R.

Thompson
Situations in the
Philippines
1957-drop-out prevention program
vernaculars were used in grade 1 and 2 to teach
literacy skills with English and Tagalog being taught
as subjects
Before the schools could switch from English, three
problems had to be resolved:
Which language would be used?
Who would teach the classes especially in non-
Tagalog speaking areas?
Where would the teaching materials come from?
Bilingual policy of
1974
1990s- time of crisis for
English
1998 Solidarity Seminar on
Language and
Development
English instruction losing
its direction
Situation in/of Schools
48% no water
61% no electricity
elementary – 7.62% are private
secondary – 1/3 are private
tertiary – 85% are private
65% of elementary and secondary schools have
no library
10 yrs. - shortest course of basic education (13 in
most industrialized countries)
13000 communities or barangays do not have a
school building
lack of facilities and textbooks
Situation of Students
97-99% - started school at age 7
31% did not finish Grade 6
54 % entered High school
50-70 students in class
1.5 million children attend classes in
stairways, hallways, or even outside under
trees
 Situation of Teachers
68% teacher education programs were private
10.6% of those who studied in private institutions who took the
teacher exams at the end of their B.A. passed
1997 – doubled salary
15% high school graduates enter teacher education programs
(typically those who score the lowest on college entrance exam),
85% women,
71% graduate
25% pass licensing exam
1/3 of the passers became teachers
among the 533 teacher education institutions, 20% are accredited
Situation in the government
1988 – all public schools were nationalized
DECS – most corrupt of the governmental
agencies
65% of textbook funds goes to bribes
1996 – issued new curriculum guidelines for
teaching English in public secondary schools
but this new curriculum IGNORES THE CALL
OF THE solidarity Seminar in 1988
TAGLISH
Halo-halo
Engalog Taglish
‘mix-mix’

• 1960s
• spoken language with no body of
literature except in tabloids
• Filipino street English
Filipino English
Pronunciation
• lack of reduced vowels in unstressed
syllables
• stress patterns of polysyllabic academic
words
• missing vowel contrasts
• no distinction between the pairs
/š/ and /ž/
/s/ and /z/
/ / and / /
Grammar
• overuse of perfect tenses
• overuse of the progressive, as with
habitual action
• verb agreement (present tense)
• transitive verbs used as intransitives
• mass nouns classified as count nouns
ESL or EFL?
Vocabulary

• loan translations
• English words with new meanings
• verb agreement (present tense)
Changing Attitudes
Towards English
Economic Development
Aversion toward using the “pure” form of English
rather than Taglish or even Filipino
When are these languages
used?
Forces that Encourage the Acquisition of
English
-Medicine -Engineering
-Law -Accountancy
-Nursing -Optometry
-Business management -education
Day-to-day transactions in business, commerce
and industry:
-English, Tagalog, Taglish
Language Situation
Taglish
Replacing English in various domains
assigned to it in everyday life…
English in ESL Setting
The Philippines will be only an
ESL country for the educated
elite.
Is English dying in the
Philippines?
Key to Maintaining
English
CONCLUSION