Representations of Self in Reflection Essays of Philippine University Students

In the Philippines, there are few, if any, studies of student compositions that investigate the use of language as an effective, efficient, and creative means of expressing the self. This study is an attempt to contribute to knowledge about student writing in the Philippines. In particular, the study aims to describe the various ways freshman students from a private university in Manila represent themselves in their reflection essays, a writing task required in the core humanities courses of the university. Two sets of compositions, one written in the English language and another in the Filipino language, are analyzed for ways in which self-representation is realized by the student writers. As the study focuses on how the Filipino students represent themselves in their essays, both English and Filipino compositions were examined for grammatical/ lexical features and for the types of speech act verbs employed in the essays. More specifically, the study investigates the use of (1) first person referencing, (2) modals, and (3) types of illocutionary points. The results of the investigation reveal that for both English and Filipino compositions, student writers have a tendency to (1) limit their use of first person referencing, with fewer first person pronouns employed in the Filipino corpus; (2) limit the use of modals, with fewer modals observed in the Filipino corpus; and (3) employ more assertive illocutionary points than declarative points, and fewer commissive and expressive points in both English and Filipino compositions. From the results, one may conclude that (1) the student writers involved in the study do not seem to present themselves as active subjects or agents in the writing process, and (2) the reflection essay may be a useful tool for writing pedagogy and student formation

Practicing Mindfulness in an Elementary School Workplace

Teachers, administrators, and staff members deal with a variety of challenges and demands daily in elementary schools. Multiple factors may contribute to the increase in stress levels, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. Some examples of these include the heavy workload, student engagement and management, and the need to uphold academic standards. In the hopes of addressing the global learning crisis, institutions must invest and provide different types of support for their educators. Schools need to assess the mental well-being of their teachers amidst the transitions made during the pandemic. Hence, the importance of this study is to understand the teacher’s motivation to improve students’ learning outcomes. Many ways in which mindfulness affected teachers' well-being were significant. Participants had a better understanding of their motivations, which helped them feel more connected to their teaching goals. Practices of mindfulness helped people adopt the attitude of embracing intrinsic rewards, which improved their motivation overall. The mindfulness integration within the school environment also contributed to a positive shift in the teacher community, fostering a culture of empathy, support, and collaboration. The study's implications extend to educational policy and practice, demonstrating the potential advantages of incorporating mindfulness to build a strong and empowered teaching community, eventually generating a richer learning environment for students

The Social Dimension of English Language Testing in the Philippines

This chapter focuses on an important and often neglected component of ELT, which is testing and assessment. In the Philippines, there is a dearth of substantial research on the topic. While most studies about English language testing are concerned with the psychometric dimensions of tests, very few, if any, investigate test bias and fairness. Throughout history, tests have been used to control human behavior. Language tests have been and continue to be used for gatekeeping purposes. To what extent are these test practices fair to test-takers? To what extent are test instruments inclusive of all speakers of the English language? Are English language tests biased against so-called ‘non-native’ users of the language? This chapter looks at the social dimension of English language testing. Using the Philippines as context, the chapter raises some concerns about bias and fairness in testing policies and practices in the country

Philippine English in retrospect and prospect

In this article, I survey studies about English in the Philippines, many of which have been heavily influenced by the world Englishes paradigm. It was Braj Kachru himself who brought world Englishes to the Philippines in 1996, at a conference in Manila. About a hundred wide‐eyed Filipino teachers, who grew up believing that only American English existed, were never the same again. This contribution to a special issue in honor of Braj Kachru is an expression of utang na loob, our debt of gratitude to him for changing the course of English language studies and scholarship in the Philippines

Reconceptualizing English Education in a Multilingual Society

This book brings together chapters that describe, investigate, and analyze the place of English in education in multilingual Philippines. Unlike most studies on languages in education, which take a neutral, de-contextualized stance, this volume take a pluricentric view of the English language by positioning it in relation to its varieties, as well as to other languages in the country. Because of the changing realities of English in the Philippines, traditional assumptions about the language as monolithic and unchanging, as well as about how it should be taught and learned, need to be revisited and re-conceptualized

Beyond Nativization? Philippine English in Schneider\u27s Dynamic Model

According to Schneider (2007), the development of Philippine English (PE) is unique in that the language was brought to the country through American, and not British, colonial expansion. Whereas Outer Circle countries in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia, took about two hundred years to move from Phase 1 to Phase 3 of the Dynamic Model, English in the Philippines evolved to a state of Nativization in fewer than a hundred years. In this chapter, I explore the issue of PE as remaining restricted in Phase 3 and thus, “coming to a halt” in the Nativization Phase (Schneider 2007: 143) of the model. Or, as some have claimed, has PE progressed beyond Nativization and developed into a variety of Endonormative Stabilization

Philippine English revisited

In this paper, I argue that the Three Circles Model of Kachru, a profoundly influential and instructive model for approaching the varieties of Englishes across the world, might be re‐examined in the context of the Philippines, in order to better capture the sociolinguistic realities of Outer Circle speakers of English. Using the Philippines as an example, I hope to demonstrate that within the Outer Circle that is the Philippines, there are circles of English as well. While some educated Filipino scholars have rejected the dominance of American English in the Philippines, others remain ambivalent about the place of Philippine English in such domains such as English language teaching. And for a majority of the Filipinos, to whom English of whatever variety remains elusive and inaccessible, English is irrelevant. Thus, the situation for the Philippines is that there is an Inner Circle, an Outer Circle, and an Expanding circle of English. By presenting the Philippine experience of English through this framework of ‘circles within circles,’ I hope to offer a more nuanced position on the acceptability of Philippine English among Filipino users of the language

Periphery ELT: The politics and practice of teaching English in the Philippines

The sociolinguistic profile of English reveals that ownership of the language is shared across continents and cultures. Following the World Englishes paradigm, the language is approached as having a multiplicity of meanings and a plurality of centres. Such a phenomenon doesn’t come without myths and fallacies. In the Philippines, this is especially true in the ‘periphery’ – in English language and literature education in the public schools. This chapter presents illustrative data that reveal four myths about English in the Philippines. The chapter begins by describing ELT during the American colonial period when canon and pedagogy merged to produce a public education system that marginalized Philippine literature in English and propagated present-day myths about the English language. The chapter ends by exploring possibilities for resistance in Philippine ELT. Filipino poet Amador T. Daguio, in the poem ‘Man of Earth’ (1932), speaks eloquently about the proverbial Filipino resilience. The Filipino is likened to the pliant bamboo. He may have been forced to stoop and bend, but he persists in rising despite the ‘wind [that] passes by’. Like the persona in the poem, who tries to ‘measure fully [his] flexibility’, the Filipino teacher of English rises above the challenges of ELT in the Philippines. The history of English in the Philippines cannot be mapped out without having scrutinized the agenda of ELT in the country. English was first introduced to the Filipinos through the American public school system. For half a century, the language was systematically promoted as a civilizing tool. Today, beliefs and attitudes about English, as well as the various ways in which the language is used, are products of the Filipino experience of American colonial education. In this chapter, I shall present English in the Philippines from the perspective of ELT. In particular, I take the perspective of the periphery in describing the politics and practice of teaching English in the Philippines. Canagarajah uses the term ‘periphery’ to refer to ‘communities where English is of post-colonial currency’ (1999: 4). Such is the situation of the ELT community in the Philippines, especially where the public school system is concerned