Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Essay

Research demonstrates an array of benefits when a child is taught through his first language. In multilingual countries with a dominant national or international language, it is recommended that children experience at least five to eight years of education in their mother tongue while gradually being introduced to other dominant languages (Thomas & Collier, 2002 in Oredina, et al 2015). The strategy of beginning school in the first language and eventually adding other languages is commonly called Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education, or MTB-MLE. A UNESCO report (Baron, 2012) on the importance of language to the Millennium Development Goals lists the following strengths of MTB-MLE: Children receive a good foundation: When taught first
Children transfer their literacy and numeracy skills to additional languages. Evidence from linguistically diverse countries worldwide shows that children taught first in their most familiar language are more likely to thrive and excel in school. Fewer children repeat grades and drop out of school Fewer children repeat grades and drop out of school. (From UNESCO report, “Language Matters for the Millennium Development Goals,” 2012)
Children who start formal education in a second or foreign language are much more likely to experience frustration and failure, resulting in higher retention and dropout rates. An estimated 221 million children worldwide are speakers of local languages not used for teaching (Dutcher,
The level of implementation of MTB-MLE in central and barangay schools, the extent of the attainment of the objectives in its implementation both in central and barangay schools, the degree of seriousness of the problems encountered in the implementation of MTB- MLE, and the significant difference in the assessment of central and barangay schools in terms of the level of implementation, the extent of the attainment of objectives, and the degree of seriousness of the problems encountered in the implementation of MTB-MLE. Moreover, the analysis of the above mentioned statements will be included in the process. The output is policy recommendations for the implementation of