Department of Languages

Newspaper editorials constitute a part of media discourse, which is an extremely important field of research in intercultural rhetoric analysis and EFL (English as a foreign language)/ESL (English as a second language) studies. Specifically, certain features of editorial headlines and also their important role in monitoring and directing readers' attention have made the interface between the linguistic analysis of newspaper editorial headlines and teaching of EFL as a relevant issue in language teaching. Through conducting a contrastive textual analysis of selected headlines, culled from the electronic versions of editorials of mainstream newspaper, Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), and those of alternative online newspaper, Rappler, the present study aimed at exploring the kind of textual and rhetorical strategies the two newspapers used for propagating their preferred ideologies. The results of the study indicated certain qualitative and quantitative similarities and differences between the mainstream and non-mainstream editorial headlines. In terms of verbal/ nonverbal distinction, Rappler's editorial writers preferred to write full sentences headlines, while those of PDI are inclined to write the headlines in punchy and short phrases. Moreover, the analysis revealed that the two papers to some extent were identical in using existential presupposition and lexical presupposition for persuasion purposes. Lastly, in terms of rhetorical devices employed, metonymy was found to be used in the two papers equally. However, in terms of other rhetorical devices, editorial writers in PDI use literary devices such as rhetorical questions and testimonials which made the headlines look persuasive. Meanwhile, writers in Rappler preferred another set of devices such as quoting out of context, parallelism, and neologism.

The global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic affected all areas of life significantly paving the way to the new normal set-up. In response, the higher education system in the Philippines opted to implement flexible learning as its delivery model. Flexible learning unlocked critical areas in redesigning the pre-pandemic learning and teaching paradigm, one of which is the deployment of learning management systems or online platforms to contribute to the effective implementation of flexible learning. The present study attempts to explore Google Classroom’s potentials and acceptability as a tool of support to flexible language learning and teaching. A survey questionnaire was given to a group of 44 university students who completed the Purposive Communication course. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) analysis of data, the findings revealed that the majority of the students agreed that Google Classroom could provide accessibility, utility, and students’ satisfaction. Similarly, s...

The present paper investigates the use of the discourse marker “well,” one of the expressions that evoke emotive rather than referential functions. Taking a discourse-pragmatic approach, this study examines the functions of well as a discourse marker in selected spoken discourse of Philippine English. This paper investigates the functions and frequency of the discourse marker well in various speech event categories set in a dialogue and monologue environments. The data for the analysis have been selected from the International Corpus of English – Philippines (ICE-PHI). Also, the study focuses on the spoken component of the ICE-PH, which is one of the least studied dimensions of Philippine English. Further, it employs both quantitative and qualitative analyses while applying the suggested classification proposed by Ran (2003) and Jucker (1993). This study claims that the discourse marker well has several discourse-pragmatic functions in various speaking contexts, including 1) initiat...

Newspaper editorials constitute a part of media discourse, which is an extremely important field of research in intercultural rhetoric analysis and EFL (English as a foreign language)/ESL (English as a second language) studies. Specifically, certain features of editorial headlines and also their important role in monitoring and directing readers’ attention have made the interface between the linguistic analysis of newspaper editorial headlines and teaching of EFL as a relevant issue in language teaching. Through conducting a contrastive textual analysis of selected headlines, culled from the electronic versions of editorials of mainstream newspaper, Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), and those of alternative online newspaper, Rappler, the present study aimed at exploring the kind of textual and rhetorical strategies the two newspapers used for propagating their preferred ideologies. The results of the study indicated certain qualitative and quantitative similarities and differences be...

Angry register (AR), in which certain nouns, adjectives, and verbs are replaced when the speaker is angry – is typologically rare and apparently limited in distribution to just the Greater Central Philippine subgroup. In general, lexical items from the normal register are simply replaced by synonymous words (excluding curse words and other vulgar words) from the angry register, and the sentences remain syntactically and morphologically identical to normal register sentences. As such, to explore this unique linguistic feature limited to a few Philippine languages, the study was conducted using the analytical framework called Hymes’ SPEAKING model. Through the use of observation sheet and interview, the factors considered by Catanduanganon speakers when using angry registers (ARs) were examined. Data were collected from 90 participants divided into three groups (high school, college, and graduate/ professional levels) from the Northern municipalities of Catanduanes such as Viga, Panda...

As the world’s largest minority, people with disabilities (PWD) students and students with special needs face additional challenges to become successful in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated faculty attitudes toward these students in the new normal. Specifically, the study looked at how faculty perceived PWDs and their knowledge, experiences, and opinions about them, as well as their willingness to make significant accommodations. Ninety faculty members from a state university were surveyed and the results revealed that faculty members generally perceive that they are considerate of the requests of students who have disabilities and special needs. Likewise, findings showed that faculty members are willing to: (1) set up extended time exams; (2) give these students extra time to complete assignments; (3) alter the way exams are answered; (4) permit these students to tape record lectures; and (5) spend additional time with these students to clarify ...

Educational institutions were compelled to close their doors due to COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted to the sudden shift from face-to-face classes to flexible learning to allow continuity of providing quality education to students. The aim of this study is to determine the level of satisfaction of students of Catanduanes State University (CatSU) on modular learning as one of the flexible learning modalities used by the institution during the pandemic. This quantitative descriptive research developed and utilized a Likert scale survey questionnaire distributed to 3,332 students of CatSU representing the various colleges and year levels. Result of the study showed that the students' level of satisfaction on modular learning has varying degree of strength from "very satisfied" (̅ =2.71) to "satisfied" (̅ =2.01) in the different indicators covered by the study. Significant differences were likewise revealed in the level of satisfaction among students across colleges and year levels. Further investigation is needed to validate the findings. Studies not only exploring on student satisfaction but also satisfaction among faculty members of the institution on the implementation of modular learning amidst pandemic is also recommended.

Angry Registers (ARs) are evident in situations where they are used, such as when someone is angry. This study endeavored to examine the characteristics and functions of angry registers in the discourse of 90 participants (45 men and 45 women) from four municipalities of Northern Catanduanes region in Bicol, Philippines. The data collection was ensured through the use of observation sheets and follow-up interviews. The investigation is grounded on the perspectives of Speech Register Theory, and is quantitative-qualitative in nature. Findings revealed that there are 26 angry registers used; 14 from male and 19 from female speakers. These ARs are classified as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Noun ARs are related to body parts, person, animals, and inanimate objects. Verb ARs prompt an action or movement or imply a threat. Adjectival ARs are all words that negatively describe a person usually associated to female attributes. Participants also are not merely user of one AR in their uttera...

Conventional generative theories often consider language acquisition as governed by a set of learning biases, rules, and principles which play a role in the explanation for the existence of typological generalizations or universals. Nevertheless, although the idea is frequently debated, direct evidence that will prove the particular nature of the learning biases and their role in explaining typological generalizations remains lacking. In the area of nominal word order, recent studies involving English speaking monolinguals via artificial language learning have claimed that the cross-linguistic frequency of harmonic word order patterns (heads are ordered consistently before or after dependents across syntactic categories) reflects a cognitive bias (Culbertson, Smolensky, & Legendre, 2012; Culbertson & Newport, 2015a). However, these claims remain inconclusive due to the fact that these studies target English learners, whose native language is harmonic in the nominal domain (Num-Adj-N) and this preference may be attributed on transfer rather than on a universal harmonic bias. Thus, this study provides empirical evidence from young multilingual learners, whose native language is both harmonic and non-harmonic in this domain. The results revealed that multilingual child learners exhibit a preference for typologically common harmonic word order patterns (N-Adj, N-Num) which preserve the order of the head with respect to its complements. Hence, providing further support for the existence of language universal in general, and of Universal 18 in particular. Importantly, it validates the claim that cognitive bias governs language acquisition, rather than native language influence. The study also discusses important content of the biases at play during language learning. In particular, multilingual learners favor regularity within individual rule as indicated by their preference to a grammar which uses the same rule for numerals and adjectives. It clearly indicates that a grammar which distinctly uses a single ordering rule for a given modifier (harmonic patterns) is more consistent than the one which alternates between two ordering rules (non-harmonic patterns).