FRANCISCAN COLLEGE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION,

BAYBAY, LEYTE, INCORPORATED

6521 BAYBAY, CITY, LEYTE
GRADUATE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

An Action Research

(Chapter 1: Introduction- Chapter 4: Methodology)

CHALLENGES FACED OF CONCEPCION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN THE

IMPLEMENTATION OF MOTHER TONGUE AS MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION AND

COPING METHODS

Submitted by:

BERNADETTE M. FORNIS

Masterand

AY: 2018- 2019

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. THE RESEARCH INTRODUCTION

Rationale of the Study

Significance of the Study

Statement of the Problem

Objective of the Study

Scope and Limitation

II. FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework

III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

IV. METHODOLOGY

Measurement of Variable

Respondents of the Study

Research Instrument to be used

Design and Procedure

Data processing

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION

Rationale of the Study

“Language is not everything in education, but without language, everything in nothing in

education.” (Wolff 2006)

It has been always the youth that is considered as the future of the country that is why it is

very important to give them quality and excellent education for them to develop to its fullest

capacity. The failure of education mirrors the inability of the nation to perform best through other

countries.

For the past decades the Philippines believed that the best way to learn reading and writing

fast id through the use of English Language. That is why the country adopted English as the MOI/

medium of instruction in all level of educational phase. (Ladder 2009) Policy on Bilingual

Education was first introduced by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports, on 1987. This

was followed by the implementation of the Lingua Franca Education Project which gave choices

from 3 widely spoken languages- Tagalog, Ilocano, and Cebuano. (Mocada 2009)

A study made by the Summer Institute of Linguistics has found that although good teachers

play an important role in good early education, the use of Mother Tongue has been proven effective

in making the students understand the lesson better. (Leysa 2009)

At present Mother Tongue- Base Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is an educational

program that has been implemented as part of the K-12 program of the Philippines, in which

Mother Tongue is use as MOI/ medium of instruction in all subjects (except English and Filipino)

for Grades 1-3 in all Public Elementary School in the country. This is based on local and

international researches that children end up better thinkers and learners with the use of MTB-

MLE as medium in primary education. It also encourages active participation by the children in
the learning process because they understand what is being discussed and what is being asked to

them. (Gallego&Zubiri, 2010)

With regard to its implementation the researcher come up with the study of determining

the challenges faced of the teachers and the schools in the implementation of Mother Tongue as

Medium of Instruction and coping methods. It is based on her personal observation and experience

being a teacher. The researcher aims to know deeper and find out what these problems are.

Furthermore, the researcher also focusses on listing varied coping methods done by the teachers

in dealing with these challenges.

Significance of the Study

This research study is very relevant in the educational setting since it will be a guide for all

individual who are involve in the educational process.

In general sense, the researcher has high hopes that the findings of this study will be use

and could give benefits especially to the teachers handling Grades 1- 3 and to other entities

included in the educational process.

Statement of the Problem

The research problem focusses on the challenges faced and coping methods in the

implementation of Mother Tongue as medium of instruction for grades 1-3 in Concepcion

Elementary school, Hilongos South District, Division of Leyte.

Specifically aims to answer the following:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents?

1.1 Profile of the respondents

 Age

 Sex

 Civil Status

 Nationality

 Year in Service
2. What are the challenges faced by the teachers in using Mother Tongue as medium of instruction

for grades 1-3 in Concepcion Elementary School?

3. What are the coping methods applied to solve the challenges faced by the teachers in using

Mother Tongue as medium of instruction for grades 1-3 in Concepcion Elementary School,

Hilongos South District, Division of Leyte.

Objective of the Study

This study aims to:

 Determine the challenges faced by the Teachers handling MTB-MLE in the

implementation of Mother Tongue as Medium of Instruction.

 Provide solutions and alternatives to the occurring problems about Mother Tongue as a

MOI.

 Give appropriate coping methods and approaches in using Mother Tongue as MOI in

classroom discussion.

Scope and Limitation

This research will focus on the Challenges faced in the implementation of Mother Tongue

as medium of instruction and coping methods of Concepcion Elementary School. The target

number will be 100% or 6 of the total number of teachers handling Grades 1-3 in the said location.

The coverage of this study is only for the teachers of Concepcion Elementary School.

School Year 2018- 2019, and their performance on teaching using Mother Tongue as medium of

instruction.
 CHAPTER 2:

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

To provide anchor and support for the present investigation, the following theories are

cited:

The behaviorist theory of B.F. Skinner (1950) predicted that any human behavior could be

learned through a process of stimulus, response, and positive or negative reinforcement

(sometimes abbreviated as S-R-R). The object was to make the desired behavior a habit, performed

spontaneously. According to behaviorists this process applies to the way people learn language as

well as other human behavior. Relating this to the study, the behaviorist theory simply explains

how children acquire their first language which is the Mother Tongue.

However, Linguist Noam Chomsky (1970) theorized that the observable data for language

acquisition did not favor a behaviorist approach. Children in every language and cultural

community learn to understand and speak at a remarkably early age. They are able to produce

proper and unique/ novel language even in infancy but they are not merely mimicking language

patterns they hear. They are creating language themselves.

Chomsky called this innate ability to acquire and use language a Language Acquisition

Device (LAD). He argued that the stages of development that are required for children to develop

their cognitive abilities in other areas do not apply to learning language. They are using language

– arguably the most abstract symbolic system they will encounter in their lives – appropriately and

expressively, if not maturely, by the age of 5. Chomsky’s theory led to an entirely new approach

in the field of linguistics, generative phonology and transformational grammar. This new approach

to linguistic analysis focused almost entirely on the abstract structure of individuals’ native

language. Chomsky was not as concerned with the actual language being spoken as with the

unspoken but understood rules that made the utterances appropriate or correct to native speakers.

Nor did Chomsky study how people acquire a second language.

Other cognitive scientists disagreed with Chomsky’s LAD hypothesis. They considered the

human being’s ability to acquire language as merely a component of highly complex cognitive

structures. R.C. Anderson (1983) developed the Adaptive Control of Thought (ACT) model that
has been influential in studies of cognitive development and primary language instruction. In

Anderson’s theory, intelligence is simply the gathering together and fine-tuning of many small

units of knowledge that in total produce complex thinking. “The whole of language learning ability

is not more than the sum of its parts, but it has a lot of parts!” Relating to the study, when

Chomsky’s theory tells that children produce sounds and language on their own, Anderson’s

theory simply presents that children’s primary language is not just merely producing sounds but

also included is the cognitive ability of children when producing sounds. With that, children really

learned to think first-hand using their primary language.

Where Chomsky decided to focus on the deep structure and abstractions of language

acquisition, another group of linguists decided to focus on how the role of language as it is actually

spoken contributes to learning another language. Also, where Krashen (1970) argued that

“comprehensible input” is the necessary and sufficient source of successful language acquisition,

other linguists argued that comprehensible input may be necessary but not sufficient.

Social interactionists, like Gass (2002), focused on the language learning context and “how

learners use their linguistic environment (in particular, conversational interactions) to build their

knowledge of the second language”.

Vygotsky (1990) emphasized the role of the social environment (that is, the other people

who interact with the child on child’s learning. If, as Vygostky argues, everything is first learned

socially (that is, from someone else), then what is the role of social interaction in the language

acquisition process?

Swain (1990) argues that “comprehensible input” in meaningful conversations is also

necessary for a successful second language acquisition. When learners talk in the second language

they notice a “gap”, a difference, between their knowledge of the second language and what they

want to/ need to say. Having noticed the gap, they are now predisposed to modify their speech, to

pay attention the structure and grammar. At that point they can begin to think about the language

– a metalinguistic activity – and begin to internalize the way the second language works.

Her research has provided ample evidence for the notion that second language learners

learn the second language from each other and from the teacher in actual interactions in the second

language as they receive feedback from their partners. Yet, a strong foundation in the first language
strengthens their comprehensible input. With that, it just justifies that children must learn from

their first language first before learning another language.

But, in accordance with its implementation, there were still problems encountered by the

teachers which have great impact on the students’ learning.

 CHAPTER 3:

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Problems Faced and Coping

Methods done by the Teacher Effective MTB-MLE
in using MT as medium of Instruction
instruction

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

 Teacher’s Teaching
Methods and Strategies
 Expertise and trainings in
using Mother Tongue as
medium of instruction

Intervening Variables

Figure1. Conceptual Framework of the Study

The diagram shows that in the implementation of MTB-MLE or in the use of MT as

medium of instruction, there were problems that the teachers faced and its possible solutions they

applied to solve these problems. Problems Encountered and Coping Methods serve as the

independent variables while Effective MTB-MLE Instruction serve as the dependent variable. The

teacher’s teaching methods/ strategies and his/ her expertise in using MT as medium of instruction

may serve as intervening variables.

 CHAPTER 4:

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Using a language unfamiliar to the learner is often cited as a barrier for communication and

education. The best way towards school success is the use of a language common to both the

teacher and the students. This entails the use of the native tongue as the medium for learning,

starting with what the students know and making use of what they already have. A number of

studies have already shown that academic competence can be achieved by starting instruction with

L1, with the continuous strengthening of the L1 foundation followed by the gradual transition to

L2 (or L3). This is the main premise of the mother tongue-based multi-lingual education. (Gallego

& Zubiri, 2010)

Thomas and Collier’s 1997 study on the academic performance of language minority

students in the United States shows that academic instruction using L1 accompanied by the gradual

transition to L2 is the predictor for long-term academic success. Perhaps another important part of

their research is their prism model which illustrates the drive for L2 learning in school. The prism

model consists of four interrelated parts: linguistic, academic, cognitive, and at the very core,

sociocultural. If these areas are strengthened and nourished, a student would effectively learn

his/her L2 alongside the improvement on his/her academic performance. In terms of evaluating an

effective educational program for language minority students, the researchers stress the importance

of L1 instruction, good teaching strategies, interaction with the native speakers of their L2, and

finally, a supportive sociocultural environment.

Aside from Thomas and Collier (1997), Walter & Trammell (2010) investigated the

effectiveness of MTBMLE in the Boyo Division of North West Province, Cameroon. As expected,

there was an improvement in the academic performance of students taught in their mother tongue,

Kom. As the project is still in its incipient stage, the full effect of MTBMLE on the school success

of the students is yet to be seen. What is important to note here is that only three years after the

implementation of the project, we already witness “significant gains in educational efficiency for

children in the experimental schools in all subjects”

 The effectiveness of MTBMLE as an educational program is indeed undeniable. The next

question then would be on how Filipino students, given the multi-lingual situation of the country,

perform with this kind of approach to education. (Gallego & Zubiri, 2010)

Similar to the Kom Experimental Mother Tongue Education Project of Cameroon,

Dumatog & Dekker (2003) and Duguiang & Dekker (2010) wrote about the Lubuagan Project in

Kalinga, Philippines, in which it modeled a system of teaching using the mother tongue. Lubuagan

is located in the Cordilleran Mountains of Kalinga and has a population of 10,183 residents

according to the 2007 Philippine Census. Schools in Lubuagan followed a western approach as

most of its educators stem from missionaries. This approach eventually resulted to the disjunction

in relationship between teachers and students. Utilizing a standard design with a control and

experimental group, the researchers attempted to determine whether mother tongue-based

education would improve the education system of Lubuagan. Scores in five domains (Reading,

Math, Filipino, Makabayan and English) were analyzed and compared. Higher percentages in

scores across all domains of the experimental group (taught in L1) indicates empirical evidence of

the effectivity of the mother-tongue based program. Hence, it has been found that the mother

tongue is indeed a valid bridge or transitional medium of instruction. The realization of the

advantages of this approach spearheaded the initiation of other similar programs. Several factors

contributed to the success of the whole Lubuagan project, but perhaps of great importance is the

invaluable sociocultural support the project has received from the community.

In a macro-perspective, we take a look at the whole education system of the Philippines.

Gonzales (1996) describes the situation of Philippine education as a result of its multilingual

background and the implementation of its diverse policies. It stems from the unequal status of the

two languages used in the bilingual policy – Filipino and English. In terms of resources, materials

and development, the two languages as media of instruction are highly disparate. Realistically

speaking, the bilingual policy is enacted as the separation of the use of Filipino and English in

distinct domains. Filipino is used in arts and humanities subjects while English is used in science

and mathematics. The vernacular assists the use of these two languages by providing a bridge or a

transitional medium of instruction. It has been mentioned that the Bilingual Project is not a very

effective educational policy program as the academic performance of the students was found to be
mediocre especially in the areas of science and mathematics. Thus, educators and policy makers

sought alternatives to this approach, and the MTBMLE is found to be an excellent option.

With MTBMLE, students are first taught to read and write in their L1, and subjects such

as mathematics and science are to be taught using the L1 as well. Continuously building a strong

foundation of the students’ L1, Filipino and English, as separate subjects, are introduced. Skills in

speaking, writing, and reading will be focused on. Gaining enough proficiency in their L2/L3,

these languages are then used as the primary media of instruction. MTBMLE rests on the premise

that the students can transfer the skills and knowledge they gained from their intensive L1

instruction to their L2 (Filipino and English) provided they get sufficient training and education.

Thus, effective L2 learning is ensured alongside the improved academic performance of the

students (Nolasco, 2009).

Awid (2010) reports the current efforts concerning MTBMLE in the Philippines. Advocacy

meetings among the Department of Education, local government units, universities, and the private

sector held in various municipalities are being conducted. Moreover, strategic planning,

conferences, advocacy and mobilization, teacher training, and materials development are ongoing.

As Malone (in Nolasco, 2009) notes, there are several essential factors determining the long-term

success of the MTBMLE program, namely (1) preliminary research; (2) awareness-raising and

mobilization; (3) setting a standard writing system; (4) materials development; (5) accessible

reading materials; (6) training of MLE staff; (7) evaluation of the learners’ academic progress; (8)

cooperation among agencies; and (9) supportive political environment (pg. 16). Most of these are

already underway. However, the program faces several challenges such as those concerning

resources, materials, and curriculum, as well as several other factors internal to the policy makers

and school administrators (Awid, 2010). However, the community also poses an immense

challenge to the program. As MTBMLE is largely community-based, building a supportive

environment is a priority. The family and the immediate community are the main stakeholders in

this, and thus, awareness-raising at the grassroots level should be given of chief importance. As

mentioned, a lot has already been done for the MTBMLE in such a short time. However, very few

efforts were done regarding the attitudes and perception of families and the community towards
the program. In this study, we take a look at the challenges MTBMLE is facing in its immediate

milieu – the home.

 CHAPTER 5:

METHODOLOGY

A. Measurement of Variables

The two main variables of the study are the problems faced and coping methods done by

the teacher in using Mother Tongue as a medium of instruction and the effective MTB-MLE

instruction. The problems encountered and coping strategies serve as the independent variables

and the effective MTB-MLE instruction serve as the dependent variable.

For clarity, the following terms used in the study are conceptually and operationally

defined:

1. Mother Tongue

- Refers to the languages one learned first in which has established first long-lasting

verbal contacts

- Refers to the medium of instruction used in the classroom

2. Medium of Instruction

- A means of conveying ideas or information

- The language used in teaching the lesson

B. Respondents of the Study

The researcher selected 9 respondents for this study. These respondents were licensed

teachers from Grades 1 to 3 of Concepcion Elementary School. These schools were situated

in the Municipality of Hilongos. In addition, the researcher only chose grades 1 to 3 since

they are the graders who handled MTB-MLE subject.

C. Research Instruments to be Used

Since this will be a descriptive research type (survey research), the researcher used a

structured questionnaire. The questionnaire’s content focused on the problems and coping

methods applied by the teachers in using MT as a medium of instruction for grades 1 to 3 in

Concepcion Elementary School. This questionnaire is composed two parts: the respondent’s
 profile and the questions about the research study problems and coping methods applied in

using MT as MOI in Concepcion Elementary School.

D. Design and Procedure

1. Survey/ School Visit

Before the researcher prepared the communication letter, she first conducted a

survey. The survey aimed to determine the number of teachers handling grades 1 -3

pupils.

2. Letter Preparation

The researcher prepared a communication letter sent to the District Supervisor of

Hilongos South District and the School Principal of the Concepcion Elementary School

to convey the study. The communication letter was noted and signed by the district

supervisor before it was sent to the principal. The principal was the one to inform the

needed respondents.

3. Creating Timeline

The researcher prepared a schedule of activities to guide her in performing the

study.

4. Research Proper

The researcher conducted the study as to where the respondents are assigned. The

researcher conducted the data collection on the set dates.

E. Data Processing

The researcher used charts for the demographic information about the respondents

while on the questionnaire part; the researcher used percentage and frequency. The data

analysis aimed to determine the problems and coping methods applied by the teachers in

using MT as a medium of instruction.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Awid, M. (2010, Nov). MLE in the Philippines. Paper presented at the MTB-MLE Forum, Chiang

Mai, Thailand.

Duguiang, N., & Dekker, D. (2010, Feb). Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education -- The

Lubugan Experience. Paper presented at the 1st Philippine Conference Workshop on Mother

Tongue-based Multilingual Education, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.

Gallego, MK. S. & Zubiri, LA. M. (2010). MTBMLE in the Philippines: Perceptions, Attitudes

and Outlooks. University of the Philippines – Diliman.

Khosa, M. (2012). Mother Tongue Education: A Case Study of Grade Three Children.

Unpublished masteral dissertation. University of Johannesburg.

Kosonen, K. & Young. C. (Eds.). (2009). Mother tongue as bridge language of instruction:

policies and experiences in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian Ministers of Education

Organization (SEAMO) Secretariat.

Lartec, J. K. et. al. (2014). Strategies and Problem Encountered by Teachers in Implementing

Mother-Tongue Based Instruction in a Multilingual Classroom. School of Teacher

Education, St. Louis University, Baguio City, Phillippines

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Lessons from the field. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 6(5),

332.

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Tongue: A primer on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (MLE) and other

issues on language and learning in the Philippines. Guro Formation Forum.

Stone, R. P. (2012). A Professional Development Program for the Mother Tongue-Based

Teacher: Addressing Teacher Knowledge and Attitudes About MTBMLE. Unpublished

doctoral dissertation. University of Massachusetts Amherst.