With the advent of the pronouncement of the Department of Education, that the Mother Tongue Should be used from Grade1-Grade3, many issues about its use were still the concern of many.
In the history of Philippine Education, no other issues has absorbed the interest & concern of educators & laymen alike as the problem of medium of instruction. It will be recalled that when the first American colonial government set up the Philippine public school system at the turn of the century, English was decreed as the sole medium of instruction throughout the country, because it was claimed that the English language was the least controversial then among the many competing regional and ethnic linguistic groups in the absence of a common unifying language.
Only recently in the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) 2002 it was only English, Math, Science will be taught in English Medium of instruction while Filipino & Makabayan subjects will be taught in the native or second language. This set up will still be implemented in the K to 12.
On the basis of the hypothesis of some educators ,the degree of relationship of literacy related skills in L1 and L2 is indicative of whatever an additive bilingual situation or a subtractive one is developed. In the first ,the second language is a required without loss of the learners first language, but in the second the resulting bilingual situation is subtractive which is characterized by loss of the first language as learners given proficiency in the second language. It is assumed that an additive bilingual situation contributes to cognitive enrichment while a subtractive one result in cognitive deficit.
By: MR. CLARO TRIA DE CASTRO | Teacher III | Asuncion Consunji Elementary School, , Samal, Bataan (Former Imelda Elementary School)
