Exploring the Experiences and Attitudes of Key Stage 1 Learners of Tanza,

Cavite whose L1 is English in the Filipino primary classroom setting

A Research Proposal presented to the

Faculty of Tanza National Comprehensive HS- Senior HS

Tanza, Cavite

In partial fulfillment of the requirements in Practical Research 1

Aspiras, Jaspher Miko

Alano, Von Lenard

Amor, Jhamcyl

Angeles, Alyssa

Anonuevo, Ashton David

Arbolante, Angel Vianca

Asuncion, Kriezel

Barrientos, Michael Rey

Cabuhat, Mariel

Muyo, Ian Lee

Perales, Genesis

Prim, Jennylyn

March 2023
 Chapter I

Introduction

Background of the Study

Children’s engagement levels in a classroom setting vary, and are proven to be

not uniform (Vitiello et al, 2012). These children’s engagement with their peers and

teachers change over time, and the study proposed that these changes can be

attributed to several factors, including class hours, social interaction of the children

inside the classroom, or intrinsic values of the children themselves, including culture,

values, and their language.

According to Leath et al in 2019, minorities exist even in the classroom setting.

Minorities defined in their study were the Black Americans as they learned in a majorly

White classroom setting. The study adhered to the Minority Stress Model by Meyer et al

in 1995, where minorities are prone to discrimination and conflict between them and a

dominating culture. For their study, it was race that divided them, but a minority group

can be defined also in a linguistic context, such as in the case of Vonnahmen et al in

2019, where non-natives are evaluated as the minority in a native speaker-dominated

classroom. Academically, the minority did not have any deviations from the dominant

group, but had a dramatic difference in social interactions and integrations, implying that

language can be a barrier that impedes social relationships in the classroom setting.

Indeed, language can be a barrier that can deviate a child from their peers due to their

linguistic difference, and as proven in Ivey’s study in 2011 about Hispanic ESL students
in an English L1 classroom, the former are less successful than their peers in the

classroom setting, primarily due to the difference of the language they speak. The

paper’s findings were a strong lead to the claim that language, although it holds the

ability to connect people (Imberti, 2007), also has the tendency to bring people apart

given they speak different languages.

The Philippines is home to many languages. (Eberhard, Simons and Fennig,

2022) It fosters speakers of varying tongues, the regional languages, or the official

languages Filipino and English. Such are the case in the classroom setting as well,

where the language of a community or a region is used as a mode of instruction

alongside the official language during Key Stage 1 by virtue of the Mother Tongue

Based Education mandate (Darmini, 2021; Department of Education, 2016). The

Philippines is home to 65 million English speakers, but only 300000 speak it as their first

language (Eberhard, Simons and Fennig, 2022), making them a minor linguistic

community, much more so in classroom settings where students primarily speak the

lingua franca. Studies have pointed out that speakers of regional languages in the

country find it hard to cope with the classroom situation, where the mode of instruction

is not the same as the language they carry (Leano et al, 2019), even more so when they

are a minority, underrepresented in a classroom dominated by speakers who speak the

languages of instruction (Absalon et al 2019; Zapata et al 2019; Yoneno, 2015).

Research related to experiences of minor linguistic groups as the

underrepresented in classroom settings have been conducted, albeit the field remains

relatively underexplored. In the global context, it was proven that language plays a role

in mediating academic and social growth to students, conversely, differences in that

Russian L1 students in an English L1 classroom. In the local setting, it is also likewise

proven when Leano et al investigated Indigenous learners as they learned English,

citing difficulties due to language barriers. Another instance is when Yoneno in 2015

studied the experiences of Filipino-Japanese migrants in the country’s classroom

settings, baring the presence of language barriers as the children studied in a Filipino

classroom. However, research discussing its inverse– when English learners are

underrepresented in the classroom– specifically, the experiences of an English L1

learner in a completely different environment, is lacking. The researchers would like to

address the dearth in the mentioned field of research, expanding the knowledge with

regards to language barriers that hinder interactions and performances of learners by

exploring the learners’ experiences and struggles in the Filipino primary classroom

setting.

Significance of the Study

The Philippines’ classrooms, majority of its learners being native Filipino

speakers, are majorly ESL studying English as a second language to further their

proficiency in addition to their linguistic skills in their respective native tongues (Leano,

Rabi, and Piragasam, 2019). This study would be of relevant significance in filling the

gap on the experiences of English speakers in the country, much more on speakers of

the language in the Key Stage 1 (ages 5-8), in the classroom setting. Published studies

regarding it are relatively lacking, and to meet the relevant need for knowledge in that
aspect, this study is to be conducted. This study aims to investigate the experiences of

an English speaker under the said environment. With English speakers becoming more

prominent in our community, it is bound to be a difficulty for educators in teaching them

along with Filipino Speakers. This study can also benefit the educational system,

providing knowledge about English-speaking children under their programs and how to

deal with them accordingly in providing a suitable and inclusive education. This paper

can potentially provide the necessary data for constructing pedagogical

recommendations for the benefit of the English L1 learners.

The paper can establish a trend that deals with defining a minor linguistic group’s

experience in a classroom, which future researchers can use as references for their

studies regarding language, minorities, linguistic barriers, and classroom experiences.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to explore the experiences and attitudes of an English-speaking

Key Stage 1 learner in the FIlipino primary classroom setting. Specifically, it aims to

provide answers to the following questions:

How do Key Stage 1 Learners whose L1 is English behave in the classroom in

terms of their classroom participation and social interaction?

What are the struggles of the Key Stage 1 Learners whose L1 is English in the

classroom setting?

How do Key Stage 1 Learners whose L1 is English cope with these struggles?
 Scope and Limitation

This study will be limited to exploring the experiences and attitudes of Key Stage

1 learners of Tanza, Cavite in the Filipino primary classroom setting. The study will not

include the experience of the students outside the school setting, including their

community involvement and engagement, and experiences in extra-curricular activities.

The participants that will be needed in conducting this research shall only be within Key

Stage 1, or from kindergarten to third grade, as defined by the Department of Education

in 2016. The schools in which these children are studying will vary but should only be

within the set study area, which is the district of Tanza, province of Cavite, Philippines.

In order to fully understand the experiences of the students, we will be interviewing their

parents, guardians and subject teachers. Aside from this, the researchers will be

observing the participants’ behaviors and how they interact at school. Data collection

will be conducted by the researchers for a duration of two months, and the data

gathered from the collection will be qualitatively analyzed.

Definition of Terms

To facilitate the understanding of this study, different technical terms are defined

operationally.

1. ESL (English as a Second Language) - This term refers to learners who use

English as their second language after knowing their first language.

from Kindergarten to Grade Three

3. Key Stage 2 - this term means the stage of a child’s primary education from 4th

Grade to 6th

4. L1 (First Language) - refers to the first acquired language, native language or

the mother tongue of learners

5. L2 (Second Language) - refers to the language a learner acquired after their

mother tongue

6. Minorities - refers to the learners whose L1 is english in a majorly Filipino

speakers in a Filipino Classroom Setting

7. Research gap - this refers to the unanswered problem or questions by any of the

previous study or research.

8. Engagement levels - refers to the level of how Children interact and associate

with their peers

9. Linguistic group - refers to a social group that shares a common ancestral

language categorized on the basis of spoken and written language

10. Linguistic differences - refers on how a language differentiate from one another

including on how native speakers speak their language

11. Underrepresentation - refers to the condition on which learners are less valued

for they speak a language different from the language that majority of the

learners use in a classroom setting

12. Classroom experiences - refers to the events that take place inside the

classroom. What they feel as one of a kind or as English speakers. The students'
 behavior, the discrimination they experience and how their interpersonal

relationships affect them.

Theoretical Support

The ideas proposed in this study is anchored on the following theories, findings and

models:

1. Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 1995; Mirowsky & Ross, 1989; Pearlin, 1989),

which is a general model that deals with minority groups in an environment, in

this study’s case being English speakers. In the social context, the minority is

prone to discrimination and conflict between them and the dominant culture due

to difference in values. Linguistic differences of the learners in the classroom

take the place of the social groups defined in the model, which are frequently

used to support gender discrimination studies, such as in the case of Meyer’s

study in 2003, where they used the model to depict the situation of the LGBT

minority in a societal setting. Despite this, the model can be of use to this study’s

concepts as well, which deals with English-speaking Key Stage 1 learners’

experiences in the Filipino classroom setting, since it is a general theory that

deals with underrepresented groups in a community.

2. Behaviorism Theory (Watson, 1913; Pavlov, 1927; Skinner, 1938), a general

theory that deals with the environment as they influence the learning experiences

of a person. Per Watson in 1913: the environment a person is in directly

influences their learning. This idea was expanded on by Pavlov in 1927 with his
 infamous experiment on dogs, and stated that stimuli causes responses, these

responses can be associated together and causes a significant influence on a

person on learning responses. Lastly, Skinner defined learning behavior as

something influenced by the perceptions regarding it: if an action is praised and

celebrated, it is to be repeated, if otherwise, then it is to be avoided. This ties in

with the topic that tackles what attitudes key stage 1 children that are English-

speakers have when they were placed in a learning environment that is ESL.

This theory is used as a support for the research as the attitude that one has

towards something is displayed through their behavior.

3. Theory of Language Barriers among Linguistic Minorities (Martinez, 2003;

Bucholtz et al, 2004; Schwartz, 2008)

A theory that defined language barriers between two groups of varying

representations in a social setting. It stated that language barriers are inevitable

and are natural to arise between linguistic groups. According to the theory, there

are four dimensions that arise as an effect of the presence of linguistic barriers in

a social setting:

a. Interaction barriers. These block face-to-face communication between the

groups

b. Uneven distribution of information across linguistic populations.

c. Acceptance barriers that block intersubjectivity between populations.

d. Performance barriers.
 The mentioned theories and models provided the support in this paper’s claims

with regards to the linguistic differences of the learners in the classroom affects their

behaviors, and in turn, academic motivation and performances; and

English speakers, being minorities in a Filipino classroom setting, being prone to

struggles, needing the necessary coping measures in order to adapt.

Review of Related Literature

This section contains the related studies and literature that supports the claims made by

this paper.

1. Gundarina, 2019

This study discussed the experiences of native Russian speakers in an English

L1 classroom. Albeit in a different linguistic context, this is the study closest to the one

we propose to conduct, since it also dealt with the experiences of a learner with a

different native language than their peers in a classroom setting. The paper also pointed

out the lack of attention and published studies regarding experiences of learners with

different languages in the classroom setting in the Russian context, much less in the

global context, which establishes the gap in the field of study. The paper’s primary

objective was to describe the experiences of a Russian Key Stage 2 learner, with

Russian L1, in an English L1 classroom. The paper’s main findings were as follows:

a. The students have adjusted to the L2 English environment and impacted their

academic performance

b. Though their academic achievement can be attributed to their bilingualism, the

teachers found this trait among Russian L1 students a problem, rather than an

asset.

c. The Russian L1 minority in the classroom were submissive to the social structure

in the English L1 classroom setting. The paper proposed the possibility of

students itself.

d. The friendship and social interactions of the Russian L1 student to their peers

were vulnerable, and bullying was observed

2. D’Anguilli, Siegel, and Maggi, 2004.

This study compared children with English as L1 to ELL children, correlating

their socioeconomic statuses and reading ability, while also assessing the difference of

having English as L1 make in their reading abilities. The paper has found that: varied

growth can be observed on the children’s reading ability throughout the study’s six-year

study period, in which the English L1 learners were significantly ahead, and lastly,

Socioeconomic factors affect reading ability, so does the order in which the child learnt

English. L1 children had a significant lead when it comes to reading proficiency in

comparison to ELL children, but ELL children, albeit behind, showed results in terms of

their reading abilities.

3. Paradis, Schneider, Duncan

In this study, the authors sought to determine whether a combination of English-

language measures and a parent questionnaire on first-language development could

adequately discriminate between English-language learners (ELLs) with and without

language impairment (LI) when children had diverse first-language backgrounds.

This study is also supported by the idea of Anti-intellectualism. In the Philippine

context, English ability, proficiency and fluency is viewed as a measure of intelligence,

and this makes English speakers prone to Anti-intellectualism, a negative culture

embedded in the FIlipino classroom, as stated in Medina et al’s study in 2018. This
study would be looking at if the learners’ ability to speak and express in the English

language impedes the progress of their interpersonal relationships in the classroom

because of this mentioned factor.

These theories support the idea that:

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