Level of Acceptability of Philippine English as a Medium of Instruction

The recognition of Philippine English as a legitimate variety of English has generated increasing interest in its pedagogical relevance, particularly in multilingual educational contexts. This study examined the level of acceptability and frequency of use of selected lexical and syntactic features of Philippine English as a medium of instruction among English teachers in selected secondary schools in Sipocot, Camarines Sur, during Academic Year 2026–2027. Specifically, it investigated the relationships between teachers’ professional characteristics, acceptability of Philippine English, and its reported instructional use. Employing a quantitative descriptive-correlational research design, the study involved 80 English teachers selected through total enumeration. Data were collected using a researcher-made, expert-validated survey questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson product-moment correlation. Results revealed that Philippine English lexical (M = 4.13) and syntactic (M = 4.05) features were generally acceptable, with an overall mean of 4.09. Lexical features were consistently used (M = 4.29), while syntactic features were frequently employed (M = 4.00), yielding an overall frequency mean of 4.15. Educational attainment, teaching experience, and subjects handled were significantly related to syntactic acceptability, whereas no significant relationships were observed with lexical acceptability. Furthermore, significant positive relationships were established between acceptability and frequency of use for both lexical (r = 0.449, p = 0.001) and syntactic features (r = 0.779, p = 0.002). These findings demonstrate that Philippine English is meaningfully reflected in teachers’ instructional language practices. Accordingly, a policy guidelines and instructional framework proposal was developed to support context-sensitive integration while maintaining communicative clarity and curricular alignment. The study contributes localized empirical evidence to World Englishes scholarship and informs future research on Philippine English in secondary education.