Republic of the Philippines

Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology

GRADUATE SCHOOL

DISPARITY ON LANGUAGE POLICY

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in ALB 211- Current Issues and

SUBMITTED BY:
HEIDI M. LADIGNON
MAE-Applied Linguistics

SUBMITTED TO:
MR. REYNALDO ILUMIN
Course Professor
A. Background on Language Policy

Language plays a significant part in supporting school educational system. The schools

focus on preparing students to become responsible and confident citizen and for them to see the

wider view of the world. Also, to become imbued with the sense of service to others.

Within the school community many languages exist side by side and students are

encouraged to compare languages and cultures that are associated with them. That’s why,

language policy has been implemented to every schools since it can help students as well as

teachers to understand and to learn a certain language much easier.

Language policy is what a government does either officially through legislation, court

decisions or policy to determine how languages are used, cultivate language skills needed to meet

national priorities or to establish the rights of individuals or groups to use and maintain languages.

The main role of language policy is to give policy guidance and direction needed to

promote the improvement and expansion of local languages and cultures and to unfold the

acquisition of English and other international languages.

LANGUAGE POLICY: NATIONAL AND STATE COMPONENTS

Language policy has both national and state components. The national component is for

providing the framework of standards and assessment. Technical, assistance, research, and

processes for materials development in local languages and English. On the other hand, state

components will set the curriculum and deliver instructions to students and training of teachers.

B. Language Policy

Language policies are expressions of a long-lasting ‘linguistic culture─i.e., of the cultural

myths and cultural values pertaining to the types of linguistic accommodation, programs, and
efforts that are in accord with the brunt of local historical experience and aspiration (Schiffman

1996).

The field of language policy can be considered a branch of macro-sociolinguistics, also

known as sociology of language. This field not only affected the relation to changes in the social

sciences, including sociolinguistics, and epistemologies in the 21st century, but also the name of

the field itself has changed. Before, scholars called language policy as language planning,

centering on what actions should be done by the state to promote linguistic change systematically.

Cooper (1989) describes language planning as “purposeful efforts that can influence the behavior

of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or functional allocations of their language

codes.”

Some scholars believe that language planning and language policy are both terms needed

to develop languages.

LANGUAGE PLANNING VS. LANGUAGE POLICY

‘Language planning’ and ‘language policy’ are “two different yet related concepts”, which

“share some common characteristics”. These two concepts are both top down and involves

deliberate and organized efforts to eliminate language problems. The major difference between

these is that language planning is a macro-sociological activity at a governmental and national

level only, while language policy can either be a macro- or micro-sociological activity at a

governmental and national level or at an institutional level (Poon, 2004).

History of Language Policy in the Philippines

The Philippines’ national language is Filipino. De jure, it is the language that will be

enriched from other languages in the Philippines. De facto, it is structurally based on Tagalog,

the language of Manila and the CALABARZON region (Gonzales, 2006).

The Department of Education now has 17 designated languages that qualify for mother-

language based education. The current Philippine constitution (1987) states that the national

language is Filipino and as it evolves, “shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of

existing Philippine and other languages.” Further, the Philippine constitution (1987) has

mandated the Government to “take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of

official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.”

There are a lot of language policies that occurred in the Philippines over the century due to

different colonization that our country encountered. The first one was during the Spanish

colonization, the vernacular that most Filipinos used is Spanish then after that, during the

Americanization, the language became English. This time Filipinos were mandated to use English

in terms of business and education but later when the Philippines achieved independency; the

government implemented laws that tackles about the usage of both English and Tagalog or

Filipino in different aspects on living.

The Philippine Bilingual Education Policy (BEP)

The policy was first implemented in 1974 when DECS issued Dept. Order No. 25, s.

1974 titled, “Implementing Guidelines for the Policy on Bilingual Education.”

Bilingual Education in the Philippines is about the usage of two languages, English and

Filipinos in different subject areas. The Filipino language shall be used as medium of instruction

in social studies, home economics, Filipino communication and arts. Then, English is allocated

to science, mathematics, English communication and arts, and technology subjects.

Filipino and English at the national level, through teaching of both languages and their use as

media of instruction at all levels.

Executive Order No. 335

The order was issued on the belief that the use of Filipino in official transactions,

communications and correspondence in government offices will result to greater understanding

and appreciation of government programs, projects, and activities throughout the country,

thereby serving as an instrument of unity and peace for national progress.

The Language Policy of the Commission on Higher Education

The Act which is known as the “Higher Education Act of 1994” provides that CHED

shall be independent and separate from the DECS and attached to the Office of the President for

administrative purposes only. Its coverage shall be both public and private institutions pf higher

education as well as degree-granting programs in all post-secondary educational institutions,

public and private.

In consonance with the Bilingual Education Policy─ the language courses, whether

Filipino or English, should be taught in that language; literature subjects may be taught in

Filipino, English, or any other language as long as there are enough instructional materials for

the same and both students and teachers are competent in the language; and courses in the

humanities and social sciences should be preferably be taught in Filipino.

ADOPTING ENGLISH AS THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE IF THE PHILIPPINES

During the American colonization, Filipinos learned how to speak English since it had

been used in school systems. They started to adopt the language easily, but as time passed by

government officials noticed that Filipinos forget their own national language which is Tagalog

so they implemented some language policies.

English is not a national language in the Philippines. It is only an official language. The

only national language in the Philippines is Tagalog. And English became an official language

under the 1973 Constitution and the 1987 Constitution.

However, it doesn’t have much changes. Both National and Official languages are

benefitting the Filipinos when it comes to communication, it really helps us to have a language

of unity.

English as an official language has its advantages─ Filipinos are open to much of the

international world. Since Filipinos are good English speakers, they are equipped to work and

live oversea especially in English-speaking countries; English as act as a language of unity in the

Philippines because people from different regions that speak other languages of dialects may

choose to converse in English.

But it has also disadvantages─ English is now perceived by some as a language to

establish sense of pride superiority over Filipinos who can’t speak English fluently.

All in all, there isn’t really much disadvantage in terms of making English an official

language. It’s more on giving benefits to our country rather than giving problems.
C. Personal Views/ Thoughts and Reactions

The implementation of different language policies is important to all of us since it can

help us to understand more about the languages that we are using. Here in the Philippines, we

have two official languages the Filipino and English languages which are very useful to every

individual and to all aspects of our lives. Language policy is needed in order to avoid

misunderstandings and it can be seen commonly in school educations system.

As a teacher, I am in favor of the language policy that we have which is Bilingual

Education Policy because it is about the use of both Filipino and English in school systems. I

think it is important that students should master the two languages. Meaning, they must learn

first the national language which is Filipino language before learning the English language.

Nowadays, students are very good in communicating in English since there are lot of

resources so when they go to school, they already have a background about the English

language. However, the problem is they find it difficult to understand the Filipino language since

they have less exposure to it and teachers are the ones who suffer.

I believe that students should be fluent in speaking Filipino language not just because it is

our national language but also, we are Filipinos, and we are living in the Philippines and it is

your duty to know how to speak Filipino correctly. On the other hand, it is also good that we

know how to speak in English since it is one of our official language and it has a lot of

advantages especially if you want to apply for a job outside the country. That’s why we should

really be aware to the language policy that we have because it is for our own betterment.

D. Implications
The Philippines is a multi-ethnological country consisting of 180 languages. The

Bilingual Education Policy of the Philippines states that English and Filipino are the language

of education and the official languages of literacy for the nation. The goal of this policy is to

make the population bilingual. To some extent, the language policy has influenced the

abandonment of some Philippine languages. Philippine language policy has affected minority

languages and the respective governments have attempted to preserve minority languages by

introducing the teaching of some of these languages as subjects in the school curriculum.

E. References

David, M. (2011). Language Policies – Impact on Language Maintenance and Teaching Focus

on Malaysia, Singapore and The Philippines. University of Malaya.

Diarra, E. (2003). Choice and Description of national languages with regard to their utility in

literacy and education. Toward a Multilingual Culture Education (pp. 333-348).

Hamburg: UIE.

Fornacier-Bernabe, E.J. (1987). Language policy formulation: Programming, implementation

and evaluation in Philippine education. Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines.

Hodge, S. (2000). Global smarts: The art of communicating and deal making anywhere in the

world. New York: Wiley.

Kirkpatrick, R. (2016). English language Policy in Asia (p. 8). 7 Illus. in color., Hardcover.

Llamazon, T.A. (1977). A requiem for Pilipino. In B. Sibayan and A. Gonzales (Eds.). Language

planning and the building of a national language. (pp.291-303). Manila: Linguistic

Society of the Philippines and Language Study Center, Philippine Normal College.

Madrunio, M. (2016). English Language Education in the Philippines: Policies, Problems, and

Prospects (pp. 245-264).

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