A study on
The Importance of the Mother Tongue for Children's Education and Intellectual
Development.
The Importance of Mother Tongue Education.
The mother tongue
according to this criterion, the mother tongue is the language one learns first, the
language one uses most, the language over which one has the best command.
The mother tongue is the language with which one identifies oneself.
Language ability is natural in humans.
The child's specific ability to learn its mother tongue is programmed into the brain in the
same way as the child is programmed to learn to walk.
The development that takes place in the child's linguistic competence during the
preschool years and school time has various dimensions. This is when the child learns
the language's fundamental grammar, pronunciation, sound system and morphological
system (inflecting the words correctly).
The child's development is defined by means of proficiencies or basic knowledge.
Basic knowledge is required to participate in conversation (conversational structures),
and to build a narration so the recipient will understand (textual structures).
This basic knowledge develops during the learning process into skills and control.
It is important that parents and teachers keep to one language to speak with the child
until the child is 3-5 years-old. Young children are not aware that there are different
languages, rather only about a certain way of talking, because they do not know how
the language code appears. It is to prevent code confusion and, thereby, confusion
between languages, that parents and other adults should keep to one language,
preferably the mother tongue, when they talk with the child.
Language is not just an instrument to name things but also a channel for a set of values
and a special way to look at the world, based on the culture to which the specific
language belongs. Language development hangs together with reasoning power,
development of identity and cultural affiliation.
Language is one of the most important factors with regard to cultural affiliation
and identity.
Our identity is formed with the help of other people in whom we mirror ourselves, and
based on this mirroring the child gets the answer to questions such as "Who am I?"
"Am I good enough?" Getting answers to these questions makes the child satisfied with
itself and feel secure. The ethnic background is considered to have a large effect on the
individual's learning. One's own mother tongue is crucial for learning and intellectual
development.
The right to keep and develop one's mother tongue is a democratic right for the
individual. Familiarity with their mother tongue helps children develop into bilingual, or
multilingual, individuals who have good preconditions for success in school. Research
has shown that it is easier to learn a new language if you have good knowledge of your
mother tongue at the same time. The languages can act as a support for each other.
This means that if a child can understand its mother tongue, it is easier for him or her to
learn corresponding concepts in the other language, and vice versa. It has also been
shown that good knowledge of the mother tongue contributes to success in studies at
school. Having access to two or more languages means that you can see the world
from different perspectives and this favours the command of abstract concepts and
intellectual development.
The mother tongue can also constitute a knowledge link between the generations and it
also gives children an intercultural competence. Intercultural competence involves
knowing and being able to use the cultural codes, norms and linguistic usage required
to communicate in different cultural contexts.
Thanks to the development of their mother tongue, children learn to compare different
languages; it is a way to deepen learning and reflection. Comparison also develops the
general learning competence in children learning to put things in relation to one another.
People, who live from childhood in contact with many cultures and languages, obtain
access to these in a completely different way than those who later in life meet a new
language through education. Their identity is fundamentally characterised by a
multicultural pattern, through them meeting different behaviours in separate
environments and by contact with others. By children having the opportunity to compare
and reflect on their different experiences, they can develop a deeper understanding for
different social and cultural contexts and better value their own experiences. In many
countries, there is an oral storytelling tradition.
When people lack words to express themselves, they use strategies such as rewording,
neologisms, images, mimicry and gestures.
Language is used as everyday language, school language, and official language.
As citizens, we need to be able to understand and take in spoken and written civic
information. By knowledge of the mother tongue, it is also possible to be a link between
the generations and cultures in the community in general.
Attitudes and sociocultural processes
Children's attitudes to their mother tongue are affected by the role the language is
allocated in the community and in school. Individual's development of an identity
depends on the possibility to accept and affirm his or her own cultural and general
experiences of life. Children want to fit in and adjust to what is socially acceptable.
Where the majority language is highly valued and their own mother tongue devalued,
the status differences are incorporated in the pupils' actions and attitude to their own
culture. Culture is not static, but rather something that people create through their daily
interactions and, thus, something in constant change. This is also supported in the
research that emphasises the importance of a well-developed mother tongue for other
learning. A strongly developed mother tongue can be seen as a very central
background factor for success in school.
The mother tongue is crucial for the development of the cultural identity.
The mother tongue plays an important role in children's social and personal
development. The mother tongue is acquired at home, in school and in social situations
outside the home. Initially, children learn the language's structure from their parents and
from people with whom they spend time. Children acquire a number of social, cultural
and family values through their mother tongue. Children use the language to express
their feelings during social contact and when communicating with others. Via the
language, social rules and cultural values are mediated. The mother tongue forms
children's social lives and behaviour. The mother tongue also plays an important role in
the development of self-esteem.
The early years in school are important for socialisation and development of the child's
character and personality. Children who have grown up in a bilingual and multicultural
environment experience two different types of language learning: first language learning
and second language learning.
The first contact with the language starts from birth with parents and close relatives; this
is called the mother tongue learning process. The process for second language learning
differs from learning the mother tongue, because second language learning takes place
in situations that are experienced by the child outside the home.
When children learn their mother tongue, they develop their language skills and
intellectual abilities, which in their turn strengthen their potential to learn a second
language. According to research that has been conducted, bilingual programs have a
positive effect on second language learning and the pupils' self-confidence. The mother
tongue plays and important role in developing children's problem solving, understanding
and analytical ability. Knowledge development in both of the languages has a positive
effect on children's possibilities to express their feelings, thoughts, interests and needs.
The level of the child's first language competence affects specific aspects of learning
the second language. Children who have a rich vocabulary in their mother tongue when
they start school think that it is easier to learn the language in school and they learn to
read and write earlier. Children learn the second language better if they have a high
level of competence in their mother tongue.
The mother tongue plays and important role in developing children's problem solving,
understanding and analytical ability. When children learn their mother tongue, they
develop their language skills and intellectual abilities, which in their turn strengthen their
potential to learn a second language. The mother tongue has a considerable role in
children's social and personal development. Thanks to the mother tongue, children's
social lifestyle and behaviour are also formed.
Sources:
Materials for the study have been taken from the research work of the researchers









Torpsten
August
Shanahan
Hundeide
Elmeroth
Calderon
Yazici
Genc
Glover