CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
5. Difficulties in Macro-Skills that Appear to be Relatively More Serious
While skill items can be recognized as difficult based on their mean percentage score of less than 50 percent, some of these macro-skills can be considered as serious difficult items based on the very low mean percentage scores, that is, they had mean percentage scores of less than 25 percent. This means that only less than 25 percent of the students are able to answer these skill items correctly. The result of this analysis is shown in Table 8.
As reflected in the table, it can be observed that out of the 11 difficult items listed in Table 6, seven have mean percentage scores of less than 25 percent and are therefore considered to be relatively serious. These skill items were ranked from one to seven according to the degree of their lowest mean percentage score. Four of these serious items belong to the macro-skill Reading which include items (8) Sequence, (9) Finding details, 7) Finding the main idea and (17)
Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines Outlining, followed by two items from Writing (25) grammatical relationship, and sharpening writing skills particularly (19) Using words effectively and lastly by Listening that is item (30) Customer’s preferred payment . The most serious of these items are those that pertain to comprehension skills both in Reading and Listening. The other three serious items are associated with utilization skills in Reading, particularly (17) Outlining, sentence correction skills particularly (25) grammatical relationship, and sharpening writing skills particularly (19) Using words effectively, the last two under to the macro-skill of writing.
Reading and listening comprehension as a serious difficulty to address would entail several component skills and time for skills development. Comprehension entails cumulative knowledge in vocabulary and word use. Comprehension is the highest level of skill that the student must develop as functional understanding comes as a consequence of comprehension. Without comprehension, no understanding of the idea being conveyed will happen. The writing skills on the other hand are more on the convention, being able to properly place the words to deliver a smooth, and clear idea. Thus, writing skills entail familiarity with the grammatical rules and their correct use in various context. In fact, writing skills come next to comprehension skills, and that pattern is well confirmed and established in the findings of this study.
Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines Table 8
Most difficult items for student respondents in the teacher-made tests on macro-skills in English language
Macro-skills
% of Correct Answer
Rank
Question of the most difficult Item A. Reading
Comprehension Skills
(8) Sequence 4% 1 8. Put the following sentences into order to make a paragraph. Enter the numbers 1 to 4 in the space provided.___ A) Cathy loves to color.___ B) The walls of her room are filled with pictures.
___ C) Each time Cathy finishes a picture, she tapes it on her wall.___ D) She has ten coloring books and dozen of crayons. Answer:___________
(9) Finding details. 9% 2 9. Directions: 1. Read everything through carefully on this page before you do anything. 2. Print the name Michael Jackson in the space below. 3. Encircle the first letter initials of the name you printed in #2.4. Put a “+” after the name you printed in #2.
5. Draw a big smiley face in the upper right corner of this paper. 6. Now that you have read everything through carefully, do only items 1 and 2. Answer:___________
(7) Finding main idea 25% 7 7. The rare Chinese panda lives on tender, young bamboo shoots. Most bamboo plants die right after flowering. Without the bamboo the pandas starve. Because some people fear that the rare pandas may die out, in some places food is given to the hungry animals. Some pandas are airlifted to places where bamboo is still plentiful From the story, what is its main idea? A) What the Chinese pandas usually eat B) How the bamboo plants flower C) How people are keeping pandas alive
D) How pandas sometimes starve to death Answer: ____________
Utilization skills
(17) Outlining 22% 5 17. Observe how Roman numerals, capital and small letters and numbers are used in outlining.
Pilgrimage to the Holy River Ganges in the middle of June, marks the beginning of the New Year in India. Into the silt-laden waters wade kings and beggars, priests and outcasts to wash away their sins in preparation for the New Year. People visit temples, too, bringing gifts to yellow-robed Brahmins and to pray what people all over the world pray for on New Year’s Day-for peace, prosperity, happiness, and eternal life. Choose the outline that is considered the most logical one for the paragraph above? A.
Pilgrimage to the Holy River Ganges (A. Washing of sins B. Bringing ifts to Brahmins C. Praying on New Year’s Day); B. New Year in India (a. Pilgrimage to the Holy River Ganges b. Visits to the Temples 1. To give gifts to Brahmins 2. To pray); C. New Year in India (a. Pilgrimage to the Holy River Ganges b. Washing of sins c. Visiting of Temples d. Giving gifts to Brahmins e. Praying). Answer: _______________
B. Writing
Sentence Correction
(25) Grammatical relationship
15% 3 25. Choose the correct form of the verb in the sentence. Many a box and carton _______ made in that old factory. Options: A. Was B. Were C. Are. Answer:
_________
Sharpening writing skills
(19) Using words effectively
17% 4 19. Choose the answer from the given choices, that best complete the sentence. Jane gave the __________ answer to the question. A. definitive B. definitely C. definite.
Answer: ___________.
C. Listening
(30) Comprehension 2 24% 6 30. Customer’s preferred payment: A. credit card B. cash C. cheque. Answer:
________