TL;DR: DepEd's current official English Curriculum Guide is the MATATAG version for Grades 2-10, published August 2023 and available directly from deped.gov.ph. It organizes English around three domains, Language, Literacy, and Text, delivered through the macroskills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Grade 1 has no separate "English" subject; it uses standalone Language and Reading and Literacy guides instead, and since DepEd Order No. 020, s. 2025 those are delivered primarily in Filipino and English rather than in the mother tongue. With MATATAG's Phase 3 rollout covering Grades 6, 9, and 10 starting SY 2026-2027, the MATATAG English CG now applies to every grade from 2 through 10.
Teachers and school staff searching for the "English curriculum guide" usually need one of two things: the actual competencies for a specific grade, or confirmation that the file they downloaded from a random blog is the real, current version. This post is part of our DepEd curriculum guides hub, which indexes every subject's official file. Here, we cover what the English CG contains, how it is organized by domain and key stage, how to read competency codes, and where the verified download lives on deped.gov.ph.
What Is the Current DepEd English Curriculum Guide?
The current official English Curriculum Guide is the MATATAG version covering Grades 2-10, dated August 2023 and titled "MATATAG Curriculum: English (Grades 2-10)" on deped.gov.ph. It replaced the 2016 K to 12 English CG as part of the broader MATATAG curriculum overhaul.
MATATAG rolled out in three phases: Kindergarten, Grades 1, 4, and 7 in SY 2024-2025; Grades 2, 3, 5, and 8 in SY 2025-2026; and Grades 6, 9, and 10 in SY 2026-2027. Because English is offered starting in Grade 2, the subject's MATATAG rollout effectively completed with Phase 3, meaning the MATATAG English CG governs the subject across all of Grades 2-10 as of this school year.
| File (as published by DepEd) | Grade Coverage | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| MATATAG Curriculum: English (Grades 2-10), with appendices | Grades 2-10 | English |
| MATATAG Curriculum: Language (Grade 1) | Grade 1 | Language |
| MATATAG Curriculum: Reading and Literacy (Grade 1) | Grade 1 | Reading and Literacy |
Disclaimer: DepEd periodically renames or moves files on deped.gov.ph. If a link below returns a 404, search "MATATAG curriculum guide" on the DepEd website directly rather than relying on a third-party mirror, which may host an outdated version.
How Is the English CG Structured?
The English CG organizes competencies around three interrelated domains: Language, Literacy, and Text. Literacy is delivered through what the guide calls the macroskills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, tagged in the CG tables as L, S, R, and W against every competency. Language covers vocabulary, grammar, and how language functions. Text covers literary, informational, and transactional texts, including multimodal formats that combine print with images, audio, or video.
Instructional focus shifts across the three key stages rather than treating all three domains as equally weighted at every grade:
| Key Stage | Grades | Domain Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Key Stage 1 | K-3 | Literacy (foundational reading and writing fluency) |
| Key Stage 2 | 4-6 | Language (applied and critical literacy) |
| Key Stage 3 | 7-10 | Text (multiliteracies, evaluation, and publishing) |
Within each key stage, competencies are grouped into subdomains. Key Stage 1 subdomains include Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Word Study, Vocabulary and Word Knowledge, Grammar Awareness, Comprehending and Analyzing Texts, and Creating and Composing Texts. Key Stage 2 narrows this to Listening and Reading, Speaking and Writing, and Viewing and Representing. Key Stage 3 organizes competencies by text type: Literary Texts, Informational Texts, Academic Texts, and Transactional Texts.
What Are the Key Stage Standards for English?
Each key stage has a standard describing what a learner should be able to do by its final grade. By the end of Grade 3 (Key Stage 1), learners are expected to read and understand familiar, developmentally appropriate texts and use conversational English in day-to-day situations. By the end of Grade 6 (Key Stage 2), learners are expected to have mastered basic literacy and to be developing applied and critical literacy, using English across a range of situations and audiences, including in other subjects. By the end of Grade 10 (Key Stage 3), learners are expected to critically analyze and evaluate literary, informational, and transactional texts, and to compose and publish multimedia texts for varied audiences.
The CG itself describes the literacy domain this way: "the macroskills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing" is how the document defines the practical output of the Literacy domain, put to use "in a variety of settings and for different purposes."
How Are English Learning Competency Codes Structured?
Every competency in the CG carries a short alphanumeric code, useful for tagging lesson plans, tracking coverage, and cross-referencing with the DepEd grading system when computing Written Work or Performance Task scores. A code like EN2PA-I-1 breaks down as:
- EN — subject (English)
- 2 — grade level (Grade 2)
- PA — subdomain abbreviation (Phonological Awareness)
- I — quarter (Quarter 1)
- 1 — the competency's sequence number within that subdomain and quarter
Subdomain abbreviations vary by key stage (for example, PWS for Phonics and Word Study, VWK for Vocabulary and Word Knowledge), so always confirm the abbreviation against the legend printed at the start of each grade's section in the CG rather than guessing from the code alone.
How Did MATATAG Change the English CG?
MATATAG's English CG streamlines the 2016 curriculum's subdomains into a smaller, more focused set per key stage, part of the broader competency reduction DepEd cites across the MATATAG rollout. The CG itself explains that this "addresses the concern about curriculum congestion as subdomains of the same nature are merged."
The bigger structural change sits at Grade 1. Under the 2016 curriculum, Grade 1 had a standalone Mother Tongue subject. Under MATATAG, Grade 1 instead offers two learning areas, Language and Reading and Literacy, before English and Filipino begin as separate subjects in Grade 2.
The language those Grade 1 areas are taught in has since changed, and this is where a lot of older MATATAG material is now wrong. As designed in 2023, Language and Reading and Literacy were to be delivered in the learner's first language, building literacy in a language the child already knows before layering on a second and third. Republic Act No. 12027, which lapsed into law on October 10, 2024, amended RA 10533 to discontinue the mother tongue as the medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3, keeping it only as an option in monolingual classes. DepEd Order No. 020, s. 2025, issued July 3, 2025, implements the law: from SY 2025-2026 the primary media of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3 are Filipino and English, with Filipino Sign Language for deaf and hard-of-hearing learners under RA 11106, and regional languages retained as auxiliary media supported by translanguaging. That order expressly rescinds the language provisions for Key Stage 1 in DepEd Order No. 010, s. 2024, the MATATAG implementation guidelines.
For English teachers the practical point is narrow but worth knowing. English remains the medium for the English subject itself and is one of two permitted media for Science and Mathematics, while Filipino carries Language, Reading and Literacy, Filipino, GMRC, and Makabansa in classes with no shared first language. Because the change came by separate order rather than by a reissued curriculum guide, the English CG file itself is unchanged and still current; what changed is the language policy sitting above it. The implementing rules for RA 12027 reached the field under DepEd Memorandum No. 059, s. 2025.
Where Can Teachers Download the Official English CG?
The current, complete file is hosted directly on deped.gov.ph as "2-FINAL-MATATAG-English-CG-2023-Grades-2-10-withAppendices.pdf," part of the department's Revised K to 10 Curriculum page. This is the version to use going into SY 2026-2027, since it already includes the Grade 6, 9, and 10 competencies that only became mandatory this school year under Phase 3.
Be aware that an earlier, partial file limited to Grades 4 and 7 (from MATATAG's Phase 1 rollout in SY 2024-2025) still circulates on some school and blog sites. It is not wrong, but it is incomplete for a Grade 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 class. Always check the file name and grade range before treating a download as authoritative.
Tips for Teachers Using the English CG
- Confirm you have the Grades 2-10 file, not the older Phase 1 file limited to Grades 4 and 7, especially if your school's shared drive hasn't been updated since 2024.
- Use the appendices. The full CG file includes appendices with additional guidance that some abridged copies online strip out.
- Cross-reference competency codes in your Daily Lesson Log so coverage is traceable at the end of each quarter, which also simplifies coordination if a learner transfers mid-year.
- Remember Grade 1 is separate. Don't search for a "Grade 1 English CG"; look for the Language and Reading and Literacy guides instead.
- Bookmark the deped.gov.ph source page, not just the PDF link, since DepEd occasionally renames files when it issues corrections.
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Sources
- DepEd — Revised K to 10 Curriculum (official)
- DepEd — MATATAG Curriculum: English (Grades 2-10), with Appendices (official PDF)
- DepEd — MATATAG Curriculum: Language (Grade 1) (official PDF)
- DepEd — MATATAG Curriculum: Reading and Literacy (Grade 1) (official PDF)
- DepEd Order No. 010, s. 2024 — Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum (official)
- Republic Act No. 12027 — discontinuing the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3 (LawPhil, official text)
- DepEd Order No. 020, s. 2025 — Policy on the Medium of Instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3 Effective School Year 2025-2026 (official PDF)
- DepEd Memorandum No. 059, s. 2025 — Dissemination of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 12027 (official issuance page)
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Curriculum Guides Hub
- SchoolFinderPH — MATATAG Curriculum Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — K-12 Curriculum in the Philippines
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Grading System Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Filipino Curriculum Guide
