ENGLISH PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF GRADE THREE TEACHERS AND NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST (NAT) PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

This study aimed to determine the relationship between the English proficiency level of grade three teachers and National Achievement Test (NAT) performance of pupils. The statit The study pursued the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between English proficiency level of grade three teachers and NAT performance of pupils in elementary schools of Los Baňos District.Results revealed a moderate correlation between variables. It signifies that as the teachers’ English proficiency mean scores increase, there’s also a moderate increase in pupils NAT mean percentage scores. However, the results is not statistically significant meaning the result is only true to the given grade three pupils and 49 teachers respondents, but cannot be generalized to a larger population where the samples were taken.The researcher therefore concluded that there is no significant relationship between the level of teachers’ English proficiencies and the pupils’ NAT performance. This means that the English proficiency of teachers does not affect the NAT performance of the pupils in public elementary schools in Los Baňos for the school year 2010-2014. The researcher recommended that there is a need for school to promote intensive learning for further improvement of pupil’s NAT performance and there is a of English( item nos.1-10), choosing the correct sentence with closest in meaning to the given sentence (11-20), vocabulary test (21-30) and the reading comprehension (31-40) wherein there are two passages given and each passage contained questionnaires respectively. Their scores were rated and interpreted accordingly.The respondents who get a scores that fall within 31-40 has an interpretation of superior, 21-30 (above average), 11-20 ( below average) and 0-10 ( Poor). It shows that an MPS of 96-100% has a descriptive equivalent of mastered, 86-95% is closely approximating master, 66-85% is moving towards mastery, 35-65% is average, 15-34% is low, 5-14% is very low and 0-4% is absolutely no mastery.

This study aimed to determine the relationship between the English proficiency level of grade three teachers and National Achievement Test (NAT) performance of pupils. The statit The study pursued the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between English proficiency level of grade three teachers and NAT performance of pupils in elementary schools of Los Baňos District.Results revealed a moderate correlation between variables. It signifies that as the teachers' English proficiency mean scores increase, there's also a moderate increase in pupils NAT mean percentage scores. However, the results is not statistically significant meaning the result is only true to the given grade three pupils and 49 teachers respondents, but cannot be generalized to a larger population where the samples were taken.The researcher therefore concluded that there is no significant relationship between the level of teachers' English proficiencies and the pupils' NAT performance. This means that the English proficiency of teachers does not affect the NAT performance of the pupils in public elementary schools in Los Baňos for the school year 2010-2014. The researcher recommended that there is a need for school to promote intensive learning for further improvement of pupil's NAT performance and there is a need to sustain various and significant seminars and trainings that will help the teachers to learn effective strategies and techniques contributory in achieving high quality of learning and competitive learners among the public elementary schools in the District of Los Baňos.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction:-
English teachers in public schools took an English proficiency test to determine if they are qualified to teach the subject in the first place, former Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus emphasized in February 2003. However, he quickly clarified that the move is not meant to embarass nor demote teachers but only to find out if they're better at teaching other subjects. Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta (19 said English and Filipino should both be used as media of instruction in accordance with the Constitution. "Filipino should be promoted in schools as a language of literacy and a source of national identity and unity, while English should be encouraged as the language of science and technology, regional commerce and international communication," the former chairman of the Senate committee on education said. Oreta cited past studies showing that the English comprehension of a sampling of elementary school teachers was equivalent to only that of a Grade 7 or first year high school student. Lack of funds, however, might ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res. 8(07), 934-941 935 slow down the presidential directive to restore English as the medium of instruction. During the Senate hearing on the budget of the Department of Education, de Jesus admitted that the department has no budget to upgrade the English proficiency of public school teachers.
Teachers have to be competitive enough in using the language to effectively teach students in becoming critical and analytical in communicating with the use of English. Learning experiences that will help students reach the optimum level of their communicative ability must be provided (Suelto,2010). In recent years, the English proficiency of Filipinos has dwindled down. Studies done by reputable international organizations such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) report that our English skills are now a disappointment. In an article written by Karl Wilson published online by The National, in 2008, Filipinos scored an overall mean of 6.69 for listening, writing, reading, and speaking, a very low number based on international standards. On a side note, in the same proficiency test, Malaysia scored a higher overall mean than the Philippines with 6.71. These numbers were supported by the alarmingly low digits presented by another online article written by Fernando and Azucena (2015).
English proficiency level of most of the teachers in Los Baños district were assessed in the average mastery level.
As an English teacher, the researcher wanted to find out the relationships between English proficiency level of teachers and the NAT performance of pupils in English in public Elementary schools, Los Baños District for the past five years.

English Proficiency Level of Grade Three Teachers
Grade III

NAT Results of 2010-2014
936 Percentage mean scores, frequency counts and for the presentation of the distribution of respondents.Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used to determine the relationships between the level of English proficiency test of Grade III teachers and the NAT performance of their pupils. Table 4 shows the mean scores of grade three teachers in English proficiency test.       It can be gleaned from Table 7 that grade three teachers from School A-F, performed high in the proficiency test while the rest obtained average scores. Out of 40 items, School A Teachers got the highest mean score of 94.58 (SD = 2.60) while School M's teachers received the lowest mean score of 77.08 (SD= 1.91). Table 8 presents the level of National Achievement Test performance of Elementary schools in Los Baños District. It can be seen from the table that all pupils in Los Baños District have an average mastery in National Achievement test for the last five years. Notably, School A's teachers and pupils both ranked first among the thirteen schools in the district. It indicates that teachers and pupils in the said school are performing very well in English Proficiency Test and NAT respectively.

Results And Discussion:-
Two studies have identified a correlation between English language proficiency and achievement on large-scale academic assessments. In Texas, ELLs' level of English proficiency on the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey was found to be highly correlated with their scores on statewide assessments of reading, math, and writing (Oakeley & Urrabazo, 2001).   (2-tailed) .161 N 13 13 r-value = .413 (Moderate) p-value = .161 (NOT Significant at .05 level of significance) degree of freedom = (n -2) = 13 -2 = 11 It contradicted with the study, which was observed and conducted by the USAID in year 2007 and even by the Department of Education (DepEd) through the conduct of the National Diagnostic Test and the National Achievement Test. They found out that teachers contribute a lot on the NAT performance of pupils. One of the tools that measures the efficiency and mastery of teachers in their own field is the results of the National Achievement test, National Diagnostic Test, and other aptitude tests wherein the students go through an examination of their competencies in basic elementary and high school subjects. Students' performances in the said examination can at a certain degree be ascribed to the teacher who handles them and of course to the ability of the students to comprehend and/or analyze what are being taught to them.
The researchers therefore concluded that there is no significant relationship between the level of teachers' English proficiencies and the pupils' NAT performance. This means that the English proficiency of teachers does not affect the NAT performance of the pupils in public elementary schools in Los Baňos for the school year 2010-2014. The researchers recommended that there is a need for school to promote intensive learning for further improvement of pupil's NAT performance and there is a need to sustain various and significant seminars and trainings that will help the teachers to learn effective strategies and techniques contributory in achieving high quality of learning and competitive learners among the public elementary schools in the District of Los Baňos.