2. S. No. Contents Page No.
1 Acknowledgement 3
2 Certificate 4
3 Objective 5
4 Material required 5
5 Action plan 6
6 “Mother Language” 7-11
7 The last lesson 12
8 The present scenario 13
9 Questionnaire 14-16
10 Report on questionnaire 17-19
11 Inference 20-21
12 Conclusion 22
13 Student reflections 23
14 Application and future scope 24
15 Log Table 25
16 Bibliography 26
3. Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my English
teacher, Ms. Priyanka Sikri as well as our principal Mrs. Sangeeta Bhatia,
who gave me this golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic ‘Mother Language’, which also helped me in doing a lot of research
of work and I came to know about opinions of different people on mother
language.
Secondly, I would also like to thank my family and
friends who helped me in finalizing this project within the time limit.
4. Certificate
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Dhruv Goyal, a student of class XII-A, has
successfully completed the research on the project ‘Mother Language’
under the guidance of Ms. Priyanka Sikri during the session 2021-2022 in
partial requirement of C.B.S.E, Delhi for award for senior school
certificate in 2022. It has been found to be satisfactory and here by
approved for submission.
Name of teacher
Signature of teacher
Name of examiner
Signature of examiner
5. Objective
To learn about importance of mother language by drawing a conclusion
from a survey.
Material Required
NCERT Flamingo book class XII, Google forms, Youtube
6. Action Plan
The entire project has been fulfilled following different steps and consultations with
teachers, experts and peers and with reference to print and visual media. The
project aims at achieving a clear understanding of the present scenario of
diminishing the importance of mother tongue in our life. For the project, I read and
critically evaluated our lesson “The Last Lesson” and took out the theme of “Mother
Language”. I made a questionnaire using google form, and sent it to my friends and
family through WhatsApp and Instagram, and collected their opinions about the
topic. Along with that, I have acquired a good proficiency in general English
speaking and methods of interacting with people. For the project, I carried out
several researches especially the Education Policy of India that suggests the
importance of mother tongue learning and communication to know about the steps
we have to take to protect our own regional language. Then I analysed the data
collected from the questionnaire and came up to a conclusion.
9. To suffice human’s social need for more effective communication the language was
created. The extremely complex or versatile code, i.e. language, is used to express
our thoughts and experiences to other people. This makes language a natural
phenomenon that is learnt by a human at an early age for the desire to express
themselves to others. The mother language is an essential aspect in one’s
upbringing as it shapes the way they perceive the world and the way one expresses
themselves to others. Babies tend to imitate what they see or hear. Infants are fast
learners as they acquire their mother language by imitating their parents. It is
easier for children to learn languages in their growing years than in comparison to
adults learning a new language. Having a strong grip on one’s mother language also
helps in creating a strong foundation for learning additional languages. Children are
capable of learning languages other than their native language while they are young
by transferring the different structure of a language to other languages. If a child
learns the grammar of their mother language well, then they will be able to guess
the meaning of the words in different languages easily.
10. Since people from different regions have varying mother languuages, that is
why many institutions and parents teach a second language to children so that
they can communicate with more people, without any language barriers. A
person might be able to converse in multiple languages, but if they are spoken to
in their mother language, then a sense of familiarity prevails over them.
One’s mother language is a very potent tool that helps in advancing the learning
skill in people. Children develop the skill of communication by conversing with
their parents in their native language. And this skill of communication becomes
paramount in school or institutional level setting for participating in class.
Learning in school plays an important role in accentuating the use of mother
language. Similarly, when parents spend time communicating in the native
language for discussing matters and telling stories to children, it helps in
developing their terminology and concepts. Thus, children are able to follow
instructions and can learn effortlessly, resulting in educational success.
11. The native language starts shaping a person’s thoughts and emotions
soon after they are born in their subconscious because a person first
hears it in their womb. The personal and cultural identity of an
individual is developed because of their mother language. By
understanding oneself, their surroundings and their history, personal
identity can be built.
It is sad to see that mother language is losing its importance in
comparison to some popularly used languages like English. Since in
education as well as international business, English is used, that is why
people are more encouraged to learn it because of the existing
competition. However, the mother language remains an inseparable
part of one’s existence as it is said to be one’s true vehicle of wit. To
preserve the cultural fabric, people must always strive to preserve their
mother language at any cost.
12. THE LAST LESSON
The story “The Last Lesson” converses the theme of mother language. Here the French language of
the people of Alsace and Lorraine was forcefully taken away by the conquerors, the Germans and
enforced their language, German on them. So the lesson discusses the importance and value of
mother language to the citizens of a country.
The lesson raises many questions about one’s language, culture and individual freedoms. We can
hear silent protests and attempts of repressions through out the story against the hijacking of their
mother language and imposing a foreign language to them. The Prussians in the story have declared
through the order from Berlin that their whole purpose was not only to rule the territory but also to
reign over the mind of the people by imposing their language on them. The story enforces the fact
that we value something more when we lose it. That is what we see here with the people of Alsace
and Lorraine. They assembled in the last class of M. Hamel to pay tribute to their language which is
no more theirs.
13. Present scenario in our life
The present situation existing around us is something like what has been
discussed in the story. The mother tongue of ours is getting forgotten
even at the primary stage of our education then no need of thinking about
the higher education sectors. Even though human brain is capable of
learning multiple languages, our educational system ignores to extend
the due respect to our own mother tongues.
The language imposed on us
through educational medium, technology, science, commerce and
globalisation started overpowering us even in our domestic situations. I
fear one day it will thrash our mother tongue so the need of the hour is it
should be protected among ourselves because it is part of our culture and
parcel of our life.
20. Inference
As per the opinions of different people, I have inferred and noted some points as follows:-
◦ As per question 2, 3 and 4, we can see that 54% of the people want to speak their mother
language, but with family, 64% people always and 23 percent most of the time speak in their
mother language, showing that families support speaking of mother language. On the other
hand, only 10% people speak their mother language in their offices/schools/etc. showing that
English has overtaken all other languages as a world formal language. We also see that 18%
never and 13% occasionally speak their mother language in the professional space, which is a
great concern. After further research, I found that these 31% people are mostly children and
teenagers, which shows that the current older generations still have affection for their mother
language, whereas the present generation is shifting more towards English.
◦ The above inference shows that there is huge amount of societal pressure on us to show
ourselves as good than we actually are in front of the society. And, from question 8, we get that
44% of people face societal pressure, because of which they have to speak English, even if they
wish to speak their mother language. Due to this, many of us cannot express ourselves properly
and cannot be ourselves. Question 5 shows that most of us are not inferior to converse in their
mother language, but 18% do, rather we should be proud of speaking our mother language even
on international television, to which 82% of people agrees to as per question 6.
21. ◦ From question 9, we get that when people are thinking or speaking
completely emotionally, then their true self reflects and 54% of people
chose their mother language, which clearly tells us that even if we speak
English in professional spaces, we will originally be, who we really are.
And, question 10 tell us that 82% of people are very strongly connected
to their mother language.
◦ We can clearly see that since a digital boom has taken place, everyone is
being shifted to online work/learning which leads to further ignorance
of our mother language. Majority of the people agree to this as we can
see in question 11.
◦ According to question 12, one half of the people think that the status of
their mother language is appropriate in their country, while the other
half thinks opposite. But regardless, 85% of all people think that we
should preserve our mother language, as per question 13.
22. Conclusion
In conclusion, I observed that it is too late that we take certain
fruitful steps to protect our own mother languages. For that we
have to protect our own mother language from now. For that
we have to take certain steps like the suggestions in the NEP
2020 compulsory primary education in one’s mother language,
providing even complex science and technological texts in
one’s own language. People should not be inferior to converse
in their mother language, our mother language is our pride.
23. Student Reflections
◦ WHAT HAPPENED: For the project I read the story and it's critical
analysis, and interviewed some of my friends & family and asked about
the various opinions about mother language and I inferred all of the
results.
◦ SO WHAT: This help me to understand the theme of the story and can
correlate it with real life situations. It also provides me with
opportunity to interact in target language with peers. This type of
exposure will enrich our listening and speaking ability.
◦ AND NOW WHAT: I prepared a detailed report of the study and
findings and get ready in record for a viva.
24. Application and Future Scope
From all this data, we can conclude that people have different opinions
when asked about their mother language. Most of them love their mother
language, some of them doesn’t. Some of them fear that their mother
language is not being respected to the extent it should be, and it is
important to conserve mother language. Some steps can be taken to
preserve our mother language; teaching and learning in mother
language, using digital and social media outlets in mother language and
insisting on speaking our mother language.
This data can be utilized to know about the opinion
of people on mother language in a country, and take certain steps to
preserve it.
25. Log Table
S. No. Date Day Work done
1 16.01.2022 Sunday Selecting type of project and topic, collection of data,
making of questionnaire and sharing it
2 17.01.2022 Monday Inferencing the data from form and concluding,
making the presentation for project
3 18.01.2022 Tuesday Writing and adding the reflections and future scope in
the presentation
