English nowadays is considered as the universal language; for which it is understood by almost all countries around the world.
It is used by most people as their second language. First, it is a way of communication in business, negotiations & especially in academics. It plays an important role in the basic education, particularly to speaking and writing (Kumar, 2009). English proficiency must be treated as an additional skill.
In reality, a country needs to build familiarity, friendship and collaborate with other countries as well.It is the government’s obligation to give good quality of education to be able to work and communicate in a wider and competitive world (Alave, 2006). English proficiency pertains to the ability to speak, read and write in English. To be considered as truly proficient, you should have an advanced skill in this. We know that English is the universal language, to communicate to those people in other countries; you have to speak in English so they will understand what you are saying. We all know that lately, our country, Philippines is known for being English proficient of its citizen.
But, this advantage is being eroded by other rising competitions with declining mastery of some college graduates. Just recently, a language test was taken by IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines which showed that our country is no longer the top English-speaking country in Asia. This may be so because some students nowadays do not even try to enhance their English skill.
Philippines has lately been failing to fulfil its duties, particularly to provide good quality of education on English.According to Salazar (2007), this can clearly be seen in the decline of the English proficiency rate at the March 2006 SWS survey where only two out of three Filipino adults said that they understood and could read English in the March 2006 compared to the September 2000 survey. Also, youth is now affected by this low proficiency. Based on Esplanada’s (2007) observation, youth in this generation experience a more modernized world.
There are a lot of entertainment and gadgets to use during their past time which results to the decline of their English proficiency. Elders before, use their time reading ooks while on the other hand, young people waste their time watching television, playing computer games and chatting on their social network with friends. Medium of instruction influence and develop this skill the most. In school particularly, teachers play a big role on students. One out of every five public teachers is proficient in English language.This basically means that the low rate of proficiency of the teachers gives a big impact and show the result to the standing of their students.
The level of their knowledge in English reflected in the annual National Achievement Test given to the fourth year students.The failing average of elementary was 59% and 51% to the high school students (Bonabente , 2007). Based on Francisco and Manilay’s (1972) study, they proposed an English proficiency test to see the level of a person’s English speaking vocabulary. This study is not used just to see their ability to speak and write in English but their capability in expressing their thoughts in their own and proper way in English.
It was designed for six largest foreign groups of students studying and enrolled in the University of the Philippines which are the Thais, Pakistanis, Indonesians, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese.This study was made to see and observe their respond and ability to cope during communication. It showed the bright and poor group of examinees. Also, Nartea (1980) held another study but focused more on the English proficiency of graduating students in agricultural schools.
1,114 students were randomly selected in the 11 agricultural schools in Luzon to check out their Basic English 1 knowledge. After the test was done, the result showed that these students have difficulty in listening and writing skills and have slow responses through simple questions and in word association to its meaning.These just shows that quality of education for English in these schools are not enough and not sufficient to provide the quality and skill that these students need. Mainly, business transactions just like business contract, issuing official receipts, contracts, and others are written in English because it is the appropriate one.
Another, being competent in English will give an additional access to corporate world. Job employers more prefer to those who has an advanced not only in communication skills but also in writing.
