Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the Study

There are many factors involved in delivering quality basic education.

Linguistic competence is the key factor for a better understanding in

communication. But the introduction of mother tongue-based multilingual

education (MTB-MLE) which mother tongue is used as a medium of

instruction brings challenge to the linguistic competence particularly in oral

communication competence.

In some South Asian countries, MT-based MLE includes four

languages—the students’ mother tongue or first language, a regional

language, the national language and an international language (Kathmandu,

2007). Among these four languages, first and second language are used as a

communication medium in educating students. However, second language is

still the most common medium of communication in terms of profession. Many

professionals are using the second language in providing paper works,

proposals to different countries and also as a communication tool in

communicating diverse individuals. Western African countries experienced

developments and difficulties of having mother tongue used in multi-lingual

society (Bangbose, 2005). There are developments and difficulties happened

not just in Western Africa but also to some parts of the world. Development in

terms of speaking using second language can help to communicate other

nations to have new innovations and better relationship. Difficulties happened

because most of the individuals who usually speak the first language cannot

adapt easily the second one. They still need time to practice and have

confident in using second language.

In Guatemala, they initiated mother tongue-based schooling to remedy

the situation where only about 40 percent of its rural Maya language-speaking

population enrolled in school and half of them dropped out by the end of the

first grade (Dutcher,1995). This 40 percent of students enrolled are those who

have the capabilities of using second language as their communication

medium in school while half of them dropped out because their language has

no place inside the classroom. The culture of the classroom, the textbooks,

and the approach of the teachers are on its dominant society wherein they

uses second language as a medium. By initiating mother tongue based

education, it helps to lessen the issues lies in the institution and helps the

learners to express their ideas by using their own language.

Nationally, Young (2010) stated that many Filipino people prefer to use

English as their communication tool. However, many Filipino children started

their education in a language that they do not understand as well as their first

language or also known as Mother Tongue. Education starts at home. Parents

have responsibilities in educating their child in many ways. First language

must be taught at home. Do not forget the language that will recognize of who

you are. A conversation which involves the parents and the child using the

first language will create a great impact to the learning of the child. By making

conversations using first language daily can help to retain in child’s mind the

importance of communication involving the mother tongue language. Kaplan

and Baldauf (1998) depict the Philippines as “linguistically heterogeneous with

no absolute majority speakers of any given indigenous language.” Our nation

is comprises of various cultures molded in different kind of language. These

languages were already used during the time of our ancestors such as

chavacano in Zamboanga; bisaya in Cebu, Davao and in some parts of

Mindanao. But in order to become one, in terms of communication, most of us

used tagalog as a communication medium to other people in the society.

Language learning is a continuous process. The focus must be the

learners’ need, level, background and the teachers’ knowledge in teaching the

language. Teachers must know what language will suit to the learners’ need.

Therefore, it is important to consider using appropriate language in a class.

Statement of the Problem

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the implementation of

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education on the oral competence among

the grade one pupils of the University of Mindanao. Specifically, it sought to

answer the following questions:

1. What is the extent of implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual

Education in Grade 1, 2 and 3 in terms of:

1.1 subject matter, and

1.2 medium of instruction.

2. What is the level of Oral Competence of Grade 1, 2 and 3 pupils in Ma-a

Central Elementary School in Davao City in terms of:

1.1 fluency,

1.2 pronunciation,

1.3 grammar awareness, and

1.4 phonological awareness.

3. Is there a significant relationship between the factors affecting the success

of mother tongue-based multilingual education and the oral competence of

Grade 3?

Hypothesis of the Study

The study will test the hypothesis that the factors affecting the success

of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education in Oral competence does not

affect the Oral Competence of Grade 3 pupils in the Department of Education

schools in Davao City.

Review on Related Literature

To provide a background and framework of the research, selected

literatures related to the study are presented in this section. The review

includes concepts and views discussing the subject of the research.

Mother Tongue

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.” Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) refers to “first-

language-first” education that is schooling begins with 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. 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.

Throughout much of the history of research into second language

acquisition (SLA), the role of learners’ first language (L1) has been a hotly

debated issue. Prodromou (2000) refers to the mother tongue as a ‘skeleton

in the closet’, while Gabrielatos (2001) calls it a ‘bone of contention’. Such

views are but a mere reflection of the different methodological shifts in English

Language Teaching, which have brought about new and different outlooks on

the role of the mother tongue.

Intuitively, a good number of teachers feel, partly based on their own

experiences as learners of a second language, that the mother tongue has an

active and beneficial role to play in instructed second language

acquisition/learning. In the literature, an increasing number of teacher-

researchers stress the growing methodological need in TEFL/TESOL for a

principled, systematic and judicious way of using the mother tongue in the

classroom. And yet, for some of us, there seems to be a generalized feeling of

guilt that we are acting counter to the principles of good teaching when we

use the learners’ mother tongue as a tool to facilitate learning.

Moreover, 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 (UNESCO, 2003).

Throughout the world and in developing countries no one can deny the

spread and success of English language. For such purpose everyone is

craving for the means to get proper command over this language and to gain

the ability to use it properly just like its fluent native speakers. In connection

with that, Baker & Westrup (2003) says that there is a need for people who

speak English well not only throughout the world but also in the developing

countries as well.

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education

Mother instruction in early childhood and primary education has been

promoted and encouraged by UNESCO since 1953. But monolingualism in

official or dominant languages still widely used and preferred around the world

(Arnold, Bartlett, Gowani, & Merali, 2006; Wolff & Ekkehard, 2000). As what

the Strong Foundations: Early Childhood Care and Education‘, UNESCO

(2007a) reports the overlooked advantages of multilingual education in the

early years. According to Konsen (2005), when children have the chance and

opportunities to learn in their mother tongue, most likely they succeed in

school and their parents will more likely to communicate with the teachers and

participate in their children learnings (Benson, 2002). Also, mother tongue-

based multilingual education benefits the disadvantaged groups, especially

those children from rural area (Hovens, 2002), and girls who tend to have less

exposure to an official language, have found out to stay in school longer,

achieve better when they are taught in their mother tongue (UNSECO

Bangkok, 2005). Children who are enrolled in multilingual education tend to

develop better thinking skills compared to those are not (e.g., Bialystok, 2001;

Cummins, 2000; King & Mackey, 2007). There are some educators who argue

that only those countries where the student’s first language is the language

used in instruction will more likely to achieve the goals of Education for All

(Ball, 2010). Research also proposed that engaging marginalized children in

school though mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) will be

a successful model (Benson & Kosonen, 2013; Yiakoumetti, 2012). 

According to the research, young children have unique style that

matches their development. Thus, their environmental education needs to be

designed and create matching their needs, interests and learning styles that

will help them eventually with effective learning outcome (White & Stoecklin,

2008). This findings call for the mother tongue instruction (Khosa, 2012) which

will help learners to learn through the language they are most familiar.

According to Senadeera (2010), when you encourage young children to learn

through their mother tongue it will help them develop confidence, self-esteem

and their unique identity within a multicultural society. When children are

forced to learn and acquire unknown language in an unknown cultural pattern

at a young age, they are likely to experience anxiety causing them to react

differently to such experiences (Menhyuk & Brisk, 2005).

The Republic of the Philippines is home of more than 180 individual

languages (Lewis, 2013), but most of the people speak only three or more

languages. Philippines is a diverse country especially in terms of the

languages. Philippines is the only country in the Southeast Asia who

implement the mother tongue instruction in the primary years of the

children. The Filipino government through Department of Education

(DepEd), create an order known as DepEd Order 74 Institutionalizing

Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (2009). It is an order of

national implementation of the policy into public schools began in 2012-13.

The DepEd introduced twelve major languages; Tagalog, Kapampangan,

Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug,

Maguindanaoan, Maranao, and Chabacano.

Currently MTB-MLE is being implemented into two areas; first as a

subject area and second as medium of instruction (Luistro, 2013).

Mother tongue as a Learning/Subject Area 

The curriculum for mother tongue teaching for language minorities is

structured into four main subject areas, with competence aims formulated for

each area. Except for the main subject area Language and culture, the main

subject areas Listening and speaking, Reading and writing(DedEp 2013)

The main subject areas complement each other and must be viewed in

relation to one another( DepEd Sec. Luistro,2014). Pupils who follow this

curriculum may be at different levels when the teaching begins, and it may

take some longer than others to reach the competence aims, depending on

their previous knowledge of their mother tongue.

This subject is a common core subject for all the upper secondary

education programmes. Learning in this subject shall therefore be made as

relevant as possible for pupils by adapting each subject to its education

programme as much as possible.(UNESCO, 2012)

Listening and speaking

The main subject area Listening and speaking concerns oral

communication in one’s mother tongue – that is, using the language orally in a

variety of situations and when working with different subjects. A key aspect of

this main subject area is the development of concepts and vocabulary.

Reading and writing

The main subject area Reading and writing concerns developing

reading and writing skills. It also covers text comprehension and text

production within a variety of genres. Working with literary, technical and

composite texts in one’s mother tongue is also included in this main subject

area. Key elements are promoting the love of reading and experience in

reading literary texts.

Language learning

The main subject area Language learning includes knowledge about

one’s mother tongue and insight into one’s own language learning. The main

subject area is about knowing the language as a system and being able to

choose strategies and work methods that are appropriate for learning the

language. A comparative perspective of one’s mother tongue and Norwegian

is also an integral part of this main subject area.

Language and culture

The main subject area Language and culture is about looking at

language and literature from a historical and international perspective. Also

included is an awareness of appropriate language use in a variety of social

contexts.

Medium of Instruction

“It is increasingly obvious that the language of instruction at the

beginning of one’s education at such a crucial moment for future learning

should be the mother tongue” (UNESCO, 2001). From these statement

made by UNESCO that pertain to mother tongue-based multilingual

education, first language or mother tongue of the young children must be

use to attain the goal which is to entail meaningful and best learning to the

children. Most of the countries on Southeast Asia do not use first language

(mother tongue) as a medium of instruction. Young children enters primary

school with the need to learn through using the second language which is

not familiar to them and obviously new. This set up a challenging task to

the children’s learning. According to Baker (2001), if children are forced to

learn in a second language they are not familiar with, it will result to poor

mastery of cognitive task required in a language. From a recent World

Bank Note (Bender et al, 2005) says that using the target language or

second language and not the mother tongue is not a productive practices

that will affect the learnings of the young children. Those students whose

first language is not used as a language of instruction generally have lower

academic achievements. Children are not engaged in meaningful learning.

Hornberger and Chick (2001) illustrate the teacher-student interaction in

South African and Peruvian submersion education settings, where the

class discussion is limited and is like of parroting of expected answer

yes/no answers.

Using English as the medium of instruction in such an early learning

stage makes learners meet a barrier in classroom. Hallberg (2010) says that a

language barrier is a kind of psychological barrier that affects the

communication being put across. According to the South African Department

of Education (2005), language barriers are caused by forcing learners to

communicate and learn using a language they are not yet familiar and they do

not use in their home are not likely to learn effectively. This is supported by

Owen-Smith (2010) who claimed that those children who cannot use their first

language or the language they use in their home will not succeed in learning

effectively. Therefore, until young children cannot developed their first

language and be competent enough, they will have difficulties in cognitive and

in their second language acquisition (Thomas & Collier, 2004).

The World Bank estimate that almost half of the world’s out-of-school

children do not have the chance to learn using their first language or the

language they used at home (Bender, 2005). Many children speak their first

language that is different from the medium of instruction in education

program. Research confirms that children lean best using mother tongue

children familiar with (Ball, 2010). Those students who enter school with less

exposure to the majority language use as medium of instruction attain only

few verbal skills of the language (Dekker & Young, 2005). As a result,

students’ content knowledge and literacy skills will suffer. This situation call for

the change in language of instruction. Change in medium of instruction to

mother tongue that is familiar to the children will bring a lot of benefits to the

young children. As what Benson (2008) said that using mother tongue of the

children as a medium of instruction will lead us closer reaching Education for

All goals.

Medium of instruction pertains to the language use by the teacher in

teaching. It might be teaching the language or even the content of the

subject itself through using the target language. In this case, medium of

instruction that must be used inside the classroom as we frame it in the

mother tongue-based multilingual education, is the mother tongue or first

language of the children. Thus, it is called mother tongue instruction which

the first language or mother tongue use as a medium of instruction in the

classroom setting.

Now let us discuss how does mother tongue-based multilingual

education affects the oral competence of the young children in grade 3. Baker

(2003) stressed that MTB-MLE can barely affect to the student oral

competence. Therefore he characterized the following: Fluency,

Pronunciation, Grammatical awareness, and Phonological awareness.

Fluency

Fluency refers to the smoothness or flow with sounds, syllables, words,

and phrases joined together when speaking quickly. Reading fluency, on the

other hand, is defined as smooth effortless reading, precise and speedy

reading, and steady and natural oral production of written texts (Oakly, 2005;

Rasinski, 1989; Welsch; 2006). In order for the students to develop fluency in

reading, teachers must employ and use interactive activities (Oakley, 2005;

Welsch, 2006). According to Oakley (2005), reading fluency is made up of

many components: speed, accuracy, automaticity, appropriate phrasing, and

expressiveness are all characteristics of fluent reading. Fluency is considered

as the foundation of proficient reading (Hiebert & Fisher, 2005). Since fluency

is considered as one of the important component in reading, it is also included

in the five literacy areas which one whole section is devoted to fluency

(Cowen, 2003). Additionally, the link between fluency and comprehension is

another reason to consider teaching fluency lessons, especially fluency

explicit lessons (Oakley, 2005). Even if fluency is now accepted and known as

an important aspect of reading, we cannot deny the fact that it is not being put

into consideration in reading instruction. But instructors will be able to give

feedback and guidance in order to help students progress in a critical area by

monitoring them using informal assessments of fluency and word recognition

(Cowen, 2003). Through employing variety of classroom fluency strategies,

teachers will be able to help everyone develop their fluency.

However, researchers argue that the definition stated above is

incomplete without considering the role of comprehension (Oakley, 2005;

Stahl & Heubach, 2005). One of the goals of fluency oriented reading

instructions includes comprehension: “Lessons will be comprehension

oriented, even when smooth and fluent oral reading is being emphasized”

(Stahl & Heubach, 2005). Thus, it is needed for activities designed to develop

fluency to result in improved comprehension (Oakley, 2005). Comprehension

also improves word recognition, which is another important aspect of fluency

(Stahl & Heubach, 2005).

Activities and strategies are all around the place that will help and

develop both oral and non-oral reading fluency. The first step in designing a

fluency lesson is to choose a piece of literature that is appropriate in the level

of readability (Hiebert & Fisher, 2005; Oakley, 2005; Rasinski, 1989; Stahl &

Heubach, 2005; Welsch, 2006). Welsch (2006) suggest rhythmic, predictable,

and repetitious literature has been found to aid in fluency. Lessons on

concepts and vocabulary fits well with the challenging texts, while the easier

texts that can be read with high accuracy rate of 90&-95% or more are ideal

for enhancing fluency (Oakley, 2005; Welsch, 2006). This will make it hard in

looking for a good literature since there are a lot of easy texts that might be

too boring to read. Thus, it is much better to allow your students to determine

their own readability level and choose their desired texts (Oakley, 2005).

In addition, Kopponen and Riggenbach (2000) define fluency as a

performance based phenomenon which is related to the flow, continuity,

automaticity or smoothness of the speech. DimitraHartas (2005,) in his book

Language and Communication Difficulties emphasized upon children’s need

to acquire both linguistic and social knowledge in order to become effective

communicators.

People can easily make their mother tongue fluent. But Linguists have

not come to an arrangement mother tongue language fluency. Faerch et.al

(2000) thought that fluency is a relative concept. In SL learning it often refers

to express their thoughts easily automatically. Sajavaraa (2001) suggested

that according to communicative acceptability of language behavior. At this

aspect, they emphasize communicative environment.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the way or act which a word or a language is spoken,

or the manner of utterances of words. Lund (2003) point out that

pronunciation is the only aspect of language that calls for a close interaction

between the cognitive and physiological processes. We cannot deny the fact

that when a person is good in pronunciation, people will easily understand him

or her unlike when she or he is poor in pronunciation there will be a difficulty

in understanding what she or he is trying to say. We might use simple words

and grammar structures in order for us to be easily understood by those

people around us but we cannot compromise the pronunciation. Vitanova &

Miller (2002) found out that students usually link the mastery of pronunciation

with improved communicative abilities, reflected on the value of learning both

segmentals and suprasegmentals, and the importance of pronunciation in

achieving confidence in communication. According to Gelvanovsky (2002),

pronunciation plays an important role in social value, which means that it is

very important in inteligence, profesional competence, persuasivenes,

dilgence, and social privilege. Through pronunciation we can identify the

speaker’s geographical and social origin. As what Norton & Tohey (2001)

reported that social factors may influence children’s second language

acquisition. But, it has not been examined the specific effects of social identify

on language learners’ second language pronunciation.

Pronunciation instruction is a prominent factor in foreign language

teaching. Since sounds play an important role in communication, foreign

language teachers must attribute proper importance to teaching pronunciation

in their classes. In Mexico, pronunciation is described as “the Cinderella of

language teaching”; meaning that there is a low level of emphasis on this very

important language skill (Dalton, 2002). It is evident that communication is a

mutual relationship between the speaker and the hearer. This means that one

must comprehend what he/she hears in the target language and must

produce the sounds of the language he/she is trying to learn accurately.

Unless he has sufficient knowledge of the sound patterns of the target

language, he can neither encode a message to anybody nor decode the

message sent by another person by learning the sounds of the target

language within his mother tongue. Therefore, pronunciation instruction is of

great importance for successful oral communication to take place since it is an

important ingredient of the communicative competence (Hismanoglu, 2006).

Pronunciation is a set of habits of producing sounds. The habit of

producing a sound is acquired by repeating it over and over again and by

being corrected when it is pronounced wrongly. From foregoing so far, the

importance of mother-tongue in the learning of English cannot be

overemphasized. Language is said to be universal. Errors may occur due the

fact that some of the English sounds are not found in their mother-tongue. It

has rightly been observed that in the first language learning, the learner is

highly motivated and is surrounded by a conductive linguistics environment,

the kind that the second language lacks. This implies that though language

learning is generally difficult, second language learning has greater problems

which results in the greater number of errors in performance of second

language users (Vitanova, G., & Miller, A. (2002).

The learner begins the learning task of learning a second language

from point zero (or close to it) and, through the steady accumulation of the

mastered entities of the target language, eventually amasses them in

quantities sufficient to constitute a particular level of proficiency.

According to Richards and Rodgers (2006), effective communication

mostly rely on comprehensible pronunciation or being intelligible. Intelligibility

is a notion that has become central to the teaching of pronunciation (Field,

2005). Field defines intelligibility as the “extent to which the acoustic-phonetic

content of the message is recognizable by the listener”. Derwing and Munro

(2005) define intelligibility as the listener’s perception of how different a

speaker’s accent is from that of the first language community. Derwing and

Rossiter (2003) focused on how to attain intelligibility through explicit

pronunciation instruction.

Grammatical Awareness

The concise and structure of the sentence is one of the factors in oral

communication. In connection with, Sams (2003) says that grammar defines

the way language forms are assigned their meaning. He believes that

communication cannot happen within grammatical knowledge. On the other

hand, Ferrer (2002) stresses that even within the framework of CLT grammar

had its place and in the absence of structure or grammar communication

cannot take place. What Revlyn Doman (2005) recommends is that grammar

is used as an instrument to build communicative abilities and to stress skills

that are required for authentic communication to occur. Grammar should be

used as the basic foundation for building fluency (Doman, 2005).

Each of them focuses on a different part of explicit knowledge of

grammar and grammatical terminology. The first is related to recognition of

grammatical categories such as preposition, noun and verb. The second is

related to production of appropriate meta-linguistic terms containing the ability

to provide grammatical terms of a given word / phrase. The third is concerned

with identification and creation of error involving the ability to identify and

correct faulty sentences or parts of sentences. The final one is related to

explanation of grammatical rules which deals with the ability to explain

grammatical rules which have been broken (Shuib, 2009). It is very important

that English teachers must have grammatical awareness. Denham and

Lobeck (2002), states that english education textbooks ask those teachers to

be aware of certain grammatical fundamentals in order to help learners

identify patterns of errors. Andrews (2005) argue that teachers must have rich

knowledge of grammatical constructions for them to be able to help young

writers (Shuib, 2009).

Careful consideration of the subcomponents of the language system;

phonology, the lexicon, grammar, and pragmatics (New combo, et. Al., 2005),

leads to the clear prediction that these components will all impact on the

production of written texts and could do so at different development phases.

Van Pattern (2003) stated that the term developmental stages refers to the

way in which one single aspect of language is acquired over time. A learner

who educate himself every minute of a day will make him more productive.

Thus, the development of a child occur. Many students are still suffering at a

low level knowledge. Limitations with oral vocabulary (Mackie et. al 2007) and

oral narrative performance (Cragg & Nation, 2006) are related to poor written

text production.

Phonological Awareness

Phonological processing skill is strongly related to reading performance

in monolingual English speakers. Additional variance in word reading skill in

English is explained by orthographic processing skill. Although English is the

most widely studied language in terms of predictors of reading, investigators

studying other alphabetic language have found that phonological awareness

influences reading ability in individuals learning to read in their first language

(Gottardo, Yan, Siegel & Wade-Woolley, 2001).

Phonological awareness is the ability to reflect on and manipulate the

structure of an utterance as distinct from its meaning. A learner’s language

ability needs to be developed to a level where the learner is able think and

reflect on the structure of the words syllables and sounds, thus leading to the

development of the meta-linguistic skills of the phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness is a component of meta-linguistics, which develops

due to the higher cognitive level of language use (Goldsworthy, 2000). The

knowledge that a word consists of a smaller leads the learner to understand

that they can divide them into sounds, syllables, and syllabic constituents.

Furthermore, the learner becomes aware that these constituents can be

manipulated (Goldsworthy, 2000).

Phonological awareness is considered the strongest oral language

predictor for reading success and includes the understanding of combining

the smallest units of sound or phonemes. For instance, children learn the /m/

is the first spoken sound they hear in monkey long before they understand

that the sound is represented by the printed letter /m/. Although children are

not typically aware of their knowledge of these rules, their ability to

understand and articulate words in their native language is an accurate

representation of their understanding. Also, it is a broad skill that includes

identifying and manipulating units of oral language – parts such as words,

syllables, and onsets and rimes. Children who have phonological awareness

are able to identify and make oral rhymes, can clap out the number of

syllables in a word, and can recognize words with the same initial sounds like

'money' and 'mother.' According to Gillon (2004)phonological awareness

consists of skills that typically develop gradually and sequentially through the

late preschool period.  They are developed with direct training and exposure.

The conscious sensitivity to the sound structure of a language. It includes the

ability to auditorily distinguish parts of speech, such as syllables and

phonemes. The ability to blend and segment phonemes is critical to the

development of decoding and spelling skills. Phonological awareness is an

important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has been,

therefore, the focus of much research.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

This study is anchored with the hypothesis of threshold proposed by

Skutnabb-Tangas and Toukomaa (1976). This hypothesis try to explain that

when children reached a threshold of competence in their first language only

they can be successful in learning a second language without comprising the

competence between two languages. It further explain that when a child

reached the second threshold of competence in both languages it will

positively affect intellectual development, a state they called “Additive

Bilingualism”. Skutnabb-Tangas and Toukomaa created the threshold level

hypothesis based on the research they conducted to the Finnish children who

migrated to Sweden and found out that before they had become competent in

Finnish showed weaker school performance and lower competence in both

Swedish and Finnish. They called this low competence in both languages as

semilingualism, saying that if the child’s first language is not fully developed

the foundation for the second language lack.

Based on Skutnabb-Tangas and Toukomaa (1976) study, Cummins

(1984) supported the said findings by formulating an “Interdependence

hypothesis” explaining that second language competence depends on the

successful development of first language. Cummins differentiate between two

kinds of language mastery: interpersonal communication that refers to oral

communication skills that used in everyday settings while cognitive academic

language proficiency (CALP) is achieved when the speaker use language in

decontextualized ways such as writing.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

 

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework Showing

The Variables of the Study

ORAL COMPETENCE

Pronunciation Fluency Grammatical

Awareness Phonological

Awareness

IMPLEMENTATION OF MOTHER TONGUE-BASED MULITLINGUAL EDUCATION

Subject area

Medium of

Instruction

Figure 1 shows the independent variable which is the Social Learning

Theory, under it are the ‘level of actual development’ and ‘level of potential

development’. On the other hand is the dependent variable which is the

effects to oral competence.

Significance of the study

This study is beneficial to the following:

School Administrators. This study will help them in planning

programs that will help pupils become an effective user of native language as

well as the second language.

Teachers. The result of this study can be a useful guide for them in

creating effective instructional activities that will motivate pupils in participating

in the class.

Pupils. The result of this study can serve as a facilitating tool for them

to engage in activities which would help them enhance their language

development.

Parents / Guardians. The result of this study can be an awareness

tool for them to take part in motivating their child.

Definition of Terms

The following terms used in this study are operationally defined to

establish a common frame of reference:

Mother Tongue – a person’s native language. A language learned

from birth. In the context of formal education, the term mother tongue is

normally used to refer to the language a child learned first and usually speaks

best. In a very high percentage of cases, the ―first language a child learns‖

and the language a child speaks best‖ are one and the same. One can, of

course, uncover sociolinguistic settings in which these two are not the same.

Such cases often involve complex diglossia due to migration or resettlement.

The term ‘mother tongue’, though widely used, may refer to several different

situations. Definitions often include the following elements: the language(s)

that one has learnt first; the language(s) one identifies with or is identified as a

native speaker of by others; the language(s) one knows best and the

language(s) one uses most. Mother tongue may also be referred to as primary

or first language. The term mother tongue is commonly used in policy

statements and in the general discourse on educational issues.

Multilingual Education – prototypically, the term multilingual

education refers to classroom or school-wide instructional strategies in which

multiple languages are used for instructional purposes. There is a plethora of

such strategies and continuing controversy as to which is to be preferred and

under what circumstances. When this term or model of education is used with

reference to educational models in developing countries, it almost always

refers to a model in which initial instruction begins in children‘s mother tongue

with accompanying preparation to learn a second language which will serve

as a language of instruction in later years of school after sufficient mastery

has been developed. Multilingual education refers to the use of two or more

languages as mediums of instruction.

Mother tongue-based instruction - in mother tongue-based

instruction, the medium of instruction is the child‘s mother tongue, or first

language. Basing instruction in a language means that that language is used

to teach most subjects in the curriculum and to interact in the program

environment. In contrast, mother tongue instruction may mean that the

program includes explicit instruction in L1 as a subject of study.

Oral Competence - the ability to speak efficiently and successfully. It

is defined as “the complex system that relates sounds to meanings. It makes

clear and convincing oral presentations; listens effectively; clarifies

information as needed. Also, the condition of being capable; ability a sufficient

income to live on and the state of being legally competent or qualified

Implementation – implementation is defined in our study as the action

that must follow any preliminary thinking in order for something to actually

happen. It refers to the carrying out of public policy. This process includes of

rule-making, rule-administration and rule-adjudication. Factors impacting the

implementation include the legislative intent, the administrative capacity of the

implementing bureaucracy, interest group activity and opposition, and

presidential or executive support.

Mother tongue instruction - Mother tongue instruction refers to the

use of the learners‘ mother tongue as the medium of instruction. It can

refer to the first language as a subject of instruction. It is considered to be

an important component of quality education, particularly in the early years.

The expert and scholar view is that mother tongue instruction should cover

both the teaching of and the teaching through this language.