In the Philippines, one of the changes in Basic Education Curriculum brought by the 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. As the number of English first-language speakers is only the fourth highest of all the language groups in South Africa, it follows that the majority of children in the country are taught in a language that is not their mother-tongue.School subjects in South Africa are either taught in English from grade 1 all the way through to matric or the first three years of education are presented in the children’s first language (any of the other ten official o… 10533 in its broader, beyond-the-school context, probing into the synergies among key stakeholders to Mother Tongue – Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is the government’s banner program for education as a salient part of the implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program. Mission, & Goals, Parking Moreover, the teachers must be trained in the techniques of linguistic and cultural analysis. Fonacier Hall, This poses a challenge for the teachers: how do they make sure the students learn when they are not all equally competent in the language of instruction? In her 2016 paper, “A Multilingual, Multicultural and Multidisciplinary Approach to MTBMLE: A Model for Northern Philippines”, Dr. Elizabeth Calinawagan, a professor of Filipino and Dean of the College of Arts and Communication, UP Baguio, gives three possible classroom scenarios a teacher may face. English and mother-tongue-based multilingual education: Language attitudes in the Philippines Ahmar Mahboob University of Sydney ahmar.mahboob@sydney.edu.au Priscilla Cruz Ateneo de Manila University ptan@ateneo.edu In this paper, we will problematize the proposed use of mother-tongue-based instruction in the Philippines. 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. Beginning in 2009, the Philippine government has been institutionalizing a program called Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) for its 47,000 schools. University 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 157 pages, appendices A-L. Mother tongue-based multilingual education in the Philippines: studying a top-down policy from the bottom up. The ACTRC Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) project seeks to investigate the implementation of the use of the mother tongue (MT) as the medium of instruction (MOI) in grades K to 3 in DepEd schools in the Philippines as stipulated in DepEd (Department of Education) Memorandum No. Adopting mother tongue based - multilingual education requires substantial investments in money, time and energy. INTRODUCTION The Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) policy is complex from different perspectives. Data were collected in June and July 2012, which was one month after the beginning of MTB-MLE implementation in the schools. culture, and the Philippines as a nation. Events, Staff Children's rights. Where else would we draw our cultural experience?”. From the fourth grade onward, Filipino and English are introduced as languages of instruction. Introduction Broadly, this paper shall present an overview of the policy implementation of mother tongue-based multilingual education in the Philippines within the purview of Republic Act No. The mother tongue subject becomes a part of the curriculum. May 2013. With all the students having a difficulty in coping with their lessons, Mother tongue-based multilingual education may be helpful or not in solving this problem.. INTRODUCTION. In her paper, she recommends that the teacher use a monolingual teaching-learning process, “Basic education [here] should be in the mother tongue. Mother tongue-based multilingual education in the Philippines: studying a top-down policy from the bottom up. “In one classroom in a public elementary school, the students could have different mother tongues—Maranao, Kankanay, Pangasinan, Ilokano. Some are more fluent in Filipino, especially in urban centers.”. In all these scenarios, the teachers, especially first-grade teachers, are the tireless soldiers at the frontlines, displaying heroic levels of creativity, resourcefulness and determination not just in teaching, but in making reading and learning materials, doing advocacy work and community mobilization, and even developing a working orthography of local languages. *A Paper Presented at the 8th National Social Science Congress, 15-17 June 2016, Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas, Batangas City I. This paper examines the implementation of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in view of and as provided for in Republic Act No. mother-tongue based multilingual education (MTB-MLE), this article will discuss broadly the dynamics of language, access and influence, and will look at the Philippines as a country case study of explicit and implicit declarations in language policy and use, as affecting the education … 10533, popularly referred to as the K12 Law. and employer. University of the Philippines Media and Public Relations Office The implications of these findings revolve around the way in which language policy is managed. And from her observations of these teachers in the field, commitment will not be in short supply, especially once the students who are products of the MTB-MLE program grow older and begin to show the results of their mother-tongue learning. One of the changes in the basic curriculum of education brought about by the new K + 12 program is the introduction of Mother Tongue – based Multilingual Education. This is more common in private schools, where students are sometimes pressured by the school administration, teachers, and parents to use these languages. However, given the dizzying variety of languages in the country—over 170 languages spoken by various ethno-linguistic groups, with almost 50 of these spoken by various groups in northern Philippines alone—it’s not unusual for a teacher to find herself handling a first-grade class in a public school consisting of children from different linguistic backgrounds. Some governments, such as in the Philippines, have recently established language-in-education policies that embrace children’s first languages. It is a formal or non-formal education, in which the children’s mother tongue is used in the classroom as a bridge in learning Filipino and English. This study aimed to determine the reactions and attitudes of the teachers and the problems they encountered on the implementation of the Multilingual Education and the Teaching of Mother Tongue in the Philippines. Tongue in teaching learning process. There should be a subject taught in the mother tongue from which we can draw cultural knowledge. Directory, Vision, Comments and feedback: media@up.edu.ph, Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice-President for Administration, Office of the Vice-President for Planning and Finance, Office of the Vice-President for Development, Office of the Vice-President for Public Affairs, Office of the Vice-President for Legal Affairs, Office of the Secretary of the University and the Board of Regents, More posts by Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta. Pilipino with a steep price tag is teaching Florante at Laura. “The success of the MTB-MLE in the Philippines truly depends on the ingenuity and innovativeness of teachers in their pedagogy as well as their commitment to the program,” Calinawagan says. Some features of this site may not JavaScript is disabled for your browser. This move from a bilingual to a mother tongue-based multilingual education policy was anchored on the results of the longitudinal study of Walter and Dekker (2011) who highlighted the benefits of using the mother tongue as language of instruction. The study utilized quantitative and qualitative research methods through document analysis, survey, interview and observation. In the second scenario, there are more students whose mother tongue is the regional lingua franca—for instance, Ilokano in northern Luzon—and the other students use their own community/indigenous languages as their mother tongue. This scenario is more common in densely populated cities such as Baguio City. As a medium of instruction, the mother tongue is used in all learning areas from Kindergarten to Grade 3, except in the teaching of Filipino and English subjects. Calinawagan recalled a study conducted in San Carlos, Pangasinan, in which parents were asked why they spoke to their children in Tagalog at home instead of their mother tongue. They must now translate the available materials in the mother tongue into the lingua franca for multilingual pedagogy, and so generate multilingual vocabularies, dictionaries, and grammars for use in their classrooms. What is Mother Tongue-Based of Multilingual Education (MTB- MLE) ? There is hardly a mother tongue in the Philippines. Through Department Order 94, DepEd instituted Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE), with the following major languages as languages of instruction in 2012-2013: Tagalog, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan, Maranao, Chabacano, Ivatan, Sambal, Akianon, Kinaray-a, Yakan, and Sinurigaonon. The implementation of the mother-tongue education in the Basic Education System, it raises problems to the educators. Then you’ll just be transferring knowledge through a lingua franca, and then English.”. work without it. 74 (DepEd, 2009). Telephone number: (632) 8981-8500 Through Department Order 94, DepEd instituted Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE), with the following major languages as languages of instruction in 2012-2013: Tagalog, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan, Maranao, Chabacano, Ivatan, Sambal, Akianon, Kinaray-a, Yakan, and Sinurigaonon. 2014 Riding into the Final Wave of EFA: Institutionalization of Mother Tongue Education in the Philippines (Arzadon, M) 2014 MTB-MLE - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education: Lessons Learned from a Decade of Research and Practice; 2014 ENGLISH TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE MOTHER TONGUE-BASED EDUCATION POLICY IN THE PHILIPPINES … The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator In this last scenario, Calinawagan suggests in her paper that lessons “may be learned in Filipino or English, but the version in the community language/s should still be used as a springboard for linguistic and cultural lessons embodied in that language.” She adds that there should be strong community advocacy to make sure that residents of a community are knowledgeable in their language. This could be problematic. Major: Educational Policy and Administration. 5. In Southeast Asia, this is apparent in a rising number of educational programs that utilize this approach. In the third scenario, there could be a strong regional lingua franca, but the students’ linguistic profiles show that they are more competent in languages of wider communication such as English and Filipino. Local and international research has found that children learn to speak, read, and write more quickly in their first language, and can pick up a second and third language more easily if taught in their first language. Keywords: Mother tongue-based education, multilnigual education, MTB-MLE, language policy, Philippines, survey research, English teachers, multilingualism. Utilizing a case study methodology, this research included focus groups, surveys, classroom observations, and individual interviews. 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