ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE PROGRAM

Name: Jerven P. Bregaño Date: October 5, 2019

Program: Master of Arts in Education – BEE

A Foreign Homeland: Struggles Faced by Indigenous

(Mandaya) Students in ESL classes of CVSC-Main Campus

English as a second language is rapidly increasing, the reason why the English as Second
Language (ESL) programs are implemented. It is to emphasize its special role and identity in the
field of education as well as in the communicative sphere of communication. However, the
struggles of Indigenous students in ESL classes occur during the learning of the usage of
appropriate terminology in written and oral expression. The struggle in learning English in the
society where deviants are not accepted, ‘Language Shock’, is one of the challenges that will be
experienced by the Indigenous People as learners of ESL because they have to forget their native
language or culture just to be accepted. It described the struggle to unlearn the learners’ previous
way of studying and adapt to the new society and culture (Guan & Jones, 2011; Abdullah, 2015).
This study is anchored on one theory which Acculturation Model Theory proposed by John
Schumann to describe the acquisition process of a second language by members of ethnic
minorities that typically include immigrants, migrant workers, or the children of such groups.
This acquisition process takes place in natural contexts of majority language setting. The
research, the general questions are “what are the struggles faced in ESL classes? and what are the
participants’ experiences in ESL classes?”. However, the researcher’s hypothesis are
“Indigenous students that came from far-flung areas find it hard to cope with other students in
ESL classes and most of the Indigenous students that came from far-flung areas are not good in
ESL classes because of their background and low foundation of education”.
The research aims to identify and understand the struggles faced by Mandaya students in
the acquisition of English as a Second Language and to deeply understand the possible causes of
it. In addition, the researcher would like to understand on how it feels to be struggling in ESL
classes in relation to their ethnolinguistic tribe. That will serve as benchmark in determining it as
one of the main factors in their struggle towards communicative proficiency. In like manner, the
researcher would like to understand how their belongingness to their Ethnolinguistic tribe
contributes to their difficulty in second language proficiency, filtered their understanding that
affect greatly in their speaking and writing competence in ESL classes. Hence, such
understanding could also be a channel for the development of remediation that would in part
complement to indigenous people and establish a new and better sphere in the ESL classes.
However, the participants of the research will be the selected indigenous students of
Compostela Valley State College – main campus. Participants are said to live from far-flung
areas in the Province of Compostela Valley where the exposure in technology is very limited as
well as the foundation of education is low. As to the awareness that participants migrated
themselves from their own tribes just to get in college, the researcher supposed that the research
is anchored to acculturation theory, where every migrant needs to learn the new language. Thus,
the researcher believed that every participant is a learner that has an instinct. It is the assumption
of John Dewey that every learner has an instinct in communication. This perspective could be a
channel to every educator that even how difficult to the learner to have the language, with
considerations to his background, he could still learn through the process because every learner
has communication instincts. The learner will eventually learn the English language and will be
able to use it as part of ESL class and every day’s communication in school.
The researcher’s perspective about the problem of research, struggles of the participants
may be the ethnological background and their experiences in ESL classes. to realize the answer
to these problems, teachers must not just consider the background of the learners but also to give
reward efforts of learning so as to motivate their struggle to acquired language skill. And, the
government must provide an opportunity of supplying materials that will empower teaching and
learning of English in those far-flung areas and also the school management should provide
relevant equipment and facilities for effective English teaching that responsive to learning of
ESL learners.