Filipino students enrolled in a german language: translation skills, code switching, and english speaking proficiency

This research was a study on Filipino students enrolled in German Language for approximately three (3) months within a semester with regard to their translation skills (German-English), views on code switching, and their English speaking proficiency. Descriptive research method was used in which the first set of respondents composed of 76 students were given a Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) and a Translation Skills (TS) tests before and after watching two German-subtitled English music videos. Results showed that respondents’ scores had improved after watching the subtitled music videos. This implies that watching music videos has a positive influence in the translation skills of the respondents, and that considering videos with subtitles in a foreign language course can help students facilitate their learning process. The outcomes of the study offer a valuable means of establishing and developing a teaching tool strategy in foreign language teaching. The second set of respondents composed of forty (40) students selected at random from the first set of respondents (76) were given a survey questionnaire on code switching and a speaking proficiency test in English. Results showed that 72.5% of the respondents have “very high” level of code switching, 25% “high” and only 2.5% “moderate”. Furthermore, in the speaking proficiency test result, 45% of the respondents scored “satisfactory”, 40% “need improvement”, and 7.5% scored “good”, and another 7.5% scored “excellent”. However, results indicated that there is no significant relationship between the respondents’ views on code switching and their English speaking proficiency. This implies that respondents have a tendency to speak in straight English if they are required especially when taking an English speaking proficiency test. They would just code switch for better understanding, and not necessarily because they do not know how to speak without switching codes. It can be further concluded that they know how to speak a certain language without any language shifts.