FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH MOTHER TONGUE AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE

PROFICIENCY OF PUPILS IN SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

A Thesis Proposal

Presented to the Faculty of the

Graduate Program

College of Education

Silliman University

Dumaguete City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree

Master of Arts in Education

Major in Educational Management

Caryl M. Grajo

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) was implemented to address

the stagnation of learning outcomes in the schools under the Bilingual Education Policy (Martin,

2015). The pupils will understand what they read if it is in a language that they use and in a

language that they understand (Pado, 2016). To support the goal of the Department of Education

“Every Child- A- Reader and A –Writer” by Grade 1, Mother Tongue is used as a medium of

instruction in the first 3 years of the elementary level in the Philippines (DepEd Order #31s.2013).

It makes the pupils proficient at learning another language and process better and faster learners if

the use of Mother Tongue in the classroom is earlier (Porcalla, 2013). According to the study of

SIL Philippines, the use of Mother Tongue in other lesson outcomes improved math, science and

English (Dumatog and Dekker 2003).

Studying the primary level pupils of Silliman University Elementary School where there

is a diversity of students learning (different backgrounds), becomes important for improving the

learning process of the pupils. Those pupils who are not proficient in both the Mother Tongue and

English Language are only confused of the curriculum that was implemented in the school. One

reason is that it is difficult to predict at what circumstances the pupils will better adept these

languages because every child is different. These stages are the most crucial in learning that is why

it is better to understand their situation in order to provide possible solution to some problems in

acquiring language.

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Statement of the Problem

The primary level pupils of the Elementary school are all having the Mother Tongue-Based

Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) but this does not mean that these levels are all best adaptive

or could easily learn both the mother tongue and the English language. In order to pick up a second

and third language more easily, the pupils should learn their first language better but it is difficult

if the pupils are not pliable of the languages. Because of this, there is a need to assess the pupils

from Grades 1, 2 and 3 in their mother tongue and English proficiency to know at what stage is

best adaptive to these two different languages.

Thus, this proposed study aims to compare the English proficiency of pupils in grades 1, 2

and 3 in Silliman University Elementary School given variable socio-demographic profile. In this

regard, this study will also examine their socio-demographic profile such as gender of the pupils,

occupation of parents and the usual language used at home. In order to answer the major research

problem, the following research question will be investigated:

1. Is there a significant relationship between the grade levels and mother tongue language

proficiency of pupils?

2. Is there a significant relationship between the grade levels and English language

proficiency of pupils?

3. Is there a significant relationship between the socio-demographics and mother tongue

language proficiency of pupils?

4. Is there a significant relationship between the socio-demographics and English language

proficiency of pupils?

5. Is there a significant relationship between the mother tongue language and English

language proficiency of pupils?

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Hypotheses

Generally, it is hypothesized that there are significant relationships exist among socio

demographic and language background, grade levels and English proficiency of pupils. In order to

prove this, the following hypotheses will be tested:

1. There is no significant relationship between the grade levels and mother tongue

language proficiency of pupils.

2. There is no significant relationship between the grade levels and English language

proficiency of pupils.

3. There is no significant relationship between the socio-demographics and mother tongue

language proficiency of pupils.

4. There is no significant relationship between the socio-demographics and English

language proficiency of pupils.

5. There is no significant relationship between the mother tongue language and English

language proficiency of pupils.

Significance of the Study

Pupils. The results of this proposed study will be primarily significant to the pupils of

Silliman University Elementary School particularly those having problems with mother tongue

and English language. They may be provided with remedial classes that would help them improve

in acquiring both languages.

Teachers. The teachers will also be provided with ideas on how to improve the mother

tongue and English proficiency of the pupils.

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 Parents. The parents will be provided with ideas on how to help their children to improve

their Mother Tongue and English language proficiency.

School heads. Similarly, the school head can learn about the factors associated with the

mother tongue and English proficiency of the pupils. It would help the school head to create

strategy that would help in improving both languages.

Scope and Limitations

This proposed study will focus only on the Mother Tongue and English proficiency of the

pupils and not on the other language that the pupils know. Specifically, it will deal only on the

pupils of grades 1, 2 and 3 in Silliman University Elementary School and their socio-demographic

profile such as gender of the pupils and occupation of parents and the usual language used at home.

Because of that, the other factors that are not mentioned in the research even if they are related in

this proposal because of limited time and resources.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are the major variables of the study and are defined according to how

they will be gathered, processed and analyzed in order to test the hypotheses:

English language proficiency refers to the ability of the pupils to comprehend and speak the

English Language.

Grade levels refer to the primary level of elementary which are grades 1, 2 and 3 in the Silliman

University Elementary School.

Socio-demographic profile refers to the gender of the pupils and occupation of their parents.

Gender refers to the either sexes (male or female)

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Mother tongue language proficiency refers to the ability of the pupils to comprehend and

speak their mother tongue.

Occupation refers to the job or profession of the parents of the pupils.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Related Literature

REVISE THE SUBSECTION TITLES. USE THE VARIABLES YOU NEED AND INDICATED

IN THE HYPOTHESES. DO NOT STATE THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE. REFER TO THE

SAMPLE PROPOSAL SHARED TO THE CLASS.

English in Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) in the

Philippines. Language proficiency. The MTBMLE in the Philippines has an effect on the English

language teaching and learning (Martin, 2015), however, there are also a lot of beliefs about the

disadvantages of MTBMLE. One of it is that it will lower the proficiency level of the pupils on

the English language. This belief is known to be not true because many international studies prove

that understanding of the own language will effectively help in understanding other languages.

Factors Affecting the Implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual

Education as Perceived by Teachers in Baguio and Benguet. The government's implementation

on MTBMLE is not all agreed by teachers in the Luzon part of the Philippines. There are many

factors that needs to be considered in implementing the curriculum. Teachers, students and the

instructional materials were the factors associated with the MTB-MLE in Baguio and Benguet

(Gorio; Galino; Morales; Palileng, 2014).

The Role of Mother Tongue Proficiency in Foreign Language Proficiency. Learning

foreign language should be started in the early age because it will be more difficult to learn another

7
language on the older age (Gencer; Sahin; Selcuk; Onur, 2011). The student will also have a hard

time in learning another language if he/she is not proficient in their mother tongue.

Gender and Linguistic Proficiency in Mother Tongue and a Foreign Language: A study

on English Proficiency of Sidamuafo speakers in Sidama Zone. Ten students of boys and girls

were compared in a study in Sidama Zone on their Sidamuafo and English proficiency. Results

found out that males on average scored higher than girls in English. Compared to English, their

Sidamuafo grades are higher. Overall, both genders performed well in the two languages (Menuta;

Wubshet, 2019).

Evaluation of Effectiveness of Mother Tongue and combined Mother Tongue-English

Language Pedagogical strategies in enhancing academic performance among Primary School

pupils in Ibadan, Nigeria. Age and gender are factors that associated with the cognitive

development of the pupils (Olusola, 2011). The mixture of English and mother tongue as a mode

of instruction is effective in developing the academic performance of the pupils.

Theoretical Framework

There are two common approaches about the language acquisition: Behaviorist and

Nativist. The behaviorism by Skinner (1957) explains that the environmental factor is important

in language development. It is through the caregivers' positive reinforced in which a child can learn

the properties of language. In contrast with this theory, the nativist, Chomsky (1965, 1975)

believes that there is innate language knowledge of the child. This is known the Universal

Grammar where the entire language development and processing is an inborn capacity of a child.

These two theories show that the exposure of the child to the language is important in developing

8
their learning. BE CONSISTENT ON DOUBLE SPACING. PUT ZERO IN “BEFORE AND

AFTER” SPACING, NOT 8. CLICK PARAGRAPH MENU.

There are many theories about the second language acquisition of a child. One of it is the

acculturation model of Schumann (1976, 1978). According to his model, a person will be less

proficient in the second language if he/she has less contact to it. His study was primarily focused

on immigrants, migrant workers and the children of such groups. Furthermore, the acquisition of

the second language is through the acculturation process and if a learner is expose to the target

language culture, and then he/she will be successful in learning the second language.

Another theorist that believes that the first language and second language are actually

interdependent psychologically is Cummins (1984). He claims that the cognitively demanding

tasks are common to the two languages. These tasks include literacy, content learning, abstract

thinking and problem solving. According to his Threshold Hypothesis, if a person has a low

proficiency of both languages then the person performs low cognitively.

Therefore, if a child is not proficient in the first language, then the child will also not be

proficient on the second language. Based on the theories, there are many factors in language

proficiency. However, these factors contribute a lot in the language development of the child.

Conceptual Framework

There are three different groups in this study: Grade 1, 2 and 3 pupils. These 3 groups have

different kinds of family background and gender. Although these 3 groups have different kinds of

level, their proficiency in Mother Tongue and English will be compared as to which stage performs

better.

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 Parents or guardians have the strongest influence in the child's language development

especially in the early years. The parent's occupation will tell about their approach of the language

proficiency of the child. If the child's parents are unemployed, it means they have more time to

take in the control of the developmental process, on the other hand, if the parents are busy in their

job, they have lesser time with their child. Because of this, if the parent is employed, enrolling the

child to a tutorial class or teaching them at least an hour would help the proficiency of the child.

Gender of the pupil is also an important part of the language acquisition. In an early stage,

the gender differences are evident. Girls usually use language in their emotional context while

boys use language in their description of things. Because of this, it is said that girls perform better

in language proficiency.

These variables are helpful in knowing the factors that would affect the Mother Tongue

and English proficiency of a child. This model is helpful in designing and implementing remedial

program for children who have low proficiency in mother tongue and English language (see Figure

1).

1. There is no significant relationship between the grade levels and mother tongue

language proficiency of pupils.

2. There is no significant relationship between the grade levels and English language

proficiency of pupils.

3. There is no significant relationship between the socio-demographics and mother tongue

language proficiency of pupils.

4. There is no significant relationship between the socio-demographics and English

language proficiency of pupils.

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 5. There is no significant relationship between the mother tongue language and English

language proficiencies of pupils.

COMPARE THE INTERACTIONS STATED IN THE HYPOTHESES AND YOUR

CONCEPTUAL MODEL. THEY ARE NOT CONSISTENT. REVISE THE MODEL.

GIRL BOY

GRADE 1
PUPILS
GENDER MOTHER TONGUE
LANGUAGE
GRADE 2 PROFICIENCY - ----
PUPILS REMEDIAL
PARENTS’
PROGRAM
OCCUPATION

GRADE 3
ENGLISHLANGUAGE
PROFICIENCY
- -----
PUPILS

EMPLOYED UNEMPLOYED

Figure 1. Conceptual Model

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 BE CONSISTENT ON DOUBLE SPACING. PUT ALL ZERO IN “BEFORE AND

AFTER” SPACING, NOT 8. CLICK PARAGRAPH MENU.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This is a descriptive research about the Mother Tongue and English Proficiency of the

grades 1, 2 and 3 pupils of Silliman University Elementary School. It will describe the existing

factors that are associated with the mother tongue and English proficiency of the pupils especially

on their socio-demographic profiles.

Research Environment

The study will be conducted in Silliman University Elementary School. The school is

composed of diverse students from different places around the province of Negros Oriental. The

school is located in the capital of the province which is the Dumaguete City.

Respondents and Sampling Procedure

The respondents of the study include grades 1, 2 and 3 pupils of Silliman University

Elementary School consists of different gender and occupation of parents. They will be identified

through sampling technique.

A list of grades 1, 2 and 3 pupils will be identified from which they will be randomly

selected. A quota of 30 pupils in every grade level will be purposively identified.

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Research Instrument

The study will be conducted through self-administered survey. The survey questionnaire

contains the socio-demographic profile of the pupils as well as their quarterly grades in mother

tongue and English subject.

Data Gathering Procedure

The data gathering will be personally administered by the researcher after it is approved by

the school principal. The researcher will give a questionnaire to the teacher of the pupils. The

questionnaire contains two different types: the pupil’s profile and grades in English and Mother

Tongue.

Data Analysis Procedure

Since the research has different kinds of variable, the researcher will use two kinds of

statistical tools. The first variable is the socio-demographic profile which is nominal (WHAT

EXACTLY ARE THE VARIABLES FOR CHI-SQUARE?), so chi-square will be used to test the

null hypotheses. The next variables are the proficiency of pupils in English and mother tongue

through grades so will be measured through Pearson correlation coefficient. If the value is greater

than 0, it means there is a positive association between the two variables. NOT CORRECT.

REFER TO SIGNS AND SHOULD NO BE MORE THAN ONE. REVISE THIS. AT WHAT

LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE?

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Ethical Considerations

Letter will be sent to the principal of Silliman University Elementary School if she will

allow the conduct study with the pupils. It is only approved by the principal that the identification

of the potential pupils. The parents of the identified pupils will be also requested through letters if

they will allow their children to participate in the study.

With the help of the teachers, the sampled pupils will be informed about the study and they

will be requested if they are willing to participate. Those pupils who will refuse will be replaced

accordingly. The scores of the pupils will be treated with outmost confidentiality and their identity

will be anonymous in processing and interpreting the data. After the data will be processed and

interpreted, it will be shredded and burnt.

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Timetable of the Study

OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES MONTHS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

To identify the pupils Sampling the pupils

as respondents from grades 1-3
To test the sampled Testing the pupils
pupils in school from grades 1-3

To process and Processing and

analyze the data and analyzing the data
do initial
interpretation
To write the thesis for Writing of the thesis
presentation
To revise Revising and
subsequently and finalizing the thesis
finalize the thesis

Budgetary Requirement

Items Amount (PHP)

HONORARIA
Adviser 8,000
Panel members (4) 8,000
Statistician 5,000
English Editor 4,000
School materials (Bond paper, computer ink, pens 5,000
and pencils)
Photocopying 1,000
Binding 1,000
Total 32,000

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 REFERENCES

Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. The Hague: Mouton.

Cummins, J. (1984). Bilingualism and Special Education: Issues in Assessment and

Pedagogy. Clevedon, Avon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

DepEd Order #31s.2013 WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE ORDER?

Dumatog, R., & Dekker, D. (2003). First language education in Lubuagon, Northern Philippines.
Conference on language development, language revitalization and multilingual education
in minority communities in Asia. Bangkok.
FOLLOW ABOVE FORMAT FOR THE REST OF THE TITLES.

Gencer, E., Sahin, K., Selcuk, A.,& Onur, T. (2011). The Role of Mother Tongue
Proficiency in Foreign Language Proficiency. Kafkas University.

Gorio, D., Galino, A., Morales, J.,& Palileng, J. (2014, May). FACTORS AFFECTING
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MOTHER TONGUE-BASED
MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION AS PERCEIVED BY TEACHERS IN BAGUIO.
Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/languageandmothertongue/home/research-on-mtb

Martin, I. P. (2010). Periphery ELT: The politics and practice of teaching English in the
Philippines.Ó InThe Routledge Handbook of World Englishes, ed. A. Kirkpatrick.
UK: Routledge.

Martin, I.P. (2015). English in Mother Tongue based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE)
in the Philippines. Retrieved from:
https://www.academia.edu/13489256/English_in_Mother_tongue
based_multilingual_education_in_the_Philippines_2015_?fbclid=IwAR0Bw0v0
ZH8fhQANz1kaGa1ddPcZMqZlpVKm7vIEZR3Uuf3djXPIO4L8yQ

Menuta, F.,& Wubshet, H. (2019). Gender and Linguistic Proficiency in Mother Tongue
and Foreign Language: A study on English Proficiency and Sidamuafo speakers
in Sidama Zone..IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science.

16
Olusola, F (2011). Evaluation of Effectiveness of Mother Tongue and combined Mother
Tongue-English Language Pedagogical strategies in enhancing academic
performance among Primary School pupils in Ibadan, Nigeria. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/11916913/EVALUATION_OF_EFFECTIVENESS_

Pado, F. (n.d). The Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in the K to

12 program. Retrieved from ceap.org.ph.

Porcalla, D. (2014). No more classroom shortage in Phl- Noy. Manila: Philstar.

Schuman, H., & Johnson, M. P. (1976). Attitudes and behavior. Annual Review of
Sociology, 2, 161-207.

Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

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 APPENDICES

ATTACH THE FOLLOWING

Appendix A: Letter of Request

Appendix B: Research Instrument
Appendix C: Curriculum Vitae

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