The Bridging Process: Filipino Teachers’ View on Mother Tongue

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue IV, April 2018 | ISSN 2454-6186

The Bridging Process: Filipino Teachers’ View on Mother Tongue

Genalyn P. Lualhati

  Instructor III, College of Teacher Education, Batangas State University-JPLPC Campus, Malvar, Batangas, Philippines

Abstract: This paper recognized that teachers play the main element in the success of the new language policy, the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in the Philippines. Their views as implementer on this approach are essential in the attainment of the MTB-MLE objectives. In this descriptive paper, the authors report a comprehensive account of the 35 teachers’ perception on the efficiency and effectiveness of MTB approach in teaching at Malvar Central School, Batangas, Philippines for the school year 2016-2017. Using adopted questionnaire, needed data were gathered and statistically treated. The study found out that the respondents moderately perceived mother tongue- based approach as effective and efficient in achieving learning goals. The implications of these findings are discussed within the theoretical and practical issues surrounding the use of mother tongue-based in the Philippines.

Keywords: Elementary Education, Multilingual Education, Mother tongue, Language, Teaching and Learning Process

I. INTRODUCTION

Language, as the heart of communication, is the system of words that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. According to Hudson [1], language is the main medium of education; literacy as the mode of education is one of the foundations of education; verbal intelligence is one of the most-used predictors of educational success; foreign or second languages are traditionally an important part of the school curriculum; language has a profound effect on education. With these connections, the importance of teaching in indigenous and vernacular languages surfaced in the 1950s [2]. Vernacular language is defined as a language which is the mother tongue of a group which is socially or politically dominated by another group speaking a different language. Indigenous language, on the other hand, is “the language of the people considered being original inhabitants of an area” [2].

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