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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

"Learning a second language bridges the gap and links people to the

world by creating a relationship where information, ideas, and culture are shared

through communication," these words describes how language help shape

individuals according to Palma and Madrigal in 2021. This means that learning a

second language and knowing how to use it does not only help a student perform

better in school, but also opens door to opportunities such as better jobs, travel,

better social skills, and even in transacting businesses in their future careers.

For these reasons, English as a second language have caught the

attention of many studies concerning the low literacy attainment in English

language among college learners over the years. Some English language

enthusiasts like Choi and Nunan (2018) found out that various factors contribute

to this failure such as the learner’s challenging experience on mastering the four

basic skills in language learning which are listening, reading, speaking, and

writing. They further stated that learning English as a second language is never

easy especially if you are learning it outside an English-speaking country. For

instance, English language learners in African countries like Nigeria, Ghana,

Liberia, Zambia, and Malawi face difficulties in understanding and using English

as a medium of instruction (Ama, 2022).

Meanwhile, English has been taught as a second language in the

Philippines as a compulsory subject, both in primary and secondary schools.

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Today, mastery of English language is still highly encouraged at all levels of

education including the tertiary level. Despite being said that English is the

language widely used in teaching instructions, it is still not the usual language in

relationship-building at home, and in socializing in school for using English often

stops in the four corners of the classroom (Sepera, Generales, & Medina 2020).

As students having English as a major course, grand expectations are laid

before us and that we are accountable for our own interest and motivation

towards the mastery of English language. Like how Mardjuki (2018) pointed out

that the way students perceive language learning has been influenced by related

aspects of interest, expectancy of success or failure, perception of rewards,

decision to learn, and persistent behavior.

Following these related dilemmas, one of the teachers we had interviewed

inside the school revealed insights about the difficulties faced by the BSED-

English students of GGCAST. Accordingly, the lack of self-confidence and

hesitant to practice speaking the language stressed by getting judge by peers is

a major problem. It was inevitable because some got used to utilize their mother

tongue as means of instruction and communication during their Early Education.

The teacher further explained that such happenings inside the classroom hinders

the potentials of each learner due to miscommunications and kept ideas because

of being afraid to relay or to speak ideas using English in the class.

Since we come from the BSED-English department, we wanted to

discover more and understand the challenges experienced by our co-learners in

this field. Thus, the study will be conducted in order to help facilitate a better
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approach towards teaching and learning English as a second language while

considering the rich challenges experienced by students in English department.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this qualitative study is to describe and understand

the challenges experienced by BSED-English students in the light of learning

English as a second language. This phenomenological inquiry will seek to

explore the way BSED-English students perceive English as a second language

in relation to their chosen program. The study also aims to discover the coping

strategies of BSED-English students concerning the challenges they encounter in

learning English as their second language.

Thus, the researchers will attempt to catch some glimpses of the aforesaid

challenges experienced by BSED-English students as they exist in the natural

setting to enable better understanding about the said phenomenon at Governor

Generoso College of Arts, Sciences, and Technology.

Research Question

The researchers would like to seek answers to the following grand tour

questions:

1. What are the challenges experienced by BSED-English students in

learning English as a Second Language?

2. How do BSED-English students perceive English as a Second Language?

3. What are the coping strategies of BSED-English students in the light of

learning English as a second language?

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Theoretical Lens

In 1970, Krashen (an American linguist), crafted the theory of language

acquisition. According to this theory, learners use two channels in Second

Language Acquisition (SLA): one is acquisition and the other is learning. Here,

the former means that a learner takes in and then uses a language

unconsciously through language communication practice while the latter means a

conscious study and understanding of a language.

The above concept is adapted in order to understand the challenges of

learning English language in the eyes of the English major students. As it is said

that effective language learning involves variety of skills, abilities, practices, and

resources however, meeting these are never easy in the field of teaching and

learning (Schwarz & Terrill, 2000). Thus, proving that even with the use of their

utmost conscious ability to study the language, there are still places unheard by

everyone yet are common challenges shared by the English major students.

In addition, this study also considers Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis

(1982) which stresses how affective factors associate with the second language

acquisition process. Krashen (1982) stated that the affective factors are emotions

of the learners, their motivation, self-confidence, and anxieties. These emotions

can indirectly influence learning by preventing input from reaching the language

acquisition device in the brain. To be more precise, this theory explains how

emotions influence the success or failure of mastering the use of English as a

second language. For example, when the affective filter increases, learners may

experience anxiety, tension, and lack of self-confidence that prevent success. On

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the other hand, low filters do not lead to anxiety, it is said to help language

learners understand the input easily.

In the context of this study, Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis is used

to describe the how the personal perceptions of the English major students and

their coping strategies affect their progress and contribute to the challenges they

have experienced in learning to master English as their second language

especially with the added expectations laid before them.

Importance of the Study

The study will mainly rely on information provided by the participants

which are deemed to serve as a guide in creating possible intervention programs

that will significantly benefit the study’s target beneficiaries. This means that the

findings of this research maybe used in enriching the existing program for second

language acquisition to further motivate students to better perform in class.

Findings from this study will also be a great help for the teachers to

become more understanding on the situational needs of the students. This will

help them tailor instructions to meet the need of a diverse group of English major

students. Understanding how second language acquisition occurs and using

specific teaching strategies may assist educators in helping students achieve

success in second language acquisition (SLA) while being engulfed in content.

This study will also open the minds of administrators, especially in

supporting English teachers’ trainings to enhance their teaching strategies,

thereby establishing better teaching-learning process offering. Moreover, to the

Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for this pursuit will make them more
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aware about the challenges experienced by BSED-English students in learning

English as a second language. Thus, causing them to also provide trainings and

workshops to teachers.

Finally, this research will provide guidance to the future researchers such

that the results would serve as a springboard on their study or other related

studies that has not been explored or covered by our study. This study will also

impact the local setting resulting for further research to emerge.

Limitations of the Study

This study will focus on the challenges experienced by BSED-English

students of Governor Generoso College of Arts, Sciences, and Technologies in

learning English as second language. Since a qualitative study only ranges from

a small number of participants, it cannot be generalized and will not go beyond

the scope of current participants (Crossman, 2020). As such, selecting the

participants are limited only to the said local setting, particularly the students

belonging to BSED-English program. There are seven (7) participants involved in

the focus group discussion (FGD) and another three (3) involved for the in-depth

interview (Cresswell, 2014). The study will be dependent upon the ability of the

participants to answer the questions that will be provided during the interview and

their knowledge primarily bases on their experiences as English major students.

As such, the study will only involve a small number of participants and

may not represent the whole BSED-English populace. Also, findings from the

study will not be generalizable to its larger context and to the context of
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participants. Lastly, it is important to note that participants may not answer some

questions honestly.

Definition of Terms

To give a thorough understanding of the study, the following terms are first

theoretically defined based on other studies and operationally defined upon their

usage in the context of this study:

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is the process where learners

have a mastery of his mother tongue language and then try to learn another

language (Krashen, 1970). In this study, Second Language Acquisition will be

used to describe the knowledge, skills and abilities of a student to use English

language. Thus, Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is the mastery of English

language.

Second Language (L2) is the language being studied referred to as the

target language (Ellis, 1997). In the context of our study, Second Language (L2)

directly refers to as the English language.

Coping Strategies refers to the behaviors, thought, and emotions that are

used to adjust from an external or internal stressful experience or problematic

situations (Skinner & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2007). As used in this study, coping

strategies are the ways of how the participants tried to overcome the challenges

they have experienced.

Organization of the Study

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This research study is divided into five (5) chapters that are organized in a

way that enables better understanding on the concepts being discussed in the

phenomenon being studied. The following is the organization of the study:

Chapter 1 that includes rationale primarily comprising the background of

the study, the purpose of the study, the research questions, the theoretical lens,

importance of the study, the delimitation of the study and the theoretical and

operational definition of terms used in the study.

The chapter 2 which deals with The Review of Related Literature

associated with the problems that will be encountered in the conduct of the study.

Also, chapter 3 that will include the discussion of the methodology for data

gathering and analysis. This also contains the research design and ethical

considerations to ensure trustworthiness of the study.

Chapter 4 will discuss the result of the interview, which includes data

analysis in relation to the research questions. It is about the outcomes of the data

acquired from the research participants shown in the study.

Finally, chapter 5 contains the researchers’ implications for further

research. This chapter conclude by discussing the research findings that pertain

to the research questions.

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Chapter 2

REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

Literature and related studies are included in this chapter to promote

generalizable understanding and information with regards to the challenges

experienced by BSED-English students. The sources of the information used are

taken from journals and electronic books which are significantly connected to this

research study.

English as a Second Language in Education

English language is becoming more important as a universal means of

communication, particularly after the recent advances in technology that have

brought people of different cultures and countries closer to one another

(Alzeebaree, Yavuz, 2017 and Laachir, 2019). Effective teaching and learning

are the subjects that concern almost everyone involved in educational process.

Effective learning depends on effective teaching which, in its turn, depends on

effective teachers and administrators (Alrefaee and Al-Ghamid, 2019).

In today’s world, proficiency in English is the pinnacle of academic and

professional achievement and, for some, this may also lead to personal
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happiness. As the third most spoken language in the world (Ethonologue, 2018)

and as “the language of diplomacy, business and popular culture”, it is

undeniable that English is the “world’s language” (World Economic Forum, 2017,

para. 1). Being the third largest nation of English speakers, the Philippines have

made polices of making English available- a compulsory subject and allocated

significant portions of the education budget to English.

When the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was established,

they issued sets of policies and standards for the general education courses in

college. The mandate of CHED is to establish support, and development for

potential centers of excellence to achieve global competitiveness (Domingo,

2020). One of the 21st-century skills as mentioned is an effective oral and written

communication. Therefore, in the education sector, English is essential in the

field of education in the Philippines. It is the most dominant language in science,

technology, and math. Most of the research and studies in any given scientific

field is written in English (Naved, 2019).

We could simply say that English is regarded as not a foreign language to

be learned, but a qualification an individual should possess (Wolff, 2003).

However, looking closely at the language proficiency of the tertiary level

graduates, the level of proficiency in the English language falls below what is

expected (Morallo, 2018). Philippines advantage in English proficiency eroded by

declining mastery of the English language of the graduates.

In primary education, learners are expected to build a strong foundation in

the English language and further develop it at the secondary level so that when
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learners reach the tertiary level, they are assumed to have a required level of

English proficiency (Songbatumis, 2017). Even so, more than ninety percent of

college graduates in the Philippines are not yet equipped for English-speaking

roles and with the recent test conducted by Hopkins, the average score of around

10,000 Filipino college students who took Test of English for International

Communication (TOEIC) is 631 out of 990, equivalent to B1 or intermediate level.

Teachers need to come up with effective teaching strategies and

implement solutions, in order to meet every student’s individual needs in the

class (Mahanta, 2019). Wherein, English Language Learners is often a challenge

for many schools, and accurately identifying and supporting ELLs, can be an

even greater challenge (Ferlazo, 2016). On the other side of the coin, knowing

the student’s challenges and experience in the face of learning English as a

second language is also an important concern.

Challenges in Learning English as a Second Language

Learning English as a second language is never easy, particularly if you

are learning English outside of an English-speaking country. The National Center

for Education Statistics (NCES, 2017) reported that 68% of the students learning

English as a second language fell below basic levels of competency in reading.

Students who are learning English as a second language face multiple

challenges that students who are native English learners do not experience.

Mastering the four macro skills of speaking, writing, reading and listening in

English language has its own challenging concerns.

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By understanding the second language, the learners can communicate what

they meant in another language (Pulmo, 2020). Hashim & Yunus (2019) stated

that learning a second language is suitable for communication in English

language interaction with people from another country. Learning a second

language is helpful because learners can use the second language as a tool to

unify communication between a person or a group of people from another

country.

However, learning a second language is never easy (Ama, 2022). A few

students have difficulty speaking in English. Some of them understood but were

reluctant to speak because they felt unable to do so. I If we contemplate and

looking back at the method of learning English in schools, it is only based on

grammar learning. This means that it prioritizes language usage more than

language use. They understand and memorize various grammatical formulas that

have been taught by teachers at school (Rintaningrum & Azhari, 2021). Learning

with this method is more inclined to be able to answer questions and pass

exams, not to develop practical abilities. That is why many students in Indonesia

who understand English but not many can speak English.

There are many emerging studies have been conducted to identify the

factors that contribute to second language acquisition. Nor et al (2019)

conducted a study regarding students' problems in learning English, and they

concluded that students' anxiety to speak, understand some unfamiliar English

words in the context being read, and lack of engagement in participating in the

classroom activity are the factors that affect the second language acquisition. In
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addition, psychological factors which is nervousness and shyness also gives

some impact to their performance in study. When they impaired with

nervousness and shyness, they could not express their ideas properly and at the

same time they are not confident on their own capabilities (Rusreena et al.,

2018).

Moreover, one of the top challenges of learning English is to be able to

communicate successfully with it (Ahmed, 2018). Many learners have good

English language skills, yet they struggle to express themselves while

communicating in English. According to Nor et al., (2019), more often than not,

ESL learners do not struggle in writing tasks as much as they do with speaking

proficiency. Speaking in front of a group of people needs courage, internal

motivation, and external stimulants such as a pleasant conversational

environment and an interesting topic. They struggled to communicate fluently

because of their lack of English vocabulary. Respondents were urged to combine

various local languages and dialects with English in order to ensure that their

meanings, intentions, or views were understood (Nor et al., 2019).

Therefore, English as a second language comes with many challenges,

especially in terms of pronunciation, speaking, and other cases in context and

cultural norm. All languages have their idiosyncrasies and learning English may

be daunting to many learners for many reasons (Krishnan, 2021). Reasons such

as low-self-efficacy is typically associated with the emotions of frustration and

discouragement, while high-self-efficacy is associated with the emotion of

confidence. Yet, most English language learners belongs to what is considered

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to be frustrated learners who are not ready to express words through it (Miele &

Scholer, 2018).

For the concerns over academic writing, posed a specific challenge for

students whose first language was not English. The study of Ravichandran,

Kirby, and Ghosh (2017), found out that students in tertiary level feels that writing

expectations were very high leading to feelings of uncertainty in improving their

academic performance. Key challenges faced by these students with respect to

writing in English is concerned grammar and vocabulary, style guide use,

organization and flow of information, critical thinking, understanding of

plagiarism, and assignment completion time; some of these challenges surfaced

due to the differences in these areas compared to the expectations in their home

countries.

Perceptions towards Second Language Acquisition

Learning another language is a challenging agenda which a student has to

deal with in order to communicate with other people. That is why enjoying the

learning process would make language acquisition easier and fun. According to

Schwarz and Terrill (2000), a positive view into the importance of the second

language being learned helps one to attain mastery of English language.

However, anxiety, role of teachers, personality, attitudes, and motivation affects

their perceptions on English language declining student’s interest to use it

effectively.

The student’s attitudes, views and insights towards the studied language

is a affect the mastery of English langugae (Yusob, 2018). When students learn a
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language, they should not only apply the understanding of the concept of the

language, but also use it in their daily life (Hashim & Yunus, 2018). This only

means that teaching and learning English is a success when students use

language skills inside and outside the classroom (González-Becerra, 2019).

Many researchers believe that outside the classroom is the place where students

use the language to communicate and to participate in activities to improve and

master acquisition of language (Leong & Ahmadi, 2017). But according to the

study of Sepera, Generales, and Medina (2020), students have negative views to

English language because in Philippines it is associated to social class which a

person belongs. English is considered as ‘special’, rather than a ‘second

language’ this means that those who knows rule of grammar are perceived as

more intelligent or belongs to a higher economic status than those who cannot

speak well.

Also, teacher’s role in language acquisition affects the views of the

students. As said, more can be done to improve the quality of education by

improving the effectiveness of teachers in a language classroom (Akbari, 2015).

At the same time, more and more research about the role of student’s perception

in language acquisition found out that anxiety in the language classroom

contributes to the declination of learner’s interest (Sundari, 2017). Teachers

scaffold instruction to aid student understanding of content topics and objectives

by adjusting their speech and instructional tasks; if the teacher provides “hands-

on” activities and has students interact in small groups, English Language

Learners (ELLs) will be able to participate in the life of the classroom a lot
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sooner. They will feel more confident in risking oral language. It should not be

assumed that learners of English do not feel embarrassment or shyness when

attempting to speak in a second language (Yunsurova & Shirinova, 2018).

Teaching English especially to non-native speakers is not an easy task to

do. It is a long process which may be influenced by different issues. However,

the effective teacher is the one who knows what to teach, how to teach and how

to react to any educational situation. To teach English as a foreign language, one

needs first to consider his/her learners as social beings because each learner is

an individual, who is characterized by a personality and by social traits which

may influence the process of learning (Haynes, 2007).

Likewise, the role of emotions in the perceptions of students for foreign

language learning and teaching. It affects the motivation and attitudes towards

the English language (Dewaele, Jean-Marc, Chen & Padilla, 2019). Adult English

Secondary Language (ESL) learners have their unique perceptions that are

different from that of children. According to Riadil (2020) some of the adult

learners worries more about committing a mistake and being criticized declining

their interest on the language. Since it is known that adult learners bring a

reservoir of life and educational experience to the classroom (Addisu, 2020),

even though this may be an assumption, it follows that these learners might also

bring complex psychology and multi-layered personalities to the learning of the

new language, both in the classroom and in the natural environment.

Consequently, the amount of exposure and positive attitudes towards

English language is an important factor to consider for effective use in the

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classroom (Hashim & Yunus, 2018). The difficulties students encounter in

learning have often been found to be influenced by cognition and personalities−

views and insights (Lopriore & Vettorel, 2015). It is important to understand that

in learning English, the four skills should be mastered by students and the way

they valued learning the language helps them gain positive outputs. Without the

mastery of these, it results to problem such as speaking problems resulting to

poor academic performance (Riadil, 2019).

In addition to what precedes, Luo (2012) believes the main sources that

lead to experiencing foreign language anxiety are the classroom atmosphere,

attributes of learners, the target language, and the process of foreign language

learning itself. A study conducted by Sundari (2018), argued that being proficient

at speaking and reading is considered as the most important significant but what

lies on the learner’s perception to the L2 is a major concern that needs to be

address. At least some of this language anxiety may be generated by instructors

and teaching methods (Young, 1991, as cited in von Worde), which suggests that

the teaching-style/learning-expectation mismatch can create more than just a

contradiction of preferences in classroom methods and on learning the L2.

As highlighted by Jiménez (2015), students’ commitment plays a

fundamental role in the transformation of education. Jiménez states that didactic

materials and classroom activities are very important when learning a foreign

language; however, learners’ attitude is the most crucial.

Language Acquisition Coping Strategies

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Enjoyment is a positive affective state that combines challenge,

happiness, interest, fun, sense of pride, and sense of meaning. It occurs

especially in activities where learners have a degree of autonomy and when

something novel is encountered or something challenging is achieved.

Motivation, according to Harmer (2007), is essential to success and

without motivation learners will almost certainly fail to make the necessary effort.

Harmer held that motivation is a type of internal drive that pushes someone to do

things in order to achieve something. In language learning, Richards and Schmidt

(2002) asserted that motivation is “the combination of learners’ attitudes, desires,

and willingness to expend effort in order to learn a second language . . .

motivation is generally considered to be one of the primary causes of success

and failure in language learning” (p. 344).

Some studies have said that an enthusiastic teaching not only motivates,

inspires, and excites learners but also improves learning and learners’

achievement (Keller et al., 2016). Enjoyment in L2 context could be regarded as

a positive learning facilitative achievement emotion. It has been linked to

heightened motivation and engagement, as well as better actual and self-

perceived L2 performance and also a higher Willingness to Communicate (Botes

et al., 2021; Li, 2018).

This is supported by Collins (1978) saying that during the 1970s, teacher

enthusiasm was firmly equated with displayed enthusiasm and regarded as

instructional behaviors including “vocal delivery, eyes, gesture, movements,

facial expression, word selection, acceptance of ideas and feelings and overall
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energy level”. Germane to the current study, many of the studies showed that

teachers play a crucial role in enjoyment. For example, using focused essay

technique, Jiang (2020) focused on teacher-related sources for the enjoyment

experienced by 646 Chinese EFL students. Five sources emerged, among which

teacher characteristics, which included teacher happiness and humor,

friendliness, kindness, and patience.

In addition, the issue of teacher-learner relationship is clearly a multifaceted

phenomenon whose quality is shaped and influenced by a numerous factor

inside and outside of the language classroom. Dinçer et al. (2013) emphasize

that effective learning is strongly related to the effective teaching and indicate

that an effective language teacher should possess common attributes to achieve

successful language learning.

Boredom can be defined as an unpleasant affective or psychological state

that is associated with low physical and cognitive arousal, specific time

perceptions (e.g., dragging or standing still) and action tendencies to disengage

from what is going on around (Li, 2021). This entails that boredom is “a

combination of dissatisfaction, disappointment, annoyance, inattention, lack of

motivation to pursue previously set goals and impaired vitality” (Kruk &

Zawodniak, 2018, p. 177). It permeates academic settings, and has consistent

repercussions in various aspects in learning, including individual engagement,

cognition, motivation, self-regulation, learning strategies, and learning

achievement (Daniels et al., 2015; Macklem, 2015). The intensity of boredom

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was linked to the teacher, topics, repetitive activities, task implementation, and a

mismatch between challenge and proficiency level (Pawlak et al., 2020a, b).

Furthermore, Oga-Baldwin (2019) pointed out that affective factors (e.g.,

motivation, emotion, interest) and learning environment (e.g., teacher and peer

relationships) could affect student engagement and that the effect was reciprocal.

In other words, student engagement is not only shaping but also being shaped by

both individual affective experiences and environmental characteristics. Mercer

(2019) similarly addressed the effects of both individual and environmental

(teacher) factors on student engagement. More specifically, she claimed that

learners who felt competent, autonomous, in a growth mindset, in positive

relationships with peers and teachers, and enjoyed learning more, became more

motivated and involved in the process of language learning (see also Henry &

Thorsen, 2020; Hiver, Al-Hoorie, & Mercer, 2021).

According to Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004), cognitive strategies, which

include positive thinking and peer- seeking, are tactics used to change

problematic thought processes related to language learning. Kondo and Ying-

Ling (2004) have also opined that relaxation strategies, which are characterized

by their affective quality, are employed to reduce bodily tension associated with

emotional arousal, while preparation strategies are behavioral in nature because

they focus on behavioral components of language learning that are related to

effective performance in class.

Finally, student’s coping strategies relies on three main categories of

metacognitive strategies such as consciously directing of one’s own efforts into

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the learning task. Second, cognitive strategies where the learning steps that

learners take to transform new material, and socio-affective strategies which is

done through interaction with another person or taking control of one’s own

feelings on language learning. The above classification albeit presented around

three decades ago remains very much in place to this date (Griffiths & Incecay,

2016; Oxford,2016; Shawer, 2016.

Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter comprises and discusses the research design, the research

participants, instruments to be used, data collection procedure, data analysis,

consideration for trustworthiness and credibility, and ethical consideration. It also

includes justification for the use of the methods.

Research Design

This study will make use of phenomenological qualitative research method

that is anchored on the study of Creswell and Creswell (2018), which suggest

that the best criteria to determine the use of phenomenology is when the

research problem requires a profound understanding of human experiences

common to a group of people. To obtain the authentic experiences of the

students, phenomenological research methodology is selected as the framework

of qualitative study (Cypress, 2018). Henceforth, it is appropriate to use the

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qualitative research approach in this study because the focus is on the

challenges faced by students in learning English as a second language.

Research Participants

To meet what Creswell (2018) recommended of having long interviews

with up to 10 people in phenomenological inquiry, the study will utilize 10

participants. Such that, this study identifies a sample size of 10 participants.

Three (3) participants for In-depth interview and seven (7) participants will be

subjected for focus group discussion (FGD). They are the key subject of this

study.

The participants of the study are the students of Governor Generoso,

College of Arts, Sciences, and Technology, from the Municipality of Governor

Generoso, Davao Oriental specifically, BSED-English students. The identity of

the participants will be kept confidential to avoid possible issues faced by the

informants. The informants are selected based on pre-selected criteria that

certainly mean that they must be: (1) English major students, (2) at the said

school disregarding whether they are regular or irregular students, and (3) they

are at least 18 years old and above.

According to Guest et al. (2006), for homogenous studies who use

purposeful sampling, a low number of participants should be sufficient to achieve

data saturation. The participants are selected using a purposive sampling.

Wherein, Farragia (2019) said that a purposive sampling is a conceptually driven

approach that have the researcher deliberately select sample participants whom

they believe can give fruitful response to the questions. This is affected by
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variables such as the age of the participant, gender, and major course which will

be kept confidential (Nikolopoulou, 2022).

Role of the Researcher

‘’Human instrument,’’ as what Denzin and Lincoln (2003) have described,

is the role of the researchers in qualitative study. Rather than relying on

inventories, questionnaires, or machines, the researchers in this study will use

their utmost ability to conduct the study.

First, researchers have ensured the participants regarding confidentiality

throughout the study to protect their identity and the ethical conduct of the

research.

Second, researchers as an interviewer. The researchers interviewed the

participants face-to-face via in-depth interview and focus group discussions. This

is done with the use of an interview guide which has been validated by experts.

Third, researchers have made use of audio recordings with the consent of

the participants to ensure that no data have been missed which is crucial to the

analysis of the study.

Moreover, the researchers will transcribe and translate the data gathered

using the recorded audio during the interview, the researcher will give a copy to

the informants. This is to make sure of the credibility of the information provided.

The researcher will take the stand of interpreting and analyzing the data.

Lastly, the researchers have set aside prejudices by guarding our own

experiences not to affect the views and the interpretation of the data or
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participants. We highly, valued ethics and confidentiality when conducting the

study.

Data Sources

The sources of data this qualitative research will come from interviews of

the participants and with their consent, through audio recording (Creswell 2014).

The primary source of data will come from the selected participant’s in-depth

interview and focus group discussions.

In-depth interview and focus group discussions are useful when

researchers want to have detailed information about a person’s thoughts and

behaviors or wish to explore new issues that offers more complete picture of

what happened and why (Boyce & Neale, 2006). All data are taken from the

direct participants of the study coming from English students of GGCAST.

Data Collection Procedure

The researcher will follow a step-by-step process in the gathering of data.

Asking permission to conduct the study. The researcher wrote a letter

addressed to the head of the school, Governor Generoso College of Arts,

Sciences, and Technology, for approval to conduct the study. After the approval,

the distribution of informed consent is to be done prior to the collection of data for

the participants. The researchers will give the participant adequate time to make

up their minds as to whether they will participate in the study.

Conducting the interview. The time and place of when and where the

interview took place is decided primarily by the convenience of the participants

and safety. The researcher utilizes two data collection methods: an in-depth
25

interview and a focus group discussion. Before the interview, an orientation to the

participants is done to inform them about their rights and bout the study.

The aforesaid method of interviews will help the researchers gather

sufficient data to understand the feelings, perceptions, and extract new

knowledge to the challenges experienced by students in the process of learning

English language. After the interviews, data gathered will be subjected to data

analysis.

Data Analysis

Data analysis involves the synthesizing of information obtained from the

interviews, observations, and documentations during the process of gathering

vital information (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2019), into a description of what the

researchers observed during the conduct of the study.

After the data will be collected, we, the researchers will apply concepts of

transcribing data in verbatim and then translating the answers and all the minutes

during the in-depth interview (IDI) and focus group discussion (FGD) in English

language. This process will be followed by, displaying of data through codes and

themes arranging them into a table to let researcher draw conclusions. This step

is necessary for it helps the researcher organize the data that has been

collected. With this the researcher can deduce data to differentiate systematic

patterns and interrelationship among categories. Thereafter, in this stage, higher

order of categories or themes might emerge from the data that is beyond those

first discovered during the initial process of data reduction.

26

The researchers will carefully evaluate and analyze the data while utilizing

the descriptive and thematic approach and demystifying emerging patterns of

themes. In the process of analyzing the data, the researcher makes a written

copy of the minutes of the focus group discussion and key informant interview to

generalize the meaning of data. This will aid the researcher in searching for

segments and also in assigning particular code. Thus, the researcher will also

make codes of the text to make a description and themes. The repetition of the

process helps the researcher on answering the research questions in chapter 1.

In this regard, the researchers will follow the qualitative data analysis

model of Abulela and Harwell (2020). First, there will be data extraction in order

to make data accessible and understandable (Berg, 2004). Data reduction helps

in making the data simple and more efficient. The paring and filtering of data is

also known as thematic analysis which is another way of analyzing data and can

also be a process for codifying qualitative information. This is much more than

simply summarizing the data; a good thematic analysis interprets and makes

sense of it. A common pitfall is to use the main interview questions as the themes

(Clarke & Braun, 2013).

Finally, the researcher will make a generalization and verification of data

during the process accurately. This involves having the researcher to look back

and consider what the analyzed data employs and to assess their implications for

the questions at hand. After which, the researcher will evaluate the integrating

links to drawing conclusions. This involves revising that data several times to

cross-check the emergent conclusions.

27

Trustworthiness of the Study

Trustworthiness or rigor of a study refers to the degree of confidence in

data, interpretation, and methods used to ensure the quality of a study (Pilot &

Beck, 2014). In each study, researchers should establish the protocols and

procedures necessary for a study to be considered worthy of consideration by

readers (Amankwaa, 2016). This means that this study must and will show

credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability.

Credibility

Credibility, according to Stahl and King (2020), is the most important part

to observe in conducting qualitative study. It is the evidence and reputation of the

study where results mirror the views of the participants. This will be done and

observed through the process of triangulation and member checking the

congruency of the findings with reality will be observed in the study. This allows

the researchers to adequately present multiple realities of data.

Prior to what was said earlier, researchers will ensure credibility of the

study by prolonged engagement with the participants, ‘’for the researcher’s

involvement with the informants deepens trust and understanding of their culture

and the context as well’’ (Lincoln & Guba, 2011). Member checking during face-

to-face interview of the participants from the various roles and provided copy of

research write-ups to solicit their feedback regarding the accuracy of data.

Dependability
28

The researchers will convey dependability, the trust of trustworthy, through

audit trails and triangulations. According to Lincoln and Guba (2011), we can

achieve dependability via peer debriefing that creates trust and audit trails and

triangulations. In this study, dependability will be observed by using the

overlapping methods of triangulations (interview by in-depth, observations, and

focus group discussions with the semi-structured questionnaires) to have cross-

validation of data this is all supported by Given and Saumure (2008).

Transferability

In order to establish transferability, the researcher will mark and keep the

data for the future references. The external validity and generalizability of this

study for the readers and future researchers might be limited but qualitative study

seeks to expand findings by transferring it from one context to another (Stahl &

King, 2020). Our study will establish transferability by, documentation, methods

and time frame for collection of data to describe the duration the study for these

factors influence the degree of completed researchers to be applied on other

sites and context.

The researcher will also verify the data by giving the participants a copy of

the transcribed notes from the audio recording that will let the informants review

their answers during the interview. With this, Braun and Clark (2006) stated that

the process will increase reliability.

Confirmability
29

Finally, the confirmability of the study verifies the trustworthiness with

regards to the events that happened on the phenomenon as signified by the

results in the study (Golafshani, 2003). The confirmability of the study increases

the transparency and decreases the opportunities for a subjective view of the

researcher (Singh, 2014). This study will make use of audit trials to allow readers

of this research to confirm the results and interpretations reflected on the study.

This assures the quality in qualitative studies.

Ethical Consideration

To ensure the ethical standards, the researchers will follow the Belmont

Report (1979) guidelines as expanded by Denzin and Lincoln (2011) and Berg

and Lune (2017) that in ethical research, respect for persons, beneficence,

justice and respect of community will be adhered to.

For the practice of respect for person, the researcher will make sure to ask

permission and consent before the conduct of the in-depth interview and the

focus group discussion audio recorded. When the informants have understood

the research and their rights, the researcher may ask them to sign the written

consent form which the researcher will provide. The form consists of the contact

information of the researcher where they can ask question about the research.

Also, the researcher will guarantee the privacy of the informants by

promising them right from the start that they will reveal information about their
30

experiences for research purposes only. Furthermore, the researcher avoids the

use of real name of the informants. Thus, name coding will be used.

To establish beneficence Berg and Lune (2017), the researcher will lessen

the risks to the informants. The researcher achieves this by putting an emphasis

on the confidentiality and letting them know that they have the right to

discontinue their participation whenever they felt insecure and uncertain about

the purpose of the study.

In order to guarantee respect for communities (Denzin and Lincoln (2011),

the researcher will consider the fact that the participants are studying at the

school setting. The investigator also knows that there are different views among

each participant with regards to their experiences as an English major student

that could hinder or help them open.

The researcher will also ensure sure that everything they do will help the

informants to realize that their intensions are good, and they will not judge their

answers since the researcher only use the information on the matter of

understanding the context of the research question. Moreover, the researcher is

required to respect the values of the community especially the institution and to

protect from any unlikely issues.

To ensure justice Berg and Lune (2017), the researcher will guarantee

that everything is sufficiently accurate and assure it through the information

redundancy where the data can no longer give an additional information to the

research question. Doing this would require the researchers to adhere to the
31

Data Privacy Act of 2012 that ensures the privacy of the identities of the study’s

participants.

After the conduct of the study, the researcher and the informant will meet

again to share the result and significant of the study. In here, the researcher will

address the problem properly with regards to the studied phenomenon and the

concerns of the participants to the results of the study.

32

Chapter 4

RESULTS

This chapter displays the challenges experienced by BSED-English

students in the light of learning the English language as a second language.

Given to life are the direct perceptions of BSED-English students towards the

English language as well as the coping strategies and recommendations they

shared to lessen the challenging or difficult experiences they encountered served

as the focus of the study.

Specifically, this chapter exposes the results of the data gathered from the

participants whose names are aliased to observe confidentiality. The data were

thematized and core ideas were extracted. Also, the discussions are outlined

accordingly, per research questions.

Analysis and Discussion

33
34

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