Cover not available
Article published In:
Language Problems and Language Planning
Vol. 41:1 (2017) ► pp.87–102

Education, language policy and language use in the Philippines

| CRICE, University of Malaya
The roles of language policy and language practice and use in education have been regarded to influence the efficacy of teaching and learning in the school setting. With the rise of globalisation and internationalisation of services in education, the objective of producing manpower that is equipped to the demands of the knowledge-based economy has realigned government policies worldwide to put education at the forefront of its development plans. From the rise of English language as ‘the’ language for globalisation calls for a more inclusive and locally- oriented mother-tongue based multilingual education (MTB-MLE), this article will discuss broadly the dynamics of language, access and influence, and will look at the Philippines as a country case study of explicit and implicit declarations in language policy and use, as affecting the education sector, and access to the labour market.
Keywords: language policy, language practice, Philippines, English, mother tongue-based education, internationalisation, globalisation
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Language, access and influence
  • English: the language of choice?
  • Mother tongue- based multilingual education
  • Language policy and practice in the Philippines
    • Language policy and use in Philippine Constitutions
    • The MTB-MLE, bilingual policy and language preference in the Philippines
  • English for the ‘globalised’ Filipino?
  • Closing remarks
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 20 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.41.1.05sym
References (58)
References
Bernardo, A. B. (2004). McKinley’s questionable bequest: Over 100 years of English in Philippine education. World Englishes, 23(1), 17–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
BSP (2015). Economics and financial statistics. Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Burton, L. (2013). Mother tongue-based multilingual education in the Philippines: Studying top-down policy implementation from the bottom up. Unpublished Phd dissertation. University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
CHED Memorandum Order 59 (1996). New general education curriculum. Pasig: CHED.Google Scholar
DECS order 52 (1987). The 1987 policy on bilingual education. Manila: Department of Education, Culture and Sports.Google Scholar
DepEd (2015). Department of Education datasets. Available at [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
DepEd Order 16 (2012). Guidelines on the Implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based- Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). Pasig: Department of EducationGoogle Scholar
Deped Advisory 398 (2012) Masters of Arts in Education program with specialisation in mother tongue-based multilingual education. Pasig: Department of Education.Google Scholar
Dumanig, F., David, M. and Symaco, L. P. (2010). Competing roles of the national language and English in Malaysia and the Philippines: Planning, policy and use. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 1(2), 104–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
England, K. (1996) “They think you’re as stupid as your English is”: constructing foreign domestic workers in Toronto. Environment and Planning, 291, 195–215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Espiritu, C. (2015). Lanaguage policy in the Philippines. Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Executive Order 335 (1988). Enjoining all departments/bureaus/offices/agencies/instrumentalities of the government to take such steps as are necessary for the purpose of using Filipino language in official transactions, communications and correspondence. Manila: Office of the President.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. (1968). Nationality-nationalism and nation-nationism. In J. Fishman, C. Ferguson and J. Dasgupta (Eds). Language problems of developing nations. New York, Wiley, pp.39–21.Google Scholar
(1977). Advances in the creation and revision of writing systems. The Hague and Paris: Mouton DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frignal, E. (2007). Outsourced call centers and English in the Philippines. World Englishes, 26(3), 331–345. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geronimo, J. (2014). No Filipino subjects in college? ‘Tanggol Wika’ opposes CHED memo, Rappler Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
(2015). Pagtuturo at paggamit ng Filipino sa kolehiyo limitado pa rin (The use and teaching of Filipino in college is still limited), Rappler Available at: [URL] [accessed, 8 November 2015].
Graddol, D. (1997). The future of English? London: The British Council.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, E. (1996). Language, culture and national identity. Social Research, 63(4), 1065–1080.Google Scholar
Holborow, M. (1999). The politics of English. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. (2009) The rise of English: The language of globalization in China and the European Union,” Macalester International, 22(12). Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Kitsing, D. (2012). Namibia’s language policy is ‘poisoning’ its children, The Guardian. Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
KWF (2015). Mandato. Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Kress, G. (1995). Writing the future. Sheffield: National Association for the Teaching of English.Google Scholar
Lan, P. C. (2003). “They have more money but I speak better English!” Transnational encounters between Filipina domestics and Taiwanese employers. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 101, 133–161. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Menken, K. and Garcia, O. (2010). Negotiating language policies in schools: educators as policymakers. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montecillo, P. (2015). Structural shift in revenues to keep PH stable, Inquirer Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Mustafa, Z. (2015). The Tyranny of Language in Education. Karachi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nolasco, R. (2008). The prospects of multilingual education and literacy in the Philippines. Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Parrenas, R. (2001) Servants of globalisation: Women, migration, domestic work. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Pennycook, A. (1998). English and the discourse of colonialism. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Phan, L. H., Kho, J. and Chng, B. (2013). Nation building, English as an international language, medium of instruction, and language debate: Malaysia and possible ways forward. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 2(2), pp. 58–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Philippine Malolos Constitution 1899 (article 93).Google Scholar
Philippine (Republic of) Constitution 1935 (article XVIII, Section 3).Google Scholar
1943 (article IX, Section 2).Google Scholar
1973 (article XV, Sections 2 and 3).Google Scholar
1987 (article XIV, Section 7).Google Scholar
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2015). Linguistic imperialism of and in the European Union. In H. Behr and Y. Stivachtis, (Eds) (2015). Revisiting the European Union as Empire. London: Routledge, pp. 134–163.Google Scholar
POEA (2015). About POEA. Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Rappa, A. and Wee, HA (2006). Language policy and modernity in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. New York: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Republic Act (RA) 8042 (1995) Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. Republic of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Samuel, M. and Tee, M. Y. (2013). Malaysia: Ethnocracy and education. In L. P. Symaco (Ed). Education in South East Asia. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp.137–155. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Symaco, L. P. (2011). Philippines: education for development? In C. Brock and L. P. Symaco (Eds). Education in South East Asia. Oxford: Symposium Books, pp.139–155.Google Scholar
Tan, J. (2011). Singapore” school for the future? In C. Brock and L. P. Symaco (Eds) Education in South East Asia. Oxford: Symposium Books, pp. 157–175.Google Scholar
Tan, N. (2014). What the PH constitutions say about the national language, Rappler. Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Tollefson, J. (2002). Language policies in education: critical issues. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
(1993). Language policy and power: Yugoslavia, the Philippines, and Southeast Asian refugees in the United States, International Journal of the Sociology of Languages, 1031, 73–95.Google Scholar
(1989). Alien winds: The re-education of American’s Indochinese refugees. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
(1991) Language planning and language inequality. New York: LongmanGoogle Scholar
Tupas, R. (2015). In equalities in multilingualism: challenges to mother-tongue based multilingual education. Language and Education, 29(2), 112–124. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
UNESCO (2011). Enhancing learning of children from diverse language backgrounds. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
(1953). The use of vernacular languages in education. Paris: UNESCOGoogle Scholar
Watson, K. (2011). Education and language policies in south east Asian countries. In C. Brock and L. P. Symaco (Eds). Education in South East Asia. Oxford: Symposium Books, pp. 283–304.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. (2013). Lobbying for English in Indonesia denies children mother-tongue education, the Guardian Available at: [URL] [accessed 8 November 2015].
Woldemariam, H. and Lanza, E. (2014). Language contact, agency and power in the linguistic landscape of two regional capitals in Ethiopia. International Journal of the Sociology of Languages, 2281, 79–103.Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Bolton, Kingsley, Priscilla T. Cruz & Isabel Pefianco Martin
2024. Research bibliography for Philippine English (2008–2023). World Englishes DOI logo
Jingyi, Xie & Aries De Dios
2024. Multicultural integration and future pathways: an analysis of Chinese language education policies and practices in Philippine public secondary schools. Current Issues in Language Planning ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
John Gerald Arbias Pilar
2024. Exploring Kawayan Dialect Lexicon (Wordlist) in Southern Negros, Philippines. JPI (Jurnal Pendidikan Indonesia) 13:1 ► pp. 159 ff. DOI logo
Tobar Delgado, Eduardo & Mauro Fernández
2019. Hacia una ortografía para el chabacano zamboangueño. Language Problems and Language Planning 43:1 ► pp. 32 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 august 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.