Teaching English in the Philippines from a World

Englishes paradigm

Eden Regala Flores, Ph.D.Department of English and Applied Linguistics

De La Salle University, Manila20 May 2011, UST

Seven central questions related to the teaching of English

1. Whose language?

(the issue of English ownership)

Kachru’s (1985) Three Circle Model

Expanding Circle China, Egypt, Indonesia,

South Korea, Saudi Arabia, etc

Outer Circle Phils., Sing.,

Mal, Kenya, India, Ghana, etc

Inner Circle UK, US, Can,

Aus, NZ

2. Which speakers?

(the privileging of native English norms)

3. Which language?

(struggles inherent in selecting appropriate varieties of English for the classroom)

4. Which standard?

(British, American, or Philippine English)

5. Which approaches?

(CA, CBA, etc. approach)

6. Which texts?

(use learner needs and local contexts to inform pedagogical practices)

7. Who is the learner?

(the voice of the learners themselves)

Bernardo (2007) on Filipino students’ motivation to learn (710 respondents):

• 33.80% specific types of knowledge will be useful for future application;

• 23.66% knowledge will improve their socio-economic status;

• 15.77% learning is a stepping stone to realize aspirations; and

• 9.01% learn for survival purposes

Thank you very much for listening.