Francisco Perlas Dumanig

Despite the growing acceptance of the varieties of English, standard language ideology continues to cause some to be valorized and denigrated. This paper examines the attitudes of Filipino-Americans within an inner-circle English variety zone towards Philippine English (PhE), focusing on its status, development, lexicon, intelligibility, and acceptability. The study surveyed 113 Filipino-American speakers of American English (AmE) who were familiar with Philippine culture and PhE. Studies show that some first-language English speakers exhibit negative attitudes towards new English varieties. Contrary to this trend, our findings reveal positive attitudes among AmE speakers towards PhE. However, although it is commonly understood, these positive attitudes do not guarantee the full acceptability of PhE. Notably, there is a growing trend towards the acceptability of PhE neologisms, especially in formal and scientific contexts, indicating a shift in previous perceptions. Additionally, the findings of the study highlight that word-formation processes significantly influence the acceptability of new terms across different speech domains, a novel finding that merits further investigation. Acceptability plays a vital role in the dissemination of local expressions and in shaping the status of a language variety. This research may contribute to understanding the evolving dynamics of the acceptability of PhE and its status in local and international contexts. The positive attitudes towards PhE among American English speakers indicate a shift in perceptions. Language teaching can build on this trend by fostering an environment where students are encouraged to appreciate and respect different English varieties. This can be achieved through exposure to diverse linguistic inputs and discussions on language attitudes.

Language is used to communicate and express feelings and emotions. In the teaching context, teachers use language to share knowledge and information with students. Teachers’ use of negative language, such as duffer, stupid, and lazy, may result in students feeling mistreated, discouraged, and worthless. Such language can also negatively affect students’ cognitive processes, feelings, and emotions and blunt their curiosity, and their interest in performing better may be reduced. Although much of the previous research has demonstrated the cause-effect relation between negative teacher talk and students’ unsatisfactory performance, none of the studies, to the best of our knowledge, explored teachers’ reflections and narratives of negative language. Therefore, this study seeks to explore teachers’ attitudes to negative language, reasons for using such language, and ways of reducing the use of such language. Data collected through a narrative inquiry from 20 teachers in Pakistan’s Sindh province has been qualitatively analyzed to demonstrate how negative language and its perception are shaped by teachers. Findings show that teachers tend to use negative language for several reasons, not always necessarily with the explicit intent of motivating students to improve. As humans, teachers carry anger, annoyance, and irritation issues from the home and relationship domains to the classroom. It is hoped that the findings will make teachers aware of their use of negative language, and hopefully, such awareness will reduce the use of negative language, which, in many cases, is detrimental to students’ well-being.

Globalisation has resulted in people from different parts of the world migrating from one country to another in search of better job opportunities. Countries that provide attractive job opportunities are most likely to become the major destinations of migrant workers. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia is one of the preferred destinations of economic migrants from neighbouring countries such as the Philippines. Studies show that blue-collar and white-collar Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in Malaysia have increased in number over time. This paper examines how Filipinos transport and reconstruct their hybrid identities through language choice in multilingual and multicultural Malaysia. To conduct the study, 30 Filipinos were interviewed about their choice of language in the work domain, and they were asked how such language choice reflected the identity that they wished to portray. The findings show that OFWs construct and reconstruct their identity by using the Philippine variety of English, and code-switching between English and other Philippines languages. Such construction of hybrid identity is seen through language choice, lexical choices, and pronunciation, and accent. The hybrid identity of OFW is a product of continuous transportation and reconstruction of their identity.

This paper focusses on the minority community of the Malaysian Sindhis to show that ethnic and cultural identities can be constructed through means other practices than solely by the heritage languages. The study draws on an open-ended question directed to 79 lady members of the Sindhi community in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The respondents were women aged 50-70 and a friend of a friend helped in obtaining further respondents. This age group was selected as they often met for kitty parties, gambling sessions, and lunch parties. Their one-word responses were recorded and returned to the facilitator helping in data collection. The question was “What do you mean when you say you are a Sindhi?”. Based on the data, we contend that the term ethnicity denotes a subjective sense of community, meaning a shared identity which results in a sense of group solidarity. Identity is rooted in actual cultural practices and experiences.

This paper examines how internationalisation of higher education institutions is reflected through their mission and vision statements by comparatively analysing the mission and vision statements of selected universities in Malaysia and the Philippines. To carry out the study, twenty (20) mission and vision statements of public and private universities in Malaysia and the Philippines were collected and analysed, underlined by the importance of textual agency in policy orientations. The framework used in analysing the mission and vision statements includes the analysis of textual practice and discourse practice. The micro-level analysis of the discourse focused on the textual practice, such as vocabulary, grammar, and text structure. Moreover, the genre and style of text were also analysed. The findings of the study reveal that the mission and vision statements of universities in Malaysia and the Philippines align with respective country policies, and have something in common as far as the concept of internationalisation in higher education is concerned. It is also evident that universities in both countries emphasise the importance of producing global and competent graduates, and obtaining international recognition and world-class education.

English language learning does not only happen within the four corners of the classroom, but it may occur even within the learner‟s immediate community. Learning English can be enhanced through various resources like the available linguistic landscape. According to Landry and Bourhis (1997, p. 25) the term linguistic landscape (LL) is defined as the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combines to form the LL of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration. As such, it contributes to an additional languagelearning tool for language learners. It is, therefore, the focus of this study to examine the use of the linguistic landscape as a pedagogical resource in teaching and learning English. This study examines explicitly the shop names and signage in Oman. To carry on the study, fifty (50) shop names and signage in Al Buraimi, Oman were collected and analyzed. The findings of the study reveal that the linguistic landscape does not only provide awareness about the English language, but it also enhances the learners‟ English language skills. This study supports the notion that exposing learners to the linguistic landscape provides awareness of the languages used in public signs, which indicate or give evidence of what languages are locally relevant (Kasanga, 2012). This study offers new insights on how classroom activities can be extended to the streets of the learners‟ community.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of Malaysian employers and students on the need for English language proficiency and skills for employment.Design/methodology/approach: Interviews were conducted with employers from various organisations. Additionally, questionnaires were disseminated to undergraduates at four public universities in Malaysia. These were done to ascertain the perspectives of different stakeholders on the importance of English in securing employment, the effect of a marked regional accent or dialect on employability and industry’s expectations and requirements for new employees.Findings: Employers and students agree that English plays a major role in employability. Whilst there was general agreement by both parties that good grammar and a wide range of vocabulary are important, the findings indicated several mismatches in terms of students’ perceptions and employers’ expectations. Among them is the use of the colloquial form of English at the workplace which was not favoured by employers. Employers also generally felt that knowledge of different types of writing styles could be learnt on-the-job. Furthermore, employers pointed out other essential skills for employability: the ability to communicate in other languages, confidence and a good attitude.Practical implications: Cognisant of the fact that English is essential in improving employability, initiatives to improve the level of English among Malaysian students must continue to be put in place. University students should be made aware of the different language skills sought by employers early in their university education. The mismatches between the perceptions of university students and the expectations of employers should be considered when planning English language courses and degree programmes. More structured feedback from industry on both would help to better prepare students for the world of work and to ease the transition from campus to career.Social implications: In relation to graduate employability, these English-language elite groups would have an advantage in securing employment especially in multinational companies, and this will, in a long run, create a larger gap between students from the international and public schools.Originality/value: With the standpoint of two important parties, employers and students, a more comprehensive idea of the effect of English language on employability has been obtained.

Research on bilingualism and multilingualism The bilingual and multilingual nature of the Philippines has resulted in a number of language policies st Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies

Research on bilingualism and multilingualism The Philippine K–12 program implements the use of two languages, such as Filipino (L2) and English (L3), Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies