COMPETENCE AND PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND ENGLISH PROFICIENCY OF PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE DIVISION OF LUCENA CITY

Focusing on the teaching of English communication arts at the elementary level and utilizing the descriptive research design, this study evaluated the competence and performance in English language teaching and English language proficiency levels of public elementary school teachers in the Division of Lucena City. The teachers’ ratings of their competence, performance and proficiency level were gathered using a survey questionnaire while the English proficiency level was derived from the adapted test of English proficiency. Among others, the study revealed that the overall competence and performance of public elementary school teachers in English language teaching got a rating of proficient. The perceived English language proficiency level of public elementary school teachers in the Division of Lucena City is average; and the respondents who took the adapted test of English language proficiency test yielded an above average level of proficiency, both in their perception and in the test results. Insufficiency of teaching and learning materials was perceived as the prevalent problem of teachers in teaching the English language in terms of learning materials and resources while in terms of education policies and practices in English language teaching, the most common problem encountered by the respondents is the lack of teacher-trainings specific for enhancing English language competencies, performance and proficiency levels. The research recommends that elementary teachers must be encouraged, supported or initiated by schools, district or the division to attend seminars, trainings, and workshops or join programs which will increase their repertoire and deepen their understanding of learning theories, methodologies, strategies, techniques in teaching the English language and how they will apply these in their own classroom contexts.