Scribd
Upload
98 views2 pages

Mother Tongue As A Language of Learning

The document discusses the importance of using a child's mother tongue as the language of instruction in school. It defines mother tongue as the language a child is most familiar with, usually what is spoken at home. Research shows children learn best when taught in their native language. However, many children receive education in a different, dominant language. This can negatively impact their learning and development of language skills. The document also summarizes research from Professor Jim Cummins that found children who develop skills in multiple languages have stronger critical thinking abilities and find it easier to learn additional languages.

Uploaded by

Kemuel Bagsit
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
98 views2 pages

Mother Tongue As A Language of Learning

The document discusses the importance of using a child's mother tongue as the language of instruction in school. It defines mother tongue as the language a child is most familiar with, usually what is spoken at home. Research shows children learn best when taught in their native language. However, many children receive education in a different, dominant language. This can negatively impact their learning and development of language skills. The document also summarizes research from Professor Jim Cummins that found children who develop skills in multiple languages have stronger critical thinking abilities and find it easier to learn additional languages.

Uploaded by

Kemuel Bagsit
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Bagsit, Kemuel G.

BEED II-2

Mother Tongue as a Language of


Learning
Mother tongue education refers to any form of schooling that makes use of the
language or languages that children are most familiar with. This is usually the language
that children speak at home with their family. The ‘mother tongue’ does not have to be
the language spoken by the mother. Children can and often speak more than one or
even two languages at home. For example, they may speak one language with their
mother, another with their father and a third with their grandparents.
Although there is overwhelming evidence that children learn best in and through their
mother tongues, millions of children around the world receive education in a different
language. This is usually the dominant language of the country they live in. In the case
of former colonies, this may not be the language spoken in the community at all.
Languages that children may hear for the first time when they enter school.
Children who speak a different language at home than the language in which they are
taught at school will by definition become bilingual or multilingual. The degree to which
they become bilingual may vary considerably however and depends on the goal of the
school programme.
There are bilingual education programmes that aim at teaching children a second
language at no expense to their first language. In such programmes equal importance is
given to learning in and through both languages and children learn how to take full
advantage of their multilingualism and biliteracy.
The majority of schools however offer education only in and through one language.
Children who are not fluent speakers of the school language may be offered some form
of language support or no support at all. The latter is also known as ‘sink or swim’.
Children lose or leave behind their mother tongues and use only the language of the
school.
A third option, increasingly popular, are schools which offer bilingual education and
which are aimed at bilingualism, but not in any of the languages spoken by the child at
home.
Mother Tongue in education refers to when a school or educational institution integrates
the language a child is most familiar with (their mother tongue) into the classroom
lesson along with the school’s lesson (such as English). This is normally the language
that the child speaks at home with their family.
Some children (particularly those that grow up in a mixed race parent household or
those living abroad) already know two or more languages by the time they reach school
age, which in education terms means that their mother tongue is the language most
spoke at home. If this is two languages, then the child is lucky enough to have 2 mother
tongue languages since their ability in both languages is equal. However this is very
rare as most commonly in households, one of the languages is predominantly used over
another.
The importance of mother tongue is studied because when children develop their
mother tongue, they are simultaneously fostering a whole host of other essential skills,
such as critical thinking and literacy skills. It is these skills that they take with them into
formal education, and research tells us that any skills and concepts gained in the
learner’s home language don’t have to be re-taught when they transfer to a second
language.

For example, if a child has developed the ability to guess the meaning of a word through
its context, or to infer meaning by reading between the lines, these skills are easily
transferred when they begin studying in a second language. It is much harder, however,
to teach these abstract skills directly through a second language.

The importance of mother tongue was studied by Professor Jim Cummins from the
University of Toronto in Canada. He explored why is it so important that parents speak
their own mother tongue to their children.

His research uncovers the link between a child’s development and their mother tongue.
He found that children who develop skills in two or even three languages, grow up to
have a deeper understanding of how to form sentences and expressions, making the
use of language as a whole a lot easier.

Children speaking just one mother tongue language had a fixed mindset on how to
communicate what they want or need. He also found that children with only one mother
tongue did not know how to use the language in the same depth as children using two
or mother mother tongue languages.

He discusses how children that speak multiple languages have more advanced critical
thinking as they have to explore how to phrase and use the language of choice at that
moment in time.

Furthermore, Cummins found that children with a strong mother tongue found it easier
to pick up a second language and develop their literacy skills.

he concluded that children’s knowledge and skills transfers across languages. However
skills learnt in mother tongue could also be transferred into the language learning
approach so if a child has to think more about how to deliver the sentence and when to
use it, their cultural identity is also easily adapted. Therefore it is a healthy approach to
learning for parents to teach second languages at home and also develop the child’s
use of language and expression.

You might also like