Read this learning scenario, Discuss with your groupmates your answers to the following questions. The leader  facilitates the discussion ; scribe prepares a summary of points raised. This will be shared in class during our sync session.

After reading the text, it is fair to say that it would fall under Krashen’s Theory of Language Acquisition, as it discussed general concepts that are associated with the mentioned theory.

Krashen’s Theory of Language Acquisition does not avoid teaching grammar completely; rather, it explains fundamental concepts of language learning by studying the language, paying attention to grammar rules, and considering a formal course of instruction.

Yes. Language acquisition is a natural process of learning a new language. Language learning is the conscious and deliberate process of acquiring a second language.Language acquisition happens spontaneously when we are young and will continue to happen even after we stop learning new languages.

Language learning, in contrast, involves conscious effort on our part to learn a foreign language. It can be done in many ways: through regular classes, by reading books and articles written in the target language, or by taking courses at an institute where you study the language in class with native speakers.

We acquire and learn language through exposure and by being exposed to examples of the language and by using it. And also, we learn our first language when our parents speak to us with their language.

A child or person is naturally exposed to the language when learning their first language in the Philippines. For example, a child is born into a family of Tagalogs, and their language is Filipino - or Tagalog itself - this leads the children to have exposure to the Tagalog language, which automatically considered as the first language. This exposure to language contains continual usage of the language and the environment where the child hears it (Tagalog language) - meaning the first language is acquired and not learned. 

On the other hand, the second language, was taught through formal or informal learning. For example, an OFW went to Hong Kong. He does not know how to speak Chinese, but because of his exposure to people like his Chinese boss and other Chinese people around him, he was able to learn the said language in the process. For the OFW, learning the language was essential for surviving and understanding an unknown environment.

Another example is when a child learns to speak English. The opportunity for the child to learn the English language was through the possibility that maybe that child was tought by his parents and or was taught formally - like in school.

In other words, rather than being acquired, the second language was primarily, and consciously learned.

First Language – In the Philippines, the first language is being taught through exposure. At an early age, the children are being exposed to a certain language to wherever he or she is born. In that way, the child gets to adopt the language that is being spoken in the place with the knowledge that it is something right and something useful when you want to communicate with other people as it is used by the people surrounding him/her.

Second Language – Here in the Philippines, there are two ways children get to learn a second language. First, they learn it through exposure. For example, there are parts in the country in which they use more than one language, hence, the child is being exposed in these languages as well and gets to adopt it. Second, it is also taught in schools. Wherein, the subjects like Filipino and English, allows the children to learn about the language in that particular subject.

As we all know, a second language is welcomed and widely accepted in different parts of the world. Second languages are getting more attention in our society than the first language since before and until now. Divergent institutions of our society have introduced and widely used the second language - in the family, government, economy, education, and religion. The second language functions differently in each country's institutions. The use of a second language was prominent, based on my observations, and in terms of the classroom setup - the institution of education should and must balance the usage and exposure of students to a second language - though many societal institutions claim that a second language is for global competence; Yes, it is true. But they should still reiterate the usage of the first language. 

Based on my observation, Mother Tongue in schools is still not enough. I wanted to emphasize that schools should balance the usage and exposure of students to a second language. In this case, there will be fifty percent use of the second language and fifty percent use of the first language while still respecting the learners' subjects. Schools can offer activities where students can express their first language profoundly - like cultural activities and profound studies of the first language. To summarize, there should be a balanced usage of a second language in the classroom. 

I don’t think there should be changes on how second language is taught in the classroom but improvement needs to be executed. For example, as teachers teach the English language, they just teach it in the speaking and writing level but it lacks application in communication. Hence, as they teach the language, they should as well encourage their students to speak it. It could be a rule like “English only hour” or “English only day” wherein students are encouraged to use the language to communicate. In this way, I believe that they will become more proficient in using the language and be more confident to use the language.

Look for  three journal articles on language ideologies people have that greatly impact language policies of a speech community.  Prepare a reading brief for each and publish them in your Padlet for this course.  Follow the standard document format (APA, A4) and the structure of Reading brief.

Include links to the articles in your reading briefs.

                                         (The Filipino and English Languages)

       Across the globe, throughout history, there has always been a standard language -  for similar and different reasons. It also resulted in different views, treatment, and opinions from every community. The standardization of language affects everyone – because everyone has a participation whether we like it or not. If there are people, language will always exist. The standardization of the Philippine language cannot escape the world of arguments. The standardization of the Philippine language has received positive and negative feedback from the masses; we cannot blame them. Why? Because we need to accept that the standardization of languages has limitations and a balance of use. It also has a good and bad impact on people, which results in a much broader argumentation that needs to be learned and understood.

       In the Philippines, as we all know, the languages that became standardized are primarily the Filipino language or the standardized form of Tagalog language and the English language - treated as the second official language of the Philippines. In terms of the Filipino language, we are all aware that it has the highest percentage and dominancy of language used in the Philippines, which is also obviously legally considered the standard language of the Philippines. On the other hand, the English language was also considered the second standardized language in the Philippines – clearly because of our awareness of its dominancy in the Philippine society due to its historical background – like the introduction of the English language in the Philippines by the Americans to justify their colonization of the Philippines. They implement the English language in different institutions of the Philippine society – primarily in education, government, and economy, similarly to how the Filipino language works in the Philippines.

       In my opinion, I agree with the use of Filipino and English languages as the medium of instruction depending on the area where it spoken. Why? Because even though Filipino and English became standardized languages, we still need to look and build on the context or the place where it is used or applied. We may all agree that the standardized Filipino and English language has benefit to all of us because of their wide acceptance and use in our society in general - but we should also consider that there is also people who do not agree with the uniformity of these standard languages. For example, those people who are part of the indigenous group or community; are all aware that they have their cultural ideologies and their ideologies towards their unique language. Even though the Philippines have two standardized languages, we still need to understand and respect what the other communities favored to use as their language because it is part of their cultural identity. Meaning - such implementations of standardized languages should also have limitations, treated with balance depending on a specific community. 

       Furthermore, the standardization of the Filipino and English language also has a good and bad impact on people. According to the course - Philippine Culture, Heritage and Indigenous Communities and Ramlan Ramlan, who wrote the study about Language Standardization In General Point of View; First, its positive effects or its advantages; Primarily, it allows the standardized languages to be a representation of the whole community to have an agreed order of communication. Meaning Filipino people have one standard language to use for them to have better and intelligible communication. Another advantage of standardized Filipino and English language is it unifies Filipino people. Meaning standardized language also serves as a unifier of people, where Filipinos understand other Filipinos not just through communication but who they are, which leads to Filipino identity or what we call in Filipino “pagkakakilanlan”; Another and last advantage of the standardization of Filipino and English languages is that, as Filipinos, we can keep up with the globalization happening globally – especially with the use of the English language. What about the negative part or disadvantages of standardization of the Philippine languages? – Filipino and English language. Sadly to say, according to a similar source - Philippine Culture, Heritage and Indigenous Communities and Ramlan Ramlan, who wrote the study about Language Standardization In General Point of View, such practice of standardizing a language leads to dominancy and the term elitism among the people of one large community or nation -  this leads to the creation of marginalization, where a group of people in a larger community where treated as part of the minority and put into powerless position, being discriminated against and undergo prejudice – abused mentally and physically, from the people who naturally practice the standardized languages and from the people who implement it – which in reality with our awareness happens to many Filipino minority groups; This leads to other disadvantages of standardized languages of the Philippines because some Filipino people who experience negative judgments because of their language or dialect from other people who uses the standardized language acquired the characteristic of being inferior – they isolate themselves or as one community because of their mind that they are overall lower in status to others. Another disadvantage of standardization of languages, still from the same sources mentioned, is the fact that many parents have naturally forced their children in first learning the standardized language for their children to be part of the dominant community and conform to the standard of the society, forgetting and leaving behind their origin culture and language. For example, based also on my observation from my community, those children who are Tagalogs or Ilocanos, of course, we might expect that they know how to use the Tagalog or Ilocano language – but unfortunately, many Filipino children nowadays do not know, and does not understand other language or rather their languages other than the English language. 

       In conclusion, we can observe that the standardization of languages in the Philippines can say something more than we might expect. It tackled not just the limitations and balanced usage of a standardized language – Filipino and English languages - but also included positive and negative impacts of it on the people of the Philippine society. In addition, this leads us to comprehend that language openly plays a big part in our Philippine society. Depending on how the general public in the Philippines serves a language, it can be beneficial or detrimental.

 

 

SOCSCI102N. Philippine Culture, Heritage, and Indigenous Communities.

Ramlan, R. (2018, February 9). Language Standardization In General Point of View.  DOI:10.33258/birci.v1i1.4 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329967792_Language_Standarization_In_General_Point_of_View

 

 

-          The language learning program of the United States of America monitors the English language of learners with cultural differences in their language learning.

-          It helps students to know and learn the significant roles of the English language.

-          The English-only Ballot Initiatives exhibits the significance of English language to different institutions of the United States of America.

-          There is an interest and preservation of pluralism; respecting various groups, principles, beliefs, cultural values, and languages.

-          The dominancy of English language helps to preserve the native and first language of the United States of America.


CONS :

-          The English language policy disabled or prevent non-native Americans to express their own ethnicity, culture, and languages.

-          The language policy of the Unites States of America provides a general learning for students (native speakers and non-native speakers of English language); this caused pressure to first time learners of English language – which belongs to the non-native English language speakers.

-          It causes bilingual speakers in shifting to use English language only policy, which lead these bilingual speakers and learners to have a narrow language literacy – especially with their own native and cultural languages.

-          The English-only Ballot Initiatives exhibits a negative and a decrease of interest in bilingualism and consideration of other culture residing in the United States of America.

-          Pluralism maintenance are only community based, and it does not falls under the state educational policies.

-          Due to the English language dominancy, the language maintenance of other languages existing in the United States of America was negatively affected which sometimes lead to a much worst scenario of being perished.