Abstract
In English language teaching (ELT) circles, the English used in the Philippines is traditionally labelled as ESL. However, that label, including the attitudes and practices that it brings, does not accurately capture the complex language situation in the country. In this article, we argue that English education in the Philippines does not account for the multilingual and linguistically diverse context of use in the country. We argue that monolingual perspectives and approaches in ELT continue to dominate the field. Issues of language variation, the existence of varieties of English, and the reality of translanguaging practices are not addressed. From curriculum design, assessment policies and practices, to classroom teaching, ELT in the Philippines persists in taking a one-size-fits-all approach that only privileges so-called ‘native speaker’ norms. English in the Philippines is best characterized as Englishes. Although an educated Philippine variety of English exists (Bautista, 2008), it cannot be concluded that this is the variety of widespread use across the archipelago. The language situation of the Philippines is complex, thereby eluding labels and categories that only betray a nativespeakerism perspective and a monolingual bias. We argue that Englishes in the Philippines are more appropriately approached as ENL, ESL, and EFL. The implications of these categorizations on ELT in the country are discussed in this paper.
Highlights
The Philippines, with its diverse ethnolinguistic people, possesses a wealth of indigenous languages which, related, bring with them extensive differences (McFarland, 2008). This diversity, according to McFarland, is a result of certain natural processes that can broadly relate to “language change, the divergence between linguistic communities caused by lack of communication, and the converse convergence caused by a high rate of communication between communities” (McFarland, 2004, p. 59)
It is imperative that in the case of curriculum design and development in the Philippines, we look beyond the traditional labels used to describe English language teaching where traditionally the teaching of learning in English is seen as a process mediated by two By insisting on labels, policy making bodies, school administrators, and teachers inevitably fall into the trap of employing teaching strategies and assessment practices that only promote the monolingual bias, when “language teaching should not aim at anything as unrealistic as native-like competence, but rather strive to produce proficient language users who are able to utilize all the languages they know” (Illman and Pietila, 2018, p. 239)
We have demonstrated that English education in the Philippines does not account for the multilingual and linguistically diverse context of use in the country
Summary
The Philippines has known diversity since time immemorial. Home to 7,641 islands (Barile, 2017), the country houses more than 180 languages (Simons & Fennig, 2018) and is considered as one of the most linguistically diverse nations in the world. The policies are blind to the reality of students belonging to exclusive private schools in Manila, whose population mostly belongs to the upper crust of society, who use English as their first language In these cases, English language teaching (ELT) cannot be approached from the perspective of ESL, which the Philippine context is traditionally seen as. By insisting that the ELT landscape of the Philippines is ESL, the reality of multilingualism and linguistic diversity in the country is ignored, pushing marginalized learners (those whose conditions are best described as EFL) further into the periphery We see this happening in curriculum design decisions, testing and assessment policies and practices, as well as teaching approaches in the classroom
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