DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEXTUALIZED TRILINGUAL INSTRUCTIONAL CONVERSATION MATERIALS FOR AGTA- DUMAGAT PUPILS

Abstract

"Our language is like a pearl inside a shell. The shell is like the people that carry the language. If our language took away, then that would be like a pearl that is gone. We would be like an empty oyster shell". – Yurranydjil Dhurrkay, Galiwin'ku, North East Arnhem Land, 2013- Language is the outward expression of an accumulation of experience and learning shared by a group of people over centuries of development. It is not simply a vocal symbol; it is a dynamic force that shapes how a man views at the world, his thinking about the world, and his life philosophy. Knowing his maternal language helps a man know himself; being proud of his language helps a man be proud of himself (Ottawa, 2010). People use language to express their thoughts, beliefs, values, and even their culture and traditions. Language extinction means a part of the cultural patrimony of humanity is lost. For linguists, language extinction means an opportunity is a loss for the manifestation of a better understanding of the human faculty of language. Like grasses on the plains during a wildfire, language is only one component of the grass plants; culture is the root, and it can survive the burned top grass's loss. (Sanchez, 2011) Language enables information to transcend time; it is the key to explaining how societies function, where we come from and who we are, how our culture works, and how we define the world around us. Every existing language epitomizes the distinctive cultural wisdom and legacy of a culture and its people. A language expresses the realities of people, their communities, and cultures. They indicate one's membership to a particular group; as either an inclusive or exclusive factor (Mori Language Commission n.d.). More importantly, the world loses the cultural and knowledge system that is incorporated into the language. Language is intertwined with human culture and cultural identity at the levels of doing, knowing, and being. A community's worries about language loss must be taken seriously because the cultural practice embedded in a language cannot be translated into a new language without authenticity loss. Cognitive frameworks that represent the culture's interpretations of reality are embedded in the culture's language. Education empowers people in all respects of life. The Philippine government adheres to the significant role of education as embodied in its 1987 Constitution. It envisions all citizens, even the marginalized and indigenous communities, to obtain a quality education. Hence, Education For All (EFA) was launched in response to society's educational needs and demands. Education is a valuable tool to improve people's situation by pursuing economic, social, and cultural development. Education is a means for employment; it is a way for socially marginalized people to uplift themselves out of poverty. Meanwhile, indigenous people, communities, and nations form the non-dominant sectors, determined to preserve, develop, and transmit their ancestral territories and ethnic identity to the young. They are characterized as small populations relative to their country's dominant culture, possess their language, cultural traditions, own land, and territory, and have self identify as indigenous (Cobo, 2014). Intently, indigenous education is education for indigenous people. It focuses on teaching formally and non-formally indigenous knowledge and content within their respective domains. It focuses on ways of knowing, seeing, and thinking, transmitted orally to future generations. Indigenous learning focuses on learning history, culture, and values and increases awareness and appreciation of aboriginal peoples' experiences (Safary, 2013). Connectedly, the Philippines is multicultural that has many diverse indigenous groups with rich and unique cultures, learning systems, and languages. Historically, the education and cultural needs of indigenous communities have not been fully prioritized by the government. Through the enactment of Republic Act 8371, the indigenous peoples' rights act (IPRA) of 1997 supports the 1987 Philippine Constitution that the State shall strengthen non-formal, formal, and indigenous learning systems and independent learning and out-of-school study programs, particularly those that respond to community needs. Hence, the concept of contextualization goes down on the idea that pupils learn best when experienced in the schoolroom have meanings and importance in their lives. The things students do and associated with them are the learnings that last a lifetime. Applying the rule for learning by applying to learn and manipulative learning is also a must in executing localization/ indigenization realized. It helps students and teachers comprehend concepts by relating and presenting the lesson in the context of the prevailing local environment, culture, and resources. Hence, tasks are becoming more real-life, customized, and appropriate, recording indigenous knowledge as an invaluable national resource. The Agta-Dumagat people from Barangay San Marcelino in General Nakar, Province of Quezon, are the Agta Negrito groups found in Luzon. They are seashore dwellers. They inhabit and reside along shorelines where they could easily access marine foods such as fishes and seashells; they stay for a while in a place, build their temporary house and get their food from natural resources around them through hunting and gathering crops in the wild. The researcher finds the Agta-Dumagat language as a unique language. Their culture is vibrant. They have their language used among themselves; given the pressure of mainstream society, their language is slowly being overtaken. Nowadays, they face language extinction because they do not have the privilege of using their mother tongue outside their community. Their language is slowly being forgotten because children are no longer learning it. Tagalog, which they use to convey with their benefactors from the lowland, is inexorably altering their mother tongue by incorporating new words. The Agta-Dumagat pupils use the Tagalog language in their schools since their teachers are not native speakers; they experience problems in acquiring the English language because of many factors; based on the researcher's experience with the pupils, they cannot communicate appropriately with the lowlanders and have a hard time speaking the English language. There is a need to revive the fast vanishing Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices of the Indigenous Peoples. Conversational skills are essential for the pupils to do self-expression, check what they already have, and communicate appropriately with the people outside their community. It was, thus, imperative for the researcher to undertake this study. To critically analyze the communication and conversation problems from a specific indigenous people's perspective to develop a contextualized instructional material for English acquisition, particularly for an elementary level that may empower the teachers teaching the Agta-Dumagat pupils in particular. This research's instructional materials will make the indigenous learners' education system relevant to their socio-cultural and structural context. Foreshadowed Problem The study's central problem is "What contextualized trilingual instructional conversation materials for Agta-Dumagat pupils in San Marcelino Elementary School, General Nakar, Province of Quezon be developed?" Specifically, this study pursued answers to the following questions: 1. How may the lived experiences of teachers in the Agta-Dumagat community be described in terms of: 1.1. language barriers among indigenous pupils; 1.2. consistency of parental participation in the school activities, and 1.3. the community support system in school. 2. What are the conversational challenges that Agta-Dumagat pupils need to address to cope with the Department of Education's prescribed competencies? 3. What contextualized trilingual instructional material for the Agta-Dumagat pupils of San Marcelino Elementary School, General Nakar, Province of Quezon, can be developed to help them learn the English language while preserving their ethnicity?