Content and Pedagogy for the Mother-Tongue

ECED 21

 LESSON 1: WHAT IS MTB-MLE?

 LESSON 2: WHY MTB-MLE?
 LESSON 3: CONTENT OF THE MTB-MLE
 LESSON 4: CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY IN
TEACHING MTB-MLE
 LESSON 5: PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCIES IN
TEACHING MOTHERTONGUE
 5.1: UNDERSTANDING THE LOCAL CULTURE
 5.2: KNOWING THE MOTHER TONGUE
 MOTHER TONGUE-BASED
MULTILINGUAL
Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. Identify the different context in communication;
2. Understand the relationship between language, heritage, culture and
communication;
3. Discuss the personal factors involve in learning a second language; and
4. Appreciate the comfort and complexity of the generation they are born
into.

I. Activate
The digital natives, other known as Generation Z, are those born between the
years 1994 to 2004. And you are definitely one of them!
You were born with and into the comfort and complexity of technology.
Interaction for you means connecting through social media, while communication
is coursed through an account that could be totally divorced from who the real
person is. Your generation is highly reliant on technology to the point that some would
opt to live a sedentary life without recognizing the down side of it. On the other hand,
you are also recognized as creative and collaborative generation that can
contribute highly when you join the workforce.
While our knowledge on generation Z is still a wok in progress, through the lens
of education, we can safely say that the world they are growing up in is more
comprehensible. It is the day and age when the challenge of education is to prepare
the forthcoming generation of learners to brave constant change and the
challenges of the world. Education is not just simply a transfer of concepts and rote
memorization, yet it is the readiness and capability to operate, compete and survive.
 More so, education is all about learners who think outside the box, make decisions,
and solve problems.
II. Analyze

Below is the language bingo card and your goal is to cross out all language
that your group has.

Ybanag Tagalog LANGUAGE Surigaonon Yakan

BINGO
Iloko Ivatan Kapampangan Maranao Tausug
Cebuano Bikol Pangasinense Maguindanaoan Hiligaynon
Chabacano Sambal Aklanon Kinaray-a Waray

What is the most common language spoken/used by your classmates?

Where do you think they learn the language/languages?
We thrive in bilingual, or even multilingual, world. This is the rationale why
Mother Tongue, Filipino, and English follow a unified framework which allows easy
transition from acquiring and learning one language to another. Republic Act
10533 “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013” has highlighted the reality and
relevance of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). The
implementation of the K-12 Basic Education Program puts high premium on the
learners Mother Tongue and other languages used in the classroom. The
Department of Education refers to Mother Tongue-Based Instruction through DO #
74 s. 2009.
The curriculum shall adhere to the principles and framework of Mother
Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) which starts from where the
learners are at and from what they already know, proceeding from the known to
the unknown. Instructional materials are capable teachers to implement the MTB-
MLE curriculum shall be available.
In support of MTB-MLE, in 2013, DepEd Order No. 16, s. 2012 (Guidelines on the
Implementation of the MTB-MLE)
Reality dictates the learners learn best when they are able to understand
and express in the language, they grew up speaking from childhood thus, they are
able to build a strong scaffold in terms of comprehension, construction and
communication. Moreover, research stresses that children with a solid foundation in
the language they grew up speaking or their Mother Tongue develop stronger
literacy abilities in the school language.
III. Abstract
You need to answer the question listed below. You are encouraging to
research below and site credible sources in answering each question.

1. What is acquisition?

2. How is language acquisition different from language learning?

3. How do children learn their first language?

4. What is second language acquisition?

5. Is language acquisition true for all children?

Language is the basis of all communication and the primary instrument of

thought. Thinking, learning, and language are interrelated. Language is governed by
rules and systems (language conventions) which are used to explore and communicate
meaning. It defines culture which is essential in understanding oneself (personal identity),
forming interpersonal relationship (socialization), extending experiences, reflecting on
thought and action, and contributing to a better society. Language, therefore, is central
 to the people intellectual, social and emotional development and has essential role in
all key learning areas.
Language is the foundation of all human relationships. All human relationships
are established on the ability of people to communicate effectively with each other.
Thoughts, values and understanding are developed and expressed through language.
This process allows students to understand better the world in which they live and
contribute to the development of their personal perspectives of the global community.
Therefore, proficiency enables people to access, process, and assess information, to
engage with the wider and more diverse communities, and to learn about the role of
language in their own lives, and in their own and other cultures.
Language acquisition (a natural process and involves “picking up” languages
in a nonconscious way through exposure to language, not by studying it and language
learning (is conscious, intentional, involves study and pays attention to grammar rules)
is an active process from cradle to grave, and continues throughout life. It is continuous
and recursive throughout students’ lives. Students enhance their language abilities by
using what they know in new and more complex contexts and with increasing
sophistication (spiral progression). They reflect on and use prior knowledge to extend
and enhance their language and understanding. By learning and incorporating new
language structures into their repertoire and using them in a variety of context, students
developed language fluency and proficiency. Positive learning experiences in
language rich environments enable students to leave school with a desire to continue
to extend their knowledge, skills, and interests.
Armed with the capability to read in their mother tongue, learners are able to
cross over and read in other languages. Their knowledge and skills transfer across
languages. This bridges then enables the learners to use both of all their languages for
success in academic and most of all lifelong learning.
IV. Apply
Having the end in mind of instilling lifelong learning over and above academic
excellence in Filipino learners, language learning in the Mother Tongue (L1), in Filipino (L2-
the national language), in English (L3- the global language), and the possibility of
foreign language (L4) equips the learner to be more than prepared to develop the
competence in the different learning areas they will hurdle.
For your final task in this lesson, form a group of 5 and discuss the following:
1. Who is learning another language at the moment?
2. Who has tried to study another language out of passion or curiosity, or out of obligation
to fulfill a duty?
3. If a second language was learned, how was the experience?
4. Is there someone ion the group who can read books or newspaper and listen to radio/tv
in another language apart from English and tagalog? Each group must prepare for a
presentation of their key discussion points.

SELF CHECK

Think of how you acquired and learned the language that you have right now. How will
you rate your level of proficiency for each of the language (10 points if you consider
yourself highly proficient)? What language did you acquire first? Second? Or, did you
acquire it simultaneously? Do you think it would make a difference if your L1 proficiency
was well-established before you were exposed to your L2?
 Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
1. Discuss the reasons why learning a second language is important;
2. Discuss the personal factors involved in learning a second language;
3. Understand the Lingua Franca Education Project in its connection to
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE); and
4. Give a brief description of MTB-MLE

CONTENT EXPLORATION

I. Activate and Analyze

Answer the following questions below decide whether you:

 Strongly agree
 Agree with reservation
 Somewhat undecided and most likely can be swayed to either side
 Strongly disagree
1. Language is an invention of groups of people in order to communicate effectively with
each other in their local/particular community.
2. Language represents concepts that are particular to a specific culture.
3. Language represents the people, the culture, history, and heritage.
4. When we accept a language, we accept the culture.
5. Most language environments have words that are specialized and are used only in
those environments.
6. Age does not really determine difference in language style.
7. The structure of language affects the way in which its respective speakers
conceptualize their world or otherwise influences their cognitive processes.

8. New meanings are continually created as people change their ideas, feelings, and
activities.
9. As people think, read, travel, make friends, and experience life, the associations and
connections that words have for these people change.
10. Languages determines how one thinks and processes information.
II. Apply
MTB-MLE is theoretically-based and well-planned educational program that
provides a strong foundation for literacy using the learners developing cognitive skills
and comprehension of academic content. Listed below are the “promises” of the
MTB-MLE to its learners.
 Literacy
 Prior knowledge
 Cognitive development and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)
 Strong bridge
 Scaffolding
 Teaching for Meaning and Accuracy
 Confidence Building and Proficiency Development for Two or More Languages
along the Macro Skills of Communication
You may have been learning about MTB-MLE and its value, but it is also
important that early on, you are exposed to the problems and challenges that it has
been facing these past years.
With your group, final task for this lesson is to interview an elementary teacher
who has taught or is teaching Mother Tongue as a learning are. The interview may
be done face-to-face or eve a messaging/chat interview.

On a short bond paper prepare a two-page interview essay on the following

points. Write the name of the teacher whom you interviewed below.
 Advantage of teaching Mother Tongue as a subject for both the learners and the
teacher;
 Challenges or problems encountered;
 Solutions that were created so far to address the problems; and
 Further recommendation to better achieve the goals of MTB-MLE.

SELF CHECK

Lesson synthesis
For you, what do you foresee as challenges or difficulties that you will
encounter when you teach Mother Tongue as a learning area? Prepare to share
insights to the class.
 Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
1. Understand the Framework of the MTB-MLE;
2. Gain deeper insight on the MTB-MLE curriculum;
3. Draft a proposal on refinements/ improvements of the curriculum; and
4. Suggest ways of integrating MTB-MLE issues into the curriculum.

I. Analyze and Abstract

In your group, your tasks this time is to understand the Department of education
curriculum framework for Mother Tongue as a learning area. Before your tasks, it is
crucial that we have common knowledge of frameworks, specifically what curriculum
framework is.
A framework, when used in any context, implies a means of organizing and
managing content in systematic ways. With this, we can define a curriculum framework
as the one responsible in regulating the content of the curriculum; it sets the parameters,
directions and standards for curriculum policy and practice.
SELF CHECK
Your task for this lesson is to prepare a position paper that will discuss the following:
Please refer to the curriculum guide for Mother Tongue
1. What needs to be improved (if any)?
2. How does the MTB-MLE curriculum support/complement (or contradict) first and
second language acquisition theories?
3. If you will be given the chance to improve the framework, what changes will you
incorporate? Try to re-create the MTB-MLE framework based on your suggestions.
 Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
1. Grasp the essence of constructivist learning theory
2. relate the constructivist learning theory with learning a language; and
3. formulate methods for teaching MTB through constructivist approach.

I. Activate
There is a number of learning theories that demonstrate how individuals, especially
young learners, learn. The five major theories are listed below. Your task is to find a
basic description of each learning theory.
a. Behaviorism
b. Cognitivism
c. Constructivism
d. Humanism
e. Connectivism

II. Analyze and Abstract

Take time to read the information below about constructivist learning theory, the
learning theory being championed by the Mother Tongue Curriculum.
III. Apply
With your groups, your final task in this lesson is to find a sample lesson plan on
Mother Tongue as a learning area. Using the sample lesson plan, analyze the activities
to determine if it adopts the constructivist approach to lesson development.
 Is the learning objective clearly defined?
 Is the activity motivating for learner?
 Is the learner informed of how he or she will be assessed?
 Does the learner have an opportunity to share ideas with others?
 Does it allow collaboration among learners?
 Is the learner provided with sources and support to help build knowledge that leads
to new insights and discoveries?
 These pedagogical competences are discussed in the succeeding units. Lesson
5.1 and 5.2 though will discussed the pre-requisite of teaching Mother Tongue – your
competency to understand and analyze a Mother Tongue and the local culture in
which the Mother Tongue is situated.

Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
1. State their own definition of culture and lists other related concepts;
2. Explain the various definitions of culturally-responsive education and its
principles; and
3. List some examples of the elements of culture from observing their local
community’s culture.

I. Activate
“For indigenous communities… worldwide that are still grappling with the legacy
of colonization, being able to speak their ancestral language is about
empowerment and reclaiming their identity. It may even carry significant
consequences for their mental health”.
This quote is taken from a BBC article by Rawling (2019) entitled “ The man bringing
dead languages back to life”. Do you believe in this quote?
The goal of this activity is for each student to think about the interrelationships of
languages, culture, and community. Reflect about the quote you read by using the
the guide question below.
1. How do you feel about the quote you read?
 A student’s beliefs, attitudes, and subjective norms are all circumscribed in culture. Most
of the time, culture affects, in a variety of ways, how different students prefer to learn. Teachers
should consider a diverse method of teaching to suit varied aspect of student’s different
cultures. Even though people are not aware of it, culture governs their thoughts, beliefs, and
behavior. Therefore, what is culture? How would you define culture?

II. Analyze
The goal of this activity for each group to create a concept map for “culture”.
First, think of a word or ideas related to culture. Write those word around the word
“culture” seen bellow. This word will be called the second level of the association. Circle each
word and draw an arrow from the word culture to the second level word. These will be called
the third level association. The more concept written, the better the concept map.
After completing the concept map, decide on the most important ideas for your group.
Formulate your own group definition of “culture” by coming up with a sentence combining
the words you selected.

CULTURE

Doige (2003) commented that students’ academic achievements improves more when
the education is culturally relevant and responsive. For example, in a 2011 study, pupils from
ethnic cultural group did not learn as fast when compared to their mainstream counterparts.
this gap was attributed to the language barrier between students and teachers. It was also
caused by differences in values towards education.
 III. Abstract
Think about the elements of culturally-responsive education.

Definition of Culturally-Responsive Education

 To use the experiences and frames of reference on the diverse culture of the students
(Gay, 2010a)
 An approach to education where the teacher integrates elements of the students’
lifestyles and daily experiences in the instruction and the curriculum.
 A type of pedagogy where teachers are competent in cross-cultural and
multicultural setting.
 Recognizes the uniqueness of the majority and the minority in the body of the
students.

IV. Apply
Culture is composed of many elements. Some of these are values, language,
symbols, objects, groups, and norms. These elements maybe classified into three ((1) Sense-
making, (2) Artifacts, AND (3) Groups.
The goal of this activity is for you to create a short socio-cultural profile of a pre-
determined community or a group. In your group, strategize how you would go about creating
the socio-cultural profile. Like mentioned above, you need to find out about community’s
values language, symbols, objects, groups, and norms. You may do this by observing a
community or by interviewing its member. Use the following key question.
Elements of Culture Key Question
Sense making- is the multiple What values are prominent in the
representation of meaning of a given community?
object, person, or event. Different
people provide different meanings to a
certain object. This may depend on their
values and their language.

What specific words or phrases do they

always use? What do they mean by it?

Artifacts- as defined as anything What object does the community use or

belonging to a group of people that own? What is their significance?
provides information about the said
 group’s culture. It may include symbols,
traditional objects found in archeological
sites, or more modern objects like
cellphones, televisions, laptops, etc.

What symbol or emblems were used by

community? Why?

Groups- different cultures usually have What significance groups can be found
sub-groups inside which are called in the community? What are the
subcultures. These are groups that have organizations?
their own norms and values that
sometimes retain a few of the parent
culture’s general principles.

What are the expected patterns of

behavior or belief in these groups?

Unit Summary
Bravo! You have reached the end of Unit 1! We hope that you now have a
clearer picture of MTB-MLE in terms of its educational goals, guiding principles,
curriculum framework, key stages and standards, and the overall significance of
recognizing the cultural and linguistic diversity of our country as potent means of
advancing quality education for all. In the next chapter, you will be guided in
developing instructional plans in teaching Mother Tongue as subject or learning area.