Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 4) — Amid debates over the effectiveness of mother tongue-based multilingual learning, the Department of Education (DepEd) has admitted that the program’s implementation has become rife with problems.
According to DepEd Chief Education Program Specialist Dr. Rosalina Villaneza, there is a mismatch between the language used by teachers as a medium of instruction and the language children use in their everyday lives.
Villaneza said teachers who use their mother tongue usually focus their efforts on making the students understand the lesson rather than prioritizing the students’ comprehension skill development.
“Magfo-focus (sana) ang teacher sa pag-develop ng comprehension skills—sequencing of events, noting details—hindi po umaabot doon ang mga teacher kasi their effort is to really make the learners understand (the lesson), hindi na nila nafo-focus ang development ng comprehension skills,” she explained.
[Translation: They are supposed to focus on developing comprehension skills—sequencing of events, noting details—but the teachers do not reach that point because their effort is to really make the learners understand the lesson, so they can’t focus on the development of comprehension skills.]
Basic Education Committee chairman Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the implementation of the mother tongue program seems like an \”experiment’.
He noted that previous studies on the effectiveness of mother tongue-based learning were done in monolingual countries, where most of the population speak one language.
He pointed out that Filipinos are multilingual.
\”We became the de facto experiment for mother tongue in a multilingual setting and that experiment is creating a lot of confusion, negative feedback from teachers,\” he said.
For example, Cordillera Region officials said that their teachers are able to use mother tongue to teach reading but not in other subjects, a DepEd official said.
\”If you tell us to teach using the mother tongue in other subject areas, it would be very difficult because just composing one story will take much of their time and resources,\” DepEd CAR Education Program Supervisor Rosita Agnasi said.
Some lawmakers want to suspend mother tongue-based learning until the lack of learning materials is addressed.
READ: Language advocacy group warns vs suspension of mother tongue-based education
Gatchalian said he wants more input from various stakeholders to be able to come up with an informed recommendation.
He also asked DepEd to present a clearer strategic plan for the program’s implementation.
