by Sherry Lyn C. Suelto
When can we consider that one is proficient in English? What skills must a student develop to become one? English proficiency does not mean the ability to read the textbooks in school or order a food in a foreign restaurant. Students have to read, write, speak and comprehend English within academic settings.
Learning English aims at helping students use the language effectively for real life purposes. Students need to use English to become functional in professional, academic and social settings. In the Philippines, English proficiency is found out to be declining. A recent language test result showed that the Philippines is no longer the top one English-speaking country in Asia. This brought up an alarming impact towards job-providing industries in and out of the country, and is currently driving the Department of Education to intensify the effort of providing an educational system that will improve student’s mastery in English. However, programs and projects conducted by schools are not enough to promote the development of English language proficiency among Filipino students. Teachers have to be competitive enough in using the language to effectively teach students in becoming critical and analytical in communicating with the the use of English. Learning experiences that will help students reach the optimum level of their communicative ability must be provided.
There are various ways that we could take in order to pursue the improvement of our students English language proficiency. One way is to encourage students to speak the language regularly especially within the school premises. Schools have been promoting the ‘English Speaking Campaign’ whereing students are obliged to speak in English whenever they are inside the classroom. Development always start within oneself, thus, students are encouraged to do self-study and practice to improve their skills. Interacting with native speakers of English is also highly encouraged.
Watching movies in English and listening to English spoken media is also an effective way in improving English communication skills. Students nowadays are highly exposed to music and films that are using the English language. Although it has been observed that songs of today have a lot grammatical error (or simply because of the writer’s choice to make the lyrics poetic), students tend to adopt the way native speakers deliver the language.
Another helpful factor that students are being exposed to is the Internet where sources of all information the need are always in their reach. Visiting websites, reading different types of articles, and discussing topics in English help them become confident in using English.
Taking those helpful ways presented above are of great help in developing the student’s proficiency in English. However, the teacher’s assistance in the classroom setting will further motivate students to pursue learning and developing their English language skills.
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