Technicism in English language teaching and speech education in the Philippines

Abstract

In this chapter, I offer the reader a brief sketch of speech communication education in the Philippines. I then discuss how the technicist framework animates the pedagogical practices of speech teachers by framing speech communication education within the discourse of the knowledge business enterprise (Fairclough 2006). To substantiate my argument, I offer a preliminary analysis of selected speech communication textbooks to demonstrate how the technicist approach is realized in course materials, that is, how students are geared to be the marketable English speaking commodities that the industry demands from institutions of higher learning. I suggest that one of the ways that we can counter this technicist orientation is by revitalizing the notion of speech communication as a liberal art. Such a counter-perspective would allow us to emphasize not just skills that are demanded by industry, but also those that are pivotal in transforming the industry and the society at large.