21 Reasons Why Children

Learn Better While Using Their Mother

Tongue

A Primer on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual education (MLE) and Other Issues on Language and
Learning in the Philippines

RICARDO MA. DURAN NOLASCO, Ph.D.

Department of Linguistics, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

1. What is the tongue-based multilingual education or MLE?

MLE is the use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction. It starts from
where the learners are, and from what they already know. This means learning to read and
write in their first languages or L1, and also teaching subjects like mathematics, science, health
and social studies in the L1.
2. When will children start learning Filipino and English?
As they develop strong foundation in their L1, children are gradually introduced to their
second language(s) or L2s (Filipino and English) first orally, then in the written form.
3. Does MLE only involve changing the language of instruction and translating the materials into
the local languages?
MLE is an innovative approach to learning.
Apart from programming the use of several languages, it also involves the following:

 The development of good curricula (i.e cognitively demanding);

 The training of good teachers in the required languages for content and methodology;
 The production of good teaching materials (i.e error free and culturally relevant);
 The empowerment of the community (i.e error and culturally relevant);
 The empowerment of the community ( i.e. school-based management). MLE will not work
when one simply changes the language of instruction or translate existing materials into the
local languages.
4. What kind of learners does MLE intend to produce?
MLE aims to produce learners who are:
 Multi-literate- they can read and write competently in the local language, in the national
language, and in English.
 Multi-cultural – they can live and work harmoniously with people of cultural backgrounds
different from their own.
5. What specific weaknesses in the Philippines educational system does MLE seek to address?
MLE seeks to address the high functional illiteracy of Filipinos where language plays a
significant factor. According to a 2003 functional literacy survey, 1 out of 3 Filipinos, aged 10-64
years old, could not understand what they were reading. As one educator, Professor Josefina
Cortes has observed, we have become “a nation of fifth graders.”
6. Why use the first language (L1) in school?
One’s own language enables a child to express him/herself easily, as there is no fear of
making mistakes. MLE encourages active participation by children in the learning process
because they understand what is being discussed and being asked of them. They can
 immediately use the L1 to construct and explain their world, articulate their thoughts and add
new concepts to what they already know.

7. But our children already know their language. Why still learn it in school?
What and our children know is the conversational language or the everyday variety used
for daily interaction. Success in school depends on the academic and intellectualized language
needed to discuss more abstract concepts. This takes 4 to 7 years to master under well
resourced conditions.
8. Why use the national language or Filipino school?
The Philippines is multilingual and multicultural nation with more than 150 languages. A
national language is a powerful resource for inter-ethnic dialogue, political unity, and national
identity.
9. Will the use of the Filipino as medium of instruction and as a subject be advantageous to
native Tagalog speakers?
It is partially true that native speakers of Tagalog enjoy a small advantage under the
present bilingual education set-up in which some subjects are taught in their L1. But this is
nothing to compared to the over whelming bias of the present system for English, where
children are forced to sit silently in class and perform mechanical activities.
10. Will the use of the local and regional languages be detrimental to building one nation?
No, it wont on the contrary, it is the suppression of local languages that may lead to
violent conflicts, disunity, and dissension. This is what happened to the former East Pakistan
whose rulers wanted Urdu to be the sole and exclusive official language. As a result, the people
of East Pakistan who spoke Bangladesh had to fight a war of liberation to form a separate
Bangladesh state.
11. Why use an international language like English in school?
Languages of wider communication like English should be part of the multilingual
curriculum of a country. The graduates of this system should find relevance beyond their ethnic
and national boundaries. Most world knowledge is accessible in English, and so, knowledge of
English is certainly useful. It is not true, however, that students will not learn science and
mathematics if they do not know English. The ideas of science are not bound by one language
and one culture.
12. Will using the tongue as language of instruction hinder the learning of the second language
like English?
No. many studies indicate that student first taught to read in their L1, and then later in an L2,
outperform those taught to read exclusively in an L2. Learning to read in any L2. In the
Philippines the Lubuagan Kalinga First Language Experiment showed the L1 classes scoring
nearly 80 % in the 2007-2008 tests compared to just over 50% scoring by the bilingual classes.

13. Will increasing the time for English or making it the exclusive medium of instruction improve
our English?
No. this popular belief is increasingly being proven untrue. Large scale research during
the last 30 years has provided compelling evidence that the critical variable in L2 development
in children is not the amount of exposure, the 1997 Thomas and Collier’s study showed that non
–native English learners who were schooled under an all English curriculum scored lowest
(between the 11th and 22nd percentile rank) in the national reading tests. English learners who
were given L1 support for 6 years scored between the 53 rd and 70th percentile ranks which were
well about the national norm for their native English speakers.
14. What is the best way to attain proficiency in English?
 For non-native speakers of English, the best way is to teach it as an L2 and to teach it
well. This depends on the proficiency of teachers, the availability of adequate models of the
language in the learners social, environment, and sufficient reading materials. Simply increasing
the time for English will not work.
15. Are local languages are capable of being used as languages of instruction?
Definitely, yes. As far back as 1925, during the American colonial period, the Monroe
Commission already recommended the use of the local languages in education.
Beginning 1957, the local languages, or vernaculars, became the medium of instruction
in Grades 1 and 2. This vernacular education policy was abruptly abolished in 1974, when the
bilingual education policy was imposed by the Marcos government.
In 1999, The Department of Education started the Lingua Franca Project. In 2000-2001,
the experimental group using tagalong,Cebuano and Ilocano s MOI in Grades 1 and 2 were
found to score higher than the control groups in all areas except in Sibika.
16. Why not use an early exit program where the L1 is used from pre-school to grade 3 and
English is used as the exclusive medium of instruction thereafter?
This is what the consolidated Gullas Villafuerte and Del Mar Bill ( House Bill 5619 or the
“English only Bill” plans to do. However, the international experience on the use of L1 and L2 in
education, especially in Africa, reveals that

 Children need at least 12 years to learn L1.

 It take six to eight years of strong L2 teaching before this can be successfully used as a
medium of instruction.
 Older children, not younger ones, are better learners of an L2.
 The premature use of L2 can lead to low achievement literacy mathematics and science.

17. Don’t we need more English since the language will provide more jobs for our countrymen,
such as in the call center industry?
The more important concern is how to solve the current mismatch between industry
and the educational system. According to former Education Undersecretary Miguel Luz, the
consensus among employers is that a high school diploma with its current stages inadequate for
its purposes because Filipino high school graduates are weak in their ability to communicate, to
think logically, and to solve problems. The best way to learn basic science and math, problem
solving skills, and reasoning skills is through the L1.
18. What is the better alternative to the English-only Bill?
A better alternative is House Bill No. 3719. Filed by Congressman Magtanggol Gunigundo II of
Valenzuela. The Bill is also known as the Multilingual Education and Literacy bill, promotes the
primary use of the local language in the elementary grades to develop the cognitive and
academic skills of learners. It also advocates the strong teaching of English and Filipino as
separate subjects before they become primary media of instruction in High School.
19. Is it costly to practice MLE?
Contrary to popular belief, L1-based education may actually cost less than a system that
is based on L2. If we consider the money wasted on drop-outs, repeaters, and failures, as well as
well as other added costs, studies show that L2- based education systems are more costly than
L1 systems.
20. What do stakeholders say about MLE?

 The Department of Education: “ we find the bill ( the Gunigundo bill) to be consistent with
the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA) recommendations and bridging model
 proposed by the Bureau of Elementary Education where Pupils were found to comprehend
better the Lessons in class.”;
 The National Economic Development Authority: “From the economic and financial vantage
points, we believed that adopting this education policy (HB 3719), in the Final analysis, is
cost effective…;
 The Philippine Business for Education (PBED): “ English and Filipino are languages “foreign’
to most children and legislating either as medium of instruction will do more harm to an
already ailing system of education.”
 The Department of Foreign Affairs and UNESCO Philippines: “ Multilingualism is the order of
things in the UN and in the world. UNESCO supports mother tongue instruction as a means
of improving educational quality by building upon the knowledge and experience of the
learners and teachers.”
21. Do we have to wait for legislation to implement MLE?
No. the Lubuagan experience, the DepEd Lingua Franca Project, and other existing programs
using the local languages tell us that it is already possible to undertake an MLE program without
waiting for legislation.