“THE LEVELS OF READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS IN STANDARD MARITIME

ENGLISH COMMUNICATION PHRASES OF MARITIME STUDENTS OF REGENCY

POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE, INC.”
Introduction

The rapid escalating shipping industry increases the urgent need of the numbers

of seafarers to meet the quality standard to their operation. One of the qualifications and

requirement to be a recognized as a qualified seafarer is able to understand and use

English language. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has officially promoted

English as the language of the sea in the International Convention on Standards of

Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW 78/95 Convention and

Code). It simply means that seafarers especially those who work in multinational

working environment are expected to have master in English language which is

Maritime English (ME), which is the required language used on board (sea speak).

There are a lot of avenues to master ME, the seafarers especially those who are

working for the Deck Department should encounter a large amount of subject-specific

core vocabulary during their bachelor’s degree in preparation to their specific field of

work. One of the important skills that the seafarers need on board is the language

competence especially to read comprehensively the information text, including the

Maritime English texts. Hence, a lot of seafarers still encounter difficulty on

comprehending such texts especially maritime English. Students and instructors’ report

showed that the student officers often encountered difficulty with their comprehension

skill such like understanding some written instructions on everyday shipboard activities.

The knowledge to address some problem in reading comprehension of maritime

English texts demands the relevance of having a strong competence in decoding

linguistic signals which is called linguistic schemata (Ostrowska and Ryan, 2009), that

includes the learner’s knowledge of vocabulary particularly maritime English vocabulary.

The seafarers are required to know all the types of vocabulary in maritime English

because relevance of these vocabulary types can really affect seafarers’

comprehension to the texts and to use the language appropriately. On the other hand,
most of the seafarers have different language competence in comprehending maritime

English texts because of their different mastery on Maritime vocabulary types. Nation

(1983) stated that vocabulary and knowledge in maritime English can be used as

relevant indicator to infer learners’ overall readability (reading skill), the result of this

indicators may reveal that the increase of lexical familiarity (vocabulary mastery) could

enhance seafarers’ reading performance. It can always be said that having a weak

vocabulary knowledge in maritime English may handicap one’s reading comprehension.

This statement was supported by Hancock (1998, p. 69 in Ming Chou, P.T. 2011),

because she believes that in reading, “Comprehension skills involves understanding the

vocabulary, seeing relationships among words and concepts, organizing ideas,

recognizing the author’s purpose, evaluating the context, and making judgments.” In

other hand, it is really important to have a wide knowledge of vocabulary in maritime

English especially in the area of reading. If seafarers have wide knowledge of

vocabulary, they could be more sensitive about the register of the word (e.g. being able

to differentiating the general English words from the Maritime one). Also, we can

concluded that the seafarers with wide knowledge in maritime English vocabularies are

more proficient compare to those with limited vocabularies. If a person wants to

comprehend what he/she reading, s/he should have vocabulary mastery which means

s/he has a large amount of knowledge of vocabulary in maritime English.

A recent study by Ratnawati (2006) resulted that the coefficient correlation

between reading comprehension and academic performance is 0.417. It simply means

that there is a significant correlation between the reading comprehension and the

academic performance. She also suggested that to have a good academic

performance, a learner should have a good mastery of vocabulary and good reading

skill. Thus, the researcher believed that when seafarers are able to master all types of

maritime vocabulary well, they will have a great possibility to comprehend reading of

maritime English texts well and attain good result in their academic performance.
Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to determine the levels of reading comprehension skills in

standard marine communication phrases of maritime students of Regency Polytechnic

College, INC.

Specifically, this study sought answers to the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Program

1.2 Year

1.3 Ethnicity

2. What is the level of reading comprehension of the maritime students based

on the following skills:

2.1 Understanding vocabulary

2.2 Seeing relationship

2.4 Telling author’s purpose

2.5 Evaluating context; and

2.6 Making judgement?

“LIVED EXPERIENCES OF MARITIME GRADUATES OF REGENCY POLYTECHNIC
COLLEGE, INC. IN USING STANDARD MARITIME ENGLISH COMMUNICATION
PHRASES ON BOARD”
Introduction

In an industry that boasts a strong international presence, it is required and

essential to have a common language that everyone on board a vessel, cargo ships,

and crew ship can understand and communicate in.Maritime English, also known as

Standard Maritime Communication Phrases (SMCP), is the lingua franca at sea or what

we call the standard language that all seafarers’ should use to attain communicative

purposes. It is vitally relevant for a multitude of reasons; the safety of the crew,

efficiency of daily task integrity of the ship.

By having specific terms to follow, maritime English rules out any confusion that

would arise if normal terms that are used in say-to-day life were to be uttered. For

example, left and right can raise a state of confusion to seafarers’ in having demands in

direction, especially if the in the in-charge on board which is the captain and a crew

member are at different areas of ship. Maritime English’s main goal is to teach

seafarers’ about the foundation of maritime English along with unique phrases to allow

ship to ship communication, ship to shore communication and internal communication

on board vessel (Saunder, 2022). Arriving in a port, loading and unloading a ship,

sticking to planned turnaround times and complying to all rules and regulation all

requires a lot of communication between crew members, authorities and many others

involved. This the one of the main reason why we have chosen to build specific

vocabulary for our maritime English education program (MEEP) that helps develop the

safety and efficiency in every practical way.

Communication plays a major role in the maritime industry, whether it between

crew members, officers or between two ships. Ambiguity and confusion are the primary

causes of accidents and untoward incidents that happen onboard ships and other

vessels. When crew member speak a wide array of language, there can be some
confusion or ambiguity in the different meaning of phrases that they will to convey

(Menon, 2021). Crew members may varies with their level of English language skills. To

prevent communication gap, the International Convention on Standard of Training,

Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW0 requires seafarers to learn

Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP).

Even if you are already competent in terms of using English language, it doesn’t

make you feel that you are also competent in using maritime English. It has distinctive

features that differ maritime communication from Standard English. In learning maritime

English you could restructure your knowledge of the English language to communicate

with other professional in the maritime industry (Moore, 2005).

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to determine the lived experiences of maritime graduates of

Regency Polytechnic College, INC. in using Standard maritime communication phrases

on board.

This study attempted to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the maritime graduate in terms of:

1.1 Degree

1.2 Local

1.3 Classification of Ship

2. What is the implication of maritime English to crew’s safety?

3. What is the implication of maritime English to efficiency of daily task?

4. What is the implication of maritime English to the integrity of the ship?

 “THE LEVEL OF COMPETENCE OF MARITIME STUDENTS OF REGENCY
POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE, INC IN STANDARD MARITIME ENGLISH
COMMUNICATION PHRASES”
Introduction
Maritime Education is one of the most in demand and well-known course in the

Philippines. The country has already set its immense standard in terms of the

competence of seafarers’ in any relevant technical skill and also in using standard

maritime English communication phrases (SMCP) where most Filipinos occupy 25% of

maritime positions in the sea faring industry all over the world (Tinig ng Marino, 200). It

is a high paying job that people from different Asian countries like India, China and

Thailand chose to engage themselves in this field. Seafarer are doing their best efforts

to develop their skills in order to compete globally with their counterparts. It is always

required to develop their craft by entering into training so they could have an advantage

not only in hands on skills but they are also required to have a very good

communication skills which is always needed in all aspect of seafaring. Because of such

urgency of unexpected situation the decline in English proficiency of one country can be

seen in the industry. Ship owners are now looking for a seafarer with an excellent skill

particularly in performing technical skill and communication skills because it means not

only safety but also smooth sailing business. Maritime English proficiency is also one of

the requirements of the new revised Standards of Training Certification and Watch

Keeping (STCW) for seafarers. It is required for global communication in the maritime

industry and considered as a relevant tool in maintaining safety of life and property at

sea. It is the language used by multilingual crews towards understanding of daily

onboard and external communication.

English language proficiency is a major requirement of qualification for applying a

job whether local or international. Hence, college graduates are expected of foster such

immense level of language proficiency in both speaking and writing. it is one of the

reasons why maritime schools today are faced with biggest challenge of molding future
seafarers that are good in communication skills especially in the field of maritime

English for the preparation of their future work field which require such level of

communication skills in maritime English.

It is really notable that maritime schools today should develop seafarers with

such high standard of competence and professionalism in there are of specialization.

They must produce quality or globally competitive graduates equipped with the levels of

language knowledge and language communication skills which is further identified on

Section 36 of CHED memorandum #51 dated 1997, (article 13, Quality Standard

System) which states that “recognizing that Filipinos seafarers shall be globally

competitive in compliance with the 1995 Amendments to STCW’78 and other relevant

international laws and conventions.

Statement of the problem

This study aimed to determine the level of competence of maritime students in
standard marine communication phrases of maritime students of Regency Polytechnic
College, INC.

This study attempted to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Program
1.2 Year
1.3 Ethnicity
2. What is the level of competence in maritime English of maritime students in
performing laboratory activities?
3. What is the level of competence in maritime English of maritime students in
report writing?
4. What is the level of competence in maritime English of maritime students in
understanding maritime symbols?