Speaker
Description
This presentation examines how the Philippine government memoranda issued during Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency (2016–2022) conceptualize basic education through metaphor. Drawing on Saussurean semiotics, the study treats policy language as a system of signs that reveals deeper cultural meanings. The focus is on directives from the Ministry of Education and related agencies, with attention to how metaphors structure the state’s vision of learners and learning.
Preliminary analysis reveals that education is often presented in contrasting ways: as a “battle” to be fought and won in classrooms, suggesting a combative view of discipline, or as a “kite of dreams” lifted by schooling, conveying a more nurturing and aspirational image. These figurative constructions are not simply rhetorical devices. They encode ideologies about who the learner is (a future soldier, a national asset, or a child of the nation), what learning entails (rigorous training versus holistic growth), and how the state positions itself as a disciplinarian, guide, or provider in shaping citizen-subjects.
Situated at the intersection of linguistics, cultural studies, and policy analysis, this presentation highlights how metaphor shapes public understanding of education across the lifespan. By analyzing the symbolic frames of government language, it argues that educational policy both reflects and reinforces social values, power relations, and visions of national development. In line with the conference theme, the presentation demonstrates how policy discourse contributes to lifelong identity formation, influencing not only how education is delivered, but how citizens themselves are imagined from childhood to adulthood.
| Principal domain of study | English language teaching / English as a foreign language |
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