Hi,

It has significant importance. As a case you can take India, China, or Japan, where mother tongue is used in higher education. You can go for a compartive study also among countries which are haing their mother tongue as medium of instruction.

Sudev:

I do believe so as I have seen where interntional students who speak English as a second language have misunderstood their professors in lectures. I remember in one lecture, the professor said that we must choose articles from refereed journals and an international student asked: Do we look up the Sports Journals and pick out the referees?  My dissertation research can shed more light on this subject:

Curriculum Inclusiveness of a Workforce Education Graduate Programme to Culturally and Internationally Diverse Students: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=dissertations

Students' suggestions for improvements included diversifying faculty and content.

Best regards,

Debra

Hi Debra,

You have nice observation. We There many cases where students who speak English as second language put extra efforts and their performances on average as better then other class. Especially students from South Asian back ground are good example of this. Again in the end, it depends on nature of student, field of study, country of origion motivation, dadication, etc to get idea about the students' performance in any class.

Habib

I totally agree, using mother tongue in higher education has its positive outcomes because the students are able to understand better what they are stdudying. However Nawaf Abu-Khalaf has a point, without English language, there is limitation to access literature that are available in English than any other language.  In countries where English is not an official language, English can be used as a second language which will allow students to access materials which can translate in their own mother tongue if needed. But i can say that there are also many literatures in the Europeans Union official languages such as French, Spanish and German besides English. They also have their own literatures in their own language and their students are doing fine. All other countries have to use one of these languages as a second lamguage in order to access literature as we will say it is an official language. It is very difficult to force students to accept a language that they are not used to, I have seen how difficult it has been for students who are not using their own mother tongues or a familiar language that is known to them to write a good essay.

Also add one point that governments need to play their vital role in this case if they want their nation to study in mother language. Proper facilities and resources should be provided. One main resource is translation of leading books in the national language to facilitate students.  

Dear @Sudev, according to UNESCO research, "educators are increasingly convinced of the value of multilingual education, and studies show that children learn better in their mother tongue. Focus, a four-page report, highlights how emotional this whole

issue is and outlines the huge political and economic obstacles." The mother tongue dilemma is attached.

I do not agree with the following: ‘No place for mother tongue in higher education’! Second link brings the information about .

Finally, I find this question attached relevant to your thread.

http://www.unesco.org/education/education_today/ed_today6.pdf

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/no-place-for-mother-tongue-in-higher-education/article7069798.ece

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Do_you_support_the_view_that_using_mother_tongue_in_higher_education_yields_better_educational_outcomes_than_when_English_is_used_as_a_medium_of_instruction

Dear Ljubomir,

Thanks for attaching very useful links related to this discussion.

Habib

Dear Sudev,

You notice a very interesting and controversial issue. I have read with pleasure all the comments. As you can see part of debaters prefer only English language but other mother tongue.

In my country (Poland) the standard is teaching in mother tonque but students can choose a lot of subjects also in English. Sometimes we practices dual teaching. Student can listen the same subject  in two languages. Most of students travel and study in foreign countries because Poland is in European Union . They understand that knowledge of English is very important for them (in a such situation) and that's why like studing subjects in English.

Hello Sudev,

I believe that language could be a mediating or moderating factor for something like classroom learning. However, there are a whole host of variables to consider:

1) How culturally aware is the instructor?

2) What is the of the nature of the course?

3) How resourceful or innovative is the student in developing ways to moderate the language issue in and out of class?

4) What is the institution's policy toward non native speakers of the language? Do they have a good record of admitting students that have completed education programs in their second or third language? Are the support mechanisms in place to help students?

5) How does the national culture of the country wherein the host institution is situated effect learning, cultural tolerance and other social factors?

In my experience, education programs that are math based or utilize universal concepts such as objective oriented programming do not require exemplary language skills. Conversely in education programs where verbal and written skills are widely applied, language skills have a big impact on learning outcomes.

Daryn

Latin was once the universal teaching language in Europe. It was vital to speak Latin as well as your native tongue. If English is to remain the language of science, then all scientist must have excellent English skills. Equally, written and spoken English must be of high quality, devoid of colloquialisms and poor sentence structure. Scientific English should be treated as Latin was earlier.

Nevertheless, instruction in the native tongue is important as it is more inclusive. Science education should be easily accessed.

It might be better to consider where mother tongue is essential or I should say important to learn and where it is less of a necessary. It might be in early age that it is essential, but in higher education of science, the languages themselves are scientific irrespective of human languages.

Let us consider mathematics, all symbols, expressions, syntax and semantics, in general structures are created independently of human languages and so to learn them, mother tongue has little or no contribution.

Besides, local languages may not have equivalent and descriptive symbols and words for each scientific symbol and word that has grown independently of human languages for centuries.

Mother language is the basic language of the life. So it looks very bad if a person forget his / her mother language. But English is a common language. A student must be learnt English for his / her higher education. So I think both mother and English languages are important. 

The mother is a sysmbolic sound either from son or daughter prior to the arrival on this earth .Children receive first feedback from the mother ,it is this which become the sign of their nurture & the pathway for the growth of development both of body & the mind.

With this the fonding of the mother under an unique care for their children why moving her loving hand on the head,face & body help the significance of love which cannot be compared in any way in any language ,under the care of so much innocent & selfless love for which one would admire that Love is God & God is Love .

Mother with the growing of children start talking telling the stories which may help the children inculcating in them a feeling of joy -smiling & energy & passing in their mind the moral course & ethics for their growth for their future.It is this which may help for their career ,development ,sincerity & seriousness for the growth of career development .

Mother has very honesty play the part for their children with the hope & aspiration for their development it is upto the children that with passage of the age they live the life or they may change under the influence of their friends & other members of social fabrics.Ultimately it depends only on children in which way they want to fulfill the wish of the mother & greatfully respect mother s' milk .

Research point of view, importance is less... but in terms of presentation, in terms of  writing and expressing your research work or your views, it is important..... 

It is true that to be effective communication need to have 7Cs. In one line if the message goes direct to the heart of receiver, it will have long lasing impact. If mother tongue is not the medium of communication then the learner will keep on translating the received message and then it will be re-translated  before transmitting/communicating, which require extra energy and time. Hence I am of the opinion mother tongue has a significant role in the context.

What do you mean by Higher Education System? Would you elaborate a little bit about this idea. I want to know for sure your working definition of the system. 

Related to the second question, clearer understanding is not determined merely by the language we use in our communication. Understanding mathematical objects require different thinking skills than understanding science, and social studies. In addition, students' learning styles, students' perception on their teachers, and the subjects may also affect students understanding. In short, there are a lot of factors influencing students' understanding. I do not know for sure the impact factor of language used in the classroom toward students' understanding. But, I believe the impact is very small. 

Regards

better to use international language but if the students are local then local langauge can be used for some examples or explanantions

In India there is absolutely no scope of mother tongue in higher education in field of medical sciences, engineering and science. However, there is little scope in humanities subjects.

Mother tounge has very litle scope in higher education in India.

It is rather tough to negotiate medical, science & technology domains in mother tongue with some exceptions in humanities..