THE USE OF MOTHER TONGUE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF

ACCOUNTANCY BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT STUDENTS

OF PHILIPPINE WOMEN’S COLLEGE OF DAVAO S.Y. 2019-2020

Toinette M. Bañados
Cherry Mae D. Candia
Princess Cesilly D. Oberes

INTRODUCTION
There is no such thing in this world when mother tongue has been making its
greatest impact upon humans when it comes to talking with other people comfortably.
Mother tongue is being used in people’s everyday life whenever and wherever they
want to. From being a child down to be an adult, it has been the language that people
can express themselves well whether you are a parent, working, sibling, friend or even
in being a student. According to a famous quote by Marshall McLuhan, “The greatest
propaganda in the world is our mother tongue, that is what we learn as children, and
which we learn unconsciously this shapes our perception.” But even if mother tongue is
as important as people use it every day, there is still a place who do really requires
specific language to use when it comes to writing, expressing, defining, explaining, etc.
and this is school. In a way like this, students tend to have a problem in using specific
language required rather than using mother tongue which may have an impact in their
academic performance. One of the student’s goal is to finish school that’s why it is
necessary to conduct this inquiry to find out how mother tongue affects student’s
academic performance. This is one of the problems that students are having a hard time
explaining to a person and at the same time understanding a person. Lots of teacher
are requiring such specific language to use in each subject, so it has also been
someone’s weakness that affects the student’s academic performance. When a student
is using its mother tongue in any form of academic performance, it might get a low
grade or high grade. Some are capable of not using it and still get high grades, some
are not.
Speaking is an important skill to be developed to attain effective
communication in either mother tongue language or second language, learning.
However, in academic context, increasing students’ ability in speaking remains crucial
among language instructors (Boonkit 2010). It is a common scenario in the classroom
that students get nervous whenever speaking in front of their classmates. Students are
afraid that they could not respond appropriately or correctly in front of their classmates.
On the other hand, though Filipinos are known as prominent in speaking the English
language compared to other Asian countries, it was quite alarming that just recently
Filipinos have failed to keep the status. Dramatic decrease of competence in the
English language oral skills was reported. There was a big drop in the number of
Filipinos who could not read, write, speak, and think in English. It is therefore timely that
this study is conducted to understand the language learning anxieties and how this
affect student’s speaking performance. The researchers understood that literature on
language anxiety in learning foreign language had conflicting results. This study
attempts to give clarifications on the consistency of the relationship between language
anxiety and oral performance. This study was conducted among 150 freshmen college
students of the University of Mindanao- Panabo Campus. These respondents were
chosen because it is at this stage that spoken English is rigidly used. Moreover, San
Jose (2011) found that college freshmen have comparatively poor speaking proficiency
in a report called Business English Index (BEI). Philippines was tagged as the world’s
best country in business English proficiency, and not just one but two consecutive
years. Based on the BEI report in 2012, only the Philippines attained its score above
7.0, putting the country within range of a high proficiency that indicates an ability to lead
business discussion and perform complete task. Moreover, in 2013 BEI report, the
Philippines earned 7.95 score, an improved BEI score over the prior year. This maybe
the reason why the Philippines has taken over India as a hub for call centers in Asia.
However, various studies reveal that the quality of education in the Philippines is
continuously declining. This notion is based on the results of achievement tests and
board examinations. Not only the elementary and secondary graduates are affected, but
also the college graduates. The professional regulatory commission (PRC) reports that
passers of board examinations in all fields of endeavor continue to go down. One of the
important causes for this phenomenon is the low academic performance in the
elementary and secondary levels. This academic performance of the students can be
attributed to their proficiency in the English language.
More than 3 million students’ study outside their home country, primarily at a
western university. A common belief among educator is that international students are
insufficiently adjusted to higher education in their host country, both academically and
socially. Furthermore, several groups of international students’ experience considerable
amounts of stress while adapting to the culture of the host-institute. Several researchers
argue that studies on adaption of international students should widen its focus to the
underlying mechanisms that leads towards this quotation “misalignment”. In a cross-
institutional comparison among 958 students at 5 business schools in the Netherlands,
differences in academic performance between local and international students were
identified by focusing on their levels of academic and social integration. Students’
academic integration was measured with the Students’ Adaptation to College
Questionnaire (SACQ) while students’ social integration was measured with a newly
developed and validated questionnaire. The results indicated that the degree of
academic success of international students is multi-faceted. International students with
a (mixed) western background are less integrated compared to other international
students. Nevertheless, they have a similar study-performance. Finally, academic
adjustment is the main predictor of study performance for Dutch, Western, and mixed
Western students. Social adjustment was negatively related to study performance the
lack of fit for predicting long-term study success of non-Western students. Indicates that
their academic and social integration processes are more complex and non-linear.
(Beausaert, Grohnert, Njemantsverdriet, & Kommers, 2012)
Mother tongue really might affect or not affect students, so the researchers want
to know what will really be the impact of using mother tongue for student’s academic
performance. Thus, all this the researchers got very much interested in determining the
significant relationship between mother tongue and academic performance, so we
conducted this research.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1. What is the proficiency level of ABM students in Philippine Women’s College
of Davao in using mother tongue in terms of?
1.1 Speaking
1.2 Writing

2. What is the proficiency level of ABM students in Philippine Women’s College

of Davao in academic performance in terms of?
2.1 Performance Tasks
2.2 Written Works

3. What is the significant relationship between the use of mother tongue and
academic performance of Grade 12 ABM students in Philippine Women’s
College of Davao S.Y. 2019-2020?

HYPOTHESIS
Ho1: There is no significant difference in the proficiency level of Grade 12 ABM
students in using mother tongue in Philippine Women’s College of Davao S.Y.
2019-2020.
Ho2: There is no significant difference in the proficiency level of Grade 12 ABM
students in their academic performance in Philippine Women’s College of Davao
S.Y. 2019-2020.
Ho3: There is no significant relationship between the proficiency level of mother
tongue and academic performance of Grade 12 ABM students in Philippines
Women’s College of Davao S.Y. 2019-2020.
Ho4: There is no significant relationship between the use of mother tongue when
correlated to the academic performance of the Grade 12 ABM students in
Philippine Women’s College of Davao.
 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Mother Tongue Academic Performance

1. Speaking 1. Performance Tasks
2. Writing 2. Written Works
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The language that the parents use to talk to a child is very important. It is used for a
child to communicate in wherever they go. However, in school, a child becomes a
student which he/she must not talk vernacularly as much as possible. Especially with
formal meetings of the whole class with their respective teachers. The use of mother
tongue might somehow affect student’s performance in school.
According to Kaya (2015), first language generally alludes to not just the language one
gains from one's mom yet in addition the speaker's overwhelming and home language.
It's likewise called local language. The investigation was led to discover whether primary
language obstructions in second-language learning, and provided that this is true;
regardless of whether it influences the students' exhibition in four language aptitudes
(phonetic coding ability, grammatical sensitivity, rote learning ability, and inductive
learning ability), and furthermore in which skill(s) it has the greatest impact. The poll
demonstrates that first language meddles with second language learning here and
there. In English language, the most testing part was Grammar, while the most
troublesome and affected abilities was Speaking. Members also experienced issues
with determiners, English tenses and articles. The outcomes showed the obstruction of
native language in practically all viewpoints.
Manan et al (2016) states that large portion of members see indigenous dialects as
useless on account of their lesser job in expert improvement and social portability. The
examination reasons that the administration strategies uproot the indigenous dialects
both physically just as perceptually. The overarching directions view dialects as
products, significantly downsizing the social, scholarly, stylish and sociolinguistic
elements of the indigenous dialect.

In the study of Hashim (2017), a significantly new and test approach, Transitional
Bilingual Education (TBE), was proposed to endorse local language guidance with
English exercises bit by bit added to permit the understudy to learn topic while making
the progress to English. This social equality activity was viewed as a solid and important
exertion to address a shameful circumstance. The lack of care appeared to language
minority youngsters is very much recorded: marking constrained English understudies
as rationally impeded; rebuffing, verbally or physically, kids who utilized their local
language in school; and dismissing understudies to such an extent, that many just left
school. Various government and state laws, administrative acts, and court choices were
passed to improve the instructive open doors for language minority kids. Similarly, as
these activities with respect to social liberties advocates, officials, legal counselors, and
judges started to open up access to equivalent instruction, another power started to
develop to limit the free exercise of instructive alternatives. The conviction was rapidly
and immovably planted that constrained English youngsters must be instructed in their
local language if their instructive necessities were to be satisfactorily met. Promoters
contended completely that through TBE, the kids would learn English quicker and would
gain proficiency with their school subjects better.
On account of the prior segregation endured by language minority kids, numerous
teachers, attorneys, and lawmakers were effectively persuaded that any program
utilizing as it were English-language guidance must be terrible and any program that
trained the kids in their local language must be equitable as well as predominant. With
no proof to challenge the supposition, this view picked up acknowledgment among the
good nature. There was an unequivocal command from the central government and
from the Supreme Court twenty years back that uncommon language projects must be
furnished in each school area with non-English-talking understudies, yet the request left
the structure of such projects to the individual networks. The political development for
acknowledgment of the privileges of etymological and ethnic minorities, be that as it
may, combine into an activist interest for local language-based bilingual training as the
just admissible choice.
On the other hand, Kaplan's milestone article in 1966 depicts the main real examination
that endeavored to inspect how an individual's perspective was impacted by culture and
to take the view that the local talk structures are reflected in the composed English of
English as a Second Language (ESL) understudies. Concurring to Kaplan, his subjects
demonstrated proof of styles and structures that were socially impacted. It gave the idea
that the composed English of understudies whose local dialects were Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, French and so on was methodically not quite the same as the compositions
of understudies who were native speakers of English. The accentuation of the work was
on the logical styles with little consideration given to explanations behind culture-explicit
composition styles. Contrasts as far as talk association, logical example, peruse or then
again essayist obligation, utilization of non-literal language, plot improvement and
argumentation have been examined by different authors. During the 1990's, there was a
recharged enthusiasm for the investigation of composing crosswise over societies.
Contrastive talk is seen as a method for expanding the consciousness of the foundation
and culture of the Ll and its impacts on the L2 composing created. (Porter, 2017).

On the other hand, Lee (2016) state that bilingual training utilizing first language
guidance could profit scholarly advancement among ethnic minority understudies in
Cambodia, at any rate as far as science accomplishment.
Research on the effect of bilingualism on scholarly accomplishment has produced
blended outcomes. A few later contemplates (Fernandez and Nielson, 1986; Nielson
and Lerner, 1986; Zhou and Bankston, 1998; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001; Glick and
White, 2003) locate a positive relationship among bilingualism and improved instructive
accomplishment. Using a measure dependent on Spanish use, getting, talking,
perusing, and composing, Nielson also, Lerner (1986) observe more prominent Spanish
language capability to be emphatically identified with higher evaluations and instructive
desires among secondary school seniors. In an example of California center school
understudies, Rumberger and Larson (1998) locate that Mexican Spanish-speakers
who are additionally conversant in English experience higher evaluations and
culmination of coursework than restricted English capable or English monolingual
Mexican understudies. Be that as it may, the effect of second-language upkeep on
scholastic accomplishment does not have all the earmarks of being direct (Rumbaut,
1995). Evans and Anderson (1973) locate that Mexican-American understudies who talk
Spanish at home score lower on government sanctioned trial of instructive
accomplishment than both Anglos and Mexican Americans who communicate in English
at home. In any case, utilizing class reviews as a proportion of accomplishment, these
analysts discover no impact of language foundation for the Mexican-American
understudies. Kennedy and Park (1994) find that for Asian understudies, utilizing a
foreigner language at home positively affects reviews yet a negative impact on
institutionalized accomplishment test scores, while for Mexican-American understudies
communicating in a language other than English at home has no impact when
controlling for financial foundation, long stretches of schoolwork, self-concept, feeling of
authority over life, and instructive desires. Portes and Rumbaut (1990), in their
examination on offspring of outsiders in San Diego and Miami, find that for Asian and
Cuban understudies, bilingualism is decidedly related with higher evaluations, while for
Mexican understudies it isn't. Mouw and Xie (1999) find that bilingualism is related with
higher instructive accomplishment just for those understudies whose guardians don't
communicate in English, proposing that language offers an impermanent bit of leeway
in that it takes into account improved social capital between worker guardians and their
American youngsters. To put it plainly, the writing presents a vague image of the effect
of native language support on the scholarly accomplishment of offspring of workers.
Lutz (2015).
For some youngsters around the globe, access to advanced education and the work
market relies upon getting to be conversant in a subsequent language. It was found out
that native language guidance in the early reviews fundamentally improves English
securing, as estimated in evaluations 4, 5 and 6. Taylor (2016).
Figueiredo (2016) states that various nationalities of students proof comparable trouble
levels in tests on language abilities. The impact of the co-variable "Dialects spoken at
home" on the outcomes was likewise affirmed, which recommends that nationality is a
less solid indicator contrasted with the quantity of dialects spoken at home.
 USE OF MOTHER TONGUE ITEM INVENTORY FOR QUESTIONNAIRE

No. Item Statement Reference / RRL

USE OF MOTHER TONGUE
1 Primary language obstructions in second-language The investigation was led to
learning influences the students' exhibition in four discover whether primary
language aptitudes (phonetic coding ability, grammatical language obstructions in
sensitivity, rote learning ability, and inductive learning second-language learning, and
ability). provided that this is true;
regardless of whether it
influences the students
exhibition in four language
aptitudes (phonetic coding
ability, grammatical sensitivity,
rote learning ability, and
inductive learning ability), and
furthermore in which skill(s) it
has the greatest impact.
2 Our teachers held positive and supported views on The result of this study showed
education in the mother tongue. that teachers held positive views
on education in the mother
tongue and they supported
education in the mother tongue
although they are not fully aware
of the scope of the study.
SPEAKING
3 I make errors when I have to speak without preparation. Kaya, Y. (2015). The Opinions of
Primary School, Turkish
4 I make errors while translating a passage into my Mother Language and Social Science
Tongue (Bisaya). Teachers Regarding Education
5 I make errors while translating passage into target in the Mother Tongue (Kurdish).
(English). Journal Ethnic and Cultural
6 I am more comfortable in speaking Mother Tongue than Studies 2,(2),33-46
using English when I speak.
7 I don't see Mother Tongue as using English language
when speaking in front of the class.
WRITING
8 I use teaching models like transitional bilingual education .A dramatically new and
to improve my writing skills in English. experimental approach,
9 Any program utilizing English language guidance to transitional bilingual education
improve my writing skills is terrible. (TBE) was proposed as the
10 Any program utilizing local language must be solution. It prescribed native-
predominant. language instruction with English
lesson gradually added to allow
student to learn subject matter
while making the transition to
English
 ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE ITEM INVENTORY FOR QUESTIONNAIRE
No. Item Statement Reference / RRL
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
1 Bilingualism helps me improve my academic Research on the impact of
performance. bilingualism on academic
2 My fluent English experience helps me to get high achievement has generated
grades and completion of written or practical works. mixed results. Several recent
3 Speaking a language other than English in class helps studies (Fernandez and Nielson
me a lot lessen my work time. 1986; Nielson and Lerner 1986;
Zhou and Bankston 1998; Portes
and Rumbaut 2001; Glick and
White 2003) find a positive
situation between bilingualism
and enhanced educational
achievement.

In a sample of california middle

school students, rumberger and
larson (1998) find the mexican-
spanish speaker who are also
fluent in english eperience
higher gradesand completion of
coursework

Mexican-american students
speaking a language other than
english at home has no effect
when controlling for
socioeconomic background,
hours of homework, self-
concept, sense of control over
life and educational expectation.
PERFORMANCE TASKS
4 My fluency in English helps me to access higher For many children around the
education in the future. world access to higher education
5 Introducing mother tongue instruction in early grade and labour market depends on
helps improves English skills. becoming fluent in second
6 Our school provided a special language program with language.
non-English speaking students.
Using longitudinal data from the
population of south african
primary schools and fixed effect
approach, we find that mother
tongue instruction in the early
grades improves English
acquisition as measured in
 grade 4,5 and 6.
WRITTEN WORKS
7 I understand English as the language of instruction than For many children around the
mother tongue instruction in every written works. world access to higher education
and labour market depends on
8 I understand mother tongue as the language of becoming fluent in second
instruction than English instruction in every written works. language.
9 I suffer difficulty in vocabulary decoding and verbal
reasoning. The Asian group evidenced
more difficulty in vocabulary
10 My different nationality contributes difficulty in tests decoding and verbal reasoning
regarding language skills. when compared to other
nationality group.

This study aims to verify whether

students from different
nationalities and learners of
Portuguese as L2 similar
difficulty levels in test on
language skills.
Name: _________________ (Optional)
Age: ______ Position: ___________ Years of Service: ____________
Directions: Please read each statement carefully and decide if you ever feel this way.
Kindly tick (/) the appropriate response based on your perception or view of the
statements below.
5 – ALWAYS 4 – OFTEN 3 – SOMETIMES 2 – RARELY 1 – ALMOST
NEVER
STATEMENT 5 4 3 2 1
1. Our teachers held positive and supported views on
education in the mother tongue.
2. I make errors when I have to speak without preparation.
3. I make errors while translating a passage into my Mother
Tongue (Bisaya).
4. I make errors while translating passage into target (English).
5. I am more comfortable in speaking Mother Tongue than
using English when I speak.
6. I don't see Mother Tongue as using English language when
speaking in front of the class.
7. I use teaching models like transitional bilingual education to
improve my writing skills in English.
8. Any program utilizing English language guidance to improve
my writing skills is terrible.
9. Any program utilizing local language must be predominant.
10. Primary language obstructions in second-language learning
influences the students' exhibition in four language aptitudes
(phonetic coding ability, grammatical sensitivity, rote learning
ability, and inductive learning ability).
11. Bilingualism helps me improve my academic performance.
12. My fluent English experience helps me to get high grades
and completion of written or practical works.
13. Speaking a language other than English in class helps me a
lot lessen my work time.
14. My fluency in English helps me to access higher education
in the future.
15. Introducing mother tongue instruction in early grade helps
improves English skills.
16. Our school provided a special language program with non-
English speaking students.
17. I understand English as the language of instruction than
mother tongue instruction in every written works.
18. I understand mother tongue as the language of instruction
than English instruction in every written works.
19. I suffer difficulty in vocabulary decoding and verbal
 reasoning.
20. My different nationality contributes difficulty in tests
regarding language skills.