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The Spaniards colonized the Philippines for more than 300 hundred years but it

failed to colonize the tongue of the Filipinos or the Indios. When America claimed the

Philippines from the Spanish after their mock battle in Manila Bay, they arm themselves

a weapon that triumph against the failure of the Spanish, the mass education. Since the

Americans are the conqueror, in line with their mass education, the medium of

instruction use during those times, is the English language.

President William McKinley of the United States on April 7, 1900, issued a Letter

of Instruction, which declared that English would be the medium of instruction at all

levels of the public educational system in the Philippines (Bernardo, 2009, p.29). This

took place after the Spanish-American War, after Spain surrendered the Philippines, as

well as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States (Cushner, 1989, p.238).

Prior to the declaration, the English language had already arrived at the

Philippine islands, during the war between Spain and the US. According to Gonzales

and Alberca (1978), from 1898 to 1901, over 70,000 American soldiers came under the

supervision of Admiral John Dewey.

Meanwhile, on August 21, 1901, the USS Thomas arrived, carrying 540 teachers

who were assigned to teach in public schools set up by the civilian government (p.1).

Later, these teachers were called “Thomasites” after the army ship they had arrived in.

For the first half of the 20th century, English was the medium of instruction in

Philippine schools. From 1903 onwards, the brightest students, called “pensionados,”

were even sent to the US to study in colleges and universities (Oliveros).

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When the country became a self-governing commonwealth in 1935, and up to

the time it gained full independence in 1946, English was the language used in

Philippine education.

Today Filipino (Tagalog) and English are the two official languages of the

Philippines, with seven other regional languages recognised officially. The Philippines

has one of the densest concentrations of distinct languages in the world, and that

linguistic tradition has helped shaped modern day Filipino.(Stacey 2013)( A History of

the Languages in the Philippines Posted by Stacey on Thu, 05/16/2013 - 20:49

Why has English become so easy to learn and so easy to use in the Philippines?

A major reason is that the Americans were once our colonizers and continue to

influence our everyday lives in many ways. Another reason is that for most Filipinos,

English is not seen as a foreign language. In a country of 60 million people who speak

no less than 8 languages, English is a second language. In some areas, English is more

popular than our official national language. For a select few, it is even a first language.

More than this, English is the language of power and progress. In the Philippines,

it is highly valued not only because it is functional and practical and washes over us

constantly, but more importantly, because it is an affordable item, a skill that can be

used to increase one's position, respectability and marketability.

In most cases, the better one's ability to understand and use English, the better

one's chances of career advancement. This is true for both extremes of the socio-

economic ladder. English is as important to the Harvard-educated Filipino working in

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Manila's cosmopolitan business district as it is to the overseas contract worker working

as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia.

English has become the second language of the Filipinos while the Spanish

language is now use only by those who know the language. The English language

influenced greatly the lives of the Filipinos.

It is not surprising anymore to hear young children responding in English rather

than in their mother tongue. Being able to speak fluently in English has become

somehow the weighing scale of intelligence, the more fluent you are the higher you`re

intelligence. Babies are often commanded during their developmental stage in English

such as the words/phrase “Close/Open, Bad, Dirty, Clap your hands, Stop, beautiful

eyes.” So, the babies are already building English vocabulary and as they develop so is

their vocabulary and when they go to school, the body parts and greetings in English

are already taught to him by his/her parents.

In today’s scenario, the Enhanced K-12 Basic Education bill which has been

implemented in the country when President Benigno Aquino III signed it into law on May

15, 2013 to purposively focus on lifelong learning competencies or skills to produce

graduates who are qualified and capable to work.

Despite “rousing mixed reactions from various sectors in the country”

(K12philippines.com), strong objections of parents and students for the 12-year

program, and insufficient materials, the Department of Education pushed its

implementation for learners to master and absorb basic competencies, as reading

comprehension, oral language, viewing comprehension, literature, listening

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comprehension, vocabulary development, writing and composition, and grammar

awareness in English language education.

Revolutionizing ELE in the Philippines, Effective Language Arts and

Multiliteracies Curriculum (LAMC) has been developed in the K-12 “to produce

graduates who apply the language conventions, principles, strategies and skills” (2013

LAMC) needed in the 21st century.

So delving into the scenario, teachers taught the English Language as a Second

Language to the learners in order to achieve globalization and produce graduates that

are globally competitive.

Proficiency in the language is also one of the Philippines’ strengths, which has

helped drive the economy and even made it the top voice outsourcing destination in the

world, surpassing India in 2012. The influx of foreign learners of English is also on the

rise due to the relatively more affordable but quality English as a Second Language

(ESL) programs being offered locally.

However, at a recent roundtable organized by British Council Philippines, key

stakeholders from the government, academe, private, and nongovernment sectors

acknowledged that even if the country were doing fine in terms of English competency,

concerns on how much of a competitive advantage it still is here were raised.

The stakeholders agreed that the country needs to step up its efforts in improving

the teaching and learning of English, developing it as a vital skill of the workforce. This

is an initiative that can potentially strengthen the Philippines’ distinct advantage in this

part of the world, particularly with the upcoming ASEAN economic integration.

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Although Filipinos are known to be fluent in the language there are still certain

problems that arise that hinders the teaching-learning of the English language face by

the ESL teachers and learners.

PRESSING ISSUES

English is used as medium of instruction in the Philippines. Teachers assert that

its use in the classroom is important in helping foreign students engage better in the

learning process. However there are many issues Philippine education system are

facing which hinders a better learning inside the classroom.

One of these issues are the pronunciation and comprehension. It is beyond

doubt that pronouncing a language properly is a key aspect when understanding and

making ourselves understood. The teacher of language has always been influenced by

his conception of what language is. If he thinks language is mostly words, he

concentrates on teaching words, and measures his success by the size of the

vocabulary his pupils have mastered. If he thinks language is essentially usage, he

devotes most of his time to defining for his students a kind of usage that is acceptable in

the community in which they must speak or write, and he measures his success in

terms of the acceptability of the English his students use within their community. If he

thinks language is essentially structure, he concentrates on teaching structure, and he

measures his success in terms of the degree to which his pupils can use linguistic

structures efficiently without making mistakes. ( Anderson, 2000). To consider also are

the different factors affecting pronunciation are: Accent:

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An accent is “the cumulative auditory effect of those features of pronunciation that

identify where a person is from, regionally or socially” (Crystal, 2003,). Accentedness, a

“normal consequence of second language learning” (Derwing & Munro, 2005), is a

“listener’s perception of how different a speaker’s accent is from that of the L1

community”. Many adult learners of English have foreign accents that identify them as

nonnative speakers. Some linguists support the idea, known as the Critical Period

Hypothesis, that a learner needs to begin learning the language before age 7 to

develop native-like pronunciation (Lenneberg, 1967). However, more recent research

suggests that environment and motivation may be more important factors in the

development of native-like pronunciation than is age at acquisition (Marinova-Todd,

Marshall, & Snow, 2000). An understanding of the features of learner accents and their

impact on intelligibility can help teachers identify and address characteristics of learner

pronunciation (Derwing & Munro, 1997). The primary aim is that students be

understood. Good pronunciation is needed for this, but a “perfect accent” is not

(Harmer, 1991). Second is Stress, intonation, and rhythm: Munro and Derwing (1999)

observed that even heavily accented speech is sometimes intelligible and that prosodic

errors (i.e., errors in stress, intonation, and rhythm) appear to affect intelligibility more

than do phonetic errors (i.e., errors in single sounds). For this reason, pronunciation

research and teaching focus both on the sounds of language (vowels and consonants)

and on supra-segmental features—that is, vocal effects that extend over more than one

sound—such as stress, sentence and word intonation, and speech rhythm (Crystal,

2003; Munro & Derwing, 1999). Third one is the Motivation and exposure: Along with

age at the acquisition of a language, the learner’s motivation for learning the language

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and the cultural group that the learner identifies and spends time determine whether

the learner will develop native-like pronunciation. Another factor is the Attitude. It

seems as though some learners are more adept at acquiring good pronunciation. Even

within one homogenous classroom, there is often a large discrepancy among the

pronunciation ability of the students. This phenomenon has lead many researchers to

study the personal characteristics of the learners that contribute to their success in

foreign language acquisition. In a study on pronunciation accuracy of university

students studying intermediate Spanish as a foreign language, Elliot (1995) found that

subjects’ attitude toward acquiring native or near-native pronunciation as measured by

the Pronunciation Attitude Inventory (PAI), was the principal variable in relation to target

language pronunciation. In other words, if the students were more concerned about

their pronunciation of the target language, they tended to have better pronunciation of

the target allophones (Elliot, 1995). The fifth one is the Age. The influence of age on

language acquisition and specifically pronunciation may make adults find pronunciation

more difficult than children do and that they probably will not achieve native-like

pronunciation. According to the “Critical Period Hypothesis” proposed by Lenneberg

(1967) there is a biological or neurological period which ends around the age of 12;

after this period it becomes extremely difficult to attain the complete mastery of a

second language especially pronunciation. Conversely, Bialystock (1997), and

Bongaerts, Planken and Schils (1997), among others have shown that adult learners

are capable of achieving native-like in an L2. However, the degree of pronunciation

accuracy, according to Avery and Ehrlich (1992), varies considerably from one

individual to another. To them, this discrepancy in pronunciation among adult learners

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means that ESL classroom time can profitably be devoted to improving students’

pronunciation. Next factor is the Personality; non-linguistic factors related to an

individual’s personality and learning goals, attitude towards the target language,

culture, native speakers, and type of motivation which are beyond the teacher’s control

(Miller, 2003), all have their share in the development of pronunciation skills. In

addition, the degree of exposure to and use of the target language can support or

impede pronunciation skills development. For example, learners who are outgoing and

confident and get involved in interactions with native speakers are liable to practice their

foreign language pronunciation (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992). Conversely, some learners feel

uncomfortable trying out new speech rhythm and melody patterns (Miller, 2003), while

others feel stupid pronouncing “weird” sounds, and with time, they decide that it is futile

and impossible to learn English pronunciation (Laroy, 1995). In this respect, Miller

(2003) believes that changing – and not changing – speech patterns is affected by how

much responsibility the student takes, how much the student practices outside of class,

and how ready the student is. The last factor is the Mother tongue influence .Avery and

Ehrlich (1992) claim that the sound pattern of the learner’s first language is transferred

into the second language and is likely to cause foreign accents. The mispronunciations

of words by nonnative speakers reflect the influence of the sounds, rules, stress, and

intonation of their native language. For example, nonnative speakers’ production of

English rhythm was investigated in several studies (Wenk, 1985; Machizuki-Sudo,

Kiritani, 1991). These factors would enable the teachers to identify the difficulties in the

pronunciation of the target language experienced by non-native speakers in order to

help them overcome their foreign accent and consequently improve their pronunciation.

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In addition, they would also enable teachers to provide efficient pronunciation instruction

and design their teaching methodology according to students’ needs.

In the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching and learning process

pronunciation should play a determining role since it is directly related with the

development of students’ communicative competence and thus to language proficiency

and comprehensibility. As a non-native speaker there is a great tendency on the issue

of pronunciation, the alphabets has 26 letters and 44 sounds and have a various

pronunciation when it became a word. As it can see, American occupation had spread

English the language within a 41 year span of time compared with 333 years of Spanish

occupation, resulting in only 2% speaking in Spanish.

However, things changed after the destruction that came caused by the wrath of

World War II. Most of the native English teachers and non-native English teachers died

during the war. (O’Connor, 1990) Some of them lost their professions because they did

not return to their classrooms when the war came to an end.

Since the spoken language is learned by imitation by native speakers of the

language, the lack of native speaker models has affected certain sounds as enunciated

by English-speaking Filipinos today. Our English now is becoming vernacularized. The

destruction of war was the start of the deterioration of our English proficiency.

Comprehension is also another problem along with pronunciation. Yates and

Ortiz (1991) found that many teachers view language minority children as simply low-

performing native English-speaking children. This tendency has led many to merely

adopt a watered-down curriculum, including reading material well below the students’

ability to comprehend.

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This recurrent problem denies language minority children access to the type of

instructional material they need in order to make adequate academic progress. This

curriculum mismatch, in all likelihood, is one reason for the extremely low academic

performance levels of many English language learners. According to Fradd, as cited by

Bacon (2010) teachers who work with English language learners often tend to use

“brief utterances such as ‘What is this?’ or ‘What color is that?’. Students learn to reply

in like form, in one- or two-word utterances. Not surprisingly, little curriculum content or

social expectation is communicated in this type of verbal exchange. In classroom

observations of English language learners, Bacon also noted the same phenomenon

regardless of teachers’ or districts’ philosophy of bilingual education.

In order to address the issue regarding the pronunciation and comprehension,

the ESL Teacher must speak and think during the class like a native speaker of the

language, the teacher must engage the students to be emulate his/her example.

Specifically in the pronunciation difficulty the teacher must do the following: (a) The

teacher should always give his students the correct pronunciation of new words

because he is model fully imitated by learners. This requires that the teacher has to

check the pronunciation of most words, if not all. (b) The teacher has to pay attention to

supra segmentals as well as segmental. This implies that he has to pronounce words

correctly regarding their consonants, vowels and stress. (c) The teacher has to

pronounce sentences with their correct intonation (tone) and sentences stress and at a

fairly normal speed. (d) Good pronunciation should be aimed when one is teaching

other skills such as reading aloud, grammatical structures and, vocabulary. (e) The

teacher should call his students’ attention to silent letters while teaching new words by

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probably dotting them when demonstrated on the board. Such focusing is helpful in

learning both pronunciation and spelling.(f) The teacher has to emphasize words with

problem sounds more than words devoid (without) such sounds. The former (pervious)

words require more repetition. (g) The teacher has to design pronunciation drills that

handle some common pronunciation difficulties especially those caused by new sounds

not existing in the native language. Another solution is that there should be Improved

training for teachers. Existing teachers should be able to receive professional

development in pronunciation teaching (on a voluntary but properly funded basis), and

trainee teachers should receive such tuition as part of their teaching courses. Teachers

should receive a range of different stories from different pronunciation specialists. There

is a need for a more coordinated approach. It is recommended that there should be a

conference of people interested in the area of ESL pronunciation to discuss a range of

issues. It seems likely that it would be possible to integrate a range of existing practices

into a coordinated approach to pronunciation teaching, or at least to identify opposing

schools of thought which can be articulated and evaluated so as to allow teachers and

teacher trainers to choose which they wish to adhere to . As for their comprehension,

the teacher should not look down to his student, in order for them to fully understand

what they are reading, the teacher can dramatize, use picture and explain the passage

in simple language. In this way, comprehension can be achieved.

Another problem of ESL teaching in the Philippines is the teacher`s competence.

Teachers are the mirror image of the learners so they hold immense responsibility. But

there are some cases that the teaching-learning process is compromise because of the

incompetence of the teacher. The teachers, being the focal figure in education, must be

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competent and knowledgeable in order to impart the knowledge they could give to their

students. Good teaching is a very personal manner. Effective teaching is concerned

with the student as a person and with his general development. If there is one English

teacher who is competent but there are seven or eight others who do not, there will be

no transfer of learning in a one-hour English class. The truth is, all of us using the

language in school are indirectly teaching English. So to follow this simple guide: “If you

cannot teach the students proper English, do not confuse them with your English”. (

Senobio, 2015) As has been said, what happens in the classroom depends on the

teacher's ability to maintain students' interests. Thus, teachers play a vital role in

effecting classroom changes.

Students should take the target language as a daily integral part of his life not

just a part of lesson, in this way the target language will be use and practice by the

students. Teachers should mind the chief component of interest in the classroom. It is a

means of forming lasting effort in attaining the skills needed for life. Furthermore

teachers need to vary teaching styles and techniques so as not to cause boredom to the

students in the classroom. Seeking greater insight into how students learn from the way

teachers discuss and handle the lesson in the classroom and teach students the life

skills they need, could be one of the greatest achievements in the teaching process.

Additionally another problem is the persistent use of first language. The first, and

the most crucial, reason for their bad English is their negative attitude today toward the

language. Students often say, “Mag-Filipino tayo, Pilipino tayo eh.” Or: “Pa-English-

English pa!”

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These statements give the impression that they consider it unpatriotic to be

talking in English, but do they really? Aren’t these words that they have picked up from

their parents and their non-English teachers? It is disappointing that students who are

taught critical thinking in school mimic the words of fools. A second problem is that

many Filipinos feel intimidated by someone who speaks fluent English. This should not

be the case. When teaching English as a foreign language, this is possibly the most

common problem. As an ESL teacher, it's important to encourage students to use

English, and only English. However, if students begin conversing in their first language,

move closer. Asking direct questions like "do you have a question?" could be a great

help. Another idea is to establish a set of class rules and develop a penalty system for

when they use their first language. For example: if someone is caught using their first-

language three times, have them recite a poem in front of the class (in English).

Remember, for the 1-2 hours they are in English class, it must be English only.

Hence inside the class, the students must understand the importance of English

language, the teacher must make the students accept the English language as a

gateway for greater opportunities if they will embrace it.

Conclusion:

While other Asian countries are riding the Third Wave, the Filipinos are paddling

in opposite directions because many of them are afraid the wave will engulf them and

drown their sense of nationhood.

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While others keep trying to find ways to increase their English proficiency in the

light of international relations, global cooperation and rapid developments in computers

and telecommunications, we have been engaged in finding No language should be

viewed as superior to others.

We teach and learn English not because it is a better language than the others

but because, for now at least, it is the global language for business, media, science and

many more human activities.

If we are fluent in the language, there will be no feeling of intimidation. English

does not make one better; it makes one equal to others.a voice we can truly call our

own.

One day, we may find that voice and speak in unison, but until then, I believe

that English can do it for us, too. That is, if we stop thinking of it as a colonial instrument

that broke our spirit, but as the code that helped us break through other worlds.

Language, they say, is the key to understanding others. What many Filipinos

miss is that English can also be used as a key to understanding ourselves. English,

after all, does not belong to America. If we accept it with grace and use it with wisdom, it

can belong to the rest of the world.

English is the language of the world and as a Third world country that an aim to

progress, language is the key. Teachers are definitely hold the future but the teaching –

learning process is a two-way process. The students have a great role also in the

development of teaching the English so as the teachers.

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As Junior Layug C. Gadas said “To learn English does not mean you don’t have

pride for your country. It’s not betraying or eradicating your country. It definitely

broadens your horizons and enriches your life!”

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REFERENCES

Anderson, T. (2000) Linguistics and the Teaching of Pronunciation.University of

California, Los Angeles . Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED041259.pdf

Bacon, A. (2010) Problems in Current Instruction of English Language Learners,

Burns, A. & Joyce, H. (1997). Focus on Speaking. Sydney: NCELTR.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. & Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching Pronunciation: A

reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (2003). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Davis, C. (1999). Will the use of videos designed for the purpose of teaching English

pronunciation improve the learners’ production of discrete sounds by at least 80% over

a 12-week period? Pennsylvania Action Research Network. A Section 353 Project of

the Pennsylvania Department of Education,

Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2005). Second language accent and pronunciation

teaching: A research-based approach. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 379-397.

doi:10.2307/3588486, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.2307/3588486

Elliot, A. R. (1995). Field independence/dependence, hemispheric specialization, and

attitude in relation to pronunciation accuracy in Spanish as a foreign language. The

Modern Language Journal, 79(iii), 356-371.

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Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). The geological foundations of language. New York: John

Wiley and Sons

Marinova-Todd, S. H., Marshall, D. B., & Snow, C. E. (2000). Three misconceptions

about age and L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly

Ortiz, A. and Yates. J. (1991). Professional Development Needs of Teachers Who

Serve Exceptional Language Minorities in Today's Schools

Wenk, B. (1985). "Speech Rhythms in Second Language Acquisition." Language and

Speech, 28, No. 2, 157–175

Why is Pronunciation So Difficult to Learn?. Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265821016_Why_is_Pronunciation_So_Difficu

lt_to_Learn

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