Ethnomathematical and Cultural Practices of Tribal Community in the Philippines from a Sociolinguistic Lens

Educational inclusivity and cultural sensitivity are essential elements that academic institutions across the globe must cultivate, as emphasized commonly in each institution’s vision and mission statement. This paper links the ethnography and sociolinguistics fields by exploring how ethnomathematical terms and native language play an essential role in their cultural practices and traditions. Leveraging an ethnographic-developmental research design, several knowledge systems with lexical equivalents have surfaced. These have to do predominantly with their counting system, ciphering, measuring, ordering, classifying, inferring, and modelling practices. Findings, therefore, reveal that understanding learners’ background as the starting point of educational delivery leads to the preservation of the tribe’s identity and customs. In fact, the comprehensive footage of their scientific models and lexicon in both the native tongue and L2 guarantees that these ethnic practices are preserved for future applications to uphold their cultural inheritance. The authors recommend that an enhanced delivery of educational services to the IP learners is essential. The implementation of L1 as a medium of instruction should not be limited to primary grades, but should also be used for all IP learners, likewise, to recognize and preserve their unique linguistic features. Ample resource allocation is necessary to deliver fair, high-quality government services to native peoples worldwide.