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ABSTRACT
Keywords: Use of Filipino and English, promote, better learning, Social Studies learning,
medium of instruction
INTRODUCTION
In the field of education, language is one of the important factors that should be
given attention because it is the excellent key to learning and achievement of students in
various academic subject areas. Bilingualism refers to the using of two languages in
some proportion in order to facilitate learning by students who have a proficiency in their
mother tongue and are acquiring proficiency in the other. The Philippines is a bilingual
country. More so, it is a multilingual nation. Alcoberes (2006) stressed on the need to
preserve the national language, which represents a unified culture, without disregarding
the language dominantly used in the controlling domains. In fact, the necessity to
preserve the national language has been one of the major problems in the field of
language planning in our country for several decades now. This phenomenon can be
attributed to the continuing dominance of English and the extension of its use in the
controlling domains. English is used in wider communication for the educated sectors in
the society who receive much prestige and more decent jobs than those non-English
language speakers here and abroad. Moreover, the depressing economic situation of the
communication. For practical reasons, the need to have a comfortable living is another
obvious reason why English language is used for them to alleviate themselves from an
where controlling domains dictate the preferred language to make people linguistically
and communicatively competent and to be at par with the ability of those who are in the
global village. It is further hampered by the current mismatch between industry and the
educational system where employers complain that Filipino high school graduates are
The issue of the use of language is a worldwide concern which has a great
impact to the society. Like the Philippines, it tries to respond to the demands of
lawmakers and educators are finding ways to improve quality instruction where students
are expected to be academically and intellectually competent in school. Few studies have
been made regarding bilingualism in different schools in the country. There is a need for
more researches that would highlight the importance of using these languages effectively
in the teaching and learning process which can possibly enhance academic performance
of students. Hence, the importance of conducting this study would give meaningful
rationalization regarding the use of language in teaching whether it can promote better
FRAMEWORK
The two underlying theories used to support this research study are Dual Threshold
Theory (Cummins, 1994) and Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and
balanced bilingual person moves upward through three identifiable levels, crossing two
intelligence and academic success are only to be achieved when the first and second
thresholds have been crossed. Moreover, research on thinking and bilingualism suggests
two "thresholds", each threshold representing a level of language competence in the first
or second language that must be passed to reach the next level of competence. The three
levels are limited bilingual, less balanced bilingual (age-appropriate competence in one
and Jones (1998) confirms that this theory helps to explain why language minority
children taught only through the second language may fail in school and why children
monolingual students.
undemanding and context-embedded since contextual cues are available to both speaker
and listener involved in the conversation. On the other hand, CALP involves language
science. So, in order to perform effectively in science, students would need to develop
CALP. Cummins (1994) reports that it takes 5 to 7 years for language learners to be
What Cummins’ BICS and CALP signify for English medium education is that, in order
for language learners to read and comprehend content area textbooks and perform
reports, they need academic English that takes them beyond that of social English.
Legal bases were also adopted in order to support the validation of the research
Department of Education, Bureau of Secondary Schools and the different schools in the
country.
The 1987 Philippine Constitution mandates under Article XIV, Section 1 and
Section 5: “The State should protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality
education at all levels and take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.”
This means the State’s responsibility to take charge in formulating and implementing
policies and programs that would ensure quality education for all citizens. Thus, the
in schools throughout country. Filipino and English language have implementing rules
implemented by the Department of Education to all school levels. Section 5 of the 1987
Philippine Constitution under Article XIV contains directives that would ensure the
developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.” Section
7 “For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the
Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English.” Section 8 “The
regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as
auxiliary media of instruction therein.” The significance of these sections to the research
order for Filipino students regardless of his or her region belonged able to understand and
Order No. 52. 52, Series of 1987 with the following guidelines: (1) Language courses,
whether Filipino or English, should be taught in that language. (2) At the discretion of the
English or any other language as long as there are enough instructional materials for the
same and both students and instructors or professors are competent in the language.
Courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences should preferably be taught in Filipino.
Bilingual Language Article XIV. Sections 1,
Theories (1994) Sec. 5, Sec. 6, Sec. 7 of the
1987 Philippine
The Dual Threshold Constitution
Theory (Cummins, 1994)
1987 Bilingual Education
BICS and CALP Theory Policy
(Cummins, 1994)
1990 UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child
(Articles 28, 30)
Philippine language of instruction policy must be aligned with the provisions of the 1987
Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child and UNESCO Education for All.
The 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child points to the free access of
every child to education and the language. It states that: “The child has the right to an
education and to learn and use the language of his family (Articles 28, 30). It also has a
specific provision that points to a violation of this right when the child does not
does not understand, this violates the child’s right to be literate and be educated. “ This
can be related to the provisions of the Philippine Constitution that every student or pupil
has the right to be educated according to his or her own native language so learning
means of improving educational quality; (2) Multilingual education be given at all levels
of education as a means of promoting both social and gender equality and as a key
The Philippines as a bonafide member of the United Nations had been legally
binded with its international organizations to adapt its provisions in formulating and
through language should be for all especially to the children. To be educated and become
response to the global cultural diversity. Like the Philippines as a country, had been
divided geographically and regionally. Culture differences of Filipinos can be seen.
Language is one of the aspects of culture. Filipinos should respond to the demands of the
modern times in uniting every citizen and other nationalities through language. In relation
to the research study would give the benefit of using language/s in teaching for students
OBJECTIVES
This study sought to accomplish the following objectives: (1) to determine the
Studies in pre-test and post-test; (2) to determine the level of performance of second year
students using English as medium of instruction in Social Studies in pre-test and post-
test; (3) to determine the mean gains in both control and experimental groups; (4) to
determine the significant difference between control and experimental groups in the post-
test; and (5) to proposed teaching initiatives in Social Studies based on the findings.
used to determine the effectiveness of using Filipino and English as media of instruction
to the students. The study was conducted in the University of San Carlos – North
Campus, one of the four campuses of the University of San Carlos located at General
elementary and high school under the management of the Society of the Divine Word
(SVD) Congregation.
Table 1. Distribution of population as target respondents
White 27 10 37
Red 31 12 43
58 22 80
English (experimental)
Blue 29 14 43
Green 25 15 40
54 29 83
There were one hundred sixty-three (163) second year students from the school were
the respondents of the study. Four of the six sections were randomly selected excluding
the Gold Section which is the pilot section of the year level consisting of the top
performing students of the year level who maintains a grade average not less than 85 and
a heterogeneous section Yellow. The respondent sections are Blue, Green, White and
Red. They are heterogeneous section composing students with various academic
performance and behaviour. The participants were divided into 2 intact groups. The
control group which consisted of sections White and Red were taught in Filipino as
medium of instruction while sections Blue and Green which belonged to the experimental
group were taught in English. The total number of participants for the control group was
eighty (80) while 83 respondents composed the experimental group as summarized on the
table below.
A pre-test was conducted to second year students. Students were given the
rationale of the said study. Scores were derived after checking it manually. The study was
conducted during the first week of the second grading period of the academic year 2010-
2011.
Both the experimental and the control group are exposed to similar teaching
methodologies, the only difference was the medium of instruction or language used in the
The post test was conducted to the same group of second year participants
during the last week of the second grading period of the same academic year. Scores
were computed after checking it manually. Data were then encoded and compared to the
pre-test results using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software.
as medium of instruction in Social Studies, frequency counts of correct items for each
participant were determined. The total number of correct items forms a single score. The
scores for all participants in both control and experimental were totalled. Percentages and
To determine the mean gains of the academic performances of the experimental and
control groups, arithmetic mean, standard deviation and coefficient variation were
And finally, to test for the statistical significance of the mean gains, t-test for
unrelated samples was used. All calculations were carried out using Microsoft Excel and
Table 2. Pre- and Post-Test Social Studies Performance of Second Year Students Using
Filipino as Medium of Instruction (MOI)
(%)
Table 2 shows the performance of the control group (n=80) who were taught
using Filipino as the medium of instruction (MOI). The column for mean reflects that
there was an increase of students’ average in Social Studies test performance from pre to
post-test. This indicates that students’ performance for the particular test fall below the
expected school standard. This finding is similar to the result of the study by Narvades
(as cited in Aquino [2005]) where Sorsogon students had low level of academic
achievement in Social studies other than Filipino, English and Science where the L1 was
not Filipino. It can be descriptively interpreted that students obtained from below average
to low average. Although there was an increase of students’ average in the control group,
it would not be enough to decide that using Filipino as medium of instruction can
promote better learning. It can be suggested that this finding would be compared to the
Respondents were Cebuanos who can understand and handle Filipino language.
The findings can also be supported that learning a language among students can be
can testify that his fellow Cebuanos in normal conversations prefer to use Cebuano
language most of the time being their L1. In addition, Filipino words were also used and
included in Cebuano for convenience without being awkward. This scenario can also be
observed in most students in Cebu region. Furthermore, non-Filipino regions have also
used Filipino language socially and academically. How much more using this as the
the exposure to Filipino language in school. With the television and media programs in
language.
Table 3. Pre- and Post-Test Social Studies Performance of Second Year Students Using
English as Medium of Instruction (MOI)
revealed an increase in the group’s mean test score in the Social Studies English version
questionnaire. Moreover, it was noted that the post-test mean value of 25.95 had reached
The results in the Social Studies test of English version questionnaire show a
development which would tell that students perform better in Social Studies subject in the
post-test. It can be described that teaching intervention were already given to the
students. Thus, the intervention showed a beneficial action where the students motivate
This result may be attributed to the participants’ greater exposure to the English
Education, Christian Living and Values Education. This impression can be found in a
similar study of Mae-ling (2009) who found that students prefer English because of their
frequent contact with the language in their everyday lives. English has a longer history in
the curriculum of many Philippine schools and has become part of their lives. Filipinos
also have an extensive utilization of English since the Americans shared their native
language to the Filipino people by making it a part of the school curriculum as a language
English
Table 4 below shows the mean gains in both control (Filipino MOI) and
experimental groups (English MOI) before and after the employment of the independent
performed higher in the post-test than from the pre-test both in Filipino and English
MOIs. This implies that regardless of the medium of instruction used, students still had
higher performance in the post-test. The result is projected since intervention is being
employed after their Social Studies pre-test performance had been evaluated. Generally,
there is a pattern showing that higher results with the experimental group that make use
average performance level. Although the control group showed significant increment, its
performance is still below the set standard. The finding confirms the recent results of
diagnostic tests in Filipino and English conducted by the University of San Carlos –
North Campus Testing Center to the second year students for the academic year 2010-
2011. It reveals that students got low average in Filipino with mean score of 453 out of
800. While in English, the mean standard score was 579 out of 800 with category of
above average. The set boundary mean standard score was 500. Further it can be
explained that the respondents of the study had increase from pre-test to post-test in the
Filipino subject. Difficulty can be described on the part of the students having a low
average rating (Table 2) on the post-test in Araling Panlipunan using Filipino as medium
considering that the same content and the teaching strategies were used. Consequently,
Table 5. Mean difference between Filipino and English students’ performance in the
post-test
N Mean SD T-Value P-Value
Table 5 below shows the mean difference between the control (Filipino MOI)
group and experimental (English MOI) group’s scores in Social Studies in the post-test.
The finding revealed that statistically, there was no significant difference between
performance reached average category (but belonging to the lower limit) while Filipino
performance was still in the below average category (but belonging to the upper limit).
This implies that Filipino and English as the media of instructions (MOI) do
necessarily affect learning. Using either Filipino or English can influence performance
and students’ learning in the subject. As previously discussed, there were main increases
in the mean performances for both control and experimental groups from the pre- to the
post-test. However, it should be noted that English has higher increase than in Filipino
since the former reached average level in the post-test while the latter was still in the
below average performance. This observation can be explained that even the two groups
manifested an increase of mean gains from pre-test to pro-test, the experimental group
The result of this study is parallel to that of Gabriel (2002) as cited in Aquino
(2005) who also found no significant difference in the post-test results of one group
exposed to Filipino and another to English. It can be explained that students can
understand lessons in Social Studies taught in both Filipino and English as medium of
instruction. Based on the finding, learning of the subject can be manifested since the
same teaching methods and strategies were utilized during the conduct of the research
study. With the respondents divided into two groups, the experimental group and the
control group provided a crucial result. This would pronounce that Cebuano students
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the use of Filipino or English MOI had improved the academic
performance of the second year students in Social Studies. Descriptively, the use of
English MOI showed better learning in Social Studies. Based on the post-test, it reached
factor which leads to better learning of students. The Cebuanos preferred to use English
as medium of instruction for it was introduced by schools to them starting from the early
years of formal education. Considering the students’ socio-economic status and great
exposure to English language through mass media and modern technology, hence, the
prolonged use of a medium of instruction by the students promotes their better learning in
academic subjects.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. A larger sample size of the same study across school should be conducted. If
2. Future research should look into the inclusion of efficacy of teaching through
subject for future research to find out whether Cebuano as local language can
3. Longer time intervals specifically one or two school year be covered when
making the study and using the other modes of assessments to look into other
The results of the testing can be used as evidence in providing remedial classes
the subject.
adapting with the global education program. The mother tongue and
Social Studies to the students. This would make teaching more creative,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research paper is a master thesis from Cebu Normal University presented by
the researcher during 2nd International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research last
October 21-22, 2011 at Bacolod City, Occidental Negros and won a Silver Award for the
Oral Research Presentation. Special thanks and gratitude to the USC Research Office for
the financial support provided.
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