Language Mixing and the Narrative Interpretation of Tertiary Students

Philippine literature is a course subject in the curriculum of the College of Criminal Justice Education which is designed to give students the knowledge and skills it requires to participate in the development of building cultural identity. Students face challenges in language knowledge actualization since the course/subject Philippine Literature is taught in their second language, English. Hence, the decoding ability of the students need to be enhanced for them to be able to analyse the text presented through literary discussions. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the use of language mixing in teaching Philippine Literature in the narrative interpretation of tertiary students. This study used quantitative and a one-group pretest-post-test experimental research design, gathering data from the results of the pre-test and post-test. This study involves one (1) section of first year BS Criminology students, with twenty-six (26) male students and thirteen (13) female students, enrolled at Laguna State Polytechnic University-San Pablo City Campus, taking up the course/subject LIT 1: Philippine Literature, second semester of the current academic year 2024-2025. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to organize, tabulate, and determine the results of the pre-test and post-test. Paired Samples T-Test was used to compare the mean scores of the respondents, based on the pre-test and post-test. Findings reveal that respondents mean on the pre-test score were 3.59 for Character Development, 3.10 for Theme Identification, 2.49 for Symbolism and Imagery, and 1.69 for Tone and Mood. Likewise, the result on the post-test score in terms of Theme Identification is 4.21, Character Development is 3.82, Tone and Mood is 3.49, and Symbolism and Imagery is 2.79. Which indicates that there is a significant effect between the use of language mixing in teaching Philippine Literature and the narrative interpretation of tertiary students. This indicates that there is a significant effect between the use of language mixing in teaching Philippine Literature and the narrative interpretation of tertiary students in terms of Tone and Mood and Theme Identification. While a more enhanced approach and further activities that could enhance their understanding of Character Development and Symbolism and Imagery.