The FILIPINO and HIS ENGLISH

"You know what, sir, in my 22 years of existence, I can say that there's nothing major major problem that I've done in my life because I'm very confident with my family, with the love that they are giving to me. So thank you so much that I'm here. Thank you, thank you so much!" The above quoted is Philippines representative to the 2010 Miss Universe pageant, Venus Rajs statement during the final round of the competition. Her major majorexpression which was widely celebrated all over the world and has received criticisms mostly from fellow citizens is but another indication of Filipinos casual disregard to the accuracy in the use of English. Philippines has always been referred to as an English-speaking country, with more than 95 percent of its population able to speak or understand the English language. Its the fifth country in the world having the greatest number of English-speaking residents in 2010. And so among the countries in Asia, Philippines has the reputation of having the most superior English proficiency. This account is apparently proven by the thriving of call center industry in the Philippines, the high export rate of Filipino labor, and the emergence of English language schools all over the country. But though the economic importance of the lingua franca has grown, causing other Asian countries like China, Korea and Japan to start paying it a greater attention, Philippines is found to have a deteriorating English. Diminishing English in the Country, Facts Long-term foreign residents in the country say that in the late 1960s it was a common thing to converse in English with a Filipino who had attended elementary school. These days, they profess they hardly find an ordinary Filipino below 40 who can speak in English confidenly. Although its still true that almost all Filipinos speak or at least understand the language, current situations show an apparent decline in the quality of Filipinos English. One indication of the decline is the low percentage of hiring over the number of applicants to jobs requiring proficiency in English. In fact, some Call Centers are closing due to a shortage of applicants having the level of English fluency needed in the industry. In a recent interview with John Langford, executive vice president for BPAP, the latter stated that English proficiency in the country is waning relative to the growth of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, in that despite high demands for manpower in said industry, only two out of a hundred applicants are being hired. This deterioration in Filipinos English proficiency have already been observed through the years in several studies and records.

In 2006, a study conducted by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines revealed that among the more than 400,000 Filipino students that graduate from college each year, 75 percent have "substandard English skills." In that same year, a survey by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) shows that most call center companies in the country hired only 5 percent to 10 percent of the job applicants they interviewed, mainly because of inadequate English proficiency. Subsequently, the U.S. State Department, in its "2007 Investment Climate Statement," made a conclusion that English-language proficiency in the Philippines, while still better than in other Southeast Asian nations, is waning.

Philippines No Longer the No. 1 in English Proficiency in South East Asia The top spot in English proficiency among South-East Asian countries was snatched from Filipinos by Malaysians. This is based on the 2008 test results released by the IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines, an accredited group that governs the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to Filipinos seeking to work and migrate abroad. The results were from the test scores for EILTS, one of the world's leading English-language proficiency tests; participants of which were 29 countries. The Filipino test-takers were those wanting employment in nursing and engineering professions, among others. Filipinos scored an overall mean of 6.69 for listening, writing, reading and speaking English while Malaysians scored 6.71.

Observed Reasons Behind the Decline Apparently, Filipinos english proficiency is moving on a reverse trend. The question now is, what happened? Possible reasons for the abovementioned trend may be chased back to several years or even decades ago, some of which are still subsisting. Some may have been brought about by the new changes in the countrys technology, culture, etc. Enumerations are made below in an effort to itemize the factors that have caused, or at the least influenced, the decline in Filipinos English ability. Factor 1: The Bilingual Policy. In one of her articles, Phil. Star Columnist Babe Romualdez, opined, Filipinos are clearly losing out because of that very big mistake to abolish the use of English as a medium of instruction... Today, a lot of employers are complaining about the deteriorating quality of our graduates, and the fact that majority of them lack the required skill and facility in the English language. Romualdez was refering to the bilingual policy, that was first adopted in the countrys educational system in 1974, which compels schools to use English and Filipino (commonly known as Tagalog) separately as media of instruction in specific subject areas, deviating from the previous Englishonly medium. Filipino was used as medium of instruction in social studies, music, arts, physical

education, home economics, practical arts and character education subjects, pursuant to DECS Order No. 25. This policy was reiterated in Department Order No. 52 in the year 1987. It was then observed that the policy resulted to a weaker English ability among Filipino students, not to mention, teachers. Factor 2: Defective English Textbooks. Another cause was pointed out by Antonio Calipjo Go, an academic supervisor in Marian School, Quezon City. He puts the blame to the problematic English textbooks provided by the government to be used in the country. Go estimated that more than 75 percent of all elementary textbooks in public schools contain errors. In an interview, Go lamented, "I pity our children who are being fed these errors. This is one of the reasons why the level of education in our country is worsening." Factor 3: Incompetent Teachers. A survey conducted by the Department of Education in 2009 reveals that 80 per cent of secondary school teachers in the Philippines failed an English proficiency exam. As one of the speakers in the CIE English Conference, Peter Wallace, a business consultant remarked, In fairness, the Department of Education is trying its best, but unfortunately, this generation of teachers does not have the capability. Relatively, Andrew King, director of IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines, attributed the decline of English proficiency in the country to the poor quality and training of local school teachers, as well as the continuing use of outdated or erroneous textbooks. As King stated, students are not being taught correct English and the resources and materials theyre given is incorrect. Factor 4: Narrow-mindedness. Even cultural prejudice and ignorance are still another factor. A common Filipino will try not to speak in English especially in ordinary day by day situations to prevent social criticisms, either for imperfect grammar, pronunciation, etc., or for being pompous, or for being disloyal to the National language. As Andrew King noted, the society labels someone who speaks English a snob, contrary to a positive view that a person who speaks English is someone whos committed to learn more than one language. A relative observation was made by a Canadian English Program Presentor Brian Daly. In his blog, Daly expresses his wonder as to why Filipinos seem to refuse receiving presentations on English language proficency programs from a native English (Canadian/UK) speaking such as himself. Quoting from Dalys blog, Is it because of Filipino pride... they don't think they need to improve their level of
fluency? Is it because they don't want to pay me the same as I received teaching Koreans, Japanese or Chinese? Do some Call Centers accept lazy English and a lack of good grammar as being OK?

Factor 4: Negligence by Mass Media. Mass media, needless to say has been a big part of Filipinos everyday lives and its influence to them remarkable. Mass media molds everything, not excluding the languages in the country. And so the way English is used in mass media is the way most, if not all, Filipinos use it. Andrew King acknowledged this idea when he pointed out to local TV newscasts, newspapers and English-dubbed cartoons using English incorrectly as another causes for the deteriorating English in the Philippines. Everyday, on virtually all television and newspapers, you hear

incorrect use of prepositions, said King. He criticized the confused use of in and on by the media as an example. He explained You hear the car was driving on the lane, which would mean on top of, rather than in, as in within the two lines.

Factor 5: Consequence of Technology. Andrew King also faulted technologies, specifically the internet and cell phone text messaging, which favor speed and levity but compromise the correctness of written language. We use abbreviations in chat rooms, and we have created a whole new language, and texting on cell phones has created a short language, said King. Adding to Kings list is the present days jejemon language, famous mainly among the youths. Roughly speaking, a jejemon word is created by replacing vowels with consonants, or by using the letter j instead of h. This flagrant misuse of not only English but as well as Tagalog originated from an effort to shorten text messages in order to fit the 160-character limit of a cell phone short messaging service. But this seemingly innocuous act has caused confussion to many as to the real spelling or pronunciation of the word of words, thus contributing to the worsening quality of English in the country. Factor 6. Tolerated abuse of English (Taglish). Whats more is the blatant use of Taglish, the combination of Tagalog and English in constructing a phrase or a sentence, or even in forming a but one word. The most common, or rather, the most dangerous use of Taglish is the transforming of an English noun into a verb by adding a Tagalog affix, such as magmimilk which means will drink milk, makeupan which means to put on make up, and magtutoothbrsuh which means to brush teeth. Taglish also violates English tenses since the Tagalog affix attached to a verb determines the tense. Examples are Nagdrive for whats supposed to be drove, nagswimming for swam, and nagbabike for biking.

And there could be many other factors not mentioned above. But such enumerations would not mean anything unless efforts are made to reverse theyre adverse effects. Being aware of an issue and doing something to change it are two different things.

Challenged Response The author acknowledges the actions of the government and some concerned institutions and individuals in reversing the downward trend in Filipinos English proficiency. But what is being hoped in fulfilling this article is every individual Filipinos initiative to do what he can do about this major major issue.