Communicative Competence and Oral Language Usage of Filipino Learners in English

Communicative competence is heavily emphasized under the K-12 Basic Education Curriculum as language is the primary instrument of thought. Hence, the goal of this study is to create speaking activities to reinforce communicative competence and oral language usage with a total of 154 Grade 9 learners using stratified random sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to assess the student respondents’ perceived communicative competence and oral language usage. Results showed that students were “advanced” in communicative competencies such as grammar competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence. The English language, on the other hand, is “often” used at home, on different platforms, and in the community. This demonstrated that the student respondents’ communicative competence was significantly related to their use of oral language. In this regard, the findings imply that speaking activities will strengthen students’ communicative competence toward oral language used to ensure maximum participation and use of the target language shortly, where students can approach speaking as a way to negotiate to mean and establish social relations with others.


Introduction
Speaking is considered a channel by humans as a form of interaction.It is a basic human right that has the least restrictions and is regarded as highly important by law.Speaking makes all human beings unique from other living organisms.Speech helps communicate thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and comments most naturally and reliably without much distortion of information.Thus, to master speaking skills, learners have to do some practice.Unfortunately, most of the language learners only spend their practicing time in a classroom.The lack of practice makes it difficult for learners to deliver their ideas to other people.
Executive Order No. 210 of the Department of Education, (Establishing the Policy to Strengthen the Use of the English Language as a Medium of Instruction in the Educational System) states that English language shall be used as the primary medium of instruction in all public and private schools in the secondary level, including those established as laboratory and/or experimental schools, and non-formal and vocational or technical educational institutions.As the primary medium of instruction, the percentage of time allotment for learning areas conducted in the English language is expected to be not less than seventy percent (70%) of the total time allotment for all learning areas in the secondary level.It is the objective of the foregoing policies to develop the aptitude, competence, and proficiency of all students in the use of the English language to make them better prepared for the job opportunities emerging in the new, technology-driven sectors of the economy.
With the demand of students' communicative competence in Grade 9 level, there are some problems that the researcher has observed.Based on the observation, the lack of students' communicative competence is the problem.It is not only during the time of the pandemic, yet be it in a normal class, students are not enthusiastic and interested in the given activities.It is very evident in their performance and output submitted specifically in the subject, English.
Their vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation are insufficient which makes them unable to say something.These observations give justice to the study which aims to reinforce the communicative competence and oral language usage for there is a need to come up with speaking activities that may help students during distance learning.Ultimately, the researcher believes that education must prepare young people for the real world, and that communicative competence is an important aspect of school life.This will greatly assist language teachers in ISSN 2719-0633 (Print) 2719-0641 (Online) | 3 developing and improving students' communicative competence to ensure maximum participation and use of the target language despite the current situation in which students can approach speaking as a way to negotiate to mean and establish social relations with others shortly.

Communicative Competence
Communication is the most important aspect of human relationships.It is the ability to communicate ideas and feelings clearly and effectively.Learning to communicate effectively is an essential ingredient in a healthy relationship with family, friends, and business associates (Morrision, 2014).It was affirmed by Kubat (2017)  Learners should not only have linguistic knowledge about the cultural ways of interacting with others in different social contexts.The learner who has such knowledge is considered communicatively competent.Communicative competence includes grammatical competence, the knowledge about inter-sentential relationships, discourse competence, knowledge about the rules and norms governing the appropriate timing and realization of a speech act; sociolinguistic competence, the knowledge about the culture of native speakers to enable the target language which is socially and culturally acceptable by the native users and the strategic competence which is the ability to compensate for the imperfect knowledge of linguistic.Therefore, the learners should have all these types of competence to become effective communicators in speaking in English.

Grammar Competence
It is demanding to speak a second language.Lent and Brown (2013) mention several features that interact to make speaking a challenging language as it is.There are: fluent speech contains reduced forms such as contractions, vowel reduction, and elision, the use of slang and idioms of speech, the students must acquire the stress, rhythm, and intonation of English and the most difficult aspect of spoken English is that it is always accomplished through interaction.On the other hand, Diaz (2013) emphasizes that communicators are aware of the component units of language sounds, word phrases, and sentences.Thus, this enables the language users to think about language independently of his/ her comprehension and production abilities talk about it, analyze it and judge it as correctness or appropriateness.This linguistics intuition makes one decide about grammatical acceptability of the language he/she produces and received.Furthermore, Marulanda and Martinez (2012) enumerate the attributes of an effective oral language which include clarity in terms of correct grammar, short words, shorter sentences, and specific words; avoiding the use of slang, tautology, and redundancy, vague words, directness, and conversationalists; appropriateness and vividness.
Humans are programmed to speak before they learn to read and write.In any given, human beings spend much more time interacting orally with language rather than using it in its written form.Speaking is the most important skill because it is one of the abilities that is needed to perform a conversation.English speaking is not an easy task because speakers should know many significant components like pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.Learners should have enough English speaking ability to communicate easily and effectively with other people.Rivers studied the use of language outside the classroom situation and understood that speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing combined.

Discourse Competence
According to Deason (2012), communicating is more than just words.The use of voice, facial expression, and body language affects the messages given.Students are not always aware that their posture or the way they approach another person speaks volumes in itself.By creating awareness around the expressive nature of the way a person uses their body and voice, teachers can help pupils to become critically aware of the non-verbal behaviors that will equip them to express themselves effectively.Speaking is very important for an effective speaker-listener relationship.Students need to recognize pauses in a conversation where they can take a turn, interrupt, ask a question or change the subject.Teachers can explicitly teach turn-taking so that all pupils are encouraged to speak e.g.circle time where everybody has a turn, asking students to work with a partner and choose who will go first.Cabaysa and Baetiong (2014) explains that students are predisposed to employ language learning strategies when they participate in speaking tasks.Awareness language learning strategies would enable them to monitor the effectiveness of their strategy use and help them develop autonomy in learning English.Bashir et al. (2013) identify that one of the factors that affect students' English speaking was using English as a medium of instruction.For this, teacher should emphasize the use of English as a medium of instruction and should promote interactive techniques while teaching to improve students' English speaking.Moreover, Hismanoglu (2011) asserts that mastering the use of the English language plays a significant role in determining one's upward and mobility in today's globalization.

Sociolinguistic Competence
Pupils should be able to speak in a well-structured way and develop their ability to take part in conversations, discussions, and negotiation and express their views and consider those of others (Ritchie, 2011).Spoken language is not only a reflection of the speaker's social and cultural background but is also part of the speaker's identity.Consequently, people are inevitably judged by their way of speaking which means that whoever utters something is vulnerable.In today's English classroom, pupils seem to speak more in their mother tongue than in English.Yet to develop their spoken proficiency in English, learners take all the possibility to practice the skill.Wang (2014) investigated Chinese EFL learners who have some problems in speaking English fluently and accurately because their speaking competence may be affected by cognitive, linguistic, and emotional factors.The study was conducted to achieve the learners' oral proficiency by evaluating the three vital models of teaching English speaking, whilespeaking, and an extension activity.Meanwhile, in the study of Mizne (1997), it was found that teacher can use language chunks as a medium to improve students' ability in speaking, especially for young learners.

2.5.Strategic Competence
Diverse needs of students in any English leads to varied teaching methods.The diverse needs of the students in any English course call for diverse approaches to instruction.While knowledge of content is essential in teaching any discipline, effective teaching is the result of integrating content and pedagogical knowledge.The study of Taous (2013) emphasized that Teaching English as a Foreign Language requires students to learn the four skills: writing, reading, listening, and speaking.For the second language learners to be a proficient partner in conversation, he needs to be skilled as both speaker and listener.However, this interdependence has not always been appreciated by language teachers who have often separated off listening and speaking as discrete parts of language competence.Learners need to be given opportunities to practice both set-off skills and to integrate them in conversation.

Oral Language Usage
Shiel et al. (2012) state that "oral language is the child's first, most important, and most frequently used structured medium of communication.It is the primary means through which each child will be enabled to structure, evaluate, describe, and control his/her experience.In addition, and most significantly, oral language is the primary mediator of culture, how children locate themselves in the world and define themselves with it and within it".Academic learners will need to practice with different sorts of activities.According to Green (2021), in general, English as the second language of students needs the most extensive authentic practice in-class participation such as taking part in discussions, interacting with peers and teachers, and answering and asking questions.These students may be facing some sort of existing examination after the course that will determine whether or not that they are competent to teach English to take other academic courses for credit and so on.As a result, these learners take their course work seriously and have high expectations of the teachers.Yet even ask for some instruction on the more interpersonal aspect of oral communication.Huang et al. (2021) discussed the current practice in oral skills pedagogy in terms of how to structure an oral skills class and determine its content, along with implementing a variety of classroom activities that promote skills development and understanding issues related to classroom evaluation of speaking skills and testing via large-scale oral communication.She further discussed that one of the more recent trends in oral skills pedagogy is the emphasis on having students analyze and evaluate the language that they or others produce.In other words, it is not adequate to have students produce lots of languages; they must become more meta linguistically aware of the many features of the language to become competent speakers and interlocutors in English.Dincer and Yesilyurt ( 2013) carried out a study towards teachers' beliefs on speaking skills based on motivational orientations.The results of their study indicated that the teachers had negative opinions about speaking instruction though they believed that it was of great significance in speaking skills.The results also revealed that the teachers felt unskilled in oral communication though they had various motivational orientations towards speaking English.
On the other hand, Ella (2018) stated that learners' personal choice of learning strategies and their level of language proficiency is perceived to be good predictors of success in L2 learning.The use of overt or covert learning strategies in dealing with language learning tasks may indicate students' level of language proficiency and vice versa.

Methodology
The study utilized descriptive method of research, which describes a phenomenon or a subject.Eventually, one can gather data to study a target audience or a particular subject.It aims in ascertaining certain opinions and behavior of people usually by questioning a representative or a group of people and it is used to observe and describe a research subject or problem without influencing or manipulating the variables in any way.The researchers do not control or manipulate any of the variables, but only observe and measure them.
The participants of the study were the Grade 9 learners from the school year 2020-2021 handled by the researcher which is composed of five sections namely: Everlasting, Iris, Jasmine, Kalmia, and Orchid.The study used stratified random sampling to obtain a sample population that best represent the entire population of 65% based on the marginal error of .05.
Overall, out of 237 learners, there were 154 total number of respondents.In addition, for the reliability test, another 30 Grade 9 students were selected.To draw important data and information needed to answer the problem, the study employed a descriptive survey method utilizing a data-gathering instrument which was in the Google form.A researcher-made questionnaire was crafted composed of two parts.The first part consisted of communicative competence such as Grammar Competence, Discourse Competence, Sociolinguistic Competence, and Strategic Competence wherein they checked their level of communicative competence.Meanwhile, the second part determined their language usage as perceived by themselves also.These are Language usage at home, Language usage using different platforms, and Language usage in the community.Each communicative competence consisted of 5 items and 20 overall, from which the respondents were asked to choose from numbers 1-4 according to how they perceived each given indicator.
For validation, it was checked by three key persons, Head Teacher I-English, Master Teacher I-English, and English Coordinator who were considered experts in the field of English.After scrutinizing the questionnaire item by item, the equitable distribution of questionnaire by component was formed.The set of questions was subjected to a test-to-test process, which resulted in the establishment of the instrument's reliability, with the first part, communicative competence, consisting of 10 items and 40 total with the same indicators and scale, 1-4.Part 2 included 5 items for a total of 15 with the same scale and indicators as part 1.Following the reliability test, the researcher condensed the first section down to only five items.In addition, part 2, oral language usage particularly the language usage using different platforms was reconstructed in part 2 because it did not meet the criteria for a reliable question.
The data gathered in this study were tabulated and each mean score was computed from the responses on the questionnaires.The statistical treatment used was Weighted Mean to determine the communicative competence level of learners as perceived by themselves in terms of grammar, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic competence; and the learners' usage of oral language in terms of usage at home, usage in different platforms, and usage in the community.Also, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation of Coefficient (Pearson's -r) was utilized to determine the significant relationship between the communicative competence and the learners' oral language usage.The result revealed that the learners were highly aware of the appropriate use of the English language particularly in grammar as they were able to recognize among themselves the different features of the language such as structure, speech sounds, and its use in the varied contexts of communication showed their grammar competence.This relates to the description of Leong and Ahmadi (2017) that grammatical competence can help speakers apply and perceive the structure of the English language correctly which leads to their fluency.Learners should know words and sentences.They should comprehend how words are divided into different sounds and how sentences are stressed in specific ways.The result pointed out that their knowledge is advanced using the rules and norms governing the appropriate timing and realization of speech.Thus, learners know how to tie sentence elements together by reference, repetition, or synonyms in cohesion and how to construct speech by coherence.However, there are some points that they fall on the basic level of competence specifically on speaking smoothly that does not interfere with communication.

Findings and Discussion
According to Deason (2012).communicating is more than just words.Speaking is very important for an effective speaker-listener relationship.Students need to recognize pauses in a conversation where they can take a turn, interrupt, ask a question or change the subject.
Teachers can explicitly teach turn-taking so that all pupils are encouraged to speak e.g.circle time where everybody has a turn, asking students to work with a partner and choose who will go first.Through this, students will be able to speak confidently be it in front of a small group or even a huge crowd.
As seen in table 4, the perceived level of communicative competence in terms of sociolinguistic competence is "advanced" having the composite mean score of 2.68.On the perceived level of competence in terms of sociolinguistic, the highest weighted mean of 2.92 was given by the respondents in indicator 2 "consider and give due respect to the views and ideas" having a verbal interpretation of advanced.Meanwhile, the least weighted mean of 2.48 was given to indicator 1 "can converse and interact harmoniously" with a verbal interpretation of basic.The result of this study implies that the learner respondents were extremely aware of how to compensate for the imperfect knowledge of linguistic that proved their communication in terms of strategic competence.This also manifest that the learners have advanced knowledge of verbal communication strategies although using non-verbal gestures to converse and give emphasis to their message resulted as the lowest mean, still it was closer in the given indicator employ a variety of motivational approaches which means that learners can manipulate language to meet communicative goals and stimulate the interest of the listeners which gives justice to the lowest mean.This supports the study as mentioned by Green (2011), students need the most extensive authentic practice in strategic communication in-class participation such as taking part in discussions, interacting with peers and teachers, and answering and asking questions.In addition, learners take their oral work seriously and have high expectations of learning through the language and taking some instruction on the more interpersonal aspect of oral communication.
Table 6 presents the overall mean scores of the respondents' perception of their communicative competence levels such as grammar, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic competence.The highest overall mean is 2.71, grammar competence and the lowest is 2.58 under discourse competence.Furthermore, all computed mean implies that the respondents are advanced in the perceived level of communication competence.The result implies that the learner respondents have a high level of communication competence level.Students believed that the need for competent communication skills is necessary among them, to professionals or even common people for them to be able to convey information effectively.

Table 6
Summary table for communicative competence  This corresponds to the study of Lent and Brown (2013) cited in Seo (2015) where they expounded that speaking is one of the fundamental skills that give the learner the ability to explicitly express oneself in the target language.It has the functions of maintaining social

Composite Mean 3.11 Often
Legend  It can be seen in table 7 the composite mean of 3.11 having an equivalent verbal interpretation of "often" was the respondents' description of the oral language usage at home.
The responses showed that indicator 4 "listen to English music" gained the highest mean score of 3.62 given by the respondents having a verbal interpretation of "always" and the lowest mean score of 2.32 which is the indicator 1 "use the English language in communication with the family members" described in the verbal interpretation of "rarely".
The result proved that most of the learners are rarely using English while communicating with their parents and siblings in their home.Most of them are making use of the English language at home only in watching movies or listening to music.With very limited factors of using the language maybe not be that sufficient to attain fluency and accuracy of using the English language.Although it can be enriched by just watching or listening to English movies and music, it would be better if it can also be practiced in speaking.This ties with the study of Mazouzi (2013), learners must practice using the English language starting from home.Home activities should be designed based on how they could enhance the usage of the language.Both fluency and accuracy are important elements of the communicative approach.
Home practice can help learners develop their communicative competence.The parents should also aim to improve the child's speaking skills.It can be gleaned from table 8 that the usage of the English language using different platforms gained a composite mean of 2.91 which is given by the respondents' responses.The mean has a verbal interpretation of "often" as to the basis of the usage of the learners.The respondents often use the English language in the given indicator 3 which is "assure what my teacher is explaining with regards to the given task in English" having the highest means score The result means that the students are often making use of the English language in communication using different platforms measured in their responses.Although the English language is the major language used as the medium of instruction in many academic subjects, still the mother tongue is being used by both learners and teachers most of the time.The fact that the students may easily understand what the teacher explained to them, still they find it hard to translate everything during class discussion or even in asking queries using the target language since it is very visible to their output submitted though it is in written form.In this context, this supports Lent and Brown (2013) wherein it was mentioned that several features interact to make speaking a challenging language as it is.There are: fluent speech contains reduced forms such as contractions, vowel reduction, and elision, the use of slang and idioms of speech, the students must acquire the stress, rhythm, and intonation of English and the most difficult aspect of spoken English is that it is always accomplished through interaction.Hence, to make the best out of it, learners must take all the possibility to practice the skill (Ritchie, 2011).The result proved that in the community, the students are not using the English language most the time.This was supported by Wang (2014), who investigated Chinese EFL learners who have some problems in speaking English fluently and accurately because their speaking competence may be affected by cognitive, linguistic, and emotional factors.
Meanwhile, learners express their ideas and opinions when talking to someone.
It is a fact that communication is the most important aspect of human relationships with other people in society or the community.It is the ability to communicate ideas and feelings clearly and effectively.Learning to communicate effectively using the English language is an essential ingredient in a healthy relationship with family, friends, classmates, and associates and becoming fluent in it.This is being supported by Lent and Brown (2013) cited in Seo (2015) when he expounded that communication gives the learner the ability to explicitly express oneself.Communication among people in the community is an essential factor in maintaining social relationships and transferring information.However, learners can express their ideas and opinions when talking to someone.On the grammar competence vs language usage at home, the computed r-value of 0.412 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the grammar competence vs language usage using different platforms, the computed r-value of 0.539 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the grammar competence vs language usage in the community, the computed rvalue of 0.586 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
The findings imply that the variables grammatical competence and oral language usage have a significant relationship.The table 11 presents the relationship between discourse competence and oral language usage.
On the discourse competence vs language usage at home, the computed r-value of 0.388 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the discourse competence vs language usage using different platforms, the computed r-value of 0.515 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the discourse competence vs language usage in the community, the computed rvalue of 0.661 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
The result indicates that the variables discourse competence and oral language usage have a significant relationship.The table revealed the relationship between sociolinguistic competence and oral language usage.
On the sociolinguistic competence vs language usage at home, the computed r-value of 0.349 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the sociolinguistic competence vs language usage using different platforms, the computed r-value of 0.499 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the sociolinguistic competence vs language usage in the community, the computed r-value of 0.607 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
This means that the variables sociolinguistic competence and oral language usage have a significant relationship.The table disclosed the relationship between strategic competence and oral language usage.
On the strategic competence vs language usage at home, the computed r-value of 0.364 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the strategic competence vs language usage using different platforms, the computed r-value of 0.529 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
On the strategic competence vs language usage in the community, the computed r-value of 0.622 is greater than the tabular p-value of 0.000 at a 5% level of significance; therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
This implies that the variables strategic competence and oral language usage have a significant relationship.

Conclusion
This study found the communicative competence levels of the learners as high.
Meanwhile, students believed that competent communication skills were required among them, whether they were professionals or ordinary people, to effectively convey information.
The respondents proved that they frequently used the English language at home, on different platforms, and in the community.Furthermore, there is a positive and significant relationship between communicative competence and oral language usage.As a result, they were able to accurately apply their communicative competence at home, on different platforms, and in the community.
This study suggests the needs of every learner to enhance their capabilities in communication.It is proven as well that the good communication skills of teachers are the basic need of academic success of students and professional success in the future.This is because the teacher communicates more instructions orally in the classroom to students.Welldeveloped communication skills are vital to a child's academic success.At all levels of education, students must be able to communicate effectively.Thus, the need to have a set of speaking activities would be of great help for the learners to enhance communicative competence and ensure maximum participation using the target language.
This study suggests that teacher may need to provide resources and materials for the oral communication for the development of the learning tasks that she will offer for the students.The teachers, particularly those who teach English as a medium of instruction, can instruct students on how to learn and practice the language, as well as assist students in becoming independent learners by providing them with the necessary study skills to be able to use and practice their English independently, focusing on all skill areas (reading, writing, speaking, listening), as well as grammar and vocabulary, so students develop across the board.
The learners may also be given differentiated oral speaking activities that will help them enhance their communication skills by using grammatically correct statements.The school may also present projects aimed at improving English language proficiency among all students.
that effective communication is considered one of the most important skills that individuals should have.Receptive and expressive language abilities constitute a significant aspect of effective communication in terms of language skills.Moreover, M. Obaidul et al. (2013) argues communicative competence and speaking effectiveness are capabilities to communicate effectively through any medium of language.
relationships and transferring information to others.Such ability is necessary since people cannot live without making friends or conveying information about what they want, how they feel, or what they need.

Table 1
Distribution of Respondents by Section Table2presents the learner's perception of the level of communicative competence in terms of grammar competence as "advanced" based on the responses of the respondents having a composite mean of 2.71.The highest mean score of 2.80 was given to indicator 5 "select and use proper intonation" with a verbal interpretation of advanced and indicator 1 "speak fluently and accurately in most situations using verbal resources" got the lowest mean score of 2.53 with a verbal interpretation of advanced as well.

Table 3
manifests the perception of the learner respondents on the level of communicative competence in terms of discourse competence having a composite mean of 2.58 given a verbal interpretation of "advanced".On the perceived level of competence, indicator 3 "value and respect the rules of oral interaction, gestures and body language" has

10 | International Journal of Educational Management and Development Studies, Volume 4 Issue 1 the
highest weighted mean of 2.88 which has a verbal interpretation of advanced and the least gained a weighted mean of 2.43 which is an indicator 1 "speak confidently in front of a small group or even huge crowd" having a verbal interpretation of basic.

Table 5
Strategic Competence

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3.20 among all the indicators.Meanwhile, indicator 2 "voice out what I want to ask most especially if I have questions and clarifications" has a verbal interpretation of often as well which falls on the least weighted mean score of 2.66.

Table 9 Language Usage in the Community Indicators As a student, I… Weighted Mean Verbal Interpretation
It was revealed in table 9 that the students often use the English language in communicating with the people in the community.Based on their responses, the composite mean score of its usage is 2.74.It was shown that learners often use the English language in indicator 4 "express my ideas and opinions when talking to someone" having the highest weighted mean of 2.94 among all the presented indicators.While indicator 1 "speak English when I socialize with other people" gained the least weighted mean of 2.39 having a verbal interpretation of rarely used.
Table 10 unleashes the relationship between grammar competence and oral language usage.