Learning and mastering the English language is not a measure of one’s intelligence as they say. It is not a requirement and just always a part of what they call “sosyal” in Filipino language. If you can speak English fluently and effectively, you are a superior and “elite” creature in people’s eyes. If you write and talk to others using the given language, then you are gifted. If you know the Ferris wheel ride of it, then you are an extraordinary person. When someone asks a teacher what subject does he teach and he says English, many people are so amused. But are they really the main reasons why we study the English language? Or are there other things or purposes that lie beyond knowing, learning, and understanding it?

Let’s start from the basic by talking the major macroskills and what experiences I have encountered based on the response of students to things.

• READING and Comprehension. As students, it is really a must for all to read. If you don’t want to read for example, then you’re not going to understanding anything. According to one foundation of education, reading is one of the skills needed by humans to survive. Based on observation, only few people only have the interest to read, and more are too unwilling even to turn books in a specific page. They prefer reading using tablets or laptops. According to most people I’ve met, hard bound or printed book is boring. They find stories, poems, or articles reflecting our culture as a very obsolete idea and they want to have a twist. People want to read books dealing with romance. But they see the more important ones as worthless. And the generation today views reading books that way. That’s why, some teachers order reading booklets and workbooks to be answered by the students even in junior high school to revive their interest and eagerness to read. From the facts I include, it has no doubt these result to poor reading comprehension. It is not reading that is considered as a problem; it is the mindset of the readers.
• WRITING, Spelling, and Punctuation. Among the three macro skills mentioned above, this is the evidence or output that most people show poor performance in dealing not only with the English language, but also with the English subject as well. Even the punctuation marks are in a “problematic” phase. They admit that even placing a period at the end of the sentence is not needed because the meaning is just the same. Furthermore, the spelling of the words are adapted from text messages and social media posts that makes this part complicated. Example, instead of “house,” it is misspelled as “haws” or “haus.” In writing, there are still conflicts with the basic margins, indention, and how a paragraph must be constructed. Spacing, believe it or not, is a problem as well. Yearly, the construction of such occurs. English writing lessons are continuous. It is a cycle. Yet, most show no mastery of the skills. The question is this: How can one write a business or formal letters, speeches, or resume upon growing up when the basics have not yet mastered? 

All of the details I have mentioned only fall for only one purpose why we have to study and learn the English language: UNDERSTANDING. As stated by Noam Chomsky, everyone of us must understand the language first before moving on to anything like Math. In some subjects, the medium of instruction is English. Therefore, one cannot escape the power of English in our lives and how the language affects our way of thinking and dealing with things.

Some people want to learn English to go abroad; some like to master English so they can be superior among the others. But aim for one goal in learning the language, and that is UNDERSTANDING.

By: Marie Buena S. Bunsoy