The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics

For much of postcolonial language politics around the world, the fight has largely been between a foreign (read: colonial) language and (a) dominant local language(s). This is true in the Philippines where the debates have focused on English and Filipino, the Tagalog-based national language. In rece...

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Main Author: Tupas, T. Ruanni F.
Format: text
Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss16/9
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1207/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n16_2011_5D_203.3_ForumKritika_Tupas.pdf
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spelling ph-ateneo-arc.kk-12072024-12-16T07:18:02Z The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics Tupas, T. Ruanni F. For much of postcolonial language politics around the world, the fight has largely been between a foreign (read: colonial) language and (a) dominant local language(s). This is true in the Philippines where the debates have focused on English and Filipino, the Tagalog-based national language. In recent years, however, the mother tongues have posed a challenge to the ideological structure of the debates. Although local languages have long been acknowledged as positively contributing to the enhancement of learning in school, they have been co-opted mostly as a nationalist argument against English, American (neo)colonialism and imperialist globalization. The current initiatives to establish mother tongue-based education reconfigure the terms of engagement in Philippine postcolonial language politics: it must account for the fact that the mother tongues could be the rightful media of instruction. In the process, it must tease out issues concerning the decoupling of Filipino as the national language and Filipino as a/the medium of instruction, and deal with the politics of inclusion and exclusion in “bilingual” and “multilingual’” education. Nevertheless, this paper ends with a general critique of language debates in the country, arguing that “content” has been sidelined in much of the discussion. The future of postcolonial language politics in the Philippines should not be about language per se, but about how the entanglements of language with the larger (neo)colonial infrastructures of education where medium, substance and structures are needed to advance the nationalist imagining of the multilingual nation. 2024-12-20T03:05:11Z text application/pdf https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss16/9 info:doi/10.13185/1656-152x.1207 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1207/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n16_2011_5D_203.3_ForumKritika_Tupas.pdf Kritika Kultura Archīum Ateneo Alternative Learning System (ALS) Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Instruction (MLE) national language politics of education
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic Alternative Learning System (ALS)
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Instruction (MLE)
national language
politics of education
spellingShingle Alternative Learning System (ALS)
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Instruction (MLE)
national language
politics of education
Tupas, T. Ruanni F.
The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics
description For much of postcolonial language politics around the world, the fight has largely been between a foreign (read: colonial) language and (a) dominant local language(s). This is true in the Philippines where the debates have focused on English and Filipino, the Tagalog-based national language. In recent years, however, the mother tongues have posed a challenge to the ideological structure of the debates. Although local languages have long been acknowledged as positively contributing to the enhancement of learning in school, they have been co-opted mostly as a nationalist argument against English, American (neo)colonialism and imperialist globalization. The current initiatives to establish mother tongue-based education reconfigure the terms of engagement in Philippine postcolonial language politics: it must account for the fact that the mother tongues could be the rightful media of instruction. In the process, it must tease out issues concerning the decoupling of Filipino as the national language and Filipino as a/the medium of instruction, and deal with the politics of inclusion and exclusion in “bilingual” and “multilingual’” education. Nevertheless, this paper ends with a general critique of language debates in the country, arguing that “content” has been sidelined in much of the discussion. The future of postcolonial language politics in the Philippines should not be about language per se, but about how the entanglements of language with the larger (neo)colonial infrastructures of education where medium, substance and structures are needed to advance the nationalist imagining of the multilingual nation.
format text
author Tupas, T. Ruanni F.
author_facet Tupas, T. Ruanni F.
author_sort Tupas, T. Ruanni F.
title The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics
title_short The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics
title_full The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics
title_fullStr The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics
title_full_unstemmed The New Challenge of the Mother Tongues: The Future of Philippine Postcolonial Language Politics
title_sort new challenge of the mother tongues: the future of philippine postcolonial language politics
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2024
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss16/9
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1207/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n16_2011_5D_203.3_ForumKritika_Tupas.pdf
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