Save our mother tongues

 By Dr Kilala Devette-Chee

 Introduction 

EMTV recently aired commentaries from academics from the University of Papua New Guinea and the National Research Institute on the loss of Papua New Guinea languages and the need for protecting them. 

My response to the media when I was asked for strategies to preserve the 850-plus languages was to embed our indigenous languages in the national education system, which we did during the bilingual education reform era. 

Unfortunately, this reform was short lived due largely to a widespread misunderstanding of bilingual education. 

This commentary revisits the importance of this phased out Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education programme (MT-Based BLE). 

Education reform 

The main purpose of the education restructure in the 1990s was to increase access to education at all levels. 

Most importantly, a village-based, three-year vernacular elementary level consisting of preparatory and Grades 1 and 2 was introduced, changing the community school level to Grades 3-8 (which previously used to be from Grades 1-6). 

Secondary schools, which used to be from Grades 7-10, were then changed to Grades 9-12 in all provinces. 

One of the main reasons for this restructure was to address the difficulties faced by graduates of the previous Outcomes-Based Education system (OBE), most of whom could not be absorbed into the shrinking labour market. 

In addition, there was low enrolment and high dropout rates, significant gender and regional disparities, and a curriculum lacking relevance to most children. 

The long-term goal of the reform was to achieve sustainable and quality universal basic education; and a more productive and skilled population; and literacy in PNG’s languages. The educational reform advocated for a more practical curriculum that would offer a wide range of employment opportunities, ensuring equitable distribution of educational resources throughout the country. 

The purpose of the three-year initial education in local vernaculars was to establish strong cultural bonding between children and their community. 

Vernacular education allows students to use what is already known to learn new skills such as reading, writing and numeracy in familiar contexts, enhances active interaction and communication in school from the first day, and enables students at a later time to use their abilities to learn a foreign language (English) and to gradually transit to education in that language when they are ready. 

As children entered lower primary school at Grade 3, they were introduced to the Transitional Bilingual programme, which used one of PNG’s vernacular languages with English. 

When students entered upper primary school (Grades 6-8), the main emphasis in their classroom was on English as the language of instruction; however, the use of the local vernaculars was still encouraged. 

By the end of Grade 8, they were expected to have mastered the basic skills in English and be ready to enter secondary school (Grades 9-12). 

Sadly, this much anticipated policy failed to flourish due to improper implementation of the required strategies. Research shows that a lot of Tok Pisin is being used in transitional programmes regardless of what language was used in elementary schools. This may be because the teacher is more fluent in Tok Pisin than the vernacular designated as the first language (L1) for that class, or students use Tok Pisin more than the vernacular. 

Whatever the reasons, current research shows that teacher practices failed to conform to the National Department of Education’s (NDoE) language policy. 

The importance of MT-Based Bilingual Education 

When the MT-Based BLE was introduced, it was welcomed by mostly pro bilingual educators with very limited awareness to the general public causing a dichotomy between supporters of the Ooutcomes-Based Education (using English-only) and supporters of vernacular education. 

What the general population of PNG failed to see was the fact that MT-Based BLE is a form of schooling that uses the first language for teaching beginning literacy (reading and writing) and content area instruction (such as mathematics), while teaching the second language (L2) as a second/foreign language. 

Research has demonstrated that bilingual education has cognitive, academic, social, and cultural benefits for elementary school students. 

At the cognitive level, research in second language acquisition has shown that literacy in a child’s native language can facilitate learning of an L2. 

Proponents of MT-Based BLE argue that children who are literate in their L1 can transfer their literacy skills into the L2 learning situation, thereby making the situation easier. Cummins’ 1981 Common Underlying Proficiency model stipulates that the two languages of bilingual children operate through the same central processing system. 

Even though both languages may look different at the surface, they are fused underneath. 

The implication of this theory is that when the child’s L1 reading, writing, speaking and listening skills are sufficiently developed, they can serve as the basis for learning the L2. 

At the academic level, bilingual education allows children to learn the curriculum and perform better in lower primary schools. 

Past studies have demonstrated that children learn academic content faster in their L1 than in an unfamiliar foreign language. 

The introduction of the concept of Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) explains the linguistic and academic difficulties that children speaking a minority language experience in schools. 

According to this theory, children who have developed BICS may be able to communicate fluently, but may not have their advanced language skills which are necessary to cope with complex academic content. Researchers argue that schools should develop the CALP skills of children in both their L1 and L2 in order to allow them to fully access the curriculum and succeed. 

When L1 and/or L2 are poorly developed, children experience serious academic difficulties, which can lead to poor academic performance and dropout. 

This was the case in the use of vernacular in elementary education and in the bridging of vernacular to English in PNG primary schools. 

This resulted in poor levels of literacy and numeracy among the students. 

At the social level, bilingual education has the advantage of producing individuals who are often tolerant of other people and cultures. 

Research shows that many students in bi/multilingual programmes interact with their peers who are from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and learn to depend on each other in order to learn the academic content taught in both languages. 

Through this interaction, the students improve their social skills and become more tolerant of other people. At the cultural level, bilingual education preserves the students’ vernacular and culture which increases the students’ self-esteem and cultural identity. 

One of the arguments for using vernacular languages in the PNG’s education system is that it will help save indigenous languages and cultures, and saving indigenous cultures is necessary to preserve the nation’s intellectual and aesthetic creativity. 

Conclusion 

To conclude, in order to protect indigenous languages from dying out: 

• Both the Government and the people need to be educated about the importance of their linguistic resources. They must be made to understand that this rich resource is in danger of dying out if it is not protected. Public awareness is needed to educate parents to promote vernacular languages in the homes; 
• there is a need for nationwide linguistic survey. This survey should focus on specific linguistic information such as: The actual number of languages, the number of speakers of each of the languages, and whether the speakers are naturally transmitting their languages to the younger generations or abandoning them for other languages, and for what reasons, and, 
• The NDoE and provincial education authorities should take heed of creating public awareness to promote the value of vernaculars in bilingual education. 

It is imperative that more attention is given to the preservation of, and literacy in PNG languages. 

The best strategy is to embed these languages in the national education system using a different approach from the previous which encouraged bilingual education only as a bridge to learning English, and did not help with the development of vernacular languages and their cultures. 

What is needed is an education system which promotes language maintenance, preservation, and revitalization. 

• Dr Kilala Devette-Chee is a senior research fellow with the Universalising Basic Education Research programme at the National Research Institute