Despite their famed accent, Ateneans may not be as proficient as they seem in using the English language.

“Yet sad to say, the present day Atenean (who prides himself in being a master of English) knows little, if any English. True, he speaks English, but what kind? Certainly not grammatical English.”

In the September 23, 1952 issue of The GUIDON, this was the observation made in its editorial write-up, entitled “English and the Atenean”, on the state of English proficiency among students during the time. Besides presenting these insights, the editorial also discussed how the quality of English used in the Ateneo was slowly deteriorating.

More than 50 years later, does this observation still hold true for today’s Ateneans?

Back in the day

“One could say perhaps that the understanding of English is not that good as compared to years ago,” says Theology Department Professor Fr. Joseph Roche, SJ, Ph.D. on the current Ateneans’ English proficiency.

He recalls that, in the 1950’s, Ateneans were known for their control and high regard for the use of the English language. During that time, he also says that it was very important for the typical Atenean to be fluent in at least two languages.

This high regard existed even in the provinces. During his tenure as a high school prefect under the philosophy and religious studies departments at Xavier University, he observed that parents would send their children to the Ateneo just so they would learn to speak and write impeccable English. “It was the thing,” he says.

School of Humanities Dean Ma. Luz Vilches, Ph.D., who has been teaching English in the Ateneo since 1981, shares the same sentiments. “We had much better quality of language back then.”

“It was easier actually to teach writing then. But now, you have to be very skillful as a teacher.”

A mockery

Kat Victorino (II AB Comm) says that, as a high school senior, she highly regarded Ateneans because of their English proficiency skills. Upon taking the Ateneo College Entrance Test (ACET), however, she says her views have changed, that in fact many Ateneans are not at all that proficient in speaking English.

“We made a mockery of [the English language],” she says. “Coño isn’t English.”

Vilches says that certain distractions cause this difficulty. She also says that it might take a while for students to get settled in the campus, especially when it comes to speaking and writing in English, the Atenean way.

On the other hand, English Department Chair Margarita Orendain, Ph.D. says that changing times heavily influence the students’ English proficiency. She also says that the students do not speak in English as often as they used to do when they’re outside an academic setting.

“The [kind of] English [language] that Filipino students now speak is not the kind of English spoken generations ago,” she says. “This is natural because any language continues to evolve because of [the] development in [the] environment [of the] society, in the world.”

“Therefore, we may not have to change the way that we look at [the way other students use
the English language].”

Not damaging

Although Roche believes that the Ateneans’ current English proficiency diminished from the way it was back then, he says that it is unfair to compare the students’ skills in using the English language then and now.

He also points out that, despite the decline in the quality of the language used, this did not prove to be damaging to the typical Atenean. For him, as far as the Philosophy and Theology subjects are concerned, Ateneans are highly capable in learning the lessons well. This is evident in the oral exams that are usually given to students taking up the said subjects.

“I don’t think that [the difficulty students encounter during these exams] comes with a lack of English or too much English,” he says. “It comes with understanding the mystery you are trying to teach.”

Vilches, on the other hand, observed that, despite this difficulty, students would eventually improve their English proficiency skills during the later years of their stay in the Ateneo.

“I’ve… encountered seniors, juniors who [were my students before], got to talk to them informally and then I realized, ‘Wow, they’ve improved a lot,’” she says.

Also, the so-called difficulty may not lie in the students’ lack of English proficiency skills, but in the increase of the students’ reading materials written in Filipino. Roche points out that there are more required readings written in Filipino than there were 30 years ago.

“I think that it should be very clear that we are not going back to the day when everybody was speaking English, when everything was in English. We’re not,” he says.

Maintaining English proficiency
To hone the Ateneans’ English proficiency skills, the English Department, under Professor Edna Manlapaz, Ph.D.’s leadership, started sectioning them into three beginning courses: English 10, English 11, and Merit English. In this sectioning, students are classified into which courses to take based on their ACET scores.

“This sectioning would help students a lot because they begin at their own level,” says Vilches. “If you have multiple levels in class, how can one teacher and one material do it?”

She also characterizes the students who usually take up these courses. Merit English students, on the one hand, are the most advanced among the three classifications in that they immediately take up English 12 and tackle on the Research Paper. They are also given “advanced expository writings” that would allow them to further express their creativity.

English 11, meanwhile, is the regular English course. According to Vilches, they are usually fluent in using the English language, although they have much to work on their accuracy. She also points out that the focus in the English courses that they take is to hone their skills, especially in writing academic papers.

Finally, English 10 is the basic regular English course. Contrary to views of the course catering to students with below average skills in English proficiency, it is about helping students who, according to Vilches, have lots of great ideas yet lack the confidence to speak or write about them. Because of this, certain faculty members in the English Department are specifically trained to teach English 10 courses.

“Because our materials are different [from the ones offered in the Regular and Merit English classes], it’s [the faculty members teaching English 10] a very cohesive group,” she says.

Meanwhile, Victorino feels that grouping freshmen into different levels in English is only fair. She compares it to Math 11 where students can either be placed in basic or regular math. “If you know more English than the average person and have a better grasp at it, why not make you more advanced?”

Vilches may be very proud of how improved Ateneans are from their freshman English classes, but she says that improvement cannot be totally attributed to these English classes alone.

“Why are we teaching them English? [It’s] because this is used in the other courses,” says Vilches. Like a cycle, those being taught in the English courses continue to make use of the lessons they learned from their English courses, such as the academic research and reflection papers, in their other classes. She believes that, by applying these lessons, students are able to gain confidence and become quick thinkers— qualities that can help them better their English proficiency skills.

The accent isn’t everything

An Ateneans’ English proficiency skills, however, is not just what distinguishes him from all others. “At the end, it should be for the service of others,” Orendain says.

“[If] you don’t do anything for your fellow citizens, you don’t do anything for the country, so, what is English for?”

The English courses, she says, help them fulfill this goal.

For Roche, it is not the English language that is the issue, but the content of what the typical Atenean say.

“It [isn’t] just an ability to speak or write,” he says. “[It’s] the appreciation of the language.”