Contemplative Comments on the Controversy over a Philippine Local University’s English-only Policy: A Metadiscourse Probe

Abstract

English has been known to be the language of learning, communication, and economic progress globally.  Its prevalence in academic and business environments supports its status as the key to transforming students' skills and professional opportunities. One of the organized methods followed by some universities is the English-Only Policy, which requires the sole use of English in specific academic environments to promote language immersion and fluency. The decision to conduct this study stemmed from the fact that existing literature has not fully addressed the linguistic strategies utilized in public discourse about the English-only policy. Thus, the extant research intends to analyze the metadiscourse markers present and their functions in the comments about a Philippines local university’s English-only policy, and compare the strategies used in supportive and opposing comments. Utilizing content analysis and Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient for intercoder reliability, it was shown that transitions and code glosses are commonly employed by netizens as they analyze the deployment of pragmatic inferences alongside explicit linguistic markers of causation and contrast to establish coherence and convey relationships between distinct segments of the discourse, thereby illuminating their cognitive processes. They also offer further clarification by means of rephrasing, detailed explanation, or expansive elaboration of the original statement to convey intended meaning. Meanwhile, hedges and attitude markers are likewise evident as interactional markers making netizens attenuate the claim to foster an environment conducive to negotiation and the exploration of diverse viewpoints, as well as express their opinion, emotion, and affective sides in the discourse. Understanding how individuals structure their arguments and express their attitudes towards language policies is crucial in understanding its implications.