Pre-Service Teachers’ Linguistic Proficiency: Basis for An English Language Enhancement Program in State Universities and Colleges

Abstract

As the academic world becomes increasingly advanced, learners have to improve their linguistic proficiency which is critical for educational enhancement and professional outcomes.  This study compared the linguistic proficiency in English structure along content and function words among the secondary education pre-service teachers in a state university and in a state college in northern Philippines. The overall linguistic proficiency of the learners is neither high nor low; though, they have a higher proficiency in Function Words than in Content Words.  In state university, the females as well as the younger pre-service teachers have a higher linguistic proficiency. In a state college, their linguistic proficiency is the same regardless of sex or age. For the areas in content words and function words, their performance is comparable, except for adjectives where the pre-service teachers in state college performed better, and in pronouns where the state college pre-service teachers perform better. With this, it would help if an English language enhancement program is initiated and institutionalized as all teachers regardless of specialization are expected to be English language teachers.