Content and Pedagogy in the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education

Course Description  Language represents a culture; therefore, to

become a better speaker of the language, one
 Comprehensive understanding of elements of needs to be immersed or well-versed in the
mother tongue, appreciation of local literature, culture where the language originates.
and utilization of developmentally appropriate  Most language environments have words that
language teaching strategies for the mother are specialized and are used only in those
tongue environments.
Introduction  Age does not really determine difference in
 The assumption in teacher education programs language style.
for schools that use only the official school  The words you use are determined by all your
language is that all students have the level of past experiences also known as your field of
fluency they need to learn effectively in that experience.
language.  New meanings are continually created as
 However, in many multilingual contexts this people change their ideas, feelings, and
assumption is not correct and children from activities. As people think, read, travel, make
non-dominant language communities tend to friends, and experience life, the associations
do poorly in formal education systems. and connections that words have for these
 There is a growing awareness around the world people are changed.
that MTB MLE is an important part of the  Language and religion offer an innovative
solution to the problem of high drop-out and theory of religion as a class of cultural
attrition rates among children who do not speak representations dependent on language to
the official school language when they begin unify diverse capacities of the human mind.
their education.  The structure of a language affects the ways in
 Most students do not know the school language which its respective speakers conceptualize
when they begin school, but they are fluent in their world or otherwise influences their
their own language – their mother tongue. cognitive processes.
Two specific pedagogical approaches that help Language is the primary tool used in the
students achieve a successful education
communication process. This connotes sharing one’s
1. Begin with what the students already know -
thoughts, emotions, and knowledge with others using a
their own language and the knowledge and
certain code (culture) and symbols (language) that must
skills they have acquired through living in their
be learned and shared between communicators.
own community, and use that as the foundation
Language is a defining feature that distinguishes
for teaching new content and concepts
human beings among other species.
2. Teachers must help their students develop oral,
The possession of language is what makes human
written and higher level thinking skills in the
beings unique.
language they know best and, at the same time,
support the students as they gradually learn the
Linguistics is the scientific study of language that deals
official school language. with the description of different but interrelated
FIRST LESSON phenomena involved with language: its structure and
THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES OF MTB-MLE use.
Language and Identity: Sociological and Cultural Linguistic Elements of Language
Perspectives of Language 1. Phonology – the sound system of a language.
2. Morphology – study of the structure of words.
 Language is an invention of people in particular 3. Syntax – study of the structure of sentences.
culture in order to effectively communicate 4. Semantics – study of meanings in language.
with each other. 5. Pragmatics – the appropriate use of language
 Language represents concepts that are not in different context.
universal but just unique to a particular culture. Why is language culture-based?
 Language determines how one thinks and Understanding is the core of meaning and is a two-way
processes information. process: the speaker is responsible for representing the
idea clearly, and the listener is responsible for trying to
understand it accurately.
 Content and Pedagogy in the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
Language occurs differently in different contexts.  taking an early retirement instead of got
e.g. fired
 The world of adults is different from the worlds  pregnancy termination instead of abortion
of children or adolescents. Parents might wish,  powder your nose instead of go to the
for example, that their child were popular. But
toilet
“popular” to a teenager may mean “being able
 big-boned instead of fat or overweight
to stay out late and own a car”.
Because experiences of the teenager and  vertically-challenged instead of short
parent are so different, their values and  moon landing instead of bald
vocabulary also differ.  differently-abled instead of handicapped or
New meanings are continually created by all of us disabled
as we change our ideas, our feelings, and our  chronologically-challenged instead of late
activities. As we think, read, travel, make friends,  economical with the truth instead of liar
and experience life, the associations and
connections that words have for us are changed. Specialization
Most language environments have words that are
What is the language environment? specialized and are used only in
those environments.
All languages take place within a particular Whenever you shift roles, you shift your language
environment. environment and your speech as well.
Language that is appropriate to one
environment might appear meaningless of foolish What are Cognates?
in another. o Cognates are words descended from a
common ancestor, same origin or related by
Four Elements of the Language Environment borrowing, or of the same descent.
(by: Neil Postman) o Descended from the same original
1. People language, of the same linguistic family,
2. their purpose coming naturally from the same root, or
3. the rules of communication by which they representing the same original word, with
achieve their purpose differences due to subsequent separate
4. the actual talk used in the situation phonetic development.
Appropriate Language o Words that are orthographically and
For any society to function it must have some sort semantically similar in two languages
of understanding about which words are because of a shared etymology.
inappropriate. Classification of Cognates
As children grow up, they try out the new words 1. True cognates are words that share similar
they hear and, from the reactions of the adults meaning or spelling in two or more
around them, learn the words they should and languages. They are easy to teach to language
shouldn’t use. learners of a foreign language of the
same and core meaning; hence, difficult to forget
Euphemism is an offensive word or phrase that is and easy to recall.
substituted for other words that might be
perceived as unpleasant.

Examples:
 passed away or dearly departed or bit the
dust instead of died
 on the streets instead of homeless
 Content and Pedagogy in the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
2. False cognates are pairs of words in the same or 3. Social-Interactionist Theory
different languages a word in a 4. Biological Theory
language that looks or sounds similar to a word in
another language but means 1. Behaviorist Theory
something different (McMillan Dictionary) It suggests that nurture-the way a child is taught or
molded by parents and the environment -plays a
First Language Acquisition (FLA) dominant role in children's language development.
Language Acquisition Theories Language acquisition is a result of imitation and
LANGUAGE is not biological, therefore regardless reinforcement.
of race and ethnicity, children will eventually Classical Conditioning
acquire language they are first exposed to in their Classical conditioning is a learning process first
families especially their primary caregiver. discovered by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov
in the early 1900s. The theory of Classical
Since the primary caregiver is the mother, this Conditioning deals with the learning process
language input came to be called “motherese” leading us to gain a new behavior via the process of
Motherese describes the language adaptation association.
adults make to give the child maximum (Language Development)
opportunity to interact and learn. For example: Every time the baby is offered a
What is first language? bottle, the mother names the object when she
The language first acquired as a child like mother says, “Here's the bottle.” After numerous
tongue and native tongue, or preferred language in repetitions with the adult presenting the
a multilingual situation. action/object and phrase, the baby learns that the
What is second language? clear cylinder filled with food is called a bottle.
It is a non-native language that has an official role Operant Conditioning
in a country. In the Philippines, English and Filipino Operant Conditioning is the term coined by B.F.
are the two official languages of commerce and Skinner in 1938. It is a form of learning which
industry as stipulated in the 1987 Philippine explains the relation of behaviors on certain
Constitution. rewards and consequences.
What is heritage language? (Language Development)
It is used to identify languages other than the Infants gradually learn expressive language by
dominant language. In the Philippines there are being rewarded for imitating the sounds and
dominant languages like Tagalog, Cebuano, and speech they hear. For instance, a baby
many others. spontaneously babbles and accidentally says or
What is dialect? repeats the sound “Mama”. The mother responds
It is a language variety in which the use of grammar joyfully, hugging and kissing the baby, saying “Yes,
and vocabulary identifies the regional or social Mama!” The baby, given this reward, is reinforced
background of the user. and attempts to repeat the behavior. Once the
Language Acquisition Theories behavior is repeated and rewarded often enough,
Two Main Divisions of Language the child connects the word sound to the object or
1. Receptive Language event.
Understanding what is said, written, or signed 2. Nativist / Innatist Theory
2. Expressive Language Nativists believe that every child has an inborn
Speaking, writing, or signing capacity to learn language. Noam Chomsky (1965)
Language Acquisition Theories called this innate capacity a language acquisition
1. Behaviorist / Environmentalist Theory device (LAD). LAD allows children to interpret
(Stimulus –Response) phoneme patterns, word meanings, and the rules
2. Nativist / Innatist Theory that govern language
(Predetermined)
 Content and Pedagogy in the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
3. Social-Interactionist Theory
Lev Vygotsky’s theory (1978) forms the
foundation of the social-interactionist view of
language development. Vygotsky believed that
language develops in the context of social
interaction and language use.

As children experience the wide variety of

functions and forms of language, they internalize
the way their society uses language to represent
meaning. Social experiences shape the language
the child internalizes. At the same time, the child is
making an internal effort to assign meanings to
experience and communicate with the outside
world. Two forces, within and without the child,
work together to propel the language learning.
 Lev Vygotsky's Scaffolding
 More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)
 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
4. Biological (neurobiological) Theory
It is the view that language acquisition can be
explained by studying the structural development
of the brain. The capacity to learn language begins
with brain cells called neurons. Infants are born
with brain areas genetically dedicated to language
functions.
The main parts of the brain involved in language
processes are the Broca's area, located in the left
frontal lobe, which is responsible for speech
production and articulation, and the Wernicke's
area, in the left temporal lobe, associated with
language development and comprehension.