The Kachruvian connection and English language teaching in the Philippines

Abstract

The non-native speakers as teachers of English hold a key role in teaching a language which is the world's most taught, learned and used second or foreign language. With this current global context of English, Philippine ELT has to reflect on the 'curricula of teacher training programs, in the methodology of teaching, in understanding the sociolinguistic profile of the language, and in crosscultural awareness' the implications of the internationalization of English (Kachru, 1992, p. 355). This paper argues that while Professor Kachru sounded the call for the modification of ELT practices decades ago, ELT practitioners in the Philippines have yet to fully come to terms to a shift in the teaching paradigm of English that necessitates a change in the way non-standard features of the language are perceived and how teaching methods should be modified to match the current reality of English as an international language.

(Il)Legitimating Filipino Teachers' English on Webpages for Japanese Learners of English

“…The language schools we examined capitalize on the marketability of FTE and declare the superiority of native English speakers, while dismissing “local Filipinos' English” precisely because it is not sellable in the ELT market. By doing so, the schools reproduce the racialization of English and the discourse that native English speakers are the bearers and rightful owners of English, ideological constructs that are dominant in Japan (Kobayashi, 2011; Matsuda, 2002; Shibata, 2010; Walkinshaw & Oanh, 2014), the Philippines (Gonzales, 2019; Santiago, 2020; Velasco, 2019), and elsewhere in spite of increasing awareness of the native English speaker fallacy (TESOL, 2006) and more and more scholars debunking native speaker myths (Levis, Sonsaat, Link, & Barriuso, 2016; Morikawa, 2019; Watts, 2011).…”

“…This critical stance requires a paradigm shift among English language teachers and teacher education programs. Velasco's (2019) work underscores the need to reexamine the curricular contents of ELT preparation programs in the Philippines so that the pluricentrality of English becomes part of teachers' critical language development. Rather than embracing the native speaker norms, FETs need to become aware of the ideological aspect of English and participate in raising students' critical awareness of the legitimacy of the different varieties of English (Kubota, 1998;Martin, 2014b;Matsuda, 2003Matsuda, , 2019.…”

“…Because of colonial structures deeply ingrained in Philippine society and education, English‐only policies have mushroomed in many schools, which, in turn, marginalized other Philippine languages (see Dawe, 2014). Moreover, many English language teachers and college students in the Philippines, while aware of the existence of Philippine English and other varieties of English, show a strong preference for American English, as they believe it is superior and use it as their instructional norm (Bernardo, 2011; Martin, 2020; Velasco, 2019). A few studies (Gonzales, 2019; Santiago, 2020) have also shown that English language assessment policies and practices in Philippine schools sustain native speakerism and monolingual bias.…”

Fostering translingual dispositions againstUnequal Englishes

“…Expectedly, the role of World Englishes in English language pedagogy has been and continues to be controversial and contested (Matsuda 2003;Velasco 2019), even if sound arguments have been put forward to question the many 'sacred cows' of English language teaching such as the superiority of 'native speaker' norms and standards and the appropriateness of Western-drawn language teaching methods (Kachru 1988;Matsuda 2003).…”

“…It is because standard language ideologies and native-speakerism endure in the practices and beliefs of teachers, students, administrators, and parents (Velasco 2019), sometimes discursively hidden behind pragmatic justifications for the use of 'standard' English in the classroom (Sadeghpour and Sharifian 2019). Standard language ideologies are beliefs about the desirability and legitimacy of a particular language or language variety or what Bourdieu (1997) refers to as 'authorized language', while native-speakerism refers to a network of beliefs about the superiority of the variety of English associated with 'native-speakers' (Holliday 2006).…”