Philippine English in the ESL Classroom: A

Much Closer Look

by Alejandro S. Bernardo Ph.D.

By Jose Dasig
ELS -1
 Rationale
 The research paper discusses frameworks and
phenomenon within an educational environment and
evaluates whether the teaching practices here in the
Philippines, specifically ESL classrooms, are adhering
to the current paradigm for World English (WE).
 The research aims to identify essential areas of
English language instruction in the Philippines namely:
(1) the current state-prescribed methods for
instructing English – English Language Teaching and
Learning (ELTL), (2) the interaction between the
instructor and student within the learning
environment, (3) the tests administered by said
instructors to verify the learning.
 Research Questions
 Is Philippine English already a part of the English
language teaching model of today’s ESL classrooms?
If so, has it begun to stabilize endonormatively?
 What strategies can be employed to promote the use
of Philippine English alongside the standard American
English?
 Methodologies
 Twenty-four English classes in the three Philippine universities
were video- or audio-recorded by the author for the intentions of
(1) identifying the norm(s) that students and teachers comply to
when they converse in English during class and (2)
characterizing the English spoken by educated speakers
represented by English teachers and students in Manila. Talks
between the teacher and students were transcribed by the writer
and his research assistants after the recording.
 Written English tests administered to Grade 11 Senior High
School students whose age range from 15-17 years old were
content analyzed to reveal if they assess students’ ability to
recognize and manipulate Standard American English in areas
like sentence structure and syntax.
 Findings
 The analysis revealed that there are peculiar grammatical features
which transpired between the interactions of the teacher and the
students.
 The transcripts reveal a variety of English which may rightly be
termed as educated Philippine variety of English.
 The paper identified revealed grammatical structures that are
distinct, e.g., right and isn’t it as invariant tag questions, omitted
articles, omitted and peculiar use of prepositions, peculiar order
sentence elements and verb tense usage, double comparison of
adjectives, redundancies, zero direct objects for transitive verbs,
among others, also were evident in the analysis.
 “It seems customary for the teaching of a foreign language that a
certain variety be chosen that would in turn provide a linguistic
model for the learners” (Preisler, 1999).
Example

 Zero Article
1. [S]: We can use (a) question or quotes. [AGD 1]
2. [T]: Use (the) microphone. [RYB 1]
 Who and Whom
1. [S]: The pancreas are the ones who (that) make the insulin so in
type I….[AVL 1]
2. [T]: To who (whom) do you dedicate the song? [ASB3]
 Conclusion
 What has been found so far is that the World Englishes paradigm and
Philippine English are neither explicitly nor implicitly seen within the
K-12 English curriculum framework. Philippine English does thrive
within ESL classrooms and thus it may now find incursion within
formal curriculum document whose main component is to embody
and to communicate course goals and contents such as Philippine
English grammar towards learners.
 .Philippine English has begun and continues to stabilize
endonormatively within ELT classrooms. This is evidenced by the
emergence of a local standard embraced by the vast majority of what
makes up an ELT classroom.
 Sociolinguistic competence also seems to play a major role towards
the application of Philippine English.
Philippine English – A case of
language drift
by Jonathan Malicsi
 “Pinoy”English

 The common belief here in the Philippines is that

English is deteriorating and often seen as a case of
indigenization which in turn produce varieties which
can qualify as dialects.
 Many would label Philippine English as the broken
English of the entertainment industry or of political
personalities, but Malicsi described Philippine English
in his paper as the English of “Educated Filipino
professionals”.
 Inauguration speech of former
president Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo.
 He noted that the writers for the said speech
must surely be the best among the
Presidential staff could muster.
 Unsurprisingly, many peculiarities can be
attributed to Philippine English within the
speech.
 Inauguration speech of former
president Gloria Macapagal-
 “InArroyo.
2001, we opened a solar plant in Cagayan de Oro.
Still, Mindanao faced a 100-megawatt gap by this
year.” *The past tense ‘faced’ does not fit in the
time frame of the sentence.
 “Pag-Ibig housing loans increased from….. This year it
has experienced an 84% increase in the first four
months alone. Super-heating na.” *overheating,
instead of super-heating.
 “Others point of the very real surge in demand as
millions of Chinese and Indians move up to the middle
class.” *The idiom is ‘point to’
 Influence as the cause?

 It can be argued that the impact of the former

president’s speech towards Pinoy English can be seen
in light of a strong political figure within society
towards the development of a variety.
 Other examples for such personalities are Prime
Minister Churchill and Former U.S. President
Eisenhower.
 English instructors often tell their pupils to “think in
English”, but according to Malicsi, there is no
psycholinguistic evidence that thinking can be done
exclusively in a foreign language.
 The most common response would be a cut – and –
paste mode of English instructions as students would
pick – up English words and phrases and including
them into sentences without actually knowing the
meaning behind them.
 CHED Memorandum Order No. 54,s. 2007,
or the “Higher Education Act of 1994”

 “….and in order to update the General Education

Curriculum to make the same more responsive to the
demands of the next millennium, the Commission
approved the revised Syllabus for Filipino 1, Filipino 2,
Filipino 3….”
 The peculiar thing about the entire thing is the
phrase “next millennium”, used in the year
2007, refers to the millennium that begins in
the year 3001.
 We then find out that this memorandum was simply
copied from the CHED Memorandum Order No. 59, s.
1996, which refers to “next millennium” as in the one
that began in 2001.
 Data was also gathered from the third joint CDCE –
CETA National convention in 2004 (Council of
Department Chairs of English and the College English
Teachers Association).
 After all, it is to be expected that the participants are
qualified as “reputable English professionals” here in
the Philippines. Unsurprisingly, the data showed that
Philippine English is also prevalent among the
professionals even within a professional setting.
Joint CDCE – CETA National
convention in 2004

Word Participant’s Correct

Pronunciatio Pronunciatio
n n
abroad /ə’bɹowd/ /əˈbrɔd/
various /’vʌɹjUs/ /ˈvɛriəs/
Evaluate /’evʌlwejt/ /ɪˈvæljuˌeɪt/
 Philippine English – A language
drift?
 Malicsi states that the formation of Philippine English can be
attributed to the loss of connection towards native speakers.
 Learning English has become more focused on learning through
dictionaries and less exposure towards native speakers.
 Over – reliance towards dictionaries has caused some English
teachers to do – away with words not present within the dictionary.
 According to Malicsi, most English teachers do not even know how
to read phonetic transcriptions which is worsened by the fact that
most dictionaries do not contain the common transcription system.
 This scarcity of interaction with the native speakers of English
has caused a situation wherein Filipinos learn English from each
other.
 The paper reveals that any new pronunciation, idioms, word
usage, sentence structure, etc. generated by an adult, especially
someone who is held in a high regard, can be considered by
society as a model exemplar of English, which in turn gets spread
through diffusion.
 The current plan of the government to make English as the
primary medium of instruction will only intensify the drift. The
students will pick up the English of the math teacher, P.E.
teacher, Science teacher etc. If the intent is to speak good
English, it is better to focus on improving English
language instruction.