Mother tongue use boosts reading comprehension of 4th graders – study

MANILA, Philippines – The use of the mother tongue in schools has been shown to improve reading comprehension in Filipino and English among 4th graders, a study found.

The Language of Instruction Transition in Education Systems study, conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), sampled 1,200 students on multilingual literacy.

The study showed that using the mother tongue – one’s first or native language – as the language of instruction (LOI) in primary grades significantly contributed to reading comprehension in secondary languages, such as Filipino and English, among Grade 4 learners.

“This supports the benefits of [first language]-use as the LOI in line with global evidence, and suggests improved performance in schools adhering more closely to the MTB-MLE (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) policy of [first language] instruction in the early grades, and its positive effects on [second language] skills as early as the 4th grade,” read part of the study released in January.

The MTB-MLE policy, institutionalized by law in 2013, mandated the use of mother tongue as language of instruction from kindergarten to Grade 3. It was discontinued when Republic Act 12027 lapsed into law in 2024, requiring the LOI to be in English and Filipino. Mother tongue is optional – with certain conditions – in monolingual classes or a group of learners who share the same mother tongue and are enrolled in the same grade level in a school year.

Other factors that were linked to an improved reading comprehension in second languages were: teachers’ attitudes about the benefits of first-language reading in fostering secondary language reading skills; higher rates of switching to first language in secondary language LOI classes; and having higher ratios of secondary language textbooks to learners.

“Learners whose teachers have a strong belief that learning to read in [first language] helps learners to read in [secondary language] scored significantly higher compared to learners whose teachers disagreed with the belief that [first language] literacy instruction helps [secondary language] literacy,” the study noted.

“We also found that students’ outcomes were higher when teachers switched from [secondary language] to [first language] in [second language] literacy classes, rather than when there was no or minimal code-switching,” it said.

According to the study, among the challenges of MTB-MLE implementation include financial constraints, material shortages, and English bias.

“DepEd has demonstrated a lack of long-term planning capacity, evident in its failure to provide cost estimates for essential materials,” it read.

“The program’s role in supporting Filipino and English acquisition and cognitive development was not clearly or effectively communicated to the public. It may also be that these benefits are counterintuitive and difficult for people to grasp and appreciate quickly,” the study said.

Recommendations

The PIDS study’s short-term recommendation: “Support action planning and harmonization efforts” across government, civil society, and donor communities for an effective two-track system on the language of instruction.

The following are the medium-term recommendations for schools opting the MTB-MLE models:

• Review the MATATAG curriculum and MTB-MLE models, “in light of the law and in light of evidence-based trilingual educational models with a national language of wider communication.”
• Seek to invest in first language-based multilingual education with a particular focus on Indigenous Peoples education communities.
• Seek to support monolingual schools.
• Provide teacher training in multilingual education methods.
• Ensure continued support for first language reading.
• Improve teaching and learning materials development, printing, and supply chains.
• Pilot and study more evidence-aligned multilingual education models.

For bilingual or secondary-language immersion schools, medium-term recommendations include teacher training for quality multilingual education, exploration of continued opportunities to use mother tongue for foundational skill development, and strengthening early secondary language exposure, and cognitive and academic language proficiency development.

For the long term, the PIDS suggested formal evaluation of the bilingual and multilingual education models and the development of appropriate models “that comply with the law and meet the needs of communities in more complex socio-linguistic contexts.”

A teachers’ group expressed its preference for a mother tongue-based learning.

“The study validates what we teachers already know: students learn fastest in their first languages. Then and now, we believe that MTB-MLE is the right policy. If the implementation of MTB-MLE was given sufficient funding, our students will be able to learn fast and to learn other languages too,” the Alliance of Concerned Teachers told Rappler. – Rappler.com