Challenges among Indigenous People Learners in Understanding English as Second Language

Janice B Trigosa; Estrella S Ferenal

Challenges among Indigenous People Learners in Understanding English as Second Language

Author(s)	Ms. Janice B Trigosa, Dr. Estrella S Ferenal
Country	Philippines
Abstract	Understanding English is essential in second language learning. However, Indigenous People learners challenge to learn English as their second language. This study was conducted to determine the level of challenges among Indigenous People learners in understanding English as Second Language in select schools of Valencia City Division during the School Year 2025-2026. Specifically, it aimed to describe the respondents’ characteristics in terms of sex, tribal affiliation, parents’ occupation, parents’ highest educational attainment, parental support, and attitude toward English; find out the respondent’s level of challenges in understanding English as a second language based on language barriers, pronunciation struggles, vocabulary overload, grammar woes, cultural differences, and fear of making mistakes; and determine the significant relationship between the respondents’ challenges in understanding English as a second language and each of their characteristics. This study employed a descriptive-correlational research design and universal sampling, wherein 150 Grade 7 Indigenous People learners in select schools of Valencia City Division were surveyed using a researcher-made questionnaire. Statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s r, Kruskal-Wallis test, and t-test were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that most of the respondents were females from farming families with low educational attainment, high parental support and positive attitude toward English. Indigenous People learners were found to be slightly challenged across all the dependent variables, with fear of making mistakes having the highest mean and language barriers the lowest mean. The variable sex showed a significant relationship with the vocabulary overload while parental support and attitude towards English showed negative correlations with all the challenges. It concludes that fear of mistakes as the highest challenge among IP learners in understanding English as their second language. This study recommends teachers to conduct monthly consultations with parents to demonstrate simple ways parents can assist their children. Teachers should include pronunciation drills, vocabulary development exercises and sentence construction into daily lessons. Schools should conduct parent orientations and workshops on easy ways to use English at home.
Keywords	challenges, Indigenous people learners, English as a second language
Field	Sociology > Education
Published In	Volume 17, Issue 2, April-June 2026
Published On	2026-04-29

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Challenges among Indigenous People Learners in Understanding English as Second Language

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