Language Learning Strategies and Communicative Competence of Pre-Service English Teachers in State Universities and Colleges in Region VIII, Philippines

Communicative competence and language learning strategies are viewed as important vehicles to perform different functions needed for communication across a wide range of situations. This study aimed to determine the language learning strategies and communicative competence along linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competences among pre-service English teachers of SUCs in Region VIII. The study employed a descriptive research design using correlation. The results revealed that along language learning strategies, the student-respondents ‘sometimes used’ all the categories of language learning strategies. Along linguistic, sociolinguistic and strategic competences, the student-respondents were ‘competent’ while for the discourse competence, the student-respondents were ‘average’. Cognitive, compensatory and affective strategies have negative and significant correlation towards linguistic competence. This implies that the more frequent that the student-respondents use the said strategies, the higher the chances that their linguistic competence would go down. Along sociolinguistic competence, language strategies such as: cognitive, metacognitive, memory-related and affective strategies found to have a negative and significant correlation with their sociolinguistic competence. The more the student-respondents expose their selves using the strategies, it would affect negatively their sociolinguistic competence. Metacognitive, memory-related and social strategies have significant correlation with the discourse competence. Metacognitive, memory-related and social strategies are found to be useful in the production of utterances and sentences. There is no single language learning strategy that could perfectly fit to the students and for the recommendation of this study, English teachers should attune language classroom instruction and strategies to pre-service English teachers’ language learning strategies needs and develop their communicative competence.