English in the Philippines

Introduction
• English was brought by the 2nd wave of colonial ruler (American) after 400 years of Spanish
subjugation
• Lot of motivation to learn the language
• First waves of American arrived called the Thomasites
◦ They arrived with a lot of books and money
• Got the reputation of best English speaker in Asia
• Situation is different nowdays
◦ NEAT (National Elementary Assessment Test)
◦ NSAT (National Secondary Assessment Test)

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ELT IN THE PHILIPPINES

• English ruled by the PCLS (Philippine Center for Language Study)
◦ They were call “ structuralists” (4 layers)
▪ phonological layer (sound)
▪ morphological layer (structure) root, affixes
▪ syntactical layer (structure/system formation) the order of words
▪ lexical layer (words and their meaning)

ELT Elementary Level

• Until the 1950's the curriculum was an all-English curriculum where English was the main
medium of instruction (books from the US)
• 1957 : Revised Educational Act => English as the medium of instruction from the grade III
• BEP (bilingual education policy)
◦ Science, Mathematics and English itself, taught via English from grade I up to high school
◦ Few revision of the policy
▪ 1970 : REEC (Revised Elementary Education Curriculum) => MORE ENGLISH
▪ 1983 : NESC (New Elementary School Curriculum) => English steady but more math
and science from grade 3
▪ 1993 : Revised Time Allotments => More of everything but steady

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 ◦ But results remain unsatisfactory

THE SECONDARY LEVEL

• 1989 : NSEC (New Secondary Education Curriculum)
◦ Project alongside the SEDP (Secondary Education Development Project)
▪ Internal efficiency of the system

▪ Expansion of access to quality education

▪ Promotion of equity in allocating resources especially at the local level

◦ NSEC is completely different from previous “structuralism”

▪ Before classrooms were teacher-fronted but NSEC emphasized student-centeredness and
critical thinking
▪ BUT
• English classes are still Teacher-centeredness
• Risk-Taking Behavior is discouraged
• Teaching on macro skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) as independent
features of language

NEWER INITIATIVES IN ELT

• From 1980's : Language takes a social dimension (social context matters)
• BEP
◦ Popular view that vernacular is crucial to an effective bilingual education program
◦ Nationalism vs English
◦ No change from 1874 => security first

Let's debate
• Is nationalism more important than development?
• How to make good reforms? Should we try to come up with a lot of them in a short time, or
wait longer and see the result?