The recent changes in the language policy triggered hot discussions among stakeholders, particularly Kazakh elite, who were against the trilingual education, stating how much role the mother tongue plays in children’s education and that this policy will disrupt their national(heritage) identity. This issue induced me to search for research studies which touched upon the advantages of the mother tongue education in students’ learning, some of them which are listed below.
The education in mother tongue has been the target of the many researchers (Iyamu & Ogiegbaen, 2007). Mother tongue or mother language is defined as the first language of a child and the language that acquired at home from older members of the child’s family (UNESCO, 2003, p.15). In some cases the mother tongue may imply the home language, the language which is used at home by the members of the family in a regular basis (UNESCO, 2008). It can be called family or native language as well.
UNESCO has maintained mother tongue based education in primary schools (UNESCO, 1953), highlighting the importance of the first language from the beginning of their school life since 1953. Moreover, in 1953 UNICEF declared “We take it as axiomatic … that the best medium for teaching is the mother tongue of the child” (UNESCO, 1953, p.1). Other researchers also suggest the advantages of mother tongue in children’s learning. For example, Kosonen (2005) state that children enroll and succeed more in school if the medium of instruction is in their home language. Interacting in mother tongue enhances the cognitive abilities of children. This statement was concurred by the socio-linguist, Thabo Ditsele (2009), he says in the Daily Maverick “that teaching younger children in a language that is not their mother tongue appears to disrupt cognitive ability and interferes with the learning process”. Many linguists believe that mother tongue education also helps children to acquire L2 easier as two languages support mutually (Marnewick, 2015). The use of students’ mother tongue can build a bridge between parents and the school as well. Parents feel more at home and will probably come to class when staff are open and can better help with homework when it is in their native language (De Jong, 2011, p. 34).
What is your opinion about this topic? What are the advantages of monolingual or bilingual education in primary school can you give from your experience or from readings?
NUWG 
Thank you, @bayanassylbek, for raising such an actual topic!
As for me, I very skeptical in terms of the trilingual primary education, particularly on the role of the English language. I don’t understand the need for teaching English from early ages, since the quantity and quality of the lessons play less important role in comparison to Kazakh and Russian. In addition to this, as you have mentioned above the proficiency in L1 is the key for the proficiency in L2. So, why not to firstly focus on only in L1 of children, rather than making them confused with three languages?!
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Nice work, Bayan. The reference list is a bit oddly formatted, but otherwise your writing is crystal clear. Thanks for the informative post! Thanks, also, for adding a question to prompt your peers. This can be a highly personal, subjective topic, so it is good to point out that we should be looking to evidence both in our experience AND from the academic world that tries to address these issues more objectively.
(5/5)
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