English or Engalog?
By Babe Romualdez
When English was abolished as a medium of instruction in schools – a move made in 1987 shortly after EDSA I – it only resulted in the birth of "Engalog" – a mishmash of English and Tagalog words and phrases which did not succeed in making Filipinos truly bilingual. It was really a disastrous move to impose Tagalog-based Filipino as a medium of instruction even for subjects like math and science, because little did we know that we would be suffering its effects today with Filipinos slowly losing their competitive edge in getting good job opportunities particularly in technology-based industries. Filipinos are clearly losing out because of that very big mistake to abolish the use of English as a medium of instruction 20 years ago. Today, a lot of employers are complaining about the deteriorating quality of our graduates, and the fact that majority of them lack the required skill and facility in the English language.
Take the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, for instance. Last year, around 200,000 were employed in BPO companies, mostly contact centers, which generated approximately $3.8 billion in revenues. This industry is acknowledged as one of the most dynamic of all sectors in the Information Technology (IT) industry, contributing to some 12 percent of the country's GDP. In the Philippines, the call center sector – a subset of the BPO industry – has the highest growth rate in Asia with some 105,000 call agent seats reported last year.
Government is positive that the Philippines will capture 50 percent of the total English-speaking market in 2008, and that some 900,000 Filipinos would be employed by 2010 in an industry projected to earn $11 billion in revenues. But this may be a tall order considering that the Philippines is showing a sharp decline in its attractiveness as a location for offshore services. This country currently ranks third behind India and China and just slightly ahead of Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. But while the Philippines is said to be the biggest rival of India in the BPO industry, it has dropped from 4th to 8th place out of 50 countries that are considered attractive locations for off shore services. This slide in attractiveness is blamed mostly on the fact that the college graduates who apply for jobs in call centers fare poorly in the qualifying exams – meaning they lack sufficient comprehension skills and they do not have the high level of conversational fluency required for the job. Of the approximately 400,000 fresh graduates churned out by colleges and universities, less than three percent are hired in BPO companies and call centers.
Purists and nationalists may disagree, but whether we like it or not, English is still considered the lingua franca of business and finance. It is estimated that 400 million people speak English as the primary language, while another 300-500 million are adept at it and use it as a second language, with still 750 million more using it as a foreign language. Many Asian countries are obviously beginning to recognize the advantage of being fluent in the English language. In South Korea, its oldest and most prestigious private university, Yonsei, has began to offer a four-year program for English-language classes, in part to keep their best and brightest from going abroad to study. Korea University previously offered less than 10 percent of classes in English. Today, it has increased to 35 percent and is expected to go up by as much as 60 percent. In Japan, Waseda University has been running a successful English college program since 2004 even while it focuses heavily on Asian culture, politics, history and other liberal arts. Beijing University and other top schools in China have likewise followed suit, increasing their English-language class offerings.
There is a big opportunity for the Philippines to eclipse India and China as the most attractive location for offshore services – but our students' English proficiency has to improve – and we're not only talking of the collegiate level here. Facility and proficiency in English has to start even during the elementary and high school levels. Fortunately, there are a number of initiatives by business groups for the promotion of English, like the Promoting English Proficiency (PEP) project of the American Chamber of Commerce. According to PEP co-chair John Forbes, there is a gap of hundreds of thousands of jobs that are not being filled in the Philippines because of poor English and other skills. This is what PEP is trying to address through its information and advocacy campaign, and through partnerships with educational institutions for the establishment of computerized English language centers, and encouraging employers to adopt higher standards of certification for hiring or advancing employees, like the Test of English for International Communication or TOEIC.
Surveys showed that Filipinos are showing a marked decline in their proficiency and comprehension in all aspects of the English language – whether spoken, written or read. Just listen to the complaints of businessmen – or worse, just try listening to new graduates struggle in expressing themselves during interviews – and you will understand why the situation has become disturbing if not downright disappointing.
Source: Good News Pilipinas
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