Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

A Course Module for

Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue Jonna Marie A. Lim Elen Joy P. Alata Raphael M. Ferrer Anna Maria Patricia V. Santos Authors

Greg Tabios Pawilen Coordinator

TEACH Series

OUTCOMES BASED

iEDUCATION

Contents Preface .........................................................................................

v

UNIT I: MOTHER TONGUE-BASED MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION LESSON 1:

WHAT IS MTB-MLE?........................................................

2

LESSON 2:

WHY MTB-MLE?............ ............... ............ ........................

7

LESSON 3:

CONTENT OF THE MTB-MLE....................... ......... ...........

12

LESSON 4:

CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY IN TEACHING MTB-MLE............

15

PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCIES IN TEACHING MOTHERTONGUE : 'V' :; M ' -r'W. \ ■ ; 5.1: UNDERSTANDING THE LOCAL CULTURE...... ..............

20

5.2: KNOWING THE MOTHER TONGUE......... .......... ...... ..........

25

LESSON 5:

UNIT II: INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING FOR THE MOTHER TONGUE LESSON 1:

COMPONENTS OF INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING.......... .

32

LESSON 2:

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING CYCLE.. ........... ............ ........

38

LESSON 3: LESSON 4:

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING MODELS FOR MOTHER TONGUE INSTRUCTION ................................................ .

44

DEVELOPING INSTRUCTIONAL PLANS FOR MOTHER TONGUE INSTRUCTION................... ............................. .

49

UNIT IlhTEACHING AND LEARNING THE MOTHER TONGUE LESSON 1:

THE MACRO SKILLS OF COMMUNICATION........................

60

LESSON 2:

TEACHING FOR MEANING AND ACCURACY.......................

.65

LESSON 3:

CHOOSING ON-GRADE AND CULTURALLY RELEVANT INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS................................................

70

DEVELOPING ON-GRADE AND CULTURALLY RELEVANT INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.................... ........................

75

LESSON 4:

iii

LESSON 5: LANGUAGE TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR MOTHER TONGUE 5.1: LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING AND VIEWING.............. ........... ......... .......

82

5.2: LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING........ ......... ........ ............... ......................

91

5.3: LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR READING............... ........................... ................... .

97

5.4: LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR WRITING............................... .......... ..................... .

103

UNIT IV: ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING FOR THE MOTHERTONGUE LESSON 1:

PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT.........................

110

LESSON 2:

LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES............................

116

LESSON 3:

DESIGNING PERFORMANCE TASKS...................................

119

LESSON 4:

GRADING PERFORMANCE TASKS.. .................................

129

REFERENCES...............

....... .......

INDEX

............ ............

.....

.......

....

iv

.... .... .... ....... .....

137

......................... ......

142

Preface Welcome to your course module for Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue!

As an elementary school teacher, your main role is to ensure that meaningful learning is taking place in your classroom. However, this is not as easy as we all want it to be. Quite a number of factors affect the quality and success of learning; one of which is the language used in instruction that may not be accessible to all of your learners.

Before the Kto 12 program, Filipino and English were recognized as the official mediums of instruction in the country, despite its undeniable cultural and linguistic diversity. Such policies were found to have directly affected the high attrition and dropout rates of children who do not speak the school's language. This is on top of the consistent low performance of students in standardized exams that would prove the lack—or even absence—of meaningful learning in the classroom. Hence, embedded in the major educational reform of Kto 12 is the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)— an initiative that recognizes the pivotal role of language in facilitating learning. It is anchored on the idea that learning new concepts will effectively happen if the language used to teach these new concepts are familiar or accessible to the young learners.

This course, Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue, is a three-unit specialized subject that "includes the structure of the mother tongue as a language, literature in the mother tongue, methods and techniques of teaching the language, and development of instructional materials and assessment," (CHED Memorandum Order No. 74, series of 2017, on the Policies, Standards and Guidelines for Bachelor of Elementary Education, Annex B, p. 19).

At the end of the course, you are expected to know and do the following: understand comprehensively the MTB-MLE program being implemented in the Philippines; •

equip yourself with the pedagogical knowledge and skills pertinent to teaching Mother Tongue as a subject; develop instructional plans for the Mother Tongue with sound, interesting, and meaningful activities, materials, and assessments; and

•

implement a Mother Tongue instructional plan through demonstration teaching.

Before you begin learning from and working on this module, it is important that you understand the purpose and design of this module. This is a self-instructional module, which means that you will acquire basic concepts and skills about Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue even without the supervision of your teacher. The module is replete with different tasks that will challenge you to construct your understanding and/or knowledge about specific topics. The module is divided into four units, namely: Unit I: Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Unit II: Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue Unit III: Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue Unit IV: Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue The tasks were designed to encourage collaboration between and among you and to challenge you to examine critically various information related to Mother Tongue instruction, abstract based on your analysis and apply them into different situations.

Each unit is divided into lessons and sub-lessons, with the following activities: Activity 1: ACTIVATE In this activity, you will activate your prior knowledge about the topic Activity 2: ANALYZE In this activity, you will analyze various exemplars/texts/materials.

Activity 3: ABSTRACT In this activity, you will extrapolate essential concepts/understanding based on your analysis in Activity 2.

Activity 4: APPLY In this activity, you will apply your acquired skills and knowledge by completing the performance task.

vi

FINAL COURSE MODULE ASSESSMENT * ' Before you begin, you need to know what is expected from you at the end of the course.

Final Requirement No. 1: Instructional Plan in Teaching the Macro Skills of the Mother Tongue • Develop an instructional plan for the teaching of the Mother Tongue where the following elements are included: Content Standard, Performance Stand­ ard, Competency/ies, Topic/Content, Learning Experiences, Assessments, and Materials; • Identify the target grade level for your lesson; • Create the materials; • Prepare a lesson that can be completed in one hour; and • Check the Holistic Rubric for the Mother Tongue Instructional Plan.

Final Requirement No. 2:

v

Demonstration Teaching (using the self-developed instructional plan) • You will be given 10 minutes to execute a part of your instructional plan; • Make sure that you have prepared enough copies of your instructional materials for your classmates; • Before your demonstration teaching, submit your instructional plan to your teacher; and • Check the Rubric for the Teaching Demonstration.

HOLISTIC RUBRIC FOR THE MOTHERTONGUE INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN For each indicator, the teacher assigns points ranging from 1-4. Highly Effective: 4 points, Effective: 3 points, Developing: 2 points. Ineffective: 1 point.

Domain Learning Goals and Objectives

indicators of Effectiveness • Goals and objectives are clear and measurable.

• Goals and objectives support the standards.

• Goals and objectives guide the development of the instructional procedures, learning experiences, and assessments.

Instructional • The motivation is clearly aligned with the standards and objectives.

Process: • The motivation engages student interest and links previous Motivation knowledge with present topic.

• The motivation considers students’ academic, social, and/ or cultural characteristics, as well as their prior knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses.

Instructional • The learning experiences are described in detail and are thoroughly aligned with the standards and objectives.

Process: Learning • Learning experiences are organized and delivered in innovative Experiences ways that provide clear, appropriate, and challenging learning for all students.

• Instructional procedures address the range of student diversity, including developmental.needs, learning styles, backgrounds, prior experiences, interests, and context.

• Independent, collaborative, small group, and whole class instruction are used effectively to support individual learning.

• Learning experiences provide opportunities for understanding of concepts and actual use of the language.

Instructional 4 Presentation of content always include visuals that establish the purpose of the lesson and preview the organization of the Process: Presenting lessons, examples, illustrations, analogies, and labels for new Content/ concepts and ideas.

Topic • There is effective modeling of thinking process by the teacher and/or students guided by the teacher to demonstrate performance expectations.

• There is no irrelevant, confusing, or nonessential information.

Instructional • Assessments are measurable and clearly aligned to standards/ Process: objectives.

Assessment • Both formative (progress monitoring and instructive feedback given to students during the lesson) and summative assessments (evidence of student learning collected at the end of the lesson) are present.

• Rubrics and/or other assessment documents are included.

• Student choice and/or consideration of differentiation is evident.

Accommodations and modifications are addressed.

viii

Score

Instructional • The stated closure or synthesis activities bring the lesson to an appropriate close, offer appropriate extensions, and align with the Process: Closure/ standards and objectives.

Topic • The synthesis accommodates for student diversity.

Materials, Resources, and Technology

• The instructional materials, resources, and technology are clearly aligned to the objectives.

• The instructional materials are varied and appropriate to student’s ability levels and actively engage students.

Overall

• The instructional plan uses correct and appropriate language.

• It follows prescribed template by the instructor.

• It includes a list of all references used.

RUBRIC FOR THE TEACHING DEMONSTRATION Criteria

f lf ll. Exceeds Expectations (10 points)

Meets Expectations (7 points)

Does not Meet Expectations (5 points)

Knowledge of the Subject Matter

Demonstrates mastery of the subject matter

Demonstrates adequate knowledge of the subject matter

Demonstrates below average knowledge of the subject matter

Delivery

Demonstrates an impressive ability to communicate his or her ideas to the class

Demonstrates an adequate ability to communicate his or her ideas to the class

Communicates poorly his or her ideas to the class

Quality of Teaching

Uses creative and effective teaching methods at all times

Uses creative and effective teaching methods on the average level

Fails to use creative and effective teaching methods

Evidence of Preparation

Demonstrates superior ability to organize and implement the lesson

Demonstrates an average ability to organize and implement the lesson

Does not appear to be prepared for the demonstration

Organization

Demonstrates a clear, sound, and logical flow from one activity to the next

Demonstrates a clear, Does not demonstrate sound, and logical flow a logical flow of from one activity to the activities next, but needs minor improvements

Use of Visual Aids and Instructional Materials

Uses relevant, Consistently uses relevant, creative, and creative, and quality quality visual aids and visual aids and instructional materials instructional materials, but needs a little improvement

Does not use relevant, creative and quality visual aids and instructional materials

UNIT I

MOTHER TONGUE-BASED MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is one of the distinctive features of the Kto 12 program that was signed into law on May 15,2013 by former President Benigno Aquino III. The introduction of the MTB-MLE, specifically from Kindergarten to Grade 3, is grounded on the belief that children learn best if the language used in instruction is understandable and accessible to the young learners.

Several studies have shown that the use of Mother Tongue in early grade instruction has, in fact, yielded significant, positive results to student learning across subject areas or discipline.

This module will begin with the basic and important concepts that you need to know about MTB-MLE and its theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings. It is hoped that by the end of this unit, you will have a comprehensive understanding of the value of MTB-MLE in promoting equal opportunity to all learners to learn and succeed in school.

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

identify the different contexts in communication;

•

understand the relationship between language, heritage, culture, and commu­ nication;

•

discuss the personal factors involved in learning a second language; and

•

appreciate the comfort and complexity of the generation they are born into.

Instructional Materials Needed: Language Bingo Card and Research Resources

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE The digital natives, otherwise known as Generation Z, are those born between the years 1994 to 2004. And you are definitely one of them!

You were born with and into the comfort and complexity of technology.

Interaction for you means connecting through social media, while communi­ cation is coursed through an account that could be totally divorced from who the real person is. Your generation is highly reliant on technology to the point that some would opt to live a sedentary life without recognizing the down sides of it. On the other hand, you are also recognized as a creative and collaborative generation that can contribute highly when you join the workforce.

Let us warm up! Your first task in this course is to simply talk to your seatmate about the following: a. your first experience in creating your Facebook account b. on the truthful and make believe/fake answers you wrote on your profile c. an experience in helping someone to create a Facebook account d. compare social media accounts you maintain to communicate e. your engagement to social media as a means of communication on a daily basis Share your answers to the class.

2

Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

While our knowledge on Generation Z is still a work in progress, through the lens of education, we can safely say that the world they you are growing up in is more comprehensible. It is the day and age when the challenge of education is to prepare the forthcoming generation of learners to brave constant change and the challenges of the world. Education is not just simply a transfer of concepts and rote memorization, yet it is the readiness and capability to operate, compete and survive. More so, education is all about learners who think outside the box, employ higher order thinking skills, analyze, troubleshoot, make decisions, and solve problems.

II. ANALYZE It is time to know your classmates in this course! Below is a Language Bingo Card and your goal is to cross out as many languages as possible. You will be given time to go around and ask your classmates the language/s that they speak or understand.

Ybanag

Tagalog

LANGUAGE BINGO

Surigaonon

Yakan

lloko

Ivatan

Kapampangan

Maranao

Tausug

Cebuano

Bikol

Pangasinense

Maguindanaoan

Hiligaynon

Chabacano

Sambal

Aklanon

Kinaray-a

Waray

What are the most common languages spoken/used by your classmates?

Where do you think did they learn the language/languages?

We thrive in a bilingual, or even inamultingual,world.Thisisthe rationale why Mother Tongue, Filipino, and English follow a unified frame-work which allows easy transition from acquiring and learning one language to another. Republic Act 10533 "Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013" has highlighted the reality and relevance of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). The implementation of the Kto 12 Basic Education Program puts high premium on the learner's mother tongue and other languages used in the classroom. The Department of Education refers to Mother Tongue-Based Instruction through DO #74 s. 2009.

The curriculum shall adhere to the principles and framework of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) which starts from where the learners are at and from what they already know, proceeding from the known to the unknown. Instructional materials and capable teachers to implement the MTB-MLE curriculum shall be available.

Unit I-Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 3

In support of MTB-MLE, in 2013, DepEd issued DO #28, s. 2013—Additional Guidelines to DepEd Order No. 16, s. 2012 (Guidelines on the Implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education MTB-MLE).

Reality dictates that learners learn best when they are able to understand and express in the language they grew up speaking from childhood. Thus, they are able to build a strong scaffold in terms of comprehension, construction, and communication. Moreover, research stresses that children with a solid foundation in the language they grew up speaking or their mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school language.

III. ABSTRACT In groups of three, you need to answer the questions listed below. You are encouraged to research and cite credible sources in answering each question.

1. What is acquisition?

2. How is language acquisition different from language learning?

3. How do children learn their first language?

4. What is second language acquisition?

5. Is language acquisition true for all children?

Prepare to share your answers to the class.

Language is the basis of all communication and the primary instrument of thought.Thinking, learning, and language are interrelated. Language is governed by rules and systems (language conventions) which are used to explore and communicate meaning. It defines culture which is essential in understanding oneself (personal identity), forming interpersonal relationships (socialization), extending experiences, reflecting on thought and action, and contributing to a better society. Language, therefore, is central to the peoples'intellectual, social, and emotional development and has an essential role in all key learning areas (English Curriculum Framework: Australia, 1998).

Language is the foundation of all human relationships. All human relation­ ships are established on the ability of people to communicate effectively with each other. Thoughts, values, and understandings are developed and expressed through language. This process allows students to understand better the world in which they live and contribute to the development of their personal perspectives of the global community. Therefore, proficiency in the language enables people to access, process, and assess information, to engage with the wider and more diverse communities, and to learn about the role of language in their own lives, and in their own and other cultures (Malone, 2006).

4

Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Language acquisition (a natural process and involves "picking up" language in a nonconscious way through exposure to language, not by studying it) and language learning (is conscious, intentional, involves study and pays attention to grammar rules) is an active process from cradle to grave, and continues throughout life. It is continuous and recursive throughout students' lives.

Students enhance their language abilities by using what they know in new and more complex contexts and with increasing sophistication (spiral progression).

They reflect on and use prior knowledge to extend and enhance their language and understanding. By learning and incorporating new language structures into their repertoire and using them in a variety of contexts, students develop language fluency and proficiency. Positive learning experiences in languagerich environments enable students to leave school with a desire to continue to extend their knowledge, skills, and interests (Cummins, 1991).

Armed with the capability to read in their mother tongue, learners are able to cross over and read in other languages. Their knowledge and skills transfer across languages. This bridge then enables the learners to use both or all their languages for success in academics and most of all for lifelong learning.

IV. APPLY Having the end in mind of instilling lifelong learning over and above academic excellence in Filipino learners, language learning in the mother tongue (L1), in Filipino (L2-the national language), in English (L3-the global language), and the possibility of a foreign language (L4), equips the learners to be more than prepared to develop the competencies in the different learning areas they will hurdle.

For your final task in this lesson, form a group of five and discuss the following: 1. Who is learning another language at the moment?

2. Who has tried to study another language out of passion or curiosity, or out of obligation to fulfill a duty?

3. If a second language was learned, how was the experience?

4. Is there someone in the group who can read books or newspapers and listens to radio/TV in another language apart from English and Tagalog? Each group must prepare for a presentation of their key discussion points.

Unit I-Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 5

Language acquisition (a natural process and involves "picking up" language in a nonconscious way through exposure to language, not by studying it) and language learning (is conscious, intentional, involves study and pays attention to grammar rules) is an active process from cradle to grave, and continues throughout life. It is continuous and recursive throughout students' lives.

Students enhance their language abilities by using what they know in new and more complex contexts and with increasing sophistication (spiral progression).

They reflect on and use prior knowledge to extend and enhance their language and understanding. By learning and incorporating new language structures into their repertoire and using them in a variety of contexts, students develop language fluency and proficiency. Positive learning experiences in languagerich environments enable students to leave school with a desire to continue to extend their knowledge, skills, and interests (Cummins, 1991).

Armed with the capability to read in their mother tongue, learners are able to cross over and read in other languages. Their knowledge and skills transfer across languages. This bridge then enables the learners to use both or all their languages for success in academics and most of all for lifelong learning. ' IV. APPLY Having the end in mind of instilling lifelong learning overand above academic excellence in Filipino learners, language learning in the mother tongue (L1), in Filipino (L2-the national language), in English (L3-the global language), and the possibility of a foreign language (L4), equips the learners to be more than prepared to develop the competencies in the different learning areas they will hurdle.

For your final task in this lesson, form a group of five and discuss the following: 1. Who is learning another language at the moment?

2. Who has tried to study another language out of passion or curiosity, or out of obligation to fulfill a duty?

3. If a second language was learned, how was the experience?

4. Is there someone in the group who can read books or newspapers and listens to radio/TV in another language apart from English and Tagalog? Each group must prepare for a presentation of their key discussion points.

Unit I-Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 5

Lesson Synthesis: Think of how you acquired and learned the languages that you have right now.

How will you rate your level of proficiency for each of the language (10 points if you consider yourself highly proficient)? What language did you acquire first? Second?

Or, did you acquire it simultaneously? Do you think it would make a difference if your L1 proficiency was well-established before you were exposed to your L2?

6

Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

liiSON I

WHY MTB-MLE? an

mmmm

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: discuss the reasons why learning a second language is important; • discuss the personal factors involved in learning a second language; •

understand the Lingua Franca Education Project and its connection to Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE); and

• give a brief description of MTB-MLE. Instructional Materials Needed: Question cards

Learning Activities: L

ACTIVATE and ANALYZE Question cards will be distributed randomly, decide whether you: •

Strongly Agree

•

Agree with Reservations

•

Somewhat undecided and most likely can be swayed to either side

•

Strongly Disagree

Prepare to share your answer and your justification to the class.

1. Language is an invention of groups of people in order to communicate effectively with each other in their local/particular community. Cite an example.

2. Language represents concepts that are particular to a specific culture.

3. Language represents the people, the culture, history, and heritage.

4. When we accept a language, we accept the culture.

5. Most language environments have words that are specialized and are used only in those environments.

6. Age does not really determine difference in language style.

7. The structure of language affects the way in which its respective speakers conceptualize their world or otherwise influences their cognitive processes.

Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 7

8. New meanings are continually created as people change their ideas, feelings, and activities.

9. As people think, read, travel, make friends, and experience life, the associa­ tions and connections that words have for these people change.

10. Language determines how one thinks and processes information.

II. ABSTRACT Read the text below and answer the questions that follow.

Second language learning If you look in a dictionary to find the meaning of the word "acquisition," you will find it defined as something like "the process of learning skills or getting knowledge." So, what then is "language acquisition" and how is language acquisition different from "language learning"?

Some theorists believe that there is a difference between learning and acquisition and that the difference is this: language learning is a conscious or intentional process which may involve studying the language, paying attention to grammar rules and possibly following a course of instruction.

Language acquisition, on the other hand, is considered to be a natural process and involves "picking up" language in a nonconscious way through exposure to language, not by studying it.

Children "acquire" their first language and get to know its rules through exposure and by being exposed to examples of the language and by using it.

This is part of the theory of "first language acquisition."

"Second language acquisition" is the process, and the study of the process, by which people learn a language that is not their native language. This is fairly new field of study and there are still many questions to answer about how languages are learnt. However, teachers and theorists believe that we do learn a second language by "acquiring" or "picking up" language, but there are some important considerations for second language learners.

Second language learners acquire language through exposure to many different examples of the language, by reading it and by hearing it in their environment. We listen and read and develop an understanding of language over a period of time before we eventually use it ourselves. The period, when learners are taking in language, processing it and perhaps silently practicing it, is known as the "silent period" and is thought to be an important state in language acquisition.

Once we use the language, it is important that there is an opportunity for interaction so we can use the language, to experiment, to make the language work in communication.

8

Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

The final consideration is the need for a focus on form. Second language learners need to focus on the language, to analyze and identify it and practice it. Teachers and learners will also want to look at correcting mistakes so that learners can think about rules and exceptions to rules.

1. In your own words, differentiate language acquisition from language learning.

2. What theory of language learning is discussed in the text?

3. Does the theory avoid the teaching of grammar completely? Justify your answer.

In this lesson, it is important that you fully understand how we ended up adopting the MTB-MLE. It all began with the Lingua Franca Education Project (LFEP) where: • the Department of Education, Culture and Sports embarked on a pilot study called Lingua Franca Education Project in S Y 1999-2000 which was aimed to define and implement a national bridging program from the vernacularto Filipino, and later English to develop initial literacy for use in public schools. Through the bridging program, an alternative curriculum will be used in acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills with the local lingua franca as the language of instruction.

• the pilot study involved two Grade 1 classes from each of the 16 regions.

One was the experimental class and the other the control class.

• two Grade 1 teachers from each of the experimental schools, together with the principal, underwent training before the pilot study. One teacher handled the Grade 1 experimental class while the other taught the alternate class.

• The Lingua Franca used in the pilot study were as follows: Regions I, II, CAR - llocano Regions III, IV, V, VI, XII, ARMM, NCR - Tagalog Regions VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, CARAGA - Cebuano Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 9

Since the Lingua Franca Education Project (LFEP) DECS Memorandum No. 144 s.1999, Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Program is the most vital reform forthe country's basic education and school system as a whole.The lessons from the findings of various international and national studies on language used in education undertaken by UNESCO are one in affirming the benefits and relevance of MTB-MLE which are in conformity with the recommendations given by the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA) to improve learning outcomes and promote Education for All (EFA).

As research shows, (Dutcher, 1994: Tucker, 1998; Klaus, 2001: Thomas, 2002; Dekker and Young, 2007; Durnnian, 2007; UNESCO, 2007 b; Dekker, Duquiang, 2008; Noorlander & Van, 2008), quality education occurs most effectively when the mother tongue, the learner's home language, is used for initial learning— ... the first language is the language of learning. It is by far the easiest way for children to interact with the world. And when the language of learning and the language of instruction do not match, learning difficulties are bound to follow (World Bank, 2006, page 4).

III. APPLY MTB-MLE is a theoretically-based and well-planned educational program that provides a strong foundation for literacy using the learners developing cognitive skills and comprehension of academic content. Listed below are the "promises" of the MTB-MLE to its learners.

•

Literacy Prior Knowledge

•

Cognitive Development and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)

•

Strong Bridge

•

Scaffolding

• Teaching for Meaning and Accuracy • Confidence Building and Proficiency Development for Two or More Languages along the Macro Skills of Communication You may have been learning about MTB-MLE and its value, but it is also important that early on, you are exposed to the problems and challenges that it has been facing these past years.

With a partner, your final task for this lesson is to interview an elementary teacher who has taught or is teaching Mother Tongue as a learning area. The interview may be done face-to-face or even a messaging/chat interview.

10 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

On a short bond paper, prepare a two-page interview essay on the following points: •

advantages of teaching MotherTongue as a subject for both the learners and the teacher;

• challenges or problems encountered; •

solutions that were created so far to address the problems; and

• further recommendations to better achieve the goals of MTB-MLE. Criteria for Grading the interview Essay Content

20 points The essay is clear, focused, and provides relevant evidence, examples, and details to support the central theme.

Sentence Fluency

10 points Writing is easy to follow.

Organization

,v 10 points The organization enhances the central idea of the essay.

Conventions

5 points Observes correct grammar and mechanics

Lesson Synthesis: For you, what do you foresee as challenges or difficulties that you will encounter when you teach MotherTongue as a learning area? Prepare to share your insights to the class.

Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 11

LESSON 3 Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

understand the framework of the MTB-MLE;

•

gain deeper insight on the MTB-MLE curriculum;

•

draft a proposal on refinements/improvements of the curriculum; and suggest ways of integrating MTB-MLE issues into the curriculum.

Instructional Materials Needed: MotherTongue Curriculum Guide

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE As a class, discuss what "curriculum framework" means and its purpose.

Create a simple graphic organizer in the box below that will encapsulate your understanding of a curriculum framework based on your discussion. Use your own words as much as possible.

II. ANALYZE and ABSTRACT i

__________________________________________

;

________________________ __________________________________._________________________________________________ _________________________________________v

Form a group with four members. Your task this time is to understand the Department of Education's curriculum framework for Mother Tongue as a learning area. Before your task, it is crucial that we have a common knowledge of frameworks, specifically what a curriculum framework is.

12 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

A framework, when used in any context, implies a means of organizing and managing content in systematic ways. With this, we can define a curriculum framework as the one responsible in regulating the content of the curriculum; it sets the parameters, directions, and standards for curriculum policy and practice.

With your seatmate, try to make sense of the MTB-MLE Curriculum Frame­ work shown below. Discuss the questions that follow afterwards.

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1. What are the current and relevant issues in relation to our Philippine curriculum?

2. With the curriculum framework shown above, do you think these issues will be addressed?

3. What are the teaching and learning priorities of the framework that set the foundation of the framework?

Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 13

4. How is content organized in the curriculum framework?

Prepare for a class discussion.

III. APPLY With a partner, your last task for this lesson is to prepare a two-page position paper that will discuss the following: 1. What needs to be improved (if any)?

2. How does the MTB-MLE curriculum support/complement (or contradict) first and second language acquisition theories?

3. If you will be given the chance to improve the framework, what changes will you incorporate? Try to re-create the MTB-MLE framework based on your suggestions.

Please refer to the Curriculum Guide for MotherTongue.

Criteria for Grading Position Paper Content and Development

30 points The paper takes a strong and welldefined position with adequate support

Organization and Structure

10 points The structure of the paper is clear and easy to follow

Grammar and Mechanics

10 points Rules of grammar, usage, punctuation, and spelling are followed

Lesson Synthesis: Make sure to share your significant insights from your position paper to the class. As a class, agree on common points that your class thinks should be improved in the MotherTongue curriculum framework.

14 Contentand Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: • grasp the essence of constructivist learning theory; • relate the constructivist learning theory with learning a

language; and

• formulate methods for teaching MTB through the constructivist approach.

Instructional Materials Needed: Sample lesson plan from Mother Tongue as a learning area

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE Your fundamental responsibility as a teacher is to guarantiee that learning takes place in your classroom. As a teacher, given this task, it is requisite that you have basic knowledge of how students learn. There is a number of learning theories that demonstrate how individuals, especially young learners, learn. The five major learning theories are listed below. a. Behaviorism _______________________________________________________ b. Cognitivism___________________________ c. Constructivism_______________

■ ______________________ __________

d. Humanism_______________________________ ____________________ _____ e. Connectivism______________________ _______________________________ Your task is to find a basic description of each learning theory. Share your answers to a seatmate.

II. ANALYZE and ABSTRACT Take time to read the information below about constructivist learning theory, the learning theory being championed by the Mother Tongue curriculum.

Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 15

Constructivist Learning Theory Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are two most recognized pillars of constructivist learning theory. Both puts high premium on how children acquire and construct meaning, however, unlike the behaviorists, both Piaget and Vygotsky do not view children as empty vessels (tabula rasa) waiting to be filled by an expert and learned adult. Constructivists argue that children are preformed to learn and acquire language as they go through different developmental stages.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) argues that children are active learners who construct meaning from their environment. Piaget is the proponent of cognitive developmental theory that explains the interconnectedness of knowledge acquisition and language acquisition through qualitative changes of their mental processes as they develop (Crystal, 1987; Schickendanz, 1993; Vasta et al, 1999). He views children as active learners, constructing knowledge over time, as they interact with their environment through developmental states.

"Constructivism" has been a byword in education for generations, applied both to learning theory and epistemology— both on how people learn and the nature of knowledge. We do not need to adhere if it is simply a new fad, but we need to think about our work in relation to theories of learning and knowledge.

So we need to ask: what is constructivism, what does it have to tell us that is new and relevant, and how do we apply it to the universe of MTB-MLE? As they say, it will not take rocket science to understand and employ constructivism. There is nothing dramatically new in constructivism: the core ideas expressed by it have been clearly enunciated by John Dewey among others.

Constructivist's perspective of language acquisition is generally centered on brain development. Hung (1965)„ in Schickedanz (1993) provides a summary of Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development and how children construct knowledge and acquire a language.

Lev Vygotsky's emphasized that private speech, of children talking to themselves, for turning shared knowledge into personal knowledge (Slavin, 1997). Vgotsky proposed that children incorporate the speech of others and then use that speech to help themselves solve problems (Slavin, 1997). Vgotsky's theory implies that cognitive development and the ability to use thought to control one's own actions require first a mastery of cultural communication systems and then learning to use these systems to regulate one's own thought processes (Slavin, 1997, Crystal, 1987).

If Piaget's view of learning and language acquisition is centered on the , children's changes of logical thinking through stages based on maturation and experience. Vygotsky's view is centered on the role of culture and social interactions of children with other children and adults in the environment.

Vygotsky even argued that children's speech is a major tool in their development of thinking.

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

What is meant by constructivism? The term refers to the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves—each learner individually (and socially) constructs meaning— as he or she learns.

Does it actually make any difference in our everyday work whether deep down we consider knowledge to be about some "real" world independent of us, or whether we consider knowledge to be of our own making?

If we believe that knowledge consists of learning about the real world out there, then we endeavor first and foremost to understand that world, organize it in the most rational way possible, and, as teachers, present it to the learner. This view may still engage us in providing the learner with activities, with hands-on learning, with opportunities to experiment and manipulate the objects of the world, but the intention is always to make clear to the learner the structure of the world independent of the learner. We help the learner understand the world, but we do not ask him to construct his or her own world.

Constructivist theory requires that we turn our attention by 180 degrees and look towards all those wonderful, individual living beings—the learners— each of whom creates his or her own model to explain nature. If we accept the constructivist position we are inevitably required to follow a pedagogy which argues that we must provide learners with the opportunity to: a) interact with sensory data, and b) construct their own world.

As future educators/teachers it is our responsibility to inform our students of what the truth is, it is our duty to let them know of what the "real world" is out there.

Let us not fret and be frightened by this great responsibility for we are not left alone in this task, there are guide posts that are laid out for us to consider.

1. Learning they say is from womb to tomb, from cradle to grave, and from navel to gravel. Learning is not just pure absorption process of what is transferred directly from one vessel to another. Hence, it is a process of learning by doing wherein the active engagement of the learner in the process makes it an effective one.

2. Learning is a web process, as a learner is engaged in learning, in the process of it all, implicitly, the learner also learns other concepts or procedures related to what is being learned explicitly.

3. Taking it from John Dewey's reflective activity, learning is a mental process that involves actual doing and reflective action. Reflective action gives the learner a chance to note the significance and connection of the whole process.

Once a learner is able to define a concept in his or her own terms we can safely say that learning took place. This is why we are always reminded to focus on the learner in the process of learning and not on the learning area or subject/ Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 17

lesson. We have to put premium on the students' interest and ability, and where they are at in the process of learning. We have to note also that part of the learning process is attributed to the experiences gathered by the learners in their own community. If we will fully accept the constructivist point of view, we are reminded that knowledge is not just simply "out there" divorced from the knower, but a complete process of learning by doing and reflecting. It is both a personal and social process, learning does not take place if we do not open ourselves to the world around us.

Comprehension Questions: 1. How do learners learn in a constructivist approach to teaching and learning?

2. What do you think are the gains of adopting a constructivist learning theory in classroom instruction?

3. Can you think of any challenge/s encountered by teachers in implementing a constructivist approach in curriculum and pedagogy?

After discussing these questions, think of a learning activity or experience that makes use of constructivist approach to teaching and learning. The activity may come from any subject or discipline. Write your answer inside the box.

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

III. APPLY In groups of three, your final task in this lesson is to find a sample lesson plan on MotherTongue as a learning area. Using the sample lesson plan, analyze the activities to determine if it adopts the constructivist approach to lesson development.

• Is the learning objective clearly defined?

• Is the activity motivating for the learner?

• Is the learner informed of how he or she will be assessed?

• Does the learner have an opportunity to share ideas with others?

•

Is the learner provided with sources and support to help build knowl­ edge?

Does it allow collaboration among learners?

• Does the activity allow the learner to use new ideas in novel situations?

• Does it encourage the learner to build knowledge that leads to new insights and discoveries?

Each group must prepare for a five-minute presentation of your analysis.

Criteria for Group Presentation . V .'

Breadth and Depth of Content/Analysis

20 pts.

Delivery/Presentation

lOpts.

Collaboration

5 pts.

\

Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 19

PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCIES IN TEACHING MOTHER TONGUE Now that you have the basic concepts pertinent to MTB-MLE, you will now acquire the pedagogical competencies that you need to successfully teach Mother Tongue to your future students. The pedagogical competencies emphasized in this module are as follows: your ability to understand deeper the target language and the culture in which the language is situated; your ability to design and execute instructional plans in teaching mothertongue; and your ability to create assessments to ensure that learning is genuinely taking place.

These pedagogical competencies are discussed in the succeeding units. Lesson 5.1 and 5.2 though will discuss the pre-requisites of teaching MotherTongue—your competency to understand and analyze a mother tongue and the local culture in which the mother tongue is situated.

Lesson 5.1 UNDERSTANDING THE LOCAL CULTURE Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: state their own definition of culture and list other related concepts; explain the various definitions of culturally-responsive education and its principles; and list some examples of the elements t)f culture from observing their local communities' culture.

Instructional Materials Needed: Copy of the BBC article by Rawlings (2019) entitled "The Man bringing dead languages back to life." (A copy of the complete article is optional).

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE "For indigenous communities... worldwide that are still grappling with the legacy of colonization, being able to speak their ancestral language is about empowerment and reclaiming their identity. It may even carry significant consequences for their mental health.": This quote is taken from a BBC article by Rawlings (2019) entitled "The Man bringing dead languages back to life." Do you believe in this quote?

20 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

The goal of this activity is for each student to think about the interrelation­ ships of language, culture, and community. Reflect about the quote you read on the previous page by using the guide questions below: 1. How do you feel about the quote you read on the previous page?

2. Do you believe that language is related to empowerment and identity?

3. In your words, how would you define culture?

A student's beliefs, attitudes, and subjective norms are all circumscribed in culture. Most of the time, culture affects, in a variety of ways, how different students prefer to learn. Teachers should consider a diverse method of teaching to suit varied aspects of students'different cultures. Even though people are not aware of it/culture governs their thoughts, beliefs, and behavior (Gay, 2010b).

Therefore, what is culture? How would you define culture?

II. ANALYZE The goal of this activity is for each group to create a concept map for"culture."

Proceed to your pre-determined groups and follow the instructions below.

Encourage every group member to speak.

First, think of words or ideas related to culture. Write those words around the word "culture" seen below. These words will be called the second level of association. Circle each word and draw an arrow from the word culture to the second level words. You may also connect words related to the second level.

These will be called the third level of association. The more concepts written, the better the concept map.

After completing the concept map, decide on the most important ideas for your group. Formulate your own group's definition of "culture" by coming up with a sentence combining the words you selected.

Unit I-Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 21

Doige (2003) commented that students' academic achievement improves more when the education is culturally relevant and responsive. For example, in a 2011 study, pupils from an ethnic cultural group did not learn as fast when compared to their mainstream counterparts. This gap was attributed to the language barrier between students and teachers. It was also caused by differences in values towards education (Schmeichel, 2011).

How do you become a good teacher to these students? The answer is that there is no single way of being a good teacher since approaches and relevant topics change in different cultures, language, race, ethnicity, class, and gender (Taylor & Sobel, 2011). How do you change the topic and the approach to make education more relevant in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture? How do you become culturally-responsive? What is a culturally-responsive education?

111. ABSTRACT

_______________ V ____________________

Think about the elements of a culturally-responsive education. First, read the different definitions of "Culturally-Responsive Education" below. Then, answer the guide questions. Blanks are provided for your answers.

Definitions of Culturally-Responsive Education • To use the experiences and frames of reference based on the diverse culture of the students (Gay, 2010a) • An approach to education where the teacher integrates elements of the students' lifestyles and daily experiences in the instruction and the curriculum (Taylor & Sobel, 2011).

A type of pedagogy where teachers are competent in cross-cultural and multicultural setting (Diller & Moule, 2005).

• Recognizes the uniqueness of the majority and the minority in the body of students (Cartledge, Gardner, & Ford, 2009... as cited in Taylor & Sobel, 2011).

22 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Guide Questions: 1. What were the common themes or ideas you observed in the definitions above? Why do you think these themes were important?

2. On the other hand, what was unique in each definition? What do you think are the reasons for these uniqueness?

3. If you were to handle a class where some or the students come from indigenous groups, how would you prepare? Why?

IV. APPLY Culture is composed of many elements. Some of these are values, language (Salvatore, 2012), symbols, objects (Watts, 1981), groups, and norms (Hebdige, 2012). These elements may be classified into three: (1) Sense-making, (2) Artifacts, and (3) Groups.

The goal of this activity is for you to create a short socio-cultural profile of a pre-determined community or group. Proceed to your groups (groups of five) and strategize how you would go about creating the socio-cultural profile. Like mentioned above, you need to find out about a community's values, language, symbols, objects, groups, and norms. You may do this by observing a community or by interviewing its members. Use the following key questions: Key Questions

Elements of Culture Sense-making — is the multiple representation of meaning of a given object, person, or event. Different people provide different meanings to a certain object. This may depend on their values and their language (Salvatore, 2012).

What values are prominent in the community?

What specific words or phrases do they always use? What do they mean by it?

Unit I-MotherTongue-Based Multilingual Education 23

Artifacts— is defined as anything belonging to a group of people that provides information about the said group's culture. It may include symbols, traditional objects found in archeological sites, or more modern objects like cellphones, televisions, laptops, etc. (Watts, 1981).

What objects does the community use or own? What are their significance?

Groups — different cultures usually have sub-groups inside which are called subcultures. These are groups that have their own norms and values that sometimes retain a few of the parent culture's general principles (Hebdige, 2012).

What significant groups can be found in the community? What are the organizations?

What symbols or emblems were used by the community? Why?

What are the expected patterns of behavior or belief in these groups?

Rubric for Community Socio-cuitural Profile Instructions: Each group will create a community socio-cultural profile based on the key questions provided.

Category

Dynamic (25%)

t

2

Poor

Satisfactory

References (20%)

Mllllll Excellent

Profile includes economic, political, and social life of the community but was NOT rigorously described. (16-20%)

Profile includes economic, political, and social life of the community which were rigorously described. (21-25%)

Written thoroughly but does NOT address all questions in the profile. (16-20%)

Written thoroughly and all questions in the profile were addressed. (21-25%)

Data gathered were NOT valid nor precise.

(0-12%)

Data gathered were valid but NOT precise.

(13-16%)

Data gathered were valid and precise.

(17-20%)

References used were NOT reliable.

(0-12%)

References used were reliable but the people interviewed were NOT community leaders.

(13-16%)

References used were reliable and the people interviewed were community leaders. (17-20%)

Profile does NOT include economic, political, and social life of the community.

(0-15%)

Not written Observa­ tion of thoroughly. community (0-15%) (25%)

Data (20%)

3

24 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Profile does NOT Relevance reflect the values and to the the pertinent issues community in the community.

(10%) (0-6%)

Profile reflects the values but NOT the pertinent issues in the community.

(7-8%)

Profile reflects the values and the pertinent issues in the community.

(9-10%)

Lesson Synthesis: What would happen to a class if the teacher does not consider the students' culture? In your own words, how would you define culturally-responsive education?

What are some of the instances when you would need to create or understand a community's socio-cultural profile? Explain your answers.

LESSON 5.2: KNOWING THE MOTHERTONGUE Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

list and analyze various definitions of mother tongue from different authors and language institutions;

•

explain national and international laws and policies related to Mother TongueBased Multilingual Education; and

• construct illustrations and examples of their own mother tongue; or another language they have studied using the five language knowledge.

Instructional Materials Needed: access to the library/Internet

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE What is mother tongue? How is it defined by linguists and language institutions? The goal of this activity is for you to scan the various definitions of mother tongue from different authors and institutions. Go to the library or search the Internet for different definitions of mother tongue. Write your definitions on the blanks provided.

1. The mothertongue is defined as

Unit I-MotherTongue-Based Multilingual Education 25

II. ANALYZE Have you heard of linguistic interdependence hypothesis? Linguistic interdependence hypothesis mentions that language proficiency skills, like speaking, listening, reading, and writing developed using one language, may also transfer to higher language proficiency skills in another language. This means that the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills developed using mother tongue may also transfer to the student's secondary language when he/she learns the new language (Paia, Cummins, Nocus, Salaun, & Vernaudon, 2015). Do you believe in this hypothesis? Why or why not?

The goal of this activity is for you to summarize and reflect upon the international and the national policies about the mother tongue as a medium of instruction. Look for the policies listed below. Summarize each policy in the blanks provided.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Articles 13.1-2 and 14.1

The Declaration of the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistics minorities of 1992

RA 10157: The Kindergarten Education Act of 2011, Section 5

26 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

RA 10533: Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, Section 4 and Section 5f

III. ABSTRACT The goal of this activity is for each group to reflect critically about the mother tongue. Bring your list of mother tongue definitions from the previous activity and proceed to your pre-determined groups. Discuss the said definitions with your group using the guide questions below. Encourage every member to speak and recognize everyone's opinions. Present your group's answers to the class.

1. What common themes do you observe from the definitions listed above?

Why do you think these themes are repeated?

2. Using your own words, how would your group define mother tongue?

3. In your group's opinion, what are the aspects of the mother tongue language should a teacher study? Why?

4. Do you agree with using the mother tongue as a medium of teaching? What are its advantages and disadvantages?

Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 27

IV. APPLY Nelson Mandela, a highly influential South African political leader, was once quoted saying, "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." (BBC News, n. d.) Do you believe in this quote? Why or why not? How would you understand another person's language? How would you study the said language?

The mother tongue, or any language, may be studied and understood through different aspects. It may be examined using the five knowledge of the language which are: (1) Phonology, (2) Morphology, (3) Syntax, (4) Semantics, and (5) Pragmatics.

The goal of this activity is for you to formulate illustrations or examples of each of the five language knowledge using your own mother tongue or another language you have studied. Form groups of 3 and identify a mother tongue (specifically the mother tongue of all the group members) that you will use as an example.

Language knowledge ,

Examples

Phonology is defined as the study of patterns in speech sound. It consists of knowing about the sounds of a language and of describing the said sound (Brentari, Fenlon, & Cormier, 2018).

Phonemes - dlistinctive units of sound within a language.

Allophones - the different ways to pronounce a single phoneme. For instance, in the word "top", the "t"is usually pronounced as a "th" (Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams, 2018).

Morphology is defined as the rules of language that govern word formation.

Morpheme - the smallest unit of a word that has information about the word's meaning and purpose.

For example, in the word "farmer", there are two morphemes which are "farm" and "-er".The former indicates an area of land used for growing crops while the latter indicates a person who works in the said area of land.

Root word - a term that form the basis of another word. These are usually nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.

Affixes - morphemes placed either at the beginning, middle, or end of a root word to come up with a new meaning 28 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Compound words - a combination of two root words to form a new meaning (O'Grady, Archibald, 2016).

Syntax is defined as the set of statutes and principles that govern sentence structure and word order in a language (Chomsky, & Lightfoot, 2002).

What is the common order of subject, verb, and object or predicate in the language being studied?

Write an example on the right.

Constituents - the sub-units in a sentence that provide a complete thought.

Synctactic category - a family of expressions that can be substituted for one another without losing proper grammar. For example, there are four synctactic categories in the sentence 'The bird is flying above the field." These are: "the field", "above", "is flying," and 'The bird."

Semantics is defined as the study of linguistic meanings.

Anomaly - a situation when specific words or phrases cannot be combined to make sense. For instance, the phrase "colorless green" does not make sense since green is a color and "colorless" means "without color" (Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams, 2018).

Metaphor - a figure of speech where one object or idea is used to refer to another object or idea for rhetorical purposes (Merriam-Webster dictionary, n. d.)

Idioms - expressions established by societal norms to have meaning aside from what it literally indicates (Tom, 1992).

Pragmatics is defined as the study of unseen or hidden meanings in different languages apart from its content. This meaning is provided by the context and a pre-existing knowledge of the perceiver about the utterance.

Physical context - the actual location, apart of the utterance, that provides the context.

Linguistic context - the context provided by the utterance itself.

Unit I - Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education 29

Deixis - words that cannot be identified without the context. Examples of these words are here, there, him, her, yesterday, and tomorrow.

References - the act of which the speaker specifies an orientation or a position for the deixis.

Inference - the perceiver's use of additional information not provided in the utterance in order to understand the message.

Anaphora - another term, for instance a pronoun, used to identify an object that is being referred to for the second time (Yule, 2016).

Lesson Synthesis: 1. In your own words, how would you define mother tongue?

2. Why did you include those elements in your definition?

3. In your opinion, why do the laws and policies mentioned advocate for the mother tongue as a medium of instruction?

4. What would happen if another language, not the mother tongue, was used as a medium of instruction in the early grades? Why?

UNIT SUMMARY Bravo! You have reached the end of Unit 1! We hope that you now have a clearer picture of MTB-MLE in terms of its educational goals, guiding principles, curriculum framework, key stages and standards, and the overall significance of recognizing the cultural and lingusitic diversity of our country as a potent means of advancing quality education for all. In the next chapter, you will be guided in developing instructional plans in teaching Mother Tongue as a subject or learning area.

30 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

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Planning instruction is a complex process requiring knowledge of planning components such as what to teach, how to teach, and how well the students should know the content after the lesson (Hunt et al., 1999). Planning also involves consideration of any influences (physical, emotional, psychological, social, and technological) that may affect student learning. Effective instruction does not only entail coming to class and delivering a lesson; it entails helping students progress from one place to another in their understanding and ability to do certain things (Teach for America, 2010). Through formulating effective plans, constantly monitoring student progress, engaging in critical thought and reflection, and adjusting their plans to be most effective, teachers move their students' content and performance mastery to the next level.

This unit aims to sharpen your knowledge and skills necessary to engage in this process of instructional planning.

31

D

What learning materials will you utilize?

E

What method will you use to assess?

F

What learning activities will enable the students to acquire target knowledge, and develop target skills and competencies?

G

How much time will each activity require?

H

What are the interests and learning preferences of the students?

1

What are the criteria for success? How well should the students know the content after instruction?

J

How will the student outputs be graded?

K

What do students already know about the topic?

Write in column A the components of an instructional plan. Then, in column B, illustrate in a diagram or graphic organizer the relationship among these components.

34 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

III. ABSTRACT Robert Gagne, a renowned educational psychologist, developed Nine Events of Instruction which has guided trainers and educators in designing instruction for trainings and classroom-based teaching.

Gaining attention (reception) Informing learners of the objective (expectancy) Stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval) Presenting the stimulus (selective perception) Providing learning guidance (semanticencoding) Eliciting performance (responding) Providing feedback (reinforcement) Assessing performance (retrieval) Enhancing retention and transfer (generalization) The nine events of instruction can be divided into three segments.

Instruction a Practice

Gaining attention Informing learners of the objective Stimulating recall of prior learning

Presenting the stimulus

Assessing performance

Providing learning guidance

Enhancing retention and transfer

Eliciting performance Providing feedback

In small groups, discuss answers to the following questions: 1. Which of the nine events do you include in your instructional planning?

2. Which of the nine events do you include in your planning for Mother TongueBased Instruction?

3. What do you consider in choosing these priorities?

4. Which is the most important and why?

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 35

Compare Gagne's instructional model with Murthy and Ram's (2015) Integrative Approach to English Language Teaching in L2.

Murthy and Ram's (2015) Integrative Approach to English Language Teaching in L2 1. Activating prior knowledge 2. The Teaching-Learning Cycle

a. Building knowledge of the field (vocabulary building, sharing prior experiences, practicing grammatical patterns, meaning-making, and communicative activities) b. Modeling the genre under focus c. Joint construction of the genre (oral to written form) d. Independent construction of the genre 3. Evaluation of learners In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?

IV. APPLY 1. For each event in Gagne's list, come up with tips and guidelines for teachers.

Read relevant print and online sources.

Example: Techniques for gaining learner's attention: stimulate learners' attention with novelty or surprise •

pose thought-provoking questions present an intriguing problem

•

present meaningful and relevant challenge Events of Instruction

Gaining attention Informing learners of the objective Stimulating recall of prior learning Presenting the stimulus Providing learning guidance Eliciting performance Providing feedback Assessing performance Enhancing retention and transfer 36 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Tips andMiidelinesfdrte

2. Gather examples of instructional plans from friends and colleagues. Examine the presence of any of the nine events of instruction proposed by Gagne.

Did you find any new element? Identify and discuss.

Instructional Plan Samples

Events of Instruction

Remarks

1 2 3 4 5 3. What makes an instruction effective? Develop a rubric for an effective instructional plan. Write your criteria on the blanks provided on the left side.

Exceeds the i Meetsthe ■Standard Standard ■ ill....

4

Developing

Beginning

...

1

Lesson Synthesis: 1. What new insights did you learn from this lesson?

2. What is the importance of instructional planning?

3. What is the importance of planning for Mother Tongue instruction?

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 37

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

explain the importance and purpose for instructional planning cycle;

•

examine the ADDIE instructional planning model;

•

discuss the relationship among the steps in ADDIE instructional design process; and

•

prepare for an instructional plan using the ADDIE design template.

instructional Materials Needed: ADDIE instructional planning worksheet, relevant print and non-print resources for instructional planning, and Curriculum Guide for the Teaching of Mother Tongue (These materials may be prepared by the teacher or the students may be asked to prepare them prior to this lesson.)

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE______________________________________________________________ Pair up with a seatmate and discuss answers to the questions below.

1. Do you reflect on your teaching and facilitating? In what ways?

2. When do you say you have done well in facilitating learning?

3.

What are your sources of data?

Instructional planning is a decision-making activity. What we decide on and prioritize today affect our instruction the day after. This decision-making process follows a cycle.

38 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

II. ANALYZE Examine the ADDIE instructional design process below. What do you observe about the steps? How about the relationship among the five steps? Write your answers inside the box below the diagram.

The ADDIE Model is an iterative instructional design process, where the results of the formative evaluation of each phase may lead the instructional designer back to any previous phase. The end product of one phase is the starting product of the next phase.

II. ABSTRACT A. Complete the table below with expected outputs when performing the ADDIE instructional design process.

STEPS Analysis (the process of defining what it is to be learned)

SAMPLE TASKS • assessment of goals needs1of ' learners • problem identification • task analysis

SAMPLE OUTPUT '

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 39

Design (the process of specifying how it is to be learned)

• • • • •

write objectives develop test items plan instruction identify resources select delivery system

Development (the process of writing and producing the materials)

• work with producers • develop worksheets and materials

Implementation (the actual delivery of instruction whether classroom-based, computer-based, or lab-based)

• teacher-training • tryout

Evaluation (the process of determining the adequacy, effectiveness, and efficiency of instruction; maybe formative or summative)

• • • •

'■.

»

record test results interpret test results survey graduates revise activities

Adapted from San Jose University, Instructional Technology Program V '

B. What other instructional design cycles did you discover from your previous readings? Write your answers inside the box.

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

IV. APPLY It is your turn to prepare for your own instructional plan. Observe the steps below and write your answers on the corresponding boxes.

ADDIE Instructional Design Lesson Planning Worksheet Step 1: Analyze 1A. What are your goals for your lesson?

1B. What are the relevant characteristics of your learners that you will consider?

Step 2: Design 2A. What are your specific learning objectives?

2B. How will you measure if students have achieved these objectives? What assessment tools and processes will you use?

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the MotherTongue 41

Step 3: Develop 3A. What instructional strategies will you use?

38. What logistical issues impact your lesson?

Step 4: Implement You will deliver your lesson here and facilitate learning.

Step 5: Evaluate 5A. What feedback did you receive? What would you change about your plan?

5B. What would you need to watch out for when you implement it?

42 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Lesson Synthesis: After going through the complex yet exciting process of instructional planning, what was it like? Describe your strengths and the challenges that you encountered when you were familiarizing yourself with the process.

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the MotherTongue 43

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING MODELS FOR MOTHER TONGUE INSTRUCTION

LESSON 3

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: recall the description and meaning of the principles that govern the teaching and learning of Mother Tongue; • familiarize yourself with instructional planning models for the teaching of Mother Tongue; relate the principles of teaching Mother Tongue to instructional planning; •

examine instructional planning models for their merits and applicability to one's teaching and learning context; and observe Mother Tongue classes to determine and examine teaching strategies employed by teachers/colleagues.

Instructional Materials Needed: Curriculum Guide for the teaching of Mother Tongue

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE Recall the guiding principles that should inform the teaching and learning of Mother Tongue by writing the descriptions and/or applications on the second column. " "" ......... — Principles 1

: ; ;■ fajf

:: ; . :

Known to the Unknown t<}

2

Language and Academic Development

3

Cognitive Development

44 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

’'

4

Discovery Learning

5

Active Learning

6

Meaning and Accuracy

7

Language Learning/Language Transfer

8

Affective Component

II. ANALYZE The aforementioned principles come to life in the classroom through the teaching and learning activities organized by the teacher when performing the role of an instructional planner and designer.

Activity B.1 How is Mother Tongue taught in your school? Ask your teachers about their instructional planning practices. List findings on a table or graphic organizer.

Activity B.2 In group of 3-4 members, examine one language teaching instruc­ tional model below in terms of their components, applicability in the classroom and/or community, merits, and weaknesses. Tell whether this model is used by the teachers/colleagues you interviewed in the previous activity. instructional Model 2 Planning Mother Tongue-Based Education Programs in Minority Language Communities (Malone, 2010)

Forward Design Language Teaching (Richards, 2001)

1. Establish the learning outcomes for each subject in the program.

2. Select a resource.

1. Choose a topic for a lesson.

2. Establish the indicators for each subject in the program.

3. Develop instructional plan.

4. Develop assessment tools (portfolio, teacher-administered oral reading tests, final exams, and learner self-assessment).

3. Choose instructional methods based on the resource and the topic.

4. Choose questions/test type to assess student understanding of the material.

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the MotherTongue 45

Instructional Model 4

Instructional Model 3 Backward Design Language Teaching (Wiggins and McTighe)

Task-based Language Teaching (Richards, 2001)

1. Identify desired results. (What will the students be able to do by the end of the lesson, module, unit, or course?)

1. Identify target tasks through needs analysis.

2. Determine assessment evidence. (How will students demonstrate what they have learned?)

2. Design classroom tasks.

3. Apply TBLT methodology.

4. Identify language and other demands of the tasks.

3. Plan learning experiences and instruction.

5. Follow up language work.

(What types of activities, materials, and resources will lead students to the desired results?)

III. ABSTRACT Malone (2010) indicates that in order for learners to become successful learners, they must be able to: listen and read with understanding; •

speak and write to communicate thoughts, ideas, needs, and experiences;

•

read letters, words, and sentences correctly; and

•

speak and write correctly.

A "balanced teaching method" that enables learners to develop all four skills can be divided into two "tracks." One track emphasizes accuracy or correctness and focuses on the parts of the language. The other track emphasizes meaning and communication and focuses on whole texts. The table below shows the main features of these essential components in language education programs.

Emphasis: meaning and communication

Emphasis: accuracy or correctness

Listening

Listen in order to understand, think critically, and respond creatively.

Recognize and distinguish sounds, recognize parts of words, and follow directions.

Speaking

Speak with understanding in order to communicate thoughts, ideas, needs, and experiences.

Use language correctly (pronunciation and grammar).

Reading

Read for meaning and understanding.

Decode words by recognizing their parts (letters, syllables, tone marks, etc).

Writing

Write creatively in order to communicate thoughts, ideas, needs, and experiences.

Form letters properly and neatly, spell words accurately, and use grammar correctly.

46 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Your task is to observe Mother Tongue classes to determine and examine teaching strategies employed by teachers/colleagues.

Observation details

Teaching Strategies

Emphasis

Date: Subject: Topic:

IV. APPLY Look up print and online researches on the implementation of Mother Tongue teaching in the Philippines. Find out teaching strategies employed by teachers in the classroom. Make notes like the sample below.

Title

Strategies and Problems Encountered by Teachers in Implementing Mother Tongue-Based Instruction in a Multilingual Classroom

Author/s

Jane K. Lartec, Anastacia M. Belisario, Jamaica P. Bendanillo, Hanni K. Binas-o, Novefirst 0. Bucang, and Jan Lorie W. Cammagay

Year

2014

Findings

From the phenomenological analysis of the data, the findings showed that the teachers used strategies such as: • translation of target language to mothertongue; • utilization of multilingual teaching; • utilization of lingua franca; • improvisation of instructional materials written in mother tongue; • remediation of instruction; and • utilization of literary piece written in mother tongue as motivation.

Lesson Synthesis: In your readings and classroom observations, what are the teaching strategies and classroom activities that worked well for learners?

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 47

What are those that did not work well?

What should teachers remember when planning for instruction?

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

LESSON 4 ■ M l''

PLANS FOR MOTHER TONGU E INSiiLrcTiON

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: • unpack the standards in the curriculum guide; • determine the nature of competencies; • identify topic or content of instruction; • select assessment strategies; and • plan learning experiences.

Instructional Materials Needed: Mother Tongue Curriculum Guide

Learning Activities: I. ACTIVATE On your own, answer the following questions. Then, discuss with a partner.

How do you use the content of the DepEd curriculum guide on MTBMLE? How do you teach the content of the DepEd curriculum guide on MTBMLE? II. ANALYZE Apparently, the curriculum guide serves as teachers' blueprint for planning and designing the curriculum. It should not be taught as is. It contains standards which are broad guidelines for student achievement. It will be your job to interpret these standards using unpacking strategies.

Unpacking means extracting the component knowledge and skills required by a standard in order to understand the learning expectations and can clearly articulate those expectations to students and parents. Unpacking serves three purposes: (a) to establish focus of standards and competencies, (b) to link standards, competencies, and teaching, and (c) to contextualize teaching.

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 49

Examine the figure below on unpacking standards and competencies in the curriculum guide.

Determine the nature of competenciesm {Knowledge,.

Skills, Values),

Figure 1:Strategies for Unpacking Standards and Competencies in the Curriculum Guide .

r; 1

V'

You may observe that the model utilizes backward design of instructional planning. Recall the insights you gained from the previous lesson on backward design. .

Step I.T h e first step in the figure involves analysis of the standards. Standards articulate what a student should be able to know, understand, and do by the end of the year, and they set equitable benchmarks across classrooms and schools. ) Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Read the discussion below on the various types of standards stipulated in the curriculum guide.

Performance Standard

Content Standard answers the questions,' "What do students want to know, be able to do, and understand?" defines what students are expected to know (knowledge: facts and information), and what they should be able to do (process or skills) with what they know the meanings or understanding that they construct or make as they process the facts and information

answers the question, "What do we want students to do with their learning or understanding?" and "How do we want them to use their learning or understanding?" defines the expected proficiency level products and/or performances as evidence that students can transfer or use their learning in real-life situations

Types of Standard Learning Area Standard .j,

(This defines the broad outcomes for the MTB-MLE learning area.)

Example: Use Mother Tongue appropriately and effectively in oral, visual, and written communication in a variety of situations and for a variety of audiences, contexts, and purposes, including learning of other content subjects and languages, demonstrate appreciation of various forms of literacy genres, and take pride in one's cultural heritage.

Key Stage Standard (This defines the specific outcomes for key stages such as K-Grade 3, Grades 4-6, and Grades 7-10.)

Example: Kto Grade 3 - By the end of Grade 3, students will enjoy communicating in their first language on familiar topics for a variety of purposes and audiences using basic vocabulary and phrases, read L1 texts with understanding, and create their own stories and texts in their L I. Grade Level Standard (This defines the specific outcomes for the language domains of each grade level.)

Example: Kindergarten - The learner demonstrates skills and strategies in phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, sound-letter correspondences, decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension as they enjoy listening and responding to a variety of texts in their Mother Tongue.

Unit ii - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 51

Read carefully the curriculum guide. Copy examples of standards on the table below. .

Content Standard

Performance Standard

Learning Area Standard

Key Stage Standard

Grade Level Standard ' 11II

III. ABSTRACT In triads, perform the rest of the unpacking process by following steps 2-7 below.

For steps 2-3, use the template below.

Competency

Domain

Nature

Step 2. Examine the competencies by determining the target language domain.

The five macro skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing, and viewing) are further categorized into 12 domains in the MTB-MLE curriculum.

• Oral Language (OL) Phonological Awareness (PA) •

Book and Print Knowledge (BPK)

•

Phonics and Word Recognition (PWR) Fluency (F)

52 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

•

Composing (C)

•

Grammar Awareness (GA)

•

Vocabulary and Concept Development (VCD)

•

Listening Comprehension (LC)

•

Reading Comprehension (RC)

• Attitude towards Reading (ATR) •

Study Skills (SS)

Example: Competency

Language Domain

Talk about oneself and one's personal experiences (family, pet, favorite food)

Oral Language (OL)

Step 3. Determine the nature of competencies (Knowledge, Skills, and Values) The target of the competency maybe knowledge (conceptual and factual understanding), skills (abilfty to perform or demonstrate linguistic skills and activities), and values (appreciation for language, development of right attitudes and dispositions).

Example: Competency

Language Domain

Talk about oneself and one's personal experiences (family, pet, favorite food)

Oral Language (OL)

Nature Skill

For steps 4-7, use the template below.

Competencies

Topic/ Content

:Ji|iessm eiit^

Learning Experiences

Materials

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 53

Step 4. Determine the topic or content and time allotment.

The target competency contains specific topic or lesson. The first column of the curriculum guide "Quarter/Week/Theme" provides clue to the topic at hand. * Nature

Language Domain Talk about oneself and one's personal experiences (family, pet, favorite food)

Skill

Oral Language (OL)

Topic Talking about oneself and other topics

The curriculum guide provides the minimum standard for the Filipino learners. The time allotment in the first column of the curriculum guide proper also serves as the minimum duration of learning the topic. Our learners may acquire or develop the target competency much ahead of the expected time. tim e Allotment Quarter 1, week 1

Competency Talk about oneself and one's personal experiences (family, pet, favorite food)

Language Domain Oral Language (OL)

Nature Skill

Step 5. Select assessment strategies.

The most important principle to remember when selecting assessment strategies is constructive alignment. It is the "coherence" among the learning outcomes, assessment, and learning experiences in an educational program.

Learning outcomes

s

\

feiSgj *““** [Assessm entj Spady uses "matchmaking" as a synonym for alignment. He explains that alignment basically means the "perfect match" of four things, namely: 1. what is important for the learners to learn; 2. what we teach them; 3. how we teach them; and 4. what we assess when we ask them to perform.

54 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Indeed, the backward design approach makes teachers consider the objectives or competencies of the subject first. These competencies embody the knowledge and skills teachers want their students to have learned at the end of the subject.

Once the competencies have been established, the second stage involves consideration of assessment. The backward design framework suggests that teachers should consider these overarching competencies and how students will be assessed prior to consideration of how to teach the content.

Example: Language

Time Allotment Quarter 1, Week 1

Talk about oneself and one's personal experiences (family, pet, and favorite food)

Oral Language (OL)

Nature Skill

Assessment Strategies Individual and collaborative speaking activities (self-introduction and completing sentence stems)

Clearly, the verb used in the competency provides clue as to the type of assessment strategies to be used in the classroom. In the example, the target competency involves the ability to speak the target language; the assessment therefore, should provide learners the opportunity to use the language in oral form.

Step 6. Plan learning experiences.

Make sure to match the learning activities with learning outcomes. Examine the table below.

Target Competency Recognize that printed text has meaning

Learning Activities/Experiences • Look at pictures of familiar scenes and say what they mean • Take part in Shared Reading Activities

(Focus on Whole Language/Meaning)

• Use books independently, turn pages in correct order, pints to and talks about picture • Read short simple stories with picture

Recognize letters of the alphabet, tone marks, and other language features

• Read/say the sound of letters in isolation

(Focus on Parts of Language/Accuracy)

• Read and write own name correctly

• Read/sound out short words in isolation • Write the letters of the alphabet

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 55

Step 7. Design learning materials.

Tomlinson (2003) indicates that effective language materials: •

expose the learners to language in authentic use;

•

help learners to pay attention to features of authentic input; provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes;

•

provide opportunities for outcome feedback;

•

achieve impact in the sense that they arouse and sustain the learners' curiosity and attention; and

•

stimulate intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional involvement.

IV. APPLY On your own, choose one competency to unpack. Identify assessment strategies, learning experiences, and materials aligned with it. Complete the table below with your answers.

Content . Standard . ....

Performance Standard Competencies

Topic/ Content

Assessment

Learning Experiences

Materials i

V

Lesson Synthesis: What are the benefits of using the backward design in instructional planning?

How do you feel about our week-long plan? Is it feasible? Can you implement your plan?

56 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

UNIT SUMMARY In this unit, you learned about the important principles and guidelines in instructional planning in general and mother tongue instruction in particular.

You also learned and practiced curriculum unpacking strategies. It is hoped that you can now understand the various elements of the curriculum guide and you can articulate these elements with competence and confidence to your peers and students. Unpacking strategies enable us to unravel the wondrous gifts inherent in our own curriculum guide and equip us to contextualize our teaching.

Unit II - Instructional Planning for the Mother Tongue 57

UNIT IN

TEACHING AND LEARNING

THE MOTHERTONGUE

As future teachers of Mother Tongue as a subject, you are expected to play the role of a language teacher; thus, it is vital that you understand the nature and dynamics of communication and language learning. In this unit, Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue, you will be exposed to the five macro skills of communication and the teaching and learning strategies that you can use in the classroom for your young learners to acquire and enhance these skills. A variety of instructional activities will be provided for analysis and you are expected to design your own instructional activities in your chosen Mother Tongue. In addition, lessons on choosing and developing on-grade and culturally relevant instructional materials are also covered in this unit. Hopefully, the tasks that you will complete here will equip you with the adequate knowledge and skills to teach Mother Tongue as a learning area.

59

LESSON 1

THE MACRO SKILLS OF COMMUNICATION

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: • familiarize themselves with the macro skills that are essential for them to communicate effectively; •

see and understand the interconnectedness of these macro skills in commu­ nication;

•

draw out possible topics for instruction based on their understanding of the macro skill and the sample classroom activities; and create a "proficiency criteria" for each macro skill.

Instructional Materials Needed: a copy of an exemplar of a printed text in the learners' Mother Tongue (e.g. short story, news article, folk tale, song lyrics), video recording that shows an individual's proficiency in speaking and listening, and sample commercial video appropriate to young learners. (These materials may be prepared by the teacher or the students may be asked to prepare them prior to this lesson.)

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE In learning any language, there are skills that everyone needs to acquire and master for him or her to communicate effectively. We call them "macro skills." Macro skills are defined by the skills that constitute it: speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Recent literature adds two more skills: representing and viewing (Barrot, 2016). They are now commonly called as the Six Macro Skills of Communication. These "language macro skills" is divided into "productive" and "receptive" skills.

Your task is to classify the six macro skills mentioned earlier as productive or receptive. Write your answers in the box provided.

Productive Skills

60 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Receptive Skills

/

A

Compare your answer to your seatmate. How similar or different are your answers? Explain your classification. Why are certain skills considered as productive while others are considered as receptive?

Prepare to share your answers to the class.

II. ANALYZE Below are sample language classroom activities. For each activity described, do the following: 1. identify the dominant macro skill being targeted by the activity; and 2. list the other macro skill/s that is/are required to be used by the learner in order to execute the activity.

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the MotherTongue 61

With your seatmate, discuss the following questions: 1. How did you arrive at the dominant skill for each activity?

2. What did you notice about the relationship between and among the macro skills?

3. Do you think it is possible that a single activity will only tap one macro skill? Why do you think so?

III. ABSTRACT In the previous activity, you learned about the overlap and interconnected­ ness of the language macro skills. This task should help you understand the macro skills on a deeper level. From here, we will only focus on the five macro skills (i.e. reading, writing, listening, viewing, and speaking) covered by the Mother Tongue Curriculum Guide prescribed by the Department of Education.

Below is a matrix that contains the language macro skills. You will find in column 2 some keywords that are related to the macro skill.

In triads, complete the table by developing a definition of the language macro skill using the keywords in column 2, and by identifying the possible ' lesson topics in teaching a specific language macro skill (see example below).

Write at least three-lesson topics for each macro skill.

Column 1

Column 2

Column 3

Column 4

Language Macro Skill

Keywords

Description of the Skill

Possible Lesson Topics

Listening

"understand, interpret and evaluate"

Speaking

"building and sharing meaning"

Reading

"draw meaning" and "interpret information"

62 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Ex. Listening for Details

■

Writing

"use symbols"

Viewing

"perceiving, examining, interpreting and constructing meaning"

Prepare to share to the class your definitions and sample lesson topics.

IV. APPLY When or how do you know that a language macro skill has been acquired and mastered by a learner? What does "proficiency" in each of the macro skill mean? What are the measures of-proficiency for each macro skill?

Your final task (and learning) for the lesson on macro skills involves determining the measure of proficiency for each macro skill. The class will be divided into five and each group is assigned to a specific macro skill.

Each group is expected to accomplish the following: 1. Find an "exemplar" or model material that will exhibit proficiency of an individual in a particular macro skill; Example:

For reading and writing: A copy of an exemplar of a printed text in the learners' mother tongue (e.g. short story, news article, folk tale, song lyrics).

For speaking and listening: A video recording that shows an individual's proficiency in speaking and listening.

For viewing: A sample commercial video appropriate to young learners.

Analyze the material by answering these questions; a. What are the strengths of the exemplar or the model material? b. Why do you consider the material as an exemplar? What are the distinctive characteristics of the material that depicts proficiency in a particular macro skill?

2. Create a "proficiency criteria"for the macro skill assigned to your group.

Unit ill -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 63

Prepare to present your sample and analysis to the class. Your presentation will be graded using the criteria shown below: CHteria for Gmtling Quality of the Selected Exemplar

lO pts.

Depth and Breadth of the Analysis

15 pts.

Clarity and Conciseness of the Presentation

lO pts.

Collaboration

5 pts.

TOTAL

30 pts.

Lesson Synthesis: 1. What new insights did you learn from this lesson?

2. What is the importance of understanding the language macro skills in relation to your responsibility of teaching MotherTongue as a subject?

64 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

LESSON 2

TEACHING FOR MEANING AND ACCURACY

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: understand and differentiate teaching for meaning and accuracy; •

know and differentiate the most common teaching methods in language instruction—whole-to-part, part-to-whole, and balanced method;

•

analyze various instructional activities; and

•

create instructional activities using the competencies from DepEd's Curriculum Guide of Mother Tongue.

Instructional Materials Needed: copy of the Mother Tongue Curriculum Guide, laptop, or bond paper for the writing of the instructional activity

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE When you teach the language macro skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing, you are responsible in helping the learners build the competence (and confidence) in using these macro skills m eaningfully and accurately. This is called as a "balanced teaching method."

According to Malone (2000), a balanced teaching method allows learners to successfully learn a language by: • focusing on the parts of the language (teaching for accuracy); and • focusing on the whole text (teaching for meaning).

Let us check your understanding of teaching for meaning and accuracy. Read and understand the enumerated actual language classroom activities. Identify the focus of the instruction. Write (TA) in the blank if the activity highlights accuracy, and (TM) if the activity highlights meaning. ______ 1. A student is shown a sequence of pictures and she will be asked to tell the story. ______ 2. A student draws a picture of her favorite place and she tells the class about it.

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 65

3. A student follows dotted lines to form letters. '

4. A student matches the sound to its letter counterpart.

5. A student reads and writes her own name correctly.

IE. ANALYZE Malone (2001) compared the three teaching methods that are commonly used in teaching language in the early years: the Part-to-Whole, the Whole-toPart, and the Balanced Methods.

Part-to-Whole is a teaching method in which instruction begins with the most basic unit of language learning and works up to more complex aspects of language learning. More attention is given to skill-development through drills, and less attention is given to constructing meaning through language.

For example, the teacher provides premium in the practice of forming letters, spelling words, and copying text.

On the other hand, the Whole-to-Part teaching method emphasizes the importance of the learners' understanding of the context in which the language is used. This teaching method emphasizes the importance of meaningconstruction in the learner's use of his or her language. The use of Big Book in storytelling activities is one example of this method where the goal of the activity is to make the learners understand the story with the aid of the Big Book.

Balanced method is the combination of the two methods described above.

Below are selected instructional activities that are believed to be examples of the use of the balanced method. Try to identify the activity that is being described in nos. 1 to 3. Use the list shown below: a.

shared reading

d. independent reading

b. interactive read aloud

e. shared writing

c.

f. interactive writing

guided reading Activity Description

1

Teachers select a Big Book that is slightly above the level of most students in the class. Teachers and students read out loud, together. Often, the text contains rhyming words or patterns that are predictable for students to read with the teacher. The teacher can cover up certain parts of the text (a letter, a word, or a phrase) to have students predict what makes sense based on the skill being covered.

66 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Write your answers here

2

The students will read the same book appropriate to their reading level. The teacher introduces the book, points out vocabulary words and allows the students to do a picture walk. Then, students wil have to read the book on their own, at their own pace while the teacher listens and assists. The teacher prepares a compre­ hension check afterwards.

3

The class collaboratively creates a written work. The teacher models the writing and the students help in composing it.

The teacher models a range of skills like grammar, phonics, punctuation, spelling, and the writing process itself.

■

■ ■ ,/

1

•

'■

'S .

v

■\

II. ABSTRACT Your task this time is to figure out the characteristics of a balanced literacy instruction. With a partner, go back to the sample activities provided in the Analyze activity. Discuss with your partner how each sample combine the partto-whole and the whole-to-part methods. Complete the grid below.

Describe a specific part of the activity that shows wholeto-part instruction.

Describe a specific part of the activity that shows part-towhole instruction.

Why do you consider the activity as an example of balanced method?

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 67

What does balanced literacy method mean? Write 2-3 sentences for your definition and place it inside the box.

IV. APPLY Your final task for this lesson is to create two classroom activities that directly address the learning competencies of the Mother Tongue Curriculum Guide. Be guided by the instructions that follow: 1. Find a partner who will help you design the activities.

2. Read through the Curriculum Guide (CG) of the Mother Tongue 3. Decide on the competencies that you want to address. For each activity, you should address two or more competencies reflected in the CG using one of the themes specified.

4. Your final work should contain the following: Teaching Method Used(Whole-toPart, Part-to-Whole, (should be lifted or Balanced from the CG) Literacy) Learning Competencies

Activity 1

Activity 2

68 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Title of the Activity

Description of the Activity

Alignment of the Learning Competencies, Teaching Method used, and the Instructional Activity

lO pts.

Quality of Instructional Activity

lO pts.

Clarity of Writing TOTAL

5pts.

25 pts.

Lesson Synthesis: As a teacher, what is your inclination or preference? Would you prioritize teaching for meaning or accuracy? Share your thoughts to the class.

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 69

LESSON 3

CHOOSING ON-GRADE AND CULTURALLY RELEVANT INSTRUCTIONAL M afer S l& ; ‘

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: identify the different sources of instructional materials for Mother Tongue instruction; evaluate instructional materials for Mother Tongue instruction vis-a-vis learning goal, distinctive features, and grade-level appropriateness; and • choose on-grade and culturally relevant materials in teaching Mother Tongue as a learning area.

Instructional Materials Needed: sample instructional or reading materials in the MotherTongue

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE Where do you get the instructional materials in teaching MotherTongue?

Definitely, you have ideas where these materials can come from. The challenge to you in this activity is to list down as-many sources of instructional materials in MotherTongue as you can. You have one minute to write as many as possible. An example has been provided.

Compare your list to a seatmate. Any similarities? Differences? Do you agree or disagree with your seatmate's list? Prepare to share your answers to the class.

70 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

II. ANALYZE Below are three examples of instructional materials that may be used in teaching Mother Tongue. With a partner, discuss the material using the questions that follow. Prepare to share your answers to the class.

Instructional Material # 1

1. What do you think is the learning goal of the instructional material?

2. Characterize the material. What is its purpose? What are its distinctive features? What format was used? What is it about?

3. What grade level do you think this material can be used?

Instructional Material # 2 Panuto: Pagsunod-sunurin ang mga pangyayari sa kwento. Lagyan ng bilang 1,2,3,4, at 5 ang nakalaang patlang. _______ 1. Namasyal ang mag-anak. _ _ _ _ _ 2. Tuwang-tuwa ang dalawang bata sa kanilang pamamasyal. _______ 3. Umuwi silang may ngiti habang nakatingin si Loida sa batang pulubi. _______ 4. Napansin ni Loida ang batang pulubi at binigyan niya ito ng tinapay. _______ 5. Namili at kumain sila ng masasarap na pagkain.

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 71

1. What do you think is the learning goal of the instructional material?

2. Characterize the material. What is its purpose? What are its distinctive features? What format was used? What is it about?

3. What grade level do you think this material can be used?

Instructional Material #3 You will listen to a popular song in your mother tongue. Enjoy listening!

1. What do you think is the learning goal of the instructional material?

2. Characterize the material. What is its purpose? What are its distinctive features? What format was used? What is it about?

3. What grade level do you think this material can be used?

III. ABSTRACT In choosing the instructional materials, you just need to remember two important criteria: the material must be on-grade (i.e. appropriate to the grade level of your learners) and culturally relevant (i.e. your learners can relate to the material).

72 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Below is a summary grid developed by Malone (2000) that shows the common characteristics of graded reading materials. Your task this time is to identify the Stage of Reading that the statement refers to.

Reading for new readers Reading for learners who are gaining fluency • Reading for learners who want to read in another language that they understand and speak Reading for learners who have become life-long readers and learners ____________ 1. The purpose of this stage is simply for the readers to realize that written texts have meaning. ____________ 2. It talks about people, places, and activities that are familiar to the readers. ________

3. Sentences are short, easy-to-read, and uses vocabulary that the readers know and use. > _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4. This stag"e makes use of small reading books. ____________ 5. The purpose is to "help readers gain confidence in using print literature for learning and enjoyment." ____________ 6. It is written in a language that the readers understand and have learned to read. ____________ 7. This stage "provides information about the vocabulary and grammar of the languages that readers have learned so they can use the languages for higher level of thinking and learning." _________ _ _ 8. This stage "provides readers with information and ideas that are relevant to their life and affirm their heritage language and culture, and help them learn about the world outside their community."

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 73

IV. APPLY For your final task, the class must create a "mini-database" of instructional/ reading materials in teaching MotherTongue. Find at least two reading materials in your mother tongue. Then, analyze the materials by completing the matrix below.

Instructional Material 1

II III

Instructional Material 2

instructional Materials

Learning Goal

Features

Format -

Content v'

'' '

Grade Level *•

Lesson Synthesis: How important are on-grade and culturally relevant materials in the teaching of MotherTongue? Recall a past learning experience where you encountered an instructional material that you feel was too easy or too difficult for you. How did it affect your learning experience?

74 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

LESSON 4

DEVELOPING ON-GRADE AND CULTURALLY RELEVANT INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

recall a short story, poem, or any piece of literature using their mother tongue language; analyze a piece of literature written in mother tongue to determine the basic elements of a short story;

• familiarize themselves with the guidelines in developing materials for mother tongue instruction; • write, edit, and translate Level 1 stories using their mother tongue language; and •

create a.story book using their-own stories written in mother tongue.

Instructional Materials Needed: sample short story written in the student's mother tongue, A4 sheets of paper, and colored materials

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE As a teacher of Mother Tongue, you can develop your own literature in various ways: L1 speakers can create their own stories; •

They can put their traditional oral literature into written form;

•

They can translate materials from one language to another;

•

They can adapt materials from outside their community so that it is relevant and interesting to local readers; and Learners can make their own stories as they gain fluency in reading and writing (Malone, 2013, p.13).

■

For starters, think of a short story, poem, or any literature that you can remember that your parents/grandparents have told you. It can also be any story or song that you have heard while you were growing up. Share it to the class using the language of your mother tongue.

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 75

II. ANALYZE MotherTongue instruction, especially in the Philippines, is relatively young.

One of the major challenges in the implementation of MTB-MLE in the country is the scarcity of on-grade and culturally relevant instructional materials using the language of the mother tongue. Hence, being a teacher of MotherTongue as a learning area, you are also expected to develop your own instructional materials (IM) using the mother tongue of your class by creating your own IM and translating and adapting written materials into the language of the mother tongue.

Our focus in this module is for you to develop instructional materials for new readers of Mother Tongue. But how do you develop these materials? You will begin by analyzing a sample material.

Bring out the short story written in the mother tongue that was asked from you by your teacher as an assignment. With a partner, answer the following questions: 1. Who will read this story? What topics do you think would interest them?

2. Why do you think this story was written? What was the goal of the writer for the readers?

3. Who and what is the story about? Where and when did the story take place?

In creating your own stories that you will use in teaching Mother Tongue as a language, it is vital that you first identify clearly your audience, the purpose of your story, and the overall plot of your story.

Malone (2013) provides you with the basic guidelines that you need to remember when writing your own stories. a) Make sure to keep your stories short and easy-to-read; b) Use natural, familiar language of your readers when composing your story; c) Write about people, places, activities, and experiences that are familiar and relatable to your readers; 76 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

d) Create stories that can be pictured or illustrated to help your new readers understand the text better; and e) Write for a specific person who you think represents the people who will read your story.

III. ABSTRACT and APPLY__________________________________________ ________ The next set of activities in this lesson were modified from SIL's Trainers' Guide: Literature Development Workshop (Malone, 2013, p. 13). The tasks will require you to develop your own Level 1 story. Edit and translate it into another mother tongue language. Then, illustrate your own story.

A. W rite Your Own Level 1 Story With a partner, think of a story that you would want to write about.

It should be an original story or story that has been orally told in your community. Before you start brainstorming on your story, please note of the characteristics of a Level 1 story—a story for children who are learning to read in their L1 or in a new language.These characteristics were enumerated in the previous activity.

A Discuss with your partner the story that you want to write. Complete the story arc below.

Describe the climax. This is the most exciting moment of the story. It's when the probiem is at its worst.

3 Describe how the problem gets worse. ^

n Describe wlhatthe I character wants and what problem is getting in the way.

Describe how the problem =starts to get solved.

P " Describe how the problem is finally solved and how the character has changed.

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the MotherTongue 77

Now that you are done with your story arc, your next task is to transform your story into a Level 1 story. It is suggested that a Level 1 story should not be longer than eight sentences and must be "picturable." Rewrite your story into eight sentences. Make sure that each sentence can be illustrated. Write your sentences on the blanks below and after each sentence, provide key words that would show how you intend to illustrate that sentence.

Sentence 1:

;_____________________ 1______________________________

Illustration 1: Sentence 2: Illustration 2: Sentence 3: Illustration 3: Sentence 4: Illustration 4: Sentence 5: Illustration 5: Sentence 6: Illustration 6: Sentence 7: Illustration 7: Sentence 8: Illustration 8: B. Editing Your Own/Other Group's Level 1 Story Congratulations! You just completed your first Level 1 story. But you are not yet done. We have to make sure that your story's content is sound, interesting and well-organized, your language use is correct and under­ standable to new readers, and your writing mechanics (spelling and punctuation) is flawless.

78 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

Exchange your 8-sentence story with another group. Using the checklist below, evaluate your peers'story.

CRITERIA

Yes

No

Content Will the intended audience be interested in this story?

Will they understand the story?

Do the parts of the story fit together well?

Does the ending fit with the rest of the story?

Language and Mechanics Is the language clear?

Does the intended audience understand and use this kind of language in their daily lives?

Is there anything you can take obit? Are there any words, phrases, or sentences that are not necessary to make the writing clear and interesting?

Are there any mistakes in the way the sentences are written (grammar)?

Are there better or more interesting words that you can use? If the book is for new readers, are there easier words that you can use?

Are there foreign words that can be replaced with words from the local language?

Adapted from Malone (2013) Additional Comments:

Discuss briefly your group's feedback to the story writers. Once you have received the feedback, edit your story.

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 79

C. Translating Your Level 1 Story . Another important task that you will be required to do as a teacher of Mother Tongue is to translate stories into your class' mother tongue. As an exercise, translate your own story into another language.

In translating, you always need to remember that a good translation is all about translating meaning, not words. The translation must be (1) clear that allows readers to understand the translation, (2) accurate in which the translation communicate the same ideas of the original author, and (3) natural because it is written using a language that is familiar to the intended readers (Malone, 2013).

Write your translation inside the box:

Ask yourself: 1. Is the meaning in the translated text as the same as in the original text?

2. Are all the sub-points from the original text included?

3. Is the language clear and natural?

D. Putting the Story into a Book Form For the last task for this lesson, you will now have to put your story into a book form. You need to have A4 sheets of paper that is enough for your 6-8 page story. Fold your A4 sheets into halves, one inside the other, to make the pages of a book.

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Each sentence in the story will take one page of the story book, to be accompanied by an illustration that was identified earlier. Malone (2013) provides simple guidelines on how you should create your illustrations. a) Illustrations should show only what is happening in the text; b) Illustrations should be about people, places, and objects that are familiar to the readers; c) People and objects should usually be complete figures. For example, if the picture is of a person, it should include all parts of the body: head, body, arms and hands, legs, and feet; and d) Illustrations should fill most of the space that is provided. The lines should be simple (no unnecessary shading or details).

When you are done with the inside pages, create your story title page with illustration.

Prepare to present your work to the class. ’

the Story Book

Story Quality

20 pts.

Clarity and Appropriateness of Language

15 pts.

Creativity/ Illustration

15 pts.

Adherence to Instructions

5 pt:s.

TOTAL

55 pts.

Lesson Synthesis: In creating your own story book, what is it that you enjoyed most? What was the most challenging? What else can be done to better prepare you to develop, translate, and edit locally produced materials?

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 81

LESSON 5

LANGUAGE TEACHING STRATEGIES

Lesson 5 is subdivided into four sub-lessons where each lesson highlights the macro skills of communication: listening and viewing, reading, speaking, and writing. Each sub-lesson touches the different language domains related to the macro skills, the specific language competencies in the curriculum guide for Mother Tongue, and the teaching and learning strategies that you can use in teaching the macro skill.

Lesson 5.1 LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING AND VIEW ING Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

acquire strategies for teaching listening and viewing;

•

distinguish between bottom-up and top-down models of listening;

•

categorize listening skills and activities as involving bottom-up or top-down approaches; design activities for selected listening skills; and

•

design activities that target the development of viewing skills.

Instructional Materials Needed: copy of-the MotherTongue Curriculum Guide

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE The majority of texts that students nowadays are encountering and creating are multimodal, one where the meaning is communicated by more than one mode (e.g. written text, audio, still pictures, moving pictures, gesture, use of space, etc.) This has huge implications for our educational system, in fact, some countries (e.g. Singapore, Canada, and Australia) have added the skills of viewing and visually representing in the traditional four macro skills of reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

Listening and viewing are essential in comprehending and appreciating multimodal texts. Viewing is defined by the Canadian Common Curriculum Framework as an active process of "attending and comprehending visual media,

82 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

such as television, advertising images, films, diagrams, symbols, photographs, videos, drama, drawings, sculpture, and paintings." Viewing helps students develop the knowledge and skills to analyze and evaluate visual and multimodal texts. Listening is one of the major skills in language acquisition. Learning to listen to the target language improves language ability. The sound, rhythm, intonation, and stress of the language can only be perfectly adapted through listening (Renukadevi, 2014).

Are you quick or slow to listen? Let us try out your listening skills!

Listen to Julian Treasure's TED talk entitled "5 ways to listen better."

Name his five practical steps to improve our listening skills.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Explain also why he said that individuals in the contemporary times lose their listening skills.

II. ANALYZE: An early view of listening saw it as the mastery of discrete skills or micro skills (e.g. Richards, 1983). A skills approach on the other hand focused on the development of such things as (Rost, 1990): discriminating sounds in words, especially phonemic contrasts, deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words, predicting content, noting contradictions, inadequate information, ambiguities, and differentiating between fact and opinion. Applied linguists theorized bottom-up and top-down models of processing to explain the nature of listening. We can see here the importance of prior knowledge in comprehension.

Bottom-up processing helps students recognize lexical and pronunciation features to understand the text. Because of their direct focus on language forms at the word and sentence levels, bottom-up exercises are particularly beneficial for lower level students who need to expand their language repertoire. As they become more aware of linguistic features of the input, the speed and accuracy of perceiving and processing aural input will increase.

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 83

Top-down processing relies on prior knowledge and experience to build the meaning of a listening text using the information provided by sounds and words.To arrive at a meaning ofa text, the listener draws on personal knowledge of the context, topic, speakers, situation, and the world, matching it to the aural input. The table below lists some skills for each approach.

Top-down Listening Skills

Bottom-up Listening Skills • distinguish individual sounds, word boundaries, and stressed syllables

• listening for gist, main ideas, topic, and setting of the text

• identify thought groups

• listening for specific information

• listen for intonation patterns in utterances

• sequencing the information

• identify grammatical forms and functions

• guessing

• recognize contractions and connected speech

• prediction • inferencing f ■

( .

• recognize linking words Understanding the viewing process is as important as understanding the listening and reading process. Effective and active viewers ask these questions: • What is the text representing?

• What is the purpose of the text?

• To whom is the text directed?

How is the text constructed?

•

What assumptions, interests, beliefs, biases, and values are portrayed by the text?

• What is my reaction to the text? What causes this reaction?

They also engage in the following procedure: 1. Pre-viewing. Students prepare to view by activating their schema (the prior knowledge they bring to the study of a topic or theme), anticipating a message, predicting, speculating, asking questions, and setting a purpose for viewing.

2. During viewing. Students view the visual text to understand the message by seeking and checking understanding, making connections, making and confirming predictions and inferences, interpreting and summarizing, pausing and reviewing, and analyzing and evaluating.

3. After viewing/responding. Students respond personally, critically, and creatively to visual texts by reflecting, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Activity 1. Categorize the activities below as involving top-down or bottom-up processing. Before the item, write BU for bottom-up and TD for top-down approach. ________ 1. Listen to a 2-minute long conversation about getting around the city ________ 2. Listen to sentences giving and asking for directions, paying attention to the intonation, meaning, and grammatical struc­ ture of each phrase ________ 3. Answer a completion test by selecting the appropriate verb to complete the thought of a sentence ______ _ 4.

Asking and answering questions about thefamous foods in town

________L. 5. Holding a class discussion about different modes of transpor­ tation to get to the famous city museum ________ 6.

Listening to the first 20 seconds of the audio recording to predict the topic of the material

7. Check one's predictions after listening to the audio recording 8. Summarizing a conversation ________ 9.

Act out situations

________ 10.

Writing a story based on a picture of a city

Activity 2. Mendelson (1994) posits the methodologies in the teaching of listening as characterized by the assumptions listed below. Do you agree with these assumptions? Interview language teachers about their current teaching practices and whether they have seen these theories applied in the classroom. 'v

Your Comments/ Insights

Other Language Teachers' Feedback

Listening materials should be based on a wide range of authentic texts, including both monologues and dialogues.

Schema-building tasks should precede listening.

Strategies for effective listen­ ing should be incorporated into the materials.

-

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 85

Learners should be given opportunities to progres­ sively structure their listening by listening to a text several times and by working through increasingly challenging listening tasks.

Learners should know what they are listening for and why.

Tasks should include opportunities for learners to play an active role in their own learning.

III. ABSTRACT Examining Teaching Strategies for Listening Here are more research-based strategies for teaching listening. In triads, read credible print and nonprint sources and examine the usefulness and effectiveness of the strategies. Complete the table below with your answers.

Teaching • Listen and draw

Guidelines To make listening more intentional and test students'spatial skills, have students follow and illustrate your instructions.

Let them compare drawings with peers afterwards.

Asking questions Posing questions before to help students the listening task keeps listen students focused and directed.

Purposeful Listening

Research has shown that when students know why they are listening, they are more focused.

Systematically presenting (1) listening for main ideas,

86 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Usefulness/Effectiveness

(2) listening for details, and (3) listening to make inferences, help students develop a sense of why they listen and which skill to use to listen better.

Listening with peer interaction

Encouraging interaction with classmates and native speakers through listening expands communicative contexts and enhances selfconfidence.

Examining Viewing Frameworks The table below lists three frameworks for teaching viewing skills. They all require students to interact with the viewed material. Choose one multimodal text or one visual art to view and interpret. Analyze it using one of the strategies below. Write your interpretation in the box after the table.

The 3Cs (Color, Camera, Character) and the 3Ss (Story, Setting, Sound) framework for Film and Video

Paintings and photographs: See, Think, Wonder

The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)

Students silently examine carefully selected art images.

Color

What do you see?

What colors do you see?

What do the colors make you feel?

What do you think about what you see?

The teacher asks these three open-ended questions.

Why do you think certain colors are used?

What does it make you wonder?

• What is going on in this picture?

What mood do you think the colors create?

Camera

• What do you see that makes you say that?

• What more can we find?

What shots have been used?

Students then ...

Through whose eyes do we see the story?

• Look carefully at the image

When do we see different characters' point of view?

When does the camera move and when does it stay still?

• Talk about what they observe • Back up their ideas with evidence

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 87

Character

• Listen and consider the views of others

What do the main characters look like?

• Discuss many possible interpretations

How do they speak and what do they say?

• Construct meaning together

How do they behave?

The teacher...

Which character interests you the most? Why? Story

• Listens carefully to each comment

What happens in the beginning, middle, and at the end of the story?

• Paraphrases student responses demonstrating language use

What are the most important things (events) that happen in the story?

• Points to features described in the artwork throughout the discussion

How do we know where the story takes place?

• Facilitates student discussions -

How long does the story take place in "real"time?

Setting

• Validates individual views

Where does the action take place?

• Links related ideas and points of agreement/ disagreement

When and how does the setting change?

How could you tell where the story was taking place?

• Encourages scaffolding of observations and interpretations

v-

How could you tell when the story was taking place?

Sound How many different sounds do you hear? What are they?

How does the music make you feel?

Are there any moments of silence?

Can you hear any sound effects?

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

• Reinforces a range of ideas

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITY - LISTENING/ VIEWING Activity Title:______________________________________ ______ __________ Target Grade Level:__________

Time Required:___________________

Type of Student Work: Individual, Pair, or Group Work Learning Objectives: At the end of the activity, the students are expected to: 1.

______________________ __ 2 . ____________________________________________________ _ 3.

Activity Description:

Criteria for Grading (ifpossible, include a rubric if necessary):

PROCESS QUESTIONS: 1. Are the learning objectives clearly defined? If not, what suggestions do you have to improve them?

2. Is the instructional activity well-aligned with the learning objectives?

3. Does the activity encourage active student engagement?

4. If the student completes the activity, can the teacher determine whether or not the student has met the stated learning objectives?

Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

5.2LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

characterize effective speech, effective speaker, and features of speaking skills in the mother tongue;

• analyze principles and current approaches to the teaching of speaking skills; • examine instructional activities for young learners in terms of their target competencies and language domains; •

create an instructional activity that specifically targets one or more speaking competencies from the MotherTongue Curriculum Guide; and

• evaluate a peer's instructional activity using a scoring guide.

Instructional Materials Needed: copy of the MotherTongue Curriculum Guide

Learning Activities: • A

'

I. ACTIVATE TED (Technology Entertainment Design) talks have become viral nowadays.

This revolution in education revived the power of storytelling to disseminate ideas and innovations in many aspects of life. Effective speaking skills is requisite to powerful oral presentations.

•

Recall a TED speaker you heard recently. How about an effective speaker you heard recently? Who is she/he? What was the speech about?

•

What makes an effective speaker?

•

How should we teach young children effective speaking skills?

Speaking is an interactive process of making meaning that includes producing, receiving, and processing information (Brown, 1994). Oral Language (OL), Phonological Awareness (PA), Vocabulary and Concept Development (VCD), and Grammar Awareness (GA) are four of the language domains related to speaking.

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the MotherTongue 91

Identify the domain to which the selected competencies belong.

Write OL for Oral Language and PA for Phonological Awareness. ________ 1. Use common expressions and polite greetings. ________ 2. Tell whether a given pair of word rhyme. _ _ _ _ _ 3. Talk about pictures presented using appropriate local termino­ logies with ease and confidence. ________ 4. Orally segment a two-three syllable word into its syllabic parts. _________5. Listen and respond to others in oral conversation. ______ _

6. Use expressions appropriate to the grade level to give opinion in a text listened to, heard, or read.

________ 7. Use the correct pronouns in place of naming words in sentences. ________ 8. Give meanings of words through picture clues. ________ 9. Identify the tense of the action word in the sentence. ________ 10. Add or substitute individual sounds in simple words to make new words.

II. ANALYZE Read and analyze different instructional activities or learning experiences aimed at developing a child's early speaking skills. For each activity, identify the language domain and the competency/ies that is/are being targeted by the activity.

1. Play or say a tongue twister then tell the learners that they are going to repeat the sentence bit by bit after you. Start by asking your learners to repeat the last part of-the sentence until they complete the tongue twister.

Language Dom ain:_________

'______________ ____________

Speaking Competency/ies:___________________________________ 2. This activity is done by pairs. Give each learner a picture. The pictures should be almost the same with two or three elements missing from each picture. Without showing each other the pictures, they should describe their pictures to each other and try to find which objects are missing.

Language Dom ain:_______ ___________________________________ Speaking Competency/ies: ___________ __ _______ ________ 3. Have students listen to stories. Then, have them retell the stories aloud.

Record their retellings in their own words to create a language experience chart that can be used for future reading.

Language Dom ain:______________________________ ____________ Speaking Competency/ies:________ __________________________ 92 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

4. Use role-play cards for students to assume the role of a specific person or character and to react to a stimulus or prompt as that person.

Language Dom ain:_______________________ ________ __________ Speaking Competency/ies:____________________________________ 5. Sing or read songs. Children can bring in a favorite song to perform alone or as a group, but make sure you have heard the song first and can approve it.

Language Domain: ___________ ____________________________ Speaking Competency/ies:

_______

.

_________ _________

ill. ABSTRACT Read the four note cards about principles and approaches in the teaching of speaking. Read each carefully. Fill out the synthesis matrix afterwards.

1. Topic: Proficiency-Oriented Teaching of Speaking Skills Hadley proposes five principles for-proficiency-oriented teaching: • Opportunities must be provided for students to practice using the language in a range of contexts likely to be encountered in the target culture.

Opportunities should be provided for students to carry out a range of functions (tasks) necessary for dealing with others in the target culture.

• The development of accuracy should be encouraged in proficiencyoriented instruction. As learners produce language, various forms of instruction and evaluative feedback can be useful in facilitating the progression of their skills toward more precise and coherent language use.

Instruction should be responsive to the affective as well as the cognitive needs of students, and their different personalities, preferences, and learning styles should be taken into account.

• Cultural understanding must be promoted in various ways so that students are sensitive to other cultures and prepared to live more harmoniously in the target language community.

Source: Hadley, A. 0 .1993. Teaching Language in Context. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.

Page 77.

Unit ill - Teaching and Learning the MotherTongue 93

2. Topic: Current Approaches to the Teaching of Speaking •

Speaking and oral interaction is seen as the basis for learning.

•

Non-native usage as well as native usage both serve as models.

Both accuracy and fluency are a primary goal with a greater tolerance of errors.

•

Oral proficiency is viewed as dependent upon mastery of lexical phases and conversational routines.

Pair and group activities predominate in the classroom.

Richards, J. C. Current Trends in Teaching Listening and Speaking. ELT. The Teacher.

Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/407c/ a52a14abec5ff04a2198aca4130cbf72f4b5.pdf.

3. Topic: Case Study on Singapore Schools' Teaching of Tamil Language Use local context-based materials, so that the topics are familiar to the students.

Use domain-based vocabulary, that is, words as they are used in real, everyday living.

Use age-related content, that is, topics that are relevant to the students at their particular stage in life.

SingTeach. Mastering the Mother Tongue. (August 2009). Retrieved from http:// singteach.nie.edu.sg/issue19rlanguageed/ 4. Topic: Balance between Fluency and Accuracy in the Teaching of Speaking According to Mazouzi (2013), learners' activities should be designed based on an equivalence between fluency and accuracy achievement.

Both fluency and accuracy are important elements of communicative approach.

Hedge (2000) expressed that fluency is the ability to answer coherently by connecting the words and phrases, pronouncing the sounds clearly, and using stress and intonation.

• The second characteristic of speaking performance is accuracy. Learners should pay enough attention to the exactness and the completeness of language form when speaking such asfocusing on grammatical structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation (Mazouzi, 2013). To gain accuracy in terms of vocabulary means to select suitable words in the suitable contexts.

Source: A Gani, Sofyan & Fajrina, Dian & Hanifa, Rizaldy. (2015). Students' Learning Strategies for Developing Speaking Ability. Studies in English Language and Education. 2.17-30.

Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

SYNTHESIS MATRIX Common Points

Distinct Points

What are the recurring themes and ideas from the four note cards?

What are the unique ideas and insights from each of the note cards?

Your Synthesis What do these approaches and principles mean to you? In what ways will these be useful to you in teaching speaking in the Mother Tongue?

IV. APPLY_________________________________________________________________ Similar to your Apply Activity for Listening and Viewing, you need to create an instructional activity that specifically targets one or more speaking competencies from the Mother Tongue Curriculum Guide. Complete the template on the next page. Follow the same process. The same Criteria for Grading will also be used.

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the MotherTongue 95

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITY - SPEAKING Activity Title:_____________________________________ __ Target Grade Level:__________

Time Required: ___

Type of Student Work: Individual, Pair, or Group Work Learning Objectives: At the end of the activity, the students are expected to: 1. ______________________________________________ 2.

3.

_______________________________________ '

Activity Description:

Criteria for Grading (ifpossible, include a rubric if necessary):

PROCESS QUESTIONS: 1. Are the learning objectives clearly defined? If not, what suggestions do you have to improve them?

2. Is the instructional activity well-aligned with the learning objectives?

3. Does the activity encourage active student engagement?

4. If the student completes the activity, can the teacher determine whether or not the student has met the stated learning objectives?

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

5.3 LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR READING Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: know the different language domains in the Mother Tongue curriculum related to reading; • examine instructional activities for young learners in terms of their target competencies and language domains; • familiarize themselves with the different approaches to reading through an analysis of sample instructional activities; •

create an instructional activity that specifically targets one or more reading competencies from the Mothere Tongue Curriculum Guide; and

•

evaluate a peer's instructional activity using a scoring guide.

Instructional Materials Needed: copy of the Mother Tongue Curriculum Guide

Learning" Activities: I.

ACTIVATE Reading as a macro skill is an "interactive process" that involves the reader, the text, and the writer. Goodman (2005) specifically defines reading "as the process of relating written symbols to oral language, of constructing meaning from written text." In simple words, reading involves decoding the written text and making sense and deriving meaning from the printed word.

From the definition of reading, the two basic processes in reading were highlighted— decoding and comprehension. Decoding is the ability of the individual to figure out the pronunciation of printed words and ultimately determine the word's meaning; on the other hand, comprehension is the ability to construct meaning by interacting with a text (Harris & Hodges, 1995, in Cooper, et al, 2018). Early reading instruction is focused on decoding and as a child progresses in his or her reading, the focus shifts from decoding to comprehension. The curriculum for Mother Tongue (from K to Grade 3) reflects the competencies needed by a child to successfully decode and comprehend printed texts using his or her mother tongue.

Unit III - Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 97

Listed below are some of the language domains in the Mother Tongue curriculum directly related to reading. Your task is to match the language domain/to its equivalent performance standard, and to a sample competency of that domain.

Content/Performance Standard

Language Domain

Competency

1. Phonological Skills

A

Uses developing vocabulary in both oral and written form

1

Gives the beginning letter/sound of the name of each picture

2. Phonics and Word Recognition

B

Values reading and writing as communi­ cative activities

2

Reads grade level texts with appropriate speed

3. Fluency

C

Reads with sufficient speed, accuracy, and proper expression in reading grade level text

3

Uses expressions appropriate to the grade level to react to local news, information, and propaganda about school, community, and other local activities

4. Reading Comprehension

D

Demonstrates knowledge of the alphabet and decoding to read, write, and spell words correctly

4

Shows love for reading by listening attentively during story reading and making comments or reactions

i

5. Vocabulary and Concept Development

E

Demonstrates understanding that words are made up of sounds and syllables and uses this knowledge to discriminate and mani­ pulate sound patterns

5

Notes important details in a grade level narrative or informational text

6. Attitude towards Reading

F

Comprehends and appreciates grade level narrative and informational texts

6

Uses the combination of affixes and root words as clues to get the meaning of words

Write your answers here: 1.

/

4.

2.

/

5. ___ ___/

3.

/

6. ______ /.

Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

/

II. ANALYZE According to Lenters (2004/2005), for someone to be able to read/one has to: •

understand the alphabet;

•

decode;

•

develop sight vocabulary to read fluently (with automaticity);

•

develop strategies to help with comprehension and fluency;

•

read texts that match his/her reading level and interests; and

•

engage in extensive reading.

These are the fundamentals of reading that you always need to remember when you prepare a lesson on reading; this list is consistent with the language domains and competencies in the Mother Tongue curriculum.

At this point, you will be asked to read and analyze different instructional activities or learning experiences aimed at developing a child's early reading skills. With a partner, imagine that you will be doing these activities to your class.

For each activity, identify the language domain and the competency/ies that is/ are being targeted by the activity. Kindly identify as well the most appropriate grade level for the described activity.

Activity 1: Play the game Stand Up/Sit Down. This game is like Simon says. Say pairs that rhyme and pairs that do not rhyme. Students go from one position to the next only if the words rhyme. The student's responses will tell you if they are getting the concept.

Language Dom ain:_______ ____________________________ __ _______ Reading Competency/ies:______ ;________ __________________________ Suggested Grade Level:______ ______________________ ________■ Activity 2: The students match the letter or word cards with the pictures displayed.

Write the letters for a picture on the outside of a small paper bag. Students find the picture that matches the letters and put the picture in the bag.

Language Domain:

■ _________________________________

Reading Competency/ies:____________________________ ____________ Suggested Grade Level: __________________ "

V-

v

ir

__________ _______ _

.*■

Unit III-Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 99

Activity 3: The students will select a book from the choices that you provide as a teacher.

They will then have to read their books silently. As they read, you move around and ask each student to read aloud selected sections where you note his or her fluency to determine which skills need to be taught. After reading, the students will share and discuss their books with each other.

Language Domain: __________ ____________________________________ Reading Competency/ies:_______________ _________________________ _ Suggested Grade Le vel:_________;___________

_______________

Activity 4: You show them the big book and then you discuss the book cover, read the title, author, illustrator, and other book features. Encourage the students to discuss the cover and some of the pages of the book. Just make sure that you do not give away the entire story. Ask them to predict and share what they think will happen in the book.

Language Dom ain:___________________________________ ____________ Reading Competency/ies:_________________ ________ _________ Suggested Grade Le vel:___________________________________ _______ Activity 5: Students will read words by syllables. Write a syllable on the board and have students read it. Then write another syllable on the board and have the students read it. Then have them read the wor^l formed by putting the two syllables together. For example, students read "ba" and then "ta" and then "bata."

Language Domain: _______

:

.'■■■■-■

Reading Competency/ies:______ '

■ ■--.

_________ _

______ _______________ ______

Suggested Grade Level: ___________________________________________ III. ABSTRACT In your course Teaching English in the Elementary Grades (Language Arts), you will have a comprehensive discussion of teaching reading. The instructional strategies that you will learn in that course, though it is L2 instruction, may also be applied to Mother Tongue instruction.

In this course though, you will only focus on the three major approaches in the teaching of reading to young learners: phonics, whole language, and language experience.

CTU-SF LIBRARY 100 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

ACC 110. —

—— mm

The matrix below shows the three approaches to the teaching of reading and a set of sample activities for each approach. With this input, your responsibility is to come up with your own, simple definition and characterization of each approach.

Approaches toTeaching Reading

Phonics

Example Activities

What does the approach mean to you? In what ways will the approach be useful to you in teaching reading in the Mother Tongue?

• identify the first sound in a word • look for objects in the class that rhyme • sort pictures or make a collage of objects that begin with the same lettersound or rhyme • toss a ball to a student after saying a word. The student has to think of a word that begins with the same sound.

Whole Language

• reading aloud where students are given the chance to hear stories, poems, songs, chants, and other texts read aloud, with opportunities to chime in words or lines are repeated.

• shared reading involves the students in reading. Teacher may ask these questions after reading: - Did you like the story?

- What was your favorite part?

- Who was your favorite character?

- Do you want to read it again?

- Do you want to see the pictures again?

• guided reading allows teachers to work with small groups of children who are at the same reading level, providing support or scaffolding while they read.

• independent reading encourages students to read independently and motivates them to read a variety of texts.

Unit III -Teaching and Learning the Mother Tongue 101

Language Experience

The students participate in a common experience (e.g. a field trip, a story, or a picture that evokes feelings). They will then discuss and decide what to write. They dictate the "story" to the teacher, who writes it so everyone can see. Everyone then reads what the teacher has written and decides on what to edit. Then, they will copy into their notebooks what is written on the board.

IV. APPLY Similar to your previous Apply activities in the other macro skills, complete the template below.

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITY- READING Activity Title: Target Grade Level:

Time Required:

Type of Student Work: Individual, Pair, or Group Work Learning Objectives: At the end of the activity, the students are expected to: 1.

2.

3.

v-

Activity Description: Criteria for Grading (ifpossible, include a rubric if necessary): PROCESS QUESTIONS: 1. Are the learning objectives clearly defined? If not, what suggestions do you have to improve them?

2. Is the instructional activity well-aligned with the learning objectives?

102 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

, | | „,

UN T V

ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING FOR THE MOTHER TONGUE ■

Assessment is the systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development of students. It is the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and using information to increase students' learning and development (Huba, 1991). Like in any other course, assessment is highly valued, given that these are tools that would allow you to evaluate learning outcomes against pre-identified standards and learning competencies in order to develop a better understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their education experiences; to improve students' learning and development; and to evaluate programs and make decisions on how to improve student learning.

In this unit, you will focus on the fundamental concepts behind language assessment, especially in acquiring and learning the Mother Tongue. You will be familiarized to the various assessment strategies and forms that can help you determine your students'progress and achievement of your set learning goals.

LESSON 1

PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: • explain the definition of assessment in education; • differentiate between the five principles of language assessment; • compare various models of language assessment; • familiarize themselves with the traditional and nontraditional assessments pertinent to MotherTongue instruction; and • analyze sample assessments in MotherTongue instruction.

Instructional Materials Needed: none

Learning Activities: I. ACTIVATE In pairs, discuss the KWL chart on Assessment.

What 1know about Assessment

What do i want to know about Assessment

What 1learned about Assessment

Assessment is a vital part in the teaching and learning process. Without which, the process will be left hanging as to where the students are at, how the learners faired, and how the learners soared after a given lesson. Assessment are forms of verification and evidence that aids the teacher in making informed > decisions with regards to future plans for the discussion and activities that are age and grade appropriate to the learners. Assessment helps the teacher plan for the next steps to take if learners have exhibited proficiency already, or on 110 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

the other hand, if there is a need to reteach because simply the learners need it.

Moreover, assessment provides the learners themselves with feedback on how they manifested the understanding of concepts and their performance tasks.

This is to give the learners and parents/guardian the chance to monitor and act upon their own improvement plans and be responsible for their own learning ladders to be contributory to lifelong learning and success.

II. ANALYZE Why do teachers need to assess learning?

Assessment in education provides concrete evidences that a student has learned and experienced a certain process. It could prove that he/she is trained and skilled in a certain competency or discipline. These evidences may be in the form of reflection papers, exemplars, self-assessment, diary or journal entry, photographs or images, etc. The principles of language assessment are: (1) Validity, (2) Reliability, (3) Authenticity, (4) Practicality, and (5) Impact (Lam, 2018).

The goal of this activity is for you to identify the principles violated in each vignette. Read each example carefully and try to pinpoint the principles of language assessment that is being violated. If you were the teacher in the examples, what would you change to correct the situation? Write your answers on the space provided.

1. In an educational assessment, the teacher uses materials and examples not usually found in the children's local community. # 2. Even though students got high scores in an assessment, the teacher found that the students merely forgot what they have learned after the exam.

3. The teacher is measuring the students' ability to pronounce words in the mother tongue correctly. However, he/she also asked about the definition of the words provided.

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 111

4. After the assessment, it was found out that students scored differently ii similar items within the exam.

5. A teacher designed an educational assessment to take too much time and too much money from the students.

ABSTRACT and APPLY Listed below are the traditional and non-traditional assessments that can be used to address the different language domains stipulated in the Mother Tongue Curriculum. Read carefully the description of each assessment.

1

Assessing Concepts about Print

Learners need to acquire and master basic concepts of print and literature in order to achieve mature reading and writing behaviors. Book and Print Knowledge (concepts of print) is defined as knowing and being acquainted with books and how print works. Print skills also refer to the ability of readers to efficiently translate printed symbols into spoken language or meaning. It includes the proficient integration of word recognition and identification with contextual information as the student responds to prose. Young children learn concepts about print as they observe written language in their environment, listen to parent and teachers read books aloud, and experiment with reading and writing themselves. They learn basic concepts about letters, words, and sentences on classroom charts.

May Clay (1985) developed the Concepts About Print Test to formally further assess young children's understanding of written language concepts. The test has 24 items, and it is administered individually in 10 minutes. As the teacher reads the story aloud, the child looks at a test booklet with a story that has a picture of one facing the page and text on the other. The child is asked to open the book, turn pages, and point out particular features of the text, including letters, words, sentences, and punctuation marks, as the story is read.

112 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

2

Assessing Alphabet Knowledge (Letter Sounds and Letter Names)

Alphabetic Knowledge is learners' understanding that letters represent sound so that words may be read by saying the sounds represented by the letters and words may be spelled by writing the letters that represent the sounds in a word.

3

Assessing Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes, the smallest units of sound that can differentiate meaning. To test a learner's phonemic awareness skills, words have to be read aloud to him/ her twice and make him/her sound that initial sound for onset and rhymes and sound out all the sounds for word sound segmentation.

4

Assessing Decoding Skills

Decoding is the ability to read words by translating written symbols into the sounds of spoken language (Mother Tongue, Filipino, and English). To test the learners'decoding skills, they should be given a stimulus to pseudo words which represent the various ortho­ graphic rules of the language to be tested.

Pseudo words are to be used for this test so that we can really isolate the decoding skills of our learner; otherwise, if we use exiting or real words, students may be able to decode not because they are using their decoding skills but because they are already familiar with these words.

5

Assessing Word Recognition

6

Assessing Assessing comprehension of narrative texts differ comprehension very much from informational texts because of the of narrative elements. Narratives do not have topics, main ideas, and texts supporting details; instead, they have theme, setting, characters, plot, and point of view.

Word recognition is the ability of learners to read words by sight with automaticity and not resort to blending. Administering Dolch Basic Sight Words is one instrument to test your learners'word recognition skills would be to create your own Sight Word List or High Frequency Word List.

A narration is a retelling of a story, and, in general, a story is a sequence of events (which may be historically true or false) presented in such a way that the reader's imagination can comprehend the action. The events Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 113

used in a story must have some relationship to one another; writers generally do not add events to a narration that have nothing to do with the story. For students to understand narrative texts, it is imperative that they gain sense of the story.

7

Assessing Interests

Language learning must be contextualized not just in local settings where learners can see an immediate application of the language skills they are acquiring from class. Teacher must also assess learners' interest to be able to get better contextualized learning activities that will entice students to pay more attention to the lessons.

8

Anecdotal Records

Anecdotal records are descriptions of students' actions written as they occur or soon afterwards. The goals is to briefly transcribe what the student says or does and the context in which the behavior takes place.

These accounts preserve a rich history of information about how a student learns and interacts in the school environment in combination with portfolios and checklists. Anecdotal records help teachers analyze a student's accomplishments and approach to learning overtime.

9

Portfolio Assessment

Portfolio assessment is an assessment form where students and teachers collaborate in collecting samples of student-learning progress.This assessment form helps the learner monitor their own learning. The represented materials are meaningful collection of their work, gathered over time, that reflect learning with regard to instructional objectives. They represent their efforts and achievements, as well as their personal, academic, and linguistic growth.

10

Observation

Student observations are done informally while monitoring classroom work and participation. They can also be recorded on checklists or anecdotal records.

Watch students in terms of English language—both quantity (fluency and amount of language) and quality (complexity of language and use of academic language)—and evidence of thinking and learning.

The purpose of observing young children is to care­ fully pay attention to the details of the child's behavior, record these details in a structured manner, and assess

114 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

the implications of the child's actions. Parents and teachers can work together as partners to significantly affect children's success when they base their under­ standing of children's growth and development on thoughtful and careful observations that are accurate and objective in nature. (Teaching and Learning Languages and Multi literacies: Responding to the MTBMLE Challenge by Roderick M. Aguirre, MAT 2016) Your final task in this lesson is to look for two assessments that can be used to evaluate students' learning in relation to the different language domains of the Mother Tongue Curriculum. As a class, group your collected assessments by categories (you decide on how you will cluster your assessments) and submit it as a group portfolio. For each assessment, make sure to state the following information: 1. What is the dominant language domain or macro skill being measured by the assessment?

2. What is/are the specific competency/ies being measured?

3. What grade level can this assessment be administered?

4. What do you think is the strength of the assessment and what can be done to improve it?

Lesson Synthesis: Complete the last column of the KWL chart in Activate Activity. What did you learn about assessment after this lesson?

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 115

LESSON 2

LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

differentiate between various methods of assessment and its sustainability to different learning objectives; and

• formulate a language assessment scheme based on various learning objectives.

Instructional Materials Needed: none

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE "Most schools and most of our learning stops at knowing and we need to move that and broaden it to the doing and the reflecting," says Bob Lenz. He is a co-founder and the chief executive officer of Envision Schools, a university that uses portfolio defense as its means of assessment.

What does this quote mean to you? Reflect on it and prepare to share your thoughts to the class.

II. ANALYZE Assessment in education must have a "variety." This signifies the need to utilize different types of evidence to prove a student's development. In addition, teachers usually follow five steps in providing instructions and in scoring different assessments in education. These steps are (1) Purpose, (2) Content and procedures, (3) Criteria, (4) Monitoring, and (5) Evaluation (Lam, 2018).

The goal of this activity is for each group to create a short drama or skit.

Each group will be assigned a vignette from the items below. Each scene is unfinished.

Proceed to your assigned groups and read the particular story assigned to you. Your task is to produce a short creative skit about the said vignette.

Encourage every member to share their thoughts. How would you finish the story? How would you resolve the conflict?

116 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

1. After providing a few lectures, the teacher wants to know if his/her students can critically reflect about a certain topic using the mother tongue. How would the teacher go about accomplishing this?

2. The teacher wants to know if a student can use idioms from the mother tongue in an actual conversation. How would the teacher go about accomplishing this?

3. The teacher wants to observe whether the students can perform actional competencies like greeting, making introductions, saying goodbye, etc.

How would the teacher go about accomplishing this?

4. The teacher wants to collect all the learning highlights of the students in one folder as proof that they have learned many things about the Mother Tongue. How would the teacher go about accomplishing this?

II. ABSTRACT and APPLY How would you assess students' learning? Is there a most correct method of assessment better than other methods? Assessment in education must reflect reality and have an accurate measure of a student's knowledge, skills, and values (Lewin & Shoemaker, 2011). In relation to this, classroom assessment may be classified into four. These are: 1) Selected-response assessment; f.

2) Essay assessment; 3) Performance assessment; and 4) Personal communication (Stiggins, 1997).

Finally, assessment may take in the form of quizzes, exams, performance tasks, learning portfolios, reflection papers, exemplars, self-assessments, diary or journal entries, and photographs or images (Lam, 2018).

In groups of four, determine the most suitable assessment method for each of your class objectives in the classroom. Proceed to your assigned groups and follow the instructions below. Your task is to create a language assessment scheme. Encourage every member to share their thoughts.

First, list down your class objectives on the leftmost column. Second, write the most appropriate method of assessment vis-a-vis the objectives. Like mentioned above, this may be quizzes, exams, performance tasks, learning portfolios, reflection paper, exemplars, self-assessment, diary/journal entry, or photographs/images. Finally, write a remark on why you think it is the most suitable assessment method. You may use the matrix on the next page. The first objective is already accomplished to serve as a guide.

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 117

LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT SCHEME Objectives Objective 1: Explain at least one figure of speech in their mother tongue.

(Example)

Portfolio item Photographs or images

Remarks Photographs or images are suitable for this objective because the student may be able to use symbols or icons to represent a specific figure of speech.

Objective 2:

Objective 3:

Objective 4:

Lesson Synthesis: Can you distinguish between and among the different methods of assessment in education? Explain. How would you measure intangible objects like knowledge and values? What assessment method would you use? Why?

118 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

LESSON 3

DESIGNING PERFORMANCE TASKS

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: •

explain the definition of a performance task assessment and identify its four integral parts;

•

differentiate the various types of performance task assessment; and

• formulate a strategy to use performance task assessment to gauge student learning.

Instructional Materials Needed: none

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE Assessment in the MTB-MLE isfully grounded on the measurable performance standards that is interpreted into a more detailed and task specific learning competency based on the identified nonnegotiable content standards. The performance standards provides the baseline for the frequency of assessments.

Consequently, plans for instruction is integral to a full cycle learning experience of the learner and plan for assessment is intrinsic to meaningful learning.

At this point, you are very familiar with performance tasks or assessments.

With your seatmate, discuss how you understand a performance assessment.

A performance assessment is

One of the most effective means of measuring meaningful learning in the classroom is to design and provide performance tasks to young learners that would allow them to demonstrate their learning. For Mother Tongue, it is crucial that learners are given opportunities to demonstrate what they can do at their appropriate level. They should be given ample chances to interact or socialize and use the target language, in this case, their mother tongue, as frequent as possible.

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 119

LIHKAtf rritvrniC vM

91U

II. ANALYZE

John B. Watson, the father of Behaviorism, was quoted saying, "Psychology., is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science... The position is takei here that the behavior of man... must be considered..." In this reference, Watson i: saying that in order for psychology to be scientific, it must focus on a person': observable behavior. It must provide measurable evidence to signify ar individual's thoughts, beliefs, and learnings. In effect, he is indirectly saying tha a person must repeatedly perform a behavior before one can say that learning has occurred.

The goal of this activity is to discuss your thoughts about performance task to your groupmates. Choose one sample instructional plan to read and analyz< by focusing on the performance task/s designed by the teacher.

SAMPLE INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN 1 Banghay-aralin sa MTB-MLE Unang Markahan Unang Linggo (Unang araw) I.

Layunin Nabibigkas ang tamang huni ng mga hayop na nasa larawan

II. Paksang Aralin A. Paksa: Pagbigkas ng tamang huni ng mga hayop na nasa larawan 1. Pabigkas na Wika: Pakikinig nang mabuti sa kwentong babasahin.

2. Kaalaman sa Tunog: Pagkilala sa huni mula sa ipinakitang larawan ng mga hayop.

3. Pagkilala ng Tunog: Pagbibigkas ng tamang huni ng mga hayop.

B. Sanggunian: K to 12 Curriculum Pahina: 1-3 C. Mga Kagamitan: Larawan ng iba't ibang hayop, plaskard ng mga huni ng mga hayop.

D. Pagpapahalaga: Pagmamahal at pag-aalaga sa mga hayop.

III. Pamamaraan: 1. Balik-aral: Tanungin ang mga bata kung anong mga hayop ang nakita nila bago pumasoksa paaralan.

2. Paghahawan ng balakid: Magpakita ng mga larawan ng mga hayop.

120 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Ipakilala sa mga bata ang bawat larawan.

Halimbawa: Manok, baboy, kambing, bibe, ibon, at aso 3. Pagganyak: Awit: Si Mang Temyong ay may Bukid 4. Pagganyak na tanong: Itanong sa mga bata: "Bakit nagkakaingay ang mga alagang hayop ni Marta sa bakuran?"

Tanong Hulang Tanong Tamang Sagot: Itala ang mga hulang sagot ng mga bata batay sa sariling karanasan.

5. Paglalahad: Pagbasa ng Kwento Babasahin ng guro ang kwento.

Tingnan ang kwento sa tsart.

"Ang mga Alagang Hayop ni Marta" Makikinig nang mabuti ang mga bata.

6. Pagtalakay: Ano ang pamagat ng kwento?

Anu-anong mga hayop ang nabanggit sa kwento?

7. Paglalahat: Paano bigkasin ang huning: Bibe? Baka? Kambing? Ibon? Aso? 8. Pangkatang Gawain: Pangkat 1 - "Artista ka ba?"

Bigkasin/Gayahin ang tunog/huni ng mga hayop sa kwento.

Pangkat 2 -"Bumilang Ka" Bilangin ang mga hayop sa kwento.

Pangkat 3 -"Ipakita Mo?" Ipakita ang damdamin ng bawat hayop matapos silang mapakain ng amo.

IV. Pagtataya: Panuto: Bigkasin ang huni ng bawat hayop sa larawan.

1. Aso

4. Bibe

2. Baboy

5. Manok

3. Kambing Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the MotherTongue 121

V. Takdang Aralin: Magdikit sa inyong kwaderno ng mga hayop sa inyong bakuran.

Puna: _____ na bilang ng mga mag-aaral mula sa kabuuang bilang n a______ ang nakakuha ng_____ na bahagdan ng pagkatuto ng aralin.

SAMPLE INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN 2 Banghay-aralin sa MTB-MLE Pinagsanib na Aralin sa EsP at Art Unang Markahan Ikalimang Linggo (Unang Araw) I.

Layunin •

Nakasusunod sa wasto at tamang pagkain

•

Nakikilahok nang mabuti sa pagbasa sa pamamagitan ng pagkokomento

II. Paksang Aralin A. Paksa: Pakikilahok na Mabuti sa Pagbasa sa Pamamagitan ng Pagkokomento B. Sanggunian: Kto 12 Curriculum MTB-MLE Teaching Guide p. 56-59 C. Kagamitan: Kwento: Bilao ni Betina D. Pagpapahalaga: Pagkain ng wasto at tamang uri tulad ng puto.

III. Pamamaraan: A. Gawain bago Bumasa: 1. Balik-aral: Sabihin kung sa halaman o sa hayop galing ang mga pagkaing sumusunod: -itlog

-langgonisa

-asuka

2. Pagganyak: Nakakain na ba kayo ng puto?

Anu-anong mga puto ang natikman na ninyo?

(Itala sa pisara ang mga sagot ng bata) 122 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

-bigas

B. Paglalahad: 1. Paghahawan ng balakid: Gumamit ng larawan/kilos upang ipaunawa ang kahulugan ng bawat salita: bibingka

bilao

puto-bumbong

katuwang

ulila

sunung-sunong

baryo Ano ang bibingka at puto-bumbong? (pagkain) 2. Pangganyak na tanong: Sa inyong palagay, masasarap kaya ang mga putong ito?

Ano ang nais ninyong alamin sa aking ikukwento?

Bilao ni Betina Maaaring itanong ng mga bata na: "Bakit may bilao si Betina?"

3. Pagpapaalala sa pamantayan ng mabuting pakikinig.

Ano-ano ang mabuting kilos kung nakikinig ng kwento?

4. Pagbasa ng guro sa kwento Bilao ni Betina (p. 57 MTB-MLETG) 5. Pagtalakay: Ano ang pamagat ng kwento?

Sino ang may bilao?

Bakit hindi na nakapagtitinda si Lola Belen?

Totoo bang nawala ang bilao ni Betina?

Mabuti bang pagkain ang puto?

Anong aral ang natutuhan mo sa kwento?

C. Pagsasanay: Pangkatang Gawain Pangkat 1 -Tinda-tindahan Ko Ipasadula sa mga bata ang pagtitinda.

Pangkat 2 - Aalagaan Ko Hayaang ipakita ng mga bata ang mga paraan ng pag-aalaga sa mga matatanda.

Pangkat 3 - Aking Baryo Ipaguhit sa mga bata ang kanilang barangay (baryo).

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the MotherTongue 123

IV. Pagtataya: Magbigay ng komento tungkol sa kwentong narinig sa pamamagitan ng paglalagay ng tsek (/) kung totoong nangyari sa kwento at ekis (X) kung hindi. ___1. Nagtitinda si Betina ng langgonisa. ___2. Sa bilao niya ito nilalagay. ___3. Ang lola ni Betina ang nagpalaki sa kanya. ___4. Si Betina ay tamad na bata. ___5. Ang pagtitinda ay marangal na hanapbuhay at hindi dapat ikahiya.

V. Kasunduan: Iguhit ang bilao ni Betina.

Puna: _____ na bilang ng mga mag-aaral mula sa kabuuang bilang n a ______ ang nagpakita ng_____ na bahagdan ng pagkakatuto ng aralin.

SAMPLE INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN 3 Banghay-aralin sa MTB-MLE Unang Markahan Ikalawang Linggo (Unang Araw) I.

Layunin Nasasabi ang kahalagahan ng pagsunod sa bilin o pangaral ng magulang •

Nasasagot ang mga tanong na ano, sino, bakit, at paano sa kwentong napakinggan

•

Nakikilahok sa talakayan pagkatapos ng kwentong napakinggan

II. Paksang Aralin A. Paksa: Pagsagot sa mga Tanong na Ano, Sino, Saan, Bakit, at Paano 1. Pabigkas na Wika: Pakikinig nang mabuti sa kwentong babasahin.

2. Kaalaman sa Tunog: Pagkilala sa tunog mula sa ipinakitang larawan ng mga bagay.

3. Pagkilala ng Tunog: Pagbibigkas ng tamang huni ng mga bagay.

B. Sanggunian: Kto 12 Curriculum Pahina: 16

124 Content and Pedagogy for the Mother Tongue

C. Mga Kagamitan: larawan ng mga bagay na gumagawa ng tunog.

Tsart: "Malikot si Mingming" D. Pagpapahalaga: Pagkamasunurin sa bilin o pangaral ng magulang.

III. Pamamaraan: A. Panimulang Gawain: 1. Paghahawan ng balakid Ipakita/sabihin ang kahulugan ng mga salita sa kwento gamit ang kilos o larawan Eskaparate, bukod-tangi, patibong, madadala.

2. Pagganyak Bago kayo pumasok sa paaralan, ano ang madalas sabihin o ibilin sa inyo ng inyong nanay?

3.

Pangganyak na Tanong Ano ang laging sinasabi/ipinangangaral ni Muning kay Mingming?

4.

Pamantayan sa Pakikinig ng Kwento

5. Pagkukwento ng Guro "Malikot si Mingming" Tingnan ang kopya ng kwento sa p. 17-19 ng TG 6. Talakayan: Ano ang laging sinasabi/ipinangangaral ni Muning kay Mingming?

Sino-sino ang naiinis kay Mingming?

Bakit kaya tuwang-tuwa si Mingming sa mga laruan ni Alex?

7. Paglalapat Pangkatang Gawain Pangkat 1 - Aksiyon na Aksiyon Pangkat 2 - Aking mga Laruan Pangkat 3 - Iguhit ang Naibigan Mo IV. Pagtataya: Magparinig ng isa pang maikling kwento. Ipasagot ang mga tanong na Sino, Ano, Saan, Bakit, at Paano.

Kwento: Ulirang Bata 1. Sino ang ulirang bata?

2. Saan sila naglalaro?

3. Bakit siya biglang tinawag ng nanay?

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 125

V. Takdang Aralin: Iguhit ang paborito mong laruan sa eskaparate ni Alex.

Puna: _____ na bilang ng mga mag-aaral mula sa kabuuang bilang n a ______ ang nakakuha ng_____ na bahagdan ng pagkatuto ng aralin.

Now, proceed to your assigned groups and discuss your answers to the following questions: 1. In your opinion, why do you think John B. Watson said the quotation above? Why is observable behavior important for him?

2. In your own words, how would you define observable behavior? How would you define performance

3. What do you thinkare the crucial elements for a behaviorto be performed?

Why?

4. In your opinion, what are the advantages of using performance task assessment? What are the disadvantages?

III. ABSTRACT and APPLY It is helpful to think of performance tasks as mini, midi, and maxi tasks when considering the length of time and amount of effort for each task. Mini assessments are quick tasks that are designed only for a single class period. It helps students to acquire important information while providing teachers with crucial feedback. One example of these are quick dialogues with the teacher. Midi assessments are performance tasks that require 2-3 class periods to complete.

Some examples of this are writing and revising articles, drawing comic strips, 126 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

etc. Lastly, maxi assessments are performance tasks that require more than three class periods to complete. Usually, these are culminating projects of what the students have learned in a specific amount of time. Some examples of this are rehearsing and performing short plays or scenes, writing a short story, creating scrap books, etc. (Johnson, Penny, & Gordon, 2009).

Performance task assessment may be in the form of (1) Visual representation tasks (i.e. comic strips, graphic organizers, electronic presentations, etc.)

(2) Written tasks, (3) Oral presentation tasks, and (4) Large-scale project or performances (Lewin & Shoemaker, 2011).

The goal of this activity is for you to formulate a scheme that uses performance task assessment to evaluate your students' learnings. For each of your class' learning outcome, list down the most appropriate performance task to measure whether the student has achieved the said outcome or not. These tasks may be: visual presentation tasks, written tasks, oral presentation tasks, or large-scale projects.

Create a matrix aligning the task to the suitable learning outcome. On the third column, determine the prompt that will signal the students to enact a certain task. Examples of these are: instructions, the word "Go" or "Start", sound of a bell, timer, guide questions, deadlines, etc. On the fourth column, indicate the specific task. Finally, on the fifth column, write the method for rating the performance. This may be in the form of a criterion, a rubric, rating scales, etc.

You may use the matrix below as an example. Task 1 is already accomplished to serve as an example: Tasks No. Task 1 (Example)

Objective

Prompt

Teacher asks a Compose sentences using question. key words in the students'mother tongue.

Response/ Specific Task Oral performance: Substantive dialogue.

Method for Rating Checklist of key words used.

Task 2

Task 3

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 127

Task 4

Lesson Synthesis: 1. In your own words, how would you define a Performance Task?

2. If there were no observable behaviors, how would the teacher grade his/h< students?

3. What would happen to the class if there were no performance tasks?

128 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

LESSON 4

GRADING PERFORMANCE TASKS

Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students are expected to: • describe the five principles of language assessment; • recite the definition of a rubric, identify its parts, and discuss its advantages and disadvantages; • compare and contrast an analytic and a holistic rubric; and • construct your own rubric with the appropriate characteristics of each criterion and each description.

Instructional Materials Needed: accomplished module in Unit 4 Lesson 1, principles of language assessment

Learning Activities: I.

ACTIVATE The Center for American Progress advocates the use of competency rubrics to encourage student-centered learning and give voices to the students (Benner, Brown, & Jeffrey, 2019). This means that they support the utilization of rubrics in their nation's educational system. What do you think are the reasons for these? What are rubrics? How are rubrics defined?

II. ANALYZE You will examine the sample rubric for Oral Presentation/Reporting. From the sample, how would you define a rubric? What are its parts? What are the advantages of using a rubric? Use the checklist and guide questions provided on the next page.

Unit IV-Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 129

Sample Rubric for Oral Presentation/Reporting Instructions: Each group shall be given 20 minutes to orally present about a assigned topic.They are allowed to use a laptop and a projector. In case they wi use other props, they will have to provide those on their own.

Category 1.

Content (25%)

2.

Objective (25%)

1

2

3

Poor

Satisfactory

Excellent

No appropriate amount of material was prepared. The arguments stated did not reflect each topic's relative importance.

(0-15%)

Appropriate amount of material was prepared.

However, the arguments stated did not reflect each topic's relative importance.

(16-20%)

Appropriate amount of material is prepared, and the arguments stated reflected each topic's relative importance.

(21-25%)

Lesson is not well prepared. (0-15%)

Lesson is well prepared but there is no congruence between the objectives and the subject matter.

(16-20%)

Lesson is well prepared and there is congruence between the objectives and the subject matter.

(21-25%)

Group presents information in a logical and interesting sequence but occasionally strays from the topic.

(13-16%)

Group presents information in a logical and interesting sequence which audience can follow. (17-20%)

Methods used were slightly suited for the subject and slightly suited for the capabilities of the target audience.

(13-16%)

Methods used were suited for the subject and suited for the capabilities of the target audience.

(17-20%)

3.

Group did not Organization present information in a logical and (20%) interesting sequence, therefore the pre­ sentation cannot be understood.

(0-12%) 4.

Method/ Approach (20%)

Methods used were not suited for the subject and not suited for the capabilities of the target audience.

(0-12%)

130 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

5.

Creativity (10%)

Student utilized very little unique ideas. (0—6%)

Student utilized unique ideas but did not integrate it.

(7-8%)

Student utilized unique ideas in an integrated manner.

(9-10%)

Total Checklist for Evaluating a Rubric Features of a Quality Rubric

Present

Absent

1. Has clear essential criteria 2. Criteria are aligned with the standards or com­ petencies in the instructional/academic plan 3. Has realistic number of criteria 4. Has explicit observable indicators 5. Has no overlaps in levels 6. Has real-world criteria 7. Has high interjudge reliability 8. Tested out with students 9. Avoids degree modifiers 10. Written in a way that can be understood by the students Guide Questions: 1. In your own opinion, what is a rubric? How would you define a rubric?

2. From your observation, what are the parts of a rubric? What are the functions of each part?

3. What are the advantages of using a rubric? What are its disadvantages?

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 131

III. ABSTRACT Rubrics are often organized in a table or matrix format. Teachers may use these to grade students while pupils may use it to plan their work (Dawson, 2017). When used as a tool for formative assessment, these have been proven to have a positive effect on students' learning (Panadero & Jonsson, 2013).

There are two types of rubrics: holistic and analytic rubrics. The goal of this activity is for you to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between a holistic and an analytic rubric. Proceed to your assigned groups.

Look at the sample rubrics below. Discuss with your group the similarities and differences between the two. Use the guide questions below. Encourage every member to share their thoughts and opinions.

ANALYTIC RUBRIC Sample Rubric for Reflection Paper Instructions: Each student will write a reflection paper about a preselected topic.

Category

1

2

3

Poor

Satisfactory

Excellent

Student discusses prior knowledge, opinions, and beliefs but NOT directly related to the topic. (16-20%)

Student discusses prior knowledge, opinions, and beliefs related to the topic.

(21-25%)

Lesson is not well prepared.

(0-15%)

Lesson is well prepared but there is no congruence between the objectives and the subject matter.

(16-20%)

Lesson is well prepared and there is congruence between the objectives and the subject matter.

(21-25%)

Group did not present informa­ tion in a logical and interesting sequence, there­ fore the pre­ sentation cannot be understood.

(0-12%)

Group presents information in a logical and interesting sequence but occasionally strays from the topic.

(13-16%)

Group presents information in a logical and interesting sequence which audience can follow. (17-20%)

Student does Thoughts/ NOT discuss Opinions prior knowledge, opinions, and (25%) beliefs related to the topic. (0-15%) 1.

2.

Objective (25%)

3.

Organiza­ tion (20%)

132 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

Score

4.

Method/ Approach (20%)

5.

Creativity (10%)

Methods used were not suited for the subject and not suited for the capabilities of the target audience. (0-12%)

Methods used were slightly suited for the subject and slightly suited for the capabilities of the target audience.

(13-16%)

Methods used were suited for the subject and suited for the capabilities of the target audience.

(17-20%)

Student utilized very little unique ideas. (0-6%)

Student utilized unique ideas but did not integrate it.

(7-8%)

Student utilized unique ideas in an integrated manner.

(9-10%)

Total HOLISTIC RUBRIC Sample Rubric for Reflection Paper Instructions: Each student will write a reflection paper about a preselected topic.

Score

Description Student discusses prior knowledge, opinions, and beliefs related to the topic.

Excellent (86-100%)

Identifies student's feelings related to the topic. Have a clear and supported hypothesis about the said emotions'origins, development, and connection to course.

Student presents information in a logical and interesting sequence.

Student discusses important global and international issues in relation to the topic.

Student utilizes unique ideas in an integrated manner.

Student discusses prior knowledge, opinions, and beliefs but NOT directly related to the topic.

Satisfactory (61-85%)

Identifies student's feelings related to the topic. However, there is no clear and supported hypothesis about the said emotions'origins, development, and connection to course.

Student presents information in a logical sequence but NOT interesting.

Student discusses important global and international issues but NOT directly related to the topic.

Student utilizes unique ideas but NOT integrated.

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 133

Student does NOT discuss prior knowledge, opinions, and beliefs related to the topic.

Poor (0 - 60 % )

Does not identify student's feelings related to the topic.

Student does NOT present information in a logical and interesting sequence.

Student does NOT discuss important global and international issues in relation to the topic.

Student does NOT utilize unique ideas.

Guide Questions: 1. Are there similar parts between an analytic and a holistic rubric? What are these?

2. What are the differences between an analytic and a holistic rubric?

3. What are the advantages of using an analytic rubric? What are its disadvantages?

4. What are the advantages of using a holistic rubric? What are its disadvantages?

IV. APPLY For a rubric to be reliable, each criterion should have the following charac­ teristics: (1) Appropriate, (2) Definable, (3) Observable, (4) Distinct from one another, (5) Complete, and (6) Able to support descriptions along a continuum of quality.

134 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

In addition, the description for each criterion should have the following characteristics: (1) Descriptive, (2) Clear, (3) Cover the whole range of perform­ ance, (4) Distinguish among levels, (5) Center the target performance at the appropriate level, and (6) Feature parallel descriptions from level to level (Brookhart, 2013).

For your final task, choose one Performance Assessment/Task from your Lesson 3 Apply Activity output. You will have to construct an analytic rubric for it.

Construct a rubric by following the steps below: Step 1: Task. Determine the performance task that you want to measure. Is it writing, speaking, drama, long-term projects, etc.?

Step 2: Criteria. Come up with at least five criteria forjudging the performance task. These criteria should be pertinent competencies demonstrated by the student while accomplishing the performance task. In the table or matrix, these will be written on each row in the boxes to the left.

Step 3: Scale. Decide on the levels of scale to score the student's performance.

For instance, excellent, satisfactory, or poor. You may choose either a three- or a five-level scale. In the table or matrix, these will be written on the boxes at the top.

Step 4: Description. Formulate descriptions for each criterion in each scale level. For instance, if you have five criteria and three levels, you will write 15 descriptions. Remember that each statement should feature parallel descriptions from level to level.

Criteria for Grading the Rubric Clarity of Criteria

10 pts.

Distinction between levels of Achievement

10 pts.

Clarity of Expectations to Learners

lOpts.

TOTAL

30 pts.

Lesson Synthesis: What are the common concerns of students in relation to grading? How do you think these should be addressed?

Unit IV - Assessing Student Learning for the Mother Tongue 135

UNIT SUMMARY Finally, you have reached the end of the course! You are not yet done though because it is time for you to prepare for your final assessment. In a nutshell for this unit, you have learned the significance of a well-developed, clear, and sound assessment that will measure student learning. Various assessment forms and strategies were provided to give you more ideas on how to develop and grade assessments. Hopefully, you will find all of these useful when it is time for you to design your assessments for your Mother Tongue class. Congratulations and we wish you the best in your final assessment!

136 Content and Pedagogy for the MotherTongue

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Ambridge, B., & Lieven, E. V. M. (2011). Language Acquisition Contrasting theoretical approaches. Cambridge Balan, R. M., Manko,T. P., & Phillips, K. F. (2011). Instructional improvement through professional development. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal. Volume 5 Issue 2 (November 2011). https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/ files/Teaching%20and%20Learning/TD.5.2.3.Balan_etal_lnstructionalJmprovement_through_PD.pdf.

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Braxton, S. Bronico, K, & Looms, T. (2000). ADDIE model, http://www.seas.gwu.edu/sbraxton/ISD/generaLphases.html.

Brentari, D., Fenlon, J., & Cormier, K. (2018). Sign language phonology. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics.

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