Two Proposed Perspectives on Mother Tongue-Based Education in the Philippines

The instruction of English in the Philippines causes quite some challenges to scholars due to its rich linguistic diversity. With more than 180 languages currently recorded in the country, linguistic power struggle is unavoidable, although it may be silent. To make the situation even more complex, the Philippine Government recently launched a new educational policy that promotes learning in mother tongues in earlier years of the child. While this law is based on sound research, it poses quite some challenges to both linguists and educators due to the various linguistic backgrounds found in almost every classroom around the nation. The Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education policy is complex from different perspectives. This paper presents evidence from research and current reality of the Philippines. Then it introduces two models that could potentially yield a positive outcome in the implementation of mother tongue-based education. Both perspectives are prepared primarily based on existing literature and careful critical analysis of the Philippine linguistic context. The author also draws from findings from his previous research on the issue in the Philippines.