THE LANGUAGE VITALITY AMONG THE DIFFERENT ETHNOLINGUISTIC GROUPS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN REGION XII: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY

Abstract

This investigation explores the experiences in terms of language interaction in mother tongue and description of language vitality of the tertiary ethnolinguistic tribal students in the selected Higher Education Institutions in Region XII. The primary objectives of the study are to determine the language vitality of the tribal language of the participants and the creation of language policies tailor-fit to the needs of the ethnolinguistic tertiary students. A qualitative-multiple case study design was employed to identify the cases. The sample size are the five cases who were purposely selected from the five major ethnolinguistic groups in Region XII area who are the Blaan from Sarangani, Manobo Arumanen from Kidapawan, Teduray from Sultan Kudarat, T’boli and Maguindanaon from Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. The experiences and the language vitality of the tribal language were examined using the validated in-depth interviews. Triangulation of the gathered data was done in each of the cases by interviewing the teachers of the students to verify and to confirm statements and claims. Data transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis resulting to four emergent themes on their language experiences: difficulty in sharing ideas, enhanced self-dignity, adjustment in terms of belongingness and discrimination of the tribal origin. The emergent themes for the description of language vitality included: maintaining the use of tribal language, intergenerational ethnic transmission, constant practice of ethnolinguistic language skills and acknowledgement of the institution for cultural minority. The similarities and differences of the cases were conducted using a cross-case analysis where it was revealed that the five cases were similar in terms of their difficulty in sharing ideas using their tribal language and the aspect on the enhanced self-dignity. With regards to the description of experiences of their language vitality, three of the five cases signified to have different description of language vitality from the rest of the cases.