I am part of the generation that grew up with the Philippine Bilingual Education Policy (BEP), found in Articles XIV Section 7 of the 1987 Consitution:
c. Filipino and English shall be used as media of instruction,
the use allocated to specific subjects in the curriculum as
indicated in Department Order No. 25, s. 1974.
d. The regional languages shall be used as auxiliary media of
instruction and as initial language for literacy where needed.
e. Filipino and English shall be taught as language subjects
in all levels to achieve the goals of bilingual competence.
f. Since competence in the use of both Filipino and English is
one of the goals of the Bilingual Education Policy, continuing
improvement in the teaching of both languages, their use as media
of instruction and the specification of their functions in
Philippines schooling shall be the responsibility of the whole
educational system.
Seems straightforward enough. However, there has been an acknowledged and constant decline in the English proficiency of Filipinos since the time this law was passed.
Recently, two bills are being reviewed in the House of Representatives regarding the MOI or medium of instruction used in our schools:
- HB 4701: English is the MOI in all subjects except for Grade 1.
- HB 3719: I tend to agree with Valenzuela Rep Magtanggol Gunigundo’s argument for a multilingual education policy.
Here are my two cent’s worth on language, education and bilingual policies:
First, a language policy is only as good as the people implementing it. If the teachers themselves are not able to speak either the mother language or the target language well, the students would end up learning a confusing mix of the two. Also, teachers and school administrators must understand the rationale behind the language policy and exactly how it should be implemented. My classmates in MA shared that the private and public schools where they teach have their own interpretations of the BEP. Some are even sticking to an English-only policy in the campus, totally ignoring the 1987 ruling, in the belief that this will help their students speak the language better. Not! Why?
Because the language (or languages) spoken at home is also a factor, and thus affects how students will cope with a bilingual language policy and learn a second language. The majority of Filipinos do not consider Filipino or English as their mother tongue since they speak one of the over 200 regional languages in the country. Note that strictly speaking, Kapampangan, Ilocano, Cebuano, Bisaya, etc are not dialects; they are languages because they are mutually incomprehensible. Most students do not even speak English or Filipino at home and they will often be teased as a show-off if they do use either language in everyday conversations.
Lastly, exposure to media is also very influential in determining whether the students will become successful bilinguals. Uh-oh. We all know that except for expensive cable programming, most TV shows use a confusing mix of Tagalog, English, and street lingo. Even children’s cartoons are dubbed in Taglish! Also, reading books (except for the Twilight and Harry Potter series) has become quite unpopular next to computer games.
In short, I don’t think having an English-only policy will solve the problem/s in the Philippine education system. Recommendations to follow… when I write my Master’s thesis. =)
9 comments ↓
Actually, in my experience, most kids from the province fare better in English since they never had the Tagalog portion to screw with their English learning. They all watched Sesame Street instead of Batibot. I can’t judge their Tagalog though, since mine sucks.
They all watched Sesame Street instead of Batibot. – Batibot was in the 1980′s, right? hehe. naabutan ko pa naman ito.
kids get confused when people code-switch (mix up 2 or more languages in the same sentence/statement) or when they are expected to learn a new 2nd/3rd language BEFORE they have mastered their first one.
What concerns me is students who can’t speak pure English or Tagalog. I’m not sure of the solution, but I hope schools will do more to help students become proficient in English–it sure helps them in finding a job.
Hi Kevin… exactly, what the schools are producing now are semi-linguals: students who are NOT proficient in either English or Filipino or their mother language. I also agree with the economic need to learn English, but often the content areas (Math, Science, etc) en up being neglected. Also, some schools focus on teaching students to speak with an American accent rather than on communication or grammar skills. Too many problems, our educational system has.
I have a niece who at 3 years old can’t speak straight since the child is exposed to different languages from both sides of the family and is currently confused what to use. She has a tagalog/ ilonggo mom and a marawi/ cebuano father. Then her school teaches tagalog and english and the yayas uses “yaya’s language”. Good luck naman diba?
@Dave – lol. Kawawang bata.
@Rita – 3 great points! I can attest to the second point because back in elementary-high school, my classmates who were speaking Chinese at home are usually the only ones excelling in our Chinese subjects. While us, trying-hard-to-speak-Chinese, are just average or below average.
We didn’t speak English at home, but books, TV and movies were very influential to me. My teachers weren’t that competent in English either. Hindi rin talaga sa school lang eh. And you’re right, a language policy is just as good as the people implementing it. So I’m not for making Filipino schools English-only.
Hi Tarits!
Yeah, I really think this area in our Philippine education should be given special attention. Yun nga’ng American accent na English din eh, na-uuso na nga sya ngayon… May mga kilala din akong mga teachers that they speak to their pupils in English and Cebuano combined, which I think, makes the kids think it’s alright, but actually, doesn’t help them at all. Dapat cguro, kung English, straight English talaga, at kung ibang language, diretso din..
I’m glad you found this something to work on…
Tama ka dun sa proficiency ng teachers in using the Filipino/English language… Kaya lang kasi, ang reality ngayon, eh, yung Education degree ay naging last option na nga lang sya ng mga college aspirants, at dito nga sa Cebu, yung mga hindi maka-pasa sa mga ibang courses, would opt nalang sa Education, na para bang, wla na kasing choice eh… Sana noh, mabibigyan nga ng mas malaking atensyon itong Education system natin.. And yeah, marami pa nga talagang areas ang kailangan pang ia-address..
@ Dave:my prof mentioned that if they stick to one parent, one language, the child can become fluent in both…for example, the father should speak English not only when conversing with the child, but with the mother and everyone in the house.
@ joni: kwento nga rin ni papa, natuto lang siya mag-English sa kakabasa ng National geographic at pakikinig sa isang American televangelist mag preach sa radio…Bulakenyo accent niya pero perfect grammar.
@ em-em: habang sobrang baba ng sweldo ng mga teachers sa pilipinas talagang magiging last career option siya… kelangan din naman kumain at bumuhay ng mga pamilya ng mga guro.
I think the problem is not just how pupils are taught but on how confident teachers (as well to speak the language) are to teach a large group of students with the language itself.
It’s also upon the discretion of the educational system whom to assign such subjects since sometimes they just bombarded other teachers what they are to teach without thinking or evaluating twice. ( I remember watching one documentary about this one on the probe team…)
I remember studying in our public school with my teachers fluent in English only to find out that my high school (a private one) teacher’s sounds funny with the e/i and a/e interchanged.
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