Inconsistencies in the Orthographic Nativization of English Loanwords in Cebuano Textbooks

This study examines how English loanwords are orthographically nativized in Cebuano Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) textbooks and how these forms affect spelling instruction. The research aimed to: (1) identify the orthographic strategies used in adapting English loanwords into Cebuano, (2) determine spelling inconsistencies in these nativized forms, and (3) reveal the challenges teachers and learners encounter when teaching and learning spelling. A descriptive qualitative design was employed, using Grade I–III Cebuano MTB-MLE textbooks as the corpus. Lexical analysis was conducted to document orthographic strategies, and interviews with seven elementary teachers provided insights on instructional difficulties. Seven key orthographic strategies were observed, namely, vowel insertion, deletion, phoneme substitution, spelling indigenization, affixation, syllabic restructuring, and reduplication. However, despite clear phoneme–grapheme correspondence, multiple spelling variants (e.g., estik/istik, awto/awtu) revealed a lack of standardization, leading to learner confusion, difficulty distinguishing English from Cebuano spellings, and teacher challenges. It is concluded that Cebuano functionally integrates English loanwords but inconsistent nativized spellings hinder literacy development and complicate instruction. It is recommended that standardized orthographic guidelines and targeted teacher training be done to ensure consistent spelling and effective MTB-MLE implementation.