Mother Tongue as Medium of Instruction for Effective Communication and Science Learning at Elementary Level

In most of the developed countries, science is being taught in the native language. However, the situation is not the same in other countries. This quasi-experimental study was designed to find the effect of communication using native language on student's learning of science subject at the elementary level. The sample of the study consisted of 50 Pushto speaking female students of Swabi KPK, Pakistan. The results of the study indicated that in the post-test, scores of the experimental and control groups were significantly different. The study concluded that in fostering student's science learning, teaching science through mother tongue is found effective at the elementary level as it enables students to communicate with teachers and other fellow students and enables them to discuss ideas, experiences, and problems faced during the learning process. It is suggested that this investigation should be repeated in other districts where pupils do not perform well in other science subjects.