By: Aldin Faith Portillas
Medium of instruction is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. Where the first language of students is different from the official language, it may be used as the medium of instruction for part or all of schooling. Bilingual or multilingual education may involve the use of more than one language of instruction.
UNESCO considers that “providing education in a child’s mother tongue is indeed a critical issue”. In Philippines, the learner’s first language should be the primary medium of instruction at least until grade three. In the secondary education, Filipino and English are primary medium of instruction. The Thomasites is a group of about five hundred pioneer American teachers sent by the U.S. government to the Philippines in August 1901.The Thomasites arrived in the Philippines on August 12, 1901 to establish a new public school system, to teach basic education and to train Filipino teachers with English as the medium of instruction. However, the Thomasites expanded and improved the public school system, and switched to English as the medium of instruction.
Learning begins with teachers, and empowered teachers and school heads are at the heart of genuine education reform. It is not enough that our teachers just go along for the ride in our drive toward quality education. They must lead the way in preparing our children and young people for lifelong learning. But what are the medium of instruction that teacher must used in the teaching process? There is constant debate over which language should be use in educating Filipinos: English, Tagalog, or local dialects. The use of English for teaching math and science as well as English language and literature subjects has endured for many years; however they said that Using English in public schools is a violation of the Philippine constitution. It also deteriorates the education system in the Philippines and puts the poorer students at a disadvantage. Requiring its use, schools ironically determine the students’ abilities to learn the language. The use of English alienates students from their cultural heritage, impairs their emotional security and self-worth, and results in inferiority complex among lower-class children who are stigmatized for using the native tongue. Despite a number of studies confirming that learning is faster using the native language, government officials are still pushing for the adoption of English as a medium on instruction (MOI) in Philippine schools.
Well-known educators, writers and national artists signed a petition asking the Philippine Supreme Court to block Executive Order No. 210, which requires the use of English as the medium of instruction in Philippine public schools. According to the petitioners, the use of Filipino and other regional languages to teach the students would help them learn better. However, If we remove English as a medium of instruction in our schools, it is a certainty that the lower-income students will never learn to speak English well. The children of the well-to-do will find alternative means of education and of being exposed to English in their daily lives at home, with their peers, through television and video programs, etc. Then we shall worsen the inequity in economic opportunities because there is no doubt that those who are fluent in English in this shrinking world of Internet and free trade will have wider employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.but When President Arroyo was asked about the legality of her new medium of instruction policy,she said that “After all, the Constitution specifies that the use of Filipino as language of instruction is subject to provisions of the law and as the Congress may deem appropriate. Therefore, until Congress enacts a law mandating Filipino as the language of instruction” she could give the order to make English the “primary medium of instruction.” Former Undersecretary of Education Isagani R. Cruz has this to say about the debate:In reality, however, despite the Constitution, the presidential order, and the Department orders, there is only one language of instruction in practically all classrooms in the country. It is Taglish, a non-language that is variously labeled as code-switching, pidgin, or a lingua franca, featuring a still-un systematized mixture of Tagalog, English, and vernacular languages of various regions. However Gullas said that learning of the English language suffered a setback when the BEP was introduced in 1974. “The use of Filipino as a medium of instruction in the subjects mentioned earlier has limited the exposure of the learner to English, and since exposure is basic to language learning, mastery of the language is not attained.”Studies in country after country bear this out. Teaching in an official school language that is not the mother tongue is a major barrier in the child’s learning.
In the Philippines, the experiment was conducted in Kalinga, where teachers use Kalinga to teach children from Grades 1 to 3 to read and write. It is also the medium of instruction for teaching other subjects, including Filipino and English.Out of the 10 districts in the Kalinga division, the Lubuagan district topped the 2006 national achievement test Grade 3 reading test for both English and Filipino, with mean scores of 76.55% and 76.45 respectively, which indicates mastery. The Tinglayan district came in a far second registered only 63.89% and 53.58%. The Gullas bill has very good intentions. But, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Learning to speak and write in English in this age of globalization is necessary especially if we would like to be able to compete in the knowledge-based world. Such training can best be done in a classroom but the medium of instruction is the problem in the Philippine education.
exegesis 