Chapter 1

Lesson 1: Theoretical/Philosophical Foundation of Mother tongue

Introduction
Through the years, language acquisition has been defined in various perspectives and in
various ways. As language teachers, we need to understand all of these theories in order to be
theory responsive-based language and appropriate to our learners regardless of generation. It is
true that children in the current era are advanced and sophisticated in their mental abilities and
intelligences but despite all of these evolution improvements, children still go through
predictable stages of mental, physical, and socio-emotional development.
Objectives:
 Identify the different theories related to mother tongue language
 Compare the different theories of language
 Explain the application of the theories in teaching mother tongue
Engage

Activate your Prior Knowledge (Individual Task)

Read the following statements and tick (/) the column that corresponds to your position.
Statements Strongly Agree Disagree
Agree
1. Children’s minds are thought to be clean slate(tabula rasa).
2. Children learn their language by repetition.
3. Language determines how one thinks and process information.
4. Children are social beings and that they need to mingle with
others for language acquisition
5. Children can regulate language learning in his environment.

To better understand the complexity of language acquisition, let us understand the different
theories that influenced it.

Behaviorist perspective

The first perspective to shed light to learning and language acquisition is behaviorism. They
believed that language like any other knowledge skill, and values can be taught to children via
repetition, and habituation. The most influential behaviorist is B.F. Skinner with his Operant
Conditioning Theory which was highly influenced by Edward Thorndike’s Connectionism Theory also
known as the Theory of Effect (Three laws of Education: Law of Readiness, Law of Exercise, and Law of
Effect).

1
 Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1957), known as B.F. Skinner, is the father of Operant Conditioning.
He admits that every individual has a brain

But argues that it is unproductive to study internal systems and that the best way to understand
behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences (operant). He explains that a
behavior that is continuously reinforced tends to be repeated and becomes deeply rooted in an
individual’s behavior and a behavior that is not reinforced dies-out and is eventually forgotten. Skinner
argued that children learn language based on reinforcement (positive and negative) principles by
associating words with meanings. The theory is called imitation.

Children learn to speak, in the popular view, by copying the utterances heard around them, and by
having their responses strengthened by the repetitions and other reactions that adults provide. (quoted
by Guiron et.al,2016). By reinforcing correct and accurate utterances, they are positively reinforced
which allow the child to realize the importance of accuracy in the communicative value of words and
phrases. Incorrect and inaccurate utterances are discontinued by applying negative reinforcement.

Language in the behaviorist perspective is viewed as consistent formal pattern and through
imitation and constant practice, language is developed just like in habit. This process is also called
habituation.

The imitation theory supports external factors that affect children’s language development but
it was not able to explain why despite controlled exposure to the language, children still make
innovations and changes to their utterances. No matter how accurate the adult is in the use of the
language, children continuously make errors or deviations. Behaviorists cannot explain why when a
mother says “milk” the child responds “mee-mee” or when a caregiver says “Yuvee” the child says
“uvee”. Imitation theory cannot simply explain the relationship of cognition and language development;
hence, the constructivists proposed an alternative perspective on learning and language acquisition.

Constructivist Perspective The two recognized cognitivists are Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.
Although both are highly concerned with how children acquire and construct meaning, their views quite
differ but unlike behaviorists, both do not view children as empty vessels (tabula rasa) waiting to filled in
by an expert and learned adults. Cognitivists argue that children are prewired to learn and acquire
language as they go through different developmental stages.

Cognitive Constructivism

Let us begin with Jean Piaget who argues that children are active learners who construct
meaning from their environment. Jen Piaget (1896-1980) is the proponent of cognitive development
theory that explains the interconnectedness of knowledge acquisition and language acquisition through
qualitative changes of their mental processes as they develop (Crystal, 1987). He views children as active
learners, constructing knowledge over time, as they interact with their environment (Giron, 2016)
through four developmental stages.

First Stage: Sensorimotor Stage – this begins from birth to acquisition of language. Children
actively construct understanding of the world by physically interacting with the environment using their
various senses such as seeing, grasping, sucking, and stepping (Vasta et al, 1999) and progressively lean

2
that they are separated from the environment and that these objects in the environment continue to
exist with or without physically interacting with them. This development is called object permanence
that allows children to create mental pictures of things they perceive from the environment.

Second Stage: Pre-operational Stage- this begins when children start talking approximately at age two
and extends up to seven years. They still do not understand concrete logic and have difficulty
manipulating objects mentally. Moreover, they are still predominantly egocentric; hence, have difficulty
seeing viewpoints of others.

Knowledge development and language acquisition in this stage is primarily centered on pretend
play which is a form of symbolic play. Symbolic play is the ability of children to use objects to represent,
remember, and picture objects in their minds without actually seeing the object. Children eventually
acquire intuitive thinking at the end of this stage. This is where they begin to want to know everything
as evidence by their series of questions that seem endless unquenchable. Children begin to realize they
have acquired vast information and become more curious of how things came to be and since they have
not acquired concrete logical thinking yet, they still have difficulty organizing their thoughts and their
utterances.

Third Stage: Concrete Operational Stage – this is immediately following pre-operational stage at age
seven to 112 years (pre-adolescence) where children begin to acquire concrete logical thinking like
inductive reasoning. Children begin to solve problems logically and language acquisition moves to social
matters and the re-emergence of egocentrism (adolescent’s sense of personal uniqueness and
invincibility). They begin to value justification and word choice.

Fourth State: Formal operational Stage- this extends to adolescence to adulthood years. Knowledge
development is demonstrated through logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Children
acquire hypothetical and deductive reasoning. In this stage individuals learn to use language abstractly
without relying on concrete representation.

Socio-cultural Constructivism

Vygotsky’s view is centered on the role of culture and social interactions of children with other
children and adults in the environment. Vygotsky even argued that children’s speech is a major tool in
their development of thinking.

Lev Vygotsky proposed a socio-cultural model of human, and especially cognitive, development
that reflected Marxist beliefs in the social and cultural bases of individual development (Vasta et
al,1999) commonly known as social or cooperative learning. He emphasized the importance of private
speech, children talking to themselves, for turning shared knowledge into personal knowledge (Slavin,
1997),

Vygotsky’s theory implies that cognitive development and the ability to use thought to control
one’s own actions require first a mastery of cultural communication system and then learning them to
use these systems to regulate one’s own thought processes. The most important contribution of
Vygotsky’s theory is an emphasis on the socio-cultural nature of learning. He explained that every
individual has zone of proximal development (ZPD)- the gap between actual ability(AA), something that
learners can do their own and potential ability (PA), something that they can do with help and
supervision (scaffold).

3
 A child exploring his environment will need to scaffold like a primary giver to help him label the
objects he manipulates. He believed that learning takes place when children are working with their ZPD.
A child without a scaffold will continue interacting with these objects from the environment but will fail
to acquire important vocabulary that will enable them to interact and communicate with others later in
life.

The Critical Period (CP) Hypothesis

Eric Lenneberg (1921-1975) was a linguist and neurologist who pioneered on innateness, argued
that the development of language in children can best understood in the context of developmental
biology, that critical period in human maturation existed especially on language acquisition. Lenneberg
explained that …... “My interests are in man as a biological species, and I believe that the study of
language is relevant to these interests because language has the following characteristics:”

1. It is a form of behavior present in all cultures of the world.

2. In all cultures, its onset is age correlated;
3. There is only one acquisition strategy- it is the same for all babies everywhere in the world.
4. It is based intrinsically upon the same formal operating characteristics whatever its outward
form.
5. Throughout man’s recorded history these operating characteristics have been constant.
6. It is a form of behavior that may be impaired specially by circumscribed brain lesions which may
leave other mental and motor skills relatively unaffected.

Lenneberg believed that the development of language was said to be the result of brain maturation: the
hemispheres were equipotential at birth, with language gradually becoming lateralized in the left
hemisphere. The process begins at around the age of two and ends at puberty, when the brain is fully
developed and lateralization is complete.

Innateness

Another theory that rose to oppose the behaviorists view of children’s learning and language acquisition
is Noam Chomsky, world’s famous linguist to date. The limitations of an imitation/reinforcement view
of acquisition led in the 1960s to an alternative proposal, arising out of the generative account of
language. Skinner’s imitation theory was heavily criticized by one of the most famous linguist today,
Noam Chomsky. He argued that children are endowed with the capacity to acquire a language as they
are continuously exposed to adult speech. He called this innateness, the capacity of the brain to arrive
at general principles based from adult speech. These principles constitute a child’s language acquisition
device (LAD).

Primary linguistic General language Grammatical Child’s speech

data(adult speech) learning principles knowledge

Fig.1. Noam Chomsky’s Child’s Language Acquisition Device

4
Interactionists’ Perspective

Albert Bandura noted that the Skinnerian emphasis on the effects of the consequences of behavior
largely ignored the phenomena of modeling- the imitation of others’ behavior – and vicarious
experience – learning from others’ successes or failures. He felt that much of human learning is not
shaped from a model. Bandura calls modeling as the non-trial learning because students do not have to
go through a shaping process but can reproduce the correct response immediately. Take for instance, a
teacher demonstrates how to write the letters of the alphabet and then children imitate.

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) explains that children learn from each other
through observation, imitation, and modeling. This theory explains that children imitate words and
language patterns they hear by watching and listening to the models, caregivers, and family members in
their life. This theory has been identified as the link that bridges the gap between behaviorist and
constructivist perspectives to learning and language acquisition.

Interactionists argue that children are social beings and they need more than adults to observe,
imitate, and model from and more than an innate (LAD) to create universal grammar from primary
linguistic inputs. They need to socialize because like any individual, children are social beings and they
need language acquisition support system (LASS) like their families, community, technology, and even
print and non-print materials to help acquire the language. Bandura’s analysis of observational learning
involves four phases:

1. Attention phase – paying attention to a model. This explains why children stop whatever they
are doing whenever they see their favorite TV commercial and dance and sing to it, as if
mesmerized, no matter how often it is played throughout the day. This phase actually explains
why teenagers are hooked up with pop culture; they are visually attracted to this type of
stimulus. Teachers and adults, therefore, must first understand what interest children and use
this to capture their attention.
2. Retention Phase – Once teachers and adults have learners’ attention, it is time to model the
behavior they want students to replicate and then give learners a chance to practice or
rehearse.

3. Reproduction phase- during this phase, learners attempt to replicate the model’s behavior. In
the classroom this takes the form of an assessment of learners learning. In homes, this is when
children act out behavior as if it is their own.

4. Motivation Phase – The final stage in the observational learning process is motivation. Children
will imitate a model because they believe that doing so will increase their own chances to be
reinforced.

Another two contributions of Bandura’s SLT are Vicarious Learning and Self-Regulated Learning.

Vicarious Learning is the process by which children learn from the reinforced (negative or positive)
learning and/or behavior of others. Although most observational learning is motivated by an

5
expectation that correctly imitating the model will lead to reinforcement, it is also important to note
that people learn by seeing others reinforced or punished by engaging in certain behaviors.

Self-Regulated Learning is the process where children observed and evaluate their own behavior against
their own standards, and reinforce or punish themselves. Self-regulated learners are effective because
a) they analyze the tasks teachers give them and set effective goals for learning, b) they use appropriate
strategies to reach goals, and c) they monitor their progress and modify learning approaches if
necessary (Giron et al, 2016).

6
 Chapter 2

Legal Bases, National Surveys, Department of Education (DepEd)

Policies and Experimental Studies on Language of Instruction

Lesson 1. The Different National Surveys

Objectives:
 Relate the educational history of language policy development of the Philippines
 Discuss reforms to overcome the “foreign language handicap”,
 Analyze the policies surveys, and studies affecting the language instruction

Introduction
Institutional memories and a passion for documentary analysis are fundamental
in tracing the journey of curricular reforms in basic education. This module will bring you
back on the history of language development through the different national surveys. The
document divides the history of Philippine education into five periods as follows:

1. Period of orientation and organization with Spanish and American Regime- Act No.74
established a Department of Public instruction;
2. Period of the Commonwealth – The Filipinization of the educational system;
3. Period of the Japanese Regime- the department of education and culture was
renamed Department of education, Health and Public Welfare;
4. Period of the Republic- Executive Order No.94 renamed the Department of
Instruction to Department of Education. Secretary Mnuel V. Galiego was the first
secretary of Education;
5. Period of the Reorganization- mandated in Presidential Decree No.1 issued on
September 24, 1972.

History records the important laws affecting education in 1901.

 Act No.74 enacted on January 21,1901 establishing a Department of
Public Instruction in the Philippine islands;
 Act No. 180 enacted on July 24, 1901 providing for the division of the
Archipelago into schools divisions.
 Act No. 222 enacted on September 6, 1901 providing for the organization
of the interior, Commerce, and Policies of Finance and Justice and of Public
Instruction.
Five decades later on June 20, 1953, Republic Act No.896 was enacted
declaring the Policy on Elementary Education in the Philippines. A year later on June
16, 1954, Republic Act No. 1124 was enacted creating a Board of National Education
charged with the duty of formulating General Education policies and Directing the
Educational Interests of the Nation.” The journey on language issues and debates on
the use of the vernacular, Pilipino or Filipino, starts here.
1
 1. 1924 – 1925 – Monroe Survey
Paul Monroe and his associates conducted a survey of Philippines education
from 1924 to 1925 which highlighted the struggle of the country “to create a modern
educational system.” The difficulties were many but “no other difficulty has been so
great as that of overcoming the “foreign language handicap.” The Monroe Survey
characterized this handicap as a “serious obstacle to success in teaching.”

THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE HANDICAP. For twenty-five years, the Bureau has
struggled to create a modern educational system. The difficulties which have beset it
have been many, but no other single difficulty has been so great as that of overcoming
the foreign language handicap. A quarter-century ago, the officials who undertook to
solve the Philippine problem concluded that the greatest need of the people was
unifying language. Whether rightly or wrongly they decide against the widespread use
of any one or several of the dialects and began to organize instruction in English. From
that day to this, all educational problems in the Philippines have been foreign language
problems.
At the outset, therefore, the American pioneers took upon themselves a
herculean task – the dual one of teaching a people a foreign language and at the same
time of giving them a broad education through it. education No other country has ever
attempted to carry such a load.

2. 1935 Constitution
In 1935 a national fundamental law was drafted, prior to a shift of the country’s
political status from that of a U.S. colony to Commonwealth.
This 1935 Constitution provided for a national language based on one of the Philippine
languages. On December 30, 1937, the Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon
issued Executive Order no.134 designating Tagalog as basis of the national language.
The choice was recommended by the National Language Institute, created by
Commonwealth Act No.184 on November 13, 1936, chaired by Jaime C. de Veyra, a
speaker of Waray (language of Samar and Leyte).

To carry out the constitutional mandate under the commonwealth,

the elementary curriculum was made to include “the teaching of the National Language
obligatory.” It was first offered as a subject in SY 1939-1940 in the public schools.
With full autonomy given by the Commonwealth government, there was a need to make
Filipino pupils and students aware of learning a “common native tongue.”

The establishment of the Commonwealth called for a reorientation of educational

plans and policies to conform to the requirements of a revised form of government. The
1935 Constitution provided certain educational objectives such as the development of
moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience, vocational efficiency, and
citizenship training. To carry out the Constitution mandate, a revision of the elementary
curriculum was made to include the teaching of the National Language obligatory. It
was first offered as a subject in 1939-1940 in the public schools. Before the

2
Commonwealth, no effort was made to give importance to the native dialects for it was
believed that English should be the basic official language.
In 1940, Commonwealth Act No.570 mandated the Filipino National
Language.
3. Educational act of 1940
Another development was the shortening of the elementary curriculum
from seven to six years in order to admit more children of school age. The Educational
Act of 1940, then called the educational “Magna Carta” of the Philippines provided for
the system of public elementary education and its matter of financing. Among other
things, the Act provided, subject to certain conditions. For compulsory attendance in
the primary grades, the nationalization of the support of the elementary grades, except
the elementary grades in chartered cities. The latter remained under the support of the
city government.
On April 12, 1940, President Quezon, in E.O. 263, required the teaching of
the National Language in the senior year of all high schools and in all teacher training
institutions. The order was implemented immediately by the then Bureau of Education.
On June 7, 1940, the Tagalog-based national language, referred to as Filipino National
Language, was declared the official language (C.A.No.570) effective July 4, 1946.
In the intervening period of the Japanese occupation, (1941-19430, no
official action took place, but English was supplanted subtly but not successfully
by Nippongo, so the Tagalog-based language developed and flourished through
wider usage.

4. 1948 Joint Congressional Committee on Education

In 1948, the Joint Congressional Committee on Education conducted a
study on Secondary schools and concluded that the secondary education was
the “weakest link in the educational system.”
The Committee recommended the establishment of different types of high
schools for different areas:
a. community high schools in rural and urban sections
b. industrial vocational secondary schools in urban and thickly populated
centers, and
c. secondary schools in strategic centers to prepare young people for
colleges/universities.
In 1950, the UNESCO Educational mission recommended “that greater
emphasis should be given to education for economic productivity. The 2-2 Plan
was tried out in three secondary schools namely Bayanhay High School, Leyte
High School, and Davao City High School – on experimental basis.

5. 1950 Prator Report

In 1950, Dr. C.H. Prator narrated a “disheartenin g experience” of his visits
to the rural schools.
It is indeed a disheartening experience to visit a barrio school in the
islands, see this average child, sense his many imperative needs, but find him
devoting most of his efforts to learning a distorted smattering of a language
(English) for which he has little need in which he probably soon forget. The

3
 Philippine school system has too precious a time to permit the continued
acceptance of such an extra burden without at least an attempt being made to
find some way to avoid it.
Aware of the difficulties encountered in the use of a second language as a
medium of instruction the moment children enter school and knowing fully that
the attainment of functional literacy is much delayed because of this language
problem, the committee had the following proposals:
1. In Grade 1 and 2 the native language or vernacular is used as the
medium of instruction. The Filipino and English languages are introduced
informally.
2. In Grades 3 and 4, the vernacular is still used as medium of instruction
and increased time allotment are given to English and Filipino languages,
3. In Grades 5 and 6, English is the medium of instruction. The Filipino
Language, besides being a subject, is also used as medium of instruction in
social studies.
4. English is given increasing periods from Grade 1 to Grade 4 in
preparation for its use as the medium of instruction in Grades 5 and 6.
In urban areas with a cosmopolitan population, English should be used as
the medium of instruction in Grades 3 and 4. This is to give those who drop out
after Grade 4 a working knowledge of the language.

6. 1948-1954 School Division Experiments

A. Iloilo Experiment
In Iloilo, Superintendent J.V. Aguilar observed that the masses are left in
ignorance even in their vernacular….He initiated an experiment with the use of
Hiligaynon as a medium of instruction in Grades 1 and 2. The result of the experiment
in its fifth year revealed that the experimental group proved superior in Reading,
Arithmetic and social Studies in which the differences between the mean achievements
of the experimental and control groups were satisfactorily significant.

B. Rizal Experiment
The Division of Rizal was involved in a six-year experimental project jointly
sponsored by the Philippine Center for Language Study and the Bureau of Public
Schools from 1953- 1960.
The conclusion of the study:
1. The vernacular Tagalog, is a more effective medium of instruction in reading,
arithmetic, and social studies in Grade 1 than English.
2. The use of the vernacular (Tagalog) as a medium of instruction is more
productive in teaching children to read than the use of English
3. Tagalog is more conducive to the development of the ability of first grade
children to compute and solve arithmetic problems; and
4. the pupils in the experimental group are superior than those in the control
group in social studies. (The Rizal Teacher, Vol.III No.1, 1954)

7. 1957 – Swanson Survey

4
 A survey of the Public Schools of the Philippines, generally known as the
Swanson Report, as conducted by a group of American professors under the leadership
of Prof. J. Chester Swanson aided by Filipino officials of Bureau of Public Schools. The
findings and recommendations of Swanson report included the “teaching of a language
which pointed to the great advantage” of children in Tagalog-speaking regions who
learn only one new language in Grades 1 and 2 over children in non-Tagalog speaking
provinces who have to learn new languages - English and Tagalog. The difficulty in the
second case is enhanced by the absence of instructional materials in the vernacular.
The Swanson Report stated that the deterioration of English teaching can be
overcome by an improved instructional program, by increasing time allotted for English
in Grade 1 for 40 minutes and 50 minutes in Grade 2, by having better English teachers,
and by encouraging the use of English outside the classrooms.
The first major revamp of the educational system involving changes in the
elementary and high school levels per recommendation of the Swanson team was
effected by the Board of National Education beginning with SY 1957-1958.

8. 1970- The presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education (PCSPE)

In 1970, the PCSPE chaired by Dr. Onofre D. Corpuz made a comprehensive
study on the language of instruction with action taken on the recommendations by the
board of National education as follows:

 That Filipino be the main language of instruction at the elementary level

with provision for the use of vernacular languages in the first two grades
 That Filipino and English be the languages of instruction at the secondary
and higher levels
 English be taught as a double-period second language subject beginning
in Grade 5.

9. 1973 Philippine Constitution

The Philippine Constitution mandated in Art.XV, sex 3,no.2 and 3 to wit: The
National Assembly shall take steps towards the development and formal adoption of
common national language to be known as Filipino; until otherwise provided by law,
English and Pilipino shall be the official languages.
In 1973, the National Board of Education in NBE Resolution No.73,7s.1973,
declared that it was the policy of the government to use two languages of instruction-
Filipino and English.

10. 1974 Bilingual Education Policy

The BEP mandated the use of English and Pilipino (changed to Filipino in 1987
Constitution) as media of instruction in Philippine primary and secondary schools
according to a set timetable.

11. 1991 congressional Oversight Committee on Education (EDCOM)

The EDCOM recommended the adoption of the policy guidelines or a
language of instruction development to optimize and accelerate learning. Tasked
with recommending legislations to improve the educational system, it

5
 recommended to pave the way for Filipino becoming the medium of instruction by
the year 2000.

Activity 1. Reading Assignment:

Read the 1987 Philippine constitution section 6,7,8,9 (related to our
official languages)

Lesson 2. The Deped Order and its Requirements

Inspire oneself
Have you heard of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
(MTBMLE) before? What was the first language which you learned when you started
to talk? English? Kankanaey? Ibaloy? Kalanguya? Tagalog? Ilokano? Cebuano? Or
other languages in the Philippines? Do you understand what you are saying when you
speak the language that you use at home? This language is your first language and it
is called mother tongue.
As future teachers, why do you need to learn and use mother tongue language in
preschool and primary grades in school? Why did the Department of Education require
schools to use mother tongue as a subject and as a language for teaching and learning
from Kindergarten to Grade 3?

Let’s find out!

Inculcate Concept
No less than the United Nations educational Scientific Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) advocates for the use of mother tongue and celebrates Mother Tongue day
every February 21 o each year. The United nations, in its declaration of Education for
All (EFA) has included a provision on the use of mother tongue to preserve one’s
heritage in the Jomtien Declaration.
In our country, Deped issued Department Order No.74 s.2009, Institutionalizing
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). This was strengthened by
the declaration of President Benigno Aquino, Jr, when he said:
Learn English well and connect to the world
Learn Filipino well and connect to your country
Learn your dialect and connect to your heritage

According to Deped Order 74 s,2009, MTB-MLE is the effective use of more than
two languages for literacy and instruction. Local and international studies have validatd
the superiority of the use of mother tongue first in improving learning outcomes and
promoting Education for All (EFA).

LEGAL BASES OF MTB-MLE DO 13, Series of 2012

RA. NO. 10533

6
2. The general guidelines for the implementation of Grades 1 to 10 Curriculum which
cover the following areas are stipulated in Enclosure No. 1:

a. Design of the Curriculum;

b. Desired Outcomes of Grades 1 to 10 Program;
c. Nomenclature /Learning Area and its Description;
d. Medium of Instruction;
e. Time Allotment;
f. Sample Class Program;
g. Learning Resources;
h. Assessment and Rating of Learning Outcomes; and
i. Culminating Activities/Performances.

R.A 10157
Section 5: Medium of Instruction

The Mother Tongue of the learner shall be the primary medium of instruction for
teaching and learning in the kindergarten level in public schools.

Provisions:

When the pupils in the classroom have a different mother tongue or when some of them
speak another mother tongue.
When the teacher does not speak the mother tongue of the learners
When resources, in line with the use of the mother tongue, are not yet available
When teachers are not yet trained on how to implement the MTB-MLE program

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy

(c) Make education learner-oriented and responsive to the needs, cognitive and cultural
capacity, the circumstances and diversity of learners, schools and communities through
the appropriate languages of teaching and learning, including mother tongue as a
learning resource.

SEC. 4. Enhanced Basic Education Program

For kindergarten and the first three (3) years of elementary education, instruction,
teaching materials and assessment shall be in the regional or native language of the
learners. The Department of Education (DepED) shall formulate a mother language
transition program from Grade 4 to Grade 6 so that Filipino and English shall be
gradually introduced as languages of instruction until such time when these two (2)
languages can become the primary languages of instruction at the secondary level.

DO. 31, Series 2013

Section 7: Duties, Powers and Functions

7
C. Develop teaching strategies using the unique feature of the MTB-MLE which shall
include but not limited to, the following:

The two-track method

Interactive strategies
Use of manipulative games, and
Experiential, small groups discussions and total physical response among others.

The learning development materials shall consist of the following at the minimum:
(a) Listening story;
(b) Small books;
(c) Big books;
(d) Experience story;
(e) Primer lessons; and
(f) Lessons exemplars;

SEC. 5. Curriculum Development

(f) The curriculum shall adhere to the principles and framework of Mother Tongue-
Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) which starts from where the learners are and
from what they already knew proceeding from the known to the unknown; instructional
materials and capable teachers to implement the MTB-MLE curriculum shall be
available;

D.O. 31, s. 2013 states that:

a. Mother Tongue is used as a Medium of Instruction (MOI) for Grades 1 and 2 for
teaching Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan (AP), Music, Arts, Physical Education and
Health (MAPEH) and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP);

b. Mother Tongue is taught as a separate Learning Area in Grades 1 and 2;

c. Filipino, as a Learning Area, is first introduced in Grade 1 during the second quarter
(2nd Q)/grading period;
d. English, as a Learning Area, is first introduced in Grade 1 during the third quarter (3rd
Q)/grading period

Lesson 3. The Benefits of using Mother Tongue

Four Aspects of Development

The MTB-MLE strengthens the development of the appropriate cognitive and reasoning
skills enabling children to operate equally in different languages—starting with the
mother tongue.

8
Language Development.
Students will establish a strong educational foundation in the language they know
best; they will build a good “bridge” to the school language(s), and they will be prepared
to use both/all of their languages for success in school and for life-long learning.

Cognitive Development.
School activities will engage learners to move well beyond the basic questions of
who, what, when, and where to cover all higher order thinking skills in the learners’
language of thought.
These higher order thinking skills will: (1) transfer to the other languages once enough
Filipino or English has been acquired to use these skills in thinking and articulating
thought; and (2) be used in the process of acquiring English and Filipino more
effectively.

Academic Development.
Students will achieve the necessary competencies in each subject area and, at
the end of the program, they will be prepared to enter and achieve well in the
mainstream education system.

Socio-Cultural Development.
Students will be proud of their heritage language and culture, and respect the
languages and cultures of others; they will be prepared to contribute productively to
their own community and to the larger society.
Furthermore, students will learn and develop holistically. When learners are first
instructed in the language they know best, they are able to build a good “bridge” toward
learning another language. Multilinguals also enjoy benefits that go beyond linguistic
knowledge. They are also able to learn with more flexibility.

Teachers’ testimonies
At first, Teacher Regina of Pasig Elementary School, who has been teaching
Grade 3 Mathematics for 17 years, was apprehensive to use the mother tongue. She
was mainly worried about how mathematical concepts and terminologies could be
translated to the mother tongue.
However, this concern was negated by the more active participation of the
children when they started using the mother tongue in her classes. She noticed that the
children became more confident in conceiving and explaining content, and more
articulate in expressing their ideas. She saw how using the mother tongue enables her
learners to immediately construct ideas, explain without fear of making mistakes, and
add new concepts to those they already know.
Teacher Nemia, a Grade 3 Science teacher of 12 years, had the same
apprehensions. “It was a very unwelcome idea to use the mother tongue in teaching
Science. It seemed difficult. I also thought of the extra effort I might need to exert in
using terms that would match the exact translation of scientific terms in the mother
tongue,” she said.

9
 “However, when we started teaching in the mother tongue, we were surprised by
how effective it was. The pupils were more attentive in class discussion. They are also
able to explain their answers well when responding to questions. Furthermore, it makes
them more confident to converse,” added Teacher Nemia.

Note: I will be giving quiz regarding this chapter including your reading assignment on
September 12,2022 at our regular time 2:30-4:00 pm.

REFERENCES:
Llego, M. ( 2012). DepEd Order No. 32, s. 2012 IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT
(RA) NO. 10157 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “THE KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION ACT”.
(https://www.teacherph.com/kindergarten-education-act/)

Arzadon, C. (n.d.). Full text of REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10533 "Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013″. (
http://mothertongue-based.blogspot.com/2013/05/full-text-of-republic-act-no-10533.html)

(DepEd). April 17, 2012 DO 31, s. 2012 – Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of Grades 1 to 10 of the K to 12
Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) Effective School Year 2012-2013. (https://www.deped.gov.ph/2012/04/17/do-31-
s-2012-policy-guidelines-on-the-implementation-of-grades-1-to-10-of-the-k-to-12-basic-education-curriculum-bec-
effective-school-year-2012-2013/)

DepEd Order (Nos.: 31, s. 2012 and 14, s. 2013) DepEd Memorandum (No.: 46, s. 2013)

10