Optimal Medium of Instruction for the Filipino students

Medium of instruction is an essential part of education. In a multilingual country like the Philippines, the optimal medium of instruction is a very popular topic of debates and discussions.

The English language is being used as a medium of instruction in the Philippines because of the certain reasons that was taken into consideration. First, policymakers believed that English proficiency was the Filipinos’ way to global competitiveness. In 2003, former President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, implemented the Executive Order 210 which established the policy to reinforce English as the primary medium of instruction in the schools and universities of the Philippines. The policy aims to increase the number of Filipinos who are English-proficient, thus making the Filipinos well-educated and globally competitive (Martin, 2008). Lourdes Villanueva had the same view in her book Filipino vs. English as a Medium of Instruction. She stated that learning how to speak and write in English is highly needed by Filipinos in this era of globalization. She mentioned that if the citizens have the desire to compete in a world that judges based on knowledge, they better start being proficient in English (2007, as cited in Martin, 2008). Homer Stuntz, who conducted a study in this matter, also believed that to the aspiring Filipinos, English fluency could be the avenue to enter the complicated, yet fascinating world of business, politics, scientific knowledge, and international relations. They were the path that most people who have wild dreams would want to take (1904, as cited in Bernabe, 1987). Second, it was implemented because they believed that using it as a medium of instruction was the only way to practice it and be proficient in it. Those who fa...

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