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He Understands, That Goes To His Head. If You Talk To Him in His Language, That Goes To His Heart. Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB

1. The document discusses the importance and advantages of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in primary education. MTB-MLE promotes using students' mother tongues as the medium of instruction to help them better understand lessons and concepts. It also helps preserve local cultures and identities. 2. While MTB-MLE has clear benefits like improving comprehension, participation, and literacy, it also faces challenges like a lack of standardized dialects and difficulties transitioning to instruction in other languages like English. 3. The document argues that MTB-MLE should be given importance in primary education according to laws and research showing its ability to produce proficient readers quickly and build a strong foundation for additional language learning

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melchie
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824 views4 pages

He Understands, That Goes To His Head. If You Talk To Him in His Language, That Goes To His Heart. Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB

1. The document discusses the importance and advantages of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in primary education. MTB-MLE promotes using students' mother tongues as the medium of instruction to help them better understand lessons and concepts. It also helps preserve local cultures and identities. 2. While MTB-MLE has clear benefits like improving comprehension, participation, and literacy, it also faces challenges like a lack of standardized dialects and difficulties transitioning to instruction in other languages like English. 3. The document argues that MTB-MLE should be given importance in primary education according to laws and research showing its ability to produce proficient readers quickly and build a strong foundation for additional language learning

Uploaded by

melchie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1. Why mother-tongue based teaching important?

As what Nelson Mandela said: “If you talk to man in a language that
he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language,
that goes to his heart. Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-
MLE) has been institutionalized to promote the use of mother tongues in
delivering lesson particularly in the K to 3 curriculum with emphasis on
developing speaking, reading and writing skills of learners. Teaching
instructions are being delivered to learners in the context of the language they
understand best. It is also used in teaching basic literacy, to develop
comprehension of concepts in math and science and to bridge to a second
language such as Filipino or English. The used of local languages in school is
likewise viewed as a means to effectively explain indigenous knowledge systems
and practices. In addition, it is not too difficult for the learners to learn how to
write faster, when they are being taught with the language that they spoke. The
sounds of the words themselves evoke familiar meanings, making it easy to
integrate.
Lastly, MTB promote cultural diversity and preservation of cultural
heritage; student autonomy and responsibility towards their own learning
process and recognition of multicultural education and indigenous rights.
Learners will also learn to appreciate the significance of our culture and our
native language as the medium of instruction. I believe our mother tongue is
our culture, identity and our roots.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Mother Tongue-Based


Teaching?
Learning and using Mother Tongue-Based as a subject and as a medium
of instruction has its own advantages and disadvantages. On the other hand,
when mother tongue is contextually and effectively use as a medium of
instruction it would be a major advantage for the learners wherein they can
learn better and faster in a language they can understand. Learners who cannot
express themselves as well as their thoughts in foreign or other languages can
easily express their feelings and emotions in the comfort of their own dialect.
They can quickly relate to events or concepts as mother tongue serves as
springboard for learning. In addition, it is meant to address the illiteracy of
students 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. Conversing with learners at school and at home helps them
grasp things quickly. It also 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. Parents’ participation on the learning of
their children also increased. However, there are underlying concerns as
disadvantages of Mother Tongue-Based teaching. For instance, translation of
educational materials unveiled many problems such as which dialect should be
used, in our locality Kalinga or Tanudan for example wherein dialect varies in
vocabulary and accent from place to place. Some students struggle to learn or
understand English language at a later stage. Learners also struggle on
pronunciation of English language as sounds, meaning and pronunciation of
words varies from different dialects. Based also from what I observe to some
primary pupils is that they find it hard to answer/understand questions for
mother tongue because either they are not familiar or the words/terms being
used are deep words that they are not used to. Also, technical subjects like
science may be harder to learn because of the lack of terms. Lastly, it has
become apparent that when the mother tongue is favored, the child’s
proficiency in English even the national language may become diminished.

3. Should MTB-MLE be given importance to primary education?


One of the changes in Basic Education Curriculum brought about by the
new K to 12 programs is the introduction of Mother Tongue Based-Multilingual
Education (MTB-MLE) specifically in Kindergarten, Grades 1, 2 and 3 to
support the goal of the Department of Education Every Child A-Reader and A-
Writer by grade 1 and with the aims to promote the development of competent
and well-rounded individuals where the students are being taught and build
new knowledge from what they already know. In addition, Republic Act 10533
explicitly states that the curriculum shall adhere to the principles and
framework of MTB-MLE, which starts from where the learners are and from
what they already knew proceeding from the known to unknown while
instructional materials and capable teachers shall be available to implement the
said program. According to Walter (2011) he argued that the use of mother
tongue education is essential because it is capable of producing proficient
readers in 2-3 years and can benefit learners who have an average ability and
potential.
On the other hand, since we are living in a time of unprecedented
innovations with technological advances and globalization offering people the
opportunity to explore and learn other culture and languages. People have
access to many higher educations around the world that offers opportunities for
learning other language other than our mother tongue. According to a research,
conducted by Dela Salle University-Manila on the importance of mother tongue,
it indicates that having a strong mother tongue foundation leads to better
understanding of the curriculum as well as more positive attitude towards
school so is vital that maintain their first language when they started
schooling/learning other different language. It also suggest that, a strong
mother foundation equip a child with the skills he/she needed to learn other
languages, allowing them to transfer their understanding of the structure of
language to several languages. The intuitive understanding of grammar that
develops when children learn their first language can be easily passed to other
languages.
While some question the effectiveness of teaching with the presence of
MTB-MLE in our curriculum and want to remove such, we should bear in mind
the many importance and advantages of MTB-MLE. Some would suggest that it
would be obsolete to learn mother tongue because English is a global and
economic language. It is our responsibility to help learners and teachers in the
implementation of localizing materials according to the child’s context.

4. How does mother tongue-based education influence English learning?


The used of mother tongue have influence English learning of the child
positively and negatively. Mother tongue-based when properly administered and
monitored could really help learner’s English learning. It be can be used an
effective tool in learning English language. It will serve as child’s springboard
for learning and developing skills such as critical thinking, comprehension and
literacy skills. However there are many issues and concerns whether mother
tongue-based is effective most especially on learning English language such as;
Mother tongue-based education may cause adverse effects on child’s English
literacy consequently affecting their lifelong learning and competitiveness. In
addition, child’s listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as literacy
skills are in danger most especially the primary learners as many concepts
written in English do not have equivalents in the different mother tongues in
the Philippines or within the locality of the child so that teachers still have to
resort. Teachers also lack training in providing instruction in the mother tongue
which may affect the quality of instruction provided to students. In these cases,
MTB education may hamper child’s acquisition of skills and information around
them.
In many cases, research also suggest that there has been a tremendous
decline of child’s English proficiency because of lack of comprehension and
understanding as an effect of excessive use of mother as instruction where
everything being translated. This puts the child at a disadvantage, especially
since 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. I just hope that the department continues analyzing its advantages
and disadvantages so that they can make the necessary improvements in the
forthcoming generations of learners.

5. Did you have similar experiences with regards to MTB-MLE that were
mentioned in the article?
One of the positive outcomes of Mother Tongue-Based-Multilingual
Education I’ve experience while teaching at Gaang Elementary School was
students were able to grasp and understand easily what they are reading or
learning when they are being translated to our local dialect. They can construct
sentences and paragraphs easily because they already know the meaning or
concept being discussed. If they encounter words or sentences which they can’t
understand they seek/asked for my assistance to translate it or explain to them
based on local context. And that everyday routine is big help for my student’s
vocabulary. One of the programs we have implemented regarding the
enhancement of reading and comprehension skills of the leaners particularly
grades 4 to 5 entitled “ERCS through VOWSSS” (Enhancing Reading and
Comprehension Skills of Learners through Vocabulary, Word Hunt, Short Story
Sentence Constructions and Spelling Bee,) one of the activities is we provide
sentences and phrases written in our dialect and students will translate them
to English others are quotes or phrases where students will going to make
reflections or understanding and must be written in English language. On the
other hand, we also provide passages and stories where students pick words
based from they read and provide their meanings in our local dialect. At the end
of the day, after almost six months, we see a positive result on our students.
Well it is difficult to teach using mother tongue most especially learners’
materials and other textbooks are severely inadequate to provide enough skills
to educators and learners.

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