Chapter I
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Introduction
Education plays an important role in the life of an individual. Through education, individual could acquire knowledge and skills which may lead to experience success in life. The individual’s acquired knowledge and skills will be transferred and shared from generation to generation. However, an individual might find it difficult to transfer these knowledge and skills if his communication skill is limited.
People all over the world have their own language and these languages might greatly influence from the environment they are subjected. There are more than 6000 languages spoken by the 6 billion people in the world today – however, those languages are not evenly divided among the world’s population– over 90% of people globally speak only about 300 majority languages – the remaining 5700 languages being termed ‘minority languages’. These languages represent the ethno-linguistic diversity of our world and the rich cultural heritage embedded within cultural communities. Within the Philippines, language-in-education planning reflects issues associated with the needs of a culturally and linguistically diverse nation. The said country has major indigenous languages like Tagalog with 16,911,871 speakers, Waray (Waray-Waray) with 2,400,000 speakers, Cebuano(bisayans) with 14,713,220 speakers, Pampango with 1,897,378 speakers, Ilocano with 8,000,000 speakers, Pangasinan with 1,164,586 speakers, Hiligaynon with 7,000,000 Maguindanaon with 1,000,000 speakers, Bicolano with 3.500,000 speakers and Tausug with 651,000 speakers” empirical study of Diane Decker and Catherine Young about Bridging the Gap: The Development of Appropriate Educational Strategies for Minority Language Communities in the Philippines (Dekker and Young,2006 )
Language plays an important role in education. One environment that influences the use of language of an individual is the home. Through the help of the parents and other members of the...