Jocelyn Marzan
University of the Philippines
2008
A Bibliography of Development of Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children - page 2
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................. 3
Research Objectives .................................................................................... 3
Methodology ............................................................................................... 3
Results and Discussion................................................................................ 5
Discussion ............................................................................................... 8
Summary and Conclusions.......................................................................... 9
References ................................................................................................... 9
Appendix ................................................................................................... 10
A Bibliography of Development of Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children - page 3
Introduction
The sense that there are very few extant studies relevant to the development of speech-
language skills in normally functioning Filipino children is felt by many professionals who
seek to provide services for these children. Among these professionals are developmental
psychologists, early childhood specialists, speech-language pathologists, linguists and
pediatricians. Speech and language are cognitive abilities in a sense, and as Enriquez (1990)
points out, cross cultural psychology demands an extensive data base for each culture we seek
to understand. He also points out that there is a need to develop local norms for all aspects of
human behavior including personality and cognitive skills. Greenfield (1997) confirms this
with regard to ability assessments in particular, pointing out that both skills and test taking
behavior will be unique to a culture.
But are there really so few studies? Have we not progressed over the decades? Has no real
effort been made to build up a body of knowledge about Filipino child language development
by Filipinos who are truly concerned about the well-being of this nations children?
Perhaps it is the case that studies have been done, but that they are not easily accessible to the
public, and hence perhaps do not redound to their intended benefit. Perhaps it is the case that
isolated studies have been done, with no real research agenda to guide the work of various
researchers from different instutions so as to ensure that the needed body of knowledge is
systematically developed and utilized for the benefit of the Filipino child.
Research Objectives
The study aimed to create a bibliographic listing of all locally available studies and of all
studies available from internationally accessible sources relevant to the development of
speech-language and related skills in Filipino children whether residing in the archipelago
or abroad.
Methodology
An internet search was conducted, utilizing as many of the online sources available to
students of UP Diliman as possible. These include links from the UP Diliman library website
to other libraries and collections and whatever access to free online journals was available.
c) De La Salle University
d) Ateneo de Manila University
an effort was made to access the Web OPAC of the University of Sto Tomas and the
Univerity of the East, but there was no response from the servers of those institutions
at the time.
2) The following online databases available through the UP Diliman Library Website were
also accessed:
a) The Philippine Languages and Linguistics Bibliography
This is described as The Philippine Languages and Linguistics is a joint project of the
Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino and the UP Diliman University Library. It aims to
compile a comprehensive annotated bibliography on Philippine languages and
linguistics and build a database of information sources in various formats available in
local, foreign and remote databases. (http://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/phl/ )
b) Studies in Philippine Culture and Society
This database This database is a compilation of studies in Philippine Culture and
Society. It contains more than 10,000 bibliographic records of books and articles in
books, periodicals or journals as well as theses and dissertations, microforms and other
non-print materials. It is a database that may be consulted for sources on the
personality, culture, psychology, history, world view, and national characteristics of
the Filipino. It also contains materials on the sociological, anthropological, economic
and political aspects of the Filipino personality. (http://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/fcp/)
c) The Philippine eLib
Based on the opening page of the website (http://www.elib.gov.ph/ ):
The Philippine eLib is a collaborative project of the National Library of the
Philippines (NLP), University of the Philippines (UP), Department of Science and
Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Commission on
Higher Education (CHED).
Funded through the e-Government Fund of the Philippine Government, the project
hopes to provide for the information needs of all sectors of society in a convenient,
affordable, and efficient way of delivery.
d) Library link
This database incorporates sources from 99 academic libraries. LibraryLink is a one-
stop resource center for Filipiniana resources. It aims to provide one search engine or
point of entry for researchers and students who are doing research on Filipiniana.
LibraryLink provides a venue for interaction among researchers, library professionals,
A Bibliography of Development of Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children - page 5
Inititally, search terms were very specific (such as child* lang*) for a Boolean search using
wildcards aimed at extracting all studies related to children and language. An inspection of
the resulting lists, however, indicated that many relevant publications or manuscripts were not
detected, perhaps because too few keywords were attached to each document. In view of this,
a very broad search was done (e.g. child*) and the entire list inspected manually in order to
extract relevant entries.
Of these, the vast majority ( 28%) are descriptions of general child language, andother 20%
are relevant to cognitive development in general (e.g. Piagetian stages) and/or to the
development of specific constructs (e.g. death, body parts, joy, etc). Some 11% are dedicated
to the analysis of language development in Filipino children considering our bilingual
situation and the complexities of learning that this entails. Another 7% focus on the study of
phonological development and speech-sound mastery, which is expected to differ from the
American norms commonly used because the sound system of Philippine languages differs
from American English in terms of vowel formants, consonant characteristics and canonical
forms. Some 5% or fewer studies is dedicated to each of 16 other relevant areas.
40
35
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NUMBER OF STUDIES
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A Bibliography of Development of Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children - page 6
Speech-Language Area n %
Articulation/Phonology 9 7%
Bilingual Comparisons Or Bilingual Behavior 15 11%
Bilingualism In The Philippine Setting 5 4%
Cognitive Development Or The Development Of A Specific 27
Concept/Construct 20%
Fluency 1 1%
General Child Development (May Contain Speech-Language Data) 38 28%
General Speech-Language Developmentt (All Areas) 3 2%
Interaction Of Content And Form 4 3%
Interaction Of Receptive And Expressive Skills 1 1%
Language Demands Of ADL/Work/School 1 1%
Language Input 6 4%
Narrative Productions 1 1%
Play 4 3%
Pragmatics (Includes Social And Emotional Behavior) 7 5%
Receptive Language Skills 0 0%
Semantics Of Single Word Or Sentence Productions 1 1%
Syntax (Grammar) Of Phrases/Sentences, Grammatical Morphemes 5 4%
Writing Or Literacy (Includes Reading Development) 7 5%
Total 135
Of these, a majority (55%) of the studies are masters theses and/or doctoral dissertations
generally accessible only by physically visiting the library of the institution where the
graduate program of the author(s) was completed. Only 18% are published in forms readily
accessible to the general public such as books or journal articles.
Type of Publication n %
thesis/dissertation 74 55%
monograph 29 21%
journal article, published in Phils 11 8%
book 9 7%
journal article, international publ 4 3%
poster/paper presented at convention 3 2%
reference list only 3 2%
abstract(s) only 2 1%
TOTAL 135 100%
A Bibliography of Development of Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children - page 7
poster/paper presented at
convention reference list only
journal article, 2% 2%
international publication
3% abstract(s) only
1%
book
7%
journal article,
published in Phils
8%
thesis/dissertation
56%
monograph
21%
TYPES OF PUBLICATIONS
There appears to have been a small but steady stream of studies across the past four decades,
with a slight slowing from roughly 30 papers a decade in the past century to only 24 in the
past decade. This decade is not yet over, however, and may see an equal number of studies
completed. Yet this comes to only and overall number of 3 studies per year a very small
number of serious research endeavors if we are to document speech-language development
and eventually create culturally appropriate assessment tools for the development of
communication in children from over 150 bilingual language backgrounds.
Year of Publication
3
not specified
16
before 1970
29
1970-1979
31
1980-1989
32
1990-1999
24
2000-2009
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
NUMBER OF STUDIES
A Bibliography of Development of Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children - page 8
The scholar from UP Diliman is perhaps lucky, some 65% of these references are available
within the UP Diliman Libraries, usually in the Archives or in the Filipiniana section of the
Main Library. Another 15% remains available at UP Manila, still within the library use
privileges of the student from UP Diliman. Another 3% can be accessed online by persons
with the necessary online journal privileges, while the remainder are accessible only at other
universities, some as far away as Ozamiz City.
Online
author FEU 1%
CEU 1% ICC
1%
1% 1%
Natl Lib PCHRD
1% 1%
UERM MC
ASHA 1%
1%
NDMU
1%
ADMU
4%
UPD
65%
UPM
15%
While this indicates that studies are accessible to students from UP Diliman, they are perhaps
less accessible to students from other institutions. This speaks of the great need to publish
material so that it is made available to both the Philippine and the international academic
community.
Discussion
In general it can be said that while there is a good number of studies that form the current
database for speech and language development in Filipino children, it is far fewer than the
number needed to provide adequate descriptive norms for our children. Many and more
specific studies need to be done. While it was not explicitly documented in the above analysis,
almost all the studies were done in Metro Manila, with data applicable primarily to Tagalog
speaking children and or Tagalog bilinguals.
In addition, the research that exists is difficult to access. Great effort was already required to
sift through hundreds of database entries to find these studies, using online access points that
are perhaps less familiar to most students. While the current data base will be of use to many,
A Bibliography of Development of Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children - page 9
if distributed for use, there is a need to make studies more accessible to the research
community and to practitioners.
A great many more studies are needed, which should be made accessible to the public
References
Enriquez, V.G. (1990) Cross-Indigenous Methods and Perspectives
Greenfield, Patricia M (1997) You Cant Take It With You: Why Ability Assessments,
American Psychologist, October 1997, Vol. 52, No. 10, 1115-1124.
http://www.elib.gov.ph/
http://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/fcp/
http://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/phl/
http://www.librarylink.org.ph/
http://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/mainlib.php?p=1
http://mainlib.upm.edu.ph/main/
rizal.lib.admu.edu.ph
www.dlsu.edu.ph
Appendix
Studies By Filipinos (and Other Authors) About The Development Of
Speech, Language And Related Skills In Filipino Children (From Infancy
To Early Childhood)
Studies by Filipinos (and other authors) about the Development of Speech, Language and Related Skills in Filipino
Children (from Infancy to Early Childhood) - page 1 of 10 (version 4/7/2009, JMarzan)