The Ateneo Center for English language
Teaching (ACELT) and the English
Department of the Ateneo de Manila
University invite you to the Teaching English
in
Multilingual
Settings
(TEEMS)
Research
Symposium on April 27, 2013
(Saturday), from 9:00-11:00
a.m. at the Natividad GalangFajardo Room, Dela Costa
Building, Ateneo de Manila University.
This symposium is open to teachers from all levels elementary, secondary, and tertiary. The paper topics for this
symposium cover urgent issues in teaching English in non-native,
multilingual contexts such as the Philippines. These topics are
also highly relevant to the needs of English language teachers who
are expected to implement the MTMBLE and K to 12 directives
of Dep Ed.
The registration fee is Php 500. Registration is open until
April 26 (Friday). The fee is inclusive of a mid-morning snack
and a certificate of attendance. Payment may be made by bank
deposit (kindly check our facebook page for details,
http://www.facebook.com/acelt.teachersclub) or be made directly
to the Ateneo cashier.
For more inquiries, please contact Ms. Vicky Calderon at
telefax 4264322 or trunkline 4266001 extension 5315.
PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Presentation 1: Linguistic Diversity in Philippine Language
Education Policy:
Challenges and Opportunities
Frances Doplon, Ateneo de Manila University
How does the Philippines, a multilingual country with over
170 languages, attain linguistic diversity though its educational
policies?
linguistic imperialism, as opposed to linguistic diversity, in
policies from the past decade. It uses the framework of Phillipson
(1992) in identifying forms of persistence and resistance. At the
same time, the paper explains how this persistence brought about
resistance—a critically acclaimed counter-move through the 2009
institutionalization of a mother tongue-based multilingual
education policy by the Philippine Department of Education.
As a consequence of its findings, the paper argues that the
multilingual education program, in its present form, is only a first
step to linguistic diversity, as it is still threatened and influenced
by deep-seated language beliefs.
Speaker’s Bionote: Frances Doplon teaches at the English
Department of the Ateneo de Manila University, from which she
obtained the degree MA English Language in Literature
Teaching. This presentation is culled from her thesis, which was
awarded 2013 School of Humanities Outstanding Graduate
Research for Best Masteral Thesis.
Presentation 2: USAID, Mindanao, and English: The Cultural
Politics of the JEEP Project
Honey Tabiola, Father Saturnino Urios University,
Butuan City
All forms of ESL instruction are ideological (Benesch,
1993)1, especially in the context of ELT aid projects which are
loaded with the donor agencies’ interests. The Job Enabling
English Proficiency (henceforth JEEP) Project is an ELT initiative
under the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) funded by the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to
improve college students’ English proficiency for employment in
various job sectors. GEM prescribes to its partner universities and
colleges the instructional materials and the classroom
methodology to be used. Viewing the classroom through the
notion of cultural politics, this presentation shares the preliminary
results of a study investigating the students’ oppositional behavior
and resistance to the imposed JEEP curriculum. Specifically, it
has two objectives: a) to identify the prescriptions of JEEP for the
local teachers on language use, on classroom methodology, and on
the content of the instructional materials; and b) to identify how
students oppose these prescriptions but, at the same time,
1
This paper examines language education policy statements
mandated from 2001 onwards. It traces the persistence of
Benesch, S. (1993). ESL, ideology, and the Politics of Pragmatism. TESOL
Quarterly, 27, 705-717.
participate in their own domination. Ultimately, the presentation
will show that investigating students’ resistance in the classroom
is one step forward to designing a more democratic and
appropriate language pedagogy.
Speaker’s Bionote: Honey B. Tabiola is currently pursuing his
master’s degree in English Language and Literature Teaching at
Ateneo de Manila University. He is also a full-time College
Instructor at Father Saturnino Urios University, Butuan City,
Caraga Region. His research interests include critical
pedagogies and language learning and the teaching of English as
an international language.
Presentation 3: Assessment in the Context of a Changing
Language
Dr. Isabel Pefianco Martin, Ateneo de Manila University
English is a vibrant language, changing and morphing to fit the
needs of its users. Because of this, rules concerning English
change very rapidly. How do teachers of English confront these
changes? How do they assess proficiency in the context of these
changes? This presentation challenges the current practice in
Philippine ELT of assessing students' language proficiency from
the perspective of the "native speaker" of English. Such practice
only contributes to the continuing deterioration of the teaching
and learning of the language. Instead, alternative and appropriate
strategies for assessing proficiency must be employed. These
assessment strategies must be premised on the reality that varieties
of English exist and not one variety is better than another.
Speaker’s Bionote: Isabel Pefianco Martin is associate professor
at the Department of English, Ateneo de Manila University,
Philippines. She is also Chair of the Board of Trustees of the
Philippine Social Science Council. Prior to these posts, she served
as president of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines, chair of
the Ateneo de Manila English Department, research coordinator
of the Ateneo de Manila School of Humanities, and Executive
Director of the Philippine Social Science Council. She has
published works in international publications, including the
Routledge Handbook of World Englishes and the Journal of
World Englishes. Her research interests include world Englishes,
Philippine English, languages in education, language and law,
and language policy