This document provides an overview of communicative competence and its importance in education. It discusses how developing communicative competence among learners has become a primary goal of educational institutions. It also outlines several key policies and initiatives in the Philippines that aim to improve access to quality education and ensure all citizens acquire basic education competencies, including communicative skills. The document then discusses challenges that teachers face in developing learners' communicative competence, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and strategies they employ, such as using self-learning modules.

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CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM
Communication competence has become the focus of various
educational institutions over the past couple of decades as
educational policy makers and advocates have stressed a “back to
basics” mentality. The ability to communicate effectively is
often included as a primary undergraduate learning goal along
with other key skills like writing, critical thinking, and
problem solving. Knowing the dimensions of competence is an
important first step toward developing competence.
Competence involves verbal and nonverbal elements, but it
also applies to many situations and contexts. Communication
competence is needed in order to understand communication
ethics, to develop cultural awareness, to use computer-mediated
communication, and to think critically. Competence involves
knowledge, motivation, and skills. It is not enough to know what
good communication consists of; you must also be motivated to
reflect on and better the communication and the skills needed to
do so.
With this, according to the 1987 Philippine Constitution
Article XIV, Section 1:
The State shall protect and promote the right
of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and shall
take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.

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With the number of students having difficulty in
communicating, competence will not really be within the grasp of
various public learning institutions. Having been considered as
one the useful 21st Century Skills, the teachers have been few
steps forward in advancing themselves of developing the
communicative competence of the learners. This is being done by
employing need-based strategies and techniques.
One of the perennial problems of the learners is
communicating functionally with others and in various contexts.
This is the focus of the research that the researcher herself
would like to determine the level, out of this develop, and
design offline and online intervention strategy that is
appropriate to the needs of the learners.
In consonance with Republic Act 9155, known as the
“Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001”, Section 2 is the
Declaration of Policy which states that:
It is hereby declared the policy of the State to
protect and promote the right of all citizens to
quality basic education and to make such education
accessible to all by providing all Filipino children a
free and compulsory education in the elementary level
and free education in the high school level.
The cognitive elements of competence include knowing how to
do something and understanding why things are done the way they
are. Learners can develop cognitive competence by observing and
evaluating the actions of others. Cognitive competence including

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communication can also be developed through instruction.
Evaluating how communication in the real world matches up with
communication concepts. Building a repertoire of communication
knowledge based on experiential and classroom knowledge will be
instrumental in developing behavioral competence. This is seen
as a pivotal part of educating the learners about what
communicative competence is. It is not merely anchored on
sounding out words but on how to use this skill in various
context.
For the Sustainable Development Goal, the new Global Goals,
and the broader sustainability agenda, go much further than the
MDGs, addressing the root causes of poverty and the universal
need for development that works for all people. Ambitions for
education are essentially captured in Sustainable Development
Goal 4, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
The Global Education 2030 Agenda new expanded scope are:
reaches from early childhood learning to youth and adult
education and training; emphasizes the acquisition of skills for
work; underlines the importance of citizenship education in a
plural and interdependent world; focuses on inclusion, equity and
gender equity; and aims to ensure quality learning outcomes for
all, throughout their lives. These aforementioned expanded scope
of the Global Education are instrumental in supporting the

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teachers’ plight of improving and developing the competence of
the learners along communication.
Further, at the individual level, a person’s physiological
and psychological characteristics affect competence. In terms of
physiology, age, maturity, and ability to communicate affect
competence. In terms of psychology, a person’s mood, stress
level, personality, and level of communication apprehension
(level of anxiety regarding communication) affect competence.
All these factors will either help or hinder in applying the
knowledge on actual communication behaviors. With this, the
teachers have to be fully aware of the factors that have great
impact on the learners and on the process of developing their
competence.
Education Secretary’s, Leonor Magtolis Briones, 10-Point
Agenda of the Department of Education which introduced greater
leadership supervision on finances, targeted construction of
school buildings, established Integrated Financial Management
System, implemented the comprehensive drug testing, initiated
massive feeding programs, suggested excellent education
credentials for teachers, emphasized the importance of
Philippines’ rich historical experiences, expanded the welfare of
academic and non-academic employee, spearheaded an active,
transparent, consultative, collaborative, and corruption-free
department, maintained partnership with the private sector have

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laid out a vivid vision that must not derail the teachers from
what they are expected to play and perform in the teaching-
learning process.
This agenda motivated every teacher and school head to work
harder in accomplishing their tasks. Their leadership qualities
are tested as they abide by the provisions of the agenda. This
will pave the way to a more transparent and effective leadership
in schools. This agenda also strengthened the education sector in
the Philippines. Furthermore, having this agenda, it provided
more opportunities for programs of the Department of Education to
be felt and experienced even by the smallest concerned citizen.
What is competent or not varies based on social and
cultural context, which makes it impossible to have only one
standard for what counts as communication competence. Social
variables such as status and power affect competence. Cultural
variables such as race and nationality also affect competence.
Although there is a clear definition of communication
competence, there are no definitions for how to be competent in
any given situation, since competence varies at the individual,
social, and cultural level.
Having this kind of notion, the teachers, as the forefront
and emblem of the Philippine education system, must see to it
that all factors must be considered before making instructional

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decisions and instructional designs geared towards developing
the competence of the learners.
Another legal basis of this study is the Schools’ First
Initiative (SFI) is the flagship program of the Department of
Education that attempts to enhance efforts at improving the
quality of education in the country to improve the quality of
education outcomes in the country based on three performance
indicators: participation, completion and achievement as a
reform package. Schools First Initiative has three components:
Enhancement of Learning More Resources for Learning Focused
Organization for Learning— under which are efforts designed to
meet our strategic objective of enabling all Filipinos to
acquire Basic Education competencies.
To develop curriculum and instruction strategies to prepare
students, the students should be able to do the following in
terms of speaking and listening competencies: State ideas
clearly; Communicate ethically; Recognize when it is appropriate
to communicate; Identify their communication goals; Select the
most appropriate and effective medium for communicating;
Demonstrate credibility; Identify and manage misunderstandings;
Manage conflict; Be open-minded about another’s point of view
and Listen attentively.

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While these are skill focused rather than interpersonally
or culturally focused, they provide a concrete way to assess
speaking competencies and to prepare the learners for
professional speaking and listening, which is often skill
driven.
Participation, completion and achievement as a reform
package of the abovementioned agency’s program must be utilized
by the teachers. Active participation of the learners means a
lot in gaining useful experiences that can provide the necessary
skills towards competence. If this will be sustained, completion
and achievement precede.
Meanwhile, the Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains
a compelling issue destabilizing not just the economy, but also
the education in most parts of the world, especially the less
economically developed countries. Confirmed cases with 197,368
deaths were reported affecting 210 countries and territories
around the world and international conveyances.
The COVID-19 outbreak has brought overwhelming impact in
the functions and outcomes of our educational system which
greatly affect the delivery of quality instruction of every
school. This is evident across the globe that leads to the near-
total closures of schools, colleges, and universities. School
closures has affected classroom instruction on face-to-face

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learning because it continue to pose the unprecedented risks to
every learner, teacher, and personnel in the Department of
Education.
As the country continues to confront different issues
brought about by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) is addressing the
challenges in the basic education for the school year 2020-2021
through its Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP)
under DepEd Order No. 012, s. 2020.
To make sure that learning remains unhampered, DepEd
implemented distance learning approach- a learning delivery mode
where interaction takes place between the teacher and the
students who are geographically remote from each other during
instruction. This means that lessons will be delivered outside
the traditional face to face set up.
The three types of Distance Learning are the Modular
Distance Learning (MDL), Online Distance Learning (ODL) and
TV/Radio Based Instruction (TVBI/RBI). Prior to the opening of
classes last October 5, 2020, a survey was conducted in which
the parents, learners as well as teachers were asked of their
preferred Learning Delivery Modality. According to Education
Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio almost 13 million public
school students preferred to use printed Self Learning Modules.

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Schools Division of Albay, one of the thirteen schools division
in Bicol Region, adopted Modular Distance Learning.
Modular Distance Learning involves individualized
instruction that allows learners to use Self Learning Modules
(SLM). With this, the teacher takes the responsibility of
monitoring the progress of the learner. Apart from this
responsibility, teachers are also doing the reproduction of the
SLMs. After the reproduction, they have critical roles in the
distribution and retrieval of the printed modules. After the
retrieval, they are also accountable in checking the answer of
the students in the activities found in the SLM including the
assessment that they prepared. Other tasks include the recording
of results/outcomes. What remains to be the most challenging
part is the intervention that must be given to students who are
lagging and need close instructional supervise. What makes it
more complicated is the health crisis in which limited movement
is required to prevent the spread the virus.
This scenario has been recurring. Every day the teacher
must undergo this cycle of arduous job. This must be effectively
played amidst the threat of the deadly virus that is why various
coping strategies had been utilized by the teachers.

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As stated in the School Improvement Plan (SIP) Manual, the
ultimate objective of the school improvement process is to
achieve the desired learning outcomes by enhancing the way
curriculum is delivered by competent committed and caring
teachers by creating a safe and a nurturing environment for
learning, and by increasing the stakeholders’ participation in
the entire school improvement process. It also aims to help
school heads, teachers, parents and other stakeholders in the
school community, participate in a continuous improvement
process by identifying potential barriers to improvement and by
finding ways to move the school from where it is now to a
condition in which students can achieve their highest potential.
One way to progress toward communication competence is to
become a more mindful communicator. A mindful communicator
actively and fluidly processes information, is sensitive to
communication contexts and multiple perspectives, and is able to
adapt to novel communication situations. Becoming a more mindful
communicator has many benefits, including achieving
communication goals, detecting deception, avoiding stereotypes,
and reducing conflict. Whether or not we achieve our day-to-day
communication goals depends on our communication competence.
Various communication behaviors can signal that learners are
communicating mindfully.

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This posed a challenge on part of the teachers on how they
can become effective on transforming learners into becoming
competent speakers. This entails a greater responsibility for
the school heads and the teachers to exhaust all possible means
to address the changing needs of the learners.
The school heads together with the teaching force must
craft programs and developmental strategies that can be
integrated in the SIP. This move would pave way for a whole
school approach in addressing the problem and in making sense of
what resources that the school have.
DepEd is going full throttle in its effort to decentralize
education management a strategy that is expected to improve the
department’s operating efficiency and upgrade education quality.
In line with this effort, the department is pushing for the
implementation of School Based Management (SBM), a key component
of the department’s Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA).
DepEd is pursuing a package of policy reforms that as a
whole, seeks to improve critical regulatory, institutional,
structural, financial, cultural, physical, and informational
conditions affecting basic education provisions, access and
delivery on the ground. These policy reforms are expected to
create critical changes necessary to further accelerate, broaden,
deepen, and sustain the improved quality of education in the

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Philippines and attain the Education for All (EFA) goals in 2015.
This package of policy reforms is called the Basic Education
Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA).
Some communication behaviors indicate communicating
mindfully, such as withdrawing from a romantic partner or
engaging in passive-aggressive behavior during a period of
interpersonal conflict. Such behaviors lead to predictable and
avoidable conflict cycles.
Therefore, a certain amount of tentativeness and mindful
monitoring of a person’s nonverbal and verbal communication can
help in detecting deception. However, this is not the same thing
as chronic suspicion, which would not indicate communication
competence.
The BESRA was developed in August 2005 primarily from the
research work of those in the academe, which seeks to attain the
four Education for All objectives by 2015. These are the
following: 1. Universal Adult Functional Literacy 2. Universal
School Participation and Elimination of Dropouts and Repetition
in First Three Grades 3. Universal Completion of the Full Cycle
of Basic Education Schooling with Satisfactory Achievement Levels
by All at Every Grade or Year 4. Total Community Commitment to
Attainment of Basic Education Competencies for All.

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To achieve these objectives, the BESRA focuses on specific
policy actions that fall under these five key reform thrusts: Get
all schools to continuously improve; Enable teachers to further
enhance their contribution to learning outcomes; Increase social
support to attainment of desired learning outcomes; Improve
impact on outcomes from complementary early childhood education,
alternative learning systems and private sector participation;
and Change institutional culture of DepEd to better support these
key reform thrusts.
The Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA) also issued
the National Competency-Based Teacher Standards (NCBTS) Teacher
Strengths and Needs Assessment (TSNA), which is anchored on the
overarching concept of teacher professional development. It is
formative as a tool that will encourage teachers in taking
personal responsibility for their own growth and professional
advancement. The view in mind is to promote student learning.
Communication is common but the ability to make sense of
and improve communication takes competence that is learned
through deliberate study and personal reflection.
The Fast Track Initiative was set up to implement the EFA
movement, aiming at "accelerating progress towards quality
universal primary education".

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The context of SBM, EFA, and SDG is not only for the
academic performance of the students, but also for the
development of their whole being, with English and Communicative
Competence as one of the venues for this area.
As the researcher’s place of assignment, she chose Libon
Agro-Industrial High School as the locale of her study.
The researcher reviewed the related studies and literature
that the guided in pointing out the salient findings in terms of
acquisition of additional knowledge which are worthwhile and
valuable to the present study. These information or insights
gathered from previous studies are consider to guide the
researchers in determining the Communicative Competence of
Learners were: Lasala (2013), Communicative Competence of
Secondary Senior Students: Language Instructional Pocket,
Alvarez (2017), determine how Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT) enhances the grammar competence of the senior students,
and Corpuz (2021), Beyond eyesight: communicative competence of
senior high school student with visual impairment: find out the
communicative competence of senior high school student with
visual impairment.
Statement of the Problem
This study will determine the Communicative Competence of
Grade 11 Learners of Libon Agro-Industrial High School.

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Specifically, it will seek answer to the following sub-
questions:
1. What is the level of communicative competence of Grade 11
learners of Libon Agro-Industrial High School in terms
of:
1.1 Grammatical,
1.2 Sociolinguistic,
1.3 Discourse, and
1.4 Strategic
2. How significant is the difference on the rank orders of
the communicative competence of Grade 11 learners between
the Academic and TVL tracks?
3. What activities were provided by the teachers to improve
the communicative competence of the Grade 11 learners?
4. How significant is the difference on the rank orders of
the activities provided by the teachers to improve the
communicative competence of Grade 11 learners?
5. What policy recommendations can be formulated based from
the findings of the study?
Assumptions of the Study
1. The level of communicative competence of Grade 11
learners of Libon Agro-Industrial High School in terms of

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Grammatical, Sociolinguistic, Discourse, Strategic are
very much evident.
2. There are activities that teachers give to improve the
communicative competence of the Grade 11learners along
the aforementioned aspects.
Hypotheses of the Study
1. There is no significant difference on the rank orders of
the communicative competence of Grade 11 learners as
perceived by the learners and the teachers.
2. There is no significant difference on the rank orders of
the activities given by the teachers to improve the
communicative competence of the Grade 11 learners along
the aforementioned aspects.
Significance of the Study
This study helped in determining the communicative
competence of the Grade 11 learners in Libon Agro-Industrial
High School.
The researcher believed that this study would be beneficial
and significant to the following:
Learners. The findings of the study will be the basis in
designing the offline and online intervention strategy. These

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materials will be used to improve the communicative competence
of the learners and will assist them in their needs. As the
center of the learning process, the learners will benefit
greatly from the output of this study.
Teachers. The findings of the study will serve as the
instrument in providing the teachers with the learning resource
materials that they can use in teaching the learners. Further,
this study will be instrumental in assisting the teachers in
becoming more effective in developing the communicative
competence of the learners.
School Heads. This study will serve as basis for the
school heads to craft similar programs that will not only focus
on the English learners but also inclusive in nature since it
can also assist the learners who are having difficulty in other
learning areas. This study may also provide school heads to plan
out activities that can be integrated in the School Improvement
Plan.
Department of Education. The findings and output of this
research is expected to provide beneficial insights as well as
guideposts for the Department of Education in the design and
implementation of programs, which are geared toward the
development of learners’ communicative skills and the

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improvement of teachers’ practices of improving the learners’
communicative competence.
DepEd Key and Other Officials. The Schools Division
Superintendent, Assistant Schools Division Superintendent, Chief
Education Supervisors of the School Governance and Operations
Division and Curriculum Implementation Division (SGOD, CID),
Education Program Supervisors and Public Schools District
Supervisors and other officials will gain insights about the
level of communicative competence of the learners and capacitate
the teachers on how to improve this competence among the
learners.
Parents, Community and Other Stakeholders. The findings of
this research would benefit the parents, community and
stakeholders as the strength and backbone of the educational
institution. They can work with the school and forge partnership
with the school authorities in supporting academic activities
along the development of the communicative competence of the
learners.
Curriculum Writers. As the body responsible for the design
and execution of school curriculum, the outcome of this study
will be useful guide in the creation and realization of new
curriculum designs and approaches related to the communicative
competence of the learners.

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Policy Makers. The findings of this study will give
insights to the policy makers in coming up with concrete and
responsive policies along education and curriculum. The
suggestions will help a lot in designing the best, timely and
effective policies, which is suited to the present needs of the
learners and the country’s educational system.
Future Researchers. The result of the study may help other
researchers do further studies and this may serve as a source of
other future studies.
Researcher Herself. The researcher herself will also be
benefitted by the study. The findings may be used as her guide
and basis in improving her offline and online strategy. This may
also provide her a good avenue to think of better strategies
that could make the teaching-learning process more inclusive.
Inter-Agency Task Force. The result of this study will
provide data to the members of the IATF in designing new
protocols that will not hamper the continuity of learning among
the learners.
LGU. The Local Government Unit will be guided as to what
programs, projects and activities along education will be funded
by the Special Education Fund (SEF).

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Scope and Delimitations of the Study
This study will determine the Communicative Competence of
Grade 11 Learners of Libon Agro-Industrial High School Further,
it will look into the following: the level of communicative
competence of Grade 11 learners of Libon Agro-Industrial High
School in terms of Grammatical, Sociolinguistic, Discourse,
Strategic, the activities provided by the teachers give to
improve the communicative competence of the Grade 11 learners
along the aforementioned aspects, the significant difference on
the rank orders of the communicative competence of Grade 11
learners; significant difference on the rank orders of the
activities provided by the teachers to improve the communicative
competence of the Grade 11 learners and the policy
recommendations formulated based from the findings of the study.
This study was delimited to the Grade 11 learners of the
Senior High School Academic and Technical Vocational tracks of
the Libon Agro-Industrial High School. Likewise, it also
delimited to the responses to the questionnaires.
Locale of the Study
Libon Agro-Industrial High School was established in 1980
by virtue of a Municipal Resolution approved by the able then
Mayor Querobin M. Dycoco. Through the assistance of Mr. Alicia
Reodique, the principal of Libon East Central School, LAIS was

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formally opened with 130 first years and 3 permanent teachers.
The school found a site of 9 800 sq. meters donated by the
municipal government. The school’s staff was paid out by the
tuition fees collected from the students. The LGU subsidized the
salaries of the teachers to augment the meager collection of the
school. It was due to the approval of DepEd having it
nationalized when the school was named Libon Agro-Industrial
High School in 1993, by virtue of Municipal Resolution No. 5-81-
83 , a 300 sq m. Through Tax Declaration No. 419 and Tax
Declaration No. 954 was donated to the school.
In accordance with the Republic Act No. 6655 known as “An
Act Establishing and Providing for Free Public Secondary
Education and other Purposes”, LAIS was recognized as a
nationalized secondary school offering general secondary
education curriculum. It was in SY 1988-1989 that the full
implementation of the free Secondary Education Program took
effect.
Libon Agro Industrial High School, with school ID No.
301833 is a large public secondary TechVoc school situated at
Tinago St., Zone 2, Libon, Albay. It is along the national
highway and is accessible to all forms of land transportation.
The distance of the school from the town proper is approximately
0.5 kilometers. It is adjacent to Libon East Central School.

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l
Figure 1
Map Highlighting the Locale of the Study

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A Principal II heads it. In addition, the teaching
force is composed of the following: English, 7; Filipino, 6;
Mathematics, 9; Science, 6; AP, 5; MAPEH, 4; EsP, 2; and TVE,
19. For Senior High School, Academic Strand, 13 and TVL 9. Non-
teaching division is composed of 14 personnel.
It is one of the 2 secondary schools in the Division of
Albay which had the early implementation of the Senior High
School in SY 2015-2016. For the Junior High School (JHS) we have
the following offerings: Computer Systems Servicing (CSS),
Cookery, Food Processing, AgriCrop Production, Animal
Production, Electrical Installation & Maintenance (EIM),
Drafting Technology, Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW), Garments
and Beauty Care.
For the Senior High School (SHS), we have the following
offerings: Computer Programming and Horticulture NC II for Gr.
12; for Gr. 11 Accountancy-Business and Management (ABM) and
Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) for Academic Track with
99 enrollees and for the Technical Vocational Livelihood Track
with 216 enrollees we have Computer Systems Servicing NC II,
Electrical Installation and Maintenance (EIM) NC II, Cookery NC
II, Animal Production NC II, and Agricultural Crop Production NC
II.

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Definition of Terms
The following terms have been defined both operationally
and contextually to serve as guide in understanding the study.
Communicative Competence encompasses a language user’s
grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the
like as well as social knowledge about how and when to use
utterance appropriately.
Grammatical is the ability to create grammatically correct
utterances.
Sociolinguistic is the ability to produce sociolinguistic
ally appropriate utterances.
Discourse is the ability to produce coherent and cohesive
devices.
Strategic is the ability to solve communication problems as
they arise.
Grade 11 Learners pertains to learners who are under the
Grade 11 Curriculum under the K to 12 implementations.
Academic Track defines the collective list of courses and
subjects that are required among the Senior High School
students.

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TVL Track pertains to one of the tracks in Senior High
School (SHS) in which the students can gain the skills and
knowledge they need to seek for employment.
Activities refers to appropriate measures and
calculated activities directed to achieve a desired result.
Policy recommendations are a written policy advice prepared
for some group that has the authority to make decisions.