English Competency and Factors Affecting the Speaking Performance of College Students

This research aimed to evaluate the English competency and factors affecting the speaking performance of eighty (80) Bachelor of Arts in English Language (AB-EL) students at the Visayas State University (VSU). The first set of respondents composed of forty (40) AB-EL students were made to produce ten (10) Cebuano (L1) and ten (10) English (L2) responses based on the ten (10) cartoon images searched from Google Image but modified with the aid of graphic/photo editing software. For criteria evaluation, the study adopted the grammatical error categories by Ellis (1997). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Pearson r and linear regression analyses were also used. Competency in this regard was measured by the correlation and regression modelling of the responses made between attention time and performance errors. Results showed that application of grammar rules in speaking construction has no relation to the attention time. The study also found out that in speaking fluency, "hesitation" occurrence is a product of the learners' lack knowledge of the target language and it is a useful tool in measuring speaking competency rather than grammatical error. In both languages, "Misinformation" is the common grammatical error committed by the respondents while "Parenthetical remark" is the most "Hesitation" occurrence. In all parameters, results showed a similar trend and characteristic concluding that the respondents attained a good level of speaking competency. The study suggests that it is vital for students to have a good command on the rules of restrictions of the target language because conscious application of the rules on grammar will affect the fluency of the utterance. On the other hand, the second set of respondents composed of the remaining forty (40) AB-EL students answered a survey questionnaire on factors affecting students' speaking performance adopted from Mai and Tuan (2015). The speaking proficiency test was from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS, 2008). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Pearson r coefficient was used for correlation analysis. Findings revealed that there were various factors that affect the speaking performance of the students like the lack of motivation, worried about committing mistakes, and deficient vocabulary. There were also factors that have a significant relationship to students' speaking proficiency, and these were "confidence", "listener's support", "cannot think of anything to say" and "speak very litter or not at all". Findings suggest that teachers are to be more aware on the factors that hinder the students' oral participation so they could devise relevant teaching strategies that could match to their students' needs to become proficient speakers of the English language