EFFECTIVENESS OF DESCRIPTIVE PRAISE ON THE ENGLISH COMPOSITION SKILL OF BRIDGING STUDENTS

Authors

  • Lucille D. Saraspe Tagbilaran City Science High School Tagbilaran City Division, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines
  • Ferdinand T. Abocejo Eastern Visayas State University, Main Campus, Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v5i4.3140

Keywords:

descriptive praise, feedback intervention, English compositions skill, bridging students, feedback intervention theory, law of recency

Abstract

This study determined the effectiveness of teacher’s descriptive praise on the English composition skill of bridging students in a privately run secondary education institution in Lapu-lapu City, Cebu, Philippines. It was carried out though a quasi-experimental research design with crossover. This research made use of two groups; one receiving detailed feedback through descriptive praise on a previously written essay, and another not receiving any. The first phase made use of one intact section acting as the control group and another intact section as the experimental group. The second phase was completed by crossing over the two groups. The intact section assigned to the control group during the first phase was assigned to the experimental group in the second phase, and the reverse for the other intact section group. The researchers employed descriptive and inferential statistics analyses of data collected from the students’ outputs. Analyses were focused on the pre-test and post-test English composition skill level of bridging students, the significant difference in the English composition skill levels in the pre-test and post-test and the significant improvement in the English composition skill levels of the students from pre-test to the post-test. This study was anchored on Feedback Intervention Theory advocated by Kluger and DeNisi and from the Law of Recency by Thorndike. Findings revealed that a bridging student may improve his English composition skill even without the use of descriptive praise as this type of feedback intervention improved the bridging student’s English compositions skill only as far as the basic level. It is concluded that the use of descriptive praise alone in effecting improvement on the students’ English composition skill is not adequate. The authors hereby suggest the application of other forms of feedback interventions such as mediated learning opportunities, careful scaffolding, corrective information or even computer-provided feedback mechanism.

Author Biographies

  • Lucille D. Saraspe, Tagbilaran City Science High School Tagbilaran City Division, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines

    Lucille D. Saraspe is a high school teacher at Tagbilaran City Science High School in Bohol, Philippines. She finished Master of Arts in Education major in English Language Teaching (MAED-ELT) from the Cebu Normal University (CNU), Cebu City, Philippines. At present, she is pursuing her Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) in Language with concentration in English at the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR), Cebu City, Philippines. She is the current English Coordinator of the school where she teaches English, French and Research. Her research interests include teaching pedagogies, applied linguistics, language variations, dialectology, speech and language processing, language acquisition, foreign language learning, and discourse studies. Her current research focuses on the significance of teachers' feedback messages in the development of students' writing performance.

  • Ferdinand T. Abocejo, Eastern Visayas State University, Main Campus, Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines

    Ferdinand T. Abocejo is an Associate Professor V of Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU) in Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines. He is currently completing his dissertation leading to PhD in Research and Evaluation from the Cebu Normal University (CNU), Cebu City, Philippines. He obtained his Master in Public Policy (MPP) specializing in International Policy (with merit) from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra City, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia. His research interests include data modelling and forecasting in the fields of public policy, applied economics, econometrics, education, political science, public administration, public health, statistics, tourism and social sciences. All of his published papers in national and international peer reviewed research journals are traceable on “Harzing’s Publish or Perish” and on Google scholar citations. Moreover, professor Abocejo serves as external peer reviewer to various research journals within and outside the Philippines.

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Published

2020-06-23

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 4 (2020)

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