Exploring students’ performance using lingua franca in science education: a study of grade ten students in Capiz, Philippines

Introduction

In many countries, the medium of instruction has long been a source of contention among educators, particularly in nations that were once subject to colonial rule. Although the nations gained their independence, their legacy still exists in one form or another. Language is the most notable of these legacies. The colonization made by the American regime in the Philippines left its traces in terms of language. In this present time where global competitiveness is the main thrust of the educative process, raising the quality of education in the Philippines has become a priority for government officials, who see it as one way to address other teaching-learning challenges.

The preference for English as the main medium of instruction in Philippine schools has left students from marginalized groups with little opportunity to learn and grow. Looking at the scenario nowadays, it is a known fact that students learn and acquire language differently, so it may come as easy as mimicking. While others need more time and tedious processes. With this, the challenge lies in the hands of the teacher. The teacher may either make or break a meaningful and fruitful teaching and learning process.

Language is a very important factor in the teaching-learning process since there is a mandate for the utilization of the medium of instruction. However, recent orders and memoranda present that students should be taught in a way that would suit the learners’ personal and national needs. There have been arguments and debates made in forums and seminars towards the best language of instruction in the teaching scenario and this gives a huge question in the field of the educative process that, could the utilization of bilingual education increase higher level learning and retention? Hence, this leads Philippine education to decide on the appropriate medium of instruction.

In the abovementioned scenario, the researcher contemplated the idea presented by Nisar and Ahmad (2011) that language is the medium of instruction by which all content in any discipline or level of learning is delivered to students. The question of which language should be used to teach particular subjects sparks controversy every time a new school system is put into place, since it challenges long-standing cultural norms Furthermore, the medium of instruction which refers to the language used holds a vital role in changing the teaching-learning process and making it easy or difficult for a student. The acquisition of learning among students is greatly influenced by their language since language is an important facet of culture. Therefore, it is considered an important instrument through which the change of cultural values is made easier and according to Amamio (2010), the individual develops his character from the perspective of his own cultural patterns, including languages.

In linguistics, the lingua franca refers to the alternative use of two or more languages in a single conversation. It is commonly used as a communication strategy among learners. Traditional methods or formal education often discourage lingua franca among students (Setati, 2008). However, as Abad (2010) discussed, a lingua franca is a language that people use to communicate when they do not share one natively. All speakers of any language have learned how to code-switch or change their speech patterns according to the situation and environment in which they find themselves. In the academic world, lingua franca or code-switching is defined as the usage of a secondary language in addition to the primary language during speech. This can be seen most prominently in an educational setting—where students are encouraged and taught to switch between languages during class discussion.

From a general perspective, it is known that there are many factors that determine a student’s performance and language is one of those factors. Coherently, countries, where English serves as a second language, revealed that there is no single instructional strategy or methodology that can guarantee predictable success in class (Chang et al., 2007). As a result, the focus of various research has shifted from instructional strategies and methodologies to language acquisition and utilization of English vis-à-vis native tongue in science classes (Murcia, 2011).

The science performance of students at the secondary level according to the National Achievement Test shows a retrogressive pattern where the issues underpin the comprehension and analysis of the students (Philippine Basic Education, 2019). With the aforementioned situation, the utilization of the lingua franca is presented by the Department of Education as mother tongue-based instruction to address the retrogressing science performance of the students and to cope with the demand for the UNESCO Education for All program.

In the presented idea of the Department of Education, it is believed that the official country’s language should be taught since it is a platform for learning information meaningfully to make students’ vocabulary wider in terms of understanding and comprehension. The utilization of lingua franca drives the students to have maximum performance since students actively participate during discussion and via their mother tongue, and students are able to actually learn the curricular content of instruction (Thomas and Collier, 2007).

Going with the contemporary trend in education research and considering the above-mentioned scenario, the researcher was motivated to conduct a study that looks into the outcome of lingua franca-based instruction on students’ performance as compared to the typical practice of using English language-based science education.

This study determines the influence of lingua franca-based and English-based instruction on the science performance of Grade ten students. Specifically, it examines the level of science performance in each group at the start and end of the study, the significant difference between the pre-tests of the control and experimental groups, pretests and posttests of these groups, and between the posttests of these groups, and the effect size of lingua franca-based instruction and English-based instruction on the science performance of the students.

This study was anchored on the Experiential Theory of Kolb which stressed that the educational system should give opportunity to students to acquire and apply knowledge, skills, and attitude in a way that is relevant to their experiences (Kolb, 1984; Satati, 2010). Applying the theory in this study, it can be assumed that students’ performance will be meaningful if the medium of instruction used is relevant to the language that they are using in their day-to-day lives.

Literature review/study site

Lingua franca is a multilingual association of language used as a communication strategy among learners. In a multilingual society, language choice is heavily dependent on its sociolinguistic contexts including the location, participants involved, and the topic at hand (Spolsky, 2004). Approximately, there are more or less seven thousand existing languages in the world which brings the idea of linguistic diversity (Cenoz, 2013). As elaborated by Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas (2017), linguistic diversity is needed as it reflects the individual’s community culture, tradition, and identity.

The Philippines’ K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum includes a mandate for mother tongue-based instruction, beginning in kindergarten and continuing through third grade. This supports the goal of having all children, regardless of background, become readers and writers by the end of third grade. Although there is an argument about the use of English as a medium of instruction versus mother tongue-based instruction in consonance with the multilingual education, the trend among teachers nowadays is teaching their students using mother tongue-based instruction. Students who were taught using mother tongue-based instruction tend to think critically and were able express themselves with greater fluency. One of the main reasons for this policy is that some people believe children learn faster when they are taught by teachers who use a form of language with which they are familiar at first. Because native and regional languages help improve children’s language skills and strengthen their social awareness, teaching materials for bilingual learners should be in such languages (Valerio, 2013).

Quijano (2010) underscores that reading fluency and comprehension were lowest among those students taught to read only in English or Filipino. Hence, multidisciplinary studies have been carried out to determine the best approach to teaching students a new language: either through their native tongue or by first learning an established international language such as English before using their own. Several case studies were conducted in the Philippines over the years on mother tongue-based multilingual education and these include the Iloilo Experiments, the Rizal Experiment, and case studies of other components such as Lingua Franca Project in Ifugao Province. The aforesaid studies have shown that when teachers use students’ native language as the instructional medium, those students who read with inclination have a greater chance of developing the skills necessary to succeed in science, math and other related fields. They also tend to do better in classes where their native language is used.

As revealed by Nolasco (2009), children with a strong background in their native language can more easily pick up other languages and when children begin school with their first language as the foundation for further learning, with an understanding of the connections between these two languages—which allows for a smooth transition into learning new subject matter—they tend to emerge as more competent learners overall. Reports on the Philippine educational system tend to emphasize weak English, science, and mathematics skills among Filipino students. Mother tongue-based multilingual education seeks to address the high functional illiteracy rate in the Philippines and its consequences—the high dropout and noncompletion rates among students.

Evidently, during high school education, classes are taught in Filipino and English, but teachers use their mother tongue as a way to explain concepts when necessary (Licuanan, 2007). This paves the way for the crafting and implementation of DepEd Order No. 74, series of 2009—Institutionalizing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MLE) which replaces the Bilingual Education Policy with its assertion that research has shown that students in local communities and around the world are more likely to succeed when they learn using their mother tongue as a primary language of instruction. Further, Nolasco (2009) stresses the suitability of multilingual education in the learning process by writing an article in Education’s Primer underpinning that MLE starts from where learners are, and from what they already know: “The strategy is to develop cognitive skills of learners in their first language—and then transfer them into the medium of instruction.” It has been demonstrated in numerous surveys, proficiency tests, and in the complaints of businesses that corporate employers have not found the Bilingual Education Policy as effective as originally hoped. According to Quijano (2010), a language’s efficiency is directly related to how often it is used, for example, Cebuanos prefer to use English instead of Filipino, which negatively affects proficiency in the latter. Although today’s children are generally fluent in oral Filipino, their fluency in writing and reading the language is limited. This problem becomes even more acute when it comes to English—the country’s official national language.

On the other hand, Quijano (2010) disputes multilingual education implementation by noting that childrens’ poor command of the English language is a result of their limited exposure to it aside from the books, magazines, and other instructional materials available in schools and libraries that are written in English. As a result, language-competence problems such as poor reading comprehension have arisen among students. Licuanan (2007) points out that to combat the dwindling proficiency of Filipino English speakers, efforts have been made to improve their command of the language. However, while the push for English as a primary medium of instruction may seem like an effective strategy to solve this problem, in fact language experts have noted that it might simply be an extension of the myth that if something is good then more will be even better. The deterioration of English must be understood in the context of the overall decline in Philippine education. This is not a problem limited to English— students are also performing poorly in math and science classes.

Walter (2008) noted that many of the arguments against taking language into consideration in educational policies for developing nations have little to do with effectiveness. Thus, he pointed out in his findings that people often have a number of reasons for not learning another language. One reason is that they think it will give other people an advantage over them. Another is that they think it will be easier to build a country if everyone speaks the same language. Some people also do not want their children to learn languages other than one they already know, because they think it will confuse their children. Some people believe that if you speak a certain language, you should be able to use it in school and at work, which means that it has to be developed before it can be used as a medium of instruction. Some people think that if there are not many people who speak a certain language in one place, it won’t be worth teaching it there. Some people also believe that if there are not any jobs using a particular language available right now, there would not be anytime soon either.

In bilingual classrooms, as highlighted by Baker (2009), students often switch between different languages. Teachers regularly use two languages in a bilingual classroom without official backing from policymakers. They integrate these languages to achieve their teaching tasks. On the contrary, Jacobson (2009) argues that integrating both languages in the classroom is beneficial. He says that teachers should not randomly switch from one language to another, translate, preview, or review material, or use purposeful concurrent language use. However, Baker (2009) claimed that there are many language-switching cues that cause a speaker to shift languages. These include reinforcement of concepts, reviewing material, capturing students’ attention, and changing topics. Other cues are gaining rapport with students and changing from formality to informality. Translanguaging can create opportunities for deeper learning, language enrichment and collaboration between home and school.

Methods

Results and discussion

Conclusion

It was found that in the pre-test, both groups displayed “fairly satisfactory” science performance. Also, the scores obtained in the post-test of the control group reveals “satisfactory” science performance and the experimental group shows “very satisfactory” science performance after subjecting the participants to the intervention. Hence, the respondents in both control and experimental groups have only a satisfactory knowledge of the topics to be taught during the conduct of the intervention. After the intervention, the post-test scores reveal that there was an improvement in science performance among participants in both control and experimental groups. Thus, whether lingua franca or English as the medium of instruction is used in the classroom, students may improve their science performance. However, the increase in performance was in favor of the lingua franca medium of instruction. Lingua franca-based instruction in science facilitates understanding and stimulates active participation in the class discussion. Therefore, employing lingua franca as the medium of instruction exhibits a favorable effect in improving the science performance of the students.

There was no significant difference between groups in the pretests. Therefore, students were all in the same level of science performance which reveals that the participants have the same level of knowledge acquisition before the study.

There were significant differences between groups in the pretest and posttest. Thus, this concludes that the use of lingua franca exhibits favorable dominance compared to English-based instruction in improving the science performance of the students. Moreso, students’ interests increase since the utilization of language allows them to express their ideas freely and understand the topic well.

There was a significant difference between groups in the post-test in favor of the experimental group. Therefore, the students assigned to the experimental group were able to increase their understanding, acquisition of knowledge, and learning retention due to the language used.

There was a large size effect obtained in using the lingua franca-based medium of instruction on the science performance of the students. Therefore, the usage of lingua franca-based instruction exhibits positive and desirable results wherein students taught using lingua franca improve their performance significantly better compared to the other group.

Ethical approval

The researcher secured permissions from the University President, Campus Administrator, Dean, and Program Chairperson to carry out the study. The ethical approval letter for this study was acquired from the University President and Campus Administrator of Capiz State University dated May 20, 2022. Following the approval, participants were informed about the study’s objectives and provided their consent for the utilization of data.