News to Go - Wikang panturo: Filipino, Ingles, o Mother Tongue?

Overview

A segment titled “Wikang panturo: Filipino, Ingles, o Mother Tongue?” discusses claims by a legislator investigating schools that allegedly punish students for speaking English in class. The aim, according to the legislator, is to improve students’ English proficiency.

Dr. Ricardo Nolasco (UP Department of Linguistics) argues that language-forcing policies like this can be harmful to children’s overall language development and literacy.

Key Points from Dr. Ricardo Nolasco

1) What “mother tongue” means

• Using UNESCO’s definition, mother tongue is the first language children learn.
• He also notes that other definitions are common, such as:
  • the language children use most, and
  • the language people identify with.

2) Philippine language reality

• The Philippines has around 170 languages.
• He argues that policies built on a one-language assumption do not match local conditions (unlike countries with only a few major languages).
• He pushes back against the idea that “dialects” are lesser, emphasizing that local languages such as Cebuano should be treated as languages.

3) Critique of the current bilingual education approach

• He criticizes a common implementation of bilingual education that uses:

  • English, then
  • Filipino/Tagalog as media of instruction.

• His main point: most Filipinos are not first-language Tagalog/Filipino, especially outside Manila and areas where Tagalog is dominant.

4) Core proposal: Mother-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)

• He distinguishes his approach from older bilingual models.
• His proposal focuses on:
  • using each child’s first language as the medium of instruction in early grades (at least elementary/early schooling),
  • while still strengthening English and Filipino later.
• The goal is not to stop teaching English/Filipino, but to ensure the foundation is built on the language the child already knows best.

5) Why “English from the start” isn’t the solution

• He cites international evidence, including the Thomas & Collier study (an 11-year investigation).
• He argues that students who begin schooling fully in English may learn less English overall than those who first build a foundation in their mother tongue, then transition.

6) Link to literacy and reasoning problems

• He connects the education approach to literacy outcomes.
• He cites surveys suggesting that many learners are able to read without comprehension:
  • they can decode words but
  • cannot understand what they read.
• He argues that this contributes to weak communication and reasoning skills—skills that employers, including call centers, reportedly struggle to find.

7) Policy implementation and rollout

• He acknowledges challenges such as:
  • teacher training, and
  • the need for materials across many languages.
• Still, he argues rollout can be done step-by-step, such as:
  • pilot programs, and
  • starting with pioneer schools.
• He suggests beginning with preschool and early grades.

8) Pilot results

• He references early MTB-MLE pioneer implementations, such as in Bicol, where Math and science were taught in Bicol and understanding reportedly improved faster.
• However, he notes that:
  • time is limited, and
  • long-term evidence is still lacking.

9) Framing of the debate

• He argues the debate should not be “English vs. Filipino.”
• Instead, the real issue is how to build multilingual competence:
  • children should learn their mother tongue,
  • the national language (Filipino),
  • and English—so they are not limited and are better prepared for society and the global economy.

Presenter / Contributor

• Dr. Ricardo Nolasco — Department of Linguistics, University of the Philippines