Questions and some answers about

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual

Education

Susan Malone
© SIL Interna+onal, 2017

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA
View License Deed | View Legal Code This work is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial ShareAlike
license. You may freely copy, distribute and transmit this work and you may also adapt the work under the following conditions: 1) you
must attribute the work to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work); 2) you may not
use this work for commercial purposes and 3) if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work
onlnder the same or similar license to this one.
What does UNESCO say about the
use of children’s mother tongue or
home language in school?
We take it as axioma,c...that the best medium
for teaching is the mother tongue of the pupil.
UNESCO. 1953. Vernacular Languages in Educa,on, page 6
hJp://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0000/000028/002897EB.pdf





The language used in teaching is of central
importance for enhancing learning. It is
necessary to bridge home and school
experiences by using the children’s mother
tongue(s) as the medium of learning and
teaching in the school. This helps children to
develop necessary tools and literacy skills in
order to move forward and acquire another
language, if necessary.
UNESCO, 2007, Enhancing Learning. From Access to Success. Report of the
First Experts’ Mee,ng: Defining Areas of Ac,on. Page 5
hJp://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001556/155642E.pdf



School systems that do not use learners’ own
languages or respect their cultures make it
extremely difficult for children to stay in school
and learn.
For individuals, communities and even whole
ethnic minority groups, this contributes to
perpetuating cycles of marginalization and
discrimination. For countries, excluding large
portions of the population from their right to good
quality education can delay economic growth and
perpetuate conflict and political instability.
UNESCO Bangkok. 2012 Why language matters for the Millennium Development
Goals. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002152/215296E.pdf
What problems do students who
speak non-dominant languages face
when only the dominant language
is allowed in their school?
They do not understand their teacher’s
language and their teacher does not
understand their language or culture.
The pictures and cultural informa+on in their
textbooks are unfamiliar and do not help
them understand lesson content;
Their own knowledge and experience is
disregarded and…
…they are expected to accomplish three very
challenging tasks at the same +me:
Learn the school language, which may
be completely unfamiliar to them;
Learn how to read and write in the
school language which they do not yet
speak or understand;
Learn academic concepts before they
understand the language used by their
teacher and textbooks.
 The situation for
students who speak
the school language as
their mother tongue

The situation for

students who do not
speak or understand
the school language
when they begin
school
Dennis
© DennisMalone,
Malone, SIL
International, artist
SIL International
How long does it take students
to learn a new language?
In a strong language educa+on program, it
takes students about 2 years to gain
proficiency in using a new language
for‘everyday’communica+on.

It takes about 5-7 years for them to gain

proficiency in using the new language to
learn and apply abstract concepts.
From Jim Cummins.”BICS and CALP: Empirical and theorie+cal status of the
dis+nc+on. In Street, B. & Hornberger, N. H. (Eds.). 2008. Encyclopedia of
Language and Educa,on, 2nd Edi,on, Volume 2: Literacy. New York: Springer
Science + Business Media LLC. Pages 71-83.
hJp://daphne.palomar.edu/lchen/CumminsBICSCALPSpringer2007.pdf

Why should we start with the
students’ mother tongue (MT/ L1)?
Using the mother tongue, we have (1) learnt to
think, (2) learnt to communicate and (3)
acquired an intui,ve understanding of
grammar. The mother tongue is therefore the
greatest asset people bring to the task of
foreign language learning…
Wolfgang Butzkamm: We only learn language once. The role of the mother tongue in FL classrooms:
death of a dogma. Language Learning Journal, Winter 2003, No 28, 29-39)
hJp://www.fremdsprachendidak+k.rwth-aachen.de/Ww/programma+sches/pachl.html

A learner's L1 is an important determinant of
Second Language Acquisi,on. The L1 is a
resource which learners use both consciously
and subconsciously to help them arrange and re-
arrange the L2 data... Second language
acquisi,on is a developmental process; L1 can be
a contribu,ng factor to it.
Manoj Kumar Yadav. 2014. Role of mother tongue in second language
learning. hJps://www.researchgate.net/publica+on/283355564

Why emphasize oral L2 before
wriJen L2?
The results of the present study show oral
proficiency in the target language to be of cri,cal
importance for the development of …reading
comprehension among third- and fourth-grade
students…
Droop & Verhoeven, 2003. “Language learning and reading proficiency in first and second
language learners” in Reading Research Quarterly, 38.1 January/February/March 2003. Pages
78–103
Why not stop using L1 amer students
have learned the school language?
The most powerful factor in predic,ng
educa,onal success for minority learners was
the amount of formal schooling they received
in their L1.
Thomas and Collier, 1997, repor+ng on an 11-year study of 42,000 minority language speakers in the US
hJp://www.ncela.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/resource/effec+veness/

When children con,nue to develop their abili,es in
two or more languages throughout their primary
school years, they gain a deeper understanding of
language and how to use it effec,vely.

Jim Cummins, ci,ng Baker and Skutnabb-Kangas, in “Bilingual children’s mother tongue: Why is it important for educa,on?”
hap://bibliotek.magnificat.se/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CumminsENG.pdf
And…

Why use the MT to teach academic

concepts in early to middle primary?
Languages are interdependent. Therefore, any
concept knowledge the student has in his first
language will transfer (called language transfer)
over to the target language.
From Jim Cummins, quoted in
h#p://thelearningarden.blogspot.com/2012/12/language-acquisi<on-jim-cummins.html

The best supported posi,on on language mix in
bilingual educa,on is that a knowledge base for
the content be provided in the na,ve tongue (L1)
before (the L2) is used to further develop the
content….
Rafael Lara-Alecio, Richard I. Parker. 1994. “A pedagogical model for transi+onal English in bilingual
Classrooms” in Bilingual Research Journal, 18:3&4 Summer/Fall 1994. Pages 119-133.
Now let’s apply what we know to
the planning for MTB MLE.

What have we learned about
developing curriculum, teaching
and learning materials and
methods?
We understand that MLE students must
achieve the same competencies as dominant
language students, but by a different “path.”

Children who
speak the L1 (school language) MOE learning
school language competencies to
be achieved by
Children who the end of the
do not speak program
the school
language when
they begin
school
We know how to use MOE competencies to
develop MTB MLE-specific ac+vi+es &
materials.
MLE- Lesson plans,
Government and teachers’
specific
competencies guides based on
indicators
for each grade the indicators,
for each
competency that build on
students’
language, culture,
Textbooks and activities knowledge and
that are child-centered experience
and focus on higher level
learning
We know that curriculum, instruc+onal
materials and teaching methods must be
based on sound…
theories of learning,
theories of language acquisi+on and
theories of reading acquisi+on.
We know that curriculum must focus on
language, academic and socio-cultural
development:
It focuses on language development so
that…
Students establish a strong educa+onal
founda+on in the language they know best;
They build a good “bridge” to learning and
using the official school language(s);
They achieve competence and confidence in
using both / all of their languages in school
and for life-long learning.
It focuses on academic development so
that…
Students achieve government
competencies in each subject, each grade;
At the end of the MTB MLE program they
are prepared to use all of their languages
as they con+nue their educa+on and
achieve their long-term educa+onal goals.
It focuses on socio-cultural development
so that…
Students are proud of their heritage
language and culture and respect the
languages and cultures of others;

When they finish the program, they are

prepared to contribute produc+vely to their
own community and to the larger society.
 We know the importance of helping students
build higher level thinking skills in both/all
their school languages:

Evaluate
Analyze
Explain
Understand
Remember
Adapted from Bloom, Benjamin M. Englehart, E. Furst, W. Hill, and D. Krathwohl. 1956. Taxonomy
of Educational Objectives:The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New
York: Longmans Green.
And we have learned the importance
of helping students gain fluency and
confidence in the school language by
taking “small steps”…
 Continuing learning L1 & L2
and using both for instruction
throughout primary school
Continue oral & written L1 and L2
Begin oral L3, etc.

Continue oral and written L1, oral L2

Begin reading and writing L2

Continue oral L1
Begin reading and writing L1
Begin oral L2

Build oral L1 (small children)

Have teachers found problems when
their curriculum follows this process?


Actually, yes. Several “problems” have been
iden+fied. Following are two that were noted
by Kindergarten Year 2 teachers in the Patani
Malay-Thai MTB BE program in southern
Thailand…
“In the past, when we wrote incorrectly the children
didn't know, but now they can no,ce our mistake.”

And

“The white board markers cannot be leg on the table
(during break) since the students use them to write on
the board. When a teacher walks in the classroom,
they call the teacher to listen to them read what they
wrote on the board. Their wriaen stories have not
been taught by the teacher but come from their own
ideas.
://www.isranews.org/isranews/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=106:2010-01-03-12-20-46&catid=11:2009-11-15-11-15-13&Itemid=3
We can say with a fair amount of
assurance that most teachers would love
to have these problems!

All the best to you and your students as
you begin your MTB MLE adventure!

Susan_Malone@SIL.Org