Sociolinguistic Competence of Foreign National College Students
Author: Martinez, Jomijea Laroco
Date: 2019-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Sociolinguistics,Communicative Competence (Languages),English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Correlation,Language Tests,Foreign Countries,Profiles,Universities,College Students,Student Characteristics,Native Language,Scores,Semitic Languages,Foreign Students,Student Attitudes,Language Teachers,Language of Instruction,Second Language Instruction,Interpersonal Competence

This study was undertaken to identify the sociolinguistic competence of the foreign national college students of the selected universities in Dagupan City for the academic year 2015-2016. The selected universities are University of Pangasinan -- PHINMA, University of Luzon, and Lyceum Northwestern University. Relative to the foregoing objective, the study aimed specifically to establish the profile of the respondents in terms of their socio-structural perspective (nationality, age, sex, and native language), socio-cultural perspective (number of years studied the English language, length of stay in the Philippines, and exposure to the English language), and language learning characteristics (attitude, motivation and can-do tasks). Likewise, the sociolinguistic competence level of the respondents was identified. Furthermore, the study determined whether there exists significant relationship between the respondents' sociolinguistic competence across their profile. The study used descriptive-correlational research method. The fifty (50) respondents were selected based on convenience sampling. The questionnaire and the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) Model Test served as the primary data-gathering instruments to identify the sociolinguistic competence of the respondents. The questionnaire is composed of three parts identifying the socio-structural perspective, socio-cultural perspective, and language learning characteristics of the respondents. The TOEIC Model Test consists of questions 4-11 to measure the sociolinguistic competence level of the respondents. Statistical methods used for socio-structural perspective (nationality, age, sex, and native language) and socio-cultural perspective (number of years studied the English language and length of stay in the Philippines) are frequency and percentages. For socio-cultural perspective (exposure to the English language) and language learning characteristics (attitude, motivation and can-do tasks), statistical methods used are mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis. While for the level of sociolinguistic competence across profile variables, Spearman rho correlation coefficient was used using the 0.05 level of significance. Findings show that in terms of socio-structural perspective, most of the respondents are male Nigerians. They belong to the age group of 21-25 and majority of them speaks Arabic. Based on socio-cultural perspective, most of the respondents have studied the English language from 0-5 years and have only stayed in the Philippines from 0-1 year. In addition, majority of the respondents stated that they are always exposed to the English language, specifically through writing letters, sending text messages, sending emails, and chatting with friends. While in language learning characteristics, majority of the respondents have a positive attitude towards learning the English language. It is stated that most of the respondents find it interesting. They also have strong motivation towards the English language because they find it useful for further studies. In addition, they are confident that they can do tasks easily using the English language. Findings show that they are most confident in thanking someone using the English language. Based on the summary of the TOEIC Model Test scores of the respondents, majority of them scored an above average as indicated by the mean of 14.7 whose standard deviation is 8.627. The five levels of sociolinguistic competence used in this study are highly competent, competent, moderately competent, fairly competent, and needs improvement. It was found out that majority of the respondents are competent. Likewise, findings indicate that the overall test scores of the respondents is negatively skewed by -0.601 which indicates that it is above the mean. Its kurtosis of -0.956 indicates that it is platykurtic which means that the respondents' test scores are tightly clustered above the mean. Thus, sociolinguistic competence level of the respondents correlated significantly with their native language, attitude, motivation, and can-do tasks. It is therefore recommended that language teachers should create a learning environment that suits the foreign national college students focusing on the attitude, motivation, and can-do tasks. They should conduct TOEIC Model Test to students to monitor and evaluate their sociolinguistic competence for each academic year. Furthermore, other studies should be conducted that will focus on Sociolinguistics.