“THE ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN USING MOTHER TONGUE AS A MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN MATHEMATICS”
Abstract
In our present educational reforms, one of the hot issues is the K-12 program and the use of the Mother Tongue as a mode of instruction in all subjects except for English and Filipino. The study focuses on the issues and the challenges of the primary teachers in using mother tongue as a mode of instruction in teaching Mathematics. The sample comprised of 10 primary teachers from one of the central public schools in Davao City. Interview protocol and structured questionnaire were the data collection instruments. The researchers found out that the use of mother tongue in teaching ...view middle of the document...
Both first language and second language are then used together for instruction to the end of primary school. In an environment where MTB-MLE is used, the education system will typically use a language other than a student's mother tongue as the language of instruction at some point in the primary or secondary cycle. The language is often a national or a colonial language that many children may have limited knowledge of or ability to use, and generally not to the same level of proficiency as with their mother tongue (MTB-MLE FAQs Copyright @ 2014 MTB MLE Network).
Providing education in children’s first language, while at the same time providing them with support to learn a second language of wider communication, has several advantages: it increases access to school, as well as promotes equity in learning; it leads to improved learning outcomes; it reduces repetition and drop-out rates; and it can lead to lower education costs due to greater efficiency. In one study, analysis of data from 22 developing countries and 160 language groups revealed that children who had access to instruction in their mother tongue were significantly more likely to be enrolled and attending school. Conversely, lack of education in a child’s first language was a significant reason for children dropping out. Additionally, teaching children to read in their first language helps them to learn to read a second language, because language skills that are developed in a first language are transferrable to a second language. Moreover, mastering of the first language promotes cognitive development needed to more easily learn a second language (Smits et al., 2008).
Here in the Philippines, the Mother Tongue Base Language Education (MTBLE) started in year 2012 under the Republic Act 10533 section 5 – Curriculum Development stated that ‘‘The curriculum shall adhere to the principles and framework of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) which starts from where the learners are and from what they already knew proceeding from the known to the unknown; instructional materials and capable teachers to implement the MTB-MLE curriculum shall be available’’.
In Davao region, teachers are now implementing the enhanced basic education or MTB which mandated that in kindergarten, grade 1, 2, and 3. They used Cebuano / Visayan dialect or Sinibuanong Binisaya. Therefore, the researcher would like to know the issues and challenges in using mother tongue as a mode of instruction in Mathematics.
Review of Related Literature
Thomas and Collier (1997) hypothesize that children instructed entirely via a second language (English) will, in general, manifest learning deficits especially with respect to more challenging and difficult academic content. A suggestive experiment supporting the hypothesis of Thomas and Collier was carried out on a very small scale in Guatemala in April 2009. Walter and Morren (2002) analyzed data from Guatemala in an effort to determine whether...
