A STUDY ON HOW CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCES THE ENGLISH

LANGUAGE USAGE AMONG STUDENTS

Presented to

The Faculty of Education

Davao Oriental State University

Dahican, 8200 Mati, Davao Oriental, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Subject

EL 110

Language Education Research

Je-An O. Benogsudan

Pretti Mae J. Sumalinog

Tephanie Gwen E. Yuson

March 2024
 CHAPTER 1

Using English language in a classroom is very crucial especially when

some of the students prefer using their first language as a medium of

communication. English language is more likely to be used as medium of

instruction in most of the schools. Pointing out the fact that the English language

teachers are in the first place concerned with teaching their pupils how to

communicate outside the range of using their first language (Edmondson and

House 1993, p. 232). The concept ‘analytic’ is used as defined by Stern (1990, p.

94), who considers classrooms as ‘analytic’ when they are based ‘‘on some kind

of analysis of the language’’, whether the activities are comprised of text

comprehension, vocabulary or grammar exercises. The success of

communication is dependent on the accurate vocabulary understanding. (Schmitt

2000, p.19) states that one of the key elements in learning foreign language is

mastering the L2’ vocabulary. This meets Wilkins’ (1972, p.111) point of view

which stated that without grammar very little can be conveyed, without

vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. Paul Nation (1978a) states that the main

problem with vocabulary teaching is that only a few words and a small part of

what is required to know a word can be dealt with at any one time.

According to Suleman and Hussain (2014) physical environment is the

physical aspect of the learning setting. The component of the physical

environment of classroom includes learners, teachers and the facilities

(Lippman,2010). The physical environment has a big impact when it comes to

learning, having a positive environment for students the more they tend to learn

more.

The use of English as a primary if not secondary language in school

plays an integral part of a students’ learning. It can be said that by leaning this

language can measure one’s learning in school. According to Yin Z., (2017)

“While there are reference grammar books describing the usage patterns of

linking adverbials and studies investigating learners' difficulties in using these

cohesive devices, there is little discussion on how to effectively teach and learn

them.” This just means that learning English language is no easy task. Moreover,

Learning environment plays a vital role in the development of students. It allows

them to move and learn while being dependent on the environment that they are

moving to. For instance, if the classroom environment if full of negativity, that will

also be portrayed by the student and vise versa. Giving students existing

scenarios can also enhance their learning progress. Linking adverbials (e.g.

however, for example) provide an important cohesive linkage at the discourse

level in both written and spoken English (Halliday and Hasan, 1976). While

second language learners have been shown to have difficulty in effectively using

these cohesive devices in both written and spoken English (e.g. Granger and

Tyson, 1996; Zareva, 2011) and corpus-informed pedagogical grammar has

provided frequency information on how they are used in different registers (Biber

et al., 1999; Yin, 2015, 2016). Thus, using English language in a classroom can

be a reason to make learning progress and development more measurable and

attainable.
Statement of the Problem

Recognizing that there are undeniably huge potential effects of classroom

environment, the teachers' teaching methodology, and peer interactions in

language usage and acquisition, This study aims to find the relationship between

the classroom environment factors and English language proficiency among

students.

By addressing these questions, the research hopes to shed light on the

multifaceted relationship between the classroom environment and students'

English language usage, thereby helping to develop a better understanding of the

factors that influence English language acquisition and usage in classrooms.

Specifically, the study aims to address the following questions:

1. How does the physical attributes of the classroom affect the English language

usage of a student?

2. To what extent do peer interaction influences the language usage and

acquisition of students inside the classroom?

3. How does teacher-student interactions and teaching methodologies influence

the English language usage and acquisition of students?

Research Objectives
Significance of the Study

Learning environment has been widely discussed among scholars in the

area of English as one of key factors in promoting students’ achievement. It is

noted that a learning environment has significant effect on the level of language

proficiency learners. Building effective learning environment seems to have a

great impact on secondary language learners. An understanding of second

language acquisition can improve the ability of mainstream teachers to serve the

culturally and linguistically diverse students in the classrooms. Generally

speaking, there are more effective and less effective students in classrooms for

learning the second language. Teachers should educate different language

learners in accordance with their special characteristics and offer an

individualized quality education or modify different way of teaching to suit the

special requirements of the second language learners.

Goeman proposed in his “Emotional Theory of Second Language Learning”

that during second language acquisition, the stronger the affective filter factor,the

less the language acquisition. According to Stephen Krashen there are two

independent systems of second language performance: “the acquired system”

and “the learned system”. The “acquired system” or acquisition is the product of a

subconscious process very similar to the process that children undergo when

they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target

language- natural communication- in which speakers are concentrated not in the

form of their utterances, but in the communicative act. The”taught system” or

teaching is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process

that result in conscious knowledge about the language.

English is considered crucial as a second language because it is an

international language studied by all countries. It is also one of the mandatory

subject in schools, emphasizing the importance of learning foreign languages. In

the era of globalization, individuals interact not only with Filipinos but also with

the people from various parts of the world who use English as the language of

communication. English language learning has been widely developed in the

Philippines, both in formal settings such as schools and universities and in non-

formal institutions like tutoring centers, which also play a role n facilitating the

learning of the second language. However, there are still many young people who

lack motivation to learn English as a second language. Motivation is crucial for

students in the learning process as it provides enthusiasm and encouragement

for them to be active and enthusiastic in their studies. If students have high

motivation, their English language learning achievements will improve, leading to

an increase in the proficiency of English language learners. According to Dornyei

and Csizer (as cited in Ying et al., 2013), in the theory of second language

acquisition, motivation is usually considered a factor that consists aspiration to

achieve specific goals through language learning, willingness to make efforts and

sustain efforts in achieving those goals, attitude towards language acquisition

and the community using the language.

Therefore this method puts more emphasis on oral practice, employing real

and natural language, cultivating students’ communicative abilities, which

basically complies to a natural process of language acquisition process, to create

language environment, to stimulate students to take an active part in

communicative activities so as to expand their language input methods and

channels and improve their language acquisition efficiency.

Scope and Limitation of the Study