LEADING teachers meeting in the University recently said instruction in Filipino should not be downgraded despite President Macapagal’s controversial order to make English the primary medium of instruction in the Philippine education system.
But efforts to improve English instruction should be made nonetheless.
“There is no such idea to downgrade the Filipino language. We’re merely concentrating on the English language as a medium of instruction,” said Ma. Clara Ravina of the University of the Philippines.
Ravina, president of the College English Teachers Association (CETA), urged English teachers to seek to improve English curricula in schools through an “exchange of ideas”.
UST Professor Emeritus Milagros Tanlayco agreed. She said that Philippine schools follow the bilingual policy as mandated by the Constitution. Tanlayco is the president of the Council of Department Chairpersons in English (CDCE).
CETA held their first Joint International Congress at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex last April 2 to 4.
With the theme “International Congress on English Programs 2003: Enhancing Educators’ Commitment to Quality English and Literature Teaching,” Tanlayco said the congress sought to evaluate trends and address certain issues in language and literature teaching.
The congress sought to design and develop the English and Literature programs in the secondary and tertiary levels in the Pacific rim as well as empower educators and stakeholders in the redirection and re-envisioning of their English programs.
CETA and CDCE are sister organizations com-posed of English instructors from different schools nationwide. They aim to enhance English and Literature teaching.
Meanwhile, among the papers presented in the congress was “A report on the Hypostheses of and Assumptions about Content-Based Language Instruction (CBLI)” by Johanna Hashim, UST Department of Lan-guages chairperson.
“CBLI may be the solution to the problem involving the communication skills of students in all courses, especially in the technical or technological courses, without the addition of too many English language subjects,” Hashim said.
Juanito Cabanias of De La Salle University-Dasmariñas, in his study “The Effectiveness of Modular Instruction in Enhancing the Students’ Academic Performance in Philippine Literature,” said that college students subjected to modular instruction tend to score high in the post-test and attain above-average per-formance in Philippine li-terature. Ma. Cristina S. Lavapie
