CORRELATES OF MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY ENGLISH PERFORMANCE IN THE SYSTEM ADMISSION AND SCHOLARSHIP EXAMINATION (SASE) IN MSU COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The performance of students in the English concept is a crucial determinant of scholarship and success in the tertiary level of education. This study aimed at finding out the correlates of MSU English performance in the System Admission and Scholarship Examination (SASE) in MSU Community Colleges. Specifically, it has sought to describe the profile of teachers, secondary students, community colleges, and its correlation with the English performance of students. A descriptive-correlational design has been applied in the study and conducted within the 11 community colleges of the university. The secondary students as respondents were selected based on stratified random sampling and assisted to answer the researcher-made instrument. The frequency and percentage distribution, mean, standard deviation, and the correlational tool has been applied in the analysis of the data. Findings revealed that family’s income, parents’ occupation, and the school facilities have been found to have a significant relationship with the SASE performance in English. Thus, these factors are crucial to consider in the analysis of the future performance of the secondary students to be admitted into the college. It is recommended that parents should assess their roles as active


ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 9 (11), 256-262 257 the Muslim cultural community group into the body politic by providing them the opportunities of public education for their own self-development. Second is to provide training in skill and technical know-how for the economic development of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan (MINSUPALA) region (Alico&Guimba, 2015).
As a center of learning par excellence instituted to attract students from all over Mindanao, it has granted various academic scholarship grants to deserving students through the annual scholarship examination known today as the Mindanao State University System Admission and Scholarship Examination (MSU-SASE). This is the basic and non-negotiable requirement for admission or entrance to any degree program in the Mindanao State University and the basis for scholarship and study grant (SASE Handbook, 1999). This examination been implemented annually by the Office ofthe Vice President for AcademicAffairs for the purpose ofmaintaining a high academic standard for the university. Record show that majority of the passers and,hence, recipients of the various scholarships are non-Muslim. This is due to thegenerallypooreducational background of Muslim SASE takers which has placed them at serious disadvantage compared to their non-Muslim brothers coming from otherparts of thePhilippines. The imposition of this stringent annual SASE examination requirement has kept countless Muslims and other cultural minorities from entry to the degree programs of the University (Reyes, 2009).
During the early years of the conduct of theexamination,the passing rate of Muslim minorities,for whom the university was primarilycreated, was very low as compared to the non-Muslim populace because they were not adequately prepared to meet the requirements of the university. In recognition of this problem, the university established preparatory high schools in some areas in Mindanao inhabited by the Muslims. These were primarily created to enable students in these areas to compete with students coming from the different partsof Mindanao and meet the noble purpose to which the Mindanao State Universitywas created (Madrid, Berowa, &Vosotros, 2019).
The graduates of the eleven secondary external units as feeder schools are obliged to take the MSU-SASE as a requirement for admission to the university.However over the years,records show that not many students from these secondary units have successfully passed the MSU. . . SASE while abig percentage of passers come from non. . .Muslimpopulace.Hence,it can be saidthat the eleven external units of the university have failed to achieve that objectives as feeder schools. In like manner, an investigation made by the researcher revealed that one of the reasons for the dismal performance of the MU External Units high school graduates in the MSU-SASE results is their low scores in English.
Apparently, students' poor performance in English has become a nationwide phenomenon. According to Imam (2016) in the Philippines, Filipino students are generally performing poorly in English in all levels --elementary, high school and collegiate. This deterioration in the English language proficiency among Filipinos in general has become one of the problems in the Philippine's educational system.
For this reason and many more, the teaching of English has been given so much importance in the University and its external units. In the MSU External Units, poor performance in English is one of the barriers that have decreased the chances of high school graduates in passing the MSU-SASE. Among the Muslims, it stands in their way of getting admitted to the Mindanao State University.The English language being the most actively changing of all international languages plays an important role in the rapid modernization and development brought about by the advancement of science and technology. English is the business language of the whole world and is, therefore, an indispensable tool in pursuit of higher learning (Kereluik, Mishra, Fahnoe, & Terry, 2013). Department Order No. 25 series 1974 specifies that English should be taught as a subject in all grades of the elementary and secondary schools andused as a medium of instruction for science and mathematics, English as a subject in the curriculum is expected to develop a basic performance in understanding, speaking, reading and writing in English, all of these are fundamental to communication in the language (Gonzalez, 1974).
To ensure the improvement of pupil achievement in English, mathematics and science, the Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports issued DECS order No 1, series 1993, increasing the time allotment in these school subjects. The daily period for English in Grades 1 to 6 was increased from 60 to 80 minutes.

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However, the improvement of English instruction in the MSU feeder schools has yet to be seen in the MSU-SASE results. The goal to produce quality graduates who can cope with the high standard set by the university has always been a challenge. English teachers in those schools play a significant role in preparing would-be-Maranao high school graduates to be academically competitive and, thus, increase their chances of admittance to one of the most prestigious universities in the country.
While poor quality of teaching is usually blamed for the students' poor English performance,teachers also point to the lack of opportunities for enhancing teaching and the absence of appropriate facilities which aid learning as among the major problems affecting the learning and teaching of English. The extent to which these may have affected students' performance in English has prodded the researcherto conduct this study.

Methods:-
The research design adopted for this study is descriptive correlational. The setting ot the study is the 11-community high school of the Mindanao State University External units located at Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte. The teachers (n=25) and students (n=262) as respondents of the study has been stratified and selected randomly among 11 community high school of the university after computation of the sample out from the total population. Approval has been sought from concerned and involved offices and departments prior the actual gathering of data. The researcher used a combined researcher-made instrument and slightly modified questionnaire based on Lynn (1969) for the motivational needs test standardized checklist. Statistical tools applied in the analysis and interpretation of data are as follows: frequency and percentage, average weighted mean, Pearson product moment coefficient correlation.

Results And Discussion:-
The teachers as respondents of this study mostly attained master's degree (56%) aside from holding bachelors' degree (44%). There are notable number of new teachers with experienced of 4 years and below (36%) whilst the rest has been in service for more than 5 years. The in-service training of teachers was mostly related to team teaching (79%) for job-imbedded, workshop or seminar (40%) for job-related, college degree course (100%) for credentials oriented, readiness (79%) for self-directed, and local membership (68%) for professional organization related mode. Teachers as respondents of the study are equipped with knowledge in teaching as they have earned postgraduate degree which relates to Michalak &Friedrich(1981) as stressed that advance degree enhances teachers' effectiveness. Also, the teachers acknowledged the good result of team teaching as they believed on the old adage that two heads are better than one. More ideas and techniques can be introduced to the learner since each teacher has a different outlook style and perceptions in delivery their good to the learners.
The students then shows to have more members in the family of about 8 or more (62%) with monthly family income between 10 to 15 thousand pesos (47%). Their parents are mostly college graduate (45%) with some holds Arabic degree (39%). Parents are more engaged on business (53%) and government employee (36%). This size of the family of students is too big. In terms of financial, educational, and social aspects in life, the parents cannot immediately provide the basic needs of a family that will immediately redound to a poor academic achievement among the children. This is in consonance with the study of Seccombe (2000) which reported that the larger the familysize, the higher the probability of the family getting poorer as this will hamper possible educational and financial progress. The income of the parents of students was just above the poverty threshold which further implies that the family cannot provide adequate food, clothing and some luxury besides the basic needs of the family. According to Zoleta-Nantes(2002)poverty line is 7,500.00per month for a family of six, so 10,000to 14,999.00per month is not really sufficient for a big family especially at time when the commodities are of high prices. Then the educational background of their parents suggest that the students cannot be understood by their parents when it comes to their school needs. The parents can follow up thelessons or activities the students have in school. This is in consonance to the study of Yang, Telama, &Laakso(1996), that parents who have higher educational background tend to follow up the activities of their children at home so there is a carryover of learning from school to their homes.  Table 2 shows the motivational needs of the teacher respondents. The occupational achievement ranked first as the motivator of the respondents with amean rating of 25.44 where they have the medium potencylevel. Ranked second with same potency level was job security where the respondents obtained a mean rating of 13.04. Third in rank was power over others with a mean rating of 9.08. Fourth in rank was the self-actualization with a mean rating of 7.08. The last was the high financial rewards motive which garnered mean rating of 4.32. With the findings that emerged the respondents hope for the occupational achievements to be attained with a mean rating of 25.44. This implies that what motivates more for the teachers to aspire for is the achievement that they can attain in their job.It also illustrates that the level of the teachers' motivational needs is qualitatively as having a minimal potency. Teachers are moderately satisfied with their motivational needs. According of Williams (1995), needs which are moderately potent or powerful, drive the individuals to fulfill moderately or minimally. When the need is potent or most powerful the individuals will be highly motivated to fulfill that potent need. As depicted in Table 3, an item which states, "English is very interesting to me and I enjoy listening when somebody reads and enjoy reading by myself " obtained a mean rating of 4.32, which the majority strongly agreed. This is followed by an item "in my Englishclass, Ienjoy allthe activities agreed deal," which was agreed by many with a mean rating of 3.98. Third in rank was "Do you always enjoy doing your English assignment," which got 3.97 mean rating and qualitatively described as "agree." "If liked English as a subject" which had a mean rating of 2.13, interpreted as disagree, was the last in rank.
In a nutshell, the average mean is 3.19 which is qualitatively described as undecided. This means that as a whole there are still students who cannotdecide whether they love or hate the subject. There are some who maintained that English is confusing subject but many also voiced it to be their favorite subject and that they love it very much and enjoy it. Whatever is the answer or attitude of the students towards the subject can be justified by theprinciple of individual differences. According to Thies-Sprinthall (1987), no one is exactly like anyone else. As one looks within himself and at the people around him, he realizes that he is very special and unique being.
As exemplified, the students obtained a mean rating of 2.3 with an SD of .7976. This mean rating is qualitatively described as fair. This implies that the student's ability in English is fair. This further means that student respondents' knowledgein grammar, comprehension, vocabulary and study skill are just average. Asopined by Butler (2018), many high school students' grammar ability "is awoefully exacting monster hiding in a labyrinthine maze of prepositions, clauses, participles, tenses and other horrors The correlation between the students' performance ratings and the motivational needs of teachers is manifested, an r of .0776 was obtained, analyzed as negligible correlation.When tested forits significance at.05 level, it yielded no significant result since the computed t-value (.6372) is lesser than the table value of 1.98. Therefore, the hypothesis is accepted. So the motivation needs of teachers do not affectin any way the performance rating of the students in English. Ampatua(1979) attests to this in her study where sheopined that the motivationalneeds of teacher are not factors forstudent achievement in school.
The size of the family and educational background of parents have a correlationof1135 and .3491 which is a negligible correlation. When tested for its significance, it yielded no significant result. Therefore, the hypothesis was accepted since the table value of 1.98 was greater than the computed values of 1.2088 and 1.6519. Size of the family and educational background of parents do not influence in any way the academic performance of the students. On the other hand, the variables monthly income of the family and occupation of parents obtained an r of .2401 and .3491 which are analyzed as low correlation. When tested for its significance at .05 level, the yielded value were 2.6177 and 3,9422. They were all greater than the table value of 1.96. Therefore, it rejected the hypothesis.
The correlation between the students' attitude towards English and their performance rating shown an r of .0143 existed between the two variables and analyzed as negligible correlation. When tested for its significance at 05 level, the result was significant since the table value of 1.98 is greater than the computed value of .1512. Therefore, the hypothesis is accepted.
This finding is supported by the study of Rowe (1991) who pointed out that the academic achievement of the pupils is influenced by their attitudes towards reading. The facilities and equipment yielded also a significant result when correlated with the grades of the students in English.

Conclusion:-
The correlates investigated where the English teacher factor, student factor, and the school factor. As revealed, the SASE performance in English is not influenced by the teachers' professional personal profile like teachers educational background, teaching experience, and the types of in-service training and motivational needs. Similarly, the SASE performance in English is not influenced by the students' personal profile such as the size of their family,educational background of parents, attitudes of student toward the English subject. But the monthly income of parents and parents' occupation greatly affect the students performance in SASE. The library, laboratory, classroom and school facilities are potent factors in studentsEnglish performance in SASE.