I. Context and Rationale
Oral communication is the process of verbally transmitting information and ideas from one individual or group to another, a two-way process between the speaker and the listener and involves the productive skills of speaking and the receptive skills of understanding. Both are integrated skills and supports in developing each other.
Oral communication skills are fundamental for the development of literacy and essential for intellectual and learning. It is the glue that puts all components of a language. Through talk, students are not only communicating information but also exploring and come to understand ideas and concepts, identifying and solving problems, organizing experience and knowledge, expressing and clarifying thoughts, feelings and opinions. Listening and speaking are essentials for interaction at school, in home and even in the community.
As cited by Franco (2016) in his article “Filters to Effective Communication” Maybin, mentioned in her book that communication is an exchange between people, knowledge, information, ideas, options, feeling so there must be concept, ideas, in the fellow speaker of what they are going to say. The speakers have a basic competence in communication of their ideas. When they are able to communicate their ideas, the students will be given opportunity to practice their English.
In school, oral communication also means the exchange of oral information between two or more persons orally. It also includes the skills like giving and eliciting information: (How to be able to give, determine and clarify information), giving oral presentation (How to be able to give, produce and stand in front of other to talk English orally) explanation: (How to be able to explain and define something) , expressing opinions and attitudes (How to be able to express feelings, opinions and attitudes toward something) and talking about the future (How to be able to talk about events).
The goal line of learning a language is to communicate. It is considered highly essential to know the language for communicative purposes. In general, the most popular language is English, which has attained the status of a global language. English is the language of science, technology and global communication. As an international language, it is also called the major window on the world and that plays a role of second language for those who learn it after their mother tongue, like here in the Philippines.
Even before the implementation of K to 12 Curriculum as the Philippines latest educational system, both private and public schools are currently executing the utilization of English as the main means of communication particularly in teaching. English language is now being taught from Grade 3 to tertiary level of education. One of the most challenging difficulties in learning a second language is finding ways to improve one’s oral fluency. The problems remain growing as learners are unable to communicate properly in English.
It is indeed widely acknowledging that to improve oral communication skills in this modern era, one needs to have the basic skills to communicate in English. However, many learners lack the ability to communicate in English and hence, often, suffer from inferiority complex. The alarming reality is that oral communication using English language foster dilemma in public elementary school learners. Most of our pupils, including those who belong to the upper 25 of the class, find it difficult to express themselves even in giving simple remarks and responses to an inquiry and it is evident in the case of our learners in Mohon Elementary School.
In view of this, the researcher’s attention was awakening with the main objectives of assessing the oral communication/ speaking skills of twenty – five Grade Six learners. The outcomes will be a basis for a proposed strategic intervention to heighten the ability of learners in verbal skills.
II. Literature Review
Widdowson (2009) in her article pointed out that speaking as an oral communication that gives information involves two elements, they are; the speaker who gives the message and the listener who receives the message. In the world, the communication involves the productive skill of listening. And he also states that an act of communication through speaking is commonly perform in face to face interaction and occur as a part of dialogue or rather than form or verbal exchange.
However, oral communication also covers the speaking skills. As Blount (2013) identified, there are four criterion used to mark the speaking test which are the communicative ability and content. This criterion refers to the candidate’s ability to express opinions and information. It also refers to the candidate’s ability to initiate and respond to questions appropriately and their ability to take an active part in the interaction. In addition, pronounciation and fluency, this criterion refers to the candidate’s ability to produce comprehensible language and includes aspects such as the production of individual sounds, stress patterns, amount of hesitation and accent. Lexical accuracy and range, this criterion refers to the candidate’s accurately and appropriate use of vocabulary to communicate in the speaking test. It also refers to the candidate’s ability to cope with vocabulary problems encountered during the test and the ability to use circumlocution. Grammatical accuracy and range, this criterion refers to the range and accuracy of the grammatical structures which the candidate uses during the speaking test.
More so, Nurdaya (2012) in his research elucidate the different ways on how to improve the oral communication skills such as using language to talk. Language is a method which the teachers or the instructors used to resolve the problem when the learner faced the problem such as misunderstanding between the learner and the other in communication that make the learner become shy or embarrassed, the learner does not understand what the speaker says, when they realize a conversation, their partner could not understand them so the learner does not want to speak again. To overcome this situation, the teachers or the instructors have key position to clarify that misunderstanding and clarification on something can occur in any types of conversation and in any level of language skill and give motivation so that the student will have confidence in communication in various situation in anywhere.
In addition, he further elaborates that using or recognizing scripts can help the beginning speakers make a classification about every communication situation with predictable set of spoken exchanges such as greetings, apologies, compliments, invitations, request and many other scripts. By using scripts, the learner could be an active speaker because they know and could predict the answer from the question in a conversation. The instructors or the teachers must give many example script in different situation so that the learner can develop their speaking ability and give more practices using the script.
Derrick and Ecclestone (2008) pointed out in their book “English-language Literature Review “that competent oral communication skills can be achieved by an appropriate atmosphere, classroom culture, or organizational environment, meaning a relaxed interpersonal climate in which learners are comfortable to interact, listen to others, even to disagree with or challenge others, including the teacher. Most commentators see the creation of such an atmosphere as one of the most important roles of the teacher, though one group also recognizes that there are usually factors affecting the climate for interaction that are outside the teachers control. Another group point out that an atmosphere conducive to learning is not simply a comfortable environment in which students can feel safe: on the contrary, learning implies a degree of challenge. Teachers concerned too much with caring for their learners, they argue, may be inhibiting successful learning.
In the article “Importance of Oral Communication skills to students” it reveals that communication skills are essential for the successful future career of a student. In todays’ competitive world, communication skills in business are the most sought after quality of an educated person. Reading, writing and listening carefully are the three most important communication skills for students. These skills like most of the communication skills sounds too familiar as a result of which we take them for granted. Apart from reading and writing presentations, reports and speeches are a part of school curriculum. This has been introduced in schools and colleges for the overall development of students. This makes expressive skills and managing skills also important for a student. It is also important to develop communication skills in relationships. What deserves more attention is that most of the students do not feel confident to make presentations and even simple remarks. But realizing the importance of these skills in modern day life, most good schools have made it a regular part of their curriculum. Here comes the role of expressive skills and managing skills. It is considered highly essential to know the language for communicative purposes. In general, the most popular language is English, which has attained the status of a global language. It plays a role of second language for those who learn it after their mother tongue and plays a role of foreign language for those who migrate from their country to foreign country for purpose of studies or settlement. One of the most challenging difficulties in learning a second language is finding ways to improve one’s oral fluency. This is most commonly true in countries like Pakistan where the learners share a common mother tongue and have very little or no exposure to the second language outside the classroom. Most of the linguists believe that language is just like a habit formation. In their view language is learnt through use and practice. According to them, the more one is exposed to the use of language, the better one learns. In Pakistan though English is used with great emphasis in educational context but still within their institutions students have very limited understanding and exposure of English. As a result, when they speak to express their thoughts they find it difficult to put their ideas into proper words and as a consequence produce influent speech embedded with mistakes and pauses.
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