The Leaners’ View on Interdisciplinary Approach in Teaching Purposive

Communication

Aileen C. Bautista1
1De La Salle University-Manila
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Abstract: In pursuant to the curriculum revamp in the higher education brought about by the K to 12
Curriculum, the course, Purposive Communication, was created. Moreover, in the adamant desire to
maximize the goal of this course, which is to allow the students to become effective communicators in
the different aspects of communication, the Interdisciplinary Approach has been utilized by some
Higher Education institutions since it lends itself well with the terminal objectives of Purposive
Communication. In line with this, the current study explores the students' views on how the
Interdisciplinary Approach is utilized in the Purposive Communication course. Hence, this study
attempts to answer the following questions: 1) Do the students find the Purposive Communication
course useful in terms of the inclusion of the Interdisciplinary Approach? 2) Which part of the
Interdisciplinary Approach in the Purposive Communication activities do they find meaningful? and
2a) Which activities do the students find the most important and least important? This study is guided
by the Social Constructivist Theory, and it is a quantitative study that employed Exploratory Factor
Analysis and was further confirmed by Kaiser Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy and
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity to check the validity of the results. Results showed that the use of the
Interdisciplinary Approach in Purposive Communication is deemed effective by the students,
especially in the area of honing their writing skills where they feel the Interdisciplinary Approach was
best observed.

Key Words: Interdisciplinary Approach; language teaching, education

1. INTRODUCTION the given task (Brand & Triplett, 2012). Furthermore,

this allows the integration of knowledge and modes
of thinking to produce a cognitive advancement; thus,
With the many attempts to improve the quality of
synthesis or integration takes place (Golding, 2009).
instructions in the English subject, one current
approach is the use of an interdisciplinary approach.
It is interesting to note, however, that the
It is an approach that connects two (or more)
interdisciplinary approach is deemed as a complex
disciplines in the discussion or the accomplishment of
idea. According to Carr, Loucks, and Blöschl (2018),
the interaction or integration of the disciplines may and students’ perspectives and the challenges that
vary from “simple communication of ideas to the both are confronted within using the said approach, it
mutual integration of organizing concepts, seems that no known study attempts to explore the
methodology, procedures, epistemology, terminology, students' Interdisciplinary Approach experience using
data, and organization of research and education in a a quantitative instrument that is attempting to
fairly large field" (p. 35). measure the interdisciplinary experience of students
together with their communicative competence.
1.1 Interdisciplinary in the Higher Likewise, no known study explores the
Education interdisciplinary approach of Filipino college students
in the new college course, Purposive Communication.
Given the nature of the interdisciplinary approach, it
is widely used in higher education, especially on 1.2 Research Questions
scholarly outputs such as essays, reports, critique, or
The purpose of this investigation is to explore the
position paper is the standard academic requirements
Purposive Communication Students' view on the use
that are written and submitted by the students in
of an Interdisciplinary Approach in their classes.
their different courses (Tang & Werner, 2017). Also, it
Below are the questions that this study intends to
is common for research-related outputs to stem from address:
any real-world issue where students attempt to 1. Do the students find the Purposive
provide probable solutions or analyze the existing Communication course effective in terms of the
solutions to the problems (Carr, Loucks, & Blöschl, inclusion of the Interdisciplinary Approach?
2018). The rhetorical structure of these outputs 2. Which part of the Interdisciplinary Approach
requires the integration of the students' knowledge in Purposive Communication activities do they find
and understanding from different disciplines in order meaningful?
to address the challenges that any society faces a. Which activities do the students find the most
(Carayol & Ngyuen Thi, 2005 as cited in Carr, Loucks, important and least important?
& Blöschl, 2018).
3. SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS
Aside from the various disciplines involved in
the output, collaboration is another essential nature The Interdisciplinary Approach has slowly gained
of the interdisciplinary approach. The term, popularity among curriculum developers and
collaboration, may pertain to different research fields educators. It is the merging of various disciplines
(Blöschl et al., 2012 as cited in Carr, Loucks, & during the discussion and the completion of the
Blöschl, 2018) or a tie in between the academe and learning assessments in a course. One of the
society. Moreover, collaboration is not only enclosed in institutions that espouse this approach is De La Salle
the realms of discussion but also the aspect of concept University. The current study aimed at
organization, methodology crafting, data gathering, understanding the students' views on the inclusion of
and others. (Carr, Loucks, & Blöschl, 2018). Thus, the interdisciplinary approach. To be more specific,
merging the content knowledge and linguistic the study sought to answer the following questions: (1)
knowledge that result in a research-based critical Do the students find the Purposive Communication
discussion, whether in oral or written form. course useful in terms of the inclusion of the
Interdisciplinary Approach? (2) Which part of the
The Research Gap Interdisciplinary Approach in the Purposive
Communication activities do they find meaningful?
While the literature presents the strengths of and (2a) Which activities do the students find the most
Interdisciplinary Approach from both the teachers’ important and least important? Further, this study is
informed by the Social Constructivist Theory,
employed Exploratory Factor Analysis, and was Fig. 1. KMO and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity
further confirmed by Kaiser Meyer-Olkin Measure of
Sampling Adequacy and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity
in order to check the validity of the results. Seventy-
four (74) students of the Purposive Communication
course answered the researcher-made survey 4. CONCLUSIONS
questionnaire, which was adopted from the
descriptions of a curriculum that uses an This quantitative study, which delved into the
Interdisciplinary Approach. perspective of the students about the inclusion of the
Interdisciplinary Approach in a Purposive
The survey showed that the EFA resulted in creating Communication course, revealed that
two factors, which summed up the entire experience of Interdisciplinary Approach could be appreciated by
the learners about the Interdisciplinary Approach and students when carefully crafting, designing, and
their writing experience. Hence, it implies that the implementing the curriculum is observed. Albeit the
course concerning its Interdisciplinary Approach is adamant desire to target competence and, at the same
effective from the students in the areas of the time, the utilization of the various disciplines in the
Interdisciplinary Approach and writing. In line with students' oral and written output, it is a reality that
the next research question, all tasks that are related sometimes the students' appreciation as regards the
to the writing of the problem-solution essay, panel course is still affected by their past learning
discussion, and infographic were all deemed as experiences whether positive or otherwise.
meaningful among students. For the students' the
most important tasks were related to the creation of Likewise, the findings of the study affirm the
the major course requirements, whereas the least postulation of the Social Constructivist Theory that
important tasks for them were those that did not help knowledge is being created by the experiences and
in making the major course requirements. All in all, active interaction between people and the world where
the students find the Purposive Communication they live in (Blagoeva, Karppinen, & Kairavuori,
course effective in terms of its inclusion of the 2018). Thus, this allows the Interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary Approach. Approach to form new knowledge from the learners'
data-gathering experience through bargaining,
discussion, inquiry, and synthesis of the information
around them that are served by the information from
their selected disciplines suitable for their paper or
oral discussion.
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure
0.796
of Sampling Adequacy.
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