When common-sense isn’t common, the use of empirical evidence must guide our decisions, especially for policy formulation of matters vital to the nation. Recently, there were questions raised over the use of the mother tongue-based multi-lingual education (MTB-MLE) in our early childhood basic education curriculum. Amid the ocean of opinions, there are empirical evidences from local and foreign studies that may awaken the judgmental conclusions of the emerging opinionated “experts” meddling with the discussion of a very sensitive issue where the future of our learners, and our nation, rests.
A child enters the school not as a tabula rasa (blank slate) but as a young being with experiences and capability to think. The learner’s simplistic thinking process is then exposed to instructions to deliver learning experiences. The concept of language learning is introduced along with curricular goals for various subject areas. And there is a mesh of cognitive challenge imposed upon a learner whose only wanting is to play. The achievement of the learning outcomes is now competing with the major task a learner needs to achieve in life—thinking. The language of that thinking is the mother tongue.
As the child develops his or her thinking, the experiences of learning the lessons are imposed upon the social environment where playing is most conducive in the company of other diverse learners. The teacher, being a new authority in the experience, becomes the facilitator for the transformation of children wanting to play to children wanting to learn to know, to do, to be, and to live together. Growth, development and learning theories have evolved to guide the teaching and the learning.
What looks simple to adults may be a burden to these children. Hence, the use of internal resources that they have may be the best strategy to use in making them see the bigger world around them towards the lighting of their fire and not filling of their cup. The MTB-MLE remains to be the most effective foundation for their learning, after all it is the language of their thinking. Once the young learners master that capacity to think, the rest of learning opportunities follow and the infinite learning potential is unleashed.
Here are some research evidences to prove that.
In a study by Perez and Alieto in the Philippines, students with high level of proficiency in the mother tongue perform well in mathematics. This study lends proof that mother tongue (MT) as medium of instruction, contrary to beliefs overrating English and devaluing mother tongues, is a plausible choice as language of instruction. The study provides empirical result that points to an academic gain that is possible when children’s mother tongue is utilized as Language of Learning (LOL). The study found that when the children are taught in a language known to them, they can make sense of the concepts discussed in the classroom.
A quasi-experimental study was conducted by Santiago and Dagdag in Isabela, Philippines to test the effect of mother tongue-based multi-lingual education on the academic achievement, metacognition, learning processes, and self-efficacy of Ilocano Grade 3 pupils in Science learning. Findings indicated that children who are taught using mother tongue have higher mental flexibility processing power and spontaneity and higher self-esteem and academic achievement. MTB-MLE learners feel more comfortable in asking and answering questions, sharing thoughts, and doing things on their own; and MTB-MLE learners foster higher critical thinking skills and control of their learning. The purpose of using MT in school should be to facilitate the communication of ideas sensitive to the prevailing cultures of the learners, and not to bring back the exact language and cultures of the past. In the case of the Ilocano learners in the study, their MT which is Ilocano, borrows some Tagalog and even English words for teaching and learning Science. Basically, teaching in the language easily understood by the learners, which is exactly their MT, is the best way to facilitate communication that eventually leads to successful learning.
In South Africa, an empirical research study was done in an attempt to determine whether mother-tongue subtitling would improve learners’ comprehension of science. In this study by Mahlasela, it is concluded that mother-tongue subtitling improves comprehension in physical science as a Grade 12 content subject in secondary education. This study adds to the ever-growing number of schools of thought that mother tongue teaching in South African schools is practical and could be beneficial. An even wider scope for intervention studies of this nature should be explored where mother-tongue subtitling for other secondary education is also implemented and evaluated.
In Lithuania, a revival of interest to use MT in the English classroom is stipulated by necessity to improve language accuracy, fluency and clarity. A paper by Mykolas examined students’ perceptions of the use of MT and translation in various linguistic situations. The activities that help raise learners’ awareness of the language use are described. The findings demonstrate that all learners need a support of MT in English classes, but the amount of the native language needed depends on students’ proficiency in English.
In China, a study of students of a comparative linguistic course in a teacher education program were asked to design a series of tasks for Chinese learners of English in local schools. The study found out that by making explicit reference to learners’ conceptual understanding of the MT, and by raising their conscious awareness of similarities and differences between Chinese and English, learners’ existing schema can be activated. The use of MT increases learning efficiency and smoothens learning process since it enables us to learn a new language without at the same time returning to infancy and learning to categorize the world all over again. Taking advantage of what students have already known conceptually, strategically, and linguistically allows a “cumulative development” and “intellectual continuity” in language development.
In Nigeria, a study conducted by Awopetu investigated the impact of MT on the learning abilities of pre-school children in one of the states in Nigeria, the nation of over 200 ethnic groups and more than 400 native languages. The study concluded that using MT in early childhood classroom was effective in fostering children’s learning abilities. The major finding of this research is that the students in the experimental group, where the medium of communication and instructions was mostly MT, performed better than their counterparts who communicated mostly in English. The effect of the MT on the quality of learning abilities could be attributed to the fact that the pupils didn’t need to do any mental translation of all concepts, which were presented in the Yoruba language and not in English in order to gain sufficient meaning of the concepts presented. Moreover, the use of MT reinforced pupils’ motivation and made them feel more comfortable and confident. This experimental study has discovered that MT as a medium of instruction in early childhood classroom is very effective in improving pupils’ learning abilities.
The above studies (and many more available) may help guide the reshaping of the educational linguistic landscape in the country, which has provided opportunity for MTs to take important spaces in the early education curriculum as an educational reform that is both long overdue and promising. May those who will meddle with the use of MTB-MLE be guided not by opinions and emotions but by empirical evidences.
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