POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION - GRADUATE STUDIES STA. MESA, MANILA

MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

GOLOSINO, ALLYSSA B. February 18, 2022

TESL 620- Linguistic Foundations for Second Dr. Gordonas
Language Learning and Teaching

TOPIC: PHILIPPINE ENGLISH & DISCOURSE ANALYSIS BASICS

Synthesis and Reflection

Growing up, I used to believe that 'sounding Filipino' when speaking English is
wrong. That it is our task to get rid of our accent in order to be correct. I blame
the mainstream media for the way I used to think; as movies, dramas, TV
commercials always portray Filipino English as a joke. If a Yaya in a drama speaks
English in a provincial accent, she is automatically the dumb, and funny
character that becomes the comic relief of the show.

Upon becoming an English Major, I started having a deeper understanding of

language and I learned that Filipino English is more than just the thick accent
rooting from our first language but more on how we have used English in way

that fits our culture and lifestyle as Filipinos.

We Filipinos inherited English from Americans through the Thomasites that

served as teachers to Filipinos in 1901 and despite that fact, we have grown
beyond from what the they have taught us in the past and evolved. We
managed to developed our own English with it's own distinctive features.

I find it amazing that our Filipino English has it's own vocabulary! Of course, the
words we speak are still mostly identical with the American English, but we
Filipinos gave our own great addition to the vocabulary that we use to speak the
language and I believe it will continuously grow throughout time as Filipinos are
witty and always up for creating ways to express ourselves. I didn't even realize
it before but I learned to love how unique our English is.

Apparently, we also have rules that are only done in Filipino English! Rules that
are considered as errors in the American standard but are normally used in
Filipino English and are easily understood. We also embraced this unique
occurrence and it became a feature of our variation of English.

1
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION - GRADUATE STUDIES STA. MESA, MANILA
MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

GOLOSINO, ALLYSSA B. February 18, 2022

TESL 620- Linguistic Foundations for Second Dr. Gordonas
Language Learning and Teaching

TOPIC: PHILIPPINE ENGLISH & DISCOURSE ANALYSIS BASICS

Synthesis and Reflection

Growing up, I used to believe that 'sounding Filipino' when speaking English is
wrong. That it is our task to get rid of our accent in order to be correct. I blame
the mainstream media for the way I used to think; as movies, dramas, TV
commercials always portray Filipino English as a joke. If a Yaya in a drama speaks
English in a provincial accent, she is automatically the dumb, and funny
character that becomes the comic relief of the show.

Upon becoming an English Major, I started having a deeper understanding of

language and I learned that Filipino English is more than just the thick accent
rooting from our first language but more on how we have used English in way

that fits our culture and lifestyle as Filipinos.

We Filipinos inherited English from Americans through the Thomasites that

served as teachers to Filipinos in 1901 and despite that fact, we have grown
beyond from what the they have taught us in the past and evolved. We
managed to developed our own English with it's own distinctive features.

I find it amazing that our Filipino English has it's own vocabulary! Of course, the
words we speak are still mostly identical with the American English, but we
Filipinos gave our own great addition to the vocabulary that we use to speak the
language and I believe it will continuously grow throughout time as Filipinos are
witty and always up for creating ways to express ourselves. I didn't even realize
it before but I learned to love how unique our English is.

Apparently, we also have rules that are only done in Filipino English! Rules that
are considered as errors in the American standard but are normally used in
Filipino English and are easily understood. We also embraced this unique
occurrence and it became a feature of our variation of English.

1
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION - GRADUATE STUDIES STA. MESA, MANILA
MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

GOLOSINO, ALLYSSA B. February 18, 2022

TESL 620- Linguistic Foundations for Second Dr. Gordonas
Language Learning and Teaching

TOPIC: PHILIPPINE ENGLISH & DISCOURSE ANALYSIS BASICS

Synthesis and Reflection

Experts claim that the features we have embraced were developed as a result
to simplify complex grammar rules and vocabulary of the American English. To
make English easier to understand in the context of Filipino culture, we
adjusted to rules based on our usage and level of exposure to certain types of
sentences. Similarities to the Tagalog sentence patterns were also noticeable.

The existence of Filipino English has earned us the chance to better master
other fields of knowledge. This has led the educational system to better

produce students with "Global competency".

How we communicate is part of discourse. Understanding our language; its

form and function allows us to not only find better ways to express ourselves
but to also learn more how it plays a role in building our society. That belief
was given more emphasis with CDA by Norman Fairclough when he became
the father of Critical Discourse Analysis. He introduced that discourse plays a
significant role in knowledge building and power thus we must look at the
language we speak using the lens of CDA.

Philippine English/Filipino English had become a mirror of our culture and had
become a powerful tool for us to be globally competitive. It became part of our
identity to have our own variation of English thus as teachers we must open
our minds to embrace it and teach our students as well the Filipino English is
not the "Wrong English" but "Our kind of English".