THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Philippine English

• is any variety of English native to the Philippines, including those used by the media and
the vast majority of educated Filipinos and English learners in the Philippines from
adjacent Asian countries. English is taught in schools as one of the two official languages
of the country, the other being Filipino (Tagalog).

When did English Language first introduce in the country?

• English Language was first introduced in the Philippines on 1762 when the British
invaded Manila and Cavite but it did not last long in the country. However, a national
variety called Philippine English evolved in the country, as a result of the American
colonization.
The large population of Filipino speaking in English can be traced to Americans
introducing the public education in the country which uses English as the medium of
instruction. This was marked by the Thomasites in 1901. And later on, English Language
was then added as the official language in the Philippines on 1935.
o American Colonization in the Philippines lasted for 48 years.
o Thomasites were a group of 600 American teachers who travelled from the
United States to the newly occupied territory of the Philippines on the U.S. Army
Transport Thomas.
o The Thomasites merged vocabulary and modified grammar and pronunciation
resulting to create Newspaper and Magazine in the country.

How did English Language evolve in the Philippines?

• After the American Colonization, English Language continued being taught in all the
schools in the Philippines and it is considered to be one of the major subjects. And the
way it is being taught in schools does not only focus on grammars or pronunciation but
also its deeper meaning. Like sentence structures, writing, vocabulary, diction,
enunciation, acquisition, and etc. And it did not stop there because English Language also
 became a course in the Philippines. And up until today, English Language is still
evolving in the Philippines.
What is the status of English Language in the Philippines?
• English is the dominant language of print media , while broadcast media like Television,
radio station shows a rapid expansion of the domain of Filipino language

How many speakers of English language are there in the Philippines?

• The Philippines has a population of 111, 532, 078 as of this year and survey says that
around 0.033% (37, 000) speak English as their first language and around 92% (102, 752,
506) of the population speak it as their second language. All in all, there is an estimated
of 102, 789, 506 Filipinos who speak the English language in the country. The rest of the
population are those that speak the Malayo-Polynesian languages.
How English Language education is implemented?
• In 1987, Constitution, Article XIV was established implementing English Language as the
medium of instructions. When the current Philippine Constitution was ratified in 1987,
both Filipino and English were recognized co-official languages. And the Department
Order No 54 S 1987 has also implemented guidelines for the 1987 policy on Bilingual
Education.

How is the attitude of the Filipinos towards English language?

• Gardner and Lambert (1972) they emphasized that the attitude of the learners possess
positive attitude towards the language they intend to learn. It was also mentioned that the
more positive the learners' attitudes are, the higher the probability of success in learning the
second language.
• The Philippines was placed 27th in the world (out of 100 nations) in the EF English
Proficiency Index in 2020.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES IN ASIA

The English Language was introduced to South Asia in the early 17th century and reinforced
by the long rule of the British Empire. South Asian English is sometimes called "Indian
 English", as British India included most of the region, but today, the varieties of English are
usually divided according to the modern states:
• Bangladeshi English
o Bengali is the sole official and national language of Bangladesh and one of the 22
scheduled official language, in India. But, English is often used secondarily in the
higher tier of the judiciary in both Bangladesh and India (along with Hindi in
India). Laws were written in English during the colonial periods.
• Indian English
o Is a class of varieties of the English language spoken in India, and among
the Indian Diaspora elsewhere in the world. English is used by the Indian
government for communication along with Hindi, as enshrined in
the Constitution. English is an official language of 7 states and 5 Union
Territories and also additional an official language of 7 states and 1 Union Territory.
English is also the sole official language of the Judiciary of India, unless a state governor
or legislature mandates the use of a regional language, or the president has given approval
for the use of regional languages in courts.
• Nepali English
o refers to a variety of the English language principally used in Nepal and is heavily
influenced by the Indo-Aryan languages of Nepal. Many Nepalese speak English
as a second or foreign language, with English use being most prevalent among
city dwellers residing in Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal). Although Nepali is the
native language, English is the primary language used for business in Nepal. In
Nepal, where modern English education began in the 1850s, there is little or no
consensus among teachers and practitioners on whether to
follow British, American or Indian variants of English, or allow the development
of a Nepal-specific variety of English Colloquially Nepalese English is known
as Nenglish (a term first recorded in 1999), or, less commonly,
as Nepanglish (2000) or Neplish.
• Pakistani English
o is the group of English language varieties spoken and written in Pakistan. It was first so
recognized and designated in the 1970s and 1980s. Pakistani English (PE) (similar and
related to British English) is slightly different from other dialects of English in respect to
vocabulary, syntax, accent, spellings of some words and other features. While English is
not a common native language in Pakistan, it is used widely in education, commerce, and
the legal and judicial systems.
• Sri Lankan English
o as it is used in Sri Lanka, a term dating from 1972.[1] Sri Lankan English is
principally categorized as the Standard Variety and the Nonstandard Variety,
which is called as "Not Pot English". The classification of SLE as a separate
dialect of English is controversial. Furthermore, it is taught as a compulsory
 second language in local schools from grade one to thirteen, and Sri Lankans pay
special attention on learning English both as children and adults. It is considered
even today that access and exposure to English from one's childhood in Sri Lanka
is to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth.

There are few native English speakers in Asia, but a large number of the population use
English as a second or third language. India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Singapore all
recognize English as an official language.

5 Asian Countries with the Highest Proficiency in English

1. Singapore - EPI score of 66.82
2. Philippines - EPI of 60.14
3. Malaysia - EPI of 58.55
4. Hong Kong, China - EPI of 55.63
5. India - EPI score of 55.49

Countries in Asia that uses English as a foreign language:

China Nepal
Egypt Saudi Arabia
Israel Taiwan
Japan USSR
Korea Zimbabwe

Countries in Asia that uses English as their second language:

Bangladesh Malaysia Singapore
Ghana Nigeria Sri Lanka
India Pakistan Tanzania
Kenya Philippines Zambia