ABSTRACT
Even after many decades of inquiry, researchers and policymakers continue to debate the following question: Does learning to read in the mother tongue or first language enhance children’s school achievement relative to that of children obliged to learn to read in a second language? 1 More than 40 years ago, specialists at a UNESCO conference stated their unequivocal support for the use of in other-tongue or vernacular education programs in a now-classic report:
It is axiomatic that the best medium for teaching a child to read is his mother-tongue [italics added]. Psychologically, it is the medium of meaningful signs that in his mind works automatically for expression and understanding. Sociologically, it is a means of identification among the members of the community to which he belongs. Educationally, he learns more quickly through it than through an unfamiliar medium.
(UNESCO, 1953, p. 11)