ACELT Special Projects

Program of Activities: 

Opening Remarks 

Lecture Ruanni Tupas on “Confronting the Coloniality of English Language Teaching and Learning” 

Presentations Patria Garcia on “Reading Against the Grain: Stories We Read to Preschool Children Through The Lens of Coloniality" 

Frances Perez on “Home as a Site of Language Ideology” 

Philip Andrew Carlitos on “Writing Glocally: Integrating Local Knowledge in an English Composition Course”

Panel Discussion 

Marianne Perfecto 

Nicanor Guinto Ruanni Tupas

Partia Garcia

Frances Perez 

Philip Andrew Garlitos 

Cheche Suarez 

Open Forum 

Closing Remarks

About the Lecture

Confronting the Coloniality of English Language Teaching and Learning
by Ruanni Tupas 

In this introductory talk, I will discuss "decolonization" as it is mobilized in English Language Teaching, highlighting both the possibilities and problems it generates for the field. It argues that decolonizing ELT is necessary to change/transform harmful practices in the classroom, but this political project should be viewed as linked with other social projects of transformation beyond the literal confines of the classroom.

About the Recorded Presentations 

Reading Against the Grain: Stories We Read to Preschool Children Through The Lens of Coloniality by Patria Garcia 

The presentation invites us to view two children’s stories through the lens of coloniality - specifically coloniality of knowledge. It also encourages us to look at the literary canons we subscribe to, the types of books we choose to read to our children and the resulting effects it may have on their identity formation. The presentation also suggests ways on how we can use storybooks to raise awareness on our rich culture, heritage, history and traditions as Filipinos. 

Home as a Site of Language Ideology by Frances Perez 

Much has been said about the need to decolonize language in the classroom. This presentation crosses the borders of school to examine one’s earliest venue of language education: the home. In particular, this study investigates parents’ attitudes toward language acquisition in early childhood. The analysis shows that 75 years after its last colonizer left its shores, a linguistically-diverse and multicultural Philippines still continues to be a breeding ground for deep-seated colonial mindsets that privilege monolingualism and neglect translingual and sociolinguistic realities. Well-meaning but misguided language attitudes at home may be carried over to school and beyond, with detrimental implications. Hence, it is crucial to see the home as another site of resistance, of decolonization.

Writing Glocally: Integrating Local Knowledge in an English Composition Course by Philip Andrew Carlitos Colonialism, in its literal sense, may have ended long time ago, but its influence still lives on up to the present which can be observed in many domains, including education. Through the English language, the American imperialism has been maintained through textbooks, academic standards, academic policies, among others. However, the widespread use of English not only in the Philippines but also around the world has paved the way for its localization. In its CMO No. 75, Series of 2017, Section 6.3.1b, under the Program Objectives for the Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) recognizes the glocal (global and local) nature of English and the multilingual contexts in which it is taught. Hence, English needs to be taught in context in order to make it culturally and personally relevant to the students, especially that the Philippines is a multicultural and multilingual nation. This presentation provides an example of a simple learning plan of an English composition lesson with local contextualization. Here, I go back to my output when I joined a local knowledge integration workshop some years back. Along with it are the perceived limitations and challenges of contextualizing the instruction locally, especially in an English course at that, as a way to decolonize the English Language Teaching and Learning in the Philippines. 

About the Speakers/Panel Discussants

 Ruanni Tupas, University College London Ako hay taga Aklan pero makaron hay gaistar kaibahan ana pamilya sa London, United Kingdom. Nagaturo ako sa Department of Culture, Communication and Media, Institute of Education, University College London. Nagturo man ako dati sa University of the Philippines sa Diliman, National University of Singapore ag National Institute of Education, Singapore. Ana nga mga research hay nahanungod sa Unequal Englishes, inequalities of multilingualism, and geopolitics of knowledge of production. 
 

Patria L. Garcia, Teaching Little Children Playschool Ria is the head teacher at Teaching Little Children Playschool. She is currently finishing her Master’s Degree from the University of the Philippines Open University. It is in the same university that she also recently obtained her Diploma in Language and Literacy Education. She has an AB Literature degree (cum laude) from the University of Santo Tomas. She was also a high school English language and literature teacher at Saint Pedro Poveda College. She is an advocate of early literacy and is actively promoting an appreciation of stories and reading among her students. Her research interests are on oral language development, neurodivergent students and their emerging reading skills, and multilingualism and decolonization in the preschool classroom. She is in the process of curating books for her school library - balancing foreign books with locally written ones. 

Frances Doplon Perez, Ateneo de Manila University Frances is an Filipina educator with a background in Humanities, Development Education, and MA English Language & Literature Teaching. She began her teaching career in the basic education sector until she moved to the Department of English in the Ateneo de Manila University, where she has been teaching for 15 years and counting. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, linguistic human rights, and multilingual education. This year, she also shares her expertise as a graduate school lecturer at Phinma Araullo University. Originally “Tiga-South of Metro Manila”, Frances is currently based in Nueva Ecija with her husband and two young children. 

Philip Andrew Garlitos, Davao del Norte State College Philip Andrew teaches Linguistics, Literature, and Language Research courses at the Institute of Teacher Education, Davao del Norte State College. He earned both his AB in English and Master of English in Applied Linguistics degrees from the University of Southeastern Philippines. He later earned units in professional education from the Ateneo de Davao University. An offshoot of his graduate school thesis has been published by the Journal of Language and Literature of Universitas Sanata Dharma in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Recently, he completed the Sociolinguistics in Education Online Certificate Course offered by the Ateneo Center for English Language Teaching. 

Marianne Rachel Perfecto, Ateneo de Manila University Marianne is Associate Professor at the Ateneo de Manila University. As a teacher trainer and educator, she has worked with secondary and tertiary teachers in the country and the region in the areas of materials and curriculum development, and language and literature teaching. She served as Chair of the English Department of ADMU, and as Executive Director of ACELT. She was also one of the Consultants of CHED for the GE course, Purposive Communication, and is one of the authors of the Ateneo published textbook on Purposive Communication. Her research focuses on teacher cognition, ELT reading & writing, multilingual education, and translanguaging in ELT. 

Nicanor Guinto, Southern Luzon State University Nic is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Humanities at the College of Arts and Sciences, Southern Luzon State University. He holds a PhD in Language, Discourse and Communication jointly offered by the University of Hong Kong and King's College London. 

Cecilia A. Suarez, Ateneo de Manila University Cheche teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at the Department of English, Ateneo de Manila University. She is the Executive Director of Ateneo Center for English Language Teaching (ACELT) where she is also a Senior Trainer. She is a National Trainer for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and a Master Trainer and Training Consultant for the British Council. She obtained her MA in English Language and Literature Teaching from the Ateneo de Manila University and her PhD in Education, Major in Language Education from the University of the Philippines Diliman. She has authored and co-authored a number of books for basic education and tertiary levels. Her research interests include multilingualism & translingualism, teacher training, materials development, assessment and evaluation, among others.