PRACTICAL RESEARCH II (wrong)

Chapter Two

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mother Tongue Based Instruction
One of the  changes in Basic Education Curriculum   brought about by the  new  K-12 program  is the  introduction of Mother Tongue- Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) specifically in Kindergarten, Grades 1, 2 and 3 to support the goal of " Every Child- A- Reader and A –Writer" by Grade 1."

MTB-MLE refers to "first-language-first" education that is, schooling which begins in the mother tongue and transitions to additional languages particularly Filipino and English. It is meant to address the high functional illiteracy of Filipinos where language plays a significant factor. Since the child's own language enables her/ him to express him/herself easily, then, there is no fear of making mistakes. It encourages active participation by children in the learning process because they understand what is being discussed and what is being asked of them. They can immediately use their mother tongue to construct and explain their world, articulate their thoughts and add new concepts to what they already know.

Currently, there are twelve (12) major languages or lingua franca that shall be language of instruction. The  major  languages are a) Tagalog  b) Kapampangan  c) Pangasinense  d) Iloko   e) Bikol f) Cebuano g) Hiligaynon  h) Waray i) Tausug  j) Maguindanaoan k)  Maranao;  l) Chabacano.

With this challenge posted about MTB- MLE, Capitol University, College of Education plans to institute the MTB-MLE Teacher Development Program through its Center for Professional and Continuing Education (CPCE) with focus on teaching reading in the mother tongue and the production of reading materials. Local stories, poems, biographies, folktales, legends, jokes, riddles as well as the traditional oral literature will be put into writing that will become part of the leaching-learning repertoire.  The plan is to localize the Cebuano/Visayan materials to Cagayan de Oro context and linguistic use.  Next focus will be the production of materials of the Indigenous Peoples found in the region.

Since School Year (SY) 2012-2013, the Mother Tongue-Based-Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) began to be implemented in all public schools, specifically in Kindergarten, Grades 1, 2 and 3 as part of the K to 12 Basic Education Program. Now, more than one school year after the start of its implementation, what have we learned from this program? What benefits and detriments have we discovered from MTB-MLE?

In 2003, UNESCO gave the following statement that is often used as an argument for MTB-MLE:

"The choice of the language is a recurrent challenge in the development of quality education. Speakers of mother tongues, which are not the same as the national language, are often at a considerable disadvantage in the educational system."

With MTB-MLE, we expand the access to social, political, economic and physical development processes, which are often unreachable for children who speak a different mother tongue. These children, are unable to learn as much about their society, not because they are cognitively inferior.

Rather, it is because by the time that they enter school, they have become proficient in communicating using their mother tongue. MTB-MLE helps pupils gain confidence not only in expressing themselves, but also in learners new concepts in school.

Along with this confidence, the multilingual education also prevents alienation from one's language and culture, from their parents and immediate community. We avoid the situation where children are teased for using a different language, leading children to think negatively of their culture and heritage.

With these core benefits of  MTB-MLE, we encourage children to become lifelong learners by urging them to be confident, accepting, and enthusiastic about their cultural heritage.

This is not to say, however, that MTB-MLE has no flaws. For instance, it has proven expensive to translate educational materials into the eight mother tongue languages recommended by DepEd. Translation, too, has unveiled problems, such as which dialect of the language should be used in Bicol, for example, which varies in vocabulary and accent from place to place? Lastly, it has become apparent that when the mother tongue is favored, the child's proficiency in English and even the national language may become diminished. This puts students at a disadvantage, especially since in an increasingly globalized world, it has become more important than ever to be fluent in languages that allow one to communicate with an international audience.