AFFECTIVE VARIABLES AND COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE PRACTICES OF ELEMENTARY STUDENTS Maria Bella R. Alvarez University of Mindanao Davao City, Philippines

RATIONALE Students are not really learning to use the language in their language class. ( Yalden, 1981) Students failed to achieve satisfactory level of competence in English despite learning the language for several years. (Choudhury, 2006) There is lack in communication skills as far as English language is concerned. (Adolfo, 2011) Teachers end up disappointed with the students’ participation in their language classes in activities like games, role-play and problem-solving tasks.

ANCHOR THEORY This study was anchored on the argument of Gardner and Lambert (1959) that affective variables including anxiety, attitude and motivation could significantly influence the language learning process. CONCEPTUAL PARADIGM Affective Variables Anxiety Attitude Motivation Communicative Language Practices Games Role Play Problem- Solving Tasks

METHODOLOGY Research design : DESCRIPTIVE-CORRELATIONAL Research respondents: 325 GRADE SIX STUDENTS OF COMPOSTELA DISTRICT,DIVISION OF COMPOSTELA VALLEY Research instruments: ADAPTED QUESTIONNAIRES Data gathering procedure: 1.asking permission 2.distribution & retrieval of questionnaires 3. Collation and tabulation of data Data analysis tools: Mean Pearson r

First Problem: What is the level of affective variables of the grade six pupils in terms of the following indicators: 1.1 anxiety 1.2 attitude 1.3 motivation ?

Level of Affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils in terms of Anxiety ItemSDMeanDescriptive level 1.Feeling frightened when cannot understand what the teacher is saying in the English class Moderate 2.Forgetting things when gets really nervous Moderate 3.Feeling more tensed and nervous in English class than other classes Moderate 4.Heart pounds when called to recite Moderate 5.Being afraid that other students will laugh when speaking in English Moderate Overall Moderate

1.1 ANXIETY 1.Hearts pounding when they are called to recite ( M-3.44, moderate) 2.Forgetting things when they get nervous (M-3.43, moderate) 3. Being afraid that other students will laugh when speaking in English (M-3.24, moderate) 4. Feeling frightened when having difficulty understanding the teacher’s words during the class (M-3.08, moderate) 5.Feeling more tensed and nervous in their English class than other subjects (M-2.90, moderate)

Level of Affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils in terms of Attitude ItemSDMeanDescriptive Level 1.Being a good English language learner Moderate 2.Having high English language learning aptitude Moderate 3.Having ideas about how to go about learning the English language Moderate 4.Not worrying a lot about making mistakes in speaking English language Moderate 5.Able to do impersonations of famous people Moderate Overall Moderate

1.2 Attitude 1. Having ideas about how to deal with learning the English language (M-3.49, moderate) 2.Being good English language learner (M-3.21, moderate) 3.Not worrying a lot about committing mistakes in speaking the English language (M-3.12, moderate) 4. Having high aptitude in the English language (M-3.03, moderate) 5.Able to impersonate famous people (M-2.72, moderate)

Level of Affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils in terms of Motivation ItemSDMeanDescriptive Level 1.Thinking that English is important High 2.Thinking one can win parents’ praise and classmates’ admiration if English is learned well High 3.Likes to learn more about English High 4.Being happy in English class High 5.Volunteering to answer the teacher’s questions in class Moderate Overall High

1.3 Motivation 1.Thinking that English is important (M-4.32, high) 2.Likes to learn more about English (M- 4.04, high) 3. Being happy in English class (M-3.82, high) 4. Thinking one can win parents’ praise and classmates’ admiration if English is learned well ( M- 3.77, high) 5. Volunteering to answer the teacher’s questions in class (M- 3.43, moderate)

Summary on the level of Affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils ItemSDMeanDescriptive level Anxiety Moderate Attitude Moderate Motivation High Overall Moderate Conclusion: The level of Affective Variables of Grade Six pupils is sometimes manifested in learning the English language.

Second Problem What is the level of the Grade Six pupils communicative language practices in terms of the following indicators: 2.1 Games 2.2 Role Play 2.3 Problem Solving Tasks?

Level of communicative language practices in terms of games ItemSDMeanDescriptive Level 1. Aiming to do better when playing games Moderate 2.Wanting to show that one is better than other children Moderate 3.Wanting to be better than other children Moderate 4.Wanting other children to think that one is good at the game High 5.Wanting the teacher to think that one is smarter than other children Moderate Overall Moderate

2.1 Games 1. Wanting other children to think that one is good at the game (M- 3.60, high) 2. Aiming to do better when playing games (M- 3.47,moderate) 3.Wanting to show that one is better than other children (M- 3.43,moderate) 4.Wanting the teacher to think that one is smarter than other children (M-3.41, moderate) 5.Wanting to show that one is better than other children ( M-3.27, moderate)

Level of Communicative Language Practices of Grade Six Pupils in terms of Role Playing ItemSDMeanDescriptive level 1.Enjoying role-playing objects High 2.Preferring to do projects that include role-playing activity Moderate 3.Role playing helps in remembering information Moderate 4.Enjoying working with others during role- playing projects High 5.Preferring hands-on activities compared to lecture or rote learning Moderate Overall High

2.2 Role Playing 1. Enjoying role-playing objects (M-3.97, High) 2.Enjoying working with others during role- playing projects (M- 1.18,High) 3.Preferring to do projects that include role playing activity (M-3.47, Moderate) 4. Preferring hands-on activities compared to lecture or rote learning (M-3.32, Moderate) 5.Role Playing helps in remembering information (M-3.30, Moderate)

Level of Communicative Language Practices of Grade Six Pupils in terms of Problem-Solving Tasks ItemSDMeanDescriptive level 1.Discussing ideas in class Moderate 2.Giving opinions during class discussions Moderate 3.Asking questions to the teacher Moderate 4.Using ideas and suggestions during discussions Moderate 5.Being asked to explain how one solves problems Moderate Overall Moderate

2.3 Problem-Solving Tasks 1.Giving opinions during class discussions (M-3.07, Moderate) 2.Being asked to explain how one solves problems (M-3.04, Moderate) 3. Discussing ideas in class (M-3.01, Moderate) 4. Asking questions to the teacher (M-2.88, Moderate) 5. Using ideas and suggestions during discussions (M-2.83, Moderate)

Summary on the level of Communicative Language Practices of Grade Six Pupils ItemSDMeanDescriptive Level Games Moderate Role-Playing High Problem-Solving Tasks Moderate Overall Moderate Conclusion The level of Communicative Language Practices of grade six pupils in learning the English Language is applied sometimes.

Significance on the Relationship between Affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils and their Communicative language practice Affective Variables Communicative Language Practices Games Role Playing Problem- Solving Overall Anxiety.045 (.000).022 (.687) -.222* (.000) (.125) Attitudes.217* (.000).228* (.000).211* (.000).320* (.000) Motivation.282* (.000).371* (.000).155* (.005).383* (.000) Overall.278* (.000).317* (.000).059 (.293).308* (.000) *significant at.05 significance level

Significance on the Relationship between affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils and their Communicative Language practice Highest correlation Between Motivation & Overall Communicative language practice (r-value of 0.308, sig at 0.125) Lowest Correlation Between Anxiety and problem-Solving Tasks (r-value of , sig at 0.00)

Significance on the Relationship between affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils and their Communicative Language practice Attitudes and Games (r-value =0.217,sig 0.00) Attitudes and Role Playing (r-value=0.228,sig 0.00) Attitudes and Problem –Solving Tasks (r-value=0.211, sig. 0.00) Attitudes and Overall Communicative Language Practice (r-value=0.320, sig 0.00)

Significance on the Relationship between affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils and their Communicative Language practice Motivation and Games ( r-value=0.282, sig 0.00) Motivation and Role Playing (r-value=0.371,sig 0.00) Motivation and Problem-Solving Tasks (r-value=0.155,sig 0.005)

Significance on the Relationship between affective Variables of Grade Six Pupils and their Communicative Language practice Affective Variables and Games (r-value=0.278, sig 0.00) Overall Affective Variables and Role Playing (r-value=0.317,sig 0.00) Conclusion There is a significant relationship between Affective Variables and Communicative Language Practices of grade six pupils in learning the English language.

Significance on the Influence Affective variables of Grade Six Pupils on their Communicative Language Practice Affective Variables significantly influence the Communicative Language practices of students (r² of 0.191, SE of.48569) thus significant at 0.00 The result indicates that a combined percent of influence is 19% with an F-ratio of Anxiety is found to be the predictor of communicative language practices. Conclusion Affective Variables significantly influence Grade Six Pupils’ communicative language practices and vice versa.

Recommendation 1.Department of Education officials should strengthen the training of teachers professional development that focused on boosting students’ self-confidence and motivation in learning the English language. School Administrators may plan ways to procure instructional materials to help students develop interest, enhance their learning and increase their level of English competency.

Recommendation 2.Teachers may recognize students’ positive attitude in the class to enhance their self-esteem and eventually become intrinsically motivated not only inside the classroom but also in the real-life situations. They must help and encourage their students in overcoming their affective weaknesses by engaging the students in communicative activities to improve their exposure level. Teachers should continue to design curriculum and interventions that will clearly establish the strong relationship between affective variables and communicative language practices.

Recommendation 3.Students should explore their affective variables through communicative language practices so they will be competent in using the English language. They may continue doing desirable attitude related to English language activities to maintain or improve their communicative language skill. 4. Since the influence of both variables to each other is only 19%, researchers should conduct investigations relevant to the study to explore the 81% of the variables that are not identified in the study.

Thank you!