 |
[ Home ]
|
Links to Lubuagan Kalinga multilingual education
research results:
First Language Component
Families whose mother tongue is
not Tagalog have difficulty using Filipino as their medium
of instruction. This is especially true for children in
their early elementary years. Young students bear the load
of learning literacy skills simultaneously with learning
another language. Quite often, the students learn to read
syllable by syllable with very little comprehension.
Introducing English before basic literacy skills are
mastered further complicates the problem.
This was the situation in Hungduan, Ifugao. A Department
of Education District Supervisor was distressed at the
poor performance of his students in national tests. He
approached SIL members, Dick and Lou Hohulin, for help. At
the time, the Hohulins were working in the Kiangan Ifugao
language project. Working together with local educators, a
pilot program was developed to attempt to remedy the
situation. The core concept was to separate the task of
learning to read from learning to speak a second language,
based on the idea that children can learn to read much more
readily in their mother tongue and will then be able to
transfer their new literacy skills to Filipino and English.
The pilot program succeeded well and the "First Language
Component" (FLC) was born. (This program is more fully
documented in "The First Language Component: A bridging
educational program", by Lou Hohulin in Notes on
Literacy. Volume 21, Number 1 (January 1995). Dallas: Summer Institute of
Linguistics)
Since then, the Graduate School at Nueva Vizcaya State
University (NVSU) has more fully developed the First
Language Component approach under the leadership of Dr.
Gloria Baguingan. For several years now, teachers have been
trained in curriculum strategies and methodology to support
the use of the mother tongue in the classroom.
In Lubuagan, Kalinga, SIL members, Greg and Diane Dekker,
have worked alongside teachers from the Department of Education
to facilitate the training of elementary teachers in the
use of the vernacular language as a bridge to learning
Filipino and English. Teachers from Lubuagan have continued
their training in cooperation with NVSU.
The use of regional and vernacular languages in the
classroom was an issue explored by the recent Philippines
Presidential Commission on Educational Reform. An outcome
of the report of the Commission was
a proposal relating to the use of regional linguae francae
and vernacular languages in elementary education.
While affirming the
Bilingual Education Policy and the improvement in the
teaching of English and Filipino, this proposal aims to
introduce the use of the regional lingua franca or
vernacular as the medium of instruction in Grade One.
Studies have shown that this change will make students
stay in, rather than drop out of school, learn better,
quicker and more permanently and will in fact be able to
use the first language as a bridge to more effective
learning in English and Filipino as well as facilitate
the development of their cognitive maturity.
SIL members, Dr. Susan Malone and Catherine Young
participated in an
Asian Development Bank study related to this proposal.
|
[ Top ][ Home ]
(To view some
documents)
|
[ Home ][ Purpose ][ Overview ][ What's New ][ FAQ ][ Awards ]
[ Publications ][ Language Map ][ Advisory Council ][ Site Map ]
[ 50th
Anniversary ]
Copyright © 2006 Summer
Institute of Linguistics Philippines
All rights reserved.
Suggestions about this site may be sent to:
info_philippines@sil.org
Or mailed to:
PO Box 2270 CPO, 1099 Manila, Philippines
|
|
