The ideological tug-of-war of language policies in the Philippines: perspectives and proposal

Abstract

ABSTRACT Implementing mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) in the Philippines opens opportunities for learner inclusion and access, which is also in harmony with UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal 4 aimed at achieving quality and inclusive education for all. However, recent attempts to revert to Filipino–English bilingual education foreground the ideological tug-of-war that continues to impact policymakers, researchers, educators, and, most importantly, Filipino learners. As the bilingual model is believed to be valuable to economic and technological growth, the role and relevance of MTB-MLE in a globalized world are challenged. We argue that language views espousing covert dominance continue to permeate language policy discourses in the Philippines, which can impact classroom learning and instruction. Hence, this article analyzes the historical milestones of languages in education and looks at how linguistic imperialism is entrenched in language policies. It also situates language use in the Philippines within a broader sociolinguistic context in which it operates. The article concludes with an inclusive framework on language policy implementation, the Naverin (national, vernacular, and international) model, proposing a balanced view of using various linguistic resources, which might be relevant to other multilingual societies in Southeast Asia.