Philippine E-Journals

Factors Affecting the Sociolinguistic and Strategic Competencies in English among Higher Education Teachers in Lipa City

Allan D. Tipan

 

Abstract:

<p style="text-align: justify;">The study attempted to describe the factors affecting the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies in English among teachers in Higher Education Institutions in Lipa City and determine the relationship between the demographic characteristics and their assessments. The study was done during the school year 2010-2011. Three Higher Education Institutions in Lipa City were selected as the research locale. Total enumeration was used as sampling for the study. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed. The respondents agreed that the factors of context of acquisition, accommodating speech norms and code switching, degree of contact with second language users and level of confidence affect their sociolinguistic competence. Likewise, they also agreed that the factors of questioning skills and use of non-verbal communication affect their strategic competencies. Variations in terms of the relationships of different demographic characteristics and their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies were also established. A general sense, the teachers’ diverse characteristics generated different points of view on how the factors affect their competencies. This led to the conclusion that they are the ones responsible why the factors influence their competencies. They should be the ones responsible for affecting culture and not culture to affect their language competencies. It is of great importance that teachers should take the initiative to study and systematically use the competencies which they can work on. HEI administrators should offer professional development seminars as these are necessary for the effective use of the teachers’ competencies.</p>