School-Based Linguistic Deprivation Limits Learning

Abstract

This Policy Note examines how school-based linguistic deprivation, defined as the mismatch between learners’ home languages and the languages of instruction (LOIs), affects educational outcomes in the Philippines. It finds that improved language matching reduces linguistic deprivation and is associated with higher student achievement in Mathematics, Filipino, and English. In contrast, estimates based solely on whether schools switched LOIs show little evidence of systematic learning gains. Furthermore, this Note emphasizes that linguistic deprivation acts as a “tax on learning”, reducing learning productivity, with the most significant effects observed in Mathematics. Evidence from the implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education demonstrates that it reduced learning losses by improving language matching. However, further gains are possible through better alignment of LOIs with students’ linguistic profiles. Thus, the authors recommend designing, implementing, and evaluating language-in-education policies based on their ability to reduce linguistic deprivation. This should be coupled with promoting context-sensitive instructional approaches that strengthen classroom communication and improve learning.