Mother tongue instruction in Lubuagan: A case study from the Philippines

Abstract

In the modern era, the prevailing model of public education has been that of ''one size fits all'', with private schooling being a small but notable exception. Language (of instruction) was generally viewed as a minor variable readily overcome by standard classroom instruction. As researchers have sharpened their focus on the reasons for educational failure, language has begun to emerge as a significant variable in producing gains in educational efficiency. This paper reports the intermediate result of a controlled study in a very rural area of a developing country designed to examine the effect of language of instruction on educational outcomes. In the experimental schools, children are taught to read first in the local language (via the local language) and are taught other key subjects via the local language as well. English is taught as a subject. Teachers in the control or standard schools continue the standard national practice of teaching all subjects in either English or Filipino, neither of which is spoken by children when they begin school.Year-end standardised testing was done in all subjects throughout grades one to three as a means of comparing the two programme methodologies.Keywords Philippines Á Language policies Á Lubuagan mother tongue-based multilingual education programme Á Lilubuagen Á Filipino Á English Á Evaluation of educational outcomes primary 1 to 3 Résumé L'enseignement en langue maternelle à Lubuagan : une étude de cas des Philippines -À notre époque moderne, le modèle prédominant de l'enseignement public est celui de la « taille unique », l'enseignement privé étant une exception restreinte mais non négligeable. La langue (d'instruction) était traditionnellement considérée comme une variable mineure facilement maîtrisée par l'enseignement standard en classe. Lorsque les chercheurs se penchèrent sur les raisons des échecs scolaires, la langue est alors apparue comme une variable significative susceptible d'accroître l'efficacité éducative. Les auteurs de cet article présentent les résultats intermédiaires d'une étude contrôlée réalisée dans une région très rurale d'un pays en développement, qui vise à examiner l'impact de la langue d'instruction sur les résultats éducatifs. Dans les écoles expérimentales, les élèves apprennent à lire en premier lieu en langue locale (au moyen de la langue locale) et sont instruits dans les autres disciplines principales également en langue locale. L'anglais y est enseigné en tant que matière. Les enseignants des écoles témoins ou classiques poursuivent la pratique nationale générale d'enseigner toutes les matières soit en anglais soit en filipino, langues que les enfants ne parlent pas au moment de leur scolarisation. Des tests standard ont été administrés en fin d'année dans toutes les matières de la première à la troisième classe, en vue de comparer les méthodologies des deux programmes.Zusammenfassung Muttersprachlicher Unterricht in Lubuagan : eine Fallstudie aus den Philippinen -,,Allen das Gleiche'' ist heutzutage das vorherrschende Modell in der ...

Bilingual education in Peru: Evidence on how Quechua-medium education affects indigenous children's academic achievement

“…Given the evidence in the reviewed literature, we hypothesize that children taught in their L1 language acquire a deeper understanding of academic materials leading to better academic outcomes and as such increases the measured level of A . While our research is unable to identify the exact mechanism that would cause Quechua-medium education to result in higher test scores for Quechua speaking children, other authors have suggested that stronger identification with the teacher ( Benson, 2010;Benson, 20 0 0;Enge & Chesterfield, 1996;Hovens, 2002;Lavoie, 2008;Trudell, 2005;Truong, 2012;Walter & Dekker, 2011 ) or better word recognition ( Slavin and Cheung, 2005) may be mechanisms that lead to higher test scores. We therefore expect a positive relationship between Indigenous language instruction and cognitive ability.…”

“…Researchers find that Indigenous children in L1-medium classrooms engage more with their teachers ( Benson, 2010 ) and have higher academic achievement compared to children not taught in their L1 ( Benson, 20 0 0;Enge & Chesterfield, 1996;Hovens, 2002;Lavoie, 2008, Cummins, 20 0 0;Trudell, 20 05;Truong, 2012;Walter & Dekker, 2011 ). It has also been documented that children taught in their L1 have more active classroom participation ( Benson, 20 0 0 ), experience higher levels or parental engagement in schools ( Cummins, 20 0 0;D'Emilio, 1995 ), and build a stronger foundation for future literacy and acquisition of other languages ( Cummins, 20 0 0; Thomas & Collier 1997 ).…”

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The Implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education: Seeing It from the Stakeholders’ Perspective

“…Results of various researches as regards the benefits derived from using mother tongue instruction convinced the policy makers to adopt it in the educational system of the country. The benefits underscored in these researches include enhanced scholastic capability (Cummins, 2000;Thomas & Collier, 1997;Walter & Dekker, 2011); active involvement in the class (Benson, 2000;Dutcher, 1995); accessibility to instruction (Benson, 2004;Smits, Huisman & Kruijif, 2008); and improved creative and critical thinking abilities (Brock-Utne, 2006). Studies also strengthened the relevance of multilingual education on the promotion and preservation of cultural heritage (Cummins, 2000;Wright & Taylor, 1995); increased the active involvement of parents (Cummins, 2000;Dutcher, 1995;D'Emilio, 1995); and enhanced academic performance of female learners Hovens, 2002).…”

Students' Beliefs About Mathematics Learning and Problem Solving: The Case of Grade Eleven Students in West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia

“…In line with this Causapin indicated that use of a second language in the mathematics classroom negatively affected confidence and performance [19]. Indeed, a recent study found that it was more beneficial to use the first language in learning mathematics [20]. Moreover, analyzing the percentage of the responses on each positive item of students' beliefs about mathematics learning and students' beliefs about mathematics problem solving as indicated in Table 3.…”