Results tagged “Philippine English Proficiency” from Inside DC Global

A pervasive notion describing the impetus responsible for the flourish of Philippine Business Process Outsourcing says that a large part of the workforce is proficient in the command of the English language. Among its Asian competitors, it is undeniable that the Philippines has an edge to fluently converse in English with foreign clients. Together with astounding technical know-how, the workforce' language advantage ables them to carry out their tasks in a more satisfying and efficient manner.

However, there is an observation from a research institution that Filipinos' proficiency in English is waning down. In a study last 2006, the results (entitled "Self-Assessed English Competence and Personal Usage of the English Language") shows a considerable decline of English proficiency when compared to previous researches in 1993 and 2000. The Filipinos' ability to think and speak in English, and as well, understand spoken English has declined.

Just recently, the Social Weather Station (SWS), the institution responsible for the said study, conducts the same survey assessing the Filipinos proficiency in the English language. The 2008 survey, commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines and the Makati Business Club, has remarkable results as it shows recovery of competence in the usage of English. The results are summarized as follows:

In terms of understanding spoken English, 76 percent of the respondents replied in the affirmative, compared to 65 in 2006, 77 in 2000 and 74 in 1993.

Asked if they read English, 75 percent said yes, up from 65 in 2006. The score was 76 in 2000 and 73 in 1993.

For writing, 61 percent said they could do it in English, a substantial gain from 2006's 48. It marked a return to the 61 in 2000 and was also better than the 59 recorded in 1993.

The speaking English score, at 46 percent, was an improvement from 2006's 32 but remained below the 54 in 2000 and 55 in 1993.

In terms of thinking in English, the latest score was 38 percent, a gain from 2006's 27 but below 2000's 44 and 1993's 42.

Lastly, only 8 percent said they were not competent in any way in terms of the English language, better than in 14 in 2006, but lower than to 2000 and 1993 which were both 7.

The survey was conducted at the first quarter of this year with a respondent of 1,200 adults. The SWS said 13 percent of the respondents were from Metro Manila, 44 percent from Luzon, 20 percent from the Visayas, and 23 percent from Mindanao.

The recovery seems substantial, yet, it does not fully regain the great performance shown in the previous surveys. However, it provides some sort of comfort as it gives desirable impression to the flexibility and competence of the Filipino character in general. And how this implicates to the Philippine outsourcing industry? It nevertheless provides a form of a moral booster to the workforce to continually perform well in the field of business process outsourcing. At the same time, it also reminds everyone else in the industry not to be complacent with the country's renowned status as a home to a good English-speaking workforce. The trend changes from time to time. Hence, further improvement among ourselves must be constantly done in order to maintain such status and to be more competitive in the global business of outsourcing.