A consultative meeting between/among language-in-education educators
and stakeholders who favor the use of local language in education
was held at the Summer Institute of Linguistics last
July 14. The consultative meeting was an initiative of
Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo of Bulacan and
KWF Chairman, Dr. Ricardo Ma. Duran Nolasco.

Prof. Diane Dekker of the SIL presented a summary
of the the third year results of the first language MLE program in the
Philippines,
the Lubuagan MLE Program. Lubuagan is a town in Kalinga Province.

The Lubuagan experiment validates in the Philippines
the findings of similar studies (with respect, however,
to immigrant children and the teach9ing language in
school) in the United States ((Wayne P. Thomas and
Virginia Collier), The Netherlands (Mienke Droop Ludo Verhoeven), Jim
Cummins (Canada, New
Zealand, Belgium), and others.

The Lubuagan study also clearly shows (albeit unintentionally and indirectly)
that as currently
Filipino is identical to Tagalog, Tagalog children
have an unfair advantage, an unfair edge over
non-Tagalog children as Tagalogs are being taught
in what is essentially their Mother Tongue while non-Tagalog children are
 taught in a language which they do not use at home.

Below is my encryption in email text format of Diane
Dekker's power point presentation. Graphs and
charts have been omitted.


(1) The Lubuagan MLE Program

* The Lubuagan students are monolingual at the time they begin their education (they speak only
Lilubuagen).

* Philippine Policy - English and Filipino are the medium of instruction allowing L1
(the Mother Tongue) to be used as an auxiliary language. This created comprehension
difficulties resulting in low achievement.

* Solution - use the mother tongue to teach curriculum content and to teach English and
Filipino as a second and third languages.

* Goals of the program are higher achievement scores, stronger English and Filipino
acquisition and lower dropout rates. The parents' highest  value is English language
acquisition.

(2) The Study

* Three experimental class schools implementing the Mother Tongue based MLE
approach are compared with three control class schools implementing the traditional
method of immersion in two new languages. Schools are of the sames SES (Social
Economic Status).

* One school has two sections where students are randomly placed in experimental or
control classes.

(3) The Tests

* Mother tongue teachers created the tests directly from the curriculum.

* All experimental and control class students are tested.

* all subjects tested in Mother Tongue for experimental class except for English and
Filipino - tested in these languages.

* Control classes were tested in the prescribed language of instruction for each subject -
ie English for Math, Filipino for Social Studies, etc.

(4) SY 2006-07 Tests (NOTE: Data translated from the graphs, hence Approx)

(a) English Language Development in Lubuagan Central School

Grade 1 Mean Scores. Control: (Approx)13; Experimental: (Approx)13

Grade 2 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 10; Experimental: (Approx) 16

Grade 3 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 14; Experimental: (Approx) 18

(b) Filipino Language Development in Lubuagan Central School

Grade 1 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 13; Experimental: (Approx) 11

Grade 2 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 14; Experimental: (Approx) 16

Grade 3 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 17; Experimental: (Approx) 20

(c) Math Development in Lubuagan Central School

Grade 1 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx)   9; Experimental: (Approx) 12

Grade 2 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 10; Experimental: (Approx) 12

Grade 3 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 11; Experimental: (Approx) 21

(d) Composite Measures of Educational Achievement for the Three Grades
of the Central School

Grade 1 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 35; Experimental: (Approx) 35

Grade 2 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 34; Experimental: (Approx) 45

Grade 3 Mean Scores: Control: (Approx) 41; Experimental: (Approx) 59

(5) Table 1.1. Summary results of tho Grade 1 testing in Lubuagan, SY 2007-2008

                            Controls                 Experimentals

                     N   : Mean:     %        N      Mean         %   T-test:  P

Reading      : 74  :  8.97 :   52.76:  69   : 12.83  :  75.47   6.86:
                                                                                                0.000

Math           : 73  :  8.32 :   48.94:  70   : 13.76  :  82.12    9.19:
                                                                                                 0.000

Filipino       : 73  :  6.85 :   57.08:  70   :   8.21  :  68.42    3.42:
                                                                                                 0.001

Makabayan: 73  :  6.95 :   57.92   70   :   9.77 :    81.42    8.12  :
                                                                                                 0.000

English       : 73  :  8.97 :   52.76   70   :  12.31 :  72.41     5.88  :
                                                                                                 0.000

Overall       : 73  : 40.10:   53.47   69   :   56.90:  75.87     7.89  :
                                                                                                 0.000


(6) Table 1.2. Distribution of Scores at the upper and lower regions
of test performance.


Performance   

# of children from                # of children from   the
children from the                  control program
first language class (FLC)       

Top 20             15                                  5


Top 40              32                                 8

Bottom 40           4                               36

Bottom 20           0                               20

(7) Table 2.1 Summary results of the Grade 2 testing in Lubuagan
                    
                          Controls                    Experimentals 

                     N  : Mean:     %      N   Mean       %        T-test  :  P
Reading       94   12,63    54.9   42    8.00      78.3          9.22   
                                                                                           0.000

Math            94   13.00    61.9    42 16.86      80.13   7.79  
                                                                                           0.000

Filipino        94     7.79    51.9    42: 12.21      81,4    14.88   
                                                                                           0.000

Makabayan 94     9.14    60.9     42: 12.12      80.8      9.35  
                                                                                           0.000

English        94   12.63    54.3     42: 14.29      62.1      4.89  
                                                                                           0.000

Overall        94   55.20    56.9      42: 75.48      77.8    10.90  
                                                                                           0.000
  

(8) Table 2.2 Distribution of children into performance groups based on their
collective performance in all given tests in the grade 2 test battery

Performance         

# of children from first     # of childreen from
language class in this        "standard" schools in
this grouping                      this grouping    

Top 20                       15                                         5

Top 40                       30                                       10

Bottom 40                  0                                         40

Bottom 20                  0                                         20 
 
(9) Table 3.1 Summary results of the Grade 3 testing
in Lubuagan

                       Controls
                    N: Mean: %   :N  :Mean: %    :t-test    P
Reading      60: 7.47 :53.4 :56:11.09: 79.2 : 7.16:
                              


--
Manuel Lino G. Faelnar

Chairman for Language and Culture,
Federalist Forum of the Philippines

Director
DILA Phils. Foundation, Inc.
(Defenders of the Indigenous Languages of the
Archipelago)

Director
Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya, Inc. (LUDABI)

"Without our language, we have no culture, we have no identity, we are nothing."
Ornolfor Thorsson, adviser to President of Iceland.

"When you lose a language you lose a culture, intellectual wealth, a work of art."
Kenneth Hale, who taught linguistics at MIT.

"Words, if powerful enough, can transport people into a journey,
real or imagined, that either creates
a fantasy or confirms reality."
Rachelle Arlin Credo, poet and
writer.

.