The mother tongue is part of a child’s personal, social and cultural identity. It is this identification we get from speaking our mother tongue that enforces successful social patters of acting and speaking. Our diverse social backgrounds make us unique and appealing in society.
The mother tongue is an indispensable instrument for the development of intellectual, physical and moral aspects of education. Hobits, conducts, values, virtues, customs and beliefs are all shaped through the mother tongue. Needless to say, weakness in the mother tongue means a paralysis of all thought and power of expression
Mother tongue and a child’s education:
Early childhood care and Education, UNESCO(2007) points out the overlooked advantages of multilingual education in the early years. When children are offered opportunities to learn in their mother tongue, they are more likely to enroll and succeed in school and their parents are more likely to communicate with teachers and participate in their children’s learning.
Mother tongue based education, especially benefits disadvantaged groups, including children from rural communities who tends to have less exposure to an official language .They tend to stay in school taught, achieve better and repeat grades less often when they are taught in their mother tongue.
Importance of teaching mother - tongue to a child:
Mother - tongue is the language that a child learns in his mother’s lap. It is the language which the child learns almost without any conscious efforts on his part, i.e. he acquires while living in his own social group. Mother tongue plays a tremendously useful role in the education of a child. It has a great importance in the field of education.
The importance of mother tongue is due to the following reasons.
1. Medium of Expression and Communication - It is the most potent agent for mutual communication
2. Formation of Social Group - It is through language and specially through mother tongue, that individuals form themselves into a social organisation.
3. Easy to learn - Of all the languages, the mother tongue is most easy to learn. Full proficiency or mastery can be achieved in one’s own mother-tongue.
4. Best medium for acquiring knowledge - It is easy to understand in mother tongue and hence helps to acquire knowledge better.
5. It brings about Intellectual development - Reading, expressing oneself, acquisition of knowledge and reasoning are the instruments for bringing about intellectual development, and all of these are possible only through language, or the mother-tongue of the child.
6. Instrument of creative Self-Expression - We may be able to communicate in any language but creative self - expression is possible only in one’s own mother - tongue. This is clear from the fact that all great writers could produce great literature only in their own language.
7. Instrument of Emotional development - Mother tongue is the most important instrument for bringing about emotional development of the individual.
8. Instrument of Growth of the Pupils - Growth in their intellectual life, growth in knowledge, growth in ability to express themselves, growth in creative and productive ability-all stem from the mother tongue.
9. Source of original ideas - Original ideas are the products of one’s own mother tongue. On account of the facility of thought and expression, new and original ideas take birth and get shape only in one’s own mother tongue.
Thus, mother - tongue has tremendous importance in education and in the curriculum.
The mother tongue is an indispensable instrument for the development of intellectual, physical and moral aspects of education. Hobits, conducts, values, virtues, customs and beliefs are all shaped through the mother tongue. Needless to say, weakness in the mother tongue means a paralysis of all thought and power of expression
Mother tongue and a child’s education:
Early childhood care and Education, UNESCO(2007) points out the overlooked advantages of multilingual education in the early years. When children are offered opportunities to learn in their mother tongue, they are more likely to enroll and succeed in school and their parents are more likely to communicate with teachers and participate in their children’s learning.
Mother tongue based education, especially benefits disadvantaged groups, including children from rural communities who tends to have less exposure to an official language .They tend to stay in school taught, achieve better and repeat grades less often when they are taught in their mother tongue.
Importance of teaching mother - tongue to a child:
Mother - tongue is the language that a child learns in his mother’s lap. It is the language which the child learns almost without any conscious efforts on his part, i.e. he acquires while living in his own social group. Mother tongue plays a tremendously useful role in the education of a child. It has a great importance in the field of education.
The importance of mother tongue is due to the following reasons.
1. Medium of Expression and Communication - It is the most potent agent for mutual communication
2. Formation of Social Group - It is through language and specially through mother tongue, that individuals form themselves into a social organisation.
3. Easy to learn - Of all the languages, the mother tongue is most easy to learn. Full proficiency or mastery can be achieved in one’s own mother-tongue.
4. Best medium for acquiring knowledge - It is easy to understand in mother tongue and hence helps to acquire knowledge better.
5. It brings about Intellectual development - Reading, expressing oneself, acquisition of knowledge and reasoning are the instruments for bringing about intellectual development, and all of these are possible only through language, or the mother-tongue of the child.
6. Instrument of creative Self-Expression - We may be able to communicate in any language but creative self - expression is possible only in one’s own mother - tongue. This is clear from the fact that all great writers could produce great literature only in their own language.
7. Instrument of Emotional development - Mother tongue is the most important instrument for bringing about emotional development of the individual.
8. Instrument of Growth of the Pupils - Growth in their intellectual life, growth in knowledge, growth in ability to express themselves, growth in creative and productive ability-all stem from the mother tongue.
9. Source of original ideas - Original ideas are the products of one’s own mother tongue. On account of the facility of thought and expression, new and original ideas take birth and get shape only in one’s own mother tongue.
Thus, mother - tongue has tremendous importance in education and in the curriculum.
