PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
Philippine Normal University- Mindanao
Submitted to:
Dr. Julius Nunez
Course Instructor
Submitted By:
Aivy F. Ylanan
Rica Mae B. Bernados
Sheryl F. Amano
BEE-III students
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
THE PERCEPTIONS OF GRADE FIVE PUPILS IN E.G. MONTILLA
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ON MEDIA OF INSTRUCTION: CEBUANO,
FILIPINO AND ENGLISH
Aivy F. Ylanan | Rica Mae B. Bernados | Sheryl F. Amano
Introduction
The medium of instruction is the language used by the teacher to teach.
Teaching the language, or educational content, through the target language
increases the amount of exposure the learner gets to it, and the opportunities
they have to communicate in it, and therefore to develop their control of it
(medium of instruction, TeachingEnglish.Org). What the teacher uses as a
medium of instruction affects learning. It is one of the major factors that
develop the whole being of a learner.
Instruction is the focal point of education. It is very essential because
without it, education is useless. English is the medium of instruction used in
the Philippines. However, Filipinos also use several languages in teaching in
order to elucidate instruction. These languages depend on a group of
Filipinos’ language preference to be used like Tagalog or local dialects
(mother-tongue). While the teachers teach lessons using several
languages/dialects, the comprehension of the learners is also affected. Some
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
learners learn more when the medium of instruction used is English, some
with Tagalog and others with Mother-tongue.
Statement of the Problem
This study attempts to determine that grade five pupils’ insight towards
the languages (English, Filipino and mother tongue) used as the media of
instruction in Mathematics are of big difference and level. In this case, Mother
tongue (Cebuano), Filipino and English are used interchangeably in
accordance to the complexity of the lesson, specifically in the Mathematics
subject. What is/are the perception(s) of the pupils towards the languages and
how much understanding would be implanted to them as these languages are
used during Mathematics discussion?
This study aims to determine the perception of the pupils in grade five
towards the various media of instruction in the Mathematics subject.
Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions:
1. What are the common languages that are being used during
Mathematics discussion?
2. What are the languages that the pupils are comfortable using with
during the discussion?
3. What language(s) that the pupils are confused using with?
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
4. What is/are the difference(s) among Cebuano, Filipino and English
as these languages are used during the discussion?
Methodology
This chapter focuses with the methodology of the study. This study
uses qualitative descriptive approach. It includes the research design,
participants of the study, setting of the study, research instrument used and
procedure for data collection and data analysis. Data are taken from the grade
5 pupils in E.G
Montilla Elementary School. In this study there are two respondents
male and female and they are both honor pupils. The male respondent (J)
aged 10 years old and the female respondent (C) aged 11 years old.
Before conducting the interview, the researchers asked permission
from their parents and as well as to their teacher. The interview was
conducted in E.G Montilla Elementary School during the pupils recess time.
The researcher used sound recorder and transcribed the utterances being
recorded.
Data gathered was analyzed guided by the four problems raised in the
study such as: 1) what are the languages that are being used during
Mathematics discussion? 2) What are the languages that the pupils are
comfortable with during the discussion? 3) What language(s) are the pupils
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
are confused using with. 4) What are the difference(s) among Cebuano,
Filipino and English as these languages are used during the discussion. To
answer the following questions, the sound recorder was played back and the
responses were analyzed.
Data Presentation
Percentage of the students. The pupils during their grade 1-3 were
exposed to mother tongue because of the implementation of MTB-MLE. Now
that they are in grade 5, they’re teachers’ uses English most of the time in
presenting the lesson. Moreover, the pupils were not exposed or used with
English in their daily conversation so interaction between the students and
teachers are less.
The Respondents
The respondents are the grade five pupils in E.G. Montilla Elementary
School. There are only two respondents to give justification to the given
questions.
The first respondent (J) (10). The respondent is an achiever specifically
in the subject area of Mathematics. Though he was not a product of a private
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
kindergarten and pre-school but his performance in the class especially in
Mathematics is great. He used to be an honor student since grade one up to
grade six, not lowering to fifth. He participated during the Sudoku competition
and was included as one of the best participants during the first set.
The second respondent (C) (11). The respondent is an honor student
from grade one up to grade six, not lowering to sixth place. Her achievements
are more inclined on both Mathematics and Filipino wherein she won the Math
thrill competition, 2nd place. She also participated to any activities such as
Balagtasan and Sabayang pagbigkas wherein she won together with her
company as 1st placer and 3rd placer.
As to the teacher’s observation to the respondents’ behaviour towards
these languages, the pupils have their own preferences of language use
during the Mathematics discussion. The teacher said that she has been using
various languages to instruct her students and these languages mirror the
understanding of the students. The teacher said that pupils’ best achieved
when using the language that they are comfortable with. The teacher’s
fluctuating used of these languages enable her to see that pupils improved the
most to the language that they tend to understand more.
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
Data Results
Below is the transcription of the interview conducted.
Researcher: What are the languages that are being used during Mathematics
discussion?
Respondent 1: In our class, our teacher mostly used English in his
discussion like in Mathematics, Science and the English subject.
Respondent 2: My teacher in Math usually taught us using English language
and sometimes with the use of Tagalog and Bisaya.
Researcher: What are the languages that the pupils are comfortable with
during the discussion?
Respondent 1: I’m comfortable with Filipino even if we mostly use English in
the class because we are more exposed to Filipino, like when we are in the
house we always watch Filipino Teleserye and in school our teacher let us
perform drama in a Filipino or Tagalog.
Respondent 2: I am comfortable whatever language the teacher uses during
class hours in delivering his lessons. However, there is a difference in
comprehending because I most likely understood the discussion when my
teacher explains with the use of Bisaya or Tagalaog.
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
Researcher: What language(s) that you are confused using with?
Respondent 1: Sometimes, I’m confused with English because of the
complexity of words and if our teacher noticed that we didn’t understand it
that’s the time that our teacher will use Bisaya in order for us to understand
the words.
Respondent 2: I am sometimes confused with English because there are
words included in books, directions, and explanations of my teacher that are
unfamiliar to me which is one of the reasons why I can’t fully understood the
lesson.
Researcher: What are the difference(s) among Cebuano, Filipino and English
as these languages are used during the discussion?
Respondent 1: If our teacher uses Bisaya in her teaching we can understand
her discussion easily because that is our own dialect which we used to use.
However, there are also times that we don’t understand the words that she is
using because it’s too unfamiliar.
Respondent 2: The comprehension really varies on what the teacher uses in
teaching. I can understand if the teacher teaches us Math using English, I can
understand more with the use of Tagalog because most of the shows on
television that I watch are in Tagalog, and also I have a childhood friend who
is Tagalog. But I can understand most if my teacher discusses Math using
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
Bisaya because it is the language that I speak since I was little that’s why I
can understand clearly it.
Discussion:
1. The most common languages that the teachers’ used in her discussion
in Mathematics subject is English.
2. The pupils are comfortable with Filipino language because they are
exposed to it through various Filipino competition, dramatization and
role plays.
3. The pupils were sometimes confused due to complexity of words.
4. The students will easily understand the discussion if it is delivered
through Cebuano because they believe that it’s their own dialect, this
they are used to.
Conclusion
Based on interview and findings of this study, it is concluded that the
two grade 5 pupils prefer more the use of Tagalog as a medium of instruction
rather than English but needs further elucidation of every lesson using Bisaya
for better comprehension.
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PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY
The National Center for Teacher Education
REFERENCE:
Retrieved from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/medium-instruction
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