Bilingual Mastery as Effectual Medium of Instruction in General Education Courses

Abstract

The medium of instruction used in the classroom has a vital role in the learning of the students. It is a big factor in accomplishing quality education upheld by any academic institution. In the Philippines where public education was introduced by the American colonizers in the early 1900s and augmented by books and instructional materials that were written in English, it is no longer surprising to see that until in contemporary time, most of the schools strictly promote the use of the English language more than Filipino (national language) in classroom lectures and discussions. This is regardless whether the course is major or general education (GE) such as Philippine History, Literature, Social Sciences, and Math. This research entitled “Bilingual mastery as effectual medium of instruction in General Education courses” aims to determine the preferences of students regarding medium of instruction in the teaching of GE courses, know the preferred medium of communication among college students and identify the effectuality of bilingual practices among GE teachers. The descriptive research design is used in the study. The researchers seek the cooperation of 60 student-respondents who are enrolled in GE courses in De La Salle Lipa (DLSL) in Batangas, Philippines. The respondents are asked to answer a survey questionnaire. Based on the results, DLSL college students prefer both English and Filipino as the media of instruction in GE classes. Most of the respondents claim that they can express and perceive learning in both languages. With this outcome, it can be recommended that academic institutions in the Philippines like DLSL review the policy on classroom-teaching language as well as allow the bilingual practices among teachers. Keywords - General Education, bilingual mastery, descriptive design, Philippines