Oral vocabulary is another term for listening and speaking vocabularies In word recognition vocabulary is very important because it plays a very important role in comprehension

In reading vocabulary is important in order to learn and learning to read Learner need to understand the meanings of words they read if they are to learn from what they read Baker (1995) however, said that vocabulary acquisition is crucial to academic development because not only do students need rich body of word to succeed in basic skill areas but they also need a specialized vocabulary to learn content area material

Comprehension is tied up intimately with fluency where the reader’s move quickly enough through a text to develop meaning (www.K12

reader.com/The five-essential components of reading) Fluency as explained

by Rasinki et al., (1990) involves grouping of words within a sentence into phrases that make the reader read and to comprehend Reading with expression help the reader understand the text by making what is being read resemble to a natural speech through grouping of words into meaningful phrases Recognizing of words in a text rapidly and accurately and using phrasing and emphasis in a way that makes what is read sounds like spoken language is then referred to as fluency

Fluency as the last component of reading process deals with the reader’s ability to read with speech accuracy and expression Thus, combining and using of multiple reading skills at the same time is required for the speaker

to have fluency Good readers exhibit fluency even when they are engaged in silent reading and even if it is the most often measured through oral readings Fluency is demonstrated by the ability of the reader to move through a piece of text at a fluid pace while evolving the meaning and feeling of it

According to Beber (1995) reading is a process by which information is extracted from within Printed text is extremely complex and dependent to two critical aspects namely; the written format of the word and the reader’s ability

to decode the phonetic relationships between the letters on the page and the sounds of the spoken language and a semantic/syntactic process that has to