Senators, Our Students Flunk Abroad because of Poor Supports to Math, Science

 Senators Impending Review of the Mother Tongue as Culprit

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 Senator Sherwin Gatchalian wanted a Senate review on the effectiveness of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) because of the poor performances of Filipino students in the assessment tests on Math and Science subjects abroad.

In the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) the Philippines scored 'significantly lower' than any other country that vie in Grade- 4 Math and Science assessments, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 showed.

Our students only scored there 297 in mathematics subject and 249 in science subject, which were "significantly lower" than any other selected nations from all over the world that joined the competition.

The Philippines also scored the lowest among all 58 participating countries for both examinations.

Photo credit: .Cdm.org

Singapore, in that assessment, topped both in Grade 4 mathematics' subject and science's subject, 625 and 595, respectively. The South East Asian country also has the highest scores for Grade 8 in the same subjects, 616 (mathematics subject) and 608 (science subject).

Gatchalian said that those examinees averagely age 15 years old could probably not understand the medium of instructions in English in math and science because of the MTB-MLE .

He cited the dismal performance of the country’s learners in the 2018 PISA where some 94% of our participating 15-year old students speak a language or dialect at home most of the time other than the medium of instruction (that is English) used in the assessment.

“Children learn better and faster in a language that they can understand. This, in effect, boosts their self-esteem making them enjoy school more,” said Gatchalian.

Mother Tongue is Effective in Pedagogy

I argued before that the MTB-MLE is effective because of the series of scientific studies held in the 1960 to 1966 Rizal Experiment and the 1961 to 1964 Iloilo Experiment- II.

In the Rizal Experiment despite the limitations of training and materials, tests at the end of Grade 4 showed mother-tongue based teaching possessed significant strength. Receiving instruction in English, the all-English group got the highest score in language, health and science, social studies, and arithmetic computation.  But to the arithmetic problems, the all-Tagalog group (whose medium was Tagalog in Grades 1-4) obtained the highest level of achievement. In the First Language version of the tests, the three groups showed about the same proficiency levels in the reading test, but it was the all-Tagalog group that obtained the highest achievement levels in arithmetic problems, social studies, health and science.

The Iloilo Experiment II showed the literacy rate of the experimental classes in Ilonggo that the Bureau of Public Schools (precursor of the DepEd) obtained in 1965 was 75.99%. It showed a holding strength within the 1961 level of 53.28%.

The above experiment showed that the best medium of instruction to introduce Tagalog and English simultaneously in Grade 1 is Ilonggo or Hiligaynon. There is reason to believe that using the MTB-MLE helps the learning process by introducing concepts to pupils in the language they are most used to.

Senator Gatchalian Fears of MTB-MLE is Baseless

As I analyzed the premise of Senator Gatchalian I found his fear as baseless. 

If he argues that those 15 years old participants, who were cream of their classes, in math and science abroad became a fiasco on the two subjects then he was wrong there. The problem of the Filipino students were not being proficient to William Shakespeare’s language but because they were patently poor in math and science because thanks but no thanks to poor teaching and the poor materials provided by their schools to them.

These problems are endemic in the public schools in the country.

LET’S ANALYZE

Let’s analyze if indeed the MTB-MLE was the culprit that keep causing us to have these perennial Achilles Heels’ on math and science:

A pupil who entered Grades 1, 2, and 3 have the average ages of 7, 8, 9, respectively.

These age brackets are the target of the MTB-MLE, as provided by Republic Act 10533 (An Act Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System by Strengthening its Curriculum and Increasing the Number of Years for Basic Education, Approaching Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes), because the children can easily comprehend the teaching inside the room when the mentor uses the dialect spoken by their parents and kin in their homes.

So when they reach Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 where their ages are 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, respectively, they would be using Filipino and English as medium of  instruction to their subjects.

Before they reach 15 years old, they have already accumulated five years in learning and speaking English as medium of instruction.

So where’s the problem of their proficiency in this foreign language?

Common sense dictate that these Filipino examinees in those assessments tests overseas could speak, understand, read, and comprehend the English instruction on math and science tests given to them by their proctors.

The review of the Senate on the inefficacy of the MTB-MLE vis à vis the English language will be a boondoggle to the public coffer because our Honorable Solons who could not even pass the Public Service Acts, despite being incessantly approved by the House of Representatives, to open our country to more foreign investors that generate jobs, will be wasting again valuable government resources, time, and their saliva.

There in that August Chamber every Senator from the once tough talking Police General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to renowned legal luminary Senator Frank Drilon would have their lengthy speeches on this baseless brouhaha.

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Nabayaran Ang Mga Senators Natin?

(You can read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)