Legitimizing Philippine English: Attitudinal Differences between Multilingual Teachers and Students of English

The spread of English throughout the globe has resulted in the existence of various Englishes owned by different users of the language. As a result, much research, such as attitudinal studies on English varieties, are predominant. Philippine English as one of the varieties has attracted the interest of researchers; however, very few studies on teachers’ attitudes compared with students’ attitudes have been conducted in the context of Mindanao, the southern area of the Philippines. Therefore, the present study surveyed 115 respondents, consisting of 86 English language student-respondents and 29 English language teacher respondents. Ultimately, the study found that Philippine English was received positively by both groups. However, deeper scrutiny demonstrated that the teachers were more ambivalent in accepting it, particularly those who taught at a higher education institution. This paper concludes with a discussion of the findings related to the legitimatization and teaching Philippine English as a variety of English.