English(es) in College English Textbooks in the Philippines

Abstract

Although a great deal of research on PhE (Philippine English) has been initiated and published, its presence in instructional materials and other contentious issues relevant to the existence of varieties of English seems to be marginally tackled in locally printed learning paraphernalia, particularly college English textbooks. A cursory review of literature suggests that at the moment, very few studies that examine the varieties of English represented in textbooks have been undertaken in the local setting. This study, therefore, presents the results of a content analysis of college English textbooks from three leading Philippine universities to identify the standard(s) promoted in teaching and internalizing the rules of English grammar and to pinpoint the norm that authors adhere to writing textbooks. The content analysis of three college English textbooks hints at the assumption that English(es) or varieties of English are rarely extensively reflected and discussed in local college English textbooks and that Filipino textbook writers do not seem to strictly adhere to an exogenous norm, e.g., AmE (American English). The analysis shows that English textbook developers, who are also English teachers, use distinctive PhE grammatical structures in writing books. This makes them propagators of a pluricentric model, i.e., two varieties. In this study, these varieties are American and Philippine English(es).