By: Charisse M. Tocmo
“If we want to compete globally, we have to bring back English as our medium of instruction because that is the language of technology,” the former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in an article. It is along this claim that the Anti L1 Policy must be approved by the legislators to facilitate the reinforcement of the English Language Policy which is found to be critical to the communicative competence of the Filipinos.
The early stage of formal education is the more critical phase to develop the pupils’ skills, the English language skills. It is a stage of formation and cultivation of pupil’s intellectual competencies which develops the second language. Students and pupils, who were trained in speaking English at school during the early stage of formal education, are more fluent and competitive in speaking the second language during tertiary level. In fact, some of the intermediate schools are using
English as medium of instruction for Math and Science. Some teachers as well would have their instructions in English in order for the students or pupils to get used to it. As a result, students and/or pupils respond to the discussion using the second language since they haven’t heard their teacher speaks the first language.
Actually many Filipinos wish to be employed abroad because of the compensation they can get. But few Filipinos fail during the job interview. They are complaining to have some difficulties in speaking and understanding English language. They recommend that it’s better to have a general language like English in order to be understood and to understand other people, when residing or working in foreign countries. It is not only ourselves that can be benefited from speaking English language but also our country. Let’s not put this resource into waste.
In the booming economic industry, mastery of the universal language would play a vital role to survive. In early 2010, the government took some steps in improving the use of English language as a medium of instruction in schools. Accordingly, to achieve greater global competitiveness one should build up communication in English. Based on the Business Processing Association of the Philippines’ survey, English proficiency was among the top three areas that the country should seek to improve.
The Anti L1 Policy should be approved in order to master English as our second language, as part of our drive for global competitiveness. Let Anti L1 Policy be legalized in the Philippines to develop Filipino learners who are proficient to the use of second language, not just in this country but as well as globally.
exegesis 