DEFEATING LANGUAGE BARRIER: EXPLORING ELEMENTARY TEACHERS' STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Communication is crucial to learning, but a significant educational challenge today is that children need help communicating in unfamiliar languages. In the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment, the Philippines had the lowest scores among 79 participating countries and economies (San Juan, 2019). Most Filipinos can speak English, but their reading comprehension skills are weaker, indicating that not all Filipinos are proficient. This increased focus on technology, instead of traditional reading, can contribute to language difficulties in communication. Stuttering due to the fear of ridicule or degradation by others is one of the outcomes of this challenging environment. Personal experiences of bullying related to pronunciation are daily, adding to the challenges students face in building their communication skills. Moreover, foreigners often need help communicating in rural areas due to a lack of English education, reflecting real-life scenarios where language barriers hinder effective interaction.

Today, students struggle to communicate due to pressure and loss of confidence. Many young people who are proficient in English mock those who make mistakes, and teachers sometimes embarrass students while correcting them. This fear and shame silence students and hinder effective communication (Adamson, 2022). Also, students are feeble in communication because they do not like to read, and technology takes some of their attention (Erkan, 2019). Because it is difficult to understand different types of words, it is necessary to know what methods and strategies teachers use to teach language to students who have difficulty communicating with others. More than 26 million people (about the population of Texas) in the United States do not speak English as their primary language and