Mother Tongue–Based Multilingual Education: The Case of Cervantes District

Abstract

Since the implementation of the Mother Tongue–Based Multilingual Education (MTB – MLE) in the Philippines began, issues relative to it have been started to be documented in various works of literature. This case study explored the implementation of the MTB – MLE in Cervantes District, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. In particular, it sought to determine the issues encountered by MTB – MLE teachers, the perceived effects of the issues, and their coping mechanisms for mitigating the issues. Through thematic analyses of the extended texts, the study found the following issues: (1) a mismatch of teachers` and learners` dialects to the language of the book, (2) a mismatch of teachers` dialects to the dialect of the community, (4) dearth of instructional materials, and (5) irrelevance of available MTB – MLE books to the learners ‘dialect. Perceived effects of the issues include the poor delivery of classroom instruction, the poor performance of learners, and confusion. Teachers overcome these by employing the following mechanisms: (1) asking for help from colleagues and stakeholders, (2) translating unfamiliar terms to the dialect of the learners, and (3) improvisation of instructional materials written in the MTB – MLE. With these, a Framework was developed to guide MTB – MLE teachers in the implementation of the said program in the District. The paper advanced the need for teachers to attend faculty development activities to cope better with the challenges they encounter. Teachers may foster their relationship with the stakeholders to implement the program better. Teachers and future researchers may improvise contextualized instructional materials consistent with the learners` MT. Finally, the developed framework may be validated and utilized by teachers in implementing the same.