Language Program & Policies in
Multilingual Societies
1. What do sociolinguists study?
Sociolinguistics is the study of the
relationship between language and
society. Sociolinguists are interested in
how we speak differently in varying
social contexts, and how we may also
use specific functions of language to
convey social meaning or aspects of
our identity. (University of Sheffield)
-it only means that sociolinguists
focused on the connection of language
and society in orrer to further
understand how these two affects
each other.
2. The interconnectedness of
language, culture and society
What is the interconnectedness of
language culture and society?
The language that we speak
influences our cultural identities and
our social realities. We internalize
norms and rules that help us function
in our own culture but that can lead to
misunderstanding when used in other
cultural contexts. We can adapt to
different cultural contexts by purposely
changing our communication.
(Maricopa Open Digital Press)
3. Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism refers to (1) the
state of a society or the world in which
there exists numerous distinct ethnic
and cultural groups seen to be
politically relevant; and (2) a program
or policy promoting such a society.
-The view that cultures, races, and
ethnicities, particularly those of
minority groups, deserve special
acknowledgment of their differences
within a dominant political culture.
4. Multilingual countries in the
world
Papua New Guinea, an island country
in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, is
the most multilingual country on Earth.
Russia
India
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Serbia
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Moldova
Singapore
5. Kinds/Types of multilingual
Bilingualism (2 languages)
Trilingualism (3 languages)
Multilingualism (4 or more languages)
Polyglot (someone who learns many
languages for fun)
6. Kinds/Types of Bilingual
1. Compound Bilingual: refers to
people who develop two
languages within a single
context.
Example: A toddler that moves with
their family to a new country will grow
up with two linguistic codes that tie
back to one single consolidated set of
concepts. This is the language
structure that classifies a person as a
compound bilingual.
Example: Compound bilingualism
refers to learning two languages in the
same context. That means, both
languages are used at home or at
school.
So, a toddler who’s left, say, their
native Romania to go live in England
will grow to be able to express
themselves in both Romanian and
English.
2. Coordinate Bilingual: refers to
people who learn two
languages in different contexts.
Example: Let’s say that instead of a
toddler, the child in the family moving
from Romania to England had been a
teenager. In this case, the child grows
with two sets of concepts in their mind,
each associated with one of the
languages in their language pair,
Romanian and English.
The typical manifestation, in this case,
would be the adoption of English in
school, while Romanian continues to
be used at home and in the
community. The key characteristic in
coordinate bilinguals is this separation
in the form, purpose, and environment
in which each language is used.
Example: Coordinate bilingualism
means learning each language in a
separate environment. For example
one at home, another one at school. In
this case the child keeps languages
separated in his mind and usually
doesn’t switch between them while
speaking in early years.
3. Sub-coordinate Bilingual: refers
to people who learn a second
language using their native
tongue.
Example: Subordinate bilingualism
This is a kind of bilingualism referring
mostly to adults learning a second
language. They have one strong
language: their mother tongue, and
they learn a second language through
their first language. In other words, the
second language is not separated from
the first one and learners use the
mother tongue to understand the
second language.
(StudySmarterUK)
7. The Notion of Language Policy
Planning
"Danguage planning-policy means the
institutionalization of language as a
basis for distinctions among social
groups (classes). That is, language
policy is one mechanism for locating
language within social structure so that
language determines who has access
to political power and economic
resources.”
8. Language Situations in
Industrially advanced countries
– Japan and China
9. Status of English in Industrially
advanced countries – Japan
and China
10. Language Situations in
countries where English is an
official language – Singapore
and India
11. Status of English in countries
where English is an official
language – Singapore and India
12. Highlights of Language Policies
in Industrially advanced
countries – Japan and China
13. Case Studies of Multilingual
Policies of South East Asia
According to De Swaan (2001),
who presents the organization
of languages and their
relationships in a global context,
"[i]t is multilingualism that has
kept humanity, separated by so
many languages, together...It is
this ingenious pattern of
connections between language
groups that constitutes the
 global language system" He
adds that at the bottom of this
system are the world's many
small languages that he called
peripheral languages.
Peripheral languages constitute
98% of the world's languages
and are used by under 10% of
the population of the world.
Often these languages have no
written script, and are passed
on orally and rely on people
remembering them rather than
recording them. At the next
level, connecting peripheral
languages, are central
languages (e.g., Chinese, Hindi,
and Russian). There are about
100 central languages in the
world and they are acquired as
second languages by speakers
of peripheral languages. Central
languages are often national or
official languages and are used
in politics, courts, education
systems, television, textbooks
and newspapers (DE SWAAN,
2001, p. 5-6). For Hamel
(2005), multilingualism is not
only requisite for ecological
sustainability, but it is also as
anindividual and collective
asset.
14. The concept of….
Mother tongue education
Mother tongue refers to the first
language learned at home in childhood
and still understood by the person at
the time the data was collected. If the
person no longer understands the first
language learned, the mother tongue
is the second language learned.
(statique Canada.com)
Bilingual Education
Bilingual education is a term that refers
to the teaching of academic content in
two languages, in a native and second
language. Varying amounts of each
language are used depending on the
outcome goal of the model.
Multilingual Education
Multilingual education (MLE) It refers
to the use of two or more languages as
medium of instruction. UNESCO
established the term 'multilingual
education' in 1999 (cf.
15. Language Policies in the
Philippines
The Language provision in the 1987
Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines which are embodied in
Article XIV, Sec. 6 and 7 provide the
legal basis for the various language
policies that are being implemented in
the country.
Consistent with the 1987
constitutional mandate and a declared
policy of the National Board of
Education (NBE) on bilingualism in the
schools (NBE Resolution No. 73-7,
s.1973) the Department of Education,
Culture and Sports (DECS)
promulgated its language policy.
The official languages of the
Philippines are English and Filipino.
English has been the official language
for over a century now; Spanish only
ceased to be an official language in
1973; while Filipino (Tagalog-2 in
Figure 1) only became an official
language in 1941.
16. The old bilingual education
Policy
In the Philippines, bilingual education
started in 1974, when the Department
of Education and Culture mandated
the use of English and Filipino as the
media of instruction in both primary
and secondary schools.

17. Philippine MTB-MLE
The MTB-MLE is a program where the
medium of instruction is the mother
tongue or the first language (L1) of the
learners. In the teaching-learning
process, both the teacher and the
learners use the mother tongue in
explaining the lesson.
18. Philippine official Languages
and their level of prestige
Filipino and English are the
Philippines’ two official languages.
Filipino is a native language based on
Tagalog; English has official status due
to the Philippines being a colony of the
United States between 1898 and 1946.
Schools and the media largely use
Filipino; it is the lingua franca that
binds the country’s various linguistic
communities together. English is
widely used in government,
newspapers, and publications.
19. The Prospects of Multilingual
Education and Literacy in the
Philippines
20. A closer look at DepEd English
Language Programs
(Elementary, Junior high &
Senior High School)
21. Code switching phenomenon
Code-switching is a phenomenon that
happens when a speaker alternates
between two or more languages during
a single conversation, sentence, or
situation. It is also known as language
alteration, and it usually occurs when
two or more multilingual people who
know the same languages speak to
each other.
22. Linguistic Imperialism
Linguistic imperialism is the imposition
of one language on speakers of other
languages. It is also known as
linguistic nationalism, linguistic
dominance, and language imperialism.
In our time, the global expansion of
English has often been cited as the
primary example of linguistic
imperialism.
23. Philippine Englishes in fostering
linguistic equality
It presents glimpses of unequal PhEs
through illustrations from a study on
how English language teaching is
conducted in the context of the Mother
Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
Policy in six public elementary schools
in the Visayas and Mindanao and an
analysis of the current K to 12
Curriculum in English. The findings
suggest that learners have uneven
access to PhEs. Amonolingual
paradigm privileging Inner Circle PhEs
is reflected in certain teaching
practices and some elements of the
English program. It is time to give
PhEs a distinct place in the cradle and
the apex of learning to promote
linguistic equality in the country and
enjoin all other sectors of society to
acknowledge them.
24. Reassessment of the role of
English in the world today
25. The Role of English in the
Philippine Setting
English is constitutionally named as
one of the Philippines' official
languages, and it continues to be an
integral part of local life and culture.
English is the language of business,
science,
technology, government, education, and
international communication.

References:

https://www.oed.com/discover/introduction-to-
philippine-english?tl=true#:~:text=Today%2C
%20English%20is%20constitutionally
%20named,%2C%20education%2C%20and
%20international%20communication.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Language_policy#:~:text=%22language
%20planning%2Dpolicy%20means
%20the,political%20power%20and
%20economic%20resources.